Tear apart my technomancer Options

[Tarantula]

Just figure I'd throw it up for critique/final review before I put him into a game. So, without further adieu, heres Gyre.
Edit: Or suggestions to his weak spots/places I should look into rounding him out with.

[Ddays]

I thought Technomancers used Willpower for firewall? Course, straightout buying rating 6 firewall is probably better. Pity that could be said for almost everything a technomancer can do.

[Tarantula]

The 6 firewall is for his commlink, and later his drones once he breaks copy protection.

[Ryu]

Resonance 6 but weak mental stats? Resonance 5 saves 25 pts.

20 to attributes:
Agi 2, Str 2, Wil 5, Cha 4, Int 5. Better firewall and resistance against black ice (Wil+Cha after a Int+Wil for defense).
Five points say you now have an attack-CF and some chance of self-defense.

Lose software(spec), hardware and computer. Buy electronics 3.

MAJOR POINT: no matrix combat / electronic warfare??? No automatic weapons and no athletics group and no hacking would make cracking 4 possible.

[Dancer]

The AK-97 has both a gas-vent and a suppressor. That's physically impossible.

(Both work with the gas coming out the end of the barrel. One disperses it gradually, one vents it to counteract muzzle climb. You can't do both.)

[Tarantula]

6 stealth and I plan to thread stealth to up towards 10-12 when/if I think I'll need it. I plan on registering a fault sprite or 2 I can call on should I need any fighting done. Software(spec) is for threading. Hardware is for being semi-useful to a team on a run while I'm with them. Computer is for checks with any common use programs. I'd rather keep my physical stats at 3's than tank them to 2's for mildly better matrix stats which aren't likely to be an issue without me getting detected.

Oh, and automatic weapons/athletics group is to allow me to actually help go along with the team on a run, without having to worry as much about being the liability.

[Tarantula]

[Dancer]

[Kyoto Kid]

...it's shadowrun tech, when has that ever been logical?

This is a world where you can put an HUD active targeting system with visual magnification and low light capability in a pair of contacts, where you can boost your cognitive capacity by having a surgeon put a few more folds in your brain, where datajacks are installed at booths "while U wait" and cybereyes at optical boutiques in shopping malls . It's a world where if you don't like being weak you can "buy" strength, if you don't like being slow, you can buy "speed" (who needs a membership at Gold's Gym anymore?), and if your having difficulty wooing the opposite (or same) sex, you can "buy" the ability to improve that too.

[Jaid]

mechanically speaking, if you're gonna put your resonance to 6, you should probably put all your CFs at 6 also, and do your best to have as many CFs as you can.

my advice is to drop it to 5, use some of those extra points to boost edge or logic, increase your CFs, etc...

and also, you may wish to consider perception skill. and dodge.

[Cheops]

Actually I've been finding that optimal builds for non-physically useless TMs is to cut back on CFs and spend the points on skills instead. You can lean on threading and sprites to help boost the CFs you don't have (threading is a free action!).

[Tarantula]

Ok, swap the a HK 227X in instead of the ak97 then, add gas vent 3, and it has an integral sound suppresor (integral accessories don't take up slots).

Threading isn't a free action, it isn't an action. So you can thread 3 forms, do a free, and a complex action all on one IP.

Mechanically speaking, you only get 2xlogic in CFs, so I have as many as I can. The resonance 6 is for the ability to have stealth and exploit at 6 (his specialty) and to allow stealth to be threaded up to 12. For general breaking in on the fly, hes rolling 6 (hacking (exploit) + 6 (CF) + 2 (VR) + 2 (Codeslinger) - 2 (Threading Stealth) = 14 dice. His stealth is 6 (CF) + 6(Threading, retry until you get the hits you need) = 12. 14 dice against the typical 1-7 firewall ratings isn't much. Even 7-13 if he wanted admin access. Figure the system can't have any more than 14 dice at best (7 system + 7 analyze) then chances are, he's going to hack in before hes detected. Then, for a decker/ic to spot him, is going to be awfully hard to beat his 12(Stealth) + 4(hacking) in an opposed test. His hacking is geared towards not getting found, not towards going in programs blazing.

[Ryu]

Stealth is a fine primary strategy.If "stealth only" will work depends on your campaign/GM, keeping fault sprites at hand certainly helps. Intrusion detection is done via matrix perception once you are inside (patrolling IC, security hackers), so high stealth is not fault-proven.

I´d still go Resonance 5 - you only loose two dice on your "specialities" stealth and exploit, easy to fix later on. We could be talking intuition 5. You´d gain better perception, initiative and knowledge skills.

I stand by my recommendation of electronics 3 - more versatility and data search as sugar coating.

Your choice of CFs: Analyse should not be on the short list, as you are at +4 dice anyway. Edit on the other hand is VERY useful.



PS. I got the reason for athletics, no worries. I was just lacking points for the suggested cracking group. I´m divided on that one, personally. I do not consider it efficient to buy (dp 4 is still no-good-use), but having no athletic ability at all seems to nerdy for a shadowrunner.

[James McMurray]

I've never played a TM, so take this with an eye towards it being completely theory, but I think I'd go for as many maxed out CFs as possible. It seems to me they're a major karma dump later if you don't.

