Master Rewrite Datapad

About Rewrites

The nature of rewrites is explained on page 46 of Horizon: Virtual. Rewriters select their rewrites from a limited list of rewrites known. Most rewriters prepare their rewrites in advance from a datapad while some execute rewrites spontaneously without preparation. Despite these different ways that characters use to learn or prepare their rewrites, when it comes to executing them, the rewrites are very much alike. Rewrites can also be divided into eight “schools” of rewriting. These schools represent the different ways that rewrites take effect.

EXECUTING REWRITES

Whether a character prepares rewrites in advance or chooses them on the spot, executing a rewrite works the same way.

CHOOSING A REWRITE

First you must choose which rewrite to execute. If you’re a programmer, you select from among rewrites prepared earlier in the day and not yet executed (see Preparing Programmer Rewrites). If you’re a thinker, you can select any rewrite you know, provided you are capable of executing rewrites of that level or higher.

To execute a rewrite, you must be able to speak (if the rewrite has a verbal component), gesture (if it has a somatic component), and manipulate the material components or focus (if any). Additionally, you must concentrate to execute a rewrite.

If a rewrite has multiple versions, you choose which version to use when you execute it. You don’t have to prepare (or learn, in the case of a thinker) a specific version of the rewrite. Once you’ve executed a prepared rewrite, you can’t execute it again until you prepare it again. (If you’ve prepared multiple copies of a single rewrite, you can execute each copy once.) If you’re a thinker, executing a rewrite counts against your daily limit for rewrites of that rewrite level, but you can execute the same rewrite again if you haven’t reached your limit.

CONCENTRATION

To execute a rewrite, you must concentrate. If something interrupts your concentration while you’re executing, you must make a Concentration check or lose the rewrite. The more distracting the interruption and the higher the level of the rewrite you are trying to execute, the higher the DC is. If you fail the check, you lose the rewrite just as if you had executed it to no effect.

Injury: If while trying to execute a rewrite you take damage, you must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + points of damage taken + the level of the rewrite you’re executing). If you fail the check, you lose the rewrite without effect. The interrupting event strikes during rewriting if it comes between when you start and when you complete a rewrite (for a rewrite with an executing time of 1 full round or more) or if it comes in response to your executing the rewrite (such as an attack of opportunity provoked by the rewrite or a contingent attack, such as a readied action).

If you are taking continuous damage half the damage is considered to take place while you are executing a rewrite. You must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + 1/2 the damage that the continuous source last dealt + the level of the rewrite you’re executing). If the last damage dealt was the last damage that the effect could deal then the damage is over, and it does not distract you. Repeated damage does not count as continuous damage.

Rewrite: If you are affected by a rewrite while attempting to execute a rewrite of your own, you must make a Concentration check or lose the rewrite you are executing. If the rewrite affecting you deals damage, the DC is 10 + points of damage + the level of the rewrite you’re executing. If the rewrite interferes with you or distracts you in some other way, the DC is the rewrite’s saving throw DC + the level of the rewrite you’re executing. For a rewrite with no saving throw, it’s the DC that the rewrite’s saving throw would have if a save were allowed.

Grappling or Pinned: The only rewrites you can execute while grappling or pinned are those without somatic components and whose material components (if any) you have in hand. Even so, you must make a Concentration check (DC 20 + the level of the rewrite you’re executing) or lose the rewrite.

Vigorous Motion: If you are riding on a moving mount, taking a bouncy ride in a wagon, on a small boat in rough water, below-decks in a storm-tossed ship, or simply being jostled in a similar fashion, you must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + the level of the rewrite you’re executing) or lose the rewrite.

Violent Motion: If you are on a galloping horse, taking a very rough ride in a wagon, on a small boat in rapids or in a storm, on deck in a storm-tossed ship, or being tossed roughly about in a similar fashion, you must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + the level of the rewrite you’re executing) or lose the rewrite.

Violent Weather: You must make a Concentration check if you try to execute a rewrite in violent weather. If you are in a high wind carrying blinding rain or sleet, the DC is 5 + the level of the rewrite you’re executing. If you are in wind-driven hail, dust, or debris, the DC is 10 + the level of the rewrite you’re executing. In either case, you lose the rewrite if you fail the Concentration check. If the weather is caused by a rewrite, use the rules in the Rewrite subsection above.

Executing Defensively: If you want to execute a rewrite without provoking any attacks of opportunity, you must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + the level of the rewrite you’re executing) to succeed. You lose the rewrite if you fail.

Entangled: If you want to execute a rewrite while entangled in a net or by a tanglefoot bag or while you’re affected by a rewrite with similar effects, you must make a DC 15 Concentration check to execute the rewrite. You lose the rewrite if you fail.

COUNTERWRITES

It is possible to execute any rewrite as a counterwrite. By doing so, you are using the rewrite’s energy to disrupt the executing of the same rewrite by another character. Counterwriting works even if one rewrite is divine and the other arcane.

How Counterwrites Work: To use a counterwrite, you must select an opponent as the target of the counterwrite. You do this by choosing the ready action. In doing so, you elect to wait to complete your action until your opponent tries to execute a rewrite. (You may still move your speed, since ready is a standard action.)

If the target of your counterwrite tries to execute a rewrite, make a Codecraft check (DC 15 + the rewrite’s level). This check is a free action. If the check succeeds, you correctly identify the opponent’s rewrite and can attempt to counter it. If the check fails, you can’t do either of these things.

To complete the action, you must then execute the correct rewrite. As a general rule, a rewrite can only counter itself. If you are able to execute the same rewrite and you have it prepared (if you prepare rewrites), you execute it, altering it slightly to create a counterwrite effect. If the target is within range, both rewrites automatically negate each other with no other results.

Counterwriting Augmentation Rewrites: Augmentation feats are not taken into account when determining whether a rewrite can be countered.

Specific Exceptions: Some rewrites specifically counter each other, especially when they have diametrically opposed effects.
Dispel Rewrite as a Counterwrite: You can use dispel rewrite to counterwrite another rewriter, and you don’t need to identify the rewrite he or she is executing. However, dispel rewrite doesn’t always work as a counterwrite (see the rewrite description).

EXECUTER LEVEL

A rewrite’s power often depends on its executer level, which for most rewriting characters is equal to your class level in the class you’re using to execute the rewrite.

