[wolfrider66]

This may very well be a rooky question, but when a mystic adept rolls verse drain, what are the attributes involved? Hermetic mages use willpower + Logic, shamans use willpower +charisma etc. Mystic adepts don't  use a tradition so they are willpower + what?

[Walks Through Walls]

Mystic adepts still have a tradition for their spellslinging. My mystic adept is a shaman with American Indian influences. Mystic adepts can also have a mentor. About the only thing they can't do is astrally project or astrally perceive if they don't take the adept power.

[Makki]

even normal Adepts sometimes follow a tradition. They can also have a mentor spirit. Even mundanes could follow a tradition. There's just no mechanical effect for them. There are a lot of wanna-be-wicca girls around even today. And many many druids and the like.

[Orvich]

Loads of christian theurgists.

The idea behind the traditions is that they are extensions of magic rooted in pre-existing cultural ideas. With only a little bit of looking, you can find groups and followers of every single tradition here in good ol' 2012. You can even find many of the technomancer streams, though they aren't as rooted in pre-existing ideas, according to their fluff.

[Mantis]

More specifically, you can't cast spells or summon spirits without a tradition. You need one and the tradition you pick or make up (jedi? psionics?) determines what spirits you summon and what your drain attribute will be. Full Magicians and Mystic Adepts must have one. Everyone else can pick one if they like but it has no game effects.

[wolfrider66]

Thanks folks, for some odd reason I remember reading somewhere that mystic adepts don't use traditions. Maybe I'm going crazy.

[Mantis]

Maybe you are but at least you are in good company