Hello everyone,

I have registered with this forum because it is the only Shadowrun forum that I can find that is relatively active. If possible please give me tips about making my first character a Rigger and FaceMan. I have never played Shadowrun before.

Really the 4e book is scattered at best but I am really wanting to try the game and our GM is insisting on 4e. Tips on where to put my stats, points and skills would be greatly appreciated. Also drones and stuff that come in handy would be cool too.

So far in the group has a Technomancer, Street Samurai, and possibly a sniper-gunman if the guy decides to play. I was thinking that a faceman-rigger would help out with contacts and some extra firepower and recon ability.

Thanks in advanced.
Graushwein

My goodness this book is F'd up! You'd think that they'd give descriptions of what the attributes do in the character generation section! Instead I have to compile the skills that I think I'll use and see what attributes they have in common to build my character. How backwards!

Descriptions of attributes are in Game Consepts/Shadowrunning by numbers at page 60.
2 and 3 are considered to be normal level in any attribute for humans. Metatypes have modifiers on top of that.

I've never played rigger but attributes that are important are logic (for technical stuff), reaction (for driving), and charisma (for social side).
Electronics, mechanic and influence skill groups are worth looking. And usually rigger has at least pilot groundcraft and maybe other pilot skills depending what kind of character you want.
Get good commlink and programs. You should have Analyze(for noticing things), Command(for direct controll of drones), Encrypt(for securing your own connections).
Someone who has actually played rigger could give better advice about programs.
Every character should have perception skill, so that you will notice whats happening around you.

Cyber and bio you might consider:
(Implanted) Commlink pg. 330
Controll rig pg. 331
Datajack pg. 331
Cerebral booster pg. 339

If you have Arsenal there are lot more interesting cyber and in Unwired more stuff about matrix and rigging.

Sample Characters Archive. Look at post #7 for a rather pure rigger with solid charisma. You would need to add some means of matrix defense, either by IC/agents or a team hacker. You would also want to add dodge.

Get yourself a rating 6 Furby Emotitoy. That adds an instant +6 tp your social tests. If you really want to boost it, have your otaku summon up a force 5 Machine Sprite, and have it possess your toy, for a total of +11 dice. That makes for an instant face, right there. Emotitoys can also be drone-rigged, so you can use them for recon.

@Graushwein: Using an Emotitoy to gain superior social pools usually gurantees a nerfing discussion, and that would harm your concept if it relied on a +6dp. Yes, they are that good. Using them in a fresh game (without working balance consensus) is just a setup for future frustration.

(Your TM would indeed be able to have a machine sprite use the Diagnostics power on the emotitoy, resulting in a +(hits from 2*rating) dp mod for the next test.)

Would it be worth it to be a technomancer?

Generally speaking, the answer is no.

If you've already got one in your party, the answer is: Hell, no!

They're such karma and BP sinks, it's hard to make one that can match a decent decker in more than one category. You can, in theory, go dedicated sprite summoner and use Machine sprites to pilot drones; but that gets expensive, and you end up not being that much more effective than a regular rigger.

BP-wise, it's cheaper to buy up the cyberware and bioware to make yourself a good face/rigger than it is to pull off the same trick using Emerged powers. Like being an adept, the key is in squeezing the most mileage out of one point of essence. It can be done, but it's definitely an advanced trick, not for beginners.

Can a regular hacker's Agents do the same thing? Because if so then that sounds like its better for a rigger to be more of a mundane hacker. But if only sprites can do this then I'd think going Technomancer to have the sprites really beef up your drones would be great. That is right? How would it work with sprites on combat drones? Again could agents do this?

Basically, no. Agents are nowhere near as capable as Sprites are. In this case, a Machine Sprite can use its Diagnostics power to give you extra dice with an electronic item. Machine Sprites also have it all over normal Pilot programs, since they can instantly create autosofts.

However, if you're want a rigger/face, you're better off going the cyber route. The problem with otaku is that they're really only good at one thing, and that's summoning sprites. They can make a decent secondary rigger or face, but doing both is really pushing things, especially if you want to be any good at the Matrix stuff.

@ Ryu & Cain: Is getting the Empathy and Lie Detection Software as bad as getting the Furby? I know the software costs more, but it still inflates your dice pool. The reason I ask this is I have a Chaos Mage with cyber eyes and ears and I'm running both of those software packages at rating 6.

