Black IC and Otaku, Coma or unconscious? Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Switch to: Outline Standard Switch to: Linear+

[farrenj]

What happens when black IC jams open a technomancer's connection and then knocks him out via stun damage? Does he go into a coma like state where his connection is still open but he's unconscious or does his living persona crash and the black IC is just out of luck?

Edit: SR4 question.

[mfb]

it'd have to be non-lethal black IC; regular black IC doesn't have the option of dealing non-lethal damage, and vice-versa. regardless, the same thing happens to the otaku that happens to a decker: it attacks his MPCP as if it were Blaster IC at 2x rating; if it reduces his MPCP to 0, it deletes all data from any connect storage memory.

i assume you're talking 3rd ed, because you said 'otaku'. if you are, this is kinda the wrong forum for the question. if not, my answer is incorrect.

[farrenj]

[mfb]

no idea, then.

[Jaid]

if i'm not mistaken, technically the technomancer will crash, taking their node and their living persona with them.

which is possibly one of the things that scares people about technomancers... they're supposed to behave a certain way as beings in the matrix, but they don't always behave as expected =P

you can't KO a TM and then track him, you gotta track him while he's alive and kicking...

[neko128]

Jaid is correct; if a Technomancer goes unconscious, their Living Persona (read: their commlink) goes down, and the black IC loses access to them. They're only online while they're conscious. Unlike a regular decker, you can't pin them in place when they're unconscious and then fry their brain - or at least, so it appears from the RAW.

[Jérémie]

Now the 1M dollars question: forcefully jacking out (well, sorry disconnecting) while under a Black Ice loop will kill you. So, how the knocked out Technomancer survive it's Living Persona crash?

And the other way around, if he can trick the Ice or crash is Living Person to get out freely of the Black loop, why isn't this option discussed somewhere?

[Gelare]

Jacking out of the matrix while Black IC is jamming your connection open results in dumpshock, described in SR4, p. 231. For a technomancer it's five physical damage, which is also resisted by Will+Biofeedback. If you were knocked out by stun damage, it shouldn't be too bad. Now, if Black Hammer IC knocks out the technomancer, then not only is his brain actively bleeding, but he also has to resist that same 5P, which may well kill him at that point.