Headshot! Killing Spree!, A viable assassin ? Options

[Nyost Akasuke]

Since I'm a chargen junkie, I've decided I want to create an ''assassin'' archetype character. Y'know, all that stealth and lethality goodness.

But I was thinking, a straight-up assassin in the conventional RPG sense would really only be good at two things... infiltration and.. well, killing. I can imagine several runs where an assassin would be less than useful unless things started going south and lethality became a requirement to completing the objective (or survival).

So I was wondering.. what would be a good way to create an ''assassin'' type character, still capable of all his mysterious, death-bringing goodness, but have him be a little bit more versatile? I thought maybe Hacking could work, or maybe a Mystic Adept with support-type spells?

Personally, I'm quite clueless on the matter, or rather.. I don't know what to start with. I need a concept, and then an efficient way to make real that concept.

Any thoughts?

Sorry if my Search-Fu was weak.

[Udoshi]

A social-assassin works rather well, especially if you're an adept.
Don't need to worry about smuggling weapons if you've got killing hands good unarmed combat skills, and some unarmed.
Then again, mystic adept and one good combat spells can work too.

Some amount of hacking and breaking and entering skills may be in order, if you plan on getting inside people's security. Be wary of spreading yourself too thin.


First up, ask yourself an important question: Cyberware(well, probably bioware) or magic?

[Nyost Akasuke]

Is there any advantages to magic regarding the hacking area over cyberware? I know I've heard of some sort of Adept making for a pretty decent hacker, and I know how well they can be used for social.

So.. haven't quite decided on that yet... there's quite a few adept powers I like, but also some bioware as well. Maybe I could just do a little bit of both?

[Udoshi]

Adept with a point of ware is rather potent.

The advantage to going cybersammy is you can load up on the stuff. The disadvantage is a cyberware scanner will ruin your day. A biosam is far stealthier, and easier on the essence, but is rather expensive. A lot of the good stuff's bioware.

Adepts have a few problems with speading themselves thin. Getting the last point of magic is 25bp, which is really expensive. You CAN multitask with adept power, but, sadly, combat powers tend to be the most expensive ones for adepts. You may want to look into geas linked powers to make everything cheaper.

I have a mystic adept combat hacker over here, that you may want to look at, see if any inspiring ideas hit.

Basically, for adept hacking, you can get skills of 9 fairly easily and cheaply. Social adepts are also awesome. Ware can help out with a few dice on almost anything, whether its from pushed, negating combat penalties with cybereyes, or making people pliable with tailored pheromones. The downside to an adept with ware is you really need to pick and choose your bonuses, because it comes with an opportunity cost of your other powers.

For alternate unarmed, there's a nice nerve strike/martial arts/disorient/finishing move combination that actually kicks a lot of ass.
You could do throwing. Archery. Gunslingers can kick a lot of ass.

I don't think you're going to be able to cover all 3 bases. You likely don't need any adept powers for hacking stuff, just a handful(really, nuyen's cheap at creation) of build points for the right programs and a decent commlink.

Which race are your currently favoring? Any cool concepts you'd like to share? Having some sort of feedback helps the creative process.

[Stahlseele]

If you are good at stealth, you are also good at stealing and smuggeling stuff.
If you are good at killing, you are probably also good at poisoning nonlethally and sabotaging stuff.

[zeborazor]

If you are good at stealth, you are also good at stealing and smuggeling stuff.
If you are good at killing, you are probably also good at poisoning nonlethally and sabotaging stuff.

The silver-lining around the horribly dark rain cloud.

[Nyost Akasuke]

I'm not sure exactly which way I wanna go yet, whether social or hacking. I like hacking but I've always wanted to be a face.. so it's sort of a dilemma I guess, lol.

No race in particular in mind. I have a disease that causes me to always lean towards Elves or Orks when I chargen, I don't know why.. they're both just appealing. The problem is that I have no real concept in mind yet.. just that I want an ''assassin'' type. So far, my experience with chargen has been mages and hackers.. neither of which necessarily built to kill other people, especially unnoticed. so I just have no idea where to begin.

I have to head out to work, I'll read your build when I get the chance.

[darthmord]

I had built an Elf Mystic Adept that was modelled around Agent 47 (Hitman) & Assassin's Creed. Turned out decently well under the BP system. Really shined under Karmagen (with erratta) when I statted him out for that system. I'd have to go digging for my notes though. Only got to play him for two sessions before the group broke up.

[WyldKnight]

I didn't see any karmagen errata. Could you link it to me please and thank you?

[Ryu]

I'm not sure exactly which way I wanna go yet, whether social or hacking. I like hacking but I've always wanted to be a face.. so it's sort of a dilemma I guess, lol.

No race in particular in mind. I have a disease that causes me to always lean towards Elves or Orks when I chargen, I don't know why.. they're both just appealing. The problem is that I have no real concept in mind yet.. just that I want an ''assassin'' type. So far, my experience with chargen has been mages and hackers.. neither of which necessarily built to kill other people, especially unnoticed. so I just have no idea where to begin.

I have to head out to work, I'll read your build when I get the chance.

