[JustADude]

Yes, with a spell you can calculate the exact number of drain you have to resist and make a fair guess about how well you will resist it with your drain resist pool.
You don't know how many net success the spirit will get on its resist summoning roll and a nasty GM can have the spirit use edge so summoning a higher force spirit can suddenly turn really nasty - as in deadly nasty.

Rasmus

Good rule of thumb... never roll for a higher spirit than (1/2 Remaining Physical Track + Overflow) - 1.

[rungok]

Yes, with a spell you can calculate the exact number of drain you have to resist and make a fair guess about how well you will resist it with your drain resist pool.
You don't know how many net success the spirit will get on its resist summoning roll and a nasty GM can have the spirit use edge so summoning a higher force spirit can suddenly turn really nasty - as in deadly nasty.

Rasmus

Good rule of thumb... never roll for a higher spirit than (1/2 Remaining Physical Track + Overflow) - 1.

... Can I use edge on resisting drain?

[rasmusnicolaj]

Yes.

Rasmus

[JustADude]

... Can I use edge on resisting drain?

Still possible to get zilch hits on Drain, though, and the Spirit getting maximum hits to resist you. The formula I listed is a bit of a safeguard to keep from going *HEAD ASPLODE* if that happens.

[UmaroVI]

Depends on the GM, really, and how they play the NPCs. A huge, grinding, bellowing pile of vaguely humanoid rocks is going to draw a LOT of attention away from the squishy human types if it appears in the middle of the enemy formation. Plus it also has Concealment and Fear as Optional Powers.

With their F+4 for Str and Bod, plus Binding, they're also good for carrying "extraction" targets, as well as doing the heavy lifting and grunt-work.

EDIT: Correct me if I'm wrong, but Spirits do also get Fx2 Hardened Armor, correct? That makes using a nice, tough Earth Spirit as a point man and walking booby-trap detector another good use. Not as good as Beasts, but Buddhist's don't get Beasts.

A giant pillar of fire is also going to attract plenty of attention, as is a giant tornado.

The core problem Earth spirits have is: Low agility, plus they come with no non-optional attack powers that don't suck (yes, hitting things is crap. F/2+2 melee with 2F-2 dice is really, really bad - compare to a Fire spirit's F+4 melee with 2F+2 dice).  All spirit types get Hardened armor, not just earth spirits, and they aren't really much tougher than fire spirits (+2 body, -1 reaction, meh). I guess if you want to summon one to carry stuff for you, that's an OK use of it, although you're generally better off just using Movement on a vehicle.

[Lethe]

Fire spirit's F+4 melee with 2F+2 dice).

DV should be F/2+3?
Water Spirit has F/2+4, for only two attack dice less, which makes it slightly more efficient on average ;-) Assuming you summon at least F3 and give her Energy Aura as optional power.
Spirit of Man with Stunbolt will have DV F, with 2F dice pool. Target has no armor to resist instead of half vs. elemental attacks and Willpower instead of Body. Imho even more efficient... if thats the goal ;-)

[Tsuzua]

Fire spirit's F+4 melee with 2F+2 dice).

DV should be F/2+3?
Water Spirit has F/2+4, for only two attack dice less, which makes it slightly more efficient on average ;-) Assuming you summon at least F3 and give her Energy Aura as optional power.
Spirit of Man with Stunbolt will have DV F, with 2F dice pool. Target has no armor to resist instead of half vs. elemental attacks and Willpower instead of Body. Imho even more efficient... if thats the goal ;-)

Fire spirits get Energy Aura too.
 
Man wins the spirit race due to the power of stunbolt.  Then again all spirits win; some just win harder than others.  It's pretty easy to summon something that is as dangerous (or more!) as another PC.   

[UmaroVI]

Man spirits are better than everything else, but there's no Intuition tradition with Man and no mentor that gives Man/Combat either.

Fire spirits do Engulf with Element Aura. Engulf is DV=Force, Energy Aura adds +4 DV to melee attacks, so Engulf ends up doing Force+4. Water spirits can also do Force+4 engulfs, but have lower stats (2 less agility, in particular). Also, there's no Combat/Water mentor other than Shark, and Shark comes with a suicidal drawback.

[rungok]

What ARE spirits of man anyways? They ghosts or something?

[CanRay]

What ARE spirits of man anyways? They ghosts or something?

Spirits of Metahumanity.  Some take the form of ancestors, which are like ghosts.  Others are spirits related to metahumanity, hearth spirits (The spirit of a building), traveling spirits (which would look like cars, motorcycles, horse and buggies), stuff like that.

Whatever a person works on and cares for gains a bit of life from that person.  It's the idea that items can gain a bit of a soul from their connection.  It's why people talk to cars, sailors believe ships have some form of life, weapons were connected to the warriors that wielded them, and so on.

[rungok]

So if I make my guitar my focus item...
Say, this guitar:
http://www.funkytrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dragon-guitars1.jpg

I can use it for spellcasting but also for playing music right?

I can see my character almost literally performing a master exploder on someone using magic while rocking out.

[CanRay]

So if I make my guitar my focus item...
Say, this guitar:
http://www.funkytrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/dragon-guitars1.jpg

I can use it for spellcasting but also for playing music right?

I can see my character almost literally performing a master exploder on someone using magic while rocking out.

Only if you're from this Magician Tradition. 

[rungok]

So I was given about 15 extra BP than normal to build my character, and was looking at street magic for another spell or two to take, and I stumbled across Orgasm/Orgy.

This, this seems both awesome and disturbing. Cause I can imagine it being used during one of my character's concerts, as well as when we need to slip past some otherwise alert guards. Of course it's an illusion spell so I don't get my mentor spirit or skill specialty bonuses, but still... Damn.