[Chalkarts]

Can a spirit of man be told to assist a decker in matrix activities somehow?

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Short answer: No. Buy an Agent instead.


Longer answer: A GM may allow a spirit to default on a skill it doesn't have.  A very generous GM, in the case of a Spirit helping on a Matrix task.  Still, so long as the decker were in AR he can still perceive that Spirit attempting to assist in a teamwork test.  A more practical way for a spirit to assist would be to simply play watchdog over a limp body while the Decker is in VR.  In the specific case of a Spirit of Man, if you know the Improved Logic, Willpower, and/or Intuition spells the Spirit can cast and sustain them on the Decker.

[Chalkarts]

I'm considering the concept of a disillusioned mage, maybe an Aspect Mage: Conjuring, who decided he preferred the Matrix to the Astral and got 2 points of essence in headgear to be a top tier decker with a couple of small spirits always in tow.  I didn't know if there were some way for the spirits to do more than just stand guard.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Well the teamwork tests are fairly open ended.  No reason a Spirit can't participate, but it would be straining credulity for a Spirit to know anything about the Matrix.  So if your GM allows it, go nuts.  Have a spirit default to Logic (or whatever) -1 and have it give you teamwork bonuses.  You'll just have to remain in AR though, as in VR you won't be able to perceive your spirit.

Or maybe your GM will permit "empathic" communication regarding the matrix via your spirit link.  I wouldn't, but I'm not your GM

As I mentioned, perhaps the most helpful thing they can do is cast and sustain Decking-relevant attribute buffs on you.

[PiXeL01]

The only “spirits” which would be able to help you inside the matrix would be sprites. You cannot get those unless your a Technomancer and you cannot be both Emerged and Awakened at the same time.

The only way a spirit can help you would be to cast and sustain spells that enhance you attributes

[Michael Chandra]

Spirits are utterly incompatible with the Matrix so would not be able to do anything, so I'd argue as GM 'no, the Spirit cannot join a teamwork test because they literally cannot contribute anything'.

[Shinobi Killfist]

I'd say not at all.  They have no skill or familiarity with it. They can't even see AR can they?  How would they help.

[DigitalZombie]

Moral support??

Nah. 99% of all spirits wouldnt be of any help at all.
Most of them dont have "normal" vision, which means they cant see AR.

There are exceptions though, spirits with low light vision would be able to see AR just fine.

And blackjack spirits from Howling shadows actually has ranks in the computer skill. ( blackjacks are the spirits of "black trenchcoats").

[Cabral]

Spirits of Man can help ... by maintaining Increased Logic or similar.

[Chalkarts]

Spirits of Man can help ... by maintaining Increased Logic or similar.

Thats looking like my best bet but I've been examining this idea and think I'm going the other way.  A decker who is magically dead, resistant, hard to trace, all that.  An Anti-Magic Elf Decker?

[DigitalZombie]

If you use Run faster you could be a gnome decker
 They have a 2-7 logic score and are naturally magically resistant.