The Jestercat himself has always been a character I've had problems doing justice. All of the talk about Matrix Adepts and the like really put me on the ball for trying to make him work, but I still haven't got it - I just haven't spent enough time in SR4. Enlighten me, dumpshockers, how would you meet these requirements?

- Primary function is as a hacker
- Must be solid in combat
- Must have a cybertail! This is important!
- Must not sacrifice his basic social graces.
- Must be human or an elf.

It certainly looks like being an adept is the way to go to get where I want, but it's not a necessary thing. All I want is the sleekest, most badass combat decker we can come up with, without using ugly words like "troll".

I think hard to do .

400 BP aren't that much, so I think mundane human works best. Maybe I'll give it try, but I don't want to calculate all the equipment. 100k for it seems enough, doesn't it? (ware of course isn't included in that figure)

It does look like a pain in the arse...back when I was here about a year ago I did see a few neat builds, though, so I have a fair idea that it's doable.

Cut out the tail and make it an elf and you are looking at my next character.
I don't know how you want to distribute your 200 attributes, but I think for sure

B 4
A 5-6?
R 5?
S 1
C ? Id sacrifice it, but you seem to want social
I
L
W I also don't know how to split these as I don't have enough experience to know what is necessary .

For race, just go human, edge is CRUCIAL in SR4 and go as high as you can with it. I stick to my elven guns, but I'm an idiot.

and of course magic 5

For skills definitely:

cracking group 4
electronics group 4
pisols/automatics 5-6?
gymnastics 5?
running 2?
infiltration 3

Qualities however you want and adept powers start with
improved ability (hacking) 2
improved ability (cyber combat) 2
Improved ability (computers) 2
improved ability (?) Take these for all your crucial technical skills.
Improved reflexes 1 (up to 2 on first magic up)

Resources 50?

Fine tune it however you want.

Hard to be good at Matrix, Face and Combat all at once on 400 BP.

Not sure about the cybertail. If it don't need to be cyber, try asking about being a 'Changeling' with a tail.

Depending on your GM and what your tail needs to be capable of, you could even get it as a 'flaw' to represent the prejudice you expirence. Not that I'd bet on it.

No problem with 400 BP. I'd suggest something along these lines (no Adept):

00 Race (Human)
30 Body 4
30 Agility 4
30 Reaction 4
00 Strength 1
30 Charisma 4
30 Intuition 4
30 Logic 4
20 Willpower 3
40 Edge 6
50 Resources 250k (for a good commlink, good programs, cyber-/bioware, and so on)

Leaves 110 BP for Skills (and some Contacts).

14 Pistols (Semi-Automatics) 3(+2)
24 Hacking 6
16 Electronic Warfare 4
16 Cybercombat 4
40 Electronics 4

Now you have 400 BP spent, so everything that comes now has to be balanced with negative Qualities.

Round off the character with some other skills like Athletics, Infiltration, Perception, Influence, or Pilot Ground Craft. And get a Contact or two.

Bye
Thanee

another build:

Elf (30 BP)

B/S/A/R/C/I/L/W 4/2/3(5)/3/4/4/3(5)/4 (160 BP)

Edge 4 (20 BP)

Qualities: (-35 BP)
35 points of negative qualities, mild addiction to cram or jazz recommended.

Active Skills: (154 BP)
Influence 2
Electronics 4
Cracking 4
Stealth 3
Athletics 1
Pistols (SA) 3(+2)

Resources: 50 BP

Commlink Response 5 signal 0 System 6 Firewall 6 (10,000 nuyen)
All common programs, rating 6 (4,200 nuyen)
All hacking programs, rating 6 (90,000 nuyen)

Reflex recorder (cracking group) (25,000)
cerebral booster 2 )20,000)
Muscle Toner 2(16,000)
Tailored Pheromones 3 (45,000)
Synthacardium 3 (30,000)

leaves you 9,800 nuyen for stuff like 'trodes/datajack, sim module, gun, armor, lifestyle, etc.

