OK I have two ideas for additional Echoes for Technomancers

One,

Headware Memory
Just like it says, the technomancer would have storage equivalent to a standard Commlink in their BioNode. I don’t see this one aas Game breaking. I honestly question whether or not it is truly worth an Echo, but it just seemed like a neat idea. What do you people think?


Two,

Ally Sprite,
Another pretty obvious one, similar to the Mages Ally Spirit. Obviously it wouldn’t Manifest, or even have the option of a permanently inhabited form. I am sure there are other differences. Also I realize that Mages and TMs are different and the systematic similarities are not representative of thematic similarities. Nonetheless, I think that this would make perfect sense for TMs.

I figured you could use the Ally Spirit rules as a base. What concerns/problems stand out to you guys? How would you adjust the Ally Spirit rules to create this? I intend to offer my own efforts up for peer review when I have time to do it, just testing the waters for now.


Graywulfe

Headware Memory: I like this, but agree that it's probably not worth an Echo (well, it might be if your GM allows you to buy Echoes "in-between" Submersion grades).

Ally Sprite: that's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how it would work (mostly because I haven't had reason to read the Ally Spirit rules). I'll have to give some thought to how I might do something like that in my game (either as a player or a GM).

wouldnt the headware one be mostly redundent, skinlink echo and a datachip in your pocket and your good to go but with also the ability to hack by touch

Yeah. The only real benefit to having headware memory would be that you could go into a building with no hardware at all and still save data. Even without the skinlink echo a TM could save data to a commlink in their pocket wirelessly.

Not just that, the data would also be invisible to everyone who does not hack into your bionode...sounds useful for some characters.


Re: Ally Sprites, SR3 had "Daemons" which as far as I understand it fulfilled that role. Maybe have a look at the rules for those if you can find them.

I like the Headware Memory one. Maybe play it like the Three-Dimensional Memory power, applied to matrix environment only.

Anyway I would like to present one of my own ideas for an echo:

Combat Sight
Prerequisite: Info Sortilege
Some technomancers believe that they can read the future in the Matrix by observing how the data about a person, location, or event behaves and flows. A technomancer who posses the Combat Sight echo, can use the uncanny ability to analyze data given by the Info Sortilege echo on the immediate data produced from sensors to accurately predict the course of physical events in the vicinity of milliseconds.
In game terms, the character gains a dice pool bonus for Reaction on Surprise Tests and when defending against ranged and melee attacks. The bonus equals to the technomancer's submersion grade, limited by the number of sensor channels available to the technomancer.

Essentially you're giving Combat Sense to a TM. One of the most unique things about an Adept. I'd understand if this was for Matrix combat, but for the meat world?

Emphasis added.

Unique? Not so much.

Most templates in shadowrun have some form of defensive pool booster - be it spells and powers for the magic types, or implants for the mundanes. After unwired gave technomancers the Acceleration echo to even the playing field on the meat initiative part - why not some defense boost? everyone else have some form of it.

Shifting Signal
Prerequisite: Living ECM
The technomancer subconsciously injects a minute amount of response lag and signal strength variance into their living persona's wireless connection. This helps mask the TM's location by providing misleading information to triangulation algorythms. Any efforts to triangulate the TM's signal (trace user, signal scanners, ect...) will merely give a general direction with a 90degree arc of coverage out to the full range of the device's signal range. The TM can also take a more active approach, spending a complex action to degrade their signal rating by one, but completely negating any chance being pinpointed by hopping their signal across all devices within their (degraded) signal range. Active shifting can be dropped at any time with a free action.
The TM can freely give his own location out to subscribed nodes/devices as desired, and can suppress the shifting as desired.


Little better explanation:
Passive shifting: The last hop of a trace or any other devices within signal range trying to triangulate the TM will merely return a general 90degree cone of "thataway" with a possible range of the full signal strength of the device. So even with a signal of 2, if the TM was within mutual range of a signal 5 nexus and was traced, the nexus would return a possible area 12.5 square KM in size.
Active shifting: Not only is the shifting so erratic that devices can't return anything more than "He's somewhere in my range" (which quadruples the possible area over passive shifting), but his last known hop is constantly shifting. Take the signal range of the TM (in meters, not rating points), add it to the signal range of the highest rating device within his range (which, in any target town will be a rating 6 cell tower or pubic access wifi router, 10km), and use that combine range as the radius for the TM's possible location. A degraded rating 3 signal TM in downtown seattle will be traced to a location 10.4km in radius, or a roughly 340 square km area. Might as well be using a satlink.

Get a "pacemaker" plant a data lock in a place where a pace make would be even in a pacemake and use you skinlike to acess it as its in contact with you at all times and unrecoverable and perfectly legal/mundane.

This one is a amalgam from an Otaku idea i had several years ago so forgive me if it's imperfect.