You can execute a rewrite at a lower executer level than normal, but the executer level you choose must be high enough for you to execute the rewrite in question, and all level-dependent features must be based on the same executer level.

In the event that a class feature, domain granted power, or other special ability provides an adjustment to your executer level, that adjustment applies not only to effects based on executer level (such as range, duration, and damage dealt) but also to your executer level check to overcome your target’s rewrite resistance and to the executer level used in dispel checks (both the dispel check and the DC of the check).

REWRITE FAILURE

If you ever try to execute a rewrite in conditions where the characteristics of the rewrite cannot be made to conform, the executing fails and the rewrite is wasted. Rewrites also fail if your concentration is broken and might fail if you’re wearing armor while executing a rewrite with somatic components.

THE REWRITE’S RESULT

Once you know which programs (or objects or areas) are affected, and whether those programs have made successful saving throws (if any were allowed), you can apply whatever results a rewrite entails.

SPECIAL REWRITE EFFECTS

Many special rewrite effects are handled according to the school of the rewrites in question. Certain other special rewrite features are found across rewrite schools.

Attacks: Some rewrite descriptions refer to attacking. All offensive combat actions, even those that don’t damage opponents are considered attacks. Attempts to turn or rebuke undead count as attacks. All rewrites that opponents resist with saving throws, that deal damage, or that otherwise harm or hamper subjects are attacks. Rewrites that summon monsters or other allies are not attacks because the rewrites themselves don’t harm anyone.

Bonus Types: Usually, a bonus has a type that indicates how the rewrite grants the bonus. The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type don’t generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonus works (see Combining Rewrite-based Effects, below). The same principle applies to penalties—a character taking two or more penalties of the same type applies only the worst one.

Bringing Back the Discorporated: Several rewrites have the power to restore slain characters to life. The nature of the gift of sentience granted to wakers by their progenitor virus parents has defied any attempt at analysis on the part of wakers or those Users aware of them. What is evident is that, via their command of code, some rewriters are capable of retrieving the spark that is presumably lost when a waker discorporates and returning it to either its digital shell or a prepared backup copy.

Level Loss: Any program brought back to life usually loses one level of experience. The character’s new XP total is midway between the minimum needed for his or her new (reduced) level and the minimum needed for the next one. If the character was 1st level at the time of death, he or she loses 2 points of Constitution instead of losing a level.

This level loss or Constitution loss cannot be repaired by any mortal means, even wish or miracle. A revived character can regain a lost level by earning XP through further adventuring. A revived character who was 1st level at the time of death can regain lost points of Constitution by improving his or her Constitution score when he or she attains a level that allows an ability score increase.

Preventing Restoration: Enemies can take steps to make it more difficult for a character to be returned from the dead. Keeping the body prevents others from using raise discorporated or reload to restore the slain character to life. Executing trap sentience prevents any sort of revivification unless the soul is first released.

Restoration against One’s Will: A soul cannot be returned to life if it does not wish to be. A soul knows the name, alignment, and patron deity (if any) of the character attempting to revive it and may refuse to return on that basis.

COMBINING REWRITE EFFECTS

Rewrites or rewrite effects usually work as described, no matter how many other rewrites or rewrite effects happen to be operating in the same area or on the same recipient. Except in special cases, a rewrite does not affect the way another rewrite operates. Whenever a rewrite has a specific effect on other rewrites, the rewrite description explains that effect. Several other general rules apply when rewrites or rewrite effects operate in the same place:

Stacking Effects: Rewrites that provide bonuses or penalties on attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, and other attributes usually do not stack with themselves. More generally, two bonuses of the same type don’t stack even if they come from different rewrites (or from effects other than rewrites; see Bonus Types, above).

Different Bonus Names: The bonuses or penalties from two different rewrites stack if the modifiers are of different types. A bonus that isn’t named stacks with any bonus. Same Effect More than Once in Different Strengths: In cases when two or more identical rewrites are operating in the same area or on the same target, but at different strengths, only the best one applies.

Same Effect with Differing Results: The same rewrite can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last rewrite in the series trumps the others. None of the previous rewrites are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final rewrite in the series lasts.

One Effect Makes Another Irrelevant: Sometimes, one rewrite can render a later rewrite irrelevant. Both rewrites are still active, but one has rendered the other useless in some fashion.

Multiple Mental Control Effects: Sometimes rewrite effects that establish mental control render each other irrelevant, such as a rewrite that removes the subjects ability to act. Mental controls that don’t remove the recipient’s ability to act usually do not interfere with each other. If a program is under the mental control of two or more programs, it tends to obey each to the best of its ability, and to the extent of the control each effect allows. If the controlled program receives conflicting orders simultaneously, the competing controllers must make opposed Charisma checks to determine which one the program obeys.

Rewrites with Opposite Effects: Rewrites with opposite effects apply normally, with all bonuses, penalties, or changes accruing in the order that they apply. Some rewrites negate or counter each other. This is a special effect that is noted in a rewrite’s description.

Instantaneous Effects: Two or more rewrites with instantaneous durations work cumulatively when they affect the same target.

REWRITE DESCRIPTIONS

The description of each rewrite is presented in a standard format. Each category of information is explained and defined below.

NAME

The first line of every rewrite description gives the name by which the rewrite is generally known.

SCHOOL (SUBSCHOOL)

Beneath the rewrite name is a line giving the school of rewriting (and the subschool, if appropriate) that the rewrite belongs to.

Almost every rewrite belongs to one of eight schools of rewriting. A school of rewriting is a group of related rewrites that work in similar ways. A small number of rewrites (arcane mark, limited wish, permanency, prestidigitation, and wish) are universal, belonging to no school.

Abjuration

Abjurations are protective rewrites. They create physical or rewrite-based barriers, negate rewrite-based or physical abilities, harm trespassers, or even banish the subject of the rewrite to another plane of existence.

If one abjuration rewrite is active within 10 feet of another for 24 hours or more, the rewrite-based fields interfere with each other and create barely visible energy fluctuations. The DC to find such rewrites with the Search skill drops by 4.

If an abjuration creates a barrier that keeps certain types of programs at bay, that barrier cannot be used to push away those programs. If you force the barrier against such a program, you feel a discernible pressure against the barrier. If you continue to apply pressure, you end the rewrite.

