I have never seen a PC actually take the Spirit Pact positive quality. I imagine this is due to the ambigious descriptions, which make players believe "but he will demand all my karma" and "the GM will totally screw with me".

maybe, if the mechanics were clearer a group would feel safer when dealing with it.

This thread is supposed to be an intent to shed some light on the 6 pacts offered on SM p. 108.
I will start with some quick ideas. The Free Spirit in question is always assumed to be force 6. This is the lower limit set as a guideline on page 106. Spirit's of higher force I deem unbalanced and chargen magic only goes up to magic 6, too. I will also use all cost in Karma, so we can implement Spirits demanding karma.

Drain Pact
Effect: add Force/2 dice to drain resistance test.
equals: Focused Concentration quality.
cost: Edge x 10 karma vs. 20 karma per drain resist die.
solution: A force 6 spirit results in 3 dice and should therefore cost 60 karma (=6 Edge). This can easily be scaled downwarsd and upwards.
"The spirit may demand karma..." This can be solved by giving the spirit lower edge at chargen and supplying the spirit with a constant karma income until the total 60karma have been payed, hopefully before the end of the campaign. The mechanic of buying (off) qualities stepwise has been introduced for critters with Uneducated.
I ignored the addiction thing

Dream Pact
Effect: Spirit uses your body as a vessel during your sleep
There is almost no advantage for the PC except for the hunted and paranoid, but would you trust a Free Spirit then? Any quality cost is too much. It's like playing an Oni and paying only for the Distinctive Style negative quality.

Formula Pact
Effect: PC carries Spirit's formula and gains Immunity to Age
Fluffwise Immunity to Age sound great and worth some karma. For a PC this is usually not a matter.
A very unlucky PC who aquires the Progeria Surge negative quality might seek such pact to stop the fast aging process.
Depending on how fast the aging was stopped, the cost should equal the buy off of Progeria's negative effects.

Life Pact
Effect: PC may get rid of two boxes of physical damage per 1 karma payed.
Since this could be used to save one's life instead of burning Edge, an unlucky, careful or reckless PC profits very much.
cost: assuming burning a point of Edge will cost this guy on average 20 karma, the Pact Spirit should have Edge 2. This is a very rough estimate and is up to interpretation at each table.

Magic Pact
Effect: Enhance Magic by Force/2 for Force CTs once a day. Spirit may use your Edge as he wants.
So this is good for one combat or one Summoning per day. A F3 power Focus costs 24 karma to bond and 30karma in Nuyen, but can be used all the time. I suggest the latter cancels out the Enhancing Magic aspect.
How much is it worth to let the spirit use my Edge? Depends on how much I have! Ignoring this using only the power focus cost relation, the Quality should cost 60 karma and therefore the Free Spirit has 6 Edge. Since he has that much himself, he won't need mine too often. Reducing his Edge and qulaity cost means he will use my edge more often I suggest something like this:
quality cost / FS Edge / use of my Edge
60 / 6 / once per run
40 / 4 / once per day
20 / 2 / twice per day

Power Pact
Effect: PC gains use of one Spirit Power
Cost balancing depends on the power, of course, but the full 60 doesn't seem unreasonable. This aside, there should be a rough estimate on how to get rid of the 24h restriction. Maybe something like the buying off a quality mentioned before. This means convincing the GM, that I do not buy the quality, but the payment goes directly to the spirit.


your turn.

Drain Pact
Something that is about as good as Centering Metamagic at chargen? Where do I sign up again?

Formula Pact
Don't forget that you count as the spirit's formula - you can summon the spirit at any time (Street Magic, page 108, Summoning a Free Spirit). By incorporating some of the Calling rules from Running Wild, you can do an Opposed Negotiations Test to get favors.

Life Pact
This is really good, and I figure especially low-Force spirits would be jumping at the chance to Pact these out.

Magic Pact
The significance in this one is that, unlike Aspected Backround Count or Power Foci, this Pact actually raises your Magic - meaning you can cast higher-Force spells, summon more powerful spirits, or, in the case of Adepts, gain temporary Powers.

Power Pact
This should be up to the GM's discretion, but I highly suggest using the same sort of rules for abusing spirits for whether or not you lose this Power. For example, if you get the Guard Power from an angel and start using it to help criminals, expect your Power to be revoked (or explain really, really fast).

Overall, I think a much safer method of using this quality is by changing it from Edge x 5 BP to Force x 5 BP. And remember, even non-Awakened can pick up some of these Pacts (that Formula Pact would be extremely good for a mundane).

I get the sense you see the original karma outlay at acquisition of the Quality to represent the payment in karma to the spirit. I'm not sure the spirit sees it that way. The spirit will continually want karma, and as it increases its own powers as a result of the karma it gains, it will want more.

As for the Magic Pact, I would guess the spirit would use the character's Edge first, not last. Usually at the most inconvenient of times for the character.

Actually, I think it has more to do with the cost-benefit ratio of pacts vs a scaling cost based on the spirit's force.
some just do not give good benefits in return.

Keep in mind that you have to pay for the quality too, and that its twice as much karma as bp, THEN you get the benefit.

Spirit pacts need to have a cost based upon the pact chosen, instead of just a generic 5bp x force.


Just saying. Paying 30 karma to a spirit so it can drive me around while i'm sleeping is kind of 'yeah no'.

After re-reading the section and looking at things, I actually don't mind the Edge x 5 cost. There is inherent GM approval in the Force of the spirit though.

I mentioned it in my post. A Force X spirit can have Edge 1 to X

I get that, I just was unsure if that was a "balanced" cost for the Quality. After re-reading the things about it, I agree now.