One of my players, playing a hacker, uses an agent to teamwork virtually all Matrix tasks. He now wants to "clone" his agent for the use of another PC, built as a backup to both the hacker and a third PC, a shaman.

I'm inclined to simply say no. Is there any good reason I shouldn't?

Make the PCs buy or steal another Agent. Otherwise they can just try to pull an "Agent Smith" on any Matrix Target.

Explain to the player that they need to purchase / acquire each program or agent separately for a game / game economy balance.

Ask them point blank, if you need to, "if cloning was allowed, what would prevent you (or the other character) from selling it and then just cloning another?"

It's crappy, I know. But sometimes keeping the in-game economy from collapsing is required.

If it's SR4 it's perfectly fine, though on page 111 of Unwired it states that copied agents have the same access ID and as a result cannot operate in the same node at the same time (thus preventing the "Agent Smith" scenario). Extra time can be spent to edit said agent and change its access ID, but running a lot of them will drain your commlink's capabilities.

If it's SR5, probably still fine as agents are programs (SR5, 246) and only cyberdecks can run programs, and good cyberdecks are insanely costly.

Actually, you can get a Program Carrier and run an Agent on it. You can also run Virtual Machine on the Program Carrier and run Agent and another cyber program (most likely Wrapper so you can hide your gear).

Wrapper is a waste of a program in 5e (can't speak on 4th), because a successful Matrix Perception action sees right through it.

It could be said that that is only if someone uses a Matrix Perception action... But a Matrix savvy character (player, or non-player) will always be using a Matrix Perception on a target.
1 hit gets you:
commcode - useful for tracking someone later
OR
grid the target is on - doesn't matter how they are dressed, or what they tell you, if they are on Ares Global... Guess who they work for.
OR
all running programs, including if Wrapper is running...
etc.

Well... that's disappointing. I wonder if they'll FAQ that so that Wrapper actually does something useful.

Unlikely.

Wrapper was designed on a faulty idea. Security through obscurity. Which is no security at all.

In order for the Matrix to function at all, no one will ever be able to change the actual icon type. (1 hit on a Matrix Perception will reveal the icon type, regardless of how it looks. So even if you change the icon of your Assault Cannon to look like a '57 Chevy, the Matrix will still know it is a deadly weapon, and call it out as such.) And even if there is ever a rule to allow it, if it didn't accrue Overwatch Score, then the author should be banned from ever writing again.

Imagine you are a Matrix user in the world of 2070's. You enter a host with its own sculpting, and it is all laid out like a strip club (male, female, both, whatever is your pleasure). Even if you were a legitimate, but new, user how could you get anything done if you didn't have some way of knowing that the dancers were devices on the network, users were the club patrons, data input was nuyen bills, and data output was drinks and / or articles of clothing. Even if you, the user, didn't have any way of knowing that, your system would have to know in order to process data properly.

It doesn't help that Matrix Perception is entirely too powerful at the moment. If you know something unique about your target (such as commcode), and they aren't running silent, you automatically notice them wherever they are in the world - instantaneously. Example: "I am looking for a default Fairlight Caliban icon with a commcode of blah-bla-bla-blah-ba-blah." "Roll a Matrix Perception." Without touching dice: "Done. Automatic." it only takes one hit to notice them.

EDITed to correct an error in rules understanding.

I guess the line from Wargames was the best way to win at hiding things in the Matrix: "The only winning move is not to play." Rip out wireless on any device you don't ABSOLUTELY need to have wireless access.

While you're technically correct, I think you're overplaying the significance of "noticing" someone on the matrix. One correction, though, you only automatically see the icons of devices within 100 meters. Outside of that range, it takes at least one hit on that Matrix Perception test. And just noticing an icon is roughly the equivalent of me being able to tell that KCKitsune is logged into the forums right now, you don't get any significant information with just the noticing. To see through a Wrapper program, for example, you have to at least suspect something is going on enough to check. In a lower-security area, nobody is going to be taking the time to check each and every individual to see if they are using extra programs to obfuscate their gear.

