My new hacker, Bile., work in progress Options

[Abbandon]

Well I think I'm finished.. I would have liked to have been able to take an technical skill to repair drones but where are they? Do you just take a repair skill for the type of drone it is(car/airplane/boat) ?? I was hoping for Drone Repair specializing in (air/tread/wheeled). Not really to sure or excited about my activesofts. Do I need a shop kit for programming software? Where the hell do you put shops/facilities ?? Thats like never get attached to a single home. Its going to get found and ambushed sooner or later??

Well anyways here you go what kind of changes would you like to see made??

[ Spoiler ]

CODE

Total BP: 400
Name: Bile   (dwarf +25bp)
Attributes: (200 bps)
  Body:         4/7     +20bp
  Agility:   3/6     +20bp
  Reaction:  4(6)/5  +30bp
  Strength:  4/8     +10bp
  Charisma:  2/6     +10bp
  Intuition: 5/6     +40bp
  Logic:     5(7)/6  +40bp
  Willpower: 5/7     +30bp
  Initiative: 9(11)
Condition Monitor:  10s/10p
Edge: 1
Init Pass: 3
Essense: 1.54 (4.2 + .12/2 = -4.46)

Qaulities: (-15bp)
-Positive:
  Hardening +10bp: +1 biofeedback
  CodeSlinger +10bp: +2 Exploit
-Negative:
  Phobia Common(drowning), Moderate -15bp: -4 while exposed to large bodies of water, Charisma+willpower(x) test to avoid running away.
  Infirm(fat) -20bp: physical skills cost x2, can't take group skills,  unaware in skills he doesnt have.

Contacts: (none...)

Active Skills: 140bp
Electronics 4                            40bp
First Aid 1                            4bp
  combat wounds(+2)                            2bp
Perception 2                            8bp
Dodge 4                            16bp
Hacking 5                            20bp
  Stealth(+2)                            2bp
Cybercombat 5                            20bp
  vs IC(+2)                            2bp
Electronic Warfare 4                            16bp
Gunnery 2                            8bp
  Heavy Weapons(+2)                            2bp

Knowledge Skills: (5+7)x3= 36 free bp
  Hacker Nodes 4
  Matrix security 5
  Software Design 5
  Hardware Design 4
  Online Games 4
  Graphic Design 4
Language:
  Normal N
    Hacker    2
  Spanish 4
  Japanese 4

Gear 50bp (249,975/250,000)
-Armored Jacket (900)
-Low Income (1 month) (2000)
-First Aid Kit 6 (600)
-Mercury Comet (14,000)
  Rigged (2500)
  Signal 5 (1000)
-Stun baton (400)
-Defiance X Shocker (400)
  Smartgun(external) (400)
  concealed holster (75)
-Tool Kit(software,hardware,drones)x3 (1500)
-Fake SIN 4(Chris Louder) (4000)
  Fake License: Pilot(ground) 4 (400)
  Fake License: Hack Programs 4 (400)
  Fake License: Cyber 4 (400)
  Fake License: Stun Baton 4 (400)
  Fake License: Smartgun 4 (400)
-Glasses (50)
  Low Light av+4 (100)
  Flare Comp av+2 (50)
  Smartlink av+4 (500)
  Vision Mag av+2 (100)
-Fake SIN 1(Duane Hopper) (1000)
-Activesofts(rating 3 x 3000 = 9000 per skill) (4x9000+ 1x3000 = 39,000)
  Pistols 3
  Pilot(ground) 3
  Etiquette 3
  Mechanic(drones) 3
  Clubs 1
-commlink: Meta Link + Vector Xim(300)
-Commlink: Meta Link + Vector Xim(skinned) (350)
   Response 5(4000), Signal 5(1000), System 5(2500), Firewall 6(3000)
-Sim Module(hot) (250)
-Satellite Link (500)
-subvcal mic(skinned) (100)
-Virtual music (50)
-virtual person (150)
-virtual weather (100)
-wall space (50)

-PROGRAMS: (all Rating 5)
Common programs(all 7, Ratingx100=500 x7 = 3,500)
Hacking programs(all 15, ratingx1000=5000 x15 = 75,000)
Agent R4 x1 (10,000)

