Pimp my Hacker, Yes, yet another character critique Options

[JonathanC]

The background (apologies, I cribbed the format from others on the board 'cause I liked it)

[ Spoiler ]

Subject: 2070 Mascot competition // nominations

Chewtoy>>So hey, what about Oily? I think she’s legal.

Wendolyn>> Barely. Kid’s more eligible for the Rookie of the Year award.

Chewtoy>> C’mon, girl’s solid, Wen.

Wendolyn>> No doubt, like I said, rookie of the year. But mascot? Get serious.

Fitty_nuyen>>What the drek are you people talking about?

Wendolyn>> Long story…see, Oily’s actually been around for about 10 years, but it don’t really count. See, she was just a kid. Like pre-teeny bopper kid.

Kyew>> Gawd, not another script kiddy.

Oily>> WHAT did you call me?

Chewtoy>> Chill out, O. Look, Wen can’t tell a story to save her hoop. Let me start. See, Oily was born blind, and her parents couldn’t afford the surgery. Remember, back in the 50’s, cybereyes were pretty costly, and you couldn’t get the work done at the mall. Anyhoo, to hear her tell it, she had a rough time in school of it…I mean, who walks around blind in this day and age? Anyway, her dad picked up some dinosaur cyberdeck from somewhere and scrounged up some ‘trodes. Kid took to it right off the bat. I mean, considering the steaming pile she was decking on, she had a pretty good AV, and she fit in pretty well. Well, I don’t know how it started, but the kid started poking around the Matrix. Nothing like real decking, mind you, but she had hez, and some pretty good smarts. Covered her tracks better than the teeny trash you usually see pulling stunts. I took a shine to her. So did Wen, and a bunch of the old timers. I kicked her some biz…well, not real biz. A search here and there, mostly footwork. Not enough that she’d learn anything dangerous, but useful stuff. It worked out great…kinda like having an Agent that you don’t have to spend time programming. I spread the word, and she did pretty good biz over the years. Damn good for a little kid.

Fitty_nuyen>> Shouldn’t the brat have been in school?

Oily>> Nah, I got myself out just before Jr. High. Fixed some scores to make it look like I was autistic. By the way, as long as we’re dropping data on my past, I should correct a few things. For starters, my dad didn’t find the cyberdeck, it was a neighbor. My parents hate technology. I grew up eating “natural” soy drek and veggies. I was lucky they couldn’t afford to move out to the sticks like they wanted, or I wouldn’t have had a matrix connection at all. Real ‘back to earth’ types. Same reason they wouldn’t get my eyes fixed. Hell, as far as they knew, I spent all those hours in my room “meditating”. Ha!

Wendolyn>> Ah, so that’s why you stayed blind so long. I’m surprised to hear you dropped out of school though. You’re chock full of useless info.

Oily>> There’s better education to be found on the matrix. I would’ve spent my whole life there if my mom wasn’t dragging me outside every afternoon for ‘nature hikes’. I picked my spot. Crash wiped out all kinds of people’s info…I looked into it though, and my stuff was still intact…emphasis on “was”. After that was taken care of, I pulled down the cash I’d been squirreling away, told my parents I’d gotten a scholarship, and moved up to Seattle. I swear, if I never see another granola bar, it’ll be too soon. Any more questions?

Kyew>> Yeah, when they said you were “barely legal”, did they mean…?

Chewtoy>> Watch it, chummer.

Oily>> Aw, back off him Chewwy. He’s like the creepy uncle I never had. Kyew, I’ll add you to the list. There’s about 50 guys ahead of you. You’re right behind Mooby the Puff Puff Dragon.

Kyew>> Wait, what? Mooby isn’t even real!

Oily>> LOL, neither are your chances of nailing me.

And now, the stats:

[ Spoiler ]

Oily

Metatype : Human
Mundane

Attributes
Body: 3
Agility: 3
Reaction: 3
Strength: 2
Charisma: 4
Intuition: 4
Logic: 4
Willpower: 4

Edge: 3
Initiative: 7
Essence: 5.34

Knowledge Skills
English : N
Japanese : 4
Or'zet : 3
Sperethiel : 3
Chemistry : 3
Magic Background : 1
Security Systems : 3
Parazoology : 2
SOTA Science : 1
Poison antidotes : 2
Engineering : 2

Active Skills
Computer : 4
Data Search : 4
Hardware : 4
Software : 4
Cybercombat : 4
Electronic Warfare : 4
Hacking : 4
Dodge (Ranged Combat) : 4
Pistols (Semi-Automatics) : 4
Clubs (Parrying) : 2
Inflitration : 3
Perception : 3
Medicine : 1
Etiquette (Other) : 2


Positive Qualities
First Impression

Negative Qualities
Allergy com/mild (meat) (she was raised by vegans)
Low Pain Tolerance

Cyberwares
Cybereyes Basic System (Rating 2)
+ Flare Compensation
+ Low-Light Vision
+ Smartlink
+ Vision Magnification
Datajack

