Rulings/Awakened

Banned Awakened Content

Banned Qualities

Positive Qualities

• Apt Pupil (Forbidden Arcana, Page 32)
• Archivist (Forbidden Arcana, Page 32)
• Blood Crystal qualities (Forbidden Arcana, Page 132) are restricted to NPCs only
• Elemental Focus (Hard Targets, Page 191)
• Illusionist (Forbidden Arcana, Page 37)
• Puppet Master (Forbidden Arcana, Page 39)
• Stalwart Ally (Forbidden Arcana, Page 42)

Negative Qualities

• Wildcard Chimera (Dark Terrors, Page 163-164)

Banned Spells

Everything involving Blood, Bug, and Toxic Magic is restricted to NPCs.

The following spells are banned.

• Calling
• Convert Blood to Ichor
• Convince (Page 189, Stolen Souls)
• Dark Ally
• Growth (Page 49, Forbidden Arcana)
• Inflict Disease
• Multiply Food (Page 50, Forbidden Arcana)
• Rot
• Pollution and Radiation spell, adept powers, etc.
• Shape [Material] (Page 118, Street Grimoire)
• Turn to Goo
• Petrify
• False Impression
• Manascape

Banned Alchemical Preps

• Lightning Blade (Page 199, Forbidden Arcana)

Banned Adept Powers for player characters

• Plague Cloud
• Pollution and Radiation spell, adept powers, etc.

Banned Mentor Spirits for player characters

• Planar Entity
• Doom
• Pollution
• Disease
• Mutation

Banned Traditions

• Necro Magic (Page 82, Forbidden Arcana)

• Draconic Tradition (Page 76, Forbidden Arcana) - Draconic Tradition is only permitted for the use by Drakes, which makes it de facto banned on the ShadowHaven.

• Tarot (Page 91, Forbidden Arcana)

• Hybrid Traditions (Page 101, Forbidden Arcana)

• All Custom Traditions

Banned Metamagics

• Paradigm Shift: Insect Shaman (Page 43, Forbidden Arcana)

• Paradigm Shift: Toxic (Page 44, Forbidden Arcana)

• Spirit Expansion: Shedim (Page 44, Forbidden Arcana)

• Predator Feast (Page 131, Forbidden Arcana)

• Soul Tether (Page 131, Forbidden Arcana)

• Spiritual Sacrifice (Page 131, Forbidden Arcana)

• Tarot Summoning (Page 45, Forbidden Arcana)

• Quickening (Page 326, Core Rulebook)

• Sacrifice (Page 90, Street Grimoire)

Banned Arts

• Geomancy (Page 143, Street Grimoire)

Banned Mechanics

• Fettering (Page 192, Street Grimoire)
• Updated Raw Reagents (pg. 188, Forbidden Arcana)
• Refined Reagents Uses (pg. 188, Forbidden Arcana)
  • Street Grimoire uses still allowed
• Radical Reagent Uses (pg. 188, Forbidden Arcana)
  • Street Grimoire uses still allowed
• Spirit Leashing (Page 182, Forbidden Arcana)

Altered Awakened Content and Rulings

Spells

Counterspelling

• Counterspelling will turn Indirect AOE spells into an Opposed Threshold 3 test against the number of counterspelling dice spent. In effect, you roll your counterspelling dice against the spellcasting test, with each of your hits reducing their hits by one. This will reduce their damage, introduce the potential to scatter where it may not have existed before, and if you cause them to get zero hits, the spell will not go off at all, though they will still suffer the drain.

Direct Elemental Spells

• While Direct spells ignore armor for the purposes of how they deal damage, the elemental effects still suffer the full resistance of armor.

Looking Glass

• The Looking Glass spell permits UV light through just the same as regular light, and thus sunlight passing through would trigger Sunlight allergies.
• Laser weapons are capable of firing through Looking Glass-affected material. Incidentally, this is why Firewatch uses lasers.
• The looking glass spell affects things traditionally considered light, so Visible, Infrared, and Ultraviolet light.

Mindlink/Net

• For the purposes of Mindlink and Mindnet, only metahumans and metasapients (including Shapeshifters) may both be considered willing and be considered subjects.

Manabind/Net

• Mana Bind and Mana Net are defended against by Willpower + Charisma for the initial defense. This is an assumption made from the text and thus is an extended interpretation of the rules, rather than strict RAW.

Augury and Sortilege

• Adepts and Mystic Adepts without the Magician's Way, as well as any Aspected Conjurers or Aspected Enchanters may still use the Augury and Sortilege ritual, completing the ritual with a straight Magic check (rolling their Magic attribute only in d6) instead of Ritual Spellcasting + Magic, and interpreting the answer to the Question with an Arcana + Logic check.
• Mystic Adepts who are not locked out of Sorcery and who are following the Magician's Way, and any Magician or Aspected Sorcerer, will use Ritual Spellcasting to complete the ritual as per the usual rules.
• If a character who does not have Ritual Spellcasting is no longer following Oracle, they may not make use of these rules in order to utilize Augury and Sortilege. They are only available to those who stick with Oracle's Gifts.

