Ok, so it’s downright frighteningly expensive to be a changeling mage with astral hazing.

But if we use our imagination, what can they do?

Mobile Magic Disruption
The mage can still Astrally Project and takes his hazing with him, making him an immediate magic nullifier. Sure, he is limited to maximum two hours time on the astral due to limited magic.

Another fun thing is that unless a magician is looking for the character he can sit within Essence meters and just give a heck of a lot of extra drain for him or render combat adepts almost powerless by just sitting there on the astral.

Counterspelling
This one is a bit more tricky depending on how one reads the RAW. Counterspelling does not actually use the magic attribute (only Skill) so I wonder if it is actually reduced by the hazing. After all, both the hazing and the counterspelling is both a way of throwing up so much”chaff” in the air to block magic.

Astral Combat
As with counterspelling this dicepool is not dependant on magic attribute and should not reduce the dicepool (Skill+Willpower).

Spellcasting & Summoning
This is where the magician is truly borked. First we reduce the magic attribute by 4 so max magic is now 2 and sicne Summoning and Spellcasting both are Skill+Magic it becomes Skill+Magic-4.

Lets not forget that all spells also become MINIMUM Force 5 as we add +4 to the spells force when calculating drain. So not only are they worse at casting the spell they also get hit harder when trying to drain it.

Summoning is rather self explanatory as I see that more that spirits DO NOT WANT to enter an area with a background count and resist harder giving the caster more drain and less dicepool.

End result
Astral hazing mages really shine if they simply ignore spellcasting and summoning and instead focus on team support on the astral or move the points to big guns like shotguns or a sawn off elephant rifle to blow spirits to bits when they become within Essence meters.

Not to mention that any astral signature left by the mage is rather hard to find as any trace there is obliterated by the background count itself as it is not a signature of the character magic – it is rather the opposite of the characters magic.

If we would allow mages to “tune” their magic to the background count and be able to ignore the hazing I would give any opposition a +4 on all traces left on the astral from the character since they are now “one” with the hazing.

Only real problem I see with this is that alot of the stuff mentioned can be done without being a mage. Seems a bit of a waste to become a mage and deny yourself access to 'ware so that you can move your hazing astrally. I mean spellcasting and summoning spirits is basically the point of being a mage. Also remember you'll need a magic of at least five (So it'll be at least 1 in the BC) to project, so it is a rather large resource dump for losing a mage's biggest advantage and gaining something that can more or less be done by a mundane without any penalties.

Maximum Overcast is Magic X 2, so if the spell needs to be Force 5 and your Magic Attribute is at 2, you CAN'T cast AT ALL.
Furthermore Spirits need to be Force 5 minimum too, because their magic/force goes down by 4 accordingly too . .
Also, what happens, if a Mage tries to stay longer on the Astral than his Magic Attribute would allow?
Go near a Mage with Magic 6, he has been on the Astral for 3 hours. Your background count lowers his magic from 6 to 2.
He has been on the Astral for 3 hours with Magic 2. He is dead.

While your statement is true, I think you misunderstood his intent. Force would be +4 for purposes of determining Drain. It doesn't change the actual Force of the spell at time of casting.

EX: Astral Haze mage (he has Magic 7, becomes 3 due to Haze) casts Stunbolt at Force 6. When determining Force for purposes of Drain, it's the Force the spell was cast at +4 more from the Haze. So that Force 6 spell that was overcast is resisted as though it was Force 10 for the casting.

But yeah, that is a good point you make. A starting Mage cannot cast any spells (without something that boosts Magic) if they also have Astral Hazing.



Yep. But it'll go back up to normal once the Spirit gets outside of the haze.



I would dare say the mage would be okay as the 'magic' is with his astral form, not his physical body.

Perhaps i was unclear. My point was that the minimum DRAIN would be 5. Cast a F1 spell and add +4 before splitting force by 2. A spell with F/2+2 would be (F+4)/2+2.
Same goes for spirits.



In this case i would say that he is thrown back into his body since he has not been out his "natural" amount of hours.

