Summoning

You can summon spirits of your tradition (p. 279). Summoning a spirit is a Complex Action. You can only summon one spirit at a time, and it only hangs around for a limited time—a summoned spirit will return to wherever it was when you called it when it’s either through with all of the services it owes you or when the sun rises or sets (whichever comes first). Here’s how to summon a spirit.

STEP 1: CHOOSE SPIRIT TYPE & FORCE
You can only choose a spirit of a type available to your tradition—most traditions have five types to choose from. You also need to choose the spirit’s Force (the higher the Force the more powerful the spirit), up to twice your Magic rating. You can call a spirit with optional powers if the Force you choose is high enough; spirits have one optional power for every 3 full points of Force (so Force 1–2 spirits have no optional powers, Force 3–5 have 1, Force 6–8 have 2, and so on). Once a spirit has been summoned, its optional powers cannot be changed.

GROUP SUMMONING
Magicians can use teamwork to summon a spirit. All of the team members must be able to summon the type of spirit intended, and team members who are a different tradition than the team leader suffer a –2 dice pool penalty on their roll. The team uses the normal Teamwork rules for the test (p. 49), and all of them suffer the same amount of Drain, which is twice the hits (not net hits) on the spirit’s defense test. If successful, only the leader of the ritual may command the spirit, so choose wisely.

STEP 2: ATTEMPT SUMMONING
Make an Opposed Test using Summoning + Magic [Force] v. spirit’s Force. You may spend reagents to change the limit of this test (Reagents, p. 316). If you get no net hits, the spirit doesn’t show up. If you get net hits, the spirit arrives nearby in astral space, owing you one service per net hit. The nature of the services the spirit can provide depends on the type of spirit and its Force and powers (Spirit Services, p. 302).

STEP 3: RESIST DRAIN
Whether you successfully summon the spirit or not, you must resist Drain from the attempt. The Drain Value is equal to twice the hits (not net hits) on the spirit’s defense test, with a minimum Drain Value of 2. If the spirit’s Force is greater than your Magic rating, the Drain is Physical; otherwise it’s Stun.

GLITCHES
A glitch on conjuring can result in the wrong spirit type (but still one within the summoner’s tradition), a spirit of lesser force (who makes the Opposed Test at the Force the summoner selected), or extra Drain (e.g., +2) to resist. On a critical glitch, kindhearted gamemasters could double the Drain the magician must resist or not allow the Drain to be resisted at all. More punitive (read: evil) gamemasters may see this as an opportunity to introduce the magician to a spirit of the intended Force who is not under the summoner’s control and wishes to have a “conversation” about how some spirits feel the practices of summoning and binding is a form of slavery.