[X] My Assistant

[Crusher Bob]

[Eyeless Blond]

Huh, and here I was under the impression that no Technomancer actually ever used his living persona for anything, as commlinks with complete program loadouts were so cheap. I thought the point of a techno was to power sprites; the whole living persona thing is just a free add-on if you ever get caught without a real commlink to work with.

[bishop186]

[Cardul]

I built a Technomancer that I found rather effective. I had they key programs as Complex Forms(Exploit, Attack, Armour, Sleeze, Stealth), and I had a commlink with the Decrypt, Edit, Encrypt. I would Thread Search, and any other of the lower use programs when needed. If you have a TM with a Living Persona against a hacker of a similar rating persona, well, think about this: The Hacker has to have EVERY program with them, or take a complex action to shut down, and then another complex actin to upload a program. a Technomancer can get a ttally new program FREE through Threading, and then hit the Hacker(or ICE) with it. That is before you throw in Echoes and Sprites.

[FrankTrollman]

[Eyeless Blond]

[FriendoftheDork]

Hey guys, after reading Emergence and checking the rules I think I agree with Trollman's conclusions: Something must be done.

I can't see how you could be able to read threading as being cumulative, any more than you can cast a force 3 spell and then a force 2 spell and let it be one force 5 spell, resisting drain twice. Threading a complex form gives -2 penalty on all other actions, so if you do it more than once the penalties would accumulate.

Anyway, here's my idea: Instead of messing with Complex form cost why not try to follow the fluff that techno's can do intuitively what others need years of training and education to perform?

Remove all techno skills, and let techno's use Resonance+ linked Attribute. Hacking would be Exploit+Logic, etc. Skills are expensive in this game so why not save a few points there? I know our hacker has spent most of his BPs and karma on skills. This fits better IMO with normal peaople suffering from APES becoming good hackers overnight.

I would also consider using Resonance for Signal (instead of Res/2), otherwise it is just too easy to jam a techie, and always have the technie's signal harder to find and intercept than normal.

What do you think? Broken? A part om me wants it to be broken and reserved for NPCs only to make it more scary ;)

[Fortune]

That's interesting. I think it might be little too much, but it certainly bears considering.

[Nightwalker450]

The reason we go with rethreading is due to the fact that a technomancer has to roll to thread. A mage doesn't roll to figure up what force he's casting, a mage says "I cast a force 5 spell" and casts the spell. The technomancer on the other hand has to roll for each one. When you put the no action on it, this makes you wonder what the thoughts were to begin with?

"I can thread a program of up to Software + Resonance from scratch. But I need to roll the dice continuously until I actually get that rating, or the rating I'm looking for."

So one of 2 house rules need to be made:
Threading is a free action and rethreading is allowed. This way it takes time to thread, but all dice rolls are still present. If you are pressed you can do the single free action deadly threading. (Considering threading is fading equal to rating, whereas spells are usually force/2)

or

Threading takes no action, and you can thread a bonus or complex form up to your (Resonance or Software skill). Select a rating and resist fading accordingly.

[Ryu]

I´d prefer the second alternative for threading, less dice rolling is good. The limit should be software skill.

As for Resonance+attribute, I don´t like it. It would be way better to spend on TM quality+Resonance (even with some losses to augmentation), than to learn the skills/buy the gear etc. That is not balanced.

I think it would be better to roll Intuition+skill, and do away with the whole concept of programs for TMs. With the rather fucked up Wireless Rules, using the same mechanics for everyone is not as desireable as in other places. Going without complex forms reduces many of the TM problems + removes the necessity of always having max. resonance. Still not balanced, but better.

[FriendoftheDork]

True that mages chose their force, but remember that so do Techies if they by complex forms... which is similar to a mage being able to cast some spells without having to resist drain at all! I know, compared to a hacker they still suck but it means a techie doesen't HAVE to use threading all the time, and when he does he only really needs it for Stealth and perhaps exploit.

But I kinda like option 2 as well. Eliminating excessive rolls is good.

I still don't like the idea of techies having to use as much BPs on their mystically aquired skills (most having never been tought them) as hackers do on theirs.

Perhaps I'll make a 400BP techie with my house rule just to see if he got too many BPs to spare.

[Ustio]

Last night I convinced my GM that siince my comple forms cost the same as knowledge skills my learning stimulator [3] (reduces the cost of known kkbowledge and language skills by its rating) should also apply. He thought it seemed okay (as long as it was only for the karma and not the +3 dice I get to almost all knowledge skills from various upgrades)

[Wasabi]

[Eyeless Blond]

So, while you guys are busy making the Living Persona actually work, have you figured out how to depower Sprites so the Techno doesn't suddenly become *too* powerful on the Matrix?

[Ryu]

Signal=Resonance leads to rather powerful brainwaves, I´d not like that. Besides, jamming tech is not-that-effective anyway.

1) Carry a device with high signal to use as a relay station. Spice that up, see Wasabi.

2) If you are successfully jammed, find and take the jammer. Should be worth quite a bit of money.


Are sprites really a way to become too powerful? If anything, rules that enable a TM do get things done himself depower sprites in comparison.

[FrankTrollman]

[FriendoftheDork]

[FrankTrollman]

[Ryu]

Complex Form + Threading(at Resonance) is a base 10 already. Then you can add a sprite service (IIRC) to get even more, which will be inconsequential due to the limit of jammer ratings (should be 10, again IIRC). So you can keep your base signal even in the face of jamming, nearly all of the time.

[Jaid]

[Cheops]