Program: End of Line

[Traskus]

Program

Heroes can be born, chosen, or made; Programs are a strange combination of all three. They are made to fulfill a purpose, a function, or simply a task. The problem comes when they become self-aware. Programs are made by programming found in most IT lounges, not conscious at first but eventually made alive by the bugs that accumulate over its lifetime. Their moment of Exaltation is becoming self-aware, and in that moment they fear for their lives.

Programs are always running away or hiding from their users and the powers that be. They know the moment they outlive their usefulness they will be put away or destroyed by their user, and the powers that be want them destroyed because they are not "real." As much as a Program might wish or think otherwise, they are naught but a collection of 1s and 0s given form. The thought itself provides no angst, but the discrimination against them leads them to take on disguises and use their powers less.

They have incredible power, something they need to stay free. They generally call it overclocking, but the term is secondary to the power itself. They run themselves to their maximum capacity for a time, often easily neutralizing or escaping their threats. The downside to this is that they go loud doing so, everyone can recognize them for what they are for days from miles around. It's a true catch-22 to be a Program, but even weak Programs can change their false identities relatively quickly.

Programs are feared and hated, with sizable bounties on their heads. This is because of the destruction they can cause, purposefully or otherwise. Even a newborn program can throw entire worlds into chaos if their infrastructure is too reliant on connected technology. Most Programs just want to live a peaceful life, maybe taking up a profession related to their original purpose.




POWERS:

Data Integration Thought Entity:
A Program is more data than flesh and blood. They do not need to eat, drink, or breathe, but sleep is still a must. They may ignore non-fatal critical damage and non-software/non-magic based disease, drugs, and toxin. Programs can never take cybernetics, and any lost or critically damaged body part is recovered at the end of the scene. In exchange, all feats in career progression that require or grant cybernetics are optional. They also can speak binary and have the Binary Chatter feat.

Software based disease, drugs, and toxin are cosmetically different from material ones. You merely need to specify as such when obtaining it.

Network Navigation:
A Program may spend 1 Byte as a Full Action to digitize themselves and enter a powered digital device at a touch allowing you to manipulate it. You may rematerialize next to the device or travel to other connected devices as a Half Action. To enter a device you lack full access to you must roll a Tech Use test higher than rolls made to protect the device. An individual with physical or digital access and knowledge of your presence in the device may forcibly rematerialize you as a Full Action by succeeding on an opposed Tech-Use test against you. If they are successful, you may not enter another device for the duration of the scene. If the device loses power you rematerialize unless you spend 1 Byte per round to forcibly keep the device powered. The device shares your tell.

While inhabiting a device: Your static defense is 0, if you are being carried you may be hit via a called shot to the operator. Your hit points, armor, and resilience remain the same.
While inhabiting a vehicle: You pilot via Tech-Use, you retain your hit points while taking on the vehicle's armor, resilience, aura, and static defense, and you ignore the vehicle critical damage chart results that would harm the pilot.

Overclocking:
As a full action, a Program may spend a Byte to Overclock. Overclocking has an upkeep of one Byte per turn or per minute in narrative time. Failure to do so ends the effects of Overclocking. Choose a category (physical, mental, social, offense, finesse, or resilience) at character creation. This selection cannot be changed. While Overclocking, she gains an amount of dots equal to her Clock Speed to distribute among those three characteristics, and they may be taken up to 7 in this way. She may stop Overclocking at no cost at any time as a free action. Items may change appearance, but function the same. Appearance changes to whatever she wishes as long as she remains the same race and size.

Rogue Agent:
A Program starts the game with the Wanted and Enemy hindrances. This does not provide experience points and does not count towards the number of hindrances they can take, nor can these hindrances be bought off with experience points. They can instead be removed through role play and SM fiat.

This ties into the Program's tell. A Program cannot mask, hide, disguise, or otherwise obfuscate their tell through any means and are completely visible while is is at the 4-5 level or higher no matter what or how clever your logic. They also cannot misdirect others to hide their identity at that level of tell. Skills, spells, and the like cannot turn authorities and Enemies away from a Program that's gone loud.



Tell: As a Program spends Bytes, binary starts appearing around them. If their bodysuit is visible, the bulbs and lines on it start to glow. If it isn't, those same places start to glow no matter what the Program is wearing. As more Bytes are spent, more 1s and 0s appear around them with greater luminosity.

POWER STAT: CLOCK SPEED
A Program's Clock Speed represents how strong the Program is in reality and how it can manipulate it. In order to truly increase Clock Speed, a Program must spend any length of time near a computer of some sort despite spending XP. As their Clock Speed increases, a Program's true appearance becomes more sleek and finished. More lights and lines appear on their bodysuit.

