Remember that Will to Live only adds OVERFLOW boxes, not regular damage boxes. It does not change the point at which you become unconscious. And it does not add anything to your stun condition monitor, so unless you are always overcasting and causing physical damage on your drain, you are taking stun damage on your drain tests.

Yeah I know that it only adds overflow boxes but it's still nice to know that I theoreticly could survive double casting a Force 12 Fireball at the same time (Multicast). 23 physical damage can be easily lowered to 18 or lower (in case of emergency I can use edge). If my Teammates are around, it won't kill me and I can save our party from an overwhelming number of enemies. See it as a last resort to survive as a party. Altough the hospital bills afterwards sure aren't something to look forward to

As background info: I'm playing a crazy christian priest that needs to flagellate himself and feel the pain to atone for his sins. That's why he's overcasting a lot

Oh, Yeah, Very true...

You can't exceed the augmented maximum with Increase Attribute. So you'd have 9s, and 18 drain pool. Still not bad though.

Centering metamagic and a Centering Focus is another good option.

Right forgot about the augmented limit. But having 18 Drain is still 8 more draindices as I have now

Also any background count at all will screw you over. 1 point BGC your force drops to 4... spells stop working. Your base attributes are greater than force!!! Centering + initiations are a great way to go though. Similarly, look at shielding->absorption it gives you free successes to offset drain if you're counterspelling other mages.

Wrestling... as many others have stated. What you need to do is stop using successes to stage up damage. (Unlike many others here, I'm actually neutral on the optional rule... I actually kind of like it because the larger dice pools get, the better direct spells get compared to indirects). The optional rules isn't great and could have been done a lot better, but even doing things optimally by overcasting or double casting it results in a modest increase in drain for direct spells which is the end goal.

Your big problem is once you've rolled the net successes the spell succeeds.
The rules make it clear it's your option to use those successes or not to increase damage.
If you don't increase damage... you don't get hammered with excessive drain.

Similarly, don't cast at even force unless it's called for. IE: magic 5 trying to knockout something... force 10 is called for! (most targets up to willpower 4 have 10 boxes of stun). But if you're magic 6... go to force 11 (not 12). drain rounds down! 11 stun is enough to knock out anything with wil 6 or less (barring pain editors).



Your bits on levitate forget that net hits are needed. And you need successes to lift the object in the first place 1 per 200kg (I've seen tables round that up/down/average... since the rules are unclear). That's AFTER your object resistance... So if you pick up steel girder OR2... which weighs in at 600kg... you need to beat a threshold of 5 before you even get any net successes to move it!

That said, when dealing with spirits... I've been known to resort to Spirit zapper. (a limited target spirit only offensive mana barrier). I cast it then use complex actions to move it instead of casting new ones and then proceed to roll the party ball into spirits to attack them.

Please provide sources that state that once a spell is already cast, and you enter a Background Count afterward that the spell just "stops" because that particular area won't support you casting that Force of a spell. Sounds like a ridiculous house rule to me without a source backing it up.

No All4.. this is jut your normal pulling stuff out of thin air and making it up as you like... like the 1000karma is a barely 'playable' character. The rules for background counts (BGC) are published right in street magic in a clear manner.


As regards sustained spell. Any sustained spell entering a a BGC has it's force temporarily reduced by the absolute rating of the BGC. This means that if your improved invisibility drops from force 5 -> force 2... no you are no longer invisible to drones or security cameras. As regards thresholds if the threshold can't be met, the spell stops working.

In the case of increase attribute spells, their threshold is your augmented attribute rating before the spell is cast. If the spell falls below this threshold it stops working. Lets say that instead of a spell focus, he used a quickened spell... he casts a force 5 spell with 5 successes and quickens it... the force is temporarily reduced so instead of force 5 with 5 successes it's force 3 with 5 successes (only 3 of which you can use due to the temporary reduction of force). When you step out, your quickened spell is still intact. But whether it works or not depends on on the force vs augmented attribute value.

You tell me why increase attribute would be different from ANY OTHER SPELL as regards it's interaction with BGC's and reduction in effectiveness which comes with it. Your argument boils down to this... because the rules don't say it doesn't stop working despite the reduction in force meaning it no longer meets necessary requirements to work... it should still work. The rules don't care what you think should happen, only if the requirements to work are met.


Your argument could also be stated as... I cast 'increase reflexes'. I cast it at force 4 and get 4 successes. I still have 4 passes no matter what the background count does. This is clearly wrong. You enter a BGC3 on IP2... you immediately lose passes 3 & 4 as per the initiative and turn sequence rules. You step back out in the next combat turn using your 1 and only first pass... you get your IPs back on the NEXT combat turn (again as per the initiative/turn rules... IP reductions take effect immediately, enhancements at the start of the next turn).

The only greyness in the increase attribute spells is the amount of force it takes to augment an attribute if it's before or after the spell. I used to argue it should be after, a force 8 spell should only raise you to say willpower 8 (-2 drain code makes it trivial to cast at force 9). Also because that made it unsuitable for sustaining foci (magic addiction rules... go over 2x your magic in total foci used at once). But the most recent FAQ cleared that up and the RAI is that the force requirement is before the spell is cast.

From Streetmagic


Force 3 spell in force 3 sustaining focus => BGC 2 => force 1 in force 1 sustaining focus. It tripple-affects the mage (the magic attribute goes down, the sustained spell goes down and the focus sustaining the spell goes down.

Edit: nevermind, Falconer was faster :-/

SYL

Your previous post made it sound like you were saying the spell went away entirely (which is why I asked for sources). You need to be clear about things like that, rather than just assume everyone can read your mind and know exactly every little nuance of your thought process.

The benefits of the spell go away entirely. But come back if he goes back out. Reread your post... my context was perfectly clear. If the BGC exceeds the spells force... the collapses completely and goes away. Temporary reductions in force though still can make a spell completely ineffective while in a background count.


The bigger problem is 2 force 5 health sustaining foci... plus another health sustaining foci for increase reflexes. Plus maybe even a power focus... or maybe a weapon focus.

Unless his magic score is really high (7+ for just the health sustaining foci). He's in clear magic addiction territory (also covered in street magic). He may do better to only go with one and increase his wil. Rather than both.

Well, the spell goes away



SYL

You were not clear, as the way you worded the initial post made it sound like you were saying the 1 background would immediately just cancel the spell entirely rather than temporarily suppress the effects. It's all in how you came off (as I basically said before).


As to the post after the one I just quoted, backgrounds high enough to reduce a spell over Force 2 to zero or less should be exceptionally rare unless the GM is specifically looking to screw the magician/adept players.

Slapfight aside, that is a good point about the BGC. I'd suggest carrying a hit of Psyche and (eventually) the Cleansing metamagic.