Archetypes, Replacements for the SR4A Sample Characters Options

[almost normal]

Tank sprites are awful? As a veteran TM, I couldn't disagree more. Twin attacks FTW.

[taeksosin]

Ah, okay, I screwed up the leg values. My bad on that, will get that fixed on mine. As for the negotiator, think I'm running into a limitation on Chummer then, and have asked Nebular about it accordingly. Will get more hammered out tonight after class. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[UmaroVI]

Tank sprites are awful? As a veteran TM, I couldn't disagree more. Twin attacks FTW.

Why they suck can best be summed as "HERPADERP WHAT HOSTILE IC." They don't have Analyze, which is a huge drawback, because you can't even roll matrix perception without it. In return for that, they are, at best, mediocre at fighting. I tend to prefer Paladin sprites to Fault sprites, but Fault sprites at least have Analyze so they aren't complete derpsauce.

Consider a showdown between a r6 Paladin sprite (Attack, Expert Defense) and a r6 Tank sprite (Cascading, Shield). I'm assuming they're on a Response 6 node (Cascading checks the response of the node, not the agent).

Even with full Cascading, the Tank sprite is rolling a whopping 18 dice to hit, versus the 25 dice the tank sprite defends with. It can't even roll that many until pass 2 (assuming Assault on the first pass, which it should definitely do). Meanwhile, the Paladin sprite can disarm all of the Tank sprite's programs and then slap it to death (or just ignore it).

[almost normal]

Why they suck can best be summed as "HERPADERP WHAT HOSTILE IC." They don't have Analyze, which is a huge drawback, because you can't even roll matrix perception without it. In return for that, they are, at best, mediocre at fighting. I tend to prefer Paladin sprites to Fault sprites, but Fault sprites at least have Analyze so they aren't complete derpsauce.

Consider a showdown between a r6 Paladin sprite (Attack, Expert Defense) and a r6 Tank sprite (Cascading, Shield). I'm assuming they're on a Response 6 node (Cascading checks the response of the node, not the agent).

Even with full Cascading, the Tank sprite is rolling a whopping 18 dice to hit, versus the 25 dice the tank sprite defends with. It can't even roll that many until pass 2 (assuming Assault on the first pass, which it should definitely do). Meanwhile, the Paladin sprite can disarm all of the Tank sprite's programs and then slap it to death (or just ignore it).

I suppose my problem is I started SR with 4a.

When the rules say I can have charisma in sprites, I take charisma in sprites. Given *any* amount of reasonable downtime between missions, there's little reason not to have the full entourage ready to go. So while perhaps you might feel a tank isn't a good match against a paladin, 3 tanks, a pally and a sleuth waiting to track your ass down should you decide to run make for quite the friends-list in the matrix.

There seems to be this idea that one sprite should be enough, or that more is overkill. I feel like it's something that's got to come from previous games. Your full compliment should be your standard array. It'd be like the team sniper leaving some parts of his gun home, figuring the scope should be enough to get the job done.

[UmaroVI]

Yes, you should have a full entourage ready to go. But you cannot get every sprite type in the game for free! You get 5 to start, and it costs Echoes for more. It's not that Tank sprites are never helpful, it's that they have a narrow range of helpfulness and there are lots of better choices. If you already have Paladins sprites, spending an echo to get Tank sprites instead of a more useful thing is a poor move. Not to mention, those 3 tanks sprites are eating up "slots" that could be used on more generally useful sprites. If you really care about winning cybercombat, four Paladin sprites will simply help you far more in most circumstances, and there's more to technomancers than just cybercombat.

[Xenefungus]

Scrolling through the characters again after some time, i notice basically all of them lack Dodge, and only a few possess the Gymnastics skill for acrobatic dodge. Why is that, UmaroVI?

[UmaroVI]

A lot of people tend to overrate full defense, especially ranged full defense. It's simply not that useful compared to other things you can spend those points on, such as better passive defenses or initiative.

[Glyph]

It can be useful against multiple 1 IP mooks when you have 2 or more IP, because full defense can be an interrupt action. Attack, use an interrupt action to go on full defense while the mooks attack you, then attack again (assuming 3 IP). It is usually a losing proposition against an equal foe, but there will be times when you face weaker, but more numerous enemies - and they can whittle you down quickly with a few lucky hits.

[UmaroVI]

It can be useful, sometimes - that just doesn't really justify cutting better things for it.