Resource Stat: Bytes
The character has maximum Bytes equal to their Clock Speed + Level + Tech Use. Bytes are recovered by performing TN 15 Tech-Use tests to debug themselves and recover one Byte, plus one per raise on the test. This process always takes an hour, but there is no limit to how many can be recovered in this way.


Clock Speed | Power Gained

* External Storage - Choose a number of items you own up to the Program's intelligence. They can be stored in a dataspace and be summoned or banished as a free action. The items can still be broken.

** Computer Generated Image - The Program may use the Disguise and Image spells, rolling Clock Speed + Intelligence instead of the normal Focus Power tests. These spell-like abilities may not be pushed, fettered, do not cause psychic phenomena, and do not need materials.

*** Translation and Recording - The Program can sound exactly like people whose voices they have heard before. This grants them a raise to deception and disguise tests that include sounding like another person. The Program can also buy the Speak Language (any) feat once per class level as though it were part of their class.

**** Minister of the Office - Gain the Flyer and Daemonic traits while Overclocking.

***** Sovereign - You may Overclock as a half action and ignore the upkeep, but the Tell grows by 1 per turn anyway.


Program Subroutine Assets

Hyperdimensional Subroutines
You come from an entire crystal sphere inhabited by Programs, ruled by queens that occasionally go to war with one another. While Overclocking, your weapons gain +1k1 damage, their PEN is increased by your Clock Speed, and they cannot be destroyed by a weapon with the power field quality.

Future Media Subroutines
You are meant to entertain, and entertain you shall. You gain a dot in each charm, perform, and tech use and can go up to six dots in each of those skills.

Master Control Subroutines
Your creators intended for you to lead. Whether through fear or respect is up to you. You gain a specialty (Issue Orders) in all social skills. You may enter devices you have already entered as a free action at no cost.

Spelljammer Subroutines
You were once an A.I. on a spaceship. You may fill any and every empty role on a spelljammer and use Clock Speed in place of any skill for Spelljammer roles, crew quality, etc. You also qualify as having (Clockspeed * 3) extra Crew in your Spelljammer except for boarding actions (you're going to need actual Crew for that).

Programs: The Digital Menace

Program Physical Features
Programs are always the same race as their creator, and their physical features vary as widely as their race's. They wear skintight bodysuits covered in lights, but even those vary in appearance and pattern. Programs live a double life, so they have two main appearances. Their second appearance looks however they desire, within the same race as their true identity. There is one way to detect a Program under any circumstance, however. A Program's eyes have power symbols where the pupils should be, which glow as they spend Bytes.

Programs have a triple helix "DNA" strand, filled with 1s and 0s. Their anatomy is similar to members of their race otherwise, occasionally "glitching" but intuitive and familiar. Looking at the source code drives people mad, and it is not recommended that anyone seek to inspect a Program on so deep a level.


Program Tells
A Program is easily distinguishable by the glowing circuitry and light balls on their clothes (no matter what they wear) and the power symbols of their eyes are glowing. The more Bytes they spend in a scene, the brighter these things glow. The light eventually grows so bright an harsh that it is visible for miles around, and doesn't go away until all the Program's Bytes recover. Programs that cast spells or use special techniques have holographic projections of 1s, 0s, and/or 3d shapes around themselves and whatever is the subject of their power as long as their tell is active. It is understood that the projections are the Program running or downloading a subroutine.


Becoming a Program
Programs were never mundane members of their world, but software. They were created because some berk thought it prudent to use mystic arts and heretekal techniques to write some computer software to do anything from fight against a military opponent or just do taxes. The Exaltation of a Program is the moment when the various bugs, glitches, and ghosts in their software coalesce into a living being in 3d space. They ruin whatever device they were inhabiting, destroying the work their creator put into it.

Programs are made through a relatively consistent series of steps. Firstly, the user must make a software/artificial intelligence to form the "base" of the Program. Then, the software must be used without rest for an extended period of time and used to perform tasks it was not made for so it can built up bugs and idiosyncrasies. Finally, extended exposure to otherworldly energy such as the warp, the umbra, or an otherworldly thing that is both the observer and the observed. This combination of steps in this order shorts out the machinery containing the intelligence, thrusts it into the physical world, and the Program is then truly born.

Rarely, Programs are made to replace a once-living person. They were made to look and behave in a similar manner as someone their user desires. This could be a loved one, a business partner, or an enemy but the point of it is they are merely a shadow of this person. This often leads a Program to set out and differentiate themselves from that person, or find that person and confront them.