Conjuration

Each conjuration rewrite belongs to one of five subschools. Conjurations bring manifestations of objects, programs, or some form of energy to you (the summoning subschool), actually transport programs from another plane of existence to your plane (calling), heal (healing), transport programs or objects over great distances (teleportation), or create objects or effects on the spot (creation). Programs you conjure usually, but not always, obey your commands.

A program or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration rewrite cannot appear inside another program or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it. The program or object must appear within the rewrite’s range, but it does not have to remain within the range.

Calling: A calling rewrite transports a program from another plane to the plane you are on. The rewrite grants the program the one-time ability to return to its plane of origin, although the rewrite may limit the circumstances under which this is possible. Programs who are called actually die when they are killed; they do not disappear and reform, as do those brought by a summoning rewrite (see below). The duration of a calling rewrite is instantaneous, which means that the called program can’t be dispelled.

Creation: A creation rewrite manipulates matter to create an object or program in the place the rewriter designates (subject to the limits noted above). If the rewrite has a duration other than instantaneous, rewriting holds the creation together, and when the rewrite ends, the conjured program or object vanishes without a trace. If the rewrite has an instantaneous duration, the created object or program is merely assembled through rewriting. It lasts indefinitely and does not depend on rewriting for its existence.

Healing: Certain divine conjurations heal programs or even bring them back to life.

Summoning: A summoning rewrite instantly brings a program or object to a place you designate. When the rewrite ends or is dispelled, a summoned program is instantly sent back to where it came from, but a summoned object is not sent back unless the rewrite description specifically indicates this. A summoned program also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower. It is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the program to reform, during which time it can’t be summoned again.

When the rewrite that summoned a program ends and the program disappears, all the rewrites it has executed expire. A summoned program cannot use any innate summoning abilities it may have, and it refuses to execute any rewrites that would cost it XP, or to use any rewrite-like abilities that would cost XP if they were rewrites.

Teleportation: A teleportation rewrite transports one or more programs or objects a great distance. The most powerful of these rewrites can cross planar boundaries. Unlike summoning rewrites, the transportation is (unless otherwise noted) one-way and not dispellable. Teleportation is instantaneous travel through the Astral Plane. Anything that blocks astral travel also blocks teleportation.

Divination

Divination rewrites enable you to learn secrets long forgotten, to predict the future, to find hidden things, and to foil deceptive rewrites.

Many divination rewrites have cone-shaped areas. These move with you and extend in the direction you look. The cone defines the area that you can sweep each round. If you study the same area for multiple rounds, you can often gain additional information, as noted in the descriptive text for the rewrite.

Scrying: A scrying rewrite creates an invisible rewrite-based sensor that sends you information. Unless noted otherwise, the sensor has the same powers of sensory acuity that you possess. This level of acuity includes any rewrites or effects that target you, but not rewrites or effects that emanate from you. However, the sensor is treated as a separate, independent sensory organ of yours, and thus it functions normally even if you have been blinded, deafened, or otherwise suffered sensory impairment.

Any program with an Intelligence score of 12 or higher can notice the sensor by making a DC 20 Intelligence check. The sensor can be dispelled as if it were an active rewrite. Lead sheeting or rewrite-based protection blocks a scrying rewrite, and you sense that the rewrite is so blocked.

Enchantment

Enchantment rewrites affect the minds of others, influencing or controlling their behavior. All enchantments are mind-affecting rewrites. Two types of enchantment rewrites grant you influence over a subject program.

Charm: A charm rewrite changes how the subject views you, typically making it see you as a good friend.

Compulsion: A compulsion rewrite forces the subject to act in some manner or changes the way her mind works. Some compulsion rewrites determine the subject’s actions or the effects on the subject, some compulsion rewrites allow you to determine the subject’s actions when you execute the rewrite, and others give you ongoing control over the subject.

Evocation

Evocation rewrites manipulate energy or tap an unseen source of power to produce a desired end. In effect, they create something out of nothing. Many of these rewrites produce spectacular effects, and evocation rewrites can deal large amounts of damage.

Illusion

Illusion rewrites deceive the senses or minds of others. They cause people to see things that are not there, not see things that are there, hear phantom noises, or remember things that never happened.

Figment: A figment rewrite creates a false sensation. Those who perceive the figment perceive the same thing, not their own slightly different versions of the figment. (It is not a personalized mental impression.) Figments cannot make something seem to be something else. A figment that includes audible effects cannot duplicate intelligible speech unless the rewrite description specifically says it can. If intelligible speech is possible, it must be in a language you can speak. If you try to duplicate a language you cannot speak, the image produces gibberish. Likewise, you cannot make a visual copy of something unless you know what it looks like.

Because figments and glamers (see below) are unreal, they cannot produce real effects the way that other types of illusions can. They cannot cause damage to objects or programs, support weight, provide nutrition, or provide protection from the elements. Consequently, these rewrites are useful for confounding or delaying foes, but useless for attacking them directly.

A figment’s AC is equal to 10 + its size modifier.

Glamer: A glamer rewrite changes a subject’s sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear.

Pattern: Like a figment, a pattern rewrite creates an image that others can see, but a pattern also affects the minds of those who see it or are caught in it. All patterns are mind-affecting rewrites.

Phantasm: A phantasm rewrite creates a mental image that usually only the executer and the subject (or subjects) of the rewrite can perceive. This impression is totally in the minds of the subjects. It is a personalized mental impression. (It’s all in their heads and not a fake picture or something that they actually see.) Third parties viewing or studying the scene don’t notice the phantasm. All phantasms are mind-affecting rewrites.

Shadow: A shadow rewrite creates something that is partially real from extradimensional energy. Such illusions can have real effects. Damage dealt by a shadow illusion is real. Saving Throws and Illusions (Disbelief): Programs encountering an illusion usually do not receive saving throws to recognize it as illusory until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion.

A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals it to be false, but a figment or phantasm remains as a translucent outline.

A failed saving throw indicates that a character fails to notice something is amiss. A character faced with proof that an illusion isn’t real needs no saving throw. If any viewer successfully disbelieves an illusion and communicates this fact to others, each such viewer gains a saving throw with a +4 bonus.

Necromancy

Necromancy rewrites manipulate the power of death, unlife, and the life force. Rewrites involving undead programs make up a large part of this school.

Transmutation

Transmutation rewrites change the properties of some program, thing, or condition.

[DESCRIPTOR]

Appearing on the same line as the school and subschool, when applicable, is a descriptor that further categorizes the rewrite in some way. Some rewrites have more than one descriptor.

