Editing Persona Template (section)

=Soul Links=

Soul Links represent strong bonds between an Evoker and his or her mortal friends; when an Evoker chooses to Link his soul to a mortal, the two begin to feel Energy together. It's the warm, unknown feeling of comfort and security that we experience just by being near other human beings that we know. By forging a Soul Link with a mortal, a Persona user allows his soul to resonate with theirs, strengthening the souls of both members.

'''Forging Soul Links'''

Entering into a Soul Link is as much of an investment as entering into a relationship with a friend. The Evoker must be willing to open himself and bare his soul to his new partner, and in order to have his Persona resonate with his prospective partner's soul, he must spend a Willpower point during the initiation of the Link.
You can't just go burning WP and forging Soul Links with just anyone willy-nilly. There has to be some connection between the Evoker and his/her partner before an S.Link can be established, and a Storyteller may oversee which relationships between PCs and NPCs are eligible for Soul Links at their discretion.
Another thing to note is that an Evoker can forge a Soul Link with another Evoker. Since Evokers openly wield their souls as Personas, the transition towards the Soul Link isn't as harsh, and it only costs a down payment of 1 Energy to forge a Link. Note, however, that in order to gain Energy from spending time with another Evoker PC, there must be some significance in their relationship beyond simply working together as a party.

'''Invoking Soul Links'''

Soul Links have a second benefit. By linking your soul to another human's, you may call upon that link to lend you extra strength in a pinch. When you forge a Soul Link, you record your Soul Link partner's Arcana, even if they don't possess a Persona. You may spend a point of Energy to gain bonus dice towards Attributes related to a Soul Link partner's Arcana, which is detailed by each Arcana individually. For instance, if you had a 1-pt Soul Link with an NPC mortal whose Arcana was I. The Magician, and the Magician's S.Link attributes were Dexterity and Wits, you could spend 1 Energy as a reflexive action to gain 1 bonus die to a Dexterity or Wits-based dice pool. You can only invoke Soul Links in this way a number of times equal to a S. Link's rank, per Story, per S. Link.

'''Maintaining a Soul Link'''

A Soul Link is similar to a relationship or a friendship in which it must be maintained. The strength of a Soul Link is represented by a five-dot scale, and changes depending on the strength of the bond between both Evoker and partner. If an Evoker makes progress in understanding and accepting their partner, the Storyteller may have that Soul Link increase by one dot, as their relationship has strengthened.
Similarly, if anything should happen to damage a relationship, a Storyteller is allowed to remove dots in a Soul Link at his discretion. A damaged relationship may even fall to such extremes that a Soul Link partner will disassociate himself with the Evoker, resulting in a broken Soul Link, and the loss of the Link altogether. Efforts can be made to repair the relationship, even a broken one. However, if an Evoker is successful in restoring a relationship with a partner whose Soul Link was broken previously, it will cost him another point of Willpower to forge the Soul Link again, in order to gain its benefits.

'''Soul Links & Charms'''

Everyone has a ruling Arcan even if they aren't a Persona user. When forging a Soul Link with another person a take note of their Ruling Arcana, a significant gift freely given between membes of a Soul Link is functionally similar to a charm in Geist. Significant doesn't necessarily mean something expensive, it must bear some personal value to the person giving the gift.
It's possible if a particularly strong bond is forged between characters that the charm may one day become a Memorabilia (Page 209 Geist corerules)