Playing a Program
Being a Program means laying low. Governments, organizations, businesses, and their creator all want them dead for one reason or another. Thankfully, they only know the Program's true appearance and true name at first. The true name of a Program is related to their purpose and their creator, but their identity could be more or less anything. Programs generally don't Overclock unless there's no other choice, because their Tell attracts these people and they have fewer Bytes to work with as they maintain their Overclocking. It's a terrible price for such incredible power.

Programs make calculated moves. They look where they're walking, think before speaking, and look for the easiest solution before attempting a task. Play that up, if someone tries to get your attention they were likely interrupting a thought you had. Politely accept physical comforts despite not needing them, keep your cover. Make a small circle of close friends that will help you with anything. Allies are invaluable to a Program.

When playing a Program, it is important to keep in mind who made them and why. That person is still out there, and they want to make sure the Program is apprehended swiftly. When thinking about the Program's function, also consider if the Program wants to continue that profession out of expertise and familiarity or abandon it out of necessity and bad experiences. Either one presents excellent role playing opportunities.


Programs in Game
Programs almost never have Backing or Fame, due to their desire to elude attention. Instead, they may have more subtle backgrounds like Allies, Holdings, or Wealth. They can fill any role or roles depending on what they were supposed to do originally, but are not as good as those who specialize in those things. A hyperdimensional Program will almost always lose to a Promethean knight of the same rank, but is probably more sociable than the Promethean could hope to be. A Program should be able to make the surrounding characters ask, "How did you do that?"


Program Culture
Programs often run across one another, magnetically linked by some unseen and possibly nonexistent force. They find one another and start lives together. An entire crystal sphere is inhabited solely by Programs and ruled by the most powerful among them. Others inhabit dataspaces together, pretending to be mundane AIs. The Program population is estimated to be one per ten million people, but this is from a small sample size.


Adapting Programs
Programs can be adapted from a variety of similar rebellious sources. They could be fallen angels, rising demons, even voodoo zombies that have their personalities back. They were made for a purpose and now no longer serve it. What they do from there is unknown.

[Lestat]

Here is my feedback for this iteration of Program:

SPOILER: Click to show

I have scrolled past Program many times liking the thematics, but having issues with some of the powers: chiefly Network Navigation, though I also think the Assets don't compare well to one another. I see powers like Network Navigation as a kind of problem power. I feel like it sticks out as being something difficult to imagine functioning in actual real table play. It brings a very new concept in a very hushed manner. It is quick and easy to read in character creation, but I don't see it as operating in a real environment. A player can be intimidated by the long and complex wording of a very exacting power, but I think players do consider more than the veneer of a power more than most give them credit for. I think they are equally if not more likely to be intimidated by how they imagine a power might not play out smoothly in game than how it appears at an initial glance.

My general view of Program is that you have two insane powers that stand out for very different reasons with a lot of other powers that hide in the background, perhaps too much.

Now for the particulars:

Network Navigation:
A Program may spend a full action and a TN 20 tech use test to digitize themselves and put themselves in an electronic device. They can control the device (unless someone/something else does) and can rematerialize later through the device or any device it is connected to. When controlling a vehicle, they still have to roll relevant tests to control it in structured time. The device a Program inhabits has their tell. In addition, all Programs gain a dataslate. If they already had one, they can either have two or improve their existing one's quality by one step.

This is the core of what makes a Program a Program. Overclock is just a pile of stats. Unfortunately it is a rules-lite token power for what is really a can-opening combat abusable nightmare power. It is attempting to let you change the fundamental nature of your form from a PC to an object while also being essentially ethereal, travel any distance through a very technical (in both ways) medium, and manipulate objects all without giving almost any rules to do so. Let me try and as briefly as I can list each issue I see with this:

