Character Name:

Metatype (race):

Where are you from:

What do you do:

Why are you in the shadows:

Why does something in your life need to change:

Three people who you care for or care about you (don't have to be contacts):

Three people who dislike you:

One old enemy you defeated (may be dead, incarcerated, unknown fate, in hiding, or licking his wounds to come back for another day - your choice):

Your greatest victory in the Shadows (the big score):

Your greatest defeat (the run that went to heck):

Any old enemies still around?:

How did you come by your fancy gear?:

How did you come by your fancy training?:

Is there something you don't like about yourself?

Being a runner is rarely someone's dream - more often it just happens. What was your actual dream for your future before you became a runner?:

Draft rules for Android 'metatype'

First, forget the rules in Augmentation and Unwired for cyborgs and AIs... this is a different breed - an AI that developed in a human-like android.

Essentially, Androids are constructed like normal characters with the following changes:

Racial BP cost: 100bp

Base attributes (note that you cannot have cyber or bio ware, so augmented caps are irrelevant):

Physical:
Strength: base 4, cap at 12
Agility: base 4, cap at 10
Body: base 4, cap at 15
Reaction: base 4, cap at 9

Mental:
Logic: base 1, cap at 9.
Intuition: base 1, cap at 9.
Charisma: base 1, cap at 6.

Special:
Edge: base 1, cap at 6
# of Initiative passes = (1 + (Reaction / 3)). Always round down
(You have no essense score and consequently can never have a magic or resonance score)

Magic treats you as an object - as if you were a drone.
Your positronic brain is a Node that contains as data your personality, memories, etc.
It is assumed that for security you burned out your wireless adapter at some point, but you can't do anything about the datajack in your skull. Your stats as a node are:
Firewall = Logic
System = Intuition
Response = Reaction

Matrix use: you may use a commlink like a 'normal person' - ie with programs, a persona, etc - though only via AR through physical means (gloves, etc). If you wish, you may plug a commlink into your datajack, in which case you are simply using it as a router, and thus opening yourself to having your brain hacked. All matrix use in this fashion is skill+attribute (your mind is the program). You may encrypt your brain with an encryption rating equal to your logic. When using a connection to your positronic brain, you are always considered to be in 'hot-sim'

Software use: You may run any sensor software directly in your brain. You may run data-softs in your brain as if they were knowsofts. Know-softs do not function for you. You may use active-softs as if you had expert system skillwires with a rating equal to Intuition * 0.66 with natural rounding.

You may not have any cyber or bio ware. You start with basic sensors of two cameras, 2 microphones, and a pressure detection system giving you a fascimile of a sense of touch - no sense of smell or taste. You may install additional purchased sensors up to a capacity as if you were a medium sized drone. (your initial sensors may be improved with the standard visual/audio upgrades as well). You may apply drone/vehicle upgrades to your body as if you were a drone with a body rating equal to your body attribute - but you CANNOT give yourself higher than a rating 3 armor upgrade (I highly recommend using this to take the upgrade that gives you synthetic skin).

Your body without upgrades looks like a titanium-alloy endoskeleton (looks like a t-800 endoskeleton from the Terminator movies)

You have a hollow compartment in your torso allowing you to eat/drink up to one gallon of material before needing to expel it. Your power source gives off enough heat that you are a constant 77 degrees farenheit. You have a hidden, retractable power cable in your buttocks that you must plug into a power source for a non-consequtive total of 42 hours a week. You have a low radioactive signature. You do not have to sleep, eat, drink, breathe, etc. However, your insides are not waterproof, so if you open your mouth underwater you are in trouble.

Your AI consciousness is partially a result of the unique nature of your positronic brain - so if that is destroyed, you are dead. You therefore suffer dumpshock as normal. You do not know if your body is replacable or not. Your mind is constantly reworking your system protocals and drivers - this is represented by your ability to alter physical statistics through karma.

You do not 'naturally' have armor, you have to get that from an upgrade or from wearing armor meant for metahumans.

Damon Raxle is a human looking Ork martial artist/adept male. Relatively old for an Ork, 33, he appears like a large rugged human toughguy (Picture Brian Fury from Tekken). He was born in a typical Ork litter but because he was human looking, a fanatical Ork attempted to kill Damon and his family in an honor style killing when he was a teenager. Damon was able to fight off the attacker and the attacker fled, after killing everyone else in his family. The murder was somehow pinned on Damon and he spent the next 15 years in the prison system. About 4 years ago the case was reopened and it was discovered in fact that Damon was not guilty of the crime and he was exonerated. However, he was less than perfect in prison and now has the stain of a criminal SIN.

