[Senko]

ONE
I'm browsing the ally spirit rules (trying to find out where its personality gets decided e.g. is it perky, does it like to play boargames, does it enjoy teasing its summoner, is it male/female, etc, etc) are there any rules about that is or completely up to the player when they make the spirits formula?

TWO
I noticed the ritual of change is twice the original cost i.e. summon an ally spirit base cost is 8 karma per force, enhance it later its 16 karma per force. So I was wondering does anyone know the reasoning for why the cost doubles? Right now it seems you'd be better off waiting until you'd saved up say 48/50 karma for a force 6 ally than paying 24 now for a force 3 then 48 to enhance it to force 6 for a total of 72 karma or 26 karma more. Because adding other abilities skills, spells, forms don't suffer the doubling so you can add those later for the same price you would if they were part of the original formula.

THREE
It say's dieing or nearly dieing free's the spirit if you've treated it as a friend, looked out for its interests, listened when it tells you something (doesn't have to be plot related could just be that it wants to see a particular movie so you go together as friends) could it remain as a free spirit that regards you as a friend?  The important part is it wanting to continue your relationship I assume force 6 and above is likely to become a free spirit while a lesser force one would probably return to its metaplane. For that matter what is nearly dieing, is there a game definition soewhere or is it up to GM discretion?

FOUR
You pick its metaplane and it can be destroyed by a trip to said plane so are you required to pick a metaplane from the pick or can you choose some arbitary plane that has relevance to your character e.g. Niflhelm for a norse mage or Elysium for a greek one as its home plane? Obviously you can't make up something completely ridiculous e.g. the Plane of DC where superheroes live in an alternate earth.

FIVE
Can an ally spirit be a a greater spirit? efore anyone acuses me of munchkinism this is purely curiosity I want my ally spirit to be a spirit of man and materialization so even if she was a great spirit she'd get magical guard so she can use counterspelling which I can give her anyway.

SIX
How realistic are the materialization ally spirits. I don't mean in appearnce here but in all the little things that are part of being human do they eat, sleep, get annoyed with you leaving the toilet seat up? Does this come under spirit formula design and you can design one that does eat and sleep?

SEVEN
On the topic of munchkinism though can you augment a spirit with bioware/cyberware or at least its materialized form?

EIGHT
An ally spirit is sapient and in the description of that power it say's they are capable of learning new skills if they so choose. How does this work does the spirit earn its own karma it can spend to learn new skills or can they only be added via a ritual of change. Similary what rank are its skills? Equal to its force, at a rating it learns, something else?

NINE
Related to skills is the price of 5 karma for all skills i.e active and knowledge e.g. if I want her to know about sports (interest) would I pay 5 karma to give her that knowledge skill at rating X?

[Mirikon]

ONE
I'm browsing the ally spirit rules (trying to find out where its personality gets decided e.g. is it perky, does it like to play boargames, does it enjoy teasing its summoner, is it male/female, etc, etc) are there any rules about that is or completely up to the player when they make the spirits formula?

Partly up to the player, mostly up to the GM. The 'mentality' of an ally spirit is one of those tricky things, in game. Their personality, likes, dislikes, and so on are buried in the formula, certainly, but that's the same as saying the way your mouse moves across the screen is buried in your PC's operating system. Where, in all those lines of code, are you going to find it to edit it? Sometimes allies are similar to their summoners, sometimes they are polar opposites. And sometimes they are manifestations of their emotional state at the time of summoning. Regardless, they aren't cardboard cutouts.

TWO
I noticed the ritual of change is twice the original cost i.e. summon an ally spirit base cost is 8 karma per force, enhance it later its 16 karma per force. So I was wondering does anyone know the reasoning for why the cost doubles? Right now it seems you'd be better off waiting until you'd saved up say 48/50 karma for a force 6 ally than paying 24 now for a force 3 then 48 to enhance it to force 6 for a total of 72 karma or 26 karma more. Because adding other abilities skills, spells, forms don't suffer the doubling so you can add those later for the same price you would if they were part of the original formula.

Honestly? Because their Force plays into their limit for most things, and there is no top end on a spirit's Force, really. That can get nasty, very fast.

THREE
It say's dieing or nearly dieing free's the spirit if you've treated it as a friend, looked out for its interests, listened when it tells you something (doesn't have to be plot related could just be that it wants to see a particular movie so you go together as friends) could it remain as a free spirit that regards you as a friend?  The important part is it wanting to continue your relationship I assume force 6 and above is likely to become a free spirit while a lesser force one would probably return to its metaplane. For that matter what is nearly dieing, is there a game definition soewhere or is it up to GM discretion?

