Astral Hazing is a negative metagenetic quality and is described in Runner's Companion page 116. Technically astral hazing is an aspected domain around an individual and creates a tainted background count of 4. It feeds on the characters darker feelings and emotions.

I'm running a game where one of my players has this negative quality and I would appreciate some creative hints how to use this as a negative quality in the game.

So far my player has been insisting that this is actually an automatic shield for any magic against his character giving anyone casting spells on him a -4 penalty on their magic attribute as well as +4 to drain. The fluff is that he was experimented as a child. His parents had hoped a human child but instead they got an ogre. With the experiments the parents hoped to turn the character more human looking. They succeeded in parts, since the characters has the Human Looking positive quality but the experiments left their mark.

My goal is not to piss off my player with random penalties but rather make the negative effects more visible time to time. Astral hazing should be justifiable as a negative quality and not just "an automatic magic shield". This is a separate thing and bought as a positive quality (Magic Resistance).

One obvious way would be to make more corrupted mages or shamans benefit from the darkness aspected domain from time to time. I would also assume because of the taint, the character would be more easily tracked astrally?

Suggestions? Corrections? Oppinions on astral hazing?

Do note that depending on the reading, Astral Hazing does jack squat against enemy spellcasters, since they need to be in the background count during the casting to be affected by it. Is the character in question a mundane character (i.e. does not have a Magic/Resonance attribute)? If so, feel free to have something negative turn up every now and then, since he is essentially getting free BP for an advantage. Also, feel free to use above ruling against him.

It is one of the more commonly banned qualities for a reason, and I strongly suggest that you ban it for mundane characters. "Arcane Arrester" is a strong positive quality that works as a "magic shield" and comes with an appropriate price tag.

That said, here are some suggestions:
-The background count the character generates is attuned to toxic/insect/some other dark tradition. While his "magic shield" protects him from mainstream magic, toxic spirits attacking him tend to be vastly stronger.
-Apply social penalties whenever said character deals with an awakened character. His mere presence hinders their powers and makes magic more dangerous, so they would be really reluctant to trust him.

The obvious drawback is that this is extremely distinctive. Anywhere with any astral security will immediately notice and recognize him.

Oh, we had a long "conversation" how this should be read. My first interpretation was, just like you said, that the character needs to be in the affecting area. The reason I caved in with this one was that this seemed to be really important to my player and I was willing to live with his interpretation. I have short ban list and this definitely deserves a place in that list and will affect new characters. I just couldn't take it away from my player since I had let this quality to slip in the chargen.

The social penalty with awakened might be something I'll use.


Yep, mundane.

I'd just like to point out that Astral Hazing is a Negative Quality.

And I totally agree. It is a negative quality and should feel like it.

I guess, depending how you read the quality description the quality can be viewed as "magic shield" that even gives you BP. As a GM I'm not really fond of that. For that reason I ask the collective wisdom of Dumpshock forums to give some ideas how to balance this so that it really is a negative quality even with the more beneficial interpretation. I have gotten some good advice all ready.

In the future with new characters I'm not allowing this quality at all because of the ambiguity of it's description.

it's usually balanced by the fact that it affects friendly magic use(rs) as well.

Generating a tainted magical area anytime you stay in one place too long is something that would draw negative dual-natured attention. Spirits and such will avoid the character, but something like a ghoul is probably going to snipe him from a distance just on principle. Devil rats on the other hand might decide to nest in his apartment.

And more importantly, on a run, he leaves a huge signature and is going to alert every astral patrol within the tri-corp territory. As well as setting off any sort of alarm ward or mana detector he comes close to. Have security track just him down a few times after a run and maybe he'll start to think that having a magic shield might not be so great if it means you get shot at way more often.

I play a Free Spirit PC in our home game. To him, this thing is an abomination. Any thing like this shows up in the neighbourhood, he'd kill it. If he couldn't kill it himself, he'd hire the local gang to kill it. If they failed, he'd use his Spirit Pact (Power Pact) to deal with the local mafiosi, giving one of their top assassins ItNW for a day as long as he killed this thing. If that failed, He'd spread the word to every spirit he meets that this abomination exists. Something, sooner or later, would kill it.