The martial art I think I'll be doing will be boxing because it's easy to fit into the story. He was involved in a prison boxing program and that's where he learned his MA skills. He discovered his Killing Hands (Adept ability) when he unintentionally killed his opponent in a very competitive fight during his prison boxing days. I'm thinking he may not even know that he's an Adept, just that he can really whoop some ass.

Oh, and he is going to have a fake SIN at the least where he goes by Nick Sandine. I'm thinking he'll have some fake profession licenses (at least one) and so forth tied to Nick Sandine's SIN.

I'll try to come up with more soon, but please offer any input if you feel like it.

AI Character stats:

BP cost: 30

CHA: 1 (cap at 6)
INT: 1 (cap at 6)
LOG: 2 (cap at 7)
WIL: 1 (cap at 6)
Edge: 1 (cap at 6)

Cost of attributes are doubled - including edge

Initiative: As matrix initiative, but always Three IPs regardless of situation. (not four like cyborgs have)

Skills: as a character

Home node must be a commlink built into an anthropod drone - purchase commlink as normal.

Home node stats are affected as follows:
Response: increase by Intuition/3
Signal: increase by Charisma/3
System: increase by Logic/3
Firewall: increase by willpower/3

Should your home node be changed, these effects take place after you complete an extended test of Int+reality filter (10, 1 day)

You must purchase/maintain programs as normal. Use of skillsofts is allowed as if you have a set of expert system skillwires with a rating equal to your Intuition. Use of autosofts may or may not be allowed on a case-by-case basis -> those shouldn't replace skills.

Every week you go without a home node, your charisma is reduced by 1. If it becomes 0, you are destroyed forever.

Your Matrix condition monitor is = to half your logic score + 8.
If you are disrupted (all boxes filled), you are trapped at the location you were when attacked as you attempt to reinitialize your higher thought functions with a willpower+charisma(3 combat turns) extended test - each hit restoring one box of damage. Should you take more damage as you are in this vulnerable state, you have a number of overflow boxes equal to your system rating. Once the overflow is filled, you are destroyed.
If you are damaged but not disrupted, you may return to your home node to heal, making a willpower+charisma(1 day) extended test with each hit healing one box of damage.
If a node you are in goes offline, you may escape through an open matrix connection with an Intuition+Edge(3) test.
If you fail to escape (or there is no connection to another node) your matrix condition modifier has all boxes filled (but no overflow boxes) and you must reinitialize on reboot of the node.

If the drone body that serves as your home node has its condition track filled, your home node goes offline.

Drone body notes:

Attack with non-mounted weapon: weapon skill + sensor
Attack with mounted weapon: gunnery+sensor
defense: Response (full defense is response+vehicle skill)
Damage resistance: Body+armor
Infiltration: Infiltration+response
Initiative: Response+Intuition
Maneuvering: vehicle skill + Response
Perception: Perception + (sensor or intuition - whichever is lower)

Operational time of 6 hours + mods, as per Arsenal drone rules

Glitch may be a fuel cell running low

Drone body = strength

1) Based on home node. You naturally exist as a persona, so the node that you are existing on determines firewall and system (you yourself cannot be hacked, but can be 'killed' via cybercombat or if your node is physically destroyed while you are unable to escape)

2) Spare battery packs would be covered under the 'extra fuel tank' option in Arsenal I think. You can also just plug in to a powersource (I can easily see having the spoofed gridguide connection in order to 'steal' power from the city's powergrid wirelessly). Also, with a hardware check (8, 10 minutes) you could make a quick and dirty connection to a gas-powered vehicle's alternator (I say hardware because whereas a drone charger uses the future equivalent of AC, vehicles probably would use DC - its a matter of charging your system without using the AC adapter basically - and you'd require a pretty specific voltage to not damage sensitive components - like modern electronics do).

3) I believe that Industrial mechanic would cover an anthropod - if for no other reason than because it is a seldom used skill, and I know that there is a huge difference between robotics and automotives. For the skin, if you read the entry under the drone modification that gives you a skin, it says that it is actual organic flesh grown over your endoskeleton - so for that I would say you need the Cybertech active skill and the Genetic Design knowledge skill (representing the knowledge of how to culture the organic materials).

