The Idiot's Guide To Otaku, (or - teaching Req how to deck) Options

[Req]

OK chums, here's little Jimmy. Note from the first - I tossed him off right quick, and he's not intended to be effective or even particularly serious, but he ought to get the point across. The optional rules for "gimp your physical stats to increase da mental onez" would seem nice, but I'm willing to bet the eventual player won't do that, and want to get a sense for how much it matters. And of course there are probably errors around in here somewhere... I've only got a vague idea for the appropriate stats/forms/skills, anyway.

His icon's appearance is that of an average dwarf teen, about 14. Not particularly attractive, but not unusually unattractive. His light hair is cropped close to his skull, and his eyes are very dark - it's difficult to make out the iris from the pupil. He tends to dress in ragged castoffs, and this follows his icon as well.

Jimmy's got himself an aquatic-invertebrates-and-insects motif for his complex forms. Sleaze is generally invisible - perhaps a thin sheen of slime across his body, a slightly wet appearance to his skin... Nothing you'd notice with his Armor up, at least, as it shows its presence as a wavering of the air around him, similar to what you'd see if you were looking at someone a few feet beneath the surface of extremely clear and calm water - a continuous liquid distortion. Attack manifests as a swarm of locust-like critters with tentacles, expelled from his mouth or hands and buzzing their way into the target. Cloak is a cloud of ink which hangs in the air like dye in water, rather than smoke or gas. Lock-on is one or more (depending on successes) long, slender filaments looking alternately like strands of spider silk or sea anemonae tentacles which stretch from Jimmy's chest to the targeted icon; they don't impede the target's movement, but they do help Jimmy keep tabs on it.

You don't even want to know how much fun I'd have with sprites and daemons for this guy. :)

[ Spoiler ]

Jimmy the Squid, Dwarf Otaku/Cyberadept
Bod 2, Qui 4, Str 3, Cha 7, Int 7, Wil 8

Some skills:
Computer 8, Electronics 4, Electronics B/R 4, Etiquette:Matrix 4, Etiquette:Street 2, System Familiarity:Green Systems 6, System Familiarity:Orange Systems 5. And pistols and stealth, no doubt.

Gear: nothing much. Single datajack, ASSIST converter, some trivial amount of offline storage, a cheap gun. I didn't bother with this for the purposes of discussion.

Channels:
Access 5
Control 6
Index 3
Files 4
Slave 3

Complex Forms (all +1 from these values for cyberadept)
Sleaze-7
Attack-5D
Cloak-4
Lock-on-3
Armor-4

calculated Living Persona
MPCP 8
Bod 8
Evasion 7
Masking 7
Sensor 7
Matrix Reaction 7
Matrix Init 7 + 4d6
Hardening 4
I/O speed 700 Mp

Detection Factor 9
Hacking Pool 5
Karma Pool 1

Anything I missed?

[mfb]

an edge. Home Turf: Innsmouth.

[Austere Emancipa...]

I am ashamed I had to Google to figure that one out.

And now back to teaching Req how to deck.

[mfb]

your choice of Channels shows wisdom. it might be worthwhile to consider specializing your Control channel to Validate, but that's up to you. i can tell you that with those stats and those channels, i doubt you'll have the points for that many skills. your DF brings me great joy, as i didn't realize until just now that DF rounds up, not down.

you should spend your first point of karma on a Satellite Uplink utility, and your first paycheck on a dish and the hardware required to link to a satellite. the Angel constellation is your friend.

[Req]

[Eyeless Blond]

Actually, I *think* you're right on the money. Exactly 34 skill points spent if by "Etiquette:Matrix 4, Etiquette:Street 2" you meant Ettiquette(Matrix) 2/4; I presume you put Priority C into skills? Either way you won't be able to get Stealth, Athletics or Pistols until later unless you drop something else.

Notw, btw, this also fits exactly into 123 point buy, as-is, with the added bonus that, once you factor in the reduced cost for Computer 8 and the extra Channel point, a Bonus Attribute Point:Int edge will be absolutely free. :D But perhaps that's a bit munchkiny? :)

The only utils I can't see you needing are Lock-on, and with Matrix combat being what it is (specifically your Init from God and the fact that attacks are Simple actions) you probably will never need more than Attack-S. But, I can't see anything you would want in exchange for now, unless the GM allows Medic and/or Restore to actually work for Otaku. Definite second on the Sat Link upgrade, and later maybe a Laser or Radio link plus a transceiver with broadcast encryption-5) for some fun ways to be on-site without actually being on-site.

[mfb]

i would trade Lock-on for Cloak. with 5D, you're likely to not need bonuses to hit; Cloak allows you to escape combats you don't feel you can win, or don't feel like prosecuting.

and keep the 5D, or raise to to 7S'ish. in meat combat, it'd be overkill, but in Matrix combat, both attackers and defenders tend to throw around a lot more successes. i've seen 10D base attacks with 7 successes staged to nothing on a semi-regular basis, by some grade 3 otaku.

