Combathacker/Face, How viable is this concept? Options

[Yerameyahu]

Ah, thanks Ascalaphus.

[Ascalaphus]

One option you have is to drop the Face aspect. Maybe the mage will pick up a Charisma tradition and deal with the Face work.


That leaves you free to become a badass rigger/hacker: attack drones and the hacking skills to make sure you're stealing their drones, not the other way around.

You don't have to have extensive physical fighting skills, because you can delegate that to the drones. But you can still have a big impact on combat.

[Ryu]

Hello all,
a new game of SR is coming up in the next couple of weeks, and I'm currently pondering different character concepts. Right now, it's a toss up between a Missile Mastery Adept (whom I can build easily enough) and a Combathacker/Rigger. Both characters would also go the face route.

Now, how do I build a proper Combathacker/Rigger? The following house-rules are in place:

• 750 Karmagen
• Attributes are <new value>*3
• WR/MbW are slightly cheaper on the essence
• the optional hacking with attributes rule is in place (hits capped a Logic)
• skills on skill groups can be specialized without breaking the group
• AR only gets 1 IP
• Free Contacts (Cha*2) and knowledge skills ((Int+Log)*3) house rules

Given your attribute scores, I´d take a suprathyroid gland and muscle toner 2. Agility 7(10) is "acceptable", investing into Charisma 7 instead nets you 3 karma and improves the faces aspect. I´d use them to shift a point from Edge to Logic to allow for more hits on hacking tests. You´d gain both Contacts (2 points) and 3 knowledge skill points.

Given your current dicepools I´d handle the matrix via a mook, so no Cracking group needed. The points would go to a solid Gunnery skill. Given the Hamburg background I´d buy Diving skil instead of the Gymnastics upgrade and improve Pilot Watercraft at the cost of Pilot groundcraft. I´d like to see your list of knowledge skills.

[longbowrocks]

You said CombatHacker/face, but as a few people have pointed out, your spread is broad.
I'm new at this, but I see:

• Street Samurai
• Hacker
• Rigger
• Face

and then a lot of extra BP sinks:

• bought athletics as a group, then bought gymnastics separately to take it only 2 points further.
• stealth skills
• infiltration
• you spread your skills so much that you're still in "I shouldn't roll this because I'll crit glitch and knock my teeth out" territory for a lot of them.
• you took firearms as a group up to 2, then bought 2 points In. Every. Skill. In. Firearms. Just so you could specialize in them. I have no words.

That's the short list. I guess you could try being a reliable mage too at this point. It won't hurt.

Try not to take offense. Sometimes I find cutting humor irresistible. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/spin.gif)

[Elfenlied]

Thanks for the feedback so far, guys. Guess it's back to the drafting board for now. Will post the new sheet soon.

and then a lot of extra BP sinks:

• bought athletics as a group, then bought gymnastics separately to take it only 2 points further.
• stealth skills
• infiltration
• you spread your skills so much that you're still in "I shouldn't roll this because I'll crit glitch and knock my teeth out" territory for a lot of them.
• you took firearms as a group up to 2, then bought 2 points In. Every. Skill. In. Firearms. Just so you could specialize in them. I have no words.

No offense taken, but thought I should clarify: I bougth the respective groups, then specialized in it (in case of firearms). I didn't buy it separately. Same with Athletics; I bought it at 2, then raised Gymnastics to 4.

[Elfenlied]

Alright, here's Version 2 of the sheet:
Attributes:
Body 4
Agility 6((IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)
Reaction 5(7)
Strength 4
Charisma 7
Intuition 5
Logic 4(6)
Willpower 4
Edge 4

Ware:
Wired Reflexes II
Muscle Toner 2
Control Rig
Math SPU
Internal Air Tank (Somehow, I think I'm gonna need this in Hamburg)
Cerebral Booster 2

Qualities:
Elf
More than Metahuman
Biocompatibility (Cyberware)

Addiction(mild): Novacoke
Compulsive(mild): Prejudiced vs Orks
Scorched(hacker)
Signature

Skills:
Athletics (Group) 2
Diving (Scuba) 1
Cracking (Group) 4
Electronics (Group) 4
Longarms (Sniper Rifles) 4
Gunnery (Ballistic) 4
Influence (Group) 3
Pistols (Semi Automatics) 1
Infiltration (Urban) 4
Dodge (Ranged) 4
Perception (Vision) 4
Pilot Aircraft (Rotorcraft) 2
Pilot Ground Craft (Wheeled) 2
Pilot Water Craft 2

Comlink: Fairlight Caliban (System 6, Firewall 6)
All Common Programs 6
Armor 6
Attack 6
Biofeedbackfilter 6
Decrypt 6
Defuse 6
Disarm 6
Exploit 6
Medic 6
Sniffer 6
Spoof 6
Stealth 6
Track 6
ECCM 6

Assuming I spent all remaining Karma on Cash, I'd be left with 60.500 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) . Now, how do I get the most mileage out of that one? I intend to spoof the lifestyle, but I still need all the standard gear (SINs, armor, a couple of guns, and drones). I was thinking about going with a Ford LEBD as my primary combat drone, and a MCT Flyspy for surveillance.

