GregLink/DaemonBackground

So, I really like ExMod, right? But on the Stryck Wiki http://wiki.stryck.com , there's a background for their ExMod setting that isn't listed in ours - "Daemon". It's a cross between familiar and a computer program, resulting in non-corporeal agents working for you. Almost like having a small 'computer' elemental or somesuch at your disposal. Thing is, while I love the concept of having essentially a spirit familiar, the discussion and description isn't that solid. To that end, I've copied it here, so that we all can chat about it.

The Background

Daemons

Sometimes the spark of the Exalted infuses those things that are not alive, or not even real in a sense of the word with a kind of intellegence. These programs are bound to their creator with a sense of awe and love.

They will gladly do tasks from those as menial as cleaning out spam, to those as complex as attempting to break into other systems collect specific information and return. They can be accessed in theory from any computer connected to a network they inhabit.

Daemons get a number of points equal to 2 plus their background level times 4 to divide up through their statistics. They can't be overclocked as they have no physical basis for such enhancements. Also, they can load an additional program for each level of background in them without affecting their processing power (and 2 programs for the fourth and fifth dots.)

Daemon levels

• 0: You do not have a Daemon. Maybe you are just aren't lucky, or maybe you don't know a computer from a tv.
• 1: You've got a minor and barely intellegent Daemon.
• 2: Your Daemon is capable of greater tricks, but still isn't capable of great feats of intellegence.
• 3: The Daemon has started to become equal to some of the power of weak supercomputers, but with greater independant action.
• 4: Your Daemon is capable of breaking into some of the most well guarded systems. Governments quake at the power of your Daemon.
• 5: The Daemon is practically a legend in it's own right. It's probably got some nicknames given to it on the internet. It's capable of breaking into the Roadkill Cult's computers and causing havok before they even know it has happened.

Comments

I'd like to stat more out about these things, but the descriptions aren't really clear. I mean, claiming that you "divide (points) up among their statistics" isn't really meaningful - does a Daemon need Social Stats? What about Medicine? Can I give my Daemon medicine? Or are the only useful things Perception, Int, Wits, Craft(Program), Computer, and perhaps Hacking? If I tell my Daemon to write me a P2P file sharing app, can it? Does it have that level of intelligence? What if I tell it to scour the internet looking for information on something? There's room to describe Daemons, and I think a good starting point might be to actually consider them small spirits, perhaps of Ess 1-2. Thing is, at that point, you start worrying about charms, and if you're worried about charms, do they need materialize and dematerialize? Can they be killed? Can you eventually get a Daemon powerful enough to use Endowment on you? These are bad questions to ask. At the same time, treating it as a non-corporeal familiar is a tough one as well. I'm looking for thoughts and input on how to codify these things better. - GregLink

Alright, another outlet for my love of crafting deviant mechanics. My impulse after my first read is to simply make a new type of being out of them. ExMod is so heavy in that sort of thing anyway, a little more can't hurt. I'm begun brainstorming on a 'new' set of traits for your little Daemon buddies. I'll post more once I've got something concrete, I just wanted to plug my initial two cents and let you know that you grabbed the interest of someone else with your project.-Ambisinister

Ok, so one quick storm session later and here's what I've come up with:

Every Demon will have a rating in the following traits:

• Autonomy - Rated from 0-5. The basis for this trait is a combination of the wits and intelligence attributes. The higher a daemon's Autonomy, the more capable it is of reasoning and acting on its own. A mundane computer program is good example of Autonomy 0. It only does what its user tells it to and nothing more. At 5 you've got an honest to goodness true AI on your hands. Scale appropriately inbetween. In addition, I figure that Autonomy will have some purerely mechanical applications as well. It would serve as a bonus to the daemon's dice rolls and it would be the base difficulty for someone to hack/reprogram/mess with the daemon.
• Prowess or Competence(not sure which I like better - Rated from 1-10. This is the daemon's level of skill in all things digital. It will be used as the daemon's attribute+ability roll whenever it needs to attempt a dice action to interact with digital the environment.
• Archive (for lack of a better term) - Rated from 0-?. This trait will represent how customizable the daemon is. It will dictate how many Programs and Uprgrades the daemon can use. A rough note on Programs and Upgrades: One Program is equivalent in space to two Uprgrades. Programs are the daemon equivalent to simple charms and upgrades are the daemon equivalent of dice adders and supplementals.
• Processing (again, I currently lack a better term) - Rated from ?-?. This is the vaguest of my traits. I want it to represent the daemon's ability to perform simultaneous actions. Some ideas on how to implement that mechanically: 1)This trait could provide a bonus to help mitigate penalties from splitting actions. 2) This trait could represent the total number of fully independant actions a daemon is capable of taking.

That's what I've got so far. I'm not sure how you'd go about determining these traits, but I think some sort of "you get x points for having x levels in the daemon background" is probably the way to go. Once I get the traits nailed down I can begin working on mechanics for daemon interaction. - Ambisinister

Suggestions: Keep it simple. Everything is rated 1-5. Use Autonomy+Competence as a die pool for doing things. I'd add a security/integrity trait for defense (and use security+competence as a defensive pool). Processing is removed as a trait and replaced with multi-tasking (i.e., extra action) upgrades. I'd remove Archive as a stat and allow programs and upgrades to be purchased directly - give them trait prereqs (including min daemon rating) to serve as a balance/limit. -szilard