Right now, I'm trying to make a character for an upcoming game (4th edition, BTW), and I'm trying to come up with ideas for what all to put in my cyberarms. Of note, the arms themselves are synthetic, since I wanted the arms and their mods to have surprise value to them. I'm thinking some combination of Shock Hands, Cyber-Gyromounts, someplace to stash a Fichetti Security 600, and maybe some general attribute boosters. My thought had been a large smuggling compartment for the gun, but hit the snag of drawing the gun from a covered compartment. A cyber-arm slide would work better, but loses some versatility. Thoughts from Dumpshock?

is the gun supposed to be your primary weapon, or just something you use when someone has taken your primary weapon away or a situation requires that you appear to be unarmed?

if the former, go with the slide. accessibility trumps concealability, because you'll be accessing it often and by the time anyone is able to take it away from you, they've probably already seen you use it on them.

if the latter, go with the smuggler's compartment. it's more important that it be hard to detect than it is to be easily accessible, becuse you won't be using it often and the times you want to use it will likely be after someone's checked to see if you have any weapons on your person.

Sensors.

~Umi

I was planning on having the FS600 be a backup weapon, relative to a Predator 4 and a Steyr/Sandler TMP, whichever one was the machine pistol. Although, since I'm picking up a second weapon skill for variety, would machine pistols be better, or SMGs? EDIT: I've got Automatics 1 currently, specialized in MP's.

And Umidori, I was kind of hoping for a little more than a single word post. Maybe some more specific idea on what manner of sensors to pack?

Enough to set up a tacnet?

ALL OF THEM.

*twitches*

~Umi

Seriously though, just go through the sensors and pick whatever you think you might possibly, conceivably use.

Some are more useful than others, but even the niche stuff can be amazingly useful when the right moment comes. Definitely consider big ticket stuff like Ultrasound or a Radar Sensor w/ Orientation System, a Radio Signal Scanner, and a Cyberware Scanner. But also keep an open mind about more mundane stuff - cameras with all the fixings, directional and laser microphones for remote eavesdropping, olfactory sensor for a variety of tracking and detection purposes, a MAD scanner for picking up hidden weapons you don't get with the 'ware scanner above, et cetera.

Information is power. Find out as much about your surroundings and other people as possible.

~Umi

Another idea: While I see that you want to go the synthetic route for stealthy business, have you considered modular cyberlimbs?
With my current character, I went for a synthetic lower cyberarm as well, but have since had a change of mind. Now I'm opting for an obvious full cyberarm, but the synthetic one is still on the shelf... so I'm switching out arms just as needed, the synthetic one will be for the blend-in situations (with a rolled down sleeve, so people don't see the obvious stump above the elbow).

A nano-hive is also worth its money, nanites just pack so many nice things...

Why not combine shock hand with the rappeling gun hand replacement thing and the hand drone as well?
shoot it at someone, grab them, keep shocking them untill they are well done instead of rare?

Shockhands are installed in the original cyberhand. The rapelling gun modular hand replaces the weaponized one, I think.

There's no reason you couldn't install a shock-hand into the modular grapple-hand plugin itself.

~Umi

Or take a point of damage hit and just wear a shock glove on that hand if the GM deems the hand of a grapple hand to have zero capacity.

Reduced capacity certainly, but I can only see certain specific plugins being completely without capacity.


Depending on specific plugin, as well as how much of a limb it replaces, I could easily see a wide range of capacity values.

Something like a Built-in Medkit plugin, where you literally replace your entire forearm with a medkit and robotic medical tools and micro manipulators, probably doesn't have any room for any modifications, and should consider all capacity to be used up already.

Meanwhile, the Grapple Hand plugin is constructed with the gun, rope, and winch section in the forearm, but with the hand itself being an otherwise normal cyberhand. I would consider the capacity of the forearm to be used up by the grapple mechanism, but the capacity of the hand itself to be unaffected.

Thus for obvious cyberlimbs, although a cyber-forearm usually has a capacity of 10, you'd only have the capacity of a lone cyber-hand, which is 4 slots. And for synthetic cyberlimbs, instead of a capacity of 5, you'd only have a capacity of 2 - which would rule out a Shock Hand (but not Hand Razors).

~Umi

The drone hand can only take sensor mods, nothing else. No hand razors, snake fingers, turbocharger... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

Putting a shock glove on it would work, though.

No one else is going to comment on the obvious? A weapon skill of only 1, spec'd for a weapon that won't be in your arm? Are dicepools of 5 standard for combat at your table, or are you intent on making a character that's a liability in combat?

