Spirit follower -- to AI or not to AI?

[Zed-F]

I have a character who has a spirit mentor who resides in his subconscious, and can manifest in typical ghostly fashion when the character needs advice. What's the best way to build this? Note that the mentor is a spirit and doesn't have any way to affect the physical world.

• Buy as a normal follower, with desolid inherent always on and so forth. The pricey desolid is offset and then some by being able to sell back pretty much every physical characteristic to zero.
• Buy as an AI. You still get to sell DEX back but you probably don't have to buy the desolid.
• Handwave and let the GM figure it out.

Anyone done something like this recently?

[Sociotard]

How about a Contact?
AI sounds good to me, though.

[Kolava]

Wouldn't you have to build the spirit with Invisibility and Clinging to represent that they can't be seen and they move with the character?

AI is sounding good.

[Zed-F]

You're right, Sociotard, there is an option to use a spirit contact. It gets a bit pricey though, so it might be more effective just to buy an AI follower. A good thought, however, and worth considering if I don't want the character to have a lot of access to his mentor initially -- when the character starts out, it might not be so simple just to call the spirit forth whenever he wants to.

[Hyper-Man]

The follower option sounds like the best solution to the question of how to build the original Firestorm that merged two people into one body.

[Sociotard]

I don't think you really need to use invisibility. As long as you don't define it as any kind of focus, it will always stay with you by default. You might apply persistant, so it can watch over you while you sleep, or concentrate, or what have you.

I just mentioned defining it as a contact because I did something similar. The character, a large computer sent to observe humans over the centuries, 'saved' notable minds (geniuses, madmen, and so forth) as 'quantum ghosts'. Every now and then he'd run into a situation where the advice of one such ghost would be useful, and he'd try to call it up (of course, it was 11-, so there were frequent system gliches). I called it an organization contact with moderately useful skills: 9 pts.

[Spearmint]

Greetings
To perceive what your spirit perceives is Clairsentience and levels to perception with the special effect of the spirit is pointing things out. To gain access to the knowledge that he would have that you don't would be knowledge skills with an activation roll to see if the spirit could help you, or maybe even a VVP KS.
Alternatively you could purchase duplication invisible effect, two beings one body.

[Tom McCarthy]

Arguably, this could be the SFX of a Deduction skill roll.

[PhilFleischmann]

Wow! So many diverse opinions!

From the way you describe it, I would buy it as an AI, but I would require you to buy Desolid. After all, if you've got a real computer, someone could blast it to smithereens. But if it resides metaphysically within your soul, it's almost impossible to damage. And it always stays with you as long as you don't take Focus on it. The manifestation of a ghostly image that only you can see or hear is just a special effect of the AI's communication with you - I wouldn't charge points for that, any more than I would charge for an ear piece attached to a computer. Maybe a 5-point Mind Link, but that's it.

[Dust Raven]

Wow! So many diverse opinions!

From the way you describe it, I would buy it as an AI, but I would require you to buy Desolid. After all, if you've got a real computer, someone could blast it to smithereens. But if it resides metaphysically within your soul, it's almost impossible to damage. And it always stays with you as long as you don't take Focus on it. The manifestation of a ghostly image that only you can see or hear is just a special effect of the AI's communication with you - I wouldn't charge points for that, any more than I would charge for an ear piece attached to a computer. Maybe a 5-point Mind Link, but that's it.

I'd to the AI/computer a bit differently. If it is in a case you carry with you, can be taken away, broken etc...then I just buy the Computer or AI with the Focus Limitation. The default for me is something that can't normally be attacked or stolen (like a base computer).

As to the question at hand, all of the above suggestions are wonderful, but it all depends upon exactly what the spirit mentor can do for the character.

Spirit Mentor empathically gives the character the occasional hunch (Deduction)

Spirit Mentor will give the character advice, but rarely any actual knowledge that isn't hidden in metaphor and double meaning (Contact)

Spirit Mentor will give the character good advice and the occasional bit of non cryptic knowledge (Contat with a good relationship)

Spirit Mentor shows up even when not asked for (Contact with Very Good relationship, or AI)

Spirit Mentor can is a constant companion (AI)

Spirit Mentor can explore the area near the character, or even investigate places further away and report back (Follower with Inherant Desol/Invisibility)

[Zed-F]

I think my answer will wind up being spirit contact, and eventually spend points improving it to the point where it becomes an AI follower. No focus lim, of course!