-Cyber: es= 4.2
  Wired Reflexes 2  es=3, (32,000)
  Control Rig es=.5 (10,000)  
  Datajack(skinned) es=.1 (550)
  Skillwire 3  es=.6  (6000)
-Bio es= .52 /2 = .26
  Sleep Regulator es=.12 (10,000)
  Cerbral Boosters 2 es=.4 (20,000)

Abilities:
Thermo Vision
+2 vs desease/toxin
+2 when controlling drones/ +4 if hot
Only need 4 hours of sleep

>>Description<<
-----------------
A 17 year old Dwarf male, 4 feet tall, 200 pounds mostly fat. Thick black/brown dreads pulled back into a pony tail. Heritage is African, medium darkness. Usually dresses in sport's jerseys for various Court Ball teams, urban camo cargo pants, and biege short-top boots. Has had silvery metalic tusks installed along the bottom row of teeth.

>>Role<<
-----------------
Hacker/ with some rigging skills

>>Personality<<
-----------------
Pissed off, angry, mean, prideful. Being short, fat, and black he has had to endure alot of abuse. But he usually gets the last laugh in the matrix. Being so good at the matrix has given him an ego and a place to vent all of his frustrations though.

>>Iconography<<
-----------------
-Theme: zombie stuff on the player side, humans and anti-zombie stuff for opposition.
-Persona: Bright green cartoony human zombie, with an Orange mohawk. The only clothes the zombie is wearing is a tore up pair of jean shorts.
-Home node: Will look like a cartoony cemetary with a field of headstones with a Chapel/Mosque/Crypt building at one end. There is a very thin layer of fog along the ground that doesnt rise above the ankle. There is a giant full moon in the sky casting everything in a bright moonlight that casts shadows.
-Attack programs: Projectile vomiting, Biting, and a baseball bat w/ barbed wire wrapped around the end.
-Agents: Each agent will most likely be represented by a swarm of cartoony zombie's, and when they attack they slowly overwhelm the target and begin biting it.
-hostile entities that conform to my reality filter will look like swarms of humans with pitchforks or shotguns or pistols or maybe chainsaws.
-ARE programs like music/person/weather will be used to bring bits and pieces of his zombie theme to the meat world. When agents complete tasks he will hear in the meat world "bbbbBBbrrraaaiiinnss". If his analyze program picks up intruders he might hear humans shout the things people say when fighting zombies like "aim for the head!". Virtual person will be used to represent his agents and he will have them set to discreet appearences for example, he might be walking down the street and look up at a skyscraper and he might see in the windows of a random floor thats its filled with zombies, or a passing car may be filled with zombies or have zombie arms and legs hanging out of the trunk. Weather will make daylight into the same full moon night sky of his home node(no vision mods).

>>Background<<
-----------------
Grew up in a poverty stricken, violent ghetto of mixed races and groups where everyone hated everyone else who was different. Being fat, black, and a dwarf he was picked on alot which caused him to become mean and spiteful. He had friends though, friends who were in a gang and they protected him when they could but they didnt recruit him either. Instead they just let him hang out with them. One day one of his friends gave him a commlink he had jacked off some random person or rival ganger and gave it to him to see what was on it. Thus begun his love afair with the matrix. As he learned more about the matrix and commlinks he found out he could help his friends out in all manner of ways. He could make court cases and tickets disappear, he could delete footage from security camera's, stop alarms from going out.

His friends started making alot of money thanx to his matrix overwatch and hacking and alot of it flowed his way to help him get better shit so he could help them more. Eventually the law caught up with his friends though and most of them were taken down and the rest disappeared but nobdy ever gave him up. Now that he could finally fight back against people by using the matrix his confidence rebounded and he feels like a king amongst peasents. He even had
some shiny orc tusks implanted to show off. Being alone for the most part he started focusing more and more on being in the matrix. When he wasnt jacking bank accounts and syphoning money to survive he was online playing games, designing software, and fighting with other hackers.

Some of his closer friends who were caught though are in deep shit for all the things they have done and they need some good lawyers or they are going to be written off and sold off to god knows who for god knows what. He needs to get a few big scores to help his friends so he turns to the shadows...

[suppenhuhn]

Looks nice (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

iirc simrigs directly interface with your neural structure, so trodes or a jack would be all thats needed. for ar you might need an imagelink though.

if you're looking for more qualities you may try to get your hands on a copy of gurps (there's also a free lite one somewhere on the internets). they use pretty much the same system quality wise and personnaly i always found sr a bit lacking in that department.