The most I would expect is a cursory glance to see if any dangerous-looking icons are in the area and move on. If you've used Wrapper on your Ares Alpha to disguise it as an electric guitar (or whatever) nobody is going to notice right away. Even if the Matrix security systems keep track of that stuff, its not like its reporting all that information to everyone, so at best you would have to be attracting the attention of at least a demi-GOD for that information to be automatically at their fingertips. The Local KE officers don't have that, so they don't notice anything without making those tests. So maybe your team attracts the attention of a local KE patrol and their looking you over. One of them is looking your group over (the other one is driving after all), and he's probably spending maybe one action on each member of your team. He isn't jacked-in or anything and he doesn't have the time to waste on some local punks, even if he does suspect that they're up to no good. Still, huge dice pools in Computers isn't exactly a requirement for getting patrol duty, so we're probably talking 5-8 dice on this Matrix Perception test. They're probably first and foremost concerned with you SINs so the first hit is probably going to checking to make sure you're broadcasting your credentials, and I might throw in a general idea of the sort of gear you have attached to your PAN as part of that first hit. Depending on the gear that might fall into a second hit on the Matrix Perception (because your PAN icon is basically a mish-mash of all the devices you have slaved), picking out all that detailed information isn't exactly easy. So spending a third hit on the Matrix Perception would be the first time I would even let a passerby see through a Wrapper, maybe hit 2 if I was being extremely generous. And all of that is assuming I would let them spend that hit that way on the first attempt, and without specifying which icon they were checking for a Wrapper.

You got me on that one. The cheat sheet I use doesn't call that that out. I'll have to remember that.



Unfortunately, not true. Core book (2nd Printing) page 219, under PANS:

The Matrix filters out deadly weapons, and calls attention to them. All part of the safer world. The only way to avoid that (assuming the weapon is wireless enabled, and not running silent) is to change the icon type, and again that can't really be done.

As for security (any sort) looking over a group, as I said in an earlier post, any Matrix savvy character will always be taking the time to do a basic check. Area check (100 meters): One hit for the presence of silent / hidden icons - if yes, time to Stop and Frisk. Per persona: One hit for running programs - if Wrapper is one, time to Stop and Frisk. It doesn't take much.

Only thing I'll add then: "Wrapper: This program overrides the Matrix's protocols for icons." So if you Wrapper a gun, it no longer needs to stand out.

I also don't think 90% of security (at least Matrix-centric ones) are going to be worried first and foremost on which programs you're running. They're more likely to be looking out for suspicious (active) actions.

I would allow it (provided he first get through the copy protection, but that should be easy enough for a matrix savvy character). But if he tries to use it, his cyberdeck would slow to a crawl as each of those programs demand resources (in SR4 you had a rule for how many programs you could run before your commlink slowed down, I assume there is something similar in 5th). And also, if he lets those agents do something illegal, each of them will get a GOD score which is added to his cyberdeck. If he has 10 agents and they all do something to up there score with 1, he goes from 0 to 10 in an instant. How long before he will be hunted?

Those two statements are mutually exclusive.

If Wrapper can prevent the Matrix from calling attention to an altered weapon icon (I'm not convinced), you can be certain 90% (at least) of all security personnel will be on the lookout for it. If only from a selfish, self preservation point of view. Those that don't will end up being the victims that teach the others they need to.

EDITed to add:


1) One of the authors has stated on the official forums somewhere that players in SR5 cann't bypass the copy protection of programs. (I don't agree with this, but there it is.)
2) Cyberdecks are limited to their Device Rating in number of programs they can run at one time.
3) You can't run two copies of the same type of program at once on a device, so you can't run multiple Agents at the same time.

Sure, some might do that, but then you have the over-correction that's wasting time looking for programs to see if you're running a Wrapper and turning up empty and then they don't notice other things. You only get so many pieces of information, and each attempt at Matrix Perception is a separate action.

Multiply that by each and every person that goes through. There's only so much that a person can do in a limited amount of time. Sort of like when I see players buying up all three of the firearms skills plus one or two close combat skills. "When exactly are you going to use each of those? Are you going to be switching weapon-styles every combat turn?"

And the security guards that don't notice an Assault Cannon because it had a Wrapper in the Matrix are just bad security guards, if they don't notice that thing with their eyeballs, they ain't lookin'.