If on the other hand the mage with a magic of 2 and have astral hazing is out more than 2 hours then he would die as HIS hazing is part of him.

I find that the RAW is rather unclear of such an event. Easy kills if you can just cast Mana Static on an area where you know a projecting mage is.

The question is, do you need to be where the astral form is, or the body, or both at once.

Well, he can, but he has to max his magic rating to 6. 6-4=2. He can then cast F4 spells with physical drain, -4D6 to casting and +4 to drain. Ouch.


Unless the spirit is max F4 then it becomes disrupted within Essence meters.

Here'sa small list of effects of astral hazing to anyone within E meters:

Spellcasting VS Character: Caster Suffer +4 Drain Value
Spellcasting VS Character: Caster Magic Rating is -4 [If within range of characters Essence in meters]
Spellcasting VS Character: Critter Spells Force is Halved
Astral Perception & Assensing: Dicepool -4D6
Astral Hazing: Critters loose magical abilities at F0
Astral Hazing: Spirits at F4 or less gets disrupted
Astral Hazing: Critter Powers Force is at -4
Astral Hazing: Watchers always disrupt due to F1

How would he cast a Force 4 Spell with a Rating 4 Background Count?
Force 4 minus Rating 4 = 0, Spell fizzles.

How did you determine this? Is it in a FAQ? B/c Astral Haze is a meta-genetic quality, and genetics are not of the astral realm. I think it stays with the body-- if it didn't, you'd astral project away whenever you wanted another mage to magically heal you.

Could be something that is a part of both your spirit and body.

The force of the spell is not lowered by 4, only the magicians magic rating. Force of spells cast into or from a background count does not fizzle, they increase drain instead.

There is no RAW on this. Depending on your view it is one of the following:

1. It goes where your aura goes
2. It stays with the body, your magic goes up by +4 as soon as you are more than (essence) meter away.
3. It stays with both

Since it is magic and fueled by (description) dark emotions and suchlike then it seems reasonable it stays with the aura, and not the shell.



Which means I could simply astrally project and move from my body and then cast spells and summon spirits and completely ignore my negative quality (limited to the astral though). It stands more to reason that you cannot get away from it.

The other side of the coin that support YOUR view is that it IS connected to Essence, and Essence is a bodily attribute – and astral form have no Essence, only magic rating.

Another point is that if metagenic qualities are always connected with the body does that mean that the mage loose an ability due to going astral? That means that the character would loose for example Arcane Arrester as soon as they leave their body. The same goes with Glamour, Nasty Vibe, Berserker, Critter Spook – All those skills that aren’t “physical” character attributes but more of a magical nature.

where is this written?
I allways thought both happened . .

Background Count and Magic page 118 Street Magic.

I might be wrong here but as I read the rules it seems that only pre-existing anchored spells and suchlike that comes in contact with the Hazing is affected.

An enemy mage casting spells at the character have higher drain instead to counter the effect - same goes for the character when he is casting spells.

Seems a bit too powerful negative quality otherwise.

"Force of spells cast into or from a background count does not fizzle, they increase drain instead." - The Jopp

This is not correct.

When casting a spell from inside a background area, the magician's Magic is reduced and the drain value of the spell is increased.

When casting a spell into a background count area (from outside it), the magician's Magic is not reduced, nor does the drain increase. The Force is the spell is reduced as it enters the background count area.

Yes, that is correct. The Magicians MAGIC is reduced, and thus the MAXIMUM force of the spell.



I disagree, partly (I agree that someone casting INTO a Hazing does not have his magic attribute reduced as long as he is out of range).

Page 118:


Nothing in the above sentence says that a combat spell or any instant spell for that matter cast from an enemy mage with Magic 4 casting a F4 spell and having his spells force reduced to zero. He does get a +4 to drain though as the Hazing force him to channel more mana than intended. If an attacking mage casts a sustained spell inside the area of the Hazing he must cast it at F5 or more or it will fizzle WHEN HE SUSTAINS IT.

The character with the hazing is in a bit more problem though as all his spells can be cast at a maximum of F4 and thus will fizzle as soon as he sustains them - Which makes the quality even more negative and far too "cheap" as a mage character can never sustain spells unless F5 or higher (resulting in a horrendous drain regardless of spell.)

