[edwardfmo]

Hey all!

I've been searching for this, but could not find anything, so i'l ask it here (I hope it's the right place)

Is there a way for a drone in SR4 to be possessed/inhabited/otherwise enhanced by a spirit, while keeping the control of the drone to the rigger?

The background of this question is that I have an AI character with a nice drone body, but (s)he is getting tired of magic users. What i would like, is getting a spirit inside, to give me some nice boost, maybe some countermagic, but i would like to stay in control of the metal body's mechanical actions. I know, that communication with such spirit would be difficult, if not impossible, as a spirit cannot really sense any technological stuff, but still, there might be a way.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Medicineman]

if a spirits possesses a Body (wether living or not) he is in Control ! the possessed can only watch his Body moving, acting etc and can't do fart.
The only exception is a Metamagic and concerns only the Mage that summoned the Spirit,
So I guess there is no chance for Your Plans with RAW

HougH!
Medicineman

[Sendaz]

Well, there is sort of a way...but is a bit tricky.

If you can negotiate with Great Free spirit that has the Hidden Life Power (Street magic pg 110)  it could potentially anchor itself to an object, like say your drone.

By hiding its life the spirit can not be permanently banished/destroyed. The spirit is able to return after a year and a day even if banished with its spirit formula, but a character holding the spirit formula may call the spirit sooner.

In turn the hiding place gains Immunity to Normal Weapons with a Magic equal to the spirit’s and Immunity to Age.
If the hidden life holder is destroyed, the life force returns to the spirit, and the spirit is treated normally.

So you get a drone with boosted defence while still being in control of it, however it won't do much on the magical defense side so is not exactly what you are looking for.

The problems?
Greater powers like this are rare so just getting a spirit with this capability will be difficult, let alone negotiate with.
Also, you are asking it to bind itself to something that is basically a moving punching bag. Yes, it's IMtNW (remember its an armor rating at Spirits's Magic x 2 that gets treated as 'hardened' and adds to your damage resistance rolls like armor) will give it a bit more durability but as it is prone to being beat up,  a spirit probably won't want to be tied to something with such a short shelf life so to speak.
It will probably make some sort of demands in return.

[edwardfmo]

Thanks for the quick answers, I will think about them. Feel free to add in more thou