I haven't done a full analysis for skills vs. CF, but a rating 2 skill with a specialization costs 10 BP or 8 karma. 10 BP is 2 CFs at 5, which will cost 32 karma if you buy them after char gen.

[Tarantula]

Yeah, and once inside, its an opposed (computer + analyze) vs (hacking + stealth). Making the average decker (3 + 6) 9 vs my (4 + 12) 16. I'll win most every time.

Resonance 5 hurts a lot. I lose 1 off the CFs, I lose 2 off the threaded stealth (max of 10 not 12), I can't compile as good of sprites, etc. Yes, its a build point dump, but, I think for the gains I get in hacking (Especially having the 12 stealth) its worth it.

Data search is covered with courier sprites, which I'm specialized in. If you don't have a program, you don't get to make the test. You have to have analyze to make your matrix perception tests. (Unless you want to argue that you don't, in which case I argue I can hack without an exploit program.) It also is how I can find an enemy decker inside my drones. Which, if they have sniper rifles on them, I'd really like to be able to find people screwing with them. As far as edit is concerned, I can either thread it at a 1 if I need to make a change. But it certainly doesn't need to be high enough to warrant using up one of my 6 CF slots.

Yes James, not maxing CFs at chargen isn't cost effective. But I really don't care about costs down the line, if I don't survive to make it there. I'd rather be fairly effective from the start, and waste some karma to improve upon that. Rather than be cost effective, but not actually effective.

[Jaid]

the problem with improving your CFs down the line is that you most likely won't.

to put it bluntly, it costs too much. the way your CFs look at chargen is largely the way they will look 50 karma later. it is simply too expensive after chargen to even touch them.

or, to put it another way: with your first 13 karma, you're most likely to submerge (and pick up a 4th IP in the matrix, for example). after that, you may want to increase your survivability in the meatworld, or you may want to boost your resonance (which improves fading resistance, allows you to thread higher, and allows you to compile and register higher rating sprites (in fact, it's a double dip on sprites because it increases your maximum rating as well as improving your fading resistance, which is the other main restriction on your sprites, and additionally makes you more likely to successfully compile/register or allows you to gain more services.)

out-of-matrix effectiveness can be obtained with drones, with matrix overwatch, by acting as a strategic advisor, providing AR bonuses to the team, interfering with the security force's, making them unable to trust what *their* system is telling them, and so forth. i'm not saying you should totally dump meatworld effectiveness... a decent dodge skill, some reaction, a good body score, and maybe even some athletics are good ideas. but when it comes down to it, you don't need a terribly amazing dicepool to contribute to the meatworld. a decent logic and hardware skill lets you handle electronic hotwiring and such. an agility of 2, a pistols skill of 1(semiauto +2) and a smartlink gives you a dicepool of 7 for attacking, which isn't *amazing*, but which is enough to shoot the average security guard.

you may not be an amazing meatworld combatant, but you will still be a threat.

[Wasabi]

Specializing Computer skill in the Analyze program gives you two dice for Matrix Perception.

EDIT: I miswrote 'analysis' program and have corrected it to say 'analyze' program

This post has been edited by Wasabi: Jul 16 2007, 05:06 AM

[Tarantula]

I would argue that unless you are using an analyze program, you don't get the bonus dice, since they are for use of an analyze program. Not to be used instead of.

[Ryu]

No, TMs have +2 to matrix perception.

That 9 dicepool hacker you mention has edge. IC on high-sec systems has a minimum dicepool 12. You are at -2 while threading your form. Both have pretty good chances of occasionally detecting you, and only one entity on the system needs to do so. I do recommend to shore up your matrix combat abilities and not be a one-trick pony.

[Tarantula]

Yes, but to get any matrix perception, you need an analyze program. By "bonus dice" I meant "bonus dice from you computer specialization of analyze". Yes, a TM gets +2 to matrix perception, but you NEED a CF or program in order to make one at all. If you have no analyze program, you don't get to see stealthed programs. Period.

Sprites are what bail me out for matrix combat. Unlike bound spirits bound sprites cost nothing but time and damage (from compiling/registering). So, I can happily keep 4 on hand to call on should I need it. I'd plan to have probably 2 courier sprites, a fault, and a machine sprite. On the occasion I do get attacked, I can call the fault sprite over, and get done with what I need to do.

Even a rating 6 system probably wouldn't have more than 1 or 2 ice at the most (Considering IC, Analyze, Armor, Attack on its own is 4/6 programs it can run at full rating, assuming they're all running at 6's). So, either it has a few pathetic IC that won't see me, or one bigger one that I can have a fault sprite take care of, and go about my business.

[lunchbox311]

OK so another question since I have been working on a TM myself.

Is it worthwhile to drop some build points to start with a registered sprite or two?

Seems to me that it would since it starts at rating (Resonance) and can be reregistered after the game starts.

If so which one(s)? I would guess crack and fault sprites.

[Wasabi]

[James McMurray]

It's not worth it. Bind them after char gen and then heal the stun damage.

[Tarantula]

Yes Wasabi. If you have no analyze program, you can't do it. Unless you're telling me you can do any matrix action without needing any programs whatsoever.

[James McMurray]

What he's saying is that if you're specialized in Analyze you'll get those dice on matrix perception tests because matrix perception uses analyze.