Technomancer Char Review? Options

[innocentsinner]

So...I'm a first-time player and this is the character I'm planning on using once our campaign starts. Any suggestions on the viability of this Technomancer?

[Backgammon]

My "noob mistake detector" didn't set off on anything in particular. I'm not technomancer lover so I'll let other comment on any of those specifics.

The only thing I did catch is your contacts are listed as being 5BP. You cost is actually 10. When calculating contacts points, you add connection and loyalty. 3+3+2+2=10.

[FanGirl]

You knew to get a dummy commlink! Good for you!

There is one thing I'm wondering about though: why all the climbing equipment? You don't have any skill in climbing, and as a hacker, it's not usually your job to physically infiltrate buildings - usually, the sneaky ninja type should be able to handle that. (By the way, if you do want to be a sneaky ninja type, then you should take some ranks in Infiltration.)

[innocentsinner]

Forgot to mention that as a house-rule, the GM is giving double-contact-points. So for 5 BP, our characters get 10 contact points.

And I got rope just because everybody should have rope. Tying people up, climbing out of her apartment window if somebody's trying to break in, etc. Although I suppose the monowire rope is a bit overkill for a non-infiltrator character.

[FanGirl]

Ah, touche. :)

[Jaid]

if you're min/maxing heavily, it is also better to have a few complex forms at high ratings than it is to have a variety at low levels, in the long run at least, due to karma costs.

unless you have a specific use for them, i would say drop encrypt, decrypt, medic, and maybe even track...

encrypt and medic are best used outside of combat, generally speaking, and you can afford to take a -2 to thread the complex form. in particular, since medic can be done over and over with no drawbacks other than lost time, and since it is probably a better idea to get rid of the enemy and thus remove the source of damage rather than trying to repair the damage, i would say you could get by without it. encrypt and decrypt are more of something you run and then put away. they can be done perfectly adequately by an agent, or a friend with a decent commlink and some hacking programs. in fact, i'm not sure there's any skill roll involved in encrypt at all... you could probably get away with just running the actual program, and not having the complex form at all.

that being said, if they're important to the concept, then keep them.

my advice to you is to choose complex forms based on what you expect to use a lot. edit and stealth are of course highly important. analyze is good as well, keeps you from getting ambushed. other than those few, i recommend you choose an area and stick to that. in your case, it looks like you want cybercombat, so i would suggest an attack of some kind, and keep the armor of course. and don't forget your free biofeedback filter complex form at 4...

other than that, i'd say you've got some odd choices in normal skills, again purely from a min/max perspective (which, since there is no background, is about all i can offer). specifically, throwing knives seems a little odd... as does pilot watercraft of course. i'll assume there's a reason for those that comes from your background, in any event. you should be aware, however, that for a technomancer you are pretty much stuck with an almost all-or-nothing deal... if you want to be grand high emperor of the matrix, you can do that (sorta), but it's gonna cost you dearly in the meatworld.... and you haven't come anywhere near to paying that price, based on your attributes. be prepared to have sprites do a lot of stuff for you, because it's gonna take a lot of karma for you to stack up to a hacker with good programs...


but anyways, like i said, this is all purely from a min/max perspective. YMMV.

[Jaid]

[innocentsinner]

As a technomancer, what sort of things should I look for in a drone and addons? I'm still not sure how I would use drones, exactly.

[Lagomorph]

Unless you're planning to use medic on other icons in the matrix, it probably won't do you any good, medic doesn't work on TM's.

As for drones, a simple spotter drone would do wonders for you, with out taking more vehicle skills, and gunnery skill, thats about what you can use them for. Drones would allow you to keep other teammates alive with good info. Which I believe is what your sensorbox is also.

[Charon]

Russian first name with Japanese last name but speaks English better than the father's tongue.

I guess there is a background to go with that.

Some kinky details (KS : Pornography and the Dominatrix contact) but no much kinky equiment. Well, I guess the Sim colelction includes the porn but where are the handcuffs, huh? ;)

I'm guessing the English citypseak is just a specialistion of English, not a whole new language, right? If so the notations should be changed a bit.

