Next-Level Archetypes?, Doubble/Tripple-team action! Options

[Lilt]

I was just contemplating the fact that a Decker's and a rigger's abilities could compliment eachother's well if designed together. IE: the decker runs electronic warfare for a bit, while the rigger procures the decker a link into a building via his drones, allowing the decker to focus on his decking abilities from a safe position (the Rigger's van).

I was wondering if people can think of any other teams that compliment eachother similarily. I suppose a CVops and decker could achieve similar results. Possibly the RiggerDeckerSamuraiMageAdept and a Face :)

"Who's that freak behind you?"
"Don't worry, Chimera here's with me."

[Kanada Ten]

The Adept Face is a good combo. Powers like Empathetic Sense and Increased Perception with a noticeable lack of cyberware can really help the Face, while being able to talk your way out of a gun fight (even if it just means stalling for the adept to get in close) can really help the Adept.

[Kagetenshi]

You can also have a fixed satellite dish in a van, allowing mobile untraceable decking while still being able to respond quickly if on-site intrusion is required.

~J

[The White Dwarf]

Theres a ton. In fact most good characters in terms of playability are at least 2 things in one. SR is semi-unique in that splitting up and having redundant abilites is almost never a bad thing, and frequently a good thing. Have duplicate abilites and splitting up in DnD for example, or Star Wars in some cases, makes you all sorts of useless or dead.

Most are obvious. Mage/Face due to the double duty Charisma and various spells like control thoughts or fashion. Sam/Decker due to deckings low essence and skill cost, plus this lets you do on site hacking easier. Decker/Rigger isnt one Id normally advise, as both are nuyen intensive, and require very different gear, but I suppose you could. Rigger/Sam since body helps you in crash tests, or you can go inside and tank alongside your drones.

If anyone sits down to our games theyre at least good at one thing, and a capable backup at another. Its not uncommon for at least 1 or 2 people to be good at two things. If someone isnt there that week, or gets shot up, or you split up, the team doesnt suffer at all.

[Lilt]

Hmm. I didn't quite make myself clear. I was wondering what 2-man (or 3-man, or more) teams can compliment eachother effectively. Going slightly further than that: As other archetypes are constucted hollistically to be effective (the sammie chooses his weapons, cyber, and skills together, these team archetypes could be constructed together in the same manner.

I'm not concretely sure that there are any others that work as well as a rigger and a decker, but I thought I'd throw it to the dogs group for discussion.

[Lilt]

Here's another example: A Magician+CovertOps doubble team. Magician keeps them invisible (and concealed by a spirit if he's a shaman) whilst CovertOps gets them past door locks and uses spy toys to do CvOpsy stuff.

The cvops can also look-after the magician's body when he projects (always useful to know what's around the corner) and the shaman can provide spell defense and combat awakened opponents if the need arises.

I'm pretty sure those two could be designed together to make them more effective.

[Abstruse]

Generally, the best pair-ups are ones where each side covers weaknesses for the other or where both specialize in a particular area, but have different approaches so they don't step on each other's toes.

An example of the former would be a Special Ops/Face and Street Sam team. The SO/Face sneaks or schmoozes inside, while the Street Sam takes out anything that moves once the bullets start flying.

An example of the latter (and a pair I may be soon GMing) is the Investigator/Decker team-up. Both are specialized in information gathering, but they go about it so that they can work independently or as a team without one overlapping the other. The Decker gets the paydata while the Investigator hits the streets and their contacts. The Decker inserts the false stories about a gang shooting or citation for advancement of nanotechnology sciences as the Investigator infiltrates the gang/corp/think tank/whatever.

The Abstruse One