1 Essence worth of betaware, I'm feeling lazy... Options

[Jason Farlander]

I'm making an NPC physad assassin, and would like to give him an essence point worth of 'ware to help round him out. I also have a headache and dont really feel like crunching numbers. If anyone would find it sufficiently amusing, I'd appreciate suggestions on what ware, exactly, to give him . Money is not a problem, and it can all be beta grade.

His list of adept powers, in case it helps:

Improved Pistols +5
Improved Stealth +6
Improved Reflexes 2
Traceless Walk
Blind Fighting

Oh... and dont worry about bioware.


This post has been edited by Jason Farlander: Jun 2 2004, 01:51 AM

[Beast of Revolut...]

Smartlink-2 would be the obvious choice. Vision magnification, or better yet cybereyes, would also help. Lastly, maybe a rating 1 dermal sheath.

[Number 6]

Smartlink is the best, it's something you can't get through Adept powers. The cybereyes, yeah thats a decent way, but the natural sight is better. Orientation Computer is ok.

Check out some Bio too. Cultured Enhanced Articulation, Platelet Factories, Cerebral Booster, Trauma Dampner, there's lots of good stuff there that straight adepts can't get.

[Jason Farlander]

I am aware of the benefits of bioware. The reason I said not to worry about it is that I have a houserule regarding bioware and the awakened, and, in the spirit of laziness, didnt feel like explaining it.

And yes, I agree that the SL2 should definitely be on the list. However, to clarify, what I am specifically looking for is a package that comes as close to 1 essence worth of betaware as possible without going over that provides the greatest overall benefit to the character. While I appreciate the suggestions that have been made so far, they are presented with a bit more vagueness than I would like.

[Siege]

Smartlink 2
Cyber eyes w/ all possible vision mods (as the adept has no sense powers currently)
*LL, Thermo, FC, Image Mag

Cyber ears
*Amplification, Damping, SSF, Echolocation, High frequency hearing
(since the adept doesn't have blind-fighting)

An orientation system w/ GPS could be potentially useful for pinging and tracking targets in the dark.

Since I'm equally lazy, I'm not going to crunch the numbers.

That will probably eat a full point of Essence on beta.

-Siege

[Jason Farlander]

I assume by Echolocation you mean Spatial Recognizer.

Also, in retrospect, I think I'll go ahead and switch out a single level of Improved Ability: Pistols for Blind Fighting.

[Number 6]

A Display Link in the eyes and a datajack also open alot of doors for an Adept.

[Siege]

Jason: Yep, sorry -- working by tired memory. Combine the spatial, high-freq and orientation system with blind fighting? :grinbig:

6: I thought about that, but the npc looks like a straight up gun slinger opponent.

-Siege

[A Rodent of Unus...]

Here's a personal favorite. Sure, you could lose the ears and go with the adept powers, but all of the mods included are a nice compliment with the Orientation System.

Cyberears (0.18 Essence)
> Dampener
> High Frequency Hearing
> Select Sound Filter 5 (Alpha to keep the price down)
> Spatial Recognizer
Cyberhand, Synthetic (0.27 Essence)
> DNI Controller
> OMC Chip: 1,000 Mp (DNI-Controlled, Built-In) (9,000 nuyen)
Datajack (0.12 Essence)
Orientation System (0.12 Essence)
Smartlink-2 System (0.30 Essence)

[Lantzer]

I'd go with something like Siege posted, but I'd try to wedge in a Ultrasound vision system.
You've already got the high-freq-hearing and spatial recognizer, so why not?

[Jason Farlander]

Woah...woah...woah... hold up. Lets assume I *can* fit that ultrasound eye mod in there, essence wise. Can someone provide a good reason to keep blind fighting in that case?

[GreatChicken]

Uhh....Marvel's Daredevil?

[Jason Farlander]

To clarify:

Blind Fighting drops the penalty for fighting in full darkess or blind fire to +4

Ultrasound vision halves all TN mods based on lighting or invisibility - which not only drops the penalty for fighting in full darkness to +4, but *also* affects *all* other visibility TN mods AND lets you see invisible targets.

So... again: why keep Blind Fighting if you have Ultrasonic vision?

[Jason Farlander]

As a side note: no, the Ultrasound Eye mod wont fit... but I could pick it up as an adept sense, and get it for half the cost of Blind Fighting. Still waiting on a good reason to not do that.

[Number 6]

If it worries you that much, get IR eyelights. :eek:

[Eyeless Blond]

Um, because it's not a sense?

Well, actually, the high-frequency receiver is a sense, but the ultrasound emitter is not. Neither is the interpreter part that turns the "binocular" ultrasound hearing into "vision".

[Jason Farlander]

Its not so much that it *worries* me- rather, I've noticed that you can get Improved Sense: Ultrasonic Vision - a seemingly all-around better power than Blind Fighting - for half the PP cost. And that, if true, is silly. So I'm hoping that someone can clarify the part about Blind Fighting that I am missing that makes it better.

Edit: Eyeless Blond: the "Direction Sense" improved sense isnt *really* a sense either, and Ultrasonic vision doesnt involve radio or a technological phenominon similar to radio, so, by the book, it's legal.

This post has been edited by Jason Farlander: Jun 3 2004, 02:28 AM

[Siege]

Ultrasound sense may or may not be considered canon powers.

That being said, I'd suggest that "Blind Fighting" and "Ultrasound Sense" would actually stack -- +4 cut to +2 would be pretty slick.

And there may be circumstances that would deprive the character of ultrasound abilities, but the blind fight effect would still be in play.

-Siege

[GreatChicken]

Edit: It's at times like this where you wish there was a delete button. :dead:

[GreatChicken]

The word 'Ultrasound' means that there is supposed to be an active component in the system; the person is supposed to emit waves that bounce off objects and return to sender, enabling the critter with it to judge anything from distance to shape (Bats do this). The biggest problem with Ultrasonic anything (heck, even Radar anything) is that you are BROADCASTING. Bye bye stealth rolls if anyone has the sensor equivalent.

Blind fighting is just that. You rely on all your other senses apart from sight to tell you where the opponent is. It doesn't actually let you 'see' per se, but it's passive and not subject to detection like above. Biggest problem is that you can't actually 'see' at all.

Note: I have no access to the books now; not for the next 6 hours or so. All the above should be common sense.

[Jason Farlander]

[Eyeless Blond]

[Jason Farlander]

Well... honestly, I dont feel like debating this at the moment. Perhaps I'll email Rob about it sometime... perhaps not. Great Chicken had a good point about broadcasting your location to ultrasound detectors, and I just thought of a couple of things - first, that ultrasonic vision is directional, whereas blind fighting isnt. Also, Blind Fighting would bypass concealment modifiers, whereas ultrasonic vision wouldnt (it only bypasses vision mods derived from lighting). Those various things have convinced me of the general utility of Blind Fighting, Even if Ultrasonic Vision would be better in many situations.

[GreatChicken]

Don't forget that you can whiteout Ultrasonic vision. Perfect trap for the Daredevil himself: triggered Ultrasound emitters in every corner of the room. Now he's REALLY blind (all he can really 'see' is a field of white...that's how his brain interprets it)...not completely helpless because of his other senses, but incapitated nonetheless. Also useful for killing Radar and Sonar capability.

Edit: Not to mention this trap is hideously painful to Ultrasound Hearing users. It's like speaker feedback from everywhere.

[A Rodent of Unus...]