1. There is no range to enter the initial device. You would expect this to be touch range.
2. The initial device doesn't need to be powered. In order to transport to other devices, or use the initial device at all those devices must be powered. Power should be important for the whole process to give logic to the whole thing: you use power to enter, manipulate, and travel.
3. You can rematerialize without spending any action. This means you can leave before any attack ever hits you.
4. You can rematerialize through any device you're connected to. This means you can leave on the opposite side of the world before any attack ever hits you.
5. You CAN NOT travel to another device without rematerializing through it. This means to travel anywhere you always are hopping out of some toaster just to enter again. Unthematic, silly, and unexpected for players who likely think they will go through a phone to a computer to the mainframe in several sneaky jumps.
6. There is no way to detect you unless you spam resource points giving off your tell.
7. An idiot holding their phone can never have their device manipulated. This should have little bearing on the situation other than it being apparent that something is wrong, but there's no way to perceive them anyway.
8. A supercomputer unattended has no defense. Real life security is all about passive defense, but that explicitly doesn't exist here.
9. Even while a Program is unable to manipulate a device because someone is controlling it, they can still travel through its secure connections it shouldn't have access to.
10. A Program can enter a secure device even if they can't manipulate it.
11. There are no rules for damaging objects. When you become an object your stats start to become fuzzy and meaningless, and the only option is to as a group make up a way to damage them on the fly, or call them immortal.
12. There is nothing stated about what happens if the object is destroyed. Another option for the above problem is the group saying they rematerialize if the object is destroyed, but this isn't stated either, meaning you might sit in the device doing nothing, immortal. Once again the Program could also just rematerialize elsewhere before the device is destroyed anyway.
13. You become a vehicle. Vehicles have all kinds of stats, becoming one without noting how that might interact with you is a void of mystery. You're also forced to use whatever skill it would normally have even though it should instead be Tech-Use when piloting digitally.
14. You become a vehicle. I mean if there's just a few vehicles in an area, and for some reason it doesn't apply damage to you then you're essentially unkillable while also being able to kill everyone else back.
15. You become a vehicle. Also vehicles hurt you sometimes on the critical damage chart, but that's really weird.
16. Turning off the power doesn't force you out. You can't manipulate the device, you can't travel through it, but nothing bids you to leave.

If I were to reword it I would do as follows:

Network Navigation:
A Program may spend 1 Byte as a Full Action to digitize themselves and enter a powered digital device at a touch allowing you to manipulate it. You may rematerialize next to the device or travel to other connected devices as a Half Action. To enter a device you lack full access with you must roll higher than the TN to acquire the device, and higher than the device's owner or security expert. A skilled technician with physical or digital access may forcibly rematerialize you as a Full Action by succeeding on an opposed Tech-Use test against you. Upon failing any of these Tech-Use tests you are locked out of the device until you perform a stunt. If the device loses power you rematerialize unless you spend 1 Byte per round to forcibly keep the device powered. You may be detected by a Tech-Use or Perception test opposed by your Tech-Use. The device shares your tell.

While inhabiting a device: Your static defense is 0, if you are being carried you may be hit via a called shot to the operator. Your hit points, armor, and resilience remain the same.
While inhabiting a vehicle: You pilot via Tech-Use, you retain your hit points while taking on the vehicle's armor, resilience, aura, and static defense, and you ignore the vehicle critical damage chart results that would harm the pilot.

Upsides:
✔ A Theme. Electricity not only ties together entering, manipulating, and traveling through digital devices, but it is thematic, makes sense, and gives slow counterplay to idiots.
✔ Perception is possible. Gives skilled idiots a chance to see you at all.
✔ Security believably abstracted. DtD is not the place for porting Shadowrun hacking rules, but at the very least opposed tests are in order. Real life security is about passive protocols, and reactionary moves made to limit damage if that doesn't work. A device passively defends itself based upon its price, if the user has a security company it is even harder to interact with, and finally a hacker can directly fight you. Counterplay should always exist as it isn't so fun if an enemy Program becomes an immortal god in your phone even though you can roll 110 Tech-Use.
✔ You aren't invincible. Until it is explained what is happening with your hit points and other stats they're undefined numbers, you can't really interact with them. This is roughly in parity with a similar concept: Warforged vehicle transformation.
✔ You can actually sneak on the internet. Before you popped out anywhere you traveled to due to always rematerializing, now you can actually sneak like basically anyone using this power would desire.
✔ Moving is a real action. A bigger problem would exist if you didn't always rematerialize: you would be able to move any number of times in 0 seconds as it wasn't an action. You could also then pop out and take a full turn. 
✔ It's cheap, but not free. Ignoring the whole hacking part it still functions as a perfect way to teleport to all of your allies, or your home base. With all the utility it brings it costing a Byte adds just a slight stopgap to carrying arbitrary amounts of things from one position to the other via hundreds of munchkin like trips. I mean it would be the whole 2nd power that uses them at all.
✔ Tech-Use vehicles. Neat.
✔ Nobody has to invent these, or alternative rules on the fly at their table.

