Character build help: covert ops/infiltrator Options

[TallMan]

This is an attempt to build an effective infiltrator/covert ops specialist. I put the character together using karmagen and SR4A rules, as well as the most recent version (as of this writing) of DamienKnight's character generator spreadsheet. I think the math is right; I'm looking mainly for 1) rules issues I may have overlooked in building the character, 2) advice regarding the character's effectiveness, and 3) any ideas for improvements. Everything from the various books are allowed, but there are some idiosyncratic house rules that I'll discuss if it comes up.

I was aiming for a character capable of sneaking into a building or facility and escaping while remaining unseen, but with the ability to take care of herself if things go pear-shaped. She's opposed to killing except in self-defense, and as such prefers less-lethal weapons. If killing becomes necessary, she can use a monofilament whip or an assortment of pistols to eliminate threats. She's also got decent Edge to prevent glitches with the whip and to get her out of jams. I think she turned out pretty well; if my math is right, she'll typically roll 15 dice for Infiltration tests in urban environments, and her jumpsuit imposes a -4 penalty on attempts to see her. She's capable of talking her way out of bad situations, though she's not going to replace a dedicated social character. In combat, she rolls 13 dice with her pistols and 15 with her taser, which is, I think, respectable. She rolls 13 dice with her monofilament whip as well (in fact she'll typically get 14 or 15 dice thanks to reach), which should make glitches fairly rare (~1/280000 rolls if my math is right).

Zephyr
Race: Human
Attributes:
Bod 4
Agi 5/7
Rea 5/9
Str 3
Cha 4
Int 3
Log 3
Wil 2
Edg 5

Essence: 1.12
Initiative: 12
Initiative Passes: 3
Physical Damage Track: 10
Stun Damage Track: 9
Armor: 10/8 (FFBA, jumpsuit, forearm guards) or 9/5 (Actioneer clothes, FFBA, forearm guards)

Active Skills:
Combat Skills:
Exotic Melee Weapon (monofilament whip) 5
Exotic Ranged Weapon (dart pistol) 4
Pistols 4 (Specialization: Tasers)

Physical Skills:
Climbing 3 (Specialization: Assisted Climbing)
Disguise 4
Escape Artist 1
Gymnastics 3
Infiltration 5 (Specialization: Urban)
Palming 3
Perception 2
Running 1
Shadowing 2
Swimming 1

Social Skills:
Con 4 (Specialization: Fast Talk)
Etiquette 1 (Specialization: Corporate)
Negotiation 1

Technical Skills:
Computer 2
Data Search 1
Hardware 2 (Specialization: Maglocks)
Locksmith 1

Vehicle Skills:
Pilot Ground Craft 1 (Specialization: Monocycles)

Knowledge Skills:
Security Procedures 4
Security Design 2
Security Companies 2
Safehouses 2

Language Skills:
English N

Qualities:
Black Market Pipeline (wares)
Restricted Gear (move-by-wire)
Incompetent (First Aid)
Implant-Induced Immune Deficiency
Nano Intolerance
Pacifist (lesser version)
Enemy (rival infiltrator; Incidence 4/Connection 1)
Vendetta

Gear and Lifestyle (245,000Y):
2 mos. custom lifestyle (basement apartment; C2/E2/Nec2/Nei2/S3; Negative Qualities: Green Plan, Network Bottleneck, 1700/mo)
Hermes Ikon with Modified Novatech Navi OS (R4/Sig3/F5/Sys4) and AR gloves, sim module, trodes, skinlink, subvocal microphone (Programs: Analyze 3, Browse 3, Command 3, Edit 3, Encrypt 3, Purge 3, Scan 3)
1 year Docwagon Basic contract
Fake SIN, rating 4
2 fake SINs, rating 2
10 fake licenses, rating 4 (2 each for smartlink, jumpsuit, dart pistol, warhawk)
Knight-Errant Self Defense Skillsoft Cluster
Linguasofts: Japanese 4, Spanish 4, Cantonese 4
Autopicker, rating 6
Cellular glove molder, rating 3
Keycard copier, rating 6
Maglock passkey, rating 4
Sequencer, rating 4
Wire clippers
Miniwelder
3 small nanopaste disguises
1 large nanopaste disguise
2 expendable jammers, rating 4
Goggles, rating 4 w/ vision enhancement 3, vision magnification
Fingernail data storage chip
Tag eraser
Endoscope
4 concealable holsters
20 plastic restraints

