That's right boys and girls, its that time of the week!

1)Can a Technomancer's Sprite perform multiple tasks at once? For example, could a Sprite perform both the Assist Operation task and the Sustain Complex Form task at the same time? If so, could a Sprite perform multiple Assist Operation tasks at once?

2)Can multiple different Assist Operation tasks (either from the same Sprite, depending on Question 1, or from different Sprites) be used on a single Complex Form? For example, could a Technomancer with Rating 6 Stealth thread it to Rating 12, have a Rating 6 Sprite push it further to 18, and then have another Rating 6 Sprite push it to 24?

3)Dependent on a Yes for Question 2. What about when Linking is involved? Can I Link multiple different Sprites to use Assist Operation on a single Complex Form?

4)Multiple Icons, and Sprites “must remain with the technomancer�. As any Matrix user can I can have multiple Icons in different nodes. Does this mean that an unregistered Sprite must remain with one of these icons, or my currently active icon (i.e the one I am perceiving through)? A quick example. I have a Drone I want one of my unregistered Sprites to babysit in case of enemy hackers. Can I have an icon active in that Drone (using one of my subscriptions) and then throw icons about elsewhere (doing my hacking thing) without the Sprite having to resort to using a Remote Task? Or would the Sprite follow my active Icon about the nodes I travel in?

5)This one is a bit of a GM decision but I am wondering on Dump-shocks opinion. My Technomancer is quite quickly building up a backlog of Nuyen, and so I have been thinking of things to spend it on other than more Agents and Drones. First, I have managed to get myself access to a supplier of Neocortical and Limbic Neural Amps (Pg. 110 Augmentation). I also have access to the Focus Reality Amp (Pg. 189 Unwired). Can I combine the two of these and gain the benefit of Neocortical and Limbic even when under stress? The Focus Reality Amp should keep me calm, so I cannot see why not. (I am aware that this is an expensive way to get some extra dice, if I had a Nanohive it would be even better, but I don't. I am also aware I open myself up to Addiction with this. Hoping my high Willpower will let me fight off the worse of it.) My game is not playing with the Nanotech + Technomancer optional rules.

1--I don't see anything forbidding the practice, so I would allow a Sprite to be performing multiple tasks at the same time. (Ex: IP 1, ask him to sustain my threaded Exploit; IP 2, ask him to Assist my Exploit; IP 3, ask him to Assist my Stealth.) You will burn through services on Registered Sprites in this way VERY quickly, but if that's what it takes to complete the job, that's what you do.

2--I would only allow the highest Rating to Assist. Likewise, the same sprite would not be able to double its Rating by using two services in an Assist action.

3--You could Link a sprite to do a task, and then during a crunch, use a higher Rating registered sprite on the same task. Only the bonus of the higher Rating would apply.

4--If the sprite is Registered, it can complete the Remote Task without losing any owed services--basically just going on Standby waiting for the next set of orders. Otherwise, leaving it in a drone as you left would be classified as a Remote Task. (SR4A, p. 241 lists a Remote Task as "operating away from the technomancer")

5--The Focus Reality amp describes allowing great focus, so I would allow it to be used with the nanites. It's expensive, and risky, but manageable.

Keep in mind that a sprite sustaining your channel is then -2 to all tasks because of the sustainined action.

What gave you this idea?

Sustaining Powers does not cause a DP penalty.

I would agree completely with Bishop McQ about everything except the Remote Service thing.

The TM still has an icon in the node, a bit of his Resonance remains even though his attention is elsewhere.

A Matrix attack on that Icon will kill him stone dead. He's still 'in' the node and his Sprite is entitled to stay there with him.

Basic sustained action rules? A technomancer takes a -2 for sustaining them, why would the sprite be any different. Similarly to mage/spirit sustaining. If I have overlooked something please correct me as i'm AFB.

it doesn't cause any penalty to sustain spirit powers though. just for the wizard to sustain spells. the spirit taking over sustaining a spell is a spirit power (given by the fact it's a bound spirit). since that's a generic rule for critter powers, it should logically apply to sprite powers.

1) i wouldn't allow multiple assist operations from the same sprite, but i would allow multiple different tasks. i couldn't give any game balance, rules as written, or even really "logical" arguments (after all, "logically" sprites don't exist so i can't discuss the realism of them using multiples of the same power) for preventing multiples of the exact same task (ie assist operation twice), that's just how i feel.