[Kyoto Kid]

...While it isn't stated specifically in the description of the quality, we have been playing Combat paralysis to include all forms of combat, Meat, Astral and Matrix.

[Abbandon]

wow 75k for hacking programs.
I was going to take like 5 agents but what the hell for? It doesnt seem like I would be able to arm them all with programs unless i crack them.
Drones... I wanted to have an iBall for upskirt shots but it would probably get stepped on lol.

Oh what hacking skill should a hacker get +4 to? Exploit, attack, spoof? I am thinking that spoof would be better than exploit, and exploit would be better than attack. Hmmm most gm's probably wont let me mess with shit without first breaking into a node will they?? Hmmm I think I will switch to exploit.

I will update the second spoiler with the stuff i got but its still not finished...

Hmmmm I have 10bp to spend somewhere other than BP. If I can shave 5bp out of my Gear section i could get rid of my phobia. Or I could keep the phobia, and get another point of edge. I know if I have that phobia every other system/node i goto will have a waterworld theme lol. Which is cool because thats one of my favorite movies but it wont do Bile any good.

I want some soft/hardware shops, a shop for repairing drones, an activesoft for mechanic(drones) thats another 9k, I'd like to know how I can trick out my car, And I'm having a hard time figuring out what to use a drone for. Hackers can go in so many directions..

[Fortune]

Oh what hacking skill should a hacker get +4 to? Exploit, attack, spoof?

Stealth!

[masterofm]

You can probably drop your Str by 1, change your vehicle to a motorcycle (it's good to be fast,) try and free up some BP for gee... a pistol or at least some kind of weapon and an active-soft for it? A lot of people who walk around in a SR party w/o a gun is hurting in a firefight. Also if your a hacker look into some of the drugs you can score that can boost your stats for a bit. Get a few low level SIN's (more then one is always nice in a tight pinch,) and a few throw away trash comlinks never hurt. Also look into some of the low cost items you can get as having a welding torch or a bar of thermite. Also you will need a toolkit or a shop if you plan to do any kind of repairs or make parts with your group skill in electronics.

[Cthulhudreams]

I'm not sure wired reflexes 2 is particularly useful, unless you are planning to be an AR hacker rather than a VR.

Also, there is some dispute about whether you need to buy the 'rigger adaptation' for the vehicles in the book - and the consensus is you don't, they already have it.

[KCKitsune]

I'm not sure wired reflexes 2 is particularly useful, unless you are planning to be an AR hacker rather than a VR.

Also, there is some dispute about whether you need to buy the 'rigger adaptation' for the vehicles in the book - and the consensus is you don't, they already have it.

Actually... if this character wasn't fat, then Wired Reflexes 2 would fit in as a "Combat Hacker". The Combat Hacker can hack in AR and can also keep up with the Sammies. If I could afford the essence I would have put a Synaptic Booster 2 on my Combat Mage... as is I do have a Booster 1 (and level 3 cybereyes) on him.

[Cthulhudreams]

Err.. yeah, I see that character as an AR hacker, who wred 2 is grate (sic) for. Even if he isn't, Wired 1, I can totally see, for 11k its cheap and sexy, the bonus IP is totally worth it. Wired 2 with the bigger essence hit and more moneys? Not so much. Especially if your strapped for cash for other things.

[BlackHat]

I thought I found one or two things worth pointing out, but at second glance, they're fine. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) It looks like a pretty solid hacker, given the concept you already had in mind.
I would probably suggest getting a cheap satellite link (the extra signal comes in handy sometimes) or getting a signal relay (arsenal) for your drone or car (much more expensive, but more than doubles your signal range) - or both. I think your question about a sim-module is spot-on, but I don't see one (as cyberware or commlink accessory) anywhere on your sheet.

[Kyoto Kid]

wow 75k for hacking programs.

...yep pretty spendy. I dropped the same on on Violet's programmes.

The one bad part of Infirm (unless your GM houserules differently) is that Perception is grouped in Physical skills, so the BP cost (by the book) would actually be 16 for rating 2 and x 2 Karma to raise it after chargen. A good route to go is (if he can shuffle some (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) around would be to lower the skill to 1 and get an attention Coprocessor 3. this adds 3 dice to Perception tests so he would have 9 dice in his meat perception pool. Matrix perception is based off (I believe) your Analyze programme and Electronics skill.

I would agree dropping the Wired Reflexes to 1 would not hurt the character.

