Where can i find the rules for this?
or just tell me how it works, whichever is easier for you lol.

its in the digital grimoire pdf. If i remember correctly you roll any time active foci is more than 2x your magic score.

The rules for foci addiction are, regrettably, poorly defined. I believe ikarinokami is correct. I also believe that a roll can be called for if a character uses their foci for too long. I personally would call for the roll if a foci is activated for more than about 12 hours at a time.

say I have an armor Sustaining Foci, I use it before every run, and deactivate it before I hit the hay, would you call for a roll on that? if so, How often? playing my first mage and just wanting to get some info,

Wish I could help more, but in all the games I've played in foci addiction has been ignored. I always thought it was more for balance reasons, with people having a ton of buffs stacked on them at all times. Casting an armor spell daily is fine, I would think, but it's best to discuss with your GM how they are going to interpret it.

okz, thanks for the info

Your example probably wouldn't be an issue, unless you had a very high powered foci, or a very low Magic Rating. But that also depends on your GM. It's obviously pretty subjective, but at the end of the day, it's a GMs call on what 'abusing' is. Armor spells stacked on top of regular armor can be a pain in the ass for a GM without an open mind. But also keep in mind that the armor spell glows. That's something that comes up fairly regularly in discussion.

Older editions were a lot more stringent on this rule, and it could actually affect your ability to use Magic. Now the Addiction hits you with mental flaws instead. I believe the intent was to curtail over reliance on power foci, spell casting foci, or a "crap ton" (technical term) of sustaining foci, meaning that the mage was leaning too much on their magicky-gadgets instead of their raw ability. Which usually translates into thorough planning and a lot of investments of karma into foci, and now the mage has become a pain in the ass. All well and good for the player of the mage until the GM turns around and pulls the same trick with an NPC. Now everyone hates the mage.

They're no more undefined than the rest of the addiction rules.

And the rules in Digital Grimoire are clear and concise. Simply having one focus well below your limit on is NOT grounds for an addiction test.


The addiction rules are purely grounds for the GM's call though. Every group I play with strictly enforces the magical addiction limits. I don't know why others don't, probably because in street magic the subject is touched on but not defined. And the definition and thresholds are in a web only supplement instead of inside a printed book.

That said, read the addiction rules in SR4a... at the GM's discretion he may call for a resistance roll OR MAY GIVE YOU THE ADDICTION QUALITY OUTRIGHT. It's purely his decision, a resistance roll is not guaranteed by the rules.

I highly recommend just sticking with the Magic X2 limit in active foci though.

I played a mage once with a F5 weapon focus and a F5 Sustaining focus, while he had Magic 7.
After one special run, the GM gave me another F5 Sustaining focus for a reward.

Me: "awesome! hm. wait a moment..."
my mage:"I don't need this toy. I'm already very powerful"
GM:"w00t"
me:"I'd get focus addiction"
GM:"sorry, didn't know"
my mage:"But I'll kindly take this present until I'm worthy to use it."
me: "I need karma for Magic 8!!!!"

Frankly, I am hesitant to dish out negative qualities, and I neither use nor have seen the addiction rules used at all. Haven't seen too much of chem or foci abuse, on the other hand, either. But frankly, penalizing characters for doing their job, - mages for using foci, hackers for using hot VR and sammies for a bit of combat drugs, - just doesn't sit well with me.

My general rule is that if they keep a foci on while their on a run, fine, if they keep it on all day, even while doing non dangerous activities, they'll have problems.