You get the idea.

Oh, that tickles the evil GM in me

The description makes it clear that astral hazing gives mages the same problems that areas of background count do - this is the exact same flaw that is supposed to make cyberzombies more badass. Astral hazing is not the only flaw that gives you benefits along with the hindrances. Day job gives you regular income. In debt lets you start out with extra money. Traceless gives you a genemod that you would normally have to pay a good amount for. They are still flaws, because the disadvantages outweigh the positives.

Astral hazing makes it harder to affect him with hostile magic. It also makes it harder to heal or buff him with friendly magic, makes him a big glowing neon beacon in the astral plane, makes working with him an annoyance for awakened characters, is likely to give a hefty negative modifier on social rolls against anyone who assenses him, and is likely to attract hostile attention from spirits and other astral or dual-natured entities. And while it may be a thin coating for a low-Essence character, it can spread pretty fast whenever the character stays somewhere for any length of time. How will friends or contacts feel if they have to do the astral equivalent of having their house defumigated any time the character stays over? You know how the armor spell is often a bad idea, because while it protects you against damage, it also attracts attention by making you glow? This is the astral equivalent of that conundrum.

Incorrect Glyph... read the exact text of the background count rules.

*ONLY* sustained spells are reduced when entering a background count. In all editions of SR... the mage gathers and shapes the mana at himself... then sends it at the target. The rules specifically state that only sustained spells have their force reduced. Instantaneous combat spells are not affected. Sustained spells continue to draw mana from their environment after casting.

(Permanent spells are a type of sustained spell... they need to be sustained for a few rounds before becoming permanent).


Astral hazing is *NOT* a blanket defense against all spells. Introduce the player to a stunbolt to set him straight... maybe he'll get the message then.

p118 street magic... last three paragraphs...
"... A spirits Force is reduced in the same manner as a character's Magic, ..."
Next paragraph
"Pre-existing wards, mana barriers, active foci, *SUSTAINED SPELLS*, and quickened/anchored spells are similarly affected."

So just to summarize what you guys have said and what I see possible negative effects.

- Unwanted hostile attention from astral entities, spirits and dual-natured entities
- Easily noticeable for astral security
- Toxic/Insect/Other darker aspected spirits get bonus die instead of penalty to their magic and lesser drain
- Taints astral space and leaves a distinctive signature
- Negative social modifiers when dealing with awakened
- Friendly magic is negatively affected

Possible positives:

- "Main stream" magic has a harder time affecting a person with astral hazing.


Now, there seems to be different interpretations how astral hazing works. In my opinion, astral hazing and background count are written in a way that can lead into multiple interpretations.

Like I said, my first impression was that astral hazing affects only spells cast inside the area, force of the spirits inside the area as well as pre-existing wards, mana barriers, active foci, sustained spells and quickened/anchored spells inside the area.
As an example, if a mage casts a stunbolt outside the affected area into the affected area, the mages magic does not drop and the drain does not increase. If the mage would step inside the affected area his magic would be affected.
Now, my player argues that the mage is affected even when he is outside the affected area because of the following wording in the description:





The previous quote from Falconer would suggest that astral hazing affect only sustained spells and not other types of spells. I find the description of astral hazing a bit conflicting with the background description. I guess your interpretation depends whether you give more weight to the background count description or the astral hazing description.

I was willing to go with my player's interpretation, in the end. But I did warn him about the possible drawbacks of the haze. I probably won't throw every negative effect against his character you guys have come up with but they do give me ideas

The character causes a rating 4 backgroundcount anywhere he goes. Even if he was there only for one second. It will last for 4 hours. That effectively means that he is painting a huge astral track of backgroundcount behind him that can be easy followed with astral perception.
If he escapes from a crime scene, and a police mage arrives within 4 hours he should have no problems following and finding him, wherever he goes.
Only a initiate mage teammate that casts cleansing all the time (while their escape vehicle speeds over the highway) can avoid this.

