Rules: Cash for Karma (Uncertified Draft)

Cash for Karma Program
In Shadowrun, characters receive rewards in three primary ways: gear, nuyen, and Karma.  Since nuyen is used to buy gear, or gear is sold to acquire nuyen, one could say that rewards basically come down to nuyen and Karma.  These two rewards are important because they directly influence how powerful and effective a character can become.  More money allows one to buy more/better gear.  More Karma allows one to increase skills, attributes, and other abilities.

Not all character types value nuyen and Karma the same.  In general terms, a street samurai will have much more need for nuyen than Karma, because it is easier for them to increase skills and attributes artificially through cyber and bioware, assuming they have the finances to afford it.  A mage will need some money; foci and magical materials aren't cheap, but they rarely need the millions of dollars that a street samurai can easily invest in delta-grade cyber and bioware.  However, a mage has many more opportunities to invest Karma: increasing skills and attributes the hard way, learning spells, initiating, bonding foci, enchanting, creating ally spirits, and quickening spells (just to name a few.)

If a shadowrunning team has a mix of mundane and Awakened characters, and they are lucky enough to survive the shadows for long, a trend will often develop where the mundanes are always strapped for cash, but have Karma reserved for which they have no use.  Awakened characters will have all the gear they could ever possibly need, with small fortunes to spare, but they'll ravenously hoard every single point of Karma they can acquire.  The team would be more effective, the characters would be more powerful, and the players would be happier if there were a way for team mates to swap Karma for nuyen.

While there are already rules that technically allow this to happen, it is a system that must be handled with care t o avoid game-breaking imbalances.  Remember: whatever applies to the player characters also applies to the world at large.  If a system for exchange existed, what would keep the megacorporations from dumping billions of nuyen into super-powering their mages?  Who wants to fight an Aztechnology blood mage who is a level 30 initiate (with a force 20 spellcasting focus?)  The system must have checks and balances to ensure it doesn't break the game by allowing players or NPCs to become too powerful.

Existing Rules
The mechanics of the Karma transfer are technically feasible thanks to existing rules concerning free spirit powers and free spirit pacts.  Free spirits may have an Essence Drain power that allows them to siphon off Karma from a willing (or helpless) victim.  They also may have an Endowment power that allows them to grant one of their other powers to a metahuman who has entered into a Power pact with the spirit.  Therefore, in theory, under specific circumstances, a metahuman could siphon Karma from another metahuman, whether they were a fellow PC or a NPC, if they could find a free spirit to help them accomplish the task.

Without tweaks to the rules, there is great potential for abuse.  The only roadblocks to unlimited Karma would be finding a free spirit with the requisite abilities, the time required to perform the transfer, and sources of Karma.  Lax game masters and unscrupulous players will quickly find their games broken under the current system.  (PCs could resort to kidnapping NPCs, or bartering with Johnsons to provide Karma "donors" instead of cash compensation.) Therefore, the following rationale and system of checks and balances are suggested.

Rationale
Karma is a cosmic force, an abstract measurement of a person's potential for change and improvement.  As such, the Universe, Fate, the Natural Order, God – whatever a person decides to call it – never intended for metahumans to have the ability to transfer Karma between each other.  It is an unnatural act that metahumans are not designed to do.  Our minds and souls can resist the infusion in much the same way that our bodies can refuse organ transplants.  Because of this, Karma transfer is a dangerous process that can have dire consequences if abused.

Requirements
To accomplish a Karma transfer between two metahumans, the following conditions must be met:

1. The recipient of the Karma must be in a spirit pact with a free spirit that can Endow the character with the Karma Drain power.  The recipient must have one point of his own Earned Karma to pay the spirit up front in order to establish this pact.  This also buys the recipient a 24-hour reprieve from any harm the spirit may otherwise wish to inflict on the recipient (many spirits with the Karma Drain power aren't very pleasant.)  The donor is granted no such guarantee.  During the course of a single transfer, the spirit cannot facilitate the transfer of more Karma than its Force rating.
2. There must be a Karma donor who is completely willing to the terms of the transfer.  The donor cannot be magically controlled or entrapped in any fashion.  The donor needn't completely understand what they're agreeing to do – there's no need to spend hours tutoring a troll (with a Logic of 2) on the finer points of spiritual metaphysics.  The donor must simply be open and willing to release his Karma (usually in exchange for something else of a more tangible nature.  Payment is discussed below.)
3. The donor and recipient must touch for the entire amount of required time and may not be disturbed or allowed to sleep, eat, or any conduct any other activity until the transfer is complete.  Any interference or distraction will end the transfer, and no Karma will be exchanged.

