Free Spirits

The following rules offer guidelines for using free spirits in a Shadowrun game.

BORN FREE

Whenever a spirit becomes uncontrolled, the gamemaster decides whether it becomes a free spirit. Bound spirits with a Force of 6 or higher tend to become free spirits due to a long association with metahumanity and the natural world, but lesser spirits, especially unbound ones, tend to return to the metaplanes.
To randomly determine whether a spirit goes free, have the spirit make an Edge [Force] (3) Test. If successful, the spirit becomes free and has a starting Edge of 1. Every net hit increases the spirit’s Edge by 1. Failure means the spirit departs to the metaplanes. Unbound spirits generally do not go free and suffer a –4 dice pool modifier for the test. On the other hand, spirits that have had memorable or frequent encounters with metahumanity receive a +2 dice pool modifier.

NEW POWERS

Every free spirit gains the Banishing Resistance power (p. 194, SG) and is considered a full Magician (p. 69, CRB) with the exception that they may never have skills in the Conjuring group and may not astrally project from an inhabited vessel unless it has the Astral Projection power (p. 204, SG). Also, when a spirit becomes free, it gains a number of new powers equal to its Edge attribute. After that, each time the spirit’s Edge increases, the spirit also gains another new power. New powers can be chosen from any of the following:

• The original spirit type’s list of optional powers.
• One of these spirit powers: Astral Gateway, Aura Masking, Divining, Energy Drain (Essence), Materialization, Possession, or Realistic Form.
• Any metamagic technique available to metahuman initiates (except those from the Spiritual Arts, p. 147, SG). Free spirits use Edge instead of initiate grade. Free spirits may also possess metamagics currently unknown to metahumanity, which can provide gamemasters with a unique opportunity to introduce a new metamagical technique.
• A unique power chosen from the list under Free Spirit Powers on p. 204, SG.

FREE SPIRIT SERVICES

A free spirit does not normally owe services to anyone, but it can perform any service a bound spirit can perform (p. 302, CRB) if it wishes to. A free spirit can be bound by its spirit formula (see below) and compelled to perform services, but it does not return to the metaplanes when the services are exhausted or its master dies.

TRUE NAMES

The true name of a spirit is a complex, arcane formula that represents the sum total of the spirit’s essence and nature. Although intricate and abstract, an identified spirit formula can be transcribed by the Arcana skill into recognisable symbols and terms. Anyone who possesses a copy of a spirit formula can command the free spirit that the formula represents. Because of this, few free spirits are willing to allow multiple copies of their spirit formulas to exist.

LEARNING THE SPIRIT FORMULA

A spirit formula can be learned via several different methods:

• Find Physical Location: A spirit’s true name can be physically imprinted on an object, a person, or even a place that was near the spirit when it first broke free, but free spirits often relocate any object imprinted with its true name at the first opportunity. The true name itself is similar to an astral signature and can be identified with an Assensing + Intuition [Astral] (3) Test. Translating the true name into a spirit formula requires an Arcana + Logic [Mental] (spirit’s Force x 5, 1 day) Extended Test. A bound spirit can assist in this task as an Aid Study service, regardless of the spirit’s type. The spirit formula takes a form appropriate for the spirit’s tradition: a thaumaturgic formula for a hermetic mage, a totemic statuette for a shaman, and so on.
• Metaplanar Quest: An initiate may learn a spirit’s true name by undertaking a metaplanar quest (p. 140, SG) to the spirit’s native metaplane. A spirit’s metaplane can be obvious or obscure. Without obvious clues, a magician must either succeed in an Assensing + Intuition [Astral] (2) Test if observing the spirit directly or an Assensing + Intuition [Astral] (5) Test if assensing an astral signature. A metaplanar quest for a spirit’s true name should be an appropriately harrowing and difficult undertaking, and it might require a spirit guide to reach the necessary plane. A successful quest etches the true name in the initiate’s mind; at any time thereafter, he can translate it into a spirit formula with an Arcana + Logic [Mental] (spirit’s Force x 5, 1 day) Extended Test.
• Design Formula: If a magician directly observing the spirit succeeds in an Assensing + Intuition [Astral] (5) Test, she can attempt to design a functional spirit formula from scratch. Doing so requires an Arcana + Logic [Mental] (spirit’s Force x 10, 1 day) Extended Test.