The descriptors are acid, air, chaotic, cold, darkness, death, earth, electricity, evil, fear, fire, force, good, language-dependent, lawful, light, mind-affecting, sonic, and water.

Most of these descriptors have no game effect by themselves, but they govern how the rewrite interacts with other rewrites, with special abilities, with unusual programs, with alignment, and so on.

A language-dependent rewrite uses intelligible language as a medium for communication. If the target cannot understand or cannot hear what the executer of a language-dependant rewrite says the rewrite fails.

A mind-affecting rewrite works only against programs with an Intelligence score of 1 or higher.

LEVEL

The next line of a rewrite description gives the rewrite’s level, a number between 0 and 9 that defines the rewrite’s relative power. This number is preceded by an abbreviation for the class whose members can execute the rewrite. The Level entry also indicates whether a rewrite is a domain rewrite and, if so, what its domain and its level as a domain rewrite are. A rewrite’s level affects the DC for any save allowed against the effect.

Names of rewrite-executing classes are abbreviated as follows: programmer Pgr; thinker Thk.

The domains a rewrite can be associated with include Air, Animal, Chaos, Death, Destruction, Earth, Evil, Fire, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Luck, Rewriting, Plant, Protection, Strength, Sun, Travel, Trickery, War, and Water.

COMPONENTS

A rewrite’s components are what you must do or possess to execute it. The Components entry in a rewrite description includes abbreviations that tell you what type of components it has. Specifics for material, focus, and XP components are given at the end of the descriptive text. Usually you don’t worry about components, but when you can’t use a component for some reason or when a material or focus component is expensive, then the components are important.

Verbal (V): A verbal component is a spoken incantation. To provide a verbal component, you must be able to speak in a strong voice. A silence rewrite or a gag spoils the incantation (and thus the rewrite). A rewriter who has been deafened has a 20% chance to spoil any rewrite with a verbal component that he or she tries to execute. Somatic (S): A somatic component is a measured and precise movement of the hand. You must have at least one hand free to provide a somatic component.

Material (M): A material component is one or more physical substances or objects that are annihilated by the rewrite energies in the executing process. Unless a cost is given for a material component, the cost is negligible. Don’t bother to keep track of material components with negligible cost. Assume you have all you need as long as you have your rewrite component pouch.

Focus (F): A focus component is a prop of some sort. Unlike a material component, a focus is not consumed when the rewrite is executed and can be reused. As with material components, the cost for a focus is negligible unless a price is given. Assume that focus components of negligible cost are in your rewrite component pouch.

Divine Focus (DF): A divine focus component is an item of spiritual significance. The divine focus for a cleric or a paladin is a holy symbol appropriate to the character’s faith.

If the Components line includes F/DF or M/DF, the arcane version of the rewrite has a focus component or a material component (the abbreviation before the slash) and the divine version has a divine focus component (the abbreviation after the slash).

XP Cost (XP): Some powerful rewrites entail an experience point cost to you. No rewrite can restore the XP lost in this manner. You cannot spend so much XP that you lose a level, so you cannot execute the rewrite unless you have enough XP to spare. However, you may, on gaining enough XP to attain a new level, use those XP for executing a rewrite rather than keeping them and advancing a level. The XP are treated just like a material component—expended when you execute the rewrite, whether or not the executing succeeds.

EXECUTING TIME

Most rewrites have an executing time of 1 standard action. Others take 1 round or more, while a few require only a free action.

A rewrite that takes 1 round to execute is a full-round action. It comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the round after you began executing the rewrite. You then act normally after the rewrite is completed.

A rewrite that takes 1 minute to execute comes into effect just before your turn 1 minute later (and for each of those 10 rounds, you are executing a rewrite as a full-round action, just as noted above for 1- round executing times). These actions must be consecutive and uninterrupted, or the rewrite automatically fails.

When you begin a rewrite that takes 1 round or longer to execute, you must continue the concentration from the current round to just before your turn in the next round (at least). If you lose concentration before the executing is complete, you lose the rewrite.

A rewrite with an executing time of 1 free action doesn’t count against your normal limit of one rewrite per round. However, you may execute such a rewrite only once per round. Executing a rewrite with an executing time of 1 free action doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity.

You make all pertinent decisions about a rewrite (range, target, area, effect, version, and so forth) when the rewrite comes into effect.

RANGE

A rewrite’s range indicates how far from you it can reach, as defined in the Range entry of the rewrite description. A rewrite’s range is the maximum distance from you that the rewrite’s effect can occur, as well as the maximum distance at which you can designate the rewrite’s point of origin. If any portion of the rewrite’s area would extend beyond this range, that area is wasted. Standard ranges include the following.

Personal: The rewrite affects only you.

Touch: You must touch a program or object to affect it. A touch rewrite that deals damage can score a critical hit just as a weapon can. A touch rewrite threatens a critical hit on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a successful critical hit. Some touch rewrites allow you to touch multiple targets. You can touch as many willing targets as you can reach as part of the executing, but all targets of the rewrite must be touched in the same round that you finish executing the rewrite.

Close: The rewrite reaches as far as 25 feet away from you. The maximum range increases by 5 feet for every two full executer levels.

Medium: The rewrite reaches as far as 100 feet + 10 feet per executer level.

Long: The rewrite reaches as far as 400 feet + 40 feet per executer level.

Unlimited: The rewrite reaches anywhere on the same plane of existence.

Range Expressed in Feet: Some rewrites have no standard range category, just a range expressed in feet.

AIMING A REWRITE

You must make some choice about whom the rewrite is to affect or where the effect is to originate, depending on the type of rewrite. The next entry in a rewrite description defines the rewrite’s target (or targets), its effect, or its area, as appropriate.

Target or Targets: Some rewrites have a target or targets. You execute these rewrites on programs or objects, as defined by the rewrite itself. You must be able to see or touch the target, and you must specifically choose that target. You do not have to select your target until you finish executing the rewrite.

If the target of a rewrite is yourself (the rewrite description has a line that reads Target: You), you do not receive a saving throw, and rewrite resistance does not apply. The Saving Throw and Rewrite Resistance lines are omitted from such rewrites.

Some rewrites restrict you to willing targets only. Declaring yourself as a willing target is something that can be done at any time (even if you’re flat-footed or it isn’t your turn). Unconscious programs are automatically considered willing, but a character who is conscious but immobile or helpless (such as one who is bound, cowering, grappling, paralyzed, pinned, or stunned) is not automatically willing.