[longbowrocks]

No offense taken, but thought I should clarify: I bougth the respective groups, then specialized in it (in case of firearms). I didn't buy it separately.

I don't think you can specialize in group skills.

Same with Athletics; I bought it at 2, then raised Gymnastics to 4.

That sounds like a neat idea, but is it legal? I can see this making a gray area with the "no specializing in group skills" rule.

[Elfenlied]

It's one of the house rules. And new sheet is up!

[longbowrocks]

I´d take a suprathyroid gland and muscle toner 2.

Oh my god want. I decided a while ago that those didn't stack since the book says for almost every 'ware enhancement that "This this does not stack with any/almost any other enhancement to attribute X", then goes on to explicitly state the exceptions. I really want them to stack though. Could I hear your reasoning?

[longbowrocks]

Your new character sheet is a lot better. You're still holding out on pistols though. Is that so you don't need to default? On the other hand, taking one point in a skill and then specializing is mathematically the most efficient approach if you only expect to use the skill when your specialization would apply (which makes this a nice choice for someone like you who's multiclassing).

[Elfenlied]

Well, the Pistols (Semi-Automatics) 1 is only there for those few occassions where I need to carry a discreet, silenced weapon. For actual combat, there's drones, and for meatspace, I plan on packing an Ares Desert Strike or an Enfield Shotgun.

[longbowrocks]

Sounds good either way.

[Mäx]

I was thinking about going with a Ford LEBD as my primary combat drone

If you have access to This old drone, you migh want to consider getting Lone Star Strato-9 instead, it might be obsolete but that baby has a reinforced weapon mount (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif) .

[longbowrocks]

has a reinforced weapon mount (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif) .

Giggity.

[Ascalaphus]

Looks pretty good for the most part. I'd move one more point from Strength to Logic though. Strength isn't very useful, and raising Logic later would be expensive.

[Mäx]

Looks pretty good for the most part. I'd move one more point from Strength to Logic though. Strength isn't very useful, and raising Logic later would be expensive.

IIRc, he's using karmagen, he cant just move a point from strength to logic as the fith point of logic is more expencive then the fourth point of strength.

[Ascalaphus]

IIRc, he's using karmagen, he cant just move a point from strength to logic as the fith point of logic is more expencive then the fourth point of strength.

Oh, right. Even then I'd lose the point of Strength. This is the twenty-first century, strength is obsolete.

[Ryu]

Oh my god want. I decided a while ago that those didn't stack since the book says for almost every 'ware enhancement that "This this does not stack with any/almost any other enhancement to attribute X", then goes on to explicitly state the exceptions. I really want them to stack though. Could I hear your reasoning?

Yes. It is not forbidden (ingame logic), and it should work (RL logic). More energy for better muscles.

[Elfenlied]

Alright, here's the vehicle/drone loadout so far:
1x Rover 2068 with Armor 20, Morphing License plate and Gridlink Override
1x MCT FlySpy with Chameleon Coating, Ultrawidebandradar and Sensor 6, Covert Ops 6
1x Ford LEBD-1 (unfortunately, no Strato-9 for me) with Chameleon Coating, Targeting 4, Maneuver 4, Clearsight 4, Covert Ops 6, Sensor 6

What do you think? Anything I should modify? Do I need more drones at chargen?

Also, I'm considering dropping Pistols and Longarms in favor of Automatics, since they seem really versatile. Is this reasonable? Also, the drone weapon loadout is an Ares Alpha with GV III.

[Ascalaphus]

1) I thought Autosofts only went up to rating 4?
2) Do the drones have the required Device rating to run those autosofts at their full rating?

Also, since you said you were playing in Hamburg, I'd get at least one underwater drone (if such a thing exists; if not, Mod one for it). And emphasize flying drones over ground drones.

Have a talk with your GM about whether you can buy an autosoft once and then load it onto all drones. I think you probably can, which makes them a pretty sweet investment.

I personally like the Bust-a-Move toy drone. It's still a Rating 3 Device for only 350 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) , which makes it cheap enough for throwaway jobs, like carrying a grenade somewhere. Or you can send them as a "get well" present to someone, and then in the middle of the night have it assassinate/open the doors from within. Autosofts are nice if you can re-use them on the next BoM doll when the first one gets killed.

[Elfenlied]

You're right, Covert Ops 6 is bogus. Gonna fix that, it'll save some bucks, which I'll use to upgrade the device rating.

As for autosofts, I'm already assuming that you can copy them onto other drones. If not, I'll need to cut some additional costs...

I think I'll buy a couple of Bust-a-moves, they seem cheap enough.

[KarmaInferno]

Don't forget spoof chips.

Microwave or laser links for intra-vehicle comms is nifty for those times you need to be stealthy. It sucks when sneaking in and your radio signals blow your cover.




-k