Contacts (11 points)

you could also squeeze out some more points by lowering or removing stealth group, but it's just so handy... you could also get yourself another 20k nuyen by removing cerebral booster.

anyways, you'd be throwing 8 dice on all athletics tests (including gymnastics dodge), 9 dice on all influence tests, and 11 dice (13 in hotsim) for all hacking tests (only 10/12 for electronics group though) and you've got 4 edge to boost when you feel the need. oh, and 12 dice for attacking with a semiauto pistol that is smartlink equipped.

obviously, you can tweak the numbers however you like, but that's how i'd do it... none of that adept stuff.

Could you explain why the commlink has a signal of 0? Seems odd to me.

oh, forgot... buy a satellite link for 500 nuyen. signal 8. glue it to your commlink. save yourself a few thousand nuyen.

seriously, even without that... chances are you have something (i would guess your gun, for example, is probably a 'security device') with a device rating of 3 or more. why would you waste any money at all on boosting your commlink's signal?

Alright, sounds good, that is what I figured(the satellite link) but I asked because I was wondering if you knew a trick I didn't.

Here's a build from me.

I'm really leery of str 1, especially on a combat decker. Beyond the fact that it's pretty cheesy, str of 1 seems like a bad idea anywhere you might get in to hand to hand, have to climb, etc. Str 1 isn't an invalid, but it's a pretty weak guy - he may not even be able to carry all his gear, and he certainly won't be able to help lug bodies around....

Consider using skillwires, a cybercommlink, and use a Mystic adept built like a mage with 1 point of adept abilities. Use a tradition offering Intuition or Charisma for drain. The activesofts will costs less than the skills themselves so you'll save a few points there and you may have to get programs through play. It'll cost Nuyen but after a dozen or so runs should really come into its own. you can shave further if you forego conjuring and counterspelling. After all, you're describing a multirole character, right?

Magic Points: 5
1-3: Spellcasting
4: Cool Adept Ability
5: Lost to essence loss

And live on Edge, if you get it at 6 it really REALLY rocks... it just wont rock for hacking with skillwires... but hey, you said solid in combat, right?

You can get a few bonus dice on most tests by having complementary knowledge skills. IC Identification for Matrix Perception, and others as you can think of them.

Hmm...it's annoying, nothing here *really* captures the feel of the character yet. Strength 1...honestly I don't have that much of a problem with 1 or 2 strength, because of the monowhip. That gives him a close-quarters weapon that suits him and doesn't depend on his strength.

Skillwires...not sure.

As for the cybertail...it's mostly a flavour thing, it's one of his trademarks. The closest to the character award, so far, goes to Glyph with his build, but a few things stood out:
- Athletics 1 scares me. Good job relying on gymnastic dodge, but it's not high enough. Nobody would want to get close to me with monowhips 6, jeez...that's pain. That could be cut back a bit to make room for the athletics.
- Low edge...like everyone says, edge is crucial.
- Allergy to seawater is cool, silver allergy is overdone, weak immune system is something my GM would hit me over the head for repeatedly. I want my character on runs, not GETTING the runs.

Otherwise, it looks great. I'm going to see what I can do to tweak it, if anyone else can help, gogogogogo.

if you want a melee weapon that is a bit more versatile, i recommend one of the electric based weapons. stun baton, defiance ex-shocker (8P electric ftw), shock gloves, etc.

also, you seem to have missed glyph's synthacardium-3. effectively you have gymnastics 4, for all intents and purposes.