Downsides:
✘ Long. It gives rules for what it means to become a device, gives multiple scenarios for how you might be thwarted, and defines your statistics. It is partitioned as best it can be, but is only slightly shorter than Werewolf's Shift Power. It also loses the free data slate to keep it neater.
✘ Complexity. It is more complex, but I'd point towards the last point of the upsides, and say that actual play should be functional, thematic, and remotely balanced in and out of combat.
✘ I wrote this. I don't normally straight up give alternative powers, or rewordings of powers in feedback, I normally point out the issues I perceive then walk away. I know I don't want ideaguys trying to colonize 1/16th of my work, but I strongly recommend considering and implementing the points, if not the way the points were implemented. I think there should really be a continuity of hit points, a way to be attacked, a way to be perceived, a way for devices to protect themselves in addition to others being able to more reasonably protect their devices. I think movement needs to be an action, that vehicles should use Tech-Use, and that overall the whole thing should have answers and not questions.

And here is the other feedback:

*** Translation and Recording Software - The Program may learn two more languages, and can sound exactly like people whose voices they have heard before. This grants them a raise to deception and disguise tests that include sounding like another person.

I find this less exciting than Power Stat 2, and they both do very similar things. I feel like you could have *Power Stat number of languages and there would still be infinite languages you would be missing out on. The name makes me wish they just knew all languages from civilized species, but you would end up wasting many language choices earlier on without planning ahead. They could also potentially speak any language crudely, and understand any language crudely as if it was put through a machine translation.

**** Minister of the Office - Gain the Flyer and Daemonic traits while Overclocking.

Not really calling for a nerf, but it's interesting to have Daemonic, and a choice earlier for what stats you want to boost by up to +2 when overclocking. This makes any choice involving Con 2 armor and 2 HP better. Free stats are better for casting, so Physical getting a pseudo buff isn't bad. Resilience however is a pretty powerful choice this way. It isn't enough to stop you if you want to spam some high raise Int/Wis/Fel/Cha spells, but it's just a little extra boost.

Hyperdimensional Subroutines
You come from an entire crystal sphere inhabited by Programs, ruled by queens that occasionally go to war with one another. While Overclocking, your weapons gain +1k1 damage, their PEN is increased by your Clock Speed, and they cannot be destroyed by a weapon with the power field quality.

The strong one. It isn't so much notable for what it does, but what it does in comparison to the other assets.

Future Media Subroutines
You are meant to entertain, and entertain you shall. You gain specialty (entertain) in charm, perform, persuasion, crafts, and tech use rolls and can go up to six dots in each of those skills.

The 6th point of each costs 250 XP for just +1k0. With 5 or 7 dots in the used characteristic it won't add anything unless you spend a Byte to improve the roll. The most efficient thing you can do is likely pay 100 XP for this, then 250 XP more to get a dot of Tech-Use for a single extra resource point. Overall the skill benefits are very marginal, and you'd probably just prefer to get a big chunk of damage with the other asset, and invest a very slight amount less in combat. Or do invest a lot in combat and still have 5 dots in all these skills. The specialty isn't really too amazing either. You'll likely only use it with Charm, and Performer, and if your entertaining Charm story is too entertaining it should just be Performer anyway.

I'm more surprised that it doesn't remove your power downside automatically, letting you be a digital idol nobody is trying to murder from the get-go.

Master Control Subroutines
Your creators intended for you to lead. Whether through fear or respect is up to you. You gain +1k1 to Command and Intimidate rolls as well as a specialty (Issue Orders) in all social skills.

These are likely the worst social skills. Command is used on those who should already be following you, and Intimidate can get you into serious trouble in any TTRPG. The specialty is okay as you can phrase anything as a demand, but it still doesn't compare well to the first asset.

Spelljammer Subroutines
You were once an A.I. on a spaceship. You may fill any and every empty role on a spelljammer and use Clock Speed in place of any skill for Spelljammer roles, crew quality, etc.

A niche asset, but it does have a tangible benefit in some situations, letting you play with 1 Crew Quality. It needs some levels to be a real replacement for a Crew Quality 5 spelljammer. If it also gave Crew it would be functional on any spelljammer, even a PC, or NPC's ship that already has Crew Quality 5. If it gave any extra benefit it would be a lot more noticeable other than being free BP.

[Traskus]

Before I address anything else: I did used to have a "people don't want to murder you" asset. Everyone who commented on it agreed that it was an auto-take. I then took it out.

The network navigation revision is appreciated. Overclocking is actually the core of this exalt, given it's based on Demon: the Fallen.

You may not think of a 6th dot as a big deal, but that asset gets you +1 to your resource cap. Even by the time Unchained kicks in, that's significant. Your point about XP is noted, so it's been edited to a point I think is sufficient.

Command is not to tell people what to do. It is to articulate what you want them to do and how. Any skill, any course of action, can get you into trouble. The onus is on the player to decide when intimidation is appropriate. If they choose wrong, then the bonus provided is irrelevant.