Runner's Companion.pdf - Free

Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9Free Spirit HealthSpirits are creatures of mana and have no real bodies tospeak of. They can still become hurt and suffer the same dice poolmodifiers for Stun or Physical damage that their metahumancounterparts do. Spirits also heal at the same rate as metahumans(p. 242, SR4). A spirit with a full Physical or Stun ConditionMonitor is disrupted.Spirits that are disrupted, whether it be by damage, beingforced through an astral barrier, or some other cause, are compelledto return to their native metaplane. If the spirit is disruptedby a cause other than damage, its Physical Condition Monitor isfilled. The spirit may not return to Earth until it has completelyhealed, again using the same rules as metahumans. Additionally,unless the spirit has an active Friendship Pact, the spirit may notreturn for a number of days equal to 28 minus its Force.If a spirit takes enough damage to overflow its PhysicalCondition Monitor by more than its Willpower attribute, its Forceis reduced by 1 when it returns to its home metaplane. Its naturalmaximum attributes are also reduced, which may cause the reductionof one or more attribute ratings. If a spirit’s Edge is reduced, italso loses at least one Power Point worth of critter powers.First aid and medicine and medicine do not work on spirits,although they may work on a possessed vessel. Any healingor repair given to a vessel applies only to that vessel’s ConditionMonitor, and not to the spirit’s. Free spirits may not use cyberware,bioware, nanoware, transgenics, drugs, or anything else thatrequires an organic body.Free Spirit QualitiesFree spirits may choose any quality available to characters, exceptfor the following: any quality conferring a Magic or Resonanceattribute, Aspected Magician, Codeblock, Codeslinger, FocusAddiction, Human-Looking, Magic Resistance, Mentor Spirit,Natural Hardening, Natural Immunity, Resistance to Pathogens/Toxins, Scorched, Sensitive Neural Structure, Sensitive System,Simsense Vertigo, Spirit Affinity, Spirit Pact, Weak ImmuneSystem, or any quality from Arsenal, Augmentation, or Unwired.Free spirit characters may also take the qualities available tofree spirits, which are listed in this section.Free Spirit QualitiesThese are new qualities that apply to free spirits only.Former Ally SpiritBonus: 15 BPThe free spirit was originally an ally spirit. As such, a copyof its spell formula exists and is in the hands of the magician forwhom it had been an ally. The circumstances of this situation areup to the gamemaster but are never simple or pleasant.FixatedBonus: 5 BPThe spirit with this quality is obsessed with its original form.The spirit may only purchase powers accessible by a single type ofspirit available to its tradition, chosen at character generation. Thespirit gains no other traits of the spirit type, including movementrate and weaknesses.alternative character concepts . . . . . . . . . . .Spirit PactsPlayer character free spirits start with one spirit pact.This is the pact that the spirit “knows,” and is available tothe spirit to make with other characters. The PC free spirithas the choice of any of the pacts on page 108 of StreetMagic, plus the Friendship Pact, which is detailed below.A spirit may start the game with a spirit pact in place.The pact must be with another player character or an NPCthat has close ties to the team. The person with whom thespirit has the pact must have the Spirit Pact quality (p. 26,Street Magic).A spirit character may start knowing one additionalspirit pact by taking the Spirit Pact power, gaining one newkind of pact each time it is taken.Friendship PactA Friendship Pact is an agreement in which the spirittrades its protection and assistance in exchange for a closerconnection to the physical and astral planes. It allows aspirit to create a magical bond with a group of sentientpeople native to the physical plane. The spirit must finda number of people for the pact equal to its Force. Shouldthe spirit’s Force ever increase, it must find another friendto add to the pact within a day of the increase.Runner’s CompanionThis bond more strongly connects the spirit to thephysical world. The spirit gains the ability to acquire itsown Karma as a metahuman does. The spirit also gains theability to communicate with its bonded friends mentally inimages and thoughts up to the spirit’s Force x 10 meters.This communication is only between the spirit and one ormore bonded friends, and not between the friends in question.The bond also strengthens the spirit’s ties to the Earth.it loses the 28-day limitation on returning from its homemetaplane and may return as soon as it is fully healed.This pact does exact a toll on the spirit. Every time apact member dies, the spirit’s Force rating is reduced byone. Its natural maximum attributes are also reduced,which may cause the reduction of one or more attributeratings; if a spirit’s Edge is reduced, it also loses at leastone Power Point worth of critter powers. If all of the spirit’spact friends die, its Force is reduced to zero and the spiritdissipates into the astral. To help delay this fate, a spiritmay burn one of its own Edge to save a pact friend fromdeath (p. 68, SR4).A free spirit may start the game with a Friendship Pactin place with any other eligible and willing player characters.The people participating in a Friendship Pact with the spiritdo not need the Spirit Pact quality.93