[Voran]

Random comment. "Tossed him off right quick" in regards to "Little Jimmy" struck me as funny :P

[Zenmaxer]

I would definately consider build pointing him, either at 120 (technically standard) or 123 (which is what even the example chars use). Dwarf cost much less that way, and is actually somewhat economical.

[Kagetenshi]

I thought this was a build-point build. That incorrect?

IA: Int. is definitely a good idea. Int is probably your most important starting stat, as it determines how much you pay for Computers, how many free Channel Points you get, and how many free MP for Complex Forms you get.

~J

[Eyeless Blond]

Looks to me like it was originally priority, although that is of course equivalent to 123 point buy:

A: "Magic" (Otaku)
B: Attributes (27)
C: Skills (34)
D: Race (Dwarf)
E: Resources (5k)

All I was saying is you can get the 2-pt Bonus Attribute (Int) Edge for free if you *did* make the purely semantic switch to 123 points, because you save two skill points that way.

That and you can add in a Matrix Addiction Flaw, which I'd almost make a requirement for an Otaku anyway for flavor reasons.

[mfb]

actually, it'd be

A: Resources (Otaku, 5kY)
B: Attributes
C: Skizzles
D: Race
E: Magic

just to nitpick.

[Eyeless Blond]

[mfb]

huh, whoops. maybe i'm thinking of a previous version of the rules, or something.

edit: oh, duh. mixed up the otaku rules with the shapeshifter rules. i knew the Resources-A-5kY thing was in there for some wack-ass char type or another.

[Req]

Good call on the Etiquette - though I seem to recall you can only buy etiquette as a spec, and that there isn't a general skill. Is this some holdover from another edition clouding my mind?

Yeah, he was priority. BP is better but I wanted to get it done quick-like. I didn't even crack open the Companion, so no edges and flaws. If there were to be any, IA:Int would be right at the top of the list.

I seem to recall 2nd Ed. Otaku did the Resources A thing for creation?

Lock-on went in there mostly because of my weak little hacking pool. It seems pretty clear that otaku need to get themselves some decent cyber quick-like, and get that pool up. 5 ain't much.

[mfb]

how does lock-on help your small combat pool?

i think the etiquette specialization thing is 2nd ed. i know for sure it's not 3rd.

[Req]

small pool = less dice to roll. using lock-on to reduce target number = more successes. But then, of course, you're giving up an attack to make the position attack attempt, so...

Perhaps I see your point. :)

[mfb]

with otaku, you've got to worry about defense before you worry about offense.

incidentally, i'm an idiot. didn't see that you'd already grabbed Cloak.

here's some advice on complex forms. they cost 1 karma to get or upgrade, no matter what rating you're going for. therefore, it's in your best interest to get a few forms at the highest rating possible, to start out with; survive on those until you've done your first run, then bulk up with whatever else you need. the total time you end up spending on learning your forms will be the same, but you'll end up spending quite a bit less karma in the long run; lots of small upgrades cost more than a few big upgrades.

[Axe]

Yeah spec. only for etiquette is from 2nd Ed. I only realized recently that it had changed in 3rd (I'm not a good rules lawyer).

[Kagetenshi]

[mfb]

eh? he's got Computer 8, meaning he can add 8 hp to any Computer test he cares to wholly overkill on. and soak tests have no such limit on hp use, as far as i'm aware. 'sides, the real use of hp is for allocating to DF--you need 6 hp at least, to get the full benefit of that.

[Kagetenshi]

Oops, you’re right :oops:

Still, he’s under thirty thousand away from another three hacking pool dice.

~J

[Req]

well, actually I was looking at HP from the "matrix dodge" and "supressing crashed IC" angle, and it would seem that those 5 would be gone right quick.

Kage, you're alluding to a math SPU?

[Dashifen]

IIRC, encephalon and Math SPU add task/hacking pool which can be effectively combined in matrix work, IMO. Cerebral booster can help, too, but that's cultured bioware so you have to ask the GM nicely for that piece of gear. And an Otaku probably can't afford it at character generation anyway.

On to the teaching Req to deck part: what type of decking would you like to takle? Datasteal, overwatch, combat scenario, etc. ? Overwatch, with all the slave manipulations that it often requires, may be a pain with your lower slave/index channel, but the DF of 9 should help cover you until you get those pesky 5 successes for interrogative operations.

What we'll do is keep the same format of the Idiot's Guide to the Matrix thread when we're actually posting the tutorial information. Use yellow text to post rolls and/or motivations and then post in normal color the IC action of your otaku. Sound good?

[Eyeless Blond]

An Otaku can't really afford *anything* at chargen in the way of cyber, except maybe a second datajack. Remember the Resources allocation doesn't actually give an Otaku more cash; it raises the lifestyle of his leeches--I mean tribe. :)

Maybe the rolls and motivations should be behind spoiler tags, as they are in the other "newer" Matrix thread? The cinematics of the run read much more easily that way.