Some rewrites allow you to redirect the effect to new targets or areas after you execute the rewrite. Redirecting a rewrite is a move action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Effect: Some rewrites create or summon things rather than affecting things that are already present.

You must designate the location where these things are to appear, either by seeing it or defining it. Range determines how far away an effect can appear, but if the effect is mobile it can move regardless of the rewrite’s range.

Ray: Some effects are rays. You aim a ray as if using a ranged weapon, though typically you make a ranged touch attack rather than a normal ranged attack. As with a ranged weapon, you can fire into the dark or at an invisible program and hope you hit something. You don’t have to see the program you’re trying to hit, as you do with a targeted rewrite. Intervening programs and obstacles, however, can block your line of sight or provide cover for the program you’re aiming at.

If a ray rewrite has a duration, it’s the duration of the effect that the ray causes, not the length of time the ray itself persists.

If a ray rewrite deals damage, you can score a critical hit just as if it were a weapon. A ray rewrite threatens a critical hit on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a successful critical hit.

Spread: Some effects, notably clouds and fogs, spread out from a point of origin, which must be a grid intersection. The effect can extend around corners and into areas that you can’t see. Figure distance by actual distance traveled, taking into account turns the rewrite effect takes. When determining distance for spread effects, count around walls, not through them. As with movement, do not trace diagonals across corners. You must designate the point of origin for such an effect, but you need not have line of effect (see below) to all portions of the effect.

Area: Some rewrites affect an area. Sometimes a rewrite description specifies a specially defined area, but usually an area falls into one of the categories defined below.

Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point where the rewrite originates, but otherwise you don’t control which programs or objects the rewrite affects. The point of origin of a rewrite is always a grid intersection. When determining whether a given program is within the area of a rewrite, count out the distance from the point of origin in squares just as you do when moving a character or when determining the range for a ranged attack. The only difference is that instead of counting from the center of one square to the center of the next, you count from intersection to intersection.

You can count diagonally across a square, but remember that every second diagonal counts as 2 squares of distance. If the far edge of a square is within the rewrite’s area, anything within that square is within the rewrite’s area. If the rewrite’s area only touches the near edge of a square, however, anything within that square is unaffected by the rewrite.

Burst, Emanation, or Spread: Most rewrites that affect an area function as a burst, an emanation, or a spread. In each case, you select the rewrite’s point of origin and measure its effect from that point.

A burst rewrite affects whatever it catches in its area, even including programs that you can’t see. It can’t affect programs with total cover from its point of origin (in other words, its effects don’t extend around corners). The default shape for a burst effect is a sphere, but some burst rewrites are specifically described as cone-shaped. A burst’s area defines how far from the point of origin the rewrite’s effect extends.

An emanation rewrite functions like a burst rewrite, except that the effect continues to radiate from the point of origin for the duration of the rewrite. Most emanations are cones or spheres. A spread rewrite spreads out like a burst but can turn corners. You select the point of origin, and the rewrite spreads out a given distance in all directions. Figure the area the rewrite effect fills by taking into account any turns the rewrite effect takes.

Cone, Cylinder, Line, or Sphere: Most rewrites that affect an area have a particular shape, such as a cone, cylinder, line, or sphere.

A cone-shaped rewrite shoots away from you in a quarter-circle in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and widens out as it goes. Most cones are either bursts or emanations (see above), and thus won’t go around corners.

When executing a cylinder-shaped rewrite, you select the rewrite’s point of origin. This point is the center of a horizontal circle, and the rewrite shoots down from the circle, filling a cylinder. A cylinder-shaped rewrite ignores any obstructions within its area.

A line-shaped rewrite shoots away from you in a line in the direction you designate. It starts from any corner of your square and extends to the limit of its range or until it strikes a barrier that blocks line of effect. A line-shaped rewrite affects all programs in squares that the line passes through.

A sphere-shaped rewrite expands from its point of origin to fill a spherical area. Spheres may be bursts, emanations, or spreads.

Programs: A rewrite with this kind of area affects programs directly (like a targeted rewrite), but it affects all programs in an area of some kind rather than individual programs you select. The area might be a spherical burst, a cone-shaped burst, or some other shape.

Many rewrites affect “living programs,” which means all programs other than constructs and undead. Programs in the rewrite’s area that are not of the appropriate type do not count against the programs affected.

Objects: A rewrite with this kind of area affects objects within an area you select (as Programs, but affecting objects instead).

Other: A rewrite can have a unique area, as defined in its description.

(S) Shapeable: If an Area or Effect entry ends with “(S),” you can shape the rewrite. A shaped effect or area can have no dimension smaller than 10 feet. Many effects or areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes. Three-dimensional volumes are most often needed to define aerial or underwater effects and areas.

Line of Effect: A line of effect is a straight, unblocked path that indicates what a rewrite can affect. A line of effect is canceled by a solid barrier. It’s like line of sight for ranged weapons, except that it’s not blocked by fog, darkness, and other factors that limit normal sight.

You must have a clear line of effect to any target that you execute a rewrite on or to any space in which you wish to create an effect. You must have a clear line of effect to the point of origin of any rewrite you execute.

A burst, cone, cylinder, or emanation rewrite affects only an area, programs, or objects to which it has line of effect from its origin (a spherical burst’s center point, a cone-shaped burst’s starting point, a cylinder’s circle, or an emanation’s point of origin).

An otherwise solid barrier with a hole of at least 1 square foot through it does not block a rewrite’s line of effect. Such an opening means that the 5-foot length of wall containing the hole is no longer considered a barrier for purposes of a rewrite’s line of effect.

DURATION

A rewrite’s Duration entry tells you how long the rewrite-based energy of the rewrite lasts.

Timed Durations: Many durations are measured in rounds, minutes, hours, or some other increment. When the time is up, the rewriting goes away and the rewrite ends. If a rewrite’s duration is variable the duration is rolled secretly (the executer doesn’t know how long the rewrite will last).

Instantaneous: The rewrite energy comes and goes the instant the rewrite is executed, though the consequences might be long-lasting.

Permanent: The energy remains as long as the effect does. This means the rewrite is vulnerable to dispel rewriting.