Limitations
Characters must track the total Karma they have earned on their own via shadowrunning or other activities (called "Earned Karma,") the total Karma they have siphoned from others (called "Siphoned Karma,") and their current available Karma (the sum of unused Earned and unused Siphoned Karma.)  A character will incur no penalties as long as his total Siphoned Karma does not exceed his total Earned Karma.  If the character exceeds this limit, Fate turns against him, and for every five points the Siphoned Karma exceeds the Earned Karma, the character's Edge is permanently reduced by one point.  If the character continues to siphon Karma after his Edge is reduced to zero, each five points of siphoned Karma will cause the character to glitch more often.  A character with zero Edge who siphons five more points of Karma will glitch if the dice roll ones or twos.  A character who siphons ten points of Karma will glitch on dice rolls of ones, twos, or threes.

Karma must be acquired slowly, to give a character's soul time to assimilate the foreign force.  If it is transferred too often or too fast, the character will suffer from side effects that manifest as negative qualities (usually mental disorders.)  The amount of Karma to be siphoned is agreed on prior to the ritual, but it will always be at least two points (since the recipient must pay the spirit one point to make the pact, two points must be transferred to achieve any gain.)  After the Karma has been siphoned, the recipient rolls a single die.  As long as the result is greater than or equal to the points of Karma siphoned, nothing bad happens.  If the result is less than the points siphoned, the character manifests a negative quality (or qualties) with a build-point value equal to the Karma siphoned.  (This quality or qualities is chosen by the GM.)  Edge may be used to re-roll this test, but points used in this way do not replenish until the character earns more Karma (until the end of the next shadowrun he undertakes.)  If more than six points of Karma are transferred in a single session, the character automatically receives a negative quality.  If Karma is siphoned more than once within 30 days, add 3 to the Siphoned Karma total for purposes of the test.
Siphoned Karma can be used for any purpose that normally requires Earned Karma, except it cannot be used to increase Edge.

Payment
Payment for Karma will depend on the donor.  If the donor is another PC in the team, then payment will probably be rendered in the form of nuyen.  Gamemasters are free to set a rate of exchange, but are encouraged to not use less than 10,000 nuyen per Karma point.  If the donor is an NPC, money may also be used, but services (shadowruns) may also be a fair medium of exchange.  If a service is requested instead of nuyen, the shadowrun should not earn the PC less Karma than the negotiated "Karma fee" agreed upon for the service. (Runners shouldn't be able to receive 10 points of Siphoned Karma for a cake-walk run that nets them 2 points of Earned Karma.)  Entering into any kind of agreement that uses Karma as payment is akin to a spirit pact between the two individuals.  If either side tries to break the agreement, the pact is voided, the intended recipient receives no Karma, and the intended donor loses the negotiated amount.

Donors
Unscrupulous players may see a loophole, thinking they can barter with Johnsons, who have access to legions of wageslaves that can be coerced into giving up Karma, or perhaps the players will try to directly extort Karma from other people.  There are two ways that gamemasters can limit this potentially game breaking behavior.

1. Karma is not easy for anyone to get.  Karma is gained by characters when they pit their own wits and abilities against the odds and manage to cheat death, cheat the system, survive (and learn from) mistakes, and live to shadowrun another day.  The vast majority of the population never acquires more than a few points of Karma in their entire lives because they do little to earn it.  Alternately, one could rule that most NPCs don't have much extra Earned Karma because they use it just like PCs do – to improve themselves.  It may be impossible to find a NPC donor that has more than four points to spare.
2. If PCs try to abuse the system, have the free spirit increase its cut from one Karma point to two (or three, if the players are being real bastards.)

Free Spirits
Free spirits that facilitate these transfers are sometimes called "Karma Cashers" or "Fate Brokers."  They should be rare, and their services should not be acquired easily.  Reserving such services should be the subject of one or more shadowruns and should be role-played out.  Each spirit should be treated as a full-fledged NPC with abilities, personality, and an agenda all of its own.

The system and rationale detailed in this document should be sufficient to allow PC teammates to swap Karma back and forth without allowing them to become too powerful.  It should not create a scenario where NPCs could become overpowered either.

However, even at the modest fee of one Karma point per transaction, a free spirit could become rather powerful in a a short amount of time.  Word of it's services would spread through the shadow markets, and would be in high demand by mages – both freelance and corporate.  Depending on the spirit's goals and power, it may waive the 1-point Karma fee in favor of other currency, as dictated by its agenda.  Game Masters should be wary of letting the spirits become too powerful, and if they allow PC free spirits in their games, these characters should NOT be allowed to have the Karma Drain power.