Kracker

Metatype : Human
Mundane

Attributes
Body: 5
Agility: 5
Reaction: 5
Strength: 1
Charisma: 1
Intuition: 1
Logic: 5
Willpower: 5

Edge: 6
Initiative: 6
Essence: 2.425

Knowledge Skills
: N

Active Skills
Cybercombat : 4
Electronic Warfare : 4
Hacking : 4
Computer : 4
Data Search : 4
Hardware : 4
Software : 4
Con : 4
Etiquette : 3
Dodge : 4
Pistols : 4


Positive Qualities
Ambidextrous

Negative Qualities
Allergy unc/sev
Allergy unc/sev
Incompetent

Cyberwares
Cybereyes Basic System (Rating 3)
+ Flare Compensation
+ Low-Light Vision
+ Smartlink
+ Thermographic Vision
+ Vision Enhancement (Rating 3)
+ Vision Magnification
Wired Reflexes (Rating 2)

Biowares
Muscle Augmentation 2
Muscle Toner 2
Platelet Factories
Cerebral Booster 2
Sleep Regulator

Weapons
2x Ares Predator IV
2x Hidden Gun Arm Slide
2x Concealable Holster
2x Silencer
4x Spare Clips
20x Regular Ammo (10 shots)

Armors
Clothing (Chic)
Armor Jacket
Helmet (Regular)

Vehicles
Suzuki Mirage (Racing Bike)

Commlinks
Commlink : Meta Link
Response Upgrade (5)
Satellite Link [8] (Do what Jaid said to do) (had to do brackets, stupid smileys)
Sim Module
Trodes
Stealth RFID Tags (per 20)
Tag Eraser
Datasoft (Rating 6)
Mapsoft (Rating 6)
Datasoft (Rating 6)
Analyze (Rating 5)
Browse (Rating 5)
Edit (Rating 5)
Encrypt (Rating 5)
Scan (Rating 5)
Armor (Rating 5)
Attack (Rating 5)
Biofeedback Filters (Rating 5)
Decrypt (Rating 5)
Defuse (Rating 5)
ECCM (Rating 5)
Exploit (Rating 5)
Medic (Rating 5)
Sniffer (Rating 5)
Spoof (Rating 5)
Stealth (Rating 5)
Track (Rating 5)
OS : Vector Xim
System (Rating 5)
Firewall (Rating 5)

Equipments
Tool Kit
Earbud
+ Audio Enhancement (Rating 3)
+ Select Sound Filter (Rating 3)
3x Plasteel Restraint
Gas Mask
Wire clippers
Medkit (Rating 6)
2x Medkit Supplies
2x Stimulant Patch (Rating 6)
Fake Sin (Rating 4)
2x Fake License (Rating 4)

BP BREAKDOWN:
Attributes 200
Special Att 40
Skills 140
Gear 50
Qualities -30


I only have one comment. He has ambidexterity for the two pistols. He will not fire both in the same simple action, thus splitting his dicepool. The ambidexterity is there to ignore recoil. He will fire one gun in his left hand for a simple action and then next in his right. You could also opt for the Ruger Super Warhawk instead of the AresIV.

EDIT: One last thing I forgot. What the heck is up with this guys attributes, you might ask? When purchasing attributes lower than 3 you actually are being inefficient in regards the BP to Karma ratio. When purchased at 3 with a stat that maxes out at 6 this ratio is very close to 1. The more you raise an attribute the more efficient you are with the BP to Karma ratio The same goes for skills as well. It is also more efficient to have on skill at 6 then it is to have two skills at 5. As soon as you get karma I recommend either raising Charisma, Intuition, or adding some specializations. If you know you do use edge very much or you just plain don't like it, then you can drop the BP spent in Edge and put it into an attribute.

As far as the cybertail goes, there is 400 nuyen left over from gear. Is that enough ?

Okay...I've got a build for him very similar to Glyph's...but now I'm pretty scared about one thing: that Wired 2 cutting down on my potential advancement.

Synaptic Boosters are SO much nicer, but they're ridiculously expensive at creation. Wired also really suits the character...but that's a LOT of essence to throw down, and knowing that I'll *never* get Wired 3 is a pain in the kitty's tail. Unless there's something I'm missing regarding the rules for cyberware essence costs that lets me mitigate something somewhere later on. I know back in my SR3 days every sammy and his dog could get wired 3 without any trouble...

eleazar, uncompensated recoil from one gun spills over to the other gun.

as far as mitigating the cost of wired reflexes, not as such no. i do very much expect that when augmentation comes out that there will be rules for the essence hole left behind by removing cyberware, though.

