Making a stealthy character Options

[mmu1]

So I'm thinking of making a stealthy assassin / infiltrator, and I'm looking for suggestions.

The rules are as follows:

1. No bioware.

2. I want to be able to respect myself in the morning, so I'm not interested in uber-twinkage.

Are there any must-have pieces of cyberware? Non-obvious skills that come in really handy for this kind of character?

Seems to me stealth / atheltics / computers / electronics / electronics BR would be his bread and butter (along with some combat skill, obviously) - is there anything I'm missing?

For cyberware, I have so far tons of vision/hearing enhancements for staying ahead of the opposition, balance augmentor and retractable claws for scaling things, an encephalon for extra dice for technical skills, a transucer for silent communication, as well as some boosted reflexes and a smartlink.

As far as gear goes, is there anything that's a must-have for a stealthy character besides ruthenium?

[toturi]

I would think that a stealth PC would be easier to create as an adept. And besides, isn't rutherium uber-twinkage?

[Necrotic Monkey]

Here's a run of the mill build. If you can supply a little more information about the character such as his personality, ethnicity, style, reason for being who he is, and typical clientale, improvements can be made.

Human Adept (25 Build Points or Priorities B & E; hmm, how appropriate).

Attributes: Intelligence is your bread-and-butter, followed by Quickness. Charisma comes next, followed by Willpower. Body and Strength should be average; a good spy/stealthy type shouldn't need to rely on either of those except for the purpose of skill improvement.

Active Skills: Athletics, Disguise, Electronics, Electronics B/R, Etiquette (Street), Melee Skill of Choice, Negotiations (Fast Talking or Bribing), Ranged Skill of Choice, Stealth. On the rare occasion you need Computers, default from Electronics.

Knowledge Skills: Acting (Improvisation), Chemistry (Pharmaceuticals), Security Procedures, Security Systems.

Adept Powers: Improved Athletics 4 (0.75; geased), Improved Reflexes 2 (2.25; geased), Improved Stealth 4 (0.75; geased), Improved Senses 8 (pick any) (1.50; geased), Sixth Sense 1 (0.25), Traceless Walk (0.50). For senses, I'd recommend Low-Light Vision, Spatial Recognizer, High Frequency Hearing, Select Sound Filter, Vision Magnification, Dampener, Flare Compensation, and Direction Sense. I'd also ask my GM if the latter would count as an Orientation System for purposes of the Spatial Recognizer. I'd then focus on Improved Stealth and Sixth Sense as the game continues. Why Sixth Sense? Because winning Surprise should be the defacto way you win combat in most situations.

Edges & Flaws: Aptitude (Stealth), Blandness, Friendly Face, Perceptive.

Equipment: Ruthenium outfit (I like Form-Fitting Full Body Armor with Thermal Dampening 4 and Chemical Seal 1 and then a ruthenium-treated bike helmet with a fun HUD inside), lockpick gun, sequencer, electronics toolkit, disguise toolkit, and if you can afford it, a maglock passkey. I also like to go with the Pistols skill and take both an Ares Supersquirt II and a standard silenced firearm with a choice of capsule rounds and standard ammunition. Fake SINs are always nice, too.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[JaronK]

When I made this type of character, I went for an Albino Human Adept (the albino was mostly because I wanted a ghost like character... named her Casper). I took Stealth 6, Athletics 6, Improved Ability: Stealth 6, and Improved Ability: Athletics 6, plus a few nice sensory powers (microscopic vision is huge, as is some sort of dark-seeing ability, and I like high frequency hearing so you can hear the ultrasound emitters if they have them). I didn't even bother with Improved Reflexes since she wasn't a combat character. Then I took a few social abilities... ettiquette and negociation at 6. Slap on a few social edges (good looking and knows it, friendly face, good reputation) and she's good to go. Sure, she can't fight, but who needs to fight when you can backflip out the window in case of emergency?

JaronK

[BitBasher]

I would personally think the concept would work a lot better as a plain human with blandness. But that's just me.

[Cursedsoul]

Yeah, i was going to suggest blandness. Friendly Face type of edge would work. Create an edge similar to it that would apply to on the spot "do I call security or offer to get him some coffee?" decision. Friendly face might do it with a liberal enough GM.