SPIRIT FORMULA COPIES

A spirit is instinctively aware of the location of all copies of its spirit formula—where any of them are when they are created, moved, or destroyed—no matter how many astral barriers exist between the spirit and the formula. If a new copy is made, the spirit automatically becomes aware of its location.

FREE SPIRITS AND KARMA

Free spirits need Karma to grow in power, but unlike characters, they cannot earn it for themselves. A free spirit must receive Karma as a freely given gift from a metahuman; it cannot take Karma for itself unless it has the rare Energy Drain (Karma) power (p. 205, SG). Negotiate a deal with a free spirit, and it will likely ask for Karma as payment; some spirits may ask for services, contacts, unique enchantments, or even material wealth, but generally Karma is what they value above all else.

FEEDING THE FREE SPIRIT

Giving a free spirit Karma requires either a Spirit Pact (p. 205, SG) or a ritual involving the spirit’s formula. Although a spirit needs Karma, allowing metahumans access to its spirit formula places itself in a vulnerable position. This means the spirit’s best interest is to keep donors happy— or dead. The ritual to give Karma takes 1 hour per point of Karma given.

USING KARMA

A free spirit can use Karma to improve itself in the following ways. See Character Advancement, p. 103, CRB for more details.

• It may improve its attributes separately. Each attribute begins at the Force the spirit had when it went free. Free spirits have no racial maximum.
• IIt may improve or purchase new skills.
• It may initiate as a magician does, but doing so grants a new spirit power per grade rather than a metamagical technique.
• It may increase its Force by 1 point at a time by paying Karma equaling the new Force x 10. Raising Force increases all of the spirit’s attributes and powers that are based on Force.

BINDING A FREE SPIRIT

The inherent power of a true name allows anyone, even mundanes, to summon and bind a free spirit.

SUMMONING A FREE SPIRIT

To call forth a free spirit, the summoner must possess the spirit formula and concentrate on the spirit. The spirit will be drawn to the formula and manifest nearby, usually with a bad temper. This summoning generates no services, but no roll is required, and the summoner suffers no Drain. Also, magic cannot prevent this action from occurring. Even a spirit possessing a vessel must abandon the vessel and appear if summoned this way. A spirit inhabiting a vessel is resistant to this pull since its essence is anchored to the physical plane, but it must travel toward the summoner by the fastest physical means possible. If the summoner moves before the inhabiting spirit arrives, the spirit is no longer drawn toward the summoner.

THE BINDING RITUAL

If the summoner chooses to bind the spirit, the presence of the spirit’s formula prevents the spirit from harming the summoner during the binding ritual. The ritual to bind a free spirit requires (Force x 25) drams of binding reagents. The ritual itself may be conducted anywhere—no magical lodge is needed—and it takes a number of hours equal to the spirit’s Force. At the end of the ritual, the summoner makes an Opposed Test by rolling his Binding + Willpower [Mental] against the spirit’s Force + Edge. If the character wins, the spirit owes a number of services equal to the number of net hits. This ritual also produces no Drain.
The spirit cannot harm the summoner until its services are exhausted, but the spirit can still plot to put its master in harm’s way. The spirit can also be re-bound with another binding ritual an unlimited number of times. If the master glitches on the rebinding test, the spirit gets 1 Combat Turn to do anything it wants before the binding takes effect and places it back under the master’s control. If the master critical glitches the test, all services owed are lost and the spirit becomes free once again.

BANISHING A FREE SPIRIT

Free spirits can be banished just like any other spirit (p. 301, CRB), but all of them possess the Banishing Resistance power (p. 194, SG). Since a free spirit is usually unbound and owes no services that can be banished away, each net hit the banisher receives reduces the spirit’s unspent Edge (bound free spirits add their Edge and services together). A free spirit whose Edge is reduced to 0 in this way is temporarily disrupted and vanishes to its native metaplane. It may return when its Edge replenishes.
A free spirit that has been banished or disrupted can be prevented from ever returning if the banisher immediately destroys a copy of the spirit’s formula and succeeds in an Opposed Test between her Banishing + Willpower [Mental] and the spirit’s Force + Edge. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell whether this succeeded or not, unless the spirit later returns. The banishing attempt may be repeated, but this requires another copy of the spirit’s formula.

(SG 202-204)