Please correct me if I oversee something here, but I think you can totally read this into the quality. It doesn't leave only an astral signature. It leaves a tunnel shaped backgroundcount, that leads though the whole city from the crime scene to the secret hideout of the team! I actually have a hard time not reading that into the quality, exect for the fact that it would make the characters unplayable.
I also never encountered a GM that read and played it this way. Probably because it would effectively make the character unplayable. No runner would accept someone with this quality as a teammate, if he knows about it. But if you want to go full nazi GM, because you really hate this quality, you can interpret it that way. (I still would advise you not to do so.)

Yeah, that might be a overkill as negative quality and like you said would make the character totally unplayable. My idea was mostly balance out the 10 points he got from the negative quality and make it an interesting part of the character as well as possible plot device etc. For a NPC it could be interpreted like you suggested. Full nazi GM is not really my thing, I might be picky but not that much...I hope

Also, though it hasn't been mentioned, it's not unheard of to read Astral Hazing as also affecting indirect combat spells (Lightning Bolt, Fireball). It simply doesn't affect DIRECT combat spells (stunbolt, stunball, etc.) unless the caster is in the haze.

Where are you guys getting the idea that BC works like Astral Signatures? Can you point out a reference please? AFB, and it's been a while since I played, so provide this for me if'n you would.

That aside, have the character be hunted by twisted mages of any flavor (bug, toxic, blood) trying to use Geomancy to turn him into a mobile aspected BC for them. Or have a mega do that against him. Or, you know, just shoot him. Astral Hazing doesn't work against bullets, and SR teams should be more concerned with the more plentiful issue of bullets and grenades than mages (mages are supposed to be a lot less common, depending on your 'run teams and missions you hand out).

That aside, you should also look into Running Wild for the special Lifestyle things and make his house Haunted for free. Draw inspiration from that.

This is blatantly incorrect. Indirect combat spells are also instantaneous.

In fact, the only place in the game to find 'instantaneous' spells is combat spells. All other spells are by definition 'sustained' (either cast on a target or area of space and sustained (until permanent for those spells). For a 'negative quality' which actually gives the character BP instead of costing him... something which gives massive protection against 4 out of 5 schools of magic is still pretty damn good.

Few things illustrate better than an indirect combat spell how they originate outside the area of effect and enter it than an indirect combat spell. As the spell fires a visible spell effect which travels from the caster to the target... exploding on anything it hits prematurely before reaching the target.


OP: have the character accidentally drop wards by accident... alerting the creators. That should get him a lot of attention. As spirits are summoned up to investigate the dropped ward. While the spirits are subject tot he BGC if within it... they can attack him at will using their ranged elemental attack powers (also instantaneous).

It might be more of a house rule about that, and I apologize if that's the case. However, the theory is that an INdirect combat spell has to travel through that background count. It wouldn't make the casting more difficult, but it would, likely, sap some of that energy in-transit. Direct spells are, essentially, taking a metaplanar jaunt, popping out of the physical and then right back in, point blank, with 0 travel time through that haze.

As far as the comment about using Background Count like Astral Beacon, consider that the character drags a background count wherever he goes, and it doesn't fade until AT LEAST 4 hours after he's left that area. Longer if he spends extended amounts of time someplace. This literally leaves a trail behind him that's fresh for 4 hours minimum on the astral. By RAW, it would take a mage with Cleansing/Geomancy metamagic to clean up that trail behind him. So, say a mage is looking in the astral after one of this character's runs. He sees an area with definite background count leading off into town. He can go get a soycaff and doughnut, and have plenty of time to leisurely follow that trail back to the runner himself. Any place that has a stronger background count, that mage could tell was a place the runner liked to frequent or spend days at, and mark it for investigation. Anybody associating with that runner would be immediately suspect, and marked for observation, etc. It's potentially a career-ending flaw, at the GM's discretion, ANY TIME the GM decides to play it as such.

Edit: there is, of course, the possible exception that the character ALREADY lives in an area with a nasty background count (Glow City, a suicide spot, etc.), which would help hide that character at that location, but wouldn't particularly help, really. No hiding in Suburbia proper or an average place downtown.

