Chaos Mage, Just wanted to make sure bases get covered Options

[McAllister]

Regiment, I don't think you should listen to the haters who say a mage can't hack. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I think what they're really saying is that if you managed to pull off a mage who COULD hack, it would break their conception of What's Possible, and that would be Bad.

You need two things to hack; nuyen, to buy programs and doodads, and BP/karma, to buy skills. You can get by with loads of nuyen (buying skillwires and keeping programs updated legally) or loads of skill (write your own programs and mod your own doodads), but the balanced approach is probably cheapest. Hell, you could get down the basics with 28 BP (Hacking 4, Computers 3) and 13,600 nuYen (Analyze 6, Exploit, and Stealth 5, Spoof and Sniffer 3, additional Common Use programs as necessary), plus your commlink/os, which even non-hackers should really keep high-tech.

You'd need to avoid cybercombat; that'd probably be the biggest difference between you and a hacker. Hell, you should probably even run cold-sim, so black IC can't nail you; you don't need the extra IP, and, what with your brain being your magical asset, you like it unburnt. Other than that caveat, you could probe your way in places, sniff yourself some juicy paydata, and delay any pursuit for long enough to get together a more serious defense. Decrypt and Defuse are nice, but it's the difference between having bolt cutters and a pickup truck for stealing a bike; either you can get the lock off the wheels on the spot, or you can take it back to your chop shop and work on the lock there.

Far as I can tell, the 10 BP for a wasted point of magic are worth it for the benefits. Remember, if you're rolling in nuYen later, you can take out you big soul-sucking budgetware implants and replace them with nearly twice as many shiny, soul-friendly betaware ones.

EDIT: I just wanted to be very clear that any reference to "haters" was in jest. I didn't mean to state or imply anything negative about anyone.

[Regiment]

LOL I agree, it would prolly torque off a few people to pull it off. I've decided to go with a more hobby-style computer build for starters, going with karma gen and 750 pts. pretty much have it down, even use 2 points of essence up in the process. Hell, if I was gonna go full bore and be broke with a crap commlink, I could even do it where I had synaptic boosters 2 in the same build, but I decided to have a more techie mage life than that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'll post for judgement and perusal later, there's a tiny gaming con in town this weekend that I'm camping... granted, that's a very loose description, since it's about 150 RPGA official sanction games and I don't play D&D at all. (ok, I'm lying, I got in a pick-up game of 2nd edition rules in a celtic setting tonight with a few other misfits that don't wanna play 4th ed D&D in a 3 day MMO binge to build my character up officially... woo!)

But after the weekend, I'll type it up and letcha see what I've done wrong and give corrections.

Thanks (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And btw, I didn't take offense to anything, I just didn't want people seeing it as a flaming/argument thread and not being even on topic to what was being talked about originally.

[Larme]

Regiment, I don't think you should listen to the haters who say a mage can't hack. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I think what they're really saying is that if you managed to pull off a mage who COULD hack, it would break their conception of What's Possible, and that would be Bad.

Everyone can "hack," all it takes is a small pile of dough for a souped up agent and a program suite. The problem is that there's a difference between "hacking" actually being a good hacker. A mage cannot afford to be a good hacker starting out, and if they devote all their karma and nuyen to hacking instead of magic, they will lag behind in power and end up being a drag on the team. The question is not whether it's possible, the question is whether it's wise. It is unwise for a mage, the one archetype with 0% spare BP left over, to take up a hobby. That's the long and the short of it.

[Mäx]

Everyone can "hack," all it takes is a small pile of dough for a souped up agent and a program suite. The problem is that there's a difference between "hacking" actually being a good hacker. A mage cannot afford to be a good hacker starting out, and if they devote all their karma and nuyen to hacking instead of magic, they will lag behind in power and end up being a drag on the team. The question is not whether it's possible, the question is whether it's wise. It is unwise for a mage, the one archetype with 0% spare BP left over, to take up a hobby. That's the long and the short of it.

He's making the character with karmagen, so he could probaply make him a good mage and a good hacker, as it gives you more room to expand a character.