4) Note that the free skillwires are actually referred to as "Expert System Skillwires" - which means that you can use your edge with them. Also note that due to the edge component of the roll to escape a crashing node, edge becomes doubly able to allow pseudo-immortality. My thought process was that this would balance the fact that it is much much more difficult to kill you than any other character-type (essentially, if you cut off your wireless and are running an agent to open a connection to the matrix as soon as your drone body takes X amount of damage, all it takes is that Int+edge roll (which doesn't even require spending edge) for you to not risk death - whereas any other character would have to burn edge stat to cheat death... and you further still have the same 'cheat-death' option that other characters have. This just makes taking the burn-edge option more costly, which since you 9 times out of 10 have a free cheat-death, I feel is appropriate.

5) I meant to include this, thanks for catching it. Since Dermal Plating and Orthoskin cap out at Rating 3 if I'm not mistaken, I'd rule that you can't have any more than rating 3 armor inherently without being obviously a drone.

6) My interpretation of how the solar panels would work in your case is that the 'paint' is applied to your chassis, which is then covered with the organic tissue from the other modification. Organic tissue naturally allows certain spectrums of solar radiation through (this is what causes skin cancer, sunburn, etc). That is the spectrum you would be drawing energy from, so its a non-issue. Further, if you just want fiberoptic hair so you can change the color, add +1000 nuyen and +2 availability to the mod that gives you the organic covering (or to the drone itself if that mod is standard equipment. Speaking of which, that drone will be ruled as being an exception to the cap of Avail 20, so long as you keep spending the karma for each successive four points of avail - I do that because the drone is an inherent part of the concept, and since I'm charging you 30bp just for the pleasure of being an AI anyway)

7) Maneuvering replaces Athletics for you. Melee dodge is Response+Weapon Skill. If a full defense melee dodge (costing your next IP), it is response+weapon skill+vehicle skill.

Negative qualities I will allow with a BP bonus determined on a case by case basis. The positive AI qualities are generally very powerful and intended to be used as plot devices - so the BP cost would be too high for a situational use anyway for me to feel comfortable allowing them (IE: they would almost certainly be unbalanced in one direction or the other)

P.S.) For those attributes, I'm ruling that it is always round down. This is because from a game mechanic perspective, your mental attributes rarely come into play - so this is to make having higher attributes more desirable even should you play a combat-type rather than a 'trixter type. The home node bonus already gives you an advantage over hackers and unsubmerged technomancers, so making the +1 available for only 20BP to raise your stat to a 2 (the equivalent of a non-AI character's 10BP, since you don't have to worry about physical stats at all. I realize that you have to buy the drone, but the mods to the drone are significantly cheaper than equivalent cyber/bio-ware). Further, the balance to the increased logic cap is that it was done primarily to make it easier to get the +2 to home node system for having a 6 statistic.


Whew, lots of typing If you disagree with any of my reasons, please let me know

2) I believe "Extra Fuel Tank" would refer to an extra internal battery. I was referring to carrying around a spare battery, and taking the depleted battery out, and putting the new battery in while on reserve power. If I can plug into an external generator, could I carry a spare battery taped to the small of my back, or in a backpack and plug it in when need be?

5) I would think that drones would not just be limited by their artificial skin, though. Metahumans can have bone density augmentation, or bone lacing. Both are internal rating that increase their soak, and some ratings/variates add armour rating as well. Likewise, a drone should be able to have reinforced internal structures, armoured plates underneath the skin, upraded construction materials, etc. These things are not just limited to the skin, as both dermal plating and orthoskin are, but realistically would not be noticeable and would have an impact on the rating of armour. If you disagree with this point, I shan't push the issue further.

Other note: Would you accept a weakened version of the "Designer" positive quality?

Another Note: Is it possible to upgrade sensor rating? It seems logically possible to me, but there are no rules for doing so. In my own games, I houserule that upgrades cost the same and have the same availability as Response upgrades. Would you consider something similar?

On another topic, parts for repair are availability 24R and cost 1500nY per health box to be repaired. Could I preperchase spare parts at chargen, so I don't need to go looking for them later, when I am badly damaged? If so, would I pay karma for availability for each box worth of parts, or just once for all the parts? Or could the karma cost be included in the karma cost of the drone itself?

