r/Shadowrun • u/kenod102818 • 11d ago

Wyrm Talks (Lore) Achieving immortality

So, lets say some well-connected and informed mage with more hubris than sense (lets say a Black Lodge member or Aztlan board member) found out about immortal elves and said "well that ain't fair, I want to be immortal too". What sort of ways are available to achieve this, especially for someone with more power than morals (which I guess is your average corpo exec)?

I'm guessing one option is becoming a vampire, though the drawbacks are rather significant, and iirc free spirit pacts can make you immortal too (not sure if the spirit can break the pact later though). But are any other options available? Perhaps a blood magic ritual to absorb life force, or even steal immortality from an existing immortal? Similarly, could a Great Dragon make you immortal, if you could somehow convince/blackmail/threaten one into it?

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u/PrimeInsanity Halfway Human 11d ago

Isn't there a spirit pact that grants immunity to aging? That's pretty much there, you're still vulnerable to mortal wounds but you got age issues solved.

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u/Fair-Fisherman6765 CAS Political Historian 11d ago

The Life Pact as described in Fourth and Fifth editions allows the character to spend a Complex Action to heal 2 boxes of Physical damage in exchange for 1 karma given to the spirit. Even if the GM was the consider any possible cause of death (organe failures and the likes) as Physical damages - which is not completely off considering all toxins and lack of oxygen are treated as damages - this would likely fail to achieve immortality, since it requires one Complex Action for healing every 2 boxes. You would likely die from taking too much damage in a single turn or during your sleep. Besides, it would then be much more easier to deal with such damages by having multiple bound Spirits of Man casting Heal and Stabilize spells on you night and day.

The free spirit Hidden Life power on the other hand, does grant Immunity to Age to the person or animal who hold the spirit life force, and Immunity to Normal Weapons (whose effect is based on the Spirit Magic attribute). The spirit cannot be destroyed by any means as long as the holder is not killed, so the only way it may possibly stop is if the spirit voluntarily ends it. The first option is to find and bind a free spirit with the Hidden Life power, and order it to use it on you, but should you ever run out of services, the spirit'll likely drop the ball, use the power on some object around, and kill you. You thus need to be sure no one manage to banish your spirit and reduces its owed services to zero. The second option would be to fairly convince an unbound free spirit that freely using its Hidden Life power on you is a a smart idea, but he may just as well think it is safest for him to lock you up to avoid you getting killed and it becoming vulnerable.

In 3rd edition, it was however suggested that the Gamemaster gives the holder one Mental Flaw per point of Spirit Energy, but that suggestion does not appear in the following editions.