Summoning and Spirits

Possession

• Cyberlimbs are considered active for the purposes of Possession.
• Spirits utilizing the Possession power may only move in the ways that their host entity could ordinarily move.
• The alteration to physical stats by Channeling and Possession are limited by the augmented max of +4.

Blind People and Spirits

• A blind individual may or may not be able to see a spirit or mage who is Manifesting. It likely depends on the source of their blindness, and whether or not they have a visual cortex. However, they would still be capable in any case of detecting them through other means, such as sound. Cybereyes can see them as usual.

Spirit Index

• Gaining spirit index due to disrupting a spirit will typically only trigger for the person who delivers the final blow, however, at a GM's discretion, they may award it to other integral combatants.

Traditions

Druids

• Druidic Traditionalists are the only people who can create Sacred Circles at this time.

Islamic Alchemist

• The Islamic Alchemist, when required to take Quickening, instead gains no metamagic for that initiation. When required to take Anchoring, they instead gain no metamagic for that initiation. This sounds awful, but is de facto RAW, since they, as you say, cannot use Spellcasting or Ritual Spellcasting.

Mentor Spirits

Spider (alt)

• Alternate Spider, as listed on FA 100 will be given one rank of Hang Time (SG 171) and one rank of Spirit Claw (SG 174), instead of the listed benefits.

Oracle

• Adepts, Magicians, Aspected Magicians, and Mysads following Oracle both may and must take the Divination art and the Augury and Sortilege ritual for the next initiation if they do not already possess it.

Meta Magics

Ally Spirit Summoning

• In order to summon an Ally Spirit, you must have a formula (which can be made by rolling out Arcana or by a run to go on a metaplanar quest for it.) You must then perform the ritual, with a force equal to the force of the ally you are trying to summon. Lacking a timespan, assume it takes 1 hour per point of force. After you successfully complete the ritual, you must summon the spirit, rolling the normal rolls for such. Spirit Whisperer does not come into play, for sanity's sake. Then, finally, you must bind the spirit (or give up and try again another day.)
• It is not possible to substitute the final part of getting an ally spirit (conjuring and binding the ally spirit. PG 201 SG) to instead undertake a metaplaner quest (initiation run).
• In order to alter a spirit, you must acquire the new formula or alter the old one, as detailed in the book. Then, you must perform the Ritual Change at the force of the ally spirit (the desired force, if upgrading it.) You must then bind the spirit again, though you do not have to summon it. Upon successful completion, you may spend the karma to induce any changes you designed into the formula. If you fail, you suffer drain and lose the resources expended, but do not lost the karma you would have spent and may try again.
• f your spirit's loyalty minus your Astral Reputation is less than 2, it will try to break free as described under "Losing an Ally," whenever it is presented with a chance.

Critter Powers

Paralyzing Howl

• A select sound filter set up to filter out a Paralyzing Howl provides bonus dice equal to the rating of the select sound filter on your defense test against the power. It does not provide immunity.

Movement

• For the purposes of the Movement Power, ignore the line about "domain" when used by a metahuman.

Qualities

Dedicated Qualities and Mysads

• Mysads must select sorcery as as an available skill group to take dedicated conjurer.
• Mysads must select conjuring as an available skill group to take dedicated spellslinger.

Other

Burned Out

• You are completely burned out when you have 0 current magic post gen. Temporary magic reductions do not count for this.

Auras and Signatures

• Biofiber pockets are a detectible aura, however, they generally do not extend outside of the clothing they are within unless someone sticks their head into your pants. This means they are pretty easy to not detect. It will, however, still mask foci within from being seen from outside them. Protection, unless someone is sticking their head into your pants.
• Astral Signatures may not be described to another mage. Alas, the intricacies of a sixth sense are even trickier than, say, describing the color red to someone. This holds equally true to summoned spirits through the Spirit-Summoner link (a very low-bandwidth link, incidentally), making the Quicksilver Camera the only way to spread astral signatures around ... and that way not a particularly good one.

Astral Actions

• Assensing + Intuition [Astral] against Sneaking + Agility [Physical] (if the sneaker is dual-natured or only on the meat) or Sneaking + Logic [Astral] (if the sneaker is wholly astral) is the test for stealth on the astral.

Foci

• You cannot apply a weapon focus to yourself. While a focus has your signature, it does not have your aura. Therefore, artificing foci yourself does not get around the previous restrictions on valid foci. Bioware, similarly, cannot be foci.