Maybe you could take that briefcase SMG or the guncane? Useful for blending in and distracting. The SMG might actually be serviceable if you need it, but I'm thinking the guncane could be used to set off the sprinklers, hold open a closing door, jam a door, or what have you.

How about a palm mounted body compartment with a syringe containing NSX?

"Hi, I'm new here. Name's Tom. Nice to meet you"
*offers hand for a shake, grabs, injects*

Could also be used if you get caught by a security guard who goes to detain you at which point you jab him.

Carry a small bag of marbles or ball bearings. Throw'em on the ground, toss'em around the corner, use them as distractions.

Get a suit with color changing abilities. Change the color every time you pass a security camera.

Also, get a disguise kit with a couple of wigs. ALWAYS wear a wig. People remember hairstyles more than faces, especially considering you've got blandness. Simply remove the wig and stuff it in a pocket/case etc when you're making an exit.

Also, carry cigarettes, a swiss army knife, and some gum. Offer cigs and gum to people. Maybe you can get knockout gum or some sort of poison cigs that will incapacitate the user?

Ehhh, black spray paint maybe? Slip spray? Splat glue?

Oh, why not pick up a high powered eye laser and a tool attachment so you can make quiet entrances into places you can't pick the locks of or what have you.

Since you have electronics skill ask your GM if you can simply get the PARTS for the eye and the tool laser. I don't see why you can't get a small handheld version. Simply modify the eyeball to include a grip and a battery hookup.

If it can't be included, get an arm holster custom made that's skin tight and has enough room for batteries. have the wire on a spool and attach it to the eyeball. Voila, handheld laser.

It might sound cheesy but I don't see why it would be. All you're doing is not replacing your eye, and surely you can take a contact who can supply that if the GM has a huge stick up their ass or some serious misgivings. Its not like its THAT hard to find.

Get a headset. If you're in some sort of office during business hours, pretend to be really busy talking to a client. Briefcase and file folders (have a fake one open that you can read off of, or pretend to).

Carry a coffee mug and a sandwich. Make sure the mug has coffee or some coffee like substance.

Get a small baggy and you can hide stuff in the cup. Pocket knife, holdout pistol, whatever. If you've ever seen Heist with Gene Hackman I'm thinking of the airport scene.

[Azrael]

If you go the adept path, adhesion (from one of TSS) goes great. So do the web shooters from the same edition.

A narcojet I found also to be pretty good - when caught, you less likely to be killed if you've only knocked their buddies out.

[Odin]

personally I'd also suggest you carry some monowire makes a great booby trap if you know the guards route and plan to use an alternate escape route. If placed and at knee level it can take down at least a few security personnel and the rest will be too busy calling backup/tending their friends/peeing themselves to keep up the chase. :D

[mmu1]

Thanks for the ideas so far, but I'm just not that big a fan of adepts - and I hate Geasa, I don't believe in my abilities being contingent on outside factors...

Basically, the idea I'm working on is a character who can either kill characters from a distance (sniper) or through infiltration and stealth. I did consider making him charismatic, but I just sadly find myself running out of points for everything I want to do, so that might have to be cut.

Any further ideas with those caveats in mind?

[Zazen]

Take microscopic vision 'ware. It helps a lot with doing fine electronic work, like bypassing locks and adding bugs and so forth.

I'm a big fan of the eyeball laser microphone, too. You can aim it at some glass near a voice-activated lock and record the passcode just by looking at it from across the room. Stuff like that can be a lot of fun.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[Modesitt]

[Kagetenshi]

Technically speaking you can have bioware, just the only pieces available thus far are synthacardium and extended volume lungs :)

Edit:

[BitBasher]

[Kagetenshi]

And it's also Avail 24, which kinda nixes the at-chargen part...

~J

[BitBasher]

[Zazen]

[tjn]

[Glyph]

Saying "I want a stealthy character" is kind of like saying "I want a character who is good in combat" - you find that you need to be more specialized if you don't want to be mediocre at all of it. Generally, I break stealth down into 4 general roles:

Intrusion:
Getting past physical security, whether it be a maglock, ultrasound detectors, or a retinal scan needed to enter a restricted area.