Such Combat Skills actually tend to end in the 8 Dice pool range (Skill 1, Spec +2, Smartlink +2, and Average 3 Agility equals 8 Dice) at our table, and they are perfectly viable, especially for a secondary or tertiary role. *shrug*

Wow, must have missed that. Yeah, you're going to want a significantly higher skill level, especially when using automatics. If you try to use burst fire (or god forbid full auto) you're going to find yourself critically glitching more often than you hit.

[edit]



That may be the case with melee or SS/SA weapons, but the only reason to take automatics instead of something like pistols or longarms is if you intend to use a lot of burst fire or full auto--in which case a dicepool of 8 is not going to cut it. Just firing a single normal burst will drop you down to 6 dice, a long burst will take you down to 2 dice, and you can't even fire a full burst without making a longshot test. Sure, you can mitigate some of those penalties with recoil comp, but even with the best rc you can get you still won't be able to make full use of the actions and initiative passes you have due to the penalties stacking up. Add in the risk of critically glitching, and that's not just incompetent, it's dangerous.

And yet Full auto does not inflict any penalties whatsoever. *shrug*
And amazingly enough - Many MP's, AR's, BR's, and even SMG's can fire in SA mode when needed, so Automatics Skill covers all eventualities.

I have NEVER had any issues with the 8-9 Dice for a Secondary/Tertiary Combat Character, and even Primary Characters generally only need go to about 12 Dice. *shrug*

Using suppressive fire doesn't inflict any penalties. Otherwise firing in full-auto mode means either using two normal bursts at -2 and -5, one normal burst and one long burst at -5 and -11, or a single full burst at -9. That's pretty far from "no penalties whatsoever." For a guy with an automatics dicepool of 8, the only options that are even possible without sinking a lot of resources into recoil compensation or making a longshot test are to either do the two normal bursts, make one long burst, or spend your other simple action doing something else. That's not being prepared for all eventualities, it's having a gun you aren't skilled enough to use properly.

That's... wrong. Autofire inflicts DP penalties of 2 to 11.


-k

Not when you are suppressing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
NO PENALTY at all, with Suppression. It may not stage damage, but who cares.

And not when Compensated correctly either. It is easy to do, and everyone does it (which is why there are so many complaints about Automatics) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Indeed... My bad... I meant Suppressive Fire. Long day. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

As for All eventualities. I can compensate an AR/BR for Short and Long bursts completely (EASILY Done), and potentially a FULL Burst depending upon gun. AND I can use it in SA mode to cover any other eventuality (you know, like Sniping). Seems pretty universal to me. Prepared for all eventualities and all that (there is a reason that people complain about Automatics being the only weapon skill needed if you want to economize on your skills). And still rolling 8-10 Dice. As for what to do with the other simple action... Aiming comes to mind. You know, like real people do. *shrug*

Again, in all my years of playing 4th Edition, that has been more than enough Dice for a Secondary or Tertiary combat roll.

Judging by the reactions of many posters to your previous discussions on "how many dice do you need", you seem to prefer lower powered games. As such, your assertions that folks don't need so many dice isn't necessarily true for all people.

Even if it is enough, many folks prefer to have MORE than they need, on the theory that it is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Even if most folks drive at 65 mph, that doesn't mean they want a car that can ONLY go 65.

For example, as an inveterate power gamer most of my characters end up significantly more powerful than the games I play them in warrant. In actual play, though, I rarely go full-out, preferring to match the scenario I'm playing and the relative power level of the rest of the characters. When the hammer drops, though, most groups have been happy that I can turn the dials up to 11.


-k

So, if you rarely go full out, why bother spending the resources to get to a place you rarely ever see? There are far better things to be spending those resources on. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
It is a mindset that is odd to me. I went through my power-gaming phase, to be sure, and can go back if pressed, but don't really see the need to ever go back to that style of play. Success for Success' sake is no longer the driving force behind my character creation. Maybe I am just weird... would not be the first time I have been told that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'm kinda with TJ on this, but only because most of my favorite character builds are super BP heavy due to my predilection for advanced character options, and that makes efficient spending incredibly important.

If the difference between 9 dice and 12 dice for a weapon skill is going to cost you 12 BP, often times it is worth it to sacrifice the extra dice to be able to use those dozen points to fit in another option or aspect vital to your character design.

And if you're really concerned about having those extra dice when you need them, put the points into Edge instead - that's what the mechanic is for, after all. Spending 10 BP for one point of Edge might not sound like a lot, but it adds up.

~Umi