Living Tacnet
Prerequisite: Sift (alternatively could be Multiprocessing)
The character gains a Tactical AR Software CF equal to their submersion grade(still capped at normal level) and can slave an additional number of tacnet participants to themselves equal to their submersion over and above what their signal would normally allow.

Tactical Mastermind:
While the technomancer is in full VR other members of their tacnet may add the technomancers leadership skill to tests that recieve Tactical AR bonuses. If the technomancer also has mesh reality they need not be in full VR but can take no other complex action in the physical world.

Tacnet soft ware can already be take as a CF and bought and even threaded. Its a program and it has a rating.

This has been discussed before.

- J.

Since Technomancer's are supposed to be all about the greater fusion of man, matrix, and machine, there should really be something to reflect that. I mean, its kinds silly that someone who wants to play an old-school Otaku with a datajack takes a Resonance hit, from the .1 essence hit, just for style. The clause at the end is cause, well, TM's typically submerge in play - so they'd be getting the echo after the datajack.

Cyber-Somatic Adaptation:
For each Submersion Grade, the technomancer may ignore 0.5 points of Essence loss from Cybernetic or Bioware Augmentation when calculating the impact reduced Essence has on Resonance. Essence lost from other sources, such as Burnout Addiction or the Essence Drain critter power are treated normally. Special: When this Echo is taken, reductions to Resonance that are already in effect are recalculated, this is a single exception to rules governing lost essence.
GM Note: Yes, a TM with this echo could potentially have 3,4 or even 5 essense worth of ware for free. Actually, its not free, because their essence is still lowered. But, by that time, consider they've spent over a hundred karma on submersion alone. Its hardly overpowered.


Ever wanted to play a Singularian, who -actually- looked like a regular matrix user out the door? Or to pick up something neat while submerging, but other things were more important? Like Biowires or Advanced overclocking? Yeah.

Echo/Metamagic Tutoring (5 point positive quality): The character has recieved instruction on the use of a particular echo. Perhaps they met a free sprite, a technomancer network. Perhaps they even just figured it out themselves, or their Paragon showed them how. No matter the source, the character has learned the secrets of an Echo at character creation. This is effectively Learning an Echo from other sources, outside of submersion( See Sidebar on Unwired 145)
If a submersion or initiation grade is needed for the chosen ability to function, assume it does so at the minimum grade until the character Submerges or Initiates. Any echo selected is subject to GM approval.
Special: This quality reduces the cost of Submersion by 7 karma, if and only if the echo chosen upon submerging is the same one this quality provides, and may only be done once. (In game effectively converting the 5bp quality to karma, and using it for a very specific purpose. 5BP->10karma seemed excessive)
GM Note: The low cost of this Quality is intended to be used for Echos that aren't used very often. Sift, skinlink, blur, coanathesia, defragmentation, biowires(skillwire 1 is -not- overpowered), or even sprite link, neurofilter/amplification/+1livingiconstats to name a few. Anyone wishing to start the game with Overclocking should be charged extra, if they're allowed at all. Characters who take this are strongly urged to take a mentor spirit, paragon, or even the Sensi quality.
GM Note 2: This can easily be applied to magicians and adepts too, with the same considerations: if its a typical powerhouse metamagic, say no.

I like a few of these, especially the one for cybermancers. I never wrote it up but one of my players is asking for an echo that allows them to run cold like most users. I was thinking of allowing it since it seems pretty useful without being over powering. What do you think?

It seems like one of those useless, less-than-stellar echoes that is pretty cool/sweet in practice, and would never end up being taken.

Technomancers should really use an Adept/PowerPoint system, because then the good shit can be properly priced, and the lower grade echoes and abilities are worth taking.

Agreed 100%.

- J.

Agreement multiplier of 1.5

True, on the other hand TM's are already borderline overpowered and adept's certainly are. Making TM's more like Adepts would just make them more overpowered.

Have looked at the rules for Metamagic and Advanced Metamagic in Street Magic?

- J.

You'd have a hard time convincing a friend of mine that.

He won't argue that TM's are very, very good at the matrix, but sees them weaker when it comes to meat world operations. For well rounded survivability he sees cyber hackers as better off.

Has anyone seen any tries for this idea on forum?
I have understood that TM starts to be overpower soon as he gets 6+ resonance ( in matrix). One solution would be make alt TM, which would use mystic adept consept. Where Magic equivalent would be used in matrix fore threading (spells), summoning etc. and Power points would be like more IPs, dublicate some cyber, maybe cf's could be powers...

For some reason RAW TM dosent feel right, and for me it look like every techno is pretty much same (resonance limits living persona stats, etc) but i can be wrong because i havent played 4e, just read books.

That sounds like a great concept, the sort of Adepts to the Magicians. I'd like to see that if anyone could come up with it.