Weapons:
Monofilament whip w/ personalized grip
Shock gloves
Modified Defiance EX shocker w/ smartlink, skinlink, personalized grip
Modified Parashield dart pistol w/ smartlink, skinlink, personalized grip
Modified Raecor Sting smartlink, skinlink, silencer
Modified Ruger Super Warhawk w/ smartlink, skinlink
Flash-pak
Grenades, 5 each (flash-bang, smoke, CS/tear gas)

Ammunition:
40 taser darts
25 injection darts w/ Narcoject
60 gel rounds
60 regular rounds
30 EX-explosive rounds
50 flechette rounds

Armor:
Urban Explorer jumpsuit w/ ruthenium polymer coating
Form-Fitting Body Armor, half-suit, w/ nonconductivity 3 and thermal dampening 3
Forearm Guards
Actioneer Business Clothes

Cyberware:
Move-by-wire, rating 2
Attention coprocessor, rating 1
Orientation system
Fingertip compartment (contains monofilament whip)
Radar sensor 3
Datajack
Cybereyes, rating 2, w/ flare compensation, low-light vision, smartlink, thermographic vision
Cyberears, rating 1, w/ ultrasound sensor, damper, increased sensitivity

Bioware:
Gecko hands
Muscle toner 2
Reflex recorder (Stealth group)
Vocal range enhancer

Vehicles:
Entertainment Systems Cyclops Monocycle w/ Pilot 2, smart tire

Contacts:
Mr. Johnson (Loyalty 2/Connection 5)
Security Consultant (Loyalty 3/Connection 2)

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

I think you have a typo...

An Ettiquette Skill with an Etiquette Specialty?

Otherwise, I think the build will work myself...

Keep the Faith

[Glyph]

Decent dice pools. I think you could save 26 Karma if you got the athletics: 3 and stealth: 4 skill groups. Also, I think the dart gun skill is pretty redundant when a regular pistol can get capsule rounds.

Not sure how tight your points/resources are, but using restricted gear to raise muscle toner to 4, and getting synthcardium: 3 would both be pretty useful in your main areas. Also, I would try to scrounge a few thousand more to get the attention coprocessor at 3, not 1.

[Udoshi]

Ew! Gecko hands! Yes! lets climb all over this building we're sneaking into, leaving our fingerprints everywhere. Use gecko grip gloves instead.
Grab the Traceless negative quality. Its in a sidebar for mysterious implants in runner's companion, if you must.
Ditch your commlink, build from scratch. Cheaper. Use a Meta Link if your gm is being a dick about the +2 stat upgrade (for -vehicles-. Seriously. Modular Electronics is only a vehicle mod. that's lame.). Should save you some cash.
Mod your Datajack with a skinlink instead.
External Smartlinks will, usually, save you money over internal mods. They're only 400!
See if you can squeeze in the Catlike quality, from the RC. It benefits your Infiltration and Shadowing skills, but more importantly uses the Modified Skill ratings, which means its can boost some groups above 4, or a maxed skill above 6.
Why do you have two cybereyes? Wouldn't a rating 4 do that, better?
You have grenades, but don't have the Throwing skill.
Get a Cyberhand. Save essence on your fingertip compartment, datajack, and orientation system.
Karmagen -should- support breaking skillgroups during generation. That spreadsheep application does have a box for it. Check with your GM to see if its kosher. If so... Buy your groups to 1! Improve the stuff you want to 2. Use the extra karma to snag more specialties.
See if your GM will let you Gecko Tip your Monocycle. Point out that medium drone, body 3(Ars 102) range from large dog to human or motorcycle sized, and that a tiny-ass monocycle is about the size of a Doberman. Seriously, that's just awesome. Ride it up walls as your extraction.
You probably want hidden arm slides for some of those guns. They're useful.

Hope that helps

[cndblank]

Nice Build.

Just a few random thoughts....

The character is not a front door person. He has too much cyberware to get past a serious security check so I would play the infiltrator part.

The only real need I'd see is having a better Perception.

Always better to see the trouble coming especially in SR where everyone is a glass cannon.

As an infiltrator you are the scout. You open the way, silence the alarms, find any problem, and let the muscle deal with it.

Also Intuition is a little low. Raising it will increase Perception and Initiative and Shadowing and Disguise. Maybe lower the strength to 2 or charisma and get some thing to boost athletics.