Biowares
Synaptic Booster 1

Weapons
Ares Predator IV
EX-Explosive Rounds (30 shots)

Armors
Armor Jacket

Vehicles
MCT Fly-Spy (Minidrone)
GM-Nissan Doberman (Medium)

Commlinks
Commlink : Fairlight Caliban
Response Upgrade (5)
Sim Module Modified for BTL/Hot Sim
Skinlink

Subvocal Microphone
Analyze (Rating 5)
Browse (Rating 5)
Edit (Rating 5)
Encrypt (Rating 5)
Scan (Rating 5)
Armor (Rating 5)
Attack (Rating 5)
Biofeedback Filters (Rating 5)
Decrypt (Rating 5)
Defuse (Rating 5)
ECCM (Rating 5)
Exploit (Rating 5)
Medic (Rating 5)
Sniffer (Rating 5)
Spoof (Rating 5)
Stealth (Rating 5)
Track (Rating 5)
System (Rating 5)
Firewall (Rating 5)

Equipments
Fake SIN (Rating 4)
Survival Kit
Medkit (Rating 6)
DocWagon Contract (Basic - per Year)

Contacts
Chewtoy (L:3 C:4)
Retired Decker/Fixer

Contacts
Wendolyn (L:2 C:3)
Rigger/Smuggler

[Adam]

For what it's worth, I don't think there's any point in putting any part of this post behind spoiler tags. What's it spoiling?

[laughingowl]

[Critias]

I think people mostly use spoiler tags for characters to just neaten up the page a bit -- collapsability is fun and handy.

[JonathanC]

[Teulisch]

first of all.... looks like you grabbed a couple of skill groups. is that how you bought them? if not kick one skill up to 5 or 6 right now.

attributes, im only seeing 19 of a posible 20. edge does not count against the bp limit for atributes remember.

having a gun with ONLY EXEX ammo is a BAD idea. you will be much better off to grab a mix of cheaper ammo (regular and gel, for instance). a silencer would also be a good idea, as you seem to like the idea of stealth.

its possible to start with firewall 6. and its a good idea to get your probrams and OS at 6: one, you could get to 6 response with a light load and the right program. plus your going to upgrade hardware eventualy, and that will save you a lot of cash long-run. sure its going to be down to 5 or 4 most the time, but its worth it.

consider grabbing a few basic micro-sensors. some can be very usefull to have.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

Get an implanted Commlink. Those additional 2K¥ are well-invested.

[mintcar]

Looks great to me. Very likable character judging from that background conversation. It's just one thing... what's up with the name? Oily sounds pretty gross.

[Grinder]

Well-rounded character, I like him.

[Lazerface]

*coughyoucoughmeancoughhercough*

[Serbitar]

Why not buy all programms on rating 6? You will have to buy them anyway . . . By stopping at 5 you are throwing money out of the window.

[LilithTaveril]

Because buying them at 6 is a waste of money as well if you can't use them at 6.

[Grinder]

[silhouette]

The point is if you get them all at 6 then as soon as your response is increased to 6 all your programs work at 6.

If you buy them at 5 you have to increase your response to 6 and then buy every single program at 6 again, wasting all the level 5 costs.

[Lazerface]

[LilithTaveril]

Increasing your response means you're still using them at 5. You have to increase both response and system. And then you worry about whether or not the programs will run at capacity.

[JonathanC]

You can't buy a response of 6 at character generation, because the availability is higher than 12. As for why I didnt' spend more on attributes...well, I ran out of money. Ditto for the implanted commlink. I also couldn't figure out why I'd want to spend extra cash and essence on having a computer inside of me, especially since I'd be upgrading it (response and probably signal too) as soon as I got some money. Hopping into a chopshop every time you want to upgrade your commlink seemed a bit inconvenient to me to say the least. Thanks for the advice though.

I did buy them as skill groups, which meant those skills were capped at 4. I suppose I could have bought hacking up, but I think that's a decent dice pool to start with, and is appropriate for a hacker who has kind of eased into Shadowrunning from a young age, but hasn't done anything too serious yet.

I will reconsider the name, though I always thought Oily seemed like a good name for a hacker (either that or an infiltrator).

[GrinderTheTroll]

Minor points:

1) Buy some Gear! You've got Infiltration and no gear associated with it, not that is a big deal but might save you some time when it's at a premium.

2) Buy some Agents! Handy little programs to have in your back pocket, plus if you break the Copy-protection you can xerox them into infinity.

3) Buy a Bike! You have drones, but no personal transportation. Drop a few progs to raise some cash.

4) Buy more fake SINs! One fake ID is rough. I'd consider a few more SINs and fake Licenses for your weapons, programs, etc.

Not a bad attempt, but most Hackers start looking the same. :cyber:

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[JonathanC]

[ShadowDragon]

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[RunnerPaul]

[ShadowDragon]

Glitch from what?

[Rotbart van Dain...]