Does using a counterspell cause stress? When we were going through the Neutral Grounds adventure, another player and I had an argument about it. It was using the Earth Channeler character to counter the magical barrier around the NPC in the second encounter.
I was of the opinion that it would cost 3 stress: one for the base counterspell evocation, and two more because the barrier's power was 2 higher than the Channeler's Conviction.
The other player maintained that it would only be a 2 stress attempt, for the two shifts the Channeler would need in excess of his Conviction. He pointed to YS Page 253, where, in the example, for counterspelling a magical effect with 5 shifts of power it says that "[Harry's] Conviction is Superb (+5), so he can safely summon that much power...". Ergo, doing a counterspell against shifts up to your Conviction did not cause stress damage, only the shifts in excess of Conviction.
Which, if either, of us had the right interpretation?