If you can use karmagen, a Charisma-based TM can make for a very effective face/hacker. High Charisma comes with many sprites, better fading resistance, and higher social pools. As an Assassin the character can later use an Echo to pull targets into the matrix via touch and kill them with Black Hammer.

[Nyost Akasuke]

A Technomancer-based Assassin is a neat idea.. but in all honesty, I'm used to the BP system and haven't even read up on how Karmagen works. Would that still be feasible in BP? I know you can't get any echoes straight out of Chargen, but perhaps later on down the road? The idea of sneaking up behind someone, grabbing them, and frying their brain is appealing.

[Udoshi]

I didn't see any karmagen errata. Could you link it to me please and thank you?

They haven't released it, but it exists.
Basically when hardy took over and the line developers changed, all the errata that was already made, but not released, was put on hold for some god-awful reason.

There's been a few threads here and there where the authors and writers of the books themselves have come forth to post corrections on dumpshock.
the one for karmagen is here
Another one here

Basically, you use Anniversary Edition's costs for attributes, and pay for your race, and its actually well-balanced.

[Udoshi]

Elves with Charisma Traditions or Streams have great synergy when trying to combine two roles, like face and hacking. Orks have -great- attributs for their cost, but the hit on some mental stats can hurt if you're trying to get good fading/drain resist rolls. You can work around this to some extend by choosing a stream/tradition you aren't penalized on.

Technomancers are perhaps the one class thats slightly more beneficial to make in BP-gen. Here's why:
You need 8-10 complex forms to function well on the matrix. In BPgen, CF's are 1 point per rank. In karmagen, they're 1xrating per rank.

Since you're interested in making a TM, i'll list the basics, and why you needthem. I haven't listed Encrypt, because you can't encrypt your bionode, but it IS good.(i think it can still do signals encryption through it, tho)
Analyze. Perception checks are SUPER important, and being able to tell what the firewall of the thing you're interested in hacking is, before you hack it, is great.
Browse: For finding data
Edit: For altering data. Like the stuff that keeps you from being caught.
Scan: Can't hack secret wi-fi if you can't find hidden nodes. (the threshold 4 is a bitch sometimes)
Stealth: Helps you from being percieved, analyzed, traced, or generally caught.
Decrypt: Need it if you want to break into anything secure. (in a world where encrypt 1 is 50 nuyen, you at least -need- it.)
Shield: Screw armor. Shield is flat-out better. They DO stack, however, if you find a lot of Attack programs aimed at you.
Some sort of combat program. I'm a fan of Attack, because it works against anything. Other combat programs like Blackout and Nuke don't work on certain target types. Blackout is all around versatile, though, and pretty important to have if you're planning on brainwashing people(see below)
ECCM: Technomancers are incredibly vulnerable to jamming (Signal=half resonance). Of course, you could just buy a decent signal chip for a commlink and use that.
Exploit: If you want to hack anything, get this.
Spoof: Not strictly necessary, as it has some overlap with Exploit's functionality, but you do need it for a few important things, like redirecting traces.
Defuse: Databombs WILL kill you as a technomancer. So you want to be able to remove them when you find them. Actually spotting them is a perception test.

Now, the good news is.... you don't need to have ALL of those. Some CF's are better left to Sprites.(track, sniffer, perhaps even decrypt or defuse), and the rest you can whip up - or improve - with Threading.

So, lets say you've decided to start with 10 complex forms at rating 5. Thats 50bp. (0.125 of total)
In karmagen, its 2 for the first, 2 for the second, 3 for third, etc.. 16 each for rating 5, or 160 karma (.213 of total)
It gets worse if you want to start with rating 6 CF's. Basically, they're an amazing deal in BP-gen. In karmagen, everything else tends to be cheaper, like attributes, so your skills, Resonance, Logic(and other living avatar stats) are cheaper, but you pay for it in CF's. Overall, it works out to be about the same, but can slide a bit either way depending on how you're building your character.

Since you're interested in brainbending shenanigans, check out the Psychotropic program option on unwired 115 - then realize you can use Threading to make any of them up on the fly. With enough compulsions, you can manipulate people into doing stuff for you, which is what faces are all about.

I've been considering making a technomancer face as an experiment in character generation. One of the neat things i've discovered is using Intuitive Hacking to get access to Resonant Conditioning, a technocritter power on RC 217. It basically works like an Influence spell, as long as people are online. Because faces are all about manipulating people, it seemed fitting.

[V-Origin]

A Technomancer-based Assassin is a neat idea.. but in all honesty, I'm used to the BP system and haven't even read up on how Karmagen works. Would that still be feasible in BP? I know you can't get any echoes straight out of Chargen, but perhaps later on down the road? The idea of sneaking up behind someone, grabbing them, and frying their brain is appealing.

Hahaha .. damn it .. you are good ...

[Ryu]

A Technomancer-based Assassin is a neat idea.. but in all honesty, I'm used to the BP system and haven't even read up on how Karmagen works. Would that still be feasible in BP? I know you can't get any echoes straight out of Chargen, but perhaps later on down the road? The idea of sneaking up behind someone, grabbing them, and frying their brain is appealing.

Not really, no. Being a competent TM will eat most of your BP; the leftovers will not allow for the fallback skillset I´d want to see on an assassin.