So really he only needs the social skills to blend in and talk his way out of or thought stuff. Etiquette is very useful to get info on a target and to blend in.

He is also damn near a street samurai so I wouldn't worry too much on the combat side especially with a 9 reaction.

Isn't a Monocycle a little distinctive?

A little Martial Arts is good even with a monofilament whip especially if you need to grab some one or slap a trank patch on them.

Besides Martial Arts, First impression and Erased on are good.

Next time you are in to the cyber doc have them remove any distinctive features.

I have one player and every five or ten sessions or so, he totally changes his appearance, IDs, and mannerisms. Mr Jones has business outside of Seattle. Mr Braun is an associate of his.


One nice trick is putting various micro sensor gear in to Tooth Storage compartments with a skin link so you can run them of your skin linked data jack. I mean if they will fit in to a Lone Star eye ball, then you can put then in various teeth. Tooth Storage compartments cost no essence and if you have your hands full it is always nice to be able to active an explosive detector/Chem sensor or be warned that the drink you are about to take a sip of has a mickey fin in it.

[Stingray]

nice build, but i would add silenced Heavy pistol,friend of mine, Adept inf/cov.ops use this:
Colt Goverment 2066 ( 1 rc,electronic firing) w/
Internal smartgun system
Internal Silencer
Skinlink
Improved Range Finder (max range 20m with no range penalties)
Barrel Extension (+20 % range, +1 concealibity)

[TallMan]

I think you have a typo...

An Ettiquette Skill with an Etiquette Specialty?

Otherwise, I think the build will work myself...

Keep the Faith

That's supposed to be a specialization in Corporate etiquette. I've fixed the post.

[TallMan]

Nice Build.

Just a few random thoughts....

The character is not a front door person. He has too much cyberware to get past a serious security check so I would play the infiltrator part.

The only real need I'd see is having a better Perception.

Always better to see the trouble coming especially in SR where everyone is a glass cannon.

As an infiltrator you are the scout. You open the way, silence the alarms, find any problem, and let the muscle deal with it.

Also Intuition is a little low. Raising it will increase Perception and Initiative and Shadowing and Disguise. Maybe lower the strength to 2 or charisma and get some thing to boost athletics.



So really he only needs the social skills to blend in and talk his way out of or thought stuff. Etiquette is very useful to get info on a target and to blend in.

He is also damn near a street samurai so I wouldn't worry too much on the combat side especially with a 9 reaction.

Isn't a Monocycle a little distinctive?

A little Martial Arts is good even with a monofilament whip especially if you need to grab some one or slap a trank patch on them.

Besides Martial Arts, First impression and Erased on are good.

Next time you are in to the cyber doc have them remove any distinctive features.

I have one player and every five or ten sessions or so, he totally changes his appearance, IDs, and mannerisms. Mr Jones has business outside of Seattle. Mr Braun is an associate of his.


One nice trick is putting various micro sensor gear in to Tooth Storage compartments with a skin link so you can run them of your skin linked data jack. I mean if they will fit in to a Lone Star eye ball, then you can put then in various teeth. Tooth Storage compartments cost no essence and if you have your hands full it is always nice to be able to active an explosive detector/Chem sensor or be warned that the drink you are about to take a sip of has a mickey fin in it.

I don't expect to send Zephyr in through the front door often, and certainly not without Matrix or magical support to block cyberware sensors. As you say, she's mainly supposed to use social skills to blend in once inside or to talk her way out of a bad situation; I think she's got enough to pull that off.

The monocycle is distinctive, but it's also small, portable, cheap, and fairly quick; with a smart wheel it's also got great handling. If the GM allows gecko tips on it, then it's even better; I'll have to see about that. It's mainly there for quick escapes; it can be stashed someplace out of the way before a run fairly easily. For day-to-day travel I imagine she'd use taxis, public transport, and her legs.

I decided to lose the dart pistol and the gecko hands in response to some of the other comments, which gives me more karma and cash to play with. I used that to get the Erased (7 days) and First Impression qualities, which should help Zephyr do her job. I also bumped the attention coprocessor up to rating 2, added synthacardium 1, and moved the orientation system and fingertip compartment into a synthetic cyberhand. I swapped her Charisma and her Intuition, which makes her a bit less effective in social situations but better at her main job as an infiltrator. In any case, First Impression should cover the loss of Charisma most of the time, since she's not likely to be seeing the same people over and over. Finally, I rearranged her skills a bit by adding some skill groups and used the extra karma to improve Hardware, her knowledge skills, and her contacts. I'd like to improve the synthacardium, and add enhanced articulation, but I'm short on points and cash so those will be in-game goals (along with improving the rest of her wares to alpha or better).