Anything that sends you into Overflow, or where you have to burn Edge to survive would count as nearly dying. And yes, if you've been a friend to the spirit rather than a master, they may continue to be your friend when freed. But that's totally dependent on the roleplay.

FOUR
You pick its metaplane and it can be destroyed by a trip to said plane so are you required to pick a metaplane from the pick or can you choose some arbitary plane that has relevance to your character e.g. Niflhelm for a norse mage or Elysium for a greek one as its home plane? Obviously you can't make up something completely ridiculous e.g. the Plane of DC where superheroes live in an alternate earth.

You can pick whatever plane you like. There are a near infinite number of metaplanes out there.

FIVE
Can an ally spirit be a a greater spirit? efore anyone acuses me of munchkinism this is purely curiosity I want my ally spirit to be a spirit of man and materialization so even if she was a great spirit she'd get magical guard so she can use counterspelling which I can give her anyway.

Different progression tracks. Invoking a greater spirit is a different path from summoning an ally spirit.

SIX
How realistic are the materialization ally spirits. I don't mean in appearnce here but in all the little things that are part of being human do they eat, sleep, get annoyed with you leaving the toilet seat up?

They might, or might not. It all depends on the spirit's whims, personality, and the master's attitude in turn. They CAN eat and sleep, though they don't need to.

[Senko]

Thanks I edited in a few more questions while you were answering if you wouldn't mind taking a look at them please I'd appreciate it.

So different strokes with regard to ally and great form ok.

I'm not looking for a cardboard cutout but I would like to be reasonably sure we'll have similar interests so we can actually get along as friends rather than say the odd couple if you recall that old show. So while I don't want she loves skiing and swimming but hates horseback riding level of detail I would like to do broad strokes of she enjoys sports as well as computer, board and card games. In order to ensure we can spend a happy night playing a board game together to pass the time. Similarly even if she isn't interested in an ice sculpture festival like me she'd go as a friend, of course she might also drag me to a soccer match because she wants to see it together in return since she'd be justified in expecting me to do things I'm not really interested in as well. Other things like her favorite food if she chooses to eat or the like would be up to GM/her. On the other hand I'd like to be reasonably sure I can avoid a goth ally spirit who always views the world as bleak and depressing or an ally spirit who's mentally/emotionally 8 and views me as their parent. Still I gather this is something to dicuss with the GM as its not spelled out anywhere where they get them from e.g. table X roll personality.

EDIT
Munchkin question but could if the GM agreed an ally spirit have one of the greater powers e.g. hidden life or wealth. I'm rather amused by the idea of the ally spirit hiding its life inside its summoner so it can't be permanently banished or disrupted even if you do travel to its metaplane and the summoner gets immunity to normal weapons and immunity to age. Of course being able to create piles of gems and precious metals is also notice although I can see hordes of people coming after your ally if it ever got out what they can do.

One more question it say's an ally spirit starts with physical and astral attributes equal to its force which I assume is magic and essence. Meanwhile physical stats don't get the usual shifting based on type and just equal its force like mental ones (normally spirits of man are F+1).

[Mirikon]

SEVEN
On the topic of munchkinism though can you augment a spirit with bioware/cyberware or at least its materialized form?

No. Full stop. Only way to get an ally spirit with 'ware is for it to be an inhabitation spirit with a living vessel.

EIGHT
An ally spirit is sapient and in the description of that power it say's they are capable of learning new skills if they so choose. How does this work does the spirit earn its own karma it can spend to learn new skills or can they only be added via a ritual of change. Similary what rank are its skills? Equal to its force, at a rating it learns, something else?

Ally spirits don't gain their own karma. They can only be changed via the ritual. However, if they become free, they start earning their own karma, and can advance as normal.

NINE
Related to skills is the price of 5 karma for all skills i.e active and knowledge e.g. if I want her to know about sports (interest) would I pay 5 karma to give her that knowledge skill at rating X?

RAW, I'd say yes.

[Senko]

Thanks.

[Beta]

I really don't think ally spirits and great form spirits go together.  On the one hand from balance perspective, on the other hand great form is a ritual done in the mundane world if I read that right, and I don't think the formula would let the ally be changed like that

While talking about interesting things to do with your ally, don't forget that you only need one in a skill for it to get it at its force, and you can buy it spells you don't know.  Can actually be a cost effective way of getting into ritual magic or alchemy .

Also, never underestimate the usefulness of an ally with long arms skill and a hunting rice. No fingerprints or DNA left on the rifle once the spirit vanishes, and gets around the magical defences that were set up to deal with a mage. 

Various pilot skills can be nice this way too.

Obviously gets expensive to buy all the skills, but one or two non-obvious ones can be interesting.  (Also don't forget about counterspelling, near mandatory IMO)