2) yes and no. you can use 2 sprites, no it doesn't help. imagine trying to use 2 spoons stacked one on top of each other to eat soup. yes, you can do it. no, it doesn't make you able to fit twice as much soup per scoop. (if it was a test, i would probably allow teamwork rules to apply, but there is no test).

3) same answer as 2)

4) i'm with crizh on this one. if somebody can walk up to your icon and nuke it and your living persona takes the beating, then you are really there. being present in a node but not active is still present. naturally, the sprite can target you/your persona, but won't be able to target enemies, of course (unless they're in the node with the sprite, that is)

5) probably. if you really want to bork things, you can always reprogram universal nantidotes (rating 9) into rating 6 limbic and neocortical nanites, btw. however, be prepared for your character to spontaneously combust and to never ever ever ever ever again be able to get your hands on any sort of nanotech with that GM, no matter how harmless the character sounds (translation: i'm joking... technically, the rules say you can, but it's clearly an exploitation of the rules, so don't do it)

What's a sustained action? Are you talking about sustaining threading? That only applies to threaded complex forms, not innate sprite abilities.

I'd agree there, which re-reeading the OP is hinted at with the subscriber connection. I had presumed that the TM wouldn't want a blind spot for Matrix combat or possible Dumpshock--it the TM maintains an open connection (whether or not he monitors it), I'd let the sprite serve as a local task instead of a remote one.

OMG, you are a bad man....

not my idea. i'm just the messenger ^^

(i saw it first somewhere on the DSF. and yes, that is really really horrible)

I imagine you can do the same with O-Cells, which are both more useful as just O-Cells and have a lower availability. I really wish Nanohives didn't take up Essence, but cost a feck load more. Oh well. If I ever do get Cyberwear it will be in the form of a Cyberarm, a Hive and some other shit that just takes Capacity. But that will not be happening untill I have Submerged and increased my Resonance at least once.

nantidotes can come in hard form. O-cells cannot. only hard nanites can be reprogrammed.

as to usefulness, i don't know about that. being resistant to disease is nice, but being resistant to poison is also nice. in point of fact, o-cells strike me as the sort of thing you could just inject when you actually have a disease, whereas you're much less likely (in general) to have time to react to a poisoning.

if you're looking for cheap, get implant medics for a datajack. then reprogram those. they only go up to rating 6 (so rating 2-4 when reprogrammed) but they'll only run you 25 nuyen (presumably times rating, though it doesn't say...)

Rawr! Resurrecting this thread from the dead because I have a new question that is in the same line as the others.

Say I am a Technomancer with Paladin Sprites. I also carry about a decent Commlink that I keep an Icon sitting in (It manages my Agent Army). Can I order one of my Paladin Sprites into that Node, have it use Castling on that Icon and have that Castling affect my Icons in other Nodes?

Basically, is a Paladin Sprite uses Castling on an Icon affected all of a Technomancers Icons or just the Icon it is being used on? The Power doesn't really indicate either way, and I am wondering if I could use this to have my Paladin Sprites be safe from harm (And have an Agent look after them with Medic) while I go off galavanting through some Black IC.

Read castling again, castling isn't effecting the target of the attack but the attack/attacker itself.


Castling is also one of the most rediclously overpowered things in the matrix game, but that's neither here nor there.

The way I run it, the Paladin has to be in the node that has the icon under attack. It's really the only way the power makes sense. How could it jump in the way of an attack (read: reroute damaging code) going on in a node it isn't even in? Sure, sprites can "Bamf" around the matrix like Nightcrawler with clairvoyance, but they need a simple action to be called there and having a perfect defence doesn't jive with the rest of the rules as written.

Question!

When you have a lot of down time (a one-two days) is there a short hand way of "taking the average" when Compiling, registering a sprite, and loading a sprite with task.

same way for everything else. 1 hit per 4 dice in the pool, if the GM allows.

The problem is that registering a Sprite is an Opposed test against the sprite...

I have been math-hammering it out as I get 1 hit out of every 4 Dice and my opponent gets 1 hit out of every 3 dice, While keeping track of fractions for multiple checks...

Sorry for the Necro, but Any Idea about the previous three post?