I'm also thinking about changing up her contacts a bit for flavor reasons; I'd replace the Mr. Johnson with a security director for one the AAA corps (not the head of security, but an executive in the department). Said director would still serve as a Mr. Johnson, but it's less generic. The other contact would become a forensics expert (which also helps explain why she has the Erased quality).

[kjones]

20 plastic restraints

Kinky.

[TallMan]

And before I forget, thanks to everyone for their assistance.

[X-Kalibur]

Check out the thread for the Egress, it's a handy little drone that, if your GM allows it, would make a lot of sense.

[cndblank]

Looks like a fun character.

Monocycles are cool and fun so Cool wins out.


Your forensics expert contact (nice) reminds me that having a knowledge skill on leaving no trace (no Forensic evidence) and or Staying under the radar (Leaving a data/surveillance tail) is always useful. Now your Shadowing skill would help with that.

Course much of it is going to disappear in 7 days.


Skills wires are always nice depending on how hard your GM is going to enforce the new (and ridiculous) prices on Active Skillsofts.

It is nice to pop a Parachuting skill chip or a Boating Skill chip (Hmmm skill chip... I'm showing my age).

At 1/10 price for pirated is not too bad especially if you stick to the lower level skill rating. "Oh, I'm using open source Active Skillsofts. I don't care what they say, sailing a boat has not changed in the last 10 years.'

[cndblank]

A Voice Modulator is always useful too.

[TallMan]

A Voice Modulator is always useful too.

I thought about grabbing a voice modulator, but the vocal range enhancer pretty much does the same stuff and more for less money and Essence. The main reason to get one (for an infiltrator) is to pass voice recognition systems; the voice modulator needs a secondary patterns to do that, and they're expensive and illegal. The vocal range enhancer lets you pass voice recognition systems and mimic a voice using Con. The detector

The move-by-wire includes skillwires. Parachuting is one of the skills I had in mind when I went with the MBW over wired reflexes/synaptic accelerators; it might never be useful but when you need it it's vital.

[cndblank]

MBW is nice.

The Vocal Range Enhancer is very nice but does it mask your voice?
If it doesn't then you can pick up a voice mask.


And considering what cyber she already has, what is one more illegal system?

[Udoshi]

Arsenal has external voice masks for 500. Page 57 or so. For when you really need to sound like a stormtrooper.

[TallMan]

MBW is nice.

The Vocal Range Enhancer is very nice but does it mask your voice?
If it doesn't then you can pick up a voice mask.


And considering what cyber she already has, what is one more illegal system?

The legality isn't the main draw of the VRE as opposed to the voice mask, but if I can get legal ware for less money and Essence I might as well do so. The VRE lets you mimic someone else's voice, so I can't see why it wouldn't let you mask your voice as well, but if it doesn't I'd just buy the external voice mask from Arsenal mentioned in Udoshi's post.

[cndblank]

The legality isn't the main draw of the VRE as opposed to the voice mask, but if I can get legal ware for less money and Essence I might as well do so. The VRE lets you mimic someone else's voice, so I can't see why it wouldn't let you mask your voice as well, but if it doesn't I'd just buy the external voice mask from Arsenal mentioned in Udoshi's post.

I can see that.


As a purely academic exercise...

Certainly for normal metahumans and average gear, I'd say no problem.

Someone using a very good recording of her voice....

Well as always this is a GM's call.




The VRE makes your voice a finely tuned instrument that can fool metahumans and some biometrics.

But finely tuned instruments still have a pattern.

For a voice mask or a Voice modulator, you have software driven randomness introduced to prevent a pattern or you are using a recorded voice pattern.

With Bioware, you can not make a software update or even switch between voice patterns so a Voice mask sounds like a good precaution once you move in to the big leagues.

I like how the VRE handles fooling the Biometrics. The better the Biometrics the more in to the higher and lower sound frequencies it is going to be checking. If you don't have cyberears that can do that, how can match a pattern that you are only hearing the middle range of?

[TallMan]

In this case, Zephyr has increased sensitivity for her cyberears, which lets her hear normally inaudible frequencies; the VRE expressly allows for production of sound in those frequencies as well.