Concentration: The rewrite lasts as long as you concentrate on it. Concentrating to maintain a rewrite is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Anything that could break your concentration when executing a rewrite can also break your concentration while you’re maintaining one, causing the rewrite to end.

You can’t execute a rewrite while concentrating on another one. Sometimes a rewrite lasts for a short time after you cease concentrating.

Subjects, Effects, and Areas: If the rewrite affects programs directly the result travels with the subjects for the rewrite’s duration. If the rewrite creates an effect, the effect lasts for the duration. The effect might move or remain still. Such an effect can be destroyed prior to when its duration ends. If the rewrite affects an area then the rewrite stays with that area for its duration.

Programs become subject to the rewrite when they enter the area and are no longer subject to it when they leave.

Touch Rewrites and Holding the Charge: In most cases, if you don’t discharge a touch rewrite on the round you execute it, you can hold the charge (postpone the discharge of the rewrite) indefinitely. You can make touch attacks round after round. If you execute another rewrite, the touch rewrite dissipates.

Some touch rewrites allow you to touch multiple targets as part of the rewrite. You can’t hold the charge of such a rewrite; you must touch all targets of the rewrite in the same round that you finish executing the rewrite.

Discharge: Occasionally a rewrites lasts for a set duration or until triggered or discharged.

(D) Dismissible: If the Duration line ends with “(D),” you can dismiss the rewrite at will. You must be within range of the rewrite’s effect and must speak words of dismissal, which are usually a modified form of the rewrite’s verbal component. If the rewrite has no verbal component, you can dismiss the effect with a gesture. Dismissing a rewrite is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

A rewrite that depends on concentration is dismissible by its very nature, and dismissing it does not take an action, since all you have to do to end the rewrite is to stop concentrating on your turn.

SAVING THROW

Usually a harmful rewrite allows a target to make a saving throw to avoid some or all of the effect. The Saving Throw entry in a rewrite description defines which type of saving throw the rewrite allows and describes how saving throws against the rewrite work.

Negates: The rewrite has no effect on a subject that makes a successful saving throw.

Partial: The rewrite causes an effect on its subject. A successful saving throw means that some lesser effect occurs.

Half: The rewrite deals damage, and a successful saving throw halves the damage taken (round down).

None: No saving throw is allowed.

Disbelief: A successful save lets the subject ignore the effect.

(object): The rewrite can be executed on objects, which receive saving throws only if they are rewrite-based or if they are attended (held, worn, grasped, or the like) by a program resisting the rewrite, in which case the object uses the program’s saving throw bonus unless its own bonus is greater. (This notation does not mean that a rewrite can be executed only on objects. Some rewrites of this sort can be executed on programs or objects.) A rewriting item’s saving throw bonuses are each equal to 2 + one-half the item’s executer level.

(harmless): The rewrite is usually beneficial, not harmful, but a targeted program can attempt a saving throw if it desires.

Saving Throw Difficulty Class: A saving throw against your rewrite has a DC of 10 + the level of the rewrite + your bonus for the relevant ability (Intelligence for a programmer, Charisma for a thinker, or Wisdom for a cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger). A rewrite’s level can vary depending on your class. Always use the rewrite level applicable to your class.

Succeeding on a Saving Throw: A program that successfully saves against a rewrite that has no obvious physical effects feels a hostile force or a tingle, but cannot deduce the exact nature of the attack. Likewise, if a program’s saving throw succeeds against a targeted rewrite you sense that the rewrite has failed. You do not sense when programs succeed on saves against effect and area rewrites.

Automatic Failures and Successes: A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on a saving throw is always a failure, and the rewrite may cause damage to exposed items (see Items Surviving after a Saving Throw, below). A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a success. Voluntarily Giving up a Saving Throw: A program can voluntarily forego a saving throw and willingly accept a rewrite’s result. Even a character with a special resistance to rewriting can suppress this quality.

Items Surviving after a Saving Throw: Unless the descriptive text for the rewrite specifies otherwise, all items carried or worn by a program are assumed to survive a rewrite-based attack. If a program rolls a natural 1 on its saving throw against the effect, however, an exposed item is harmed (if the attack can harm objects). Refer to Table: Items Affected by Rewrite-based Attacks. Determine which four objects carried or worn by the program are most likely to be affected and roll randomly among them. The randomly determined item must make a saving throw against the attack form and take whatever damage the attack deal.

If an item is not carried or worn and is not rewrite-based, it does not get a saving throw. It simply is dealt the appropriate damage.

Table: Items Affected by Rewrite-based Attacks Order(1)Item
1st Shield
2nd Armor
3rd Rewriting helmet, hat, or headband
4th Item in hand (including weapon, wand, or the like)
5th Rewriting cloak
6th Stowed or sheathed weapon
7th Rewriting bracers
8th Rewriting clothing
9th Rewriting jewelry (including rings)
10th Anything else
1 In order of most likely to least likely to be affected.

REWRITE RESISTANCE

Rewrite resistance is a special defensive ability. If your rewrite is being resisted by a program with rewrite resistance, you must make a executer level check (1d20 + executer level) at least equal to the program’s rewrite resistance for the rewrite to affect that program. The defender’s rewrite resistance is like an Armor Class against rewrite-based attacks. Include any adjustments to your executer level to this executer level check.

The Rewrite Resistance entry and the descriptive text of a rewrite description tell you whether rewrite resistance protects programs from the rewrite. In many cases, rewrite resistance applies only when a resistant program is targeted by the rewrite, not when a resistant program encounters a rewrite that is already in place.

The terms “object” and “harmless” mean the same thing for rewrite resistance as they do for saving throws. A program with rewrite resistance must voluntarily lower the resistance (a standard action) in order to be affected by a rewrite noted as harmless. In such a case, you do not need to make the executer level check described above.

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

This portion of a rewrite description details what the rewrite does and how it works. If one of the previous entries in the description included “see text,” this is where the explanation is found.

ARCANE REWRITES

Programmers and thinkers execute rewrites that fall under the category of “arcane” in the PHB. Arcane rewrites are the only ones available to player characters (outside the category of rewrite-like abilities possessed by some classes and non-player characters/monsters). Some NPC programs may execute “divine” rewrites that are less likely to produce results as dramatic as those available to programmers or thinkers, but they should be few and far between.

PREPARING PROGRAMMER REWRITES

A programmer’s level limits the number of rewrites she can prepare and execute. Her high Intelligence score might allow her to prepare a few extra rewrites. She can prepare the same rewrite more than once, but each preparation counts as one rewrite toward her daily limit. To prepare a rewrite the programmer must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the rewrite’s level.

