Canon Rulings on Skill Maximum Ratings for NPC Free Spirits, PC Free Spirits and Ally Spirits Options

[Fiddler]

Simple answer it's a game have fun with it, if you are gamemastering do what you want as long as your group has fun. However don't look for rules ito back you up if you are doing something off the wall. Just go for it and say it's because i'm gamemaster. If you are not GM talk to them and see if they are ok with it.

[Falconer]

Yes Voran... and when that utterly gimped PC spirit walks into a 3 point background count then what.


In case you didn't notice there's not even enough BP for him to get 4's across the board in stats and still have points left over for skills/resources/etc. Something that's trivial to do for almost any meta PC for a fraction of the cost (dwarf/orc/elf)... dwarf 25BP. Bod2, Str3, Wil2. 200BP brings all stats to 4. 30 more BP to raise magic/force to 4 as well. Ignoring edge... 255BP for the stats leaving 145 for the rest of the character.

250BP free spirit alone!... 180BP to raise all 9 attributes by 2 points(don't forget force). Edge is still at one.


This is nothing but another example of poor quality control and inadequate playtesting. Possibly even another case of multiple writers not being on the same page.

Actually try playing a free spirit character under your draconian interpretation and you'll realize pretty quick it's unplayable. A PC free spirit is pretty much inferior in almost all ways to most summoned spirits of the same force already... (the summoned free spirit comes with a large set of 'package' powers, and 1 or 2 optional ones on top... the PC spirit is hard pressed to get more than 3 or 4 total. The summoned spirit comes with automatic stat raises when materialized (example beast gains +7 extra physical stats when materialized). The PC is stuck with flat force.


Toss on the friendship pact... and the spirit has real problems... have 6 friends and Force 6... one dies (not something out of the ordinary for groups that don't play with kid gloves).. .there lose 30karma... and find a new friend since you'll need him before you raise stats again.

[Jhaiisiin]

I love how every little thing that is "wrong" is suddenly this monumental "example of poor quality control and inadequate playtesting." That phrase is becoming ridiculously overused.

[Falconer]

You'll find I use that phrase a lot... it's being diplomatic.

It's not a matter of right or wrong... it's a matter of competence and incompetence.

Most of the current crop of writers (without naming names) are enthusiastic but lack experience/competence. The product line suffered after the accounting issues.

[pbangarth]

Actually try playing a free spirit character under your draconian interpretation and you'll realize pretty quick it's unplayable. A PC free spirit is pretty much inferior in almost all ways to most summoned spirits of the same force already... (the summoned free spirit comes with a large set of 'package' powers, and 1 or 2 optional ones on top... the PC spirit is hard pressed to get more than 3 or 4 total. The summoned spirit comes with automatic stat raises when materialized (example beast gains +7 extra physical stats when materialized). The PC is stuck with flat force.

I've done so at home and online with three FSPCs. The limitations as described do make the character 'interesting', but I have had no trouble pulling their weight with the rest of the team. Not 'unplayable' by any stretch of the imagination.

Toss on the friendship pact... and the spirit has real problems... have 6 friends and Force 6... one dies (not something out of the ordinary for groups that don't play with kid gloves).. .there lose 30karma... and find a new friend since you'll need him before you raise stats again.

I did choose to lose the Friendship Pact after the first of three such PCs, mostly because I can't see how an essentially immortal being would want to tie its life force to the puny lifespan of metahumans.

[Cain]

alright let me explain things in a much easier manner

i wanna bound a free spirit force 5. however i want this free spirit to have ranged weapon skills of say 10 without raising its force at all cos it would be near impossible to bound a force 10 spirit.

as far as i am concerned there are NO canon rulings at all which say that a spirit cannot raise its skills above its force ratings with the exception of PC free spirits.

however the free spirit which I am bounding is considered to be a NPC free spirit which are thus run differently than PC free spirits..

There's many reasons why you won't be able to do this.

First of all, spirit NPC's can't have a skill rating higher than their Force. There are a couple of exceptions, but this isn't one of them.

Second, you don't get to design Free Spirits. They come with what the GM says they come with. So you can't decide that the spirit has anything at rating 10, unless you're the GM; and in that case, you can't bind anything since you're not a PC.

Third, the one of the only ways you could design this spirit would be if you created it as a PC, but if you did that, you'd have two characters. Which isn't usually permissible. You could see if a player without a character would do it, but then you run into the problem that free spirit PC's can't usually be Bound normally; and if they do, you can expect them to misinterpret every order they can.

Fourth, the other way you could design a spirit is if you did it as an Ally. Which is fine, except allies can't have skills above their Force either.