Jaid, I sure as hell hope so. I don't know how the sammies do it at this point. I think I'll go over it with my GM before I make the call on wired 2. That said, even if it leaves a size-3 hole, yanking the wired 2 and getting boosters 3 is safe, though makes a mess compared to any recovery process. It's still half of my Essence *down the drain* though.

Uncompensated recoil does carry over, in a hand wave.

But you don't get the additional penalties to firing a 2nd shot from a different gun.

If you have 3 pts of RC on each gun, you can do a short burst from each and have no penalties.

The cat is heading to the first session tonight, and here's what I ended up with. Thanks a bunch, Glyph, this build is mostly yours.

Attribues: 190 BP:
Body 2, Agility 4, Reaction 2, Strength 1, Charisma 3, Intuition 4, Logic 5, Willpower 2, Edge 6

Negative Qualities: -25 BP
Addict (mild, simsense), Allergy (tobacco, mild), weak immune system, inept(archery)

Active Skills 174 BP:
Athletics 1, Perception 3, Pistols(semis) 4(6), pilot ground vehicle(bike) 1(3), Influence 1, Hacking 6, cybercombat 4, e-war 4, electronics 4, infiltration 3.

Contacts: 11BP:
Data Haven Admin, Loyalty 2, Connection 4
Fixer, Loyalty 1, Connection 4

Gear: 50 BP
Rating 4 Cybereyes w/Low-light, flare, enhancement 3, mag, smartlink, thermo

Fingertip compartment w/monowhip

Cerebral booster 2
Synthcardium 3
Muscle Toner 2

Wired 2
Cosmetic cybertail (not a full balance tail, GM wouldn't allow it because there are newbies in the group, core stuff only at first - this WILL be upgraded later)
Rating 4 Cyberears (cat ears) with audio aug 2, balance aug, damper, spatial recognizer
Datajack

Ares Predator IV w/ 4 mags normal, 2 mags ex-ex, 2 mags stick'n'shock, silencer, concealable holster
Armour jacket
2 Rating 3 SINs
2 rating 4 gun licenses
Electronics kit
Lifestyle: Low(2)

Novatech Airware commlink, upgraded Response to 5
Custom OS: Gentoo =^_^=: System 6, Firewall 6
Programs: All normal, rating 6, all hacking but Blackhammer and Data Bomb, rating 6, Rating 4 agent.

If there's anything you see that I'm missing, pipe up in the next couple hours please!

Exotic Melee Weapon (monowhip), or you will cut yourself badly.

With Body/Reaction/Willpower 2 you better do not get mixed up in combat...

You can have Rating 4 SINs during character generation (it's an error in the book, they have the same Availability as Licenses).

Bye
Thanee

Just in case, but the SIN can be rating 4, it was errata'd that the multiplier is rating X 3 not rating X4 for availability.

Personally, I'm not a fan of "Inept: Archery". As a GM I would much rather see a skill that might actually come up in play some day like Swimming, Pilot: Ground Craft, Con, Navigation, or Survival. None of those is likely to completely screw you over, but has a chance to actually come up. Archery is never going to come up for your hacker.

I understand your attitude, Mal, but SR4 seems like a game of stupid negative qualities at the moment. I'm not a fan of it, but with such a dual-natured character, I'm already at a disadvantage. This is one reason I usually won't touch SR4 with a ten-foot clown pole...

Edit: Also, my GM is a bit of a newb, and won't accept any of the errata or corrections. He wants to keep it straight out of the stuff he has in print, on him. If he stumbles on the errata, then perhaps they'll end up used. Somehow I expect the premade smuggler to end up in, since it's almost a 450BP character...