Occams Razor

When you take a Drain effect, you are unable to use skills. However, there are many skills that are just 'in effect' that don't seem like they would be lost. I assume that even if they are Drained, a Rap would still be poisonous and hurt by Cure Poison, a Ridden would still be Slow, a Psyker would still be Fractured, and a Working Stiff Member of the Brute Squad would still have +1 Vitaity. Also, a character does not have a skill they have purchased that allows them to use weapons unless it is a discouraged style. You just get to use certain forms based on your headers and specs. Is there a guideline for exactly what you lose when you are Drained?

From experience I would say Drain effects those skills that fire off of Attributes. Raps don't lose their poison and Ridden are still slow. But things like "Spend X to swing for Y" are useless until the Drain is purged. I think that's a fair idea but I welcome anyone to help clarify.

I always assumed it was "active" skills that you couldn't use. For instance, First Aid doesn't cost any Attributes to use, but it's not an innate ability - it's something you have to actively do. I would think that a Medic couldn't use First Aid while under the effects of Drain.

I'd assume "passive" skills, like the Raps poison and the ability to use discouraged weapon styles, still function while under the effects of Drain.

I'm really new to Accelerant, though, so I might be wrong.

As per the Accelerate Rule book:

Drain
For a simple Drain effect, you cannot run or use any game skill, including weapon and shield skills. If the
verbal is followed by a skill or ability name then you cannot use that particular skill. Drain can also be used to prevent entire skill headers. If a header is drained, you cannot use any skill that falls under that header.
Drain can be used in this manner to suppress racial abilities and empowered named items. If an item is
named after a Drain effect then no abilities from that item can be used until the Drain ends. Only simple
Drain effects prevent you from running. The Drain effect will last until you rest for five minutes.

As for wonky juju happenings like Racial traits being effected...best take it as it comes and when offer the chance ask for clarification.

I am not staff, so please bear that in mind, but the way I understand drain to work with the 0pt racial 'skills' is that the drain effect doesn't shut them down. If I'm not mistaken, the rational is that these skills are are simply an easy way to package a racial disadvantage and fall outside the traditional notion of skill as something you purchase that you can use at will.

Personally, I always default to just assuming that in situations where a drain would allow me to not be screwed by a disadvantage, then I should take the screwing. YMMV, however.

From my experience, Drain does not discriminate. It says you cannot use any game skills. It does not distinguish between 'active' and 'passive' skills. If you are attacked and block with weapons in your hands, you take damage just like you were hit because you can't use those weapons.
It is a tricky situation here because there are skills that seem like it would make sense to have persist through a Drain effect. Does the idea that you are using the skill have any bearing? Yes, you are using a skill to fix your armor, but are you using a skill just to wear it and get +1 Armor? But 'use' isn't a word with a strict definition here.
And on the other hand, maybe you want to be able to do things like 'Drain Changling by Magic' and then your fae can go pick up a rifle and start Ramboing all over the place.

I was specifically told that Drain does not stop Psychic Scream from going off (viewtopic.php?f=12&t=184&start=20), which would suggest that Drain doesn't hit disadvantages.

Drain does not mitigate racial drawbacks or 'required' skills, and as per the core rules, you may not 'wield' weapons while Drained--as stated above, you may hold a weapon, if a weapon you are holding is struck while you are drained, you take the effect. If it helps to understand, think of it this way: being Drained is pretty bad news. Running isn't a skill, and you can't do that, so fighting is out of the question (otherwise you'd have a Slow and a Weakness as opposed to a Drain).

Just checking, I assume we also don't get any positive side effects of "required" skills? Like say a Damaged's once/reset Heal 3 to Self?

Clearly, Drain is bad news. It makes sense that Required skills would stay in effect during a Drain. It also makes sense that you can't use weapons. But at the risk of overthinking things, let's consider the lamentable case of a poor little Fetch named Wankershim. Wankershim is a Blue Collar Working Stiff with the skills Tough as a Pine Knot, Built to Last, Pround Member of the Brute Squad, and Safety Dance. He has been beat up pretty badly and has only one Vitality left. He has just fixed his armor, so he has 1 Vitality, 2 Armor. Desperate to prove he is as good in a fight as a real boy, he rushes out into the fray and is hit with a Drain. Awww, poor little stick boy. He can't use any skills! Without Saftey Dance, his armor goes from 2 points to 1. He still has 1 point of costume armor, because everyone gets that (even Fetches) and it's not a skill. But without Pine Knot and Brute Squad skills, he loses +2 vitality. Wankershim falls down Stable, because Hollow Man is a required skill for Fetches and it says if you would fall down unstable, you are stable instead and that skill is still in effect. But even without it, he would probably be stable anyway, because he didn't take called damage.
Poor Wankershim lies there unconscious, and since he is a Fetch, of course no one helps him. He lies there for 5 minutes, unconscious but also Resting off his Drain. When the 5 minutes is up, he wakes up with 1 Vitality. Plus he can use skills again, so he has +2 Vitality, and he doesn't need to fix his armor to get back to 2 points, because it was never damaged. It was always there, he just wasn't able to use it. So after he shakes off the effect of the Drain, he stands up with 3 Vitality and 2 Armor, ready to party if only he could get an invitation. Poor Wankershim.

Is that right?