It's another Free Sprites as Player Characters topic. Options

[TheMadderHatter]

Okay...so one of my players is absolutely enamored of the idea of playing a free sprite, and I have to say it fits both the player and the setting to a T. Thus, I come to Dumpshock and ask, basically, has the community here ever reached any sort of consensus on how to houserule the race together?

I could see doing it as a Free Spirit with Rating in place of Force, and making the other stats dependent on something besides Rating alone so they have the mental stats, edge, and Rating, and have the new-power-with-new-Edge reassembly work, redirecting Resonance to Rating for threading and assembling the living persona stats as per a technomancer. I'm thinking the metatype cost should be reduced to 210 to make up for losing 40 free points of stats.

Other than that, free sprite powers equal to edge. Maybe use the free spirit power points system.

Is there anything else to be done? Have I made some grievous error? Is there a better or accepted way to do any of this?

[TheOOB]

Your two choices are either a)tell him to play an AI, or b)make an adaptation of the free spirit rules. I personally would just go for the AI as rules are already present, but if you allow a free sprite, you got to be careful that you don't nerf them/make them OP.

[Jaid]

i will mention what i usually mention when these threads come up: free sprites are not suitable as PCs because they gain advancement in a completely different way from a normal character. they have no use for karma, they advance by absorbing registered sprites. if they find a technomancer who is willing to trade free sprite services for registered sprites (which shouldn't be too hard, especially since watching a free sprite improve it's code is the easiest and definitely least expensive submersion ordeal) they can advance quite rapidly in a manner completely unlike any other PC type.

however, if you're really fixated on the idea, your best bet is as above; adapt either the free spirit rules (sprites should imo cost slightly less to play) or adapt the AI rules. i don't see why it is that a free sprite would fit well, but an AI would just not work at all, mind you, but that's not my job to figure out.