Only take Astral Hazing if you want to make an anti-mage (goes well with Arcane Arrester). I've played one before and, basically, you spend much of the run with the groups mages staying away from you and "not really caring" if you die. And just let there be some reason for you to sit in one spot for an extended period of time.....

On the plus side you're damn near magic immune so if you're in a group of non-mages you could be pretty popular

Assuming people on this forum want to play Shadowrun, this makes no sense at all here.

Just a Note: Astral Hazing does nothing to Incomming Combat Spells whatsoever. So you are not "Damn Near Immune." Arcane Arrester is nice, but not a Nega-Mage does it create. Even in combination with Astral Hazing.

Infected in our game die upon meeting, whenever possible. No Questions asked. They are predators that exist on the living, and they can infect you with their vileness. They deserve nothing better than Death.

Naaa, not really correct. We already had this discussion in a thread about arcane arrester in combination with astral hazing and the conclusion was, that you first reduce the spell about 4 and then half the rest of the force. I don´t want to use my search-fu because it is weak, but I am sure somebody else will find it if needed. Also every other magical effect (foci, sustained spells) are subject to force-reduction as soon as they enter BC, so why should any other spell be an exception to that? The only advantage to cast spells outside BC is that you have no dice pool reduction, you can cast at full force and you don´t have physical drain so quickly. Astral Hazing is good for mage-killers that work alone. For everybody else….naaah…

I think the main-archetypes of SR simply don´t mesh well with infected because they imbalance the game quite quickly. If you agree to play a high-powered campaign, then infected are no problem.

It IS Correct. You should read the Thread again. And, You should actually Look at exactly what Astral Hazing Affects. Instant Spells are not on the list of affected magic. Arcane Arrester is still Nice, and in combination with Astral Hazing, you get a hefty benefit for almost all magic, except for Instant Spells. Counterspelling is far better than Astral Hazing in that regard.

If Astgral Hazing worked like you think it works, it would not be a Negative Quality.

Actually, it can't. A Nosferatu is not like any other character, and you know it. Quit being disengenuous. The character exists off of the FEEDING of Essence (as well as a requirement for the Ingestion of Blood... And at 5% Body weight, that is a LOT of blood: 7.5 lbs at 150 Lbs of Vampire) from LIVING BEINGS. You cannot say that this causes no harm. It does. They have a Disease that can be communicated (THEY ARE INFECTED), and are Carriers unless they take a quality that says they are infertile. That alone makes it GM Fiat whether he wants such a character at his table. No Other Non-Infected has this by default. So, an Infected Character is VERY DIFFERENT from any other 400 BP Character. NO OTHER Character Type has the Issues of an Infected character. And. You. Know. It.

Is it allowed? Maybe at your table. Personally, I have never played at a table that allows Infected. And I am happy for that. If I wanted to play a Vampire, I would play OWOD/NWOD.

Infected in our game die upon meeting, whenever possible. No Questions asked. They are predators that exist on the living, and they can infect you with their vileness. They deserve nothing better than Death.

Actually, Vampires and Nosferatus are the least contagious infected, barring qualities. They can choose who they infect.

Actually, Vampires and Nosferatus are the least contagious infected, barring qualities. They can choose who they infect.

Does that mean they have to register for (concealed carry) lethal-weapon licenses?

No, because they are still the ones that have to kill to survive (even if they kill 1/6 by 1/6). But they can register for instant death if they want.

How very 2060's of you.

The wording of the Infection Power seems to mean that it is an automatic effect ("To see if a victim is infected..." implies automatic, uncontrolled effect).

The Infection power allows a critter with Essence Drain to infect any suitable creature it has drained to 0 Essence with
the strain of the HMHVV virus it is carrying.

So, I should ignore the threat that they are? Really? Not. Bloody. Likely.

It takes no GM fiat to play a MetaHuman. Look at the RC Again. The ENTIRE Book is a collection of OPTIONAL RULES for playing Exotic Characters. Optional does not mean that I get to choose that Option. It means the GM gets to allow it or disallow it at his whim. Metahumanity is already part of the equation if you are playing Shadowrun. Infected ARE NOT.

Really Neraph. I though you were better than that.

Would you prefer if I started talking about O-RAW constantly? An optional rule is still a rule. Generally speaking, most GMs and most tables allow all modular O-RAW that fits the normal RAW (this means yes metasapients, yes armor capacity; not neccessarily no Rea/Dodge from guns or increased Drain of direct spells). If you insist I can start specifying each and every time. Also, look again at page 89 of SR4A under the heading GAMEMASTER'S APPROVAL - all characters are allowed and disallowed by GM fiat.

I will check out the calling rules for sure. It may be a little bit of work, but i think it can pay out.

Right. My thread on Ally Spirits and Calling deals specifically with the simple rules and possibilities. If I ever get to play (I GM usually) I would love to play a character that uses the Calling rules (mundane, magical, or AI) and goes full-out roleplay on the whole interaction. 'Runs specifically to get the Calling ritual materials, "True Name" styled findings, social interactions with specific spirits that have their own personalities - the whole thing. Sure, they can lead to amazingawsomesuperduperpower, but so can deltaware. The important thing to me is having a truly awsome story while you become powerful.

The GM will make it right....if you say this 3 times in front of a mirror.....whoah...

I was not talking about the roleplaying part but playing whole runs to gather the calling components. What does the rest of the group get from it? Why should they follow? Is it fun for them? Is it the kind of power level they want? I think it's better to discuss that both with the GM and the group before bringing such a spotlight hog to the table.