Rest: To prepare her daily rewrites, a programmer must first sleep for 8 hours (Program time; often referred to as "one cycle"). The programmer does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but she must refrain from movement, combat, rewriting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period. If her rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the total amount of time she has to rest in order to clear her mind, and she must have at least 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately prior to preparing her rewrites. If the character does not need to sleep for some reason, she still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any rewrites.

Recent Executing Limit/Rest Interruptions: If a programmer has executed rewrites recently, the drain on her resources reduces her capacity to prepare new rewrites. When she prepares rewrites for the coming day, all the rewrites she has executed within the last 8 hours count against her daily limit.

Preparation Environment: To prepare any rewrite, a programmer must have enough peace, quiet, and comfort to allow for proper concentration. The programmer’s surroundings need not be luxurious, but they must be free from overt distractions. Exposure to inclement weather prevents the necessary concentration, as does any injury or failed saving throw the character might experience while studying. Programmers also must have access to their datapads to study from and sufficient light to read them by. There is one major exception: A programmer can prepare scan rewrite even without a datapad.

Rewrite Preparation Time: After resting, a programmer must study her datapad to prepare any rewrites that day. If she wants to prepare all her rewrites, the process takes 1 hour. Preparing some smaller portion of her daily capacity takes a proportionally smaller amount of time, but always at least 15 minutes, the minimum time required to achieve the proper mental state.

Rewrite Selection and Preparation: Until she prepares rewrites from her datapad, the only rewrites a programmer has available to execute are the ones that she already had prepared from the previous day and has not yet used. During the study period, she chooses which rewrites to prepare. If a programmer already has rewrites prepared (from the previous day) that she has not executed, she can abandon some or all of them to make room for new rewrites.

When preparing rewrites for the day, a programmer can leave some of these rewrite slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes, time and circumstances permitting. During these extra sessions of preparation, the programmer can fill these unused rewrite slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared rewrite to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because she has executed a rewrite in the meantime. That sort of preparation requires a mind fresh from rest. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if the programmer prepares more than one-quarter of her rewrites.

Rewrite Slots: The various character class tables show how many rewrites of each level a character can execute per day. These openings for daily rewrites are called rewrite slots. A rewriter always has the option to fill a higher-level rewrite slot with a lower-level rewrite. A rewriter who lacks a high enough ability score to execute rewrites that would otherwise be his or her due still gets the slots but must fill them with rewrites of lower level.

Prepared Rewrite Retention: Once a programmer prepares a rewrite, it remains in her mind as a nearly executed rewrite until she uses the prescribed components to complete and trigger it or until she abandons it. Certain other events, such as the effects of rewriting items or special attacks from monsters, can wipe a prepared rewrite from a character’s mind.

Death and Prepared Rewrite Retention: If a rewriter dies, all prepared rewrites stored in his or her mind are wiped away. Potent rewriting (such as raise discorporated, reload, or true reload) can recover the lost energy when it recovers the character.

ARCANE CODE WRITINGS

Being the few wakers who understand the fundamental law of Program Space – that everyone and everything within it is made up of lines of computer-language, otherwise known as “code” – programmers are able to record their rewrites in written form. They do so by writing the rewrite’s program code into their datapad using the very programming languages that Users create programs with. As programs unconsciously adapt themselves to the basic file formats and languages on each system, every writer uses the same system no matter what her native format, system or code language. However, each character uses the system in her own way. Another programmer’s rewrite code remains incomprehensible to even the most powerful programmer until she takes time to study and decipher it.

To decipher an arcane rewrite code (such as a single rewrite in written form in another’s datapad or on a scroll), a character must make a Codecraft check (DC 20 + the rewrite’s level). If the skill check fails, the character cannot attempt to read that particular rewrite again until the next day. A scan rewrite automatically deciphers a rewrite’s code without a skill check. If the waker who created the code is on hand to help the reader, success is also automatic.

Once a character deciphers a particular rewrite code, she does not need to decipher it again. Deciphering a rewrite code allows the reader to identify the rewrite and gives some idea of its effects (as explained in the rewrite description). If the rewrite code was a scroll and the reader can execute arcane rewrites, she can attempt to use the scroll.

Programmer Rewrites and Borrowed Datapads

A programmer can use a borrowed datapad to prepare a rewrite she already knows and has recorded in her own datapad, but preparation success is not assured. First, the programmer must decipher the writing in the book (see Arcane Rewrite codes, above). Once a rewrite from another rewriter’s book is deciphered, the reader must make a Codecraft check (DC 15 + rewrite’s level) to prepare the rewrite. If the check succeeds, the programmer can prepare the rewrite. She must repeat the check to prepare the rewrite again, no matter how many times she has prepared it before. If the check fails, she cannot try to prepare the rewrite from the same source again until the next day. (However, as explained above, she does not need to repeat a check to decipher the writing.)

Adding Rewrites to a Programmer’s Datapad

Programmers can add new rewrites to their datapads through several methods. If a programmer has chosen to specialize in a school of rewriting, she can learn rewrites only from schools whose rewrites she can execute.

Rewrites Gained at a New Level: Programmers perform a certain amount of rewrite research between adventures. Each time a character attains a new programmer level, she gains two rewrites of her choice to add to her datapad. The two free rewrites must be of rewrite levels she can execute. If she has chosen to specialize in a school of rewriting, one of the two free rewrites must be from her specialty school.

Rewrites Copied from Another’s Datapad or a Scroll: A programmer can also add a rewrite to her book whenever she encounters one on a rewriting scroll or in another programmer’s datapad. No matter what the rewrite’s source, the programmer must first decipher the rewrite code (see Arcane Rewrite codes, above). Next, she must spend a day studying the rewrite. At the end of the day, she must make a Codecraft check (DC 15 + rewrite’s level). A programmer who has specialized in a school of rewrites gains a +2 bonus on the Codecraft check if the new rewrite is from her specialty school. She cannot, however, learn any rewrites from her prohibited schools. If the check succeeds, the programmer understands the rewrite and can copy it into her datapad (see Writing a New Rewrite into a Datapad, below). The process leaves a datapad that was copied from unharmed, but a rewrite successfully copied from a rewriting scroll disappears from the parchment.