And I was incorrect, Astral Combat is also affected (both attacker and defender as visibility modifiers).

I cannot find anything limiting Counterspelling though.

For game balance an awakened character should only have his MAXIMUM magic rating limited at the beginning of the game to 6-Hazing= 2. Instead of having to buy up a magic of 6 to get magic 2.

I've always read it more or less:
If you're in the BC, then your magic is reduced by X, and the force of spells for the purpose of drain is increased by X. Anything cast/summoned from inside the BC is already acclimatized to the BC, and so suffers no penalties.
If something is cast/moved into a BC, then the F is reduced by X.
If something is cast/moved from a background count, nothing special happens except that reduced things return to normal.

So a spell cast by someone inside a BC would operate normally, though the mage would have higher drain and lower magic with which to calculate max force, regardless of if it was cast at a target inside or outside the BC, or sustained on a target inside or outside the BC. I mean, you've already suffered the effect of the BC, why should a mage get hit with it twice?

It's a metagenetic quality -- the astral hazing wouldn't travel with your astral presence. In the metaphysical plane above the astral plane, though, suddenly your physical qualities come rushing back -- it seems like the astral hazing would come back too at that time, but since the metaphysical plane doesn't track with the physical plane there wouldn't be any ill effects.

If something is cast into a background count, you get more drain, whether you're physically in the background count or not. If you are in a background count, then your magic (and the force of things) is reduced. So standing in and casting in a background count both reduces your magic/force and also increases drain.

So... where exactly does it say that casting a spell with a target inside the BC raises drain? Because what it actually says is that if you are in a BC, you increase drain.

Several of the things we have written down arent clear by RAW. It's an interpretation of the rules. Since all spells except Indirect Combat Spells hit the target instantly as it is cast on the location of the target, it does not fly towards the target like a fireball for example. It seems very reasonable that all aspects of spellcasting In/Out of a background count should be penalized equally. Thus, casting a spell at a target inside a background count would be the same as casting the spell from a background count.

The real drawback is still for the caster with Hazing as he can start with a maximum of F4 spells (F2X2) and since the Hazing makes any sustained spell at F4 or less go "pop" he cannot sustain spells - He can cast instant spells on the other hand. Caster outside the hazing trying to kill the mage can still cast a powerful spell directly at the character with only a +4 to drain - unless he cast an indirect combat spell, perhaps - that is up to interpretation.

It says under the astral hazing quality of cyberzombies in Augmentation.

The Astral Hazing negative metagenetic quality is said to behave in the same way as the cyberzombie effect, which is where the casting a spell into the area of a 'zombies hazing reduces force and adds drain and all the other Hazing is antimagic God stuff comes from.

The visibility of Astral Space and Background Count & Astral Hazing

I cannot find a clear ruling on how visible background count IS but the only reference I can actually find is the following:

P.120 Street magic


Ok, so background count creates either a darkness or light depending on Mana Ebb or a Domain. So what happens when someone with Astral Hazing comes sneaking?

Is there a large menacing cloud of darkness around the character or is it just harder to see the character with astral perception?

My interpretation of the rules is that anyone trying to spot the character on the astral would have a -4D6 to their perception (assensing) test as per the rules for astral hazing. After all, the normal vibrant and glowing living aura is being dampened by the background count accompanying the character.

The question is if this is an area that is visible for miles or merely a dampening of astral visibility and not something obvious from a (astral) distance.

Am I incorrect with that interpretation? After all, it IS a Negative quality that already has extreme implications for awakened characters.

I would think it would be like watching a person walk around on a dark football field while carrying a lit flashlight but in inverse. You should be able to see the mobile zone of darkness/dimness among the vibrant lights of Astral Space.

So yes, you'd see the darkness but you'd still have a penalty to Perception (Assensing) to determine the thing/person/whatever is causing it.

IE: You know someone is running around in the fog but don't see them.

Technically it would be that you know the fog is moving around but not who is moving it.