I'd allow a battery pack approximately 1ftx1ftx.5ft (roughly the size of a lunchbox) at availability 6, cost of 400 nuyen. It would give up to one hour of non-stenuous operation (it is not as efficient as your internal battery, so some power is lost) or half an hour of strenuous operation (basically, things that would require maneuverability checks: running, jumping, combat, and the like.). This is essentially a car battery, and is pretty heavy. You may optionally eek one extra hour (halved for strenuous activity) out of it, but doing so ruins the internal energy cells of the battery to the point that it can't be recharged and must be replaced. If recharged, it only takes thirty minutes to attain full charge. Also, a milspec version of the power cell meant to be used for portable C&C emergency power is available at avail 12R and a 6000 nuyen cost, and follows the same rules except that the operating time is 6hours (halved for strenuous operation) - it is still ruined by only one hour of use following the six hours should it not be recharged.

The decision about the armor ratings being capped at three was primarily a balance one. You can wear armor like any other character, and other characters only have available to them a 3 armor point increase beyond that (bone augmentation adds to body checks or to situational armor). There are significant advantages to being an AI/Cyborg already, so I wanted to try to keep armor levels realistic (since by Arsenal you can add stupid amounts of armor to vehicles/drones without taking any more modification slots than the first point of armor). I'm willing to meet you partway on this, and increase the allowed armor rating to a four.

Designer Quality: I'll get back to you on this after I've had adequate time to digest the consequences of allowing a weakened version later today.

As per Arsenal, Sensor rating is upgraded as follows: Every drone comes with sensors that are worth its normal rating. However, the capacity those sensors take up can be used instead for better sensors (see the chart in SR4, it gives capacity for drones by size). If you throw out the old stuff and put higher rating sensors in, the sensor rating becomes the average (round down) of the ratings of the new sensors (sensors without ratings count as the drone's original sensor rating numerically). There is also a mod that can get you more capacity for sensors as if you were one size larger than you actually are.

Repair Parts: It is very difficult for you to 'guess' beforehand what parts are going to be damaged - it'd be like my purchasing extra alternators, radiators, and hoses for my car... but when it breaks it turns out to be a spun bearing instead. So the only way to buy repair parts beforehand would be to buy another vanilla Otomo drone to use for spare parts (it'd be worth the number of boxes in its health track as you cannibalize it for parts). My personal suggestion is that you take a decently loyal contact who has access to milspec robotics parts. A friend would go to great lengths to help you out if you were in such dire need, and stolen parts are cheaper anyway.

Name: Damon Raxle
Alias: Nick Sandine
Age: 33
Race: Ork (20BP)
Appearance: Eastern European Looking w/short mostly gray salt and pepper hair with widow’s peak, and blue eyes.
Sex: Male

Lifestyle:

Attributes: (280BP)

B: 6 C: 3 Edge: 4
A: 5 I: 4 Magic: 5
R: 5 (7) L: 3 Init: 9 (11)
S: 4 W: 4 Init Passes: 3

Skills: (118BP)

Firearms: 1 (10 Karma)
Athletics: 3
Perception: 2
Intimidation: 4
Hardware: 4
Infiltration: 3
Shadowing: 2
Palming: 2

Unarmed Combat (Boxing): 5 (7) +2DV Advantage from Boxing (2 Karma for the specialization)

Knowledge Skills: (21 Free BP)


Qualities: (+5BP)

Adept
Human Looking
SINner (Criminal)
Sensitive System
Martial Art 2 (Boxing)

Adept Powers: (5 essence)

Killing Hands
Critical Strike 3
Penetrating Strike 3 (Street Magic – gives -3AP to Unarmed Strikes)
Improved Reflexes 2

Martial Art Maneuvers: (8BP)

Finishing Move
Set-Up
Riposte
Watchful Guard

Total at 29 BP and 18 Karma remaining.

Mark "Screamer" Flint.

Mark ,although he knows its not his real name, life started in early 2069 the 4th of January to be precise. When he awoke alone in a coffin motel with a fake SIN calling him a Mark Flint middle manger of a small boxing company. He had a weeks rent a the motel and during his first few days his sleep was plagued with visions of his past. These left him with many questions as one told him his real name although this was quickly lost in the fog of memory. His only perstions a cheap comlink, a silver credstick, some cheap flats and a set of worn dog tags.

