Alright, I'm going to join a Shadowrun campaign centering around an elite corporate team of runners (apparently), but I'm pretty busy and way rusty on the game mechanics, so I'm thinking I'll just use the textbook Drone Rigger archetype and tweak it a little to save time.

So far the rest of the team is an eco-shaman, a weapon specialist, a smuggler and probably a bruiser of some sort, so I may be filling in as the primary hacker as well as rigging, but we may add another player.

I'm thinking reaction enhancement should go (what do I need that for, really?); it also seems like the preprinted initiatives in the archetype are wrong (meat and matrix both 11, is that right)? Anyway, I thought I buy a couple more softs with the money savings (sniffer and biofeedback filter) and get the commlink implanted. I was also thinking about moving some BPs around to get a better mechanic contact. Any other tweaking suggestions?

Also, what is the Command soft used for? It seems like I need to have it to issue commands but what's the diff between a level 1 vs level 5 version? I couldn't find anything in the rules.

Thanks in advance.

personally, i would recommend revamping the entire character. starting from scratch.

command is not used for giving commands. it is used for remotely controlling devices. you want to perform telepresent surgery, you replace your attribute with your command program. you want to drive a car from across the town without rigging it, you replace your attribute with the command program rating.

see page 220 of your core rulebook to take a look at the full rules for it, but basically that's all you will ever need your command program for.

i would actually recommend keeping your reaction high... good reaction means good dodging, and that means much better chances of surviving.

Reaction isn't good for just dodging, it's also the attribute linked to Pilot skills, so it's quite useful when you're driving a vehicle or jumped into a drone, which is why Enhancers are also present on the Smuggler sheet. Augmented Reality initiative is the same as meat initiative, so the drone rigger sheet's stats are correct. The reason you're thrown off is that VR and Hotsim initiative use Response+Intuition for your initiative, and they don't make that distinction on the sample sheets, which makes a direct comparison to say, the Hacker sheet somewhat confusing. BTW, the entire AR Speed=Meat Speed paradigm means that swapping out Reaction Enhancers in favor of Wired Reflexes allows you to have multiple initiative passes online without having to jack in through VR or HotSim.

Anyway, please don't take offense, but it sounds like you should really go through and reread the Wireless World chapter again, because trust me, there's a bunch of little landmines sprinkled throughout that thing. For example, I really don't blame you for the VR vs. AR initiative confusion, because early in the chapter they talk about Matrix initiative (when they really mean VR initiative) only to revisit the topic and define AR initiative several pages later. If it weren't for "Running the Shadows", I'd call it the least organized chapter in the book.

actually, reaction is utterly useless to a rigger as far as rigging is concerned. it is replaced by response when rigging... which pretty much leaves reaction as being useful for driving in the meatworld.

Bleh, forgot about that. My brain must be out to lunch, since yeah, once you've jumped in you're essentially operating under VR. Reaction is still awesome though regardless. Whenver I make a character I'm always sorely tempted to bump both reaction and initiative to 5s if at all possible. That, and I'm not a big fan of entering VR if I don't have to anyway. Dumpshock sucks.

Hey Doom, I am working hard on a DR for my new tt game. So far it seems pretty cool. The things I am focusing on are your commlink, and program skills. You need a 5 in response and system hands down (thats as high as you can go in starting) as those determine A) the max rating of a given program you can run and B) the number of programs you can run.

Really a DR is a hacker who has drones, get the Cracking and Electronics skill group at 4 and 3 if you can, then make sure you have a high gunnery (at least a 4). Get a BD Stepvan, get a rigger link, and treat it as a drone, make sure you put the full sensor package on it as that will gain you 3 or 4 dice in perception when using it to scan (you can modify the camer sensor with all visual modifications) then get a Doby, a MCT rotor drone (put the Armtech MGL on it with the airburst link and watch your enemies die).

Then revisit your skills, specialise in EW and make sure you max out your Encrypt and ECM/ECCM programs. Remember you can encrypt nodes as well as files. All your drones, your van, and your comlink are a node, encrypt them.