The Chameleon Suit and the Off Switch:, How the Chameleon Suit Works Options

[Panda Bear]

Howdy!

I'm working on an adept right now that uses stealth to his advantage. I am purchasing skills, powers and equipment to help him out.

Now, I was really intrigued by the chameleon suit (and in fact plan on using chameleon in my character's shadowrunner name), but I had a few questions about it.

Is it always active? From what I can tell, most electrical equipment (if not all) in shadowrun has an off switch. The chameleon suit is awesome, but there can be cool things to do with turning it off.

Think the Cyborg Ninja (who was probably an adept). He makes himself invisible, and them to be a complete badass, turns his suit off to reveal himself. I imagine my allies talking to someone, that someone pulls a gun and I come out from "invisibility" and put a knife to the guy's throat.

Also, would the chameleon suit work on other things attached to you? Such as your sword, gun or anything on the outside of it? If not, could it be possible to put that technology on weapons and other items?


As for my last question; you think 2070 has the technology to make helmets on armor that act like Jaffa helmets?

[WhiskeyMac]

The chameleon suit only applies to the suit itself and not stuff attached. You could put stuff under it though it would make it harder to pull out.

What you're thinking about is ruthenium polymers and they will probably be re-introduced in either Augmentation or Arsenal but my bet is on Arsenal. Otherwise, I would just say 1000 :nuyen: per item or something like that.

There's not anything in the main book that are like Jaffa helmet (the ones on the Horus guards from Stargate, right?) but there's nothing stopping you from making one. I'd do it kinda like the helmet from Lost in Space that Matt LeBlanc's character had. Just a largeish metal collar that works on wireless signal that allows bulletproof metal bands to retract or expand around the head. Just use the stats for the helmet and double the price or something for the elaborate mechanics involved.

[Panda Bear]

Oooh, thank you for the help with the Jaffa-like helmet. I just think it would be really BA to have a helmet like that on a chameleon suit.

And ruthenium polymers make items have the same chameleon-like property as the suit?

Also, I still need help with turning it off. Can it be turned off? Also, what would it look like if it were turned off? Would it be a set appearance, or could I choose the color by programming it each time?

[WhiskeyMac]

I'm thinking the suit will probably be either a dull grey/metallic color or maybe you could buy it with a generic "off" color. Maybe like a primer gray or something.

Yeah, ruthenium polymers would give whatever it's covering the properties of the chameleon suit. Including the perception modifiers.

I would highly recommend Thermal Dampening on your chameleon suit though. Someone with Thermographic Vision could pick you out easily without the Dampening. It may jack the price of the suit up but it's worth it's weight in gold.

[Panda Bear]

Oh yeah, trust me, I planned on it.

The way my character is set up is going to be badass.

You know the old line, "You won't see me, but I'll see you?" He'll have awesome perception and amazing stealth qualities. Also good with blades and archery. ^^ But thermal dampening is a must for the chameleon suit.

[Demon_Bob]

Scene from a game once.

GM to chameleon suit guy, "Roll hearing Perception."
Guy, "Woot 4 hits"
GM, "You hear the guards wispering,'Why is that tool kit floating in mid-air?'."

You might want to ask your GM about the cost of a chameleon backpack with remote off, so you can carry some stuff that is just to big to fit under the suit.

[Jack Kain]

The trick with gear and a Chameleon suit is, well say its in a small back pack. Keep your back to the wall as you sneak around. Like you actually MIGHT do if you were sneaking around as opposed to simply waking like the suit makes you invisible it doesn't

It just makes you really hard to spot visually.


My own character has taken a liking to Chameleon suit + gecko gloves + monowhip.
Which equals silent if not messy death.

[Crusher Bob]

Ruthenium polymer change color. There is the 'cheap' polymer and the 'expensive' polymer. The cheap one can do basic colors and patterns, and plenty of clothes, wigs, etc are made with it. It takes 'a few minutes' to complete the color change, iirc. The expensive one can do the change in real time. That's how the suit works, afterall. If you wanted to you could program the suit to have any appearance you wanted it to. You could get it to display TV it you wanted to.

[hyzmarca]

You could always specilizae in unamed combat, sacrifice some essence to get a Ruthenium dermal sheath, and always go around naked. Unfortunately, the Dermal Sheath isn't in SR4 yet, but it would be easy enough to convert from SR3 until Augmentation comes out.

[Sterling]

The chameleon suit is ruthenium polymer. The description on page 316 is pretty clear.

It's not too hard to imagine pass-through pockets on the suit, kept shut with velcro or (for total stealth) small magnets. This would let you reach into the suit and into a pocket.

I'm really surprised they put it in the game right off the bat, with a little effort and a good commlink, you could have the thing look like an Urban Explorer jumpsuit until you triggered it to go into proper stealth mode.

[Panda Bear]

Heh, I can't wear my chameleon suit in town now anyway, since I put thermal dampening on it.

[Dancer]

I'm pretty sure it's fully programmable. You could make it anything from safety-glare orange to displaying a scene from your favourite trid show.

[bibliophile20]

[Sterling]

Keep in mind the chameleon suit (with thermal dampeners) and a decent infiltration skill means drones have a hell of a time spotting you. I've pointed out how it's not unlikely that corporations (especially Lone Star) would utilize drones to patrol most areas. But with average sensors of 3 and a clearsight soft of 3... that's not a very high pool to try and detect a (meta)human signature.

[Wasabi]

[Sterling]

[savantt]

Hey, if somone's allready said this, I apologise, but I scanned the replys and didn't see it...

If you read the first chapter-into Fiction in 'Runner Havens', the character turns on the Chamelion Suit half way through...Meaning there is definately an On/Off Switch of some form.

Like these guys said, what it looks like while on/off is up to you, it seems...