What other niches can a hacker/rigger fulfill, in a group.. Options

[klinktastic]

I was just wondering what other areas can be covered by a mundane hacker/rigger? Like perhaps first aid or something like that? Just looking for a little feedback.

Thanks!

[Fortune]

Pretty much anything he has the skills for.

[Tarantula]

First aid can be decent. Suppressive fire isn't bad either.

[Nikoli]

Invest in the Hardware skill, a hardware kit, sequencer, etc. for dealing with security when it's just too tough to hack or when you're being jammed or it's not wireless.

also, be the spotter. A high intuition coupled with a high perception gives you an edge you wouldn't believe. you spot the details and highlight them to the others.

[neko128]

Or, just give them low-level WR and a gun, and let them play Sammy.

[Adarael]

For a bit of perspective, let me post my current character. He has a bit of Karma on him, so he's not totally out-the-gate, but even so I think it'll be helpful. I set him up to be an ex-Renraku Red Sam whose role on his team was EW interference, drone support, and another gun-toter to back the heavy guns up on the team. Sorta like a Command-Control-Communicate officer, in charge of maintaining communications while providing intelligence and suppressing threats as necessary.

Edward St. James, aka "Blue Line"

Body: 4
Agility: 5 (7)
Reaction: 4 (7)
Strength: 3
Charisma: 2
Intuition: 4
Logic: 4
Willpower: 3

Edge: 2
Initiative: 11
Essence: 0.64

Negative Qualities:

Negative Qualities
Scorched
Allergy unc/mod (Peanuts)

Edge: 2
Initiative: 8
Essence: 0.60

Automatics : 4
Longarms : 4
Pistols : 4
Disguise : 4
Inflitration : 4
Palming : 4
Shadowing : 4
Computer : 4
Data Search : 4
Hardware : 4
Software : 4
Dodge : 3
Blades : 2
Climbing : 2
Running : 2
Perception : 4
Etiquette : 2
Hacking : 3
Electronic Warfare : 4

English : N
Security Procedures : 3
Corporate Politics : 2
Seattle Street Gangs : 3
Japanese : 4
Japanese Culture : 2
Cybertechnology : 3
History : 2
Black Markets : 2
Area Knowledge : 3

Cybereyes Basic System (Rating 3)
+ Flare Compensation
+ Low-Light Vision
+ Thermographic Vision
+ Vision Enhancement (Rating 3)
+ Vision Magnification
+ Smartlink
Cyberears (Rating 3)
+ Audio Enhancement (Rating 3)
+ Balance Augmenter
+ Damper
+ Select Sound Filter (Rating 4)
+ Spatial Recognizer
Implanted Commlink (Beta)
Spur (Retractable, Beta)
Control Rig (Beta)
Reaction Enhancers (Rating 2)
Wired Reflexes (Rating 2)
Math SPU (Beta)
Muscle Toner 2

I'll save the gear breakdown. But here's the deal. He can kill, he can handle communications, he can provide drone support, but doesn't do anything exclusively.

[kzt]

Run drones for recon and possibly firepower. They should have electronics warfare if doing this.

Heavy weapons (grenade launchers, rockets and missiles). If using armed drones, they should have gunnery in addition.

Hardware, Electronics warfare, and locksmith allows him to be very helpful in breaking into places when he can't convince the security system to let them in. Hackers will probably need hardware anyway.

Anyone with multiple IPs and Firearms can be effective in a shootout. It makes no sense for them not to be able to effectively shoot it out if needed.

[Sma]

Being a hacker costs about 150 BP (logic +4, electronics +4, cracking +4, and a maxed out commlink)
Dropping points into reaction helps with rigging and not getting shot which is always handy. Add a point in the most commonly used vehicle skills, and you've spent half of your starting BP's.
This leaves you enough points to either become a decent gunbunny (Ath +4 Body +3 , wired reflexes and weapon skill) or a decent face, depending on what floats your boat.

[Ryu]

Depends on the hacker :wobble:

If you go for "jumped in"-mode, you "need" a quite expensive list of skills:
cracking+electronics 4
infiltration, gunnery, perception, dodge, vehicle skill "as high as possible"

One possible route is taking stealth 4 instead of just infiltration, low gunnery/vehicle skill and instead some influence and athletics groups. This will run up to 200 BP on skills easily, so don´t expect to spend 200 BP on attributes. You do get to be a stealth/disguise-type besides being a rigger. Your social dice pools will be pretty low (no points for CHA, low influence), so you can´t be the face, too.

[Marwynn]

You can even spring for Skillwires and just be the complete swiss-army knife-guy.

A few points for Forgery, Armorer, and Hardware stuff could earn you money in between the downtime.

First Aid is definitely doable. There are some Hacker/Riggers that are also Faces, or Stealth specialists.

[Dashifen]

I've seen pretty solid Hacker/Mages as well. The points get a little tight -- especially if you want a lot of spells -- but it can be done, especially if you're willing to sacrifice high rating programs right out of the gate and upgrade them later.

[Buster]

Under the current RAW, hackers are really just scriptkiddies. All matrix tests are actually based on Program rating instead of Logic. Any shaman, face, or cybersam with a few nuyen to spend on a commlink and some programs can be a world class hacker.

Only if you use one of the house rules in the "Quick fix for matrix-users" thread do you need to worry about "multiclassing" your hacker.

[Aaron]

[Aaron]

The hacker I used to play was also a rigger, which seems to be the default route for Matrix specialists. In the game I'm running, the hacker is also the face.

[Kyoto Kid]

...my "Matrix Specialist" Violet is also a fairly decent B & E expert (Electronics group 4 Logic 7) as well as covering some Covert Ops angles. She does have a couple surveillance drones, but uses them in command mode only. Easier to upgrade the Autosofts, the sensors and give them some defence, than dredge up enough BPs for vehicle skill at a useful rating, especially when both of the drones are exotic vehicle types.

Of course, she has the source code for the autosofts just in case.

[Buster]

[Ol' Scratch]

Just off the top of my head there's Memory (Logic + Willpower), Healing (First Aid + Logic, Medicine + Logic, etc), dealing with devices (Computer + Logic), multitudes of Technomancer abilities (most notable of which being Logic = System Rating), and defaulting to numerous skills all rely on Logic.

[Fortune]

As well as being half the base for Knowledge Skill points (and the matching Attribute to the same).

Logic is definitely not useless in SR4.

[Kyrn]

Not to mention drain resistance for hermetics and logic + arcana for fun things such as designing an ally spirit's formula. But who wants an ally spirit, right?

[Kyoto Kid]

[Wasabi]