Rubic... no it has nothing whatsoever to do with the RAW rules text. Your conjecture about direct spells being different is dead wrong and flies in the face of ALL EDITIONS of the rules fluff and crunch. *ALL* spells originate at the caster and travel to the target... there is no metaplanar shortcut... the only change is that spells used to travel on the astral and you could counterspell them by directly attacking them on the astral before they reached their target. If they encounter a mana barrier along the way it will impede them and add resistance dice. (whether that's true still in 5th remains to be seen), but if your conjecture was correct mana barriers would have no effect on direct spells only indirect ones; which is easily disproved by the rules. Just because you can't see the stunbolt with your naked eye like you can the fireball does not mean a mage can't see it on the astral.

Sr4 Page 179... noticing magic... "More powerful magic is easier to spot with the gathered mana normally appearing as a disturbance or glowing aura in the air around the caster." Mana is gathered at the caster.
P176... "To cast a spell, a magician channels mana through herself and transmits it..." once again it's gathered and shaped at the caster and then sent at the target.
There are more references in other books... but I'm feeling lazy and will just rely on the BBB.

The Rules as Written state that only sustained, anchored, or quickened spells have their force reduced. Indirect combat spells are instantaneous spells and are not sustained. They are not subject to BGC's if fired from outside the BGC. It really is that simple.


Rubic:
Once again your conjecture is that the BGC is persistent is again false. The rules never state this. You're conflating the rules for a spell mana static which creates a temporary disturbance in the force which degrades at 1 point per hour to ambient levels. The rules only state that the field is temporary and it overrides any normal field with a limited area and that it always extends a certain distance from the character (meaning spells subject to it... have their force reduced by the BGC before they reach the target in the case of hazing plus arcane arrester... so you don't half the force then -4... it's -4 then halve whatever is left). If the target stays stationary and within it it grows larger. It does not say it's persistant in any way shape or form like the mana static spell does.

That said... the search power could be used to locate this. Meaning it's fairly trivial for anyone who knows about it to hunt it down using a searching spirit. The character works against the normal defense to these things 'wards' by weakening the ward protecting him if he doesn't bring it down outright.

I'm willing to concede the first point. I already did, on the grounds that it was most likely a house-rule at my table, not at large or RAW.

However, I also need to admit I was wrong about trail left by Astral Hazing...

"Domains have a background count rating ranging from +1
to +6, and affect magic as described under Background Count and
Magic, p. 118. Domains, unlike voids and mana ebbs, can be influenced
by metamagic techniques such as Cleansing (p. 55) and
Geomancy (p. 56). Domains also remain permanent at least until
the source of domain is removed (such as the toxic waste producing
a toxic domain). Even then, many domains persist until formally
cleansed, while others take decades to become neutral."
- Street Magic, p. 121, referenced by Runner's Companion entry for Astral Hazing, RC p. 116

RAW, it's worse. Decades before that background count goes away naturally, or until a mage formally Cleanses/Geomancies it away. No heavily magical being I'm aware of would suffer that to exist, except perhaps the toxics/bugs/horrors that would revel in a background count comprised of the source's darker emotions. Decades before that trail runs cold, if at all.

Edit: according to Astral Hazing's entry, this domain extends Essence meters from the character's body. 6 meter radius max, so a roughly 13 by 14 meter tunnel (considering the individual's height and breadth, bigger if a Troll of course, smaller if a Dwarf) of metahuman-shaped, aspected domain in the astral leading along the path of the hazed individual, with 10 years minimum before it runs cold. Every non-toxic mage, mystic, adept, free spirit, bound spirit, shaman, devil rat, and magically invested company (What do you mean the wards just went down!?) would have his head on a platter for walking too close to them/their turf.

Or until the source (cough, the character with the quality) goes away.

RAW, previously quoted I might add:

"Domains also remain permanent at least until
the source of domain is removed (such as the toxic waste producing
a toxic domain). Even then, many domains persist until formally
cleansed, while others take decades to become neutral."

emphasis added. Nothing is said to distinguish the background count produced by Astral Hazing from the existing rules about domains; rather, it lists it specifically as "an aspected domain" and a "Rating 4 background count", which, according to Street Magic, is the middle-upper rating of domains. Even under the presumption that the hazing is gone as soon as the character is gone, it's going to still present a problem/hazard for any magically active entity in its path, and will leave notable signs behind it (wards knocked down, spirits disrupted, etc.). It's not subtle, and it will bring the hate down... unless, that is, your character is a Toxic Shaman/Mage. It's specifically going to work against you, but that means it'll work FOR some non-toxic tradition.