For little more (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) (I think 3,000) you can also get a Skillwire Expert System. This allows you to use Edge with skillsofts to re-roll failures.

I would also look at getting a "decoy" commlink for general use and crack his general use programmes to it.

Oh and for gear, and be sure to get:

Medkit rating 6. (with a First Aid of 1 you can only heal one box of damage).
Electronics tool kit (at the very least).

...more later.

[BlackHat]

I would also look at getting a "decoy" commlink for general use and crack his general use programmes to it.

If you are going to get a decoy commlink, I would have the ACTUAL versions of your general use programs on that, and put the cracked copies on your already highly questionable hacker-commlink. Shouldn't ever really matter, but on the off chance Lone Star is sifting through the commlink you hand over to them looking for anything they can use against you, there's no need to have programs with the DRM and copyright code hacked up laying around on it.

[Abbandon]

-Good catch on perception. I knew being fat would affect that so i think i just screwed up the math in my head. I dropped it to rating 1 cuz i really have plans for the other 10-15 bp if i can get it lol.

-The guy does have firearms skill in the form of activesofts. He doesnt have a gun but he can use one crappily. He would probably be to busy hacking drones or enemy pan's.

-I dont really need to reroll edge ith my skillwires stuff. Never knew you couldnt lol.

-Hmmm signal boosting items.. what would be the point?? Arent you limited to the lowest signal rating? So ..?

-3 IP's are pretty mandatory i think. Between giving commands to agents, giving commands to drones, doing his own thing, and using all his spare actions to try and prevent tracing and analyzing? Havent decided if he is going to have any hotsim abilities.

-why should I have throw away commlinks? I can just spoof my ID

-oh and I know I can't put my codeslinger +2 towards Stealth so I would only be able to make it a spec of hacking... How about +2 Stealth and +2 exploit ? That should make it easy to hack nodes?

[Kyoto Kid]

If you are going to get a decoy commlink, I would have the ACTUAL versions of your general use programs on that, and put the cracked copies on your already highly questionable hacker-commlink. Shouldn't ever really matter, but on the off chance Lone Star is sifting through the commlink you hand over to them looking for anything they can use against you, there's no need to have programs with the DRM and copyright code hacked up laying around on it.

...whoops, my bad for getting it backwards. (Violet's going to be sooo pissed)

BlackHat's comments also validate the reason for having a decoy commlink. You have it linked to one of your fake SINs, do all your routine transactions with the it, and keep your hacking commlink offline until you need it to break into a system. This way if you are questioned or need to go into an area which requires you be in active mode you look legit.

[BlackHat]

You're right about being limited to the lowest signal - but if whatever you want to hack has a high signal rating, you should too. Also, if you have a sat-link and so does the team, you can be quite a bit away from them and still helpful. Signal repeaters (from arsenal) are just that. You can be on one side of town, while your drone with the signal repeater is on the other... and whatever you're hacking doesn't need enough signal to reach you, just enough to reach the drone (which will repeat the signal back to you with its high signal rating).

Both tactics basically keep you out of harms way, which most runner teams won't appreciate... but if you're fat and useless/paralyzed in combat, you're probably more useful to them running overwatch than falling down the stairs because you're "unaware" in your athletics skills and someone spilled some water nearby. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Abbandon]

Haha no i plan on making whoever rolls with me drag my fat ass around on the missions. Dont plan on hacking from afar to often. Yeah this is psychological. If my team buys ME the signal repeaters and sat links so they dont have to drag me around then how can they possably get mad at me for never being there lol.

[Kyoto Kid]

...ah, instead of the car get the powered wheelchair or better yet that, walker mobility chair & call him Mojo (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[masterofm]

Throwaway comlinks say you are Joe Nobody when or if someone else ever hardwire scans your SR character. If a devise does not transmit a wireless signal you can't really spoof, but if you are basically a dwarf who can't move me thinks your character is already very, very noticeable. Not having a gun does not make sense why you character would start out with skill softs you can't even use. It just fits better for the character if you shell out like 500 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) for a junk pistol. If you are making a hacker there just needs to be that extra "that makes sense" to what you have already created.

