I am attempting to create an NPC that will be available to help the team I am currently running. They met him on a courier run, but now I need to flesh/stat him out.

I am picturing him with activesofts that will allow him to drive multiple vehicle types (ground, air, water, etc.) and other multiple things. He will also have linguasofts to allow him to speak multiple languages. Seems simple enough, but the cyberware side of it confuses me.

So correct me if I’m missing something, but all he’ll need is:

A datajack (to upload the softs)
Skillwires (to allow use of the active softs)

The datajack will store the softs in it’s memeory storage. Therefore, you can have a lot of activesofts, but with limited access do to the skillwire restriction. On the other side of things, you can have a lot of linguasofts, but access as many as you want. So you be in a room with Trolls and Elves, talking to both in there own language using linguasofts and not miss a beat.

Sounds right to me. Don't even need a jack for Linguasofts. Trodes and a commlink (skinlinked together, prob.) will do.

True, but I guess I don't picture him with a headband hiding the trodes.

As long as the Commlink has a Sim Module.

you need a Sim Module for linguasofts/activesofts/knowsofts? hmm

A simlink is required for any skillsoft that is not an activesoft. It is also a nice trick to get all the sense-link cyber so you can have the full AR experience.

just implant a simrig and or a comlink as well as the datajack and maybe a data lock he was a courier wasn't he? With this he'd be able to download softs as needs via the matrix (for an extra cost) store them, use them and have the advantage of looking no different to the normal person just having two holes in his head, arm, hands or where he has his jacks. Plus go for the best Wired possible. You could even have him upgrade if hired regularly as he uses some of his income to make sure he can do his job better.

Wait, you want an NPC to run skillsofts for the team?

Why don't you just get the team to use the skillsofts?

That actually was a question I was going to have, whether or not you can have a data jack and a data lock. But you have answered that for me Dumori, thanks.

As for the NPC, it just works with the story. The NPC doesn’t necessarily need them, I was just creating the character and decided to try something I, or the group, have never used before. We only get together every so often, so they only have played one or two characters.

Nitpick: Trolls don't have their own language. Some might speak some Or'Zet, which is the Ork language, and apparently easier for people with tusks. But that's not quite the same thing.

As far as your question goes: As Shiloh pointed out, you don't even technically need a datajack. A commlink will do the trick; you can skinlink it to your skillwires, and upload the softs that way. According to my copy of the book, activesofts do not require a sim module, since the skillwire setup handles that for them. The skillwires themselves will carry all the activesofts you want; it can only access a few of them, however. Think of it this way: your PC can store dozens of programs on its hard drive, but it can only run a few of them side-by-side.

Well, there is a country of Trolls, but I think they speak German.

But I'm not exactly awake right now, so I'll let someone else confirm/deny that one.

So without a datajack (which contains it's own storage), where are the programs stored? Directly into your meat (i.e. brain)?

The Troll Kingdom of the Black Forest, IIRC. I don't know if it qualifies as a separate country, though.


The skillwires have their own (effectively unlimited) storage as well. Hell, so does just about everything, from your pistols to your underwear.

Where do the rules say -everything- has memory? I know the quantity of storage space is insane and you don't have to bookkeep file sizes, but many things only have RFID tags, which wouldn't be able to store stuff on them. Boxershorts would only have a Tag, not a full computer system with memory.. unless maybe they could be programmed with custom patterns. Would things like skillwires actually have memory included, or just a Tag with diagnostics (like a sysinfo page on a webserver or router)?

Personally I'm going to be picky about what my players try to save data on (though not prohibitively so. Cyberhand? Sure. Dermal plating? No. Go ahead and save some porn in your shock glove... but there's no storage space in your fork, buddy.)

I don't have my books handy, but the rules assume that everything that doesn't have another rating listed, has a Device rating of 3. Technicolor underwear with patterns that can be set by your commlink would have that default rating, and therefore the unlimited file storage. An Ares Predator, IIRC, is specifically mentioned.

Since Skillwires have to have memory to run the skillchips in the first place, it's not a stretch to believe they've got the unlimited storage as well, and can hold as many activesofts in memory as you desire. They can only *run* so much, but they can store lots more. This really isn't unbalancing, and with the costs of activesofts being what they are, it's not likely that you'll be pushing the edges of believability anytime soon.

Dermal plating might be assumed to have a diagnostic computer attached to it, to make maintenance easier. You might not be storing files in the plates themselves, but in the computers that diagnose and report problems to your street doc.

One item I just remembered is that knowsofts and liguasofts do not require skillwires to run. So if a character only had those two, and no active softs, where would the softs be stored.

On the device used to access them, obviously - commlink or datajack.

Ok. So, if the character has a datajack, he can have access to all his know/linguasofts.

Or a trode net. You'd still need a commlink, though.

Datajacks are pretty much obsolete in the face of implanted commlinks.

Hey, don't say that. I'm never going to stop drilling holes in the heads of my characters.

Datajacks still have a lot of uses, don't give 'em up yet!

I mean, you didn't get rid of Datajacks when Cerebral Cyberdecks were invented, did you?

Personally I believe in chopping, or at least a hard re-wiring of the system and AID of commlinks. And if worse comes to worse, throwing the damn thing into the nearest furnace. So the idea of having something that illegal in your head doesn't appeal to me.

You needed a datajack to make use of a C2 deck. With the advent of fully-functioning trode nets, short-range wireless, and skinlinks, you just don't need the datajack like you used to.

Well, my characters'll still have headplugs. At the very least, higher-bandwidth that can't be hacked or jammed. Can't beat that!

Trode nets have just as high bandwith as datajacks do, in SR4. With a skinlink, you can't be jammed or hacked except if the other guy is touching you; and if that's the case, you've got other problems to deal with.

And now we're back to the joke about the Troll's DataBoxers.

"Datajacks are pretty much obsolete in the face of implanted commlinks." - Cain

ummm... Personally I'd get a datajack with external commlink. Easily upgraded, repaired, ditched and replaced, and who knows if something faster/better might come along than even the current commlinks. Who wants 'ware that'll go outdated so fast?

'Sides, though you CAN wirelessly download your 'softs to your commlink.... nothing is more "stylish" than actually slotting an activesoft chip into a hole in your head before you go kung-fu on an enemy's ass, or start speaking fluent japanese.

I'd certainly want a datajack simply so I wouldn't have to worry about forgetting my trodes at work or dropping them in a toilet or something. I mean, they're trodes, they're not necessarily going to be completely unobtrusive (that's a fluff call but I hat wearing hats, I can't imagine wearing something that actually has to make contact with my skull).

Personally, I have a problem with full DNI-capable 'trodes. I would much rather them be a one way (input) device. That way, if you want DNI, get cut.

*Sigh*
As do I...

I just don't see how you can get the same level of resolutoin from infered activity as you could from a device that colonizes your brain with little sensors.

Granted I also can't see how you can throw fireballs with your mind but still..

Best I can tell, you can swap out and replace a cranial commlink almost as easily as you could change the faceplate on a cellphone. Certainly none of the GM's I've played under required anything more than a trip to the cyberdoc to do that, and I've never demanded anything else in my games.


I dunno. There's something about doing it wirelessly that's pretty cool as well. I mean, you can call up your fixer on your cranial commlink and say: "Tank, I need a pilot program for a B-212 helicopter"

QFMFT

Alas, the availability rules seem to bone you on that one.

But yeah, it's a good idea.

I actually pulled that off in a game. Mind you, I paid three times what the soft was worth, but I got it right away.