... No. That means that the character will have to be dead for decades before the BC caused by his own body dissipates, not that he's a walking paintbrush of Astral Signatures. You're confusing the effects here: the character is the source creating the BC around him, not creating BC wherever he stands (like your failed analogy of the toxic spill). If he stays in one place for a long time then I could see a permanent scarring of the astral, but not by simply walking around. Think of it like an odor, but in the astral - he stinks the place up, but you can't really track him by scent (excluding if you happen to be a bloodhound..).

EDIT:

Again, you're only talking about what would happen with the BC created by the character, which aforementioned only extends away from the character based on its Essence (which, in retrospect, I think nicely sums up any other arguments we could have about whether or not the Astral Hazing is a paintbrush of Astral Signatures...). You're also reaching a false conclusion that only toxic shaman would be able to use the aspect of the domain - the aspect was never declared to a specific tradition or flavor, simply that it was aspected. You could be a real jerk and allow a player to take Astral Hazing, only to have it aspected towards Hermeticism and keep that little tidbit of knowledge to yourself.

To correct you, it wasn't MY analogy. Street Magic, p 121, read it for yourself. If removing/cleaning up the toxic waste doesn't immediately remove its background count, then why should removing a person do the job? Rating 4 isn't even small-time for background count; this isn't as quick as getting rid of a fart through air dispersal.

For my own analogy, it's a car leaking oil. That oil sits on the road, stains the road, maybe even pools up a bit. It kills things on the small scale, produces an odor for a while, and generally makes the area a bit less pleasant for its presence. Rain can disperse it a bit, as can soapy water or a power washer's spray. It likely will result in a trail of caked-on grime that will lead along the path of that car as it drove around. Until somebody follows along and completely washes it, there will be those grimy oil stains on the ground, and it will always puddle up more where that car stops. Only this car likely will never stop leaking oil until it's completely drained of fluids and junked, and it will leak more noticeably than a conventional car would at its worst operable leakiness.

Go look on the road some time. You'll see the grimy stains of leaked oil, transmission fluid, etc., mostly pooled near traffic lights and other places that cars sit for more than a few moments. You can disagree with me, and you can disagree with RAW, but that doesn't change RAW. Granted, we all find ourselves at odds with the rules from time to time. Don't like it? Don't use it. Easy, and all you have to say is "I prefer it this other way." A nod to RAW, house rules instated, situation good to go. Also, I'm not saying the RAW is necessarily the RIGHT way to handle the situation/quality; rather, I'm saying RAW is rather punishing for this particular flaw. I think you can agree with me on that front at least.

I do also like the way you think for the aspecting Toxic just seems the go-to aspect for dark-emotions-metabolized-into-background-count

Technically Astral Hazing isn't aspected, at least not in a usable way. It's sort of like "aspected (anti-this-character)."*

*I use "anti" because a magician who is astrally hazed should never get the benefits from being inside his own BC.

I agree, esp. as it's a flaw, that it should never/hardly ever benefit the character who uses it. That's why I commented that a Toxic Shaman with Astral Hazing would likely brighten up the area around him/herself.

As it stands, the Astral Hazing may be caused by his metagenes feeding on the character's darker emotions and negative feelings, but it does not state explicitly how or towards what kind of magic is it Aspected. Therefore a Toxic Shaman with Astral Hazing should, by the RAW, screw over himself like any other magician with Astral Hazing.

For myself, the Astral Hazing is indeed Aspected in an unusable way. It is aspected (anti-every character).


Neraph and I have some disagreements on how some parts of the RAW should be read, but usually because I was splitting hairs. However on this, I have to agree with him. The key is not the Street Magic p121, but the rules for Astral Hazing itself. The Background Count is caused by Astral Hazing Quality. The Quality spells out explicitly what happens. While Astral Hazing causes Background Count, it tacks on certain specific rules to that Background Count. If the situation was different, then SM p121 may apply, but Astral Hazing has its own set of RAW and the RAW applicable to certain situations are different from the RAW in others.