His dreams when he finally gets to sleep a plagued with visions of his past. One so common that he can play it back to him self on a mental command. He's stood in a node the alarm ringing though his head unable to move or to escape the matrix as he feels his head explode then it blank. The others are blurry image of bars, faces and nodes never making sense to him always fading from his mind when he wakes.

The first year of his life mark got a normal job working a way in a sweat shop for next to nothing. This didn't last long as his probing in his past dug up more and more questions. He met a fixer called Opinicus in a small bar in the barrens. This was his first step into the shadows. The two got along almost like brothers and in return for a few basic courier jobs Opinicus said he'd try and look into his past for him.

On his first courier run he emerged in the chaotic AR scape of downtown at first he though he'd gone insane or a flash back of some type the city around had turned to an emerald parricide. His rediscovery of this talent was just as hard as the first time, or so he assumes not even sure if there was a first time, the vague images floating in the air a constant buzz driving him mad. At first he thought it was all part of the mental suffering his scorched brain but after he released he could control his comlinks music from a across the room. Up on telling Opinicus about this he was informed that that was the AR view of the city. As he became more sensitive to the matrix he found he could mentally brake though firewalls and control nodes and drones with only his mind.

He was drifting around the 'trix when he came across a node about a small religion worshiping chaos this group of like minded Discordains informed him of there religion on there own way. By embracing the chaos around him Mark grew in power.

By this time Opinicus was giving him small time data steals and other hacks. The other major turning point in his life was when given a job to help a low level assassination it failed the team was killed in meat and he fled after turning the security drones against the mark killing him in a hail of LMG fire. Not knowing what had happened to the rest of the team. The hit was on a small time mafia boss who was treading on to many toes. This small boss was favored by the local don how vowed to kill those who helped in this plot on hearing this Mark went in to hiding laying low and slowly building up an identity from scratch only Opinicus stood by him now after the rest of his contacts wanted nothing to do with Mark Flint now called Screamer a wannabe go-ganger. Screamer carried on his run in the shadows slowly building up a reputation for him self the Don still hunting Mark Flint realized that Screamer fit the description he had for the assassin. Abducted form his apartment screamer was given a chose between being hosed down by the same drone he had use to kill the up and coming boss or a suicidely run against Lone Star to remove and destroy data they had on the mafia and plant some data against the other crime syndicates the he area. Saying he’d have to think it over the sank in to VR and hack in to the drone (his hidden back door was still there) he then said he rather die than help out this Don but when the drone was ordered to kill Mark the filled the guards and then the don with lead.

Screamer is a Dwarf and takes his name form his motor cycle modded so that at a push of a button its front grill opens and produces a sound like the WW2 stooker diver bombers at speed.

He all ways carries a (or keeps some where safe) his chaos star pedant that ass well as having deep person meaning as a symbol of his beliefs also contains a data chip witch he keeps heavily encrypted at all times.

Screamer is stat wise a cyberadept but fluff wise he focus the chaotic nature of the matrix to help him accomplish his tasks his sprites are made of ever changing code taking the form that is best for that very second. When braking though firewalls he watches the swelling code probing it for weakness then strikes at many different weak points till one gives way.

Scramers bike is dear to him it was the first thing he brought when change his identay when on the run along with his dog tags and pendant these are his only guarded items he sees all others as expendable if need be.

Good backstory - since Dons and their deaths get into cannon material we don't want to mess with, let's say it was a Consiglieri ( a Don's top advisor) since those are just as important/well-protected but wouldn't require a re-write of Don Rowena's history. Bonus karma amount is being PMed to you.

Im taking the source code tast so that -2.6 round up from my cost of submersion so 10 karma taking overclocking as my echo.
and I'm also spending 10 karma on a parigon the flow with the +1 to data sprites.
leaving me with 2karma

Screamer to show devotion the his discordian fellows produced a pice of code this code is a small program and Chaos Sphere that runs a fully active discodian candler and both forms of clock. The program its self is public assessable (but not copyable) at the same obscure node he found as well as both in his pendent, comlink and encrypted on his online storage as part of is premium MSP package.
After delving in to flow of the matrix Scream not only became 33% faster in the matrix but found the flow with the power granted by this discovery he could access the matrix in a deeper way. He was able to thread new complexforms with ease and his data sprites where just a bit more powerful.