[FanGirl]

[innocentsinner]

[Lagomorph]

AFAIK (which isn't very much honestly):

otaku who hadn't faded before the crash in '64 became TMs, other TMs were created by the crash it's self, and still others spontaneously manifested (kind of like magicians) after the matrix went wireless.

I'm hoping there's a more knowledgable person who can correct me in my statement, but thats my understanding.

[innocentsinner]

I chose throwing weapons as my weapon simply because I've always found them awesome. I just watched V for Vendetta at my friend/GM's house the other day and after watching the final fight scene, replied, "That's my character. That's how my skills are!"

Of course, that's hardly true, but how kickass would that be! My throwing distance and damage are limited by my low STR. However, I can 'ready' two knives with my agility, but I'm not sure what that means. Does it mean I can throw two knives in one initiative pass, or that I simply draw two at once, lessening the need to 'reload'?

My GM also suggests that I purchase a firearm. Would it be best for me to specialize in a certain type, since I don't plan on owning a Crate O' Guns, or something?

[Conskill]

This is not "canonical," but the way I intrepret the whole Technomancer thing...

The average citizen in 2060 used tortoises a lot, or maybe a cheap cyberdeck at work. The average citizen in 2070 is in Augmented Reality almost 24/7, surrounded bodily by unimaginable amounts of data zooming through the mesh networks.

It's sort of like Awakened and the mana cycle. Matrix interaction has reached a critical mass where more people with the latent talent to be Otaku have been able to tap into it, even without the help of creepy kid-tribes and AI.

[FanGirl]

About character background: If you have access to a copy of Shadowrun 4th Edition, check out "Matrix Crash 2.0" (pp. 33-34) and the explanation of what Technomancers are (p. 232) for the official fluff about TMs. I'm also told that the 3rd edition book entitled System Failure has more information about the Crash, but my GM won't let me read it because it's apparently too spoilery. Because I'm not sure what happened, I choose to say that my TM remembers nothing about what she experienced that day. Basically, she was using the Matrix to do research for a school report, and while she was reading a news article, the words started turning into gibberish before her eyes. The next thing she remembers is waking up in a hospital bed with her parents sitting bedside; she was later told that she had spent the past three days in a coma and had therefore missed her fourteenth birthday. :(

About weapons: Specialization is always good; you should specialize in the type of weapon you intend to use the most. With Pistols, you can specialize in one of these four types: Tasers, Holdouts, Light Pistols, and Heavy Pistols.
Now, which kind of weapon should you pick? Because my TM believes it's important to try not to kill people when you can help it, she uses the Yamaha Pulsar brand taser because it deals Stun Damage instead of Physical, is comparatively inexpensive, and doesn't require a license to legally carry. Your love of throwing knives suggests that you're not all that pacifistic, so you'll probably want something deadlier. In that case, I would recommend something in the Heavy Pistols category, like the Ares Viper Silvergun or perhaps the Ares Predator IV. Both require a license, though, so make sure you have a good fake if you're passing through a security checkpoint.

[Charon]

[innocentsinner]

Yet another question:

Regarding weapons' licenses: Which SIN would it be best to tie them to? Her more convincing (and more well-known) level 4, or kept on the more 'throw-away' level 3 SIN in case she's compromised? Hope that made sense..

[FanGirl]

Definitely the better one: it's the least likely to be detected as a fake. (Remember to always bring your best SIN to the high-security checkpoint.)

[Charon]

Depends.

If you use your level 4 as a 'Covert ID' SIN with which you pay rent and live an aparently normal life where as you use the level 3 as your 'Field SIN', the one you use when you go into mission and that you are ready to throw away at the first sign of trouble, you probably should tie your license to the level 3 ; That's the one you'll be using when on the field and packing heat.

If you do it the othew ay around, than put the license of SIN level 4. Basically, use it with the ID that is most likely to get controlled by a cop while in possession of a weapon. That's the point.

Of course, it'd be kind of nice to have a license with both ID if you can arrange it. And it'd be kind of nice to have high level SIN for both your covert ID and your field work. But we all know how ressources are limited.

[ko-bahn]

Without entering into the details, there seems to be an issue with the total BP :

[2bit]

Your character is allergic to his docwagon contract. That could complicate medical response. Suggest changing it to molybdenum.

[X-Kalibur]

[2bit]

molybdenum too common?

[X-Kalibur]