If indeed this is how you want to rule this, I'd say then it should be ruled consistently. Any source of Background Count would leave a permanent BC, at least until Cleansed.

Well, unless you know a magical tradition known as "Anti-Steve" then I think that part is covered quite well though incidentals.

I'm playing a character with Astral Hazing, and it spills out as a miasma all around me that the mages and adepts in the group hate. When they ward an area, I have to sit in a small area that they have chalked out to avoid accidentally overlapping them. I have to be DYING before they even consider healing me, while they top off the street sam's 1-2 boxes of damage. Once the run starts, I have to make sure to stay away from them. Getting too close shuts down their foci and causes them to get all sorts of cranky.

In my evil GM mind, I've thought about a toxic or twisted group that kidnaps several changelings with Astral Hazing. Lock them up with BTLs and IV fluids/TPN, then use geomancy to convert the background count to something favorable. Because of the wording in Astral Hazing, the changelings would have to never move or the geomancy would need to start all over again. (Which is why we lock them up...)

Your analogies are in error. They are both assuming that the area of influence from Astral Hazing leaves a permanent streak - something that is not written in the rules for Astral Hazing at all. Astral Hazing deals with something that the normal rules for BC do not account for, which is a mobile BC generator. For example, that toxic waste dump creates a BC because it's been sitting there for decades. Joe the Astral Plague, however, has an aura of BC that follows him like a cloud of flies. The BC of Astral Hazing specifically states that it says within X meters (X=Essence) of Joe the Astral Plague at all times - if it left streaks wherever he went, that would be violating the X meters rule that's specific to him. The standard BC rules are not being violated because the BC of Joe the Astral Plague is not dissipating at all - in fact, it would take months after his death for the pall to leave his corpse.

But that doesn't mean that Joe the Astral Plague is also Joe the Astral Signature Artist.

Also, since Astral Hazing creates an aspected BC and Geomancy allows you to change the aspect for BC, you could totally use Geomancy to change the aspect of your (or someone else's [plot hook]) BC, through the proper use of brands/tattoos/scarification, dependent on tradition.

EDIT:

Citation?

Geomancy rules. It affects an area and if that area ever changes, you have to re-geomancy it.

It also takes months to geomancy an area. Just one month of the guy standing around with his thumb up his ass results in his haze taking over a 1440 meter diameter area (if I remember the rules correctly: 1 meter per hour?).

Astral Hazing is a R4 Background count that centers on the person. If they remain in place, it begins to grow slowly.

Geomancy takes four months of rituals, during which time, the area needs to be adjusted to the tradition to make it permanent. If the background count is gone from the area, it can't be aspected with Geomancy. The base requirement for Geomancy is no longer present. This would apply to a permanent Cleansing or the Astral Hazing leaving.

Neraph--Is your argument that it cannot happen at all, or that the changeling could come and go without affecting the geomancy?

I think he's trying to argue that you geomancy the changeling's body so that the haze is aspected AND travels with him. Which would allow the hazed person to be a mage and get the benefits of domain, which should never happen because negative quality.

Purty much. And it does happen because the way the rules are worded. The area you're affecting is the X-meter sphere around the changeling, and the terrain you'd have to alter would be the changeling's body.

I've shown before that, unless you use Shenanigans (which are technically still legal), you end up spending at the very least 98 karma to raise your Magic and get the Initiations required to actually do this, not to mention spending at the very least four in-game months.

I don't know about you, but the amount of effort required to convert that negative quality into an amazing quality kinda deserves letting it pass. That's a considerable amount of dedication for essentially a R4 Power focus Plus Model.

My books are away from me at the moment (can't get freakin' Adobe Reader to download at Fort Lost-In-The-Woods, Misery), but if you want I can call my peoples to get the citations that allow Geomancy to affect Astral Hazing. There's only three sentences required that let it.

But yeah, the changeling doesn't need to remain stationary because the area that the Hazing is in is always there, relative to the location (body) of the changeling.

Or...hire somebody else to do it?

Remember, if you can do it to yourself, then your friend can do it to you, then some cabal mage you just met can do it to you.