For a hacker if you don't plan on doing a lot of physical combat having 3 IP's is not needed. Hotsim gives all dice rolls a +2 and you get 3 IP's anyways (which will allow you to deal with drones, EW, hacking, ect.) It just seems that if you are going to have your character be dragged around by the party and have them buy all these things for your character... I don't know I just feel that it would take a lot of fun out of the game for the other people playing. Already hacking is this completely different combat and takes away from the game that having a hacker who slows a party down.... I don't know I just feel like if someone brought that character to the table I would politely ask them to create another character.

[Kyoto Kid]

...that is part of the reason I gave my Matrix Specialist Violet other skillsets (and the appropriate gear to go with them). In particular she also makes a very good B & E, technical, and security system specialist. She also has a fair amount of Corporate Savvy as well.

With her genetically and bioware modified Logic, she can perform a number of tech skills admirably even when defaulting.

Unfortunately she kind of deals with the opposite situation form what masterofm mentions in the second paragraph above, in that the team she is with seems to want her just for her Matrix skills and nothing else.

[Abbandon]

Doesnt sound like I would like to be in one of your games anyways Master.

[Abbandon]

Ok check him out. I think im finished.

[Ryu]

You should buy Cracking group 4, then skill rank 5 for Hacking and Cybercombat (legit according to the FAQ but amongst those things not properly re-stated in the rules). That would save 8 BP. If that does not fly with your GM, you are still better of buying Cracking 4 and spending 16 BP elsewhere.

And you would HATE your phobia in my game, larger bodies of water are somewhat common.

[Kyoto Kid]

Doesnt sound like I would like to be in one of your games anyways Master.

...yeah feel like she's being treated more like a character "class" than an SR4 archetype. At least my current GM doesn't always throw awakened (or worse!) threats at us like the last one did as we are primarily a bunch of mundanes with only one mage who occasionally shows up.

The final draft looks good now that his gear is fleshed out. Yeah Gunnery is good if you're going to use drones however, specialising the skill in Automatics or Heavy Weapons would give him a wider range or weapons he could use on his drones (burst fire or grenade firing drones are always nice to have). The Combat wounds Specialisation to First Aid goes without saying. This gives him a base First aid pool of 16 (Matrix Specialists can make good medics). As long as he's somewhere like Seattle or Chicago, the phobia works and does fit with his Infirm quality.

Eventually he will want to work up to a better vehicle like a van (for drones) but that gives him something to shoot for.

I do like his Matrix "theme". Vi's was a Looney Toons/Warner Bros. universe. She even took interest knowledge in old WB cartoons to back it up.

Speaking of Knowledge skills what happened to his? I do not see them listed.

Overall, good character. Based on the questions/responses you have been fielding about matrix/commlink ops I think you should do pretty well with him.

[Abbandon]

Ooops good catch.. will work on his knowledge skills now. Yeah I dont know which way to go with his gunnery spec. I am trying to guess what kind of opposition he will be running into first. I guess lmg's would be most common?

I would have LOVED to have had a socrched quality with a resulting phobia but I dont really want the penalty to black ic, and i really dont want to take even more bad qualities to bring it back up to 35..

But I imagine his phobia will be pretty pervasive and GM's will use watery themes for all their matrix environments lol. I can see my guy having to goto a shrink to work out his issues lol eventually. Poor guy....

@Ryu i'd rather take a hit to my BP and be legit than to do something rules questionable like buying and then breaking skillgroups. Once he is accepted then I can ask a GM what their preference is. If they dont allow it then atleast im good to go. If i built him around that extra 16BP or whatever then it would take awhile to figure out what to cut and what to reduce in rating to get him back in the game lol.

So I build legit and let the GM give me any freebies they want on a GM to GM basis. Hmmm I'd probably dumb like 6 into contacts and raise something else up to 2 and spec something for 10 lol. I really dont like that he has no contacts but i dont see anywhere i can shave.

[masterofm]

I believe that drones count under industrial mechanics if I'm not mistaken. Drones are costly and time consuming and a drain on the (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) if you are only going to have one or two as the autosofts are pretty pricey if you want to have your drone fully functional.

@ Kyoto Kid - you know it all just depends from GM to GM on how hard they want to hit you. I mean in the second mission our team took on a delta ware cyberzombie and powerful spirit. If you want a flavor character then thats perfectly fine, but that makes it all the more vital that the sheet should match the story which is why I was nit picking on a lot of the fairly trivial details.

@ Abbandon - I think it would really help to know if you are creating a pink mohawk character or not, and how invested are you in the story and/or the character sheet.