Did I miss a rule where having a bound spirit around lowers your magic by 1 or something?

Likely it was something that was removed elsewhere and this wasn't caught.

In either case though: interesting.

Maybe it is a reference to the optional rule in the sidebar on p.187 SR4A?

This text doesn't appear in SR4A (it simply says that bound spirits may add dice) but it may be referring to what appears in a side bar in the Conjuring section (Bound Spirits, p.187 SR4A). There it suggests that should a bound spirit have reason to be boisterous or uncooperative (e.g. the summoner keeps putting him at risk) then the summoner suffers a -2 to his DPs like when sustaining a spell.

That line is from SR4, and was listed in the Errata LINK. If I recall correctly it was fixed in the second or third Printing. All of the errata was included in the Anniversary printing which is why it is not found in SR4A.

By the way, wasn't Karma needed to bind a spirit? I thought i looked it somewhere, but when i looked at SR4a, found no trace of it.

Only if you are buying spirit services as part of karmagen.

The other thing you might be thinking about is spirit pacts, which are entirely different.

Okay, thanks!

there is also long-term binding, which lasts for a year and a day iirc but gets you a spirit which will do one service for the full time (ie, if the service is "provide magical defense to anyone in this area" the service will do that for the full time).

it costs (iirc) 1 karma per point of spirit force.

In the basic SR4 book, the sidebar they are talking about is on page 178. The text you are talking about was removed because if you use the optional rule from the sidebar, it very clearly states that the mage has a -2 penalty to all tests.

Which makes sense if you were trying to do things while controlling a recalcitrant spirit... we use that optional rule from time to time (when the mage "abuses" his spirits)... It is on page 187 of SR4A... under the Bound Spirits Sidebar...

Keep the Faith