Rules: New Initiation Costs & Options

In previous editions of Shadowrun rules, a magician or adept automatically gained a point of Magic when they initiated.  In SR4 rules, Initiation grants the character the option of increasing their Magic at a rate of  the new rating x 5 Karma - which is on top of the Initiation costs of  10+(grade x 3) Karma.  Considering mages, especially initiated mages, can burn through Karma like a kid eating cotton candy, I feel this rule and these formulas are utter bullshit.

However, I concede that an increase in the Magic attribute represents a substantial bonus to a magician's power, and when one factors metamagic into the mix, it is clear that Initiation cannot be easy or cheap.  However, a player may want to gain access to metamagic, or improve current metamagic without increasing his Magic attribute.  Therefore I am altering  the Initiation rules to allow cheaper advancement and more flexibility in the options.

Full Initiation: The character pays Karma equal to (Current Magic + New Initiate Grade) x 3 Karma to gain a new point of Magic, access to the metaplanes, a metamagical technique, and an Intitiate grade.  Ordeals and initiatory groups  may be used to reduce the Karma costs per the normal rules.  Grade 1 Initiation must be a full initiation.

Once a character is a Grade 1 initiate, he may opt to continue with full initiations, or he may decide to do some full initiations after mixing in some of the following options:

Grade Initiation: A Character pays 10+(New Initate Grade) Karma to learn a new metamagical technique and increase his initiate grade (thus improving any metamagic that is linked to Grade.)  No Magic attribute is earned, but the grade increase does factor into future Full Initiations.  Ordeals and initiatory groups  may be used to reduce the Karma costs per the normal rules.  Also, per the normal rules, an initiate's grade cannot exceed his Magic attribute.

Metamagical Technique: An initiate may learn a new metamagical technique without initiating, as discussed on page 52 of Street magic.  These techniques cost 10 Karma per technique, which may NOT be decreased by ordeals and initiatory groups.  An initiate's metamagical techniques cannot exceed his Magic+Initiatory Grade in number.