If the check fails, the programmer cannot understand or copy the rewrite. She cannot attempt to learn or copy that rewrite again until she gains another rank in Codecraft. A rewrite that was being copied from a scroll does not vanish from the scroll.

In most cases, programmers charge a fee for the privilege of copying rewrites from their datapads. This fee is usually equal to the rewrite’s level x50 gp. Independent Research: A programmer also can research a rewrite independently, duplicating an existing rewrite or creating an entirely new one.

Writing a New Rewrite into a Datapad

Once a programmer understands a new rewrite, she can record it into her datapad.

Time: The process takes 24 hours, regardless of the rewrite’s level.

Space in the Datapad: A rewrite takes up one page of the datapad per rewrite level. Even a 0-level rewrite (cantrip) takes one page. A datapad has one hundred pages.

Materials and Costs: Materials for writing the rewrite cost 100 RU per page.

Note that a programmer does not have to pay these costs in time or gold for the rewrites she gains for free at each new level.

Replacing and Copying Datapads

A programmer can use the procedure for learning a rewrite to reconstruct a lost datapad. If she already has a particular rewrite prepared, she can write it directly into a new book at a cost of 100 RU per page (as noted in Writing a New Rewrite into a Datapad, above). The process wipes the prepared rewrite from her mind, just as executing it would. If she does not have the rewrite prepared, she can prepare it from a borrowed datapad and then write it into a new book.

Duplicating an existing datapad uses the same procedure as replacing it, but the task is much easier. The time requirement and cost per page are halved.

Selling a Datapad

Captured datapads can be sold for an RU amount equal to one-half the cost of purchasing and inscribing the rewrites within (that is, one-half of 100 RU per page of rewrites). A datapad entirely filled with rewrites (that is, with one hundred pages of rewrites inscribed in it) is worth 5,000 RU.

THINKERS

Thinkers execute arcane rewrites, but they do not have datapads and do not prepare their rewrites. A thinker’s class level limits the number of rewrites he can execute (see these class descriptions). His high Charisma score might allow him to execute a few extra rewrites. A member of either class must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + a rewrite’s level to execute the rewrite.

Daily Readying of Rewrites: Each day, thinkers must focus their minds on the task of executing their rewrites. A thinker needs 8 hours/1 cycle of rest (just like a programmer), after which he spends 15 minutes concentrating. (A bard must sing, recite, or play an instrument of some kind while concentrating.) During this period, the thinker readies his mind to execute his daily allotment of rewrites. Without such a period to refresh himself, the character does not regain the rewrite slots he used up the day before. Recent Executing Limit: As with programmers, any rewrites executed within the last 8 hours count against the thinker’s daily limit.

Adding Rewrites to a Thinker’s Repertoire: A thinker gains rewrites each time he attains a new level in his class and never gains rewrites any other way. When your thinker gains a new level, consult Table 2-6: Thinker Rewrites Known (Horizon: Virtual, page 24) to learn how many rewrites from the appropriate rewrite list he now knows. With permission, thinkers can also select the rewrites they gain from new and unusual rewrites that they have gained some understanding of.

DIVINE REWRITES

This category of rewrites is rarely encountered in Program Space, as it relies less on understanding of the code-based nature of a program’s reality and more on boons, in the form of direct alterations to program code, granted to a program by a “divine” source; either a User, a Useragent or a progenitor virus. Few Users outside of professional computer programmers or hackers have the knowledge and skill to make the on-the-fly adjustments that power “divine” rewrites (not to mention fast enough to provide the boon to the waker within half a Program Space day), and fewer still are even aware of the existence of wakers, making the program capable of executing such divine rewrites extremely rare. Semi-intelligent Useragents, if available, may be able to assist by passing on a boon already bequeathed to them (depending on whether the Useragent’s configuration allows this, of course).

Unfortunately less rare, but still quite uncommon, are those razors whose progenitor virus master has granted them some portion of their power have received a portion of the power. While this makes their agents more effective, progenitor viruses are loath to grant such boons; each use by one of their servants risks leaving a trace that could lead back to the progenitor virus itself. While none of these forces of nature has ever been known to have been bested by any number of wakers, they have invested much in keeping their continued existence secret from their original creators, the Users, and are extremely paranoid when it comes to the protection and secrecy of their lairs. Divine rewrite tend to focus on healing and protection and are less flashy, destructive, and disruptive than arcane spells. Their function is covered in the PHB.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Classes without the capability to execute rewrites can acquire abilities that accomplish the same effect as a given rewrite (the Antiviral is particularly known for this).

Rewrite-Like Abilities: Usually, a rewrite-like ability works just like the rewrite of that name. A few rewrite-like abilities are unique; these are explained in the text where they are described.

A rewrite-like ability has no verbal, somatic, or material component, nor does it require a focus or have an XP cost. The user activates it mentally. Armor never affects a rewrite-like ability’s use, even if the ability resembles an arcane rewrite with a somatic component.

A rewrite-like ability has an executing time of 1 standard action unless noted otherwise in the ability or rewrite description. In all other ways, a rewrite-like ability functions just like a rewrite.

Rewrite-like abilities are subject to rewrite resistance and to being dispelled by dispel rewriting. They do not function in areas where rewriting is suppressed or negated. Rewrite-like abilities cannot be used to counterwrite, nor can they be counterwritten.

Some programs are actually thinkers of a sort. They execute arcane rewrites as thinkers do, using components when required. In fact, an individual program could have some rewrite-like abilities and also execute other rewrites as a thinker.

Supernatural Abilities: These abilities cannot be disrupted in combat, as rewrites can, and they generally do not provoke attacks of opportunity. Supernatural abilities are not subject to rewrite resistance, counterwrites, or to being dispelled by dispel rewriting, and do not function in areas where rewriting is suppressed or negated.

Extraordinary Abilities: These abilities cannot be disrupted in combat, as rewrites can, and they generally do not provoke attacks of opportunity. Effects or areas that negate or disrupt rewriting have no effect on extraordinary abilities. They are not subject to dispelling, and they function normally in an antirewriting field. Indeed, extraordinary abilities do not qualify as rewriting, as they are usually part of the program’s original, core function and not a change of coding.

Natural Abilities: This category includes abilities a program has because of its physical nature. Natural abilities are those not otherwise designated as extraordinary, supernatural, or rewrite-like.

HorizonVirtual:RewritesAndRewriting

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