Free spirit edge and initiation., WTF? Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Switch to: Outline Standard Switch to: Linear+

[emo samurai]

It says in Street magic that free spirits use edge in place of initiation grade, except they can initiate as well. I don't get it.

And can they learn metamagicka through initiation or do they have to increase edge to get them?

[Jack Kain]

Most initiation powers are rated by the initiation grade. The higher your grade the more you get out of just one power. For example centering adds one die to resist drain per grade of initiation.

They can use edge to sub for their grade.
So if they have an edge of 5, and an initiation of 3.
They have 3 initiation powers but you treat the grade level as 5.
So with the centering power they'd get 5 dice to resist drain instead of 3.

[emo samurai]

Okay, so their initiation grade isn't edge + initiation grade, or even initiation grade, but edge? Okay.

But I'd like Frank to tell me exactly why it works this way, and if I'm wrong or not.

FRANK!!!!!

[Glyph]

A free spirit starts out with new powers equal to its Edge, choosing from selected spirit powers, metamagics, or unique free spirit powers.

It gets a new power every time it increases its Edge or initiates.

You might ask, why not increase the Edge every time, since it gains a power, increases its effective grade (since it uses Edge in place of initiation grade), and gets a point of Edge on top of it all? But once Edge gets high, it might be cheaper to intiate a number of times (getting a new power each time) for the price of one point of Edge.

Free spirits with Karma can increase their Edge or other Attributes, increase Force (raising ALL Attributes, as well as powers based on Force), gain or raise skills, or initiate.


As to why they use Edge in place of initiate grade, I assume it is to give them a bit of a power boost, since free spirits are supposed to be potentially powerful as well as being capable of channelling magic much more intuitively than a metahuman can.

[Catharz Godfoot]

[Wakshaani]

I *assume* that they can increase their Edge somehow, but I never have figured out exactly how they do that.

They star with an Edge of 1 when 'born', but seemingly can't buy more.

Methinks there was an oversight in editing.

Or, you know, that I'm blind and missed something. :)

[Glyph]

They can improve Edge with Karma, like any other Attribute (or improve it by raising their Force, which I think raises the Edge). The only difference is that they need a "donor" for the Karma. Also, they don't have a metahuman's racial limits on their Attributes.

[FrankTrollman]

They can indeed raise Edge with Karma, an attribute which will normally start at 1 or 2 for a Free Spirit.

In the original document, a Free Spirit had a maximum on its Edge that went up with Initiation. I don't know why that was removed, but it does lead to some head scratching. Still, it's entirely possible for a spirit to have abilities like Shielding or Centering with no Grades of Initiation. Having Spirits use Edge instead of Grade was quite deliberate.

-Frank