Your two big skills will be electronics and electronics B/R, for maglocks and a number of other devices. Lockpicking is more rarely needed, so rather than waste 6 skillpoints, you should simply get a Rating: 6 lockpick gun. A cyberear with recorder and playback, and a cybereye with retinal duplication, can get you past voice and retinal scanners. But the most useful cyberware is microscopic vision, which reduces your TNs by 2.


Infiltration:
Looking and acting like you belong in a restricted area. Fast-talking your way past the gate, or "explaining" your suspicious actions to a patrol. Successfully impersonating a security guard, janitor, or research assistant.

Etiquette and Negotiation are the two big skills, and having knowledge skills such as acting or psychology certainly can't hurt. For Edges, both Good Repution and Good Looking and Knows It are not the best ones for a covert ops 'runner to have. The Friendly Face Edge is better, and Blandness helps too.


Sneaking:
Moving about undetected, sneaking past guards and patrols without them being any the wiser.

Stealth is the big skill here, although Athletics is also extremely useful (allowing you to take less-guarded avenues of approach such as climbing or swimming - and it's always good to have a skill that helps you with running and dodging, when your stealth isn't good enough). A few items of cyber, such as climbing claws and balance augmentation, will help you with the athletic side of things.


Wetwork:
Taking out guards silently (it doesn't always need to be lethal). Either sniping, or getting in close to take them down with one quick shot or blow.

For sniping, all that you need is a rifle with a good scope and a halfway-decent rifles skill. You will probably be taking multiple aiming actions, and they will be unlikely to be able to use their Combat Pool, so you will be much more effective than someone involved in a running firefight. The downside is that sniping requires more planning and setup time, and changing position can be hazardous.

Up close, you need a nice, high skill in an easily concealable but very damaging weapon, such as a retractable needle dipped in narcoject (or atropine, for the more lethal types), an Ares Viper aimed at a non-armored area, a dikoted Cougar Fineblade, and so on. Plus, you want Reaction, Reaction, Reaction for those surprise tests - I would recommend at least Wired Reflexes: 2.



Generally, you are better off specializing in 2 or so of these areas. You can only really do all 4 in high build-point games, because covering them all requires you to have decent Attributes, be a real skill monkey, and have probably at least 20 points of resources.


Also, these skills, abilities, and 'ware/gear are only part of being successful. You also need a good network of contacts, reliable information about the place you are planning to hit, and much, much planning.

[Cursedsoul]

How about instead of wired reflexes 2 you get boosted reflexes 3?

WR2 = +4R, +2D6 init 165000 nuyen, 3 essence
BR3 = +2R, +2d6 init, 90000 nuyen, 2.8 essence.

Difference of 75000 nuyen is quite a bit. You can get a lot of good stuff for that like cyber eye mods, or even a level of synaptic accelerator.

I know you said no bioware, but for other characters who don't care its a real bargain. Same price only you get another initiative dice.

Plus you don't make the toaster jealous.

[Aesir]

When reading some of the other responses I realised that being a plain, short, bald guy would be best. A timid, kindly, former bullied upon psycopat that nobody would suspect of having any kind of competence what so ever, eccept maybe a knack for computers or math. :)

[Cheesy Answer]

Sort of defeats the purpose of stealth if your boosted reflexes make you pull out a gun and blow away the first suspicious person who taps you on the shoulder. :D

[Cursedsoul]

To my understanding Boosted isn't as bad a wired because its a natural boost. You simply have more neural pathways or whatever crappy BS answer is in the book.

Wired is like, forcibly implanting metallic things and artificial whatnots. That's going to make you a lot more jumpy because its unnatural, so it's only going to do what its programmed to.

With boosted your brain can adjust to it, and will in short order. Same thing for wired, but I imagine boosted doesn't require a reflex trigger to not turn into Idranktoomuchcaffeinethismorningman. You would get used to it and learn how to control it naturally.

Not able to to turn it on/off but more along the lines of not going crazy when someone slams a door.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]