[Mordoyh]

While going over the PC Free Spirit creation I came across something that raised a question.  Are PC Free Spirits able to earn Karma?  Or are they limited like the NPC Free Spirits in the same manner unless they take the Friendship Pact?

Initially, I took the line in the Friendship Pact about allowing a Free Spirit to earn karma normally to apply to NPC's as it was being introduced as a new spirit power available to all Free Spirits.  However, when reading through the PC description, it never says that PCs earn karma as other characters do.  The next closest alternative character race, the AI PC, explicitly states that it can earn karma, although it has some differences from karma of organic characters.

So all this has me wondering if PC Free Spirits must have the Friendship Pact in place in order to earn karma, or is it mostly for avoiding the 28 days to return if banished/disrupted?

Thanks!

[Raventrickster]

We've been playing that the free spirit needed the pact to gain any karma, but with a friendship pact would gain karma normally.  I'm pretty sure the text of the Friendship pact (which is in runners companion, not street magic, so there's another hint) makes it clear that this is both RAW and RAI.  Specifically the following line

The spirit gains the ability to acquire its own Karma as a metahuman does.

Pretty much states right out that even pc free spirits don't naturally gain karma on their own without a spirit pact.

[Mordoyh]

Considering the huge BP cost for a Free Spirit PC of 250 BP, also requiring a friendship pact seems pretty harsh.  The next closest alternative PC the AI only costs 110 BP, has just about as many bonuses and penalties but also doesn't have to put any points into physical stats.

The quoted line doesn't actually state it applies to all Free Spirits.  In the opening paragraph of Creating a Free Spirit Character, it differentiates the differences in that NPC Free Spirits follow the rules in Street Magic on p. 106.  And that the PC is somewhat different than the NPC.

The Friendship Pact description also contradicts itself in the second paragraph and the last paragraph.  The first one says the spirit pact must be taken by the person the pact is made with, but the last paragraph states that the participants do not have to take the Spirit Pact quality.

[Glyph]

A spirit starts out with one spirit pact for free, and only has to pay for additional ones.  The Friendship Pact is a case of a specific rule overriding a general one (you don't need the spirit pact quality for it)

[Mordoyh]

A spirit starts out with one spirit pact for free, and only has to pay for additional ones.  The Friendship Pact is a case of a specific rule overriding a general one (you don't need the spirit pact quality for it)

I'm guessing this is directed at the apparent contradiction in the description of the Friendship Spirit Pact, rather than the overall question about PC Free Spirits earning karma w/o the Friendship Pact.

[Lansdren]

If I remember right it the number of friends needs to equal the force of the spirit and it cant increase its force without increasing the number of friends, or something along those lines.