[rpk0714]

I have a few questions that I have been trying to find a defnintive answer to (to no avail).
The first one is regarding the interaction of the Blood Magic Sacrifice metamagic technique and the critter power regeneration.

CRB page 400:

Regeneration can’t heal everything. Damage to the brain or spinal cord (for example, a called shot to the head) can’t be healed this way.
Magical damage from weapon foci, combat spells, most critter or adept powers, or Drain likewise can’t be healed by Regeneration.

So RAW, taking damage for the purpose of generating Blood Magic Points does not meet any of the criteria that prevent the use of Regeneration, right?


Then there is the aspect of Self Harm when using the Sacrifice metamagic technique:

Forbidden Arcana page 136:

Self Harm: A lesser sacrifce, but the bread and butter for the benevolent blood mage.
That being said, it cannot be healed by any magical means and requires time and potentially medical attention.
Overcasting in this fashion causes a multiplier to the healing time, as the body’s life energy has weakened and cannot assist in natural recovery.

CRB page 394:

Whenever a critter flies, rends something with its claws, or paralyzes a target with a mere touch, it’s using a critter power.
Powers are the special abilities that a critter possesses. Some critter powers are natural, such as their claws or tough skin.
Others, such as a barghest’s Paralyzing Howl, are magical in nature.

The classification of natural (mundane?) vs magical critter powers is introduced but then ignored.
So in order to answer my question, we need to know if Regeneration is a magical critter power or not.


My second issue is regarding the starting values of Essence and Magic of Strain I infected.
Run Faster covers Strain II and III, but I did not find anything on Strain I.
Then I found this paragraph in Howling Shadows.

Howling Shadows page 86:

Unless noted otherwise, all Infected may be adepts, magicians, or mystic adepts. They always have a Magic rating, whether they are magically active or not.
The starting Magic rating for Strain 1 Infected is equal to 6 or their Essence, whichever is lower.
This Magic rating does not include any Initiation ranks an NPC might have if they are magically active.

So if Strain I Infected really start with min[6, Essence] Magic, they could for example just take Priority D (Aspected Magician with Magic Rating 2), take full advantage of being an active magic user and use their inherent magic rating (which is most likely be higher than 2)?


I hope I can get some definitive and most importantly, official answers on these questions

[firebug]

Regeneration is without a doubt magical, which is why it is negatively effected by magical damage and why it cannot heal Drain.  Damage taken from Sacrifice (Self Harm) is treated like Drain damage in terms of what can and cannot heal it, which is why you cannot use spells like Heal or benefit from Regeneration for it.  This I'm certain about.

As for the Strain 1 Magic, it's very likely it is intended to be a 1 MAG and 1 Essence, because as Run Faster says "Newly created Infected PC characters are assumed to have been recently Infected, or at very least to share the qualities of the recently Infected."  Because new Strain 1 Infected begin with 1 Essence, you are assumed to either have been recently Infected, or have not fed in a while and thus begin with 1 Essence.  Then following the rules in Howling Shadows, you would begin with 1 Magic.