As to how this relates to Graushwein is that it can boost him socially without calls of Munchkinism.

A +6 across the board improves the odds of successfully resisting social skills - the acting character can at most get even, and even then someone without natural skill will actually have enough dice to luck out. Compare "dp 2 against dp 8" to "dp 8 against dp 14". This can be seen as desireable or undesireable.

If everyone is using the empathy soft, the dp sizes change across the board. If only some do, the advantages from using it are even larger.

The balanced options are (IMO) a)removing the +x to all social skills, or b)everyone with a clue using Empathy software. That´s why the group should talk about it; afterwards everyone is aware of their existance (option b is now fair), or the dp inflation doesn´t happen (option a).

We decided on option a), as the forced usage of cheap social advisor software removes much of the appeal of playing experienced negotiators. (Things went downhill after care-bears were mentioned.) Social defense is less of an argument for us, since we use the 750 karma system, and rating 1-2 skill(groups) and Charisma 4 are cheap.

I've decided that since the group already has a Technomancer Hacker I'm not going to have good skills in hacking because I don't want to step on his toes. Besides it leaves me to concentrate on my two main goals. DRONES and Social.

Actually I am planning on going the Technomancer route just for the sprite abilities and I am streamlining it just for that. On pg 233 it says So I am doing the regular decker stuff for everything except the use of Sprites. Right now I am finalizing the last points of the character and will post it in a few minutes so that you guys can tell me where I screwed up and give tips.

For machine sprites it says "any autosoft". Does this mean that they get one autosoft or have access to all when enhabiting a drone?

That's the wrong way of putting the question. For every three full points of Force, they can choose to have one autosoft. They have access to all the autosofts, but they only get to choose one per three. So, at force 6, you can potentially have 2 autosofts, 3 at force 9, etc, etc.

Hey if I buy a defense autosoft for a drone can I use that autosoft for another duplicate drone so I only have to pay once?

For that matter can I let another player use my ActiveSoft while I'm not using it? I can't find anywhere in the book where it mentions this.

I still can't figure out what would happen if I put a sprite in a combat drone. How long would it last and what could it do better? What would be the benefits really?

Technically, yes. You'd need to crack the copy protection first (not difficult), but it can be done.

Again, yes, if you crack the copy protection. Activesofts can be stored on the skillwires themselves, and you can hold an infinite number of them. You can only have so many active at a time, though.

It would last up to 8 hours (longer if bound) and it'd replace the Pilot program. Presuming we're talking about machine sprites, it would come with a set of autosofts all its own, for free. It also doesn't need to make Comprehension tests, since it's smarter than a Pilot program-- it's significantly less likely to misinterpret your orders. Finally, Sprites have Edge, and Pilots do not. That can make a tremendous difference; especially since unlike spirits, you can command a sprite to use Edge.

That being said, the otaku/rigger is a viable combination, but it'll come at the expense of your hacking skills.

TM riggers should still have complete Autopilot software suites, as machine sprites will only have a select few autosofts available. Maneuver, Defense and Clearsight are already pushing it - forget about registering rating 9 sprites. Most pools will sit at (sprite rating+0), maybe about 7 dice. Workable, but not worthy of the required sprite service.
The machine sprite is better used to enhance the operation of a mundane autopilot. Rating 4 sprites can play, you get many more services/hour spend on registering, and can freely use the Diagnostics and Stability powers. Piloting yourself is optional.

Actually, you can bind a Force 9 Sprite, you just need to use the rush job rules, which increase your chance of botching. That being said, you;'re absolutely right that relying on a machine sprite's inherent autosofts isn't a good idea. The advantage is that you can put a rating 6 pilot into a drone with ease, even if only temporarily.

Can someone help me find these two items. I've found them referred to but I can't find the 4e books with the rules for them. Page numbers would be appreciated.

Encephalon
Simsense Booster

Thanks,

They are both in Augmentation pg 36 & 37.

OK, I've come to a dillemma on how to equip my Doberman Drones. They will have Tracer rounds too

I thinking either an Ares Alpha Assault Rifle that comes with the underbarrel Grenade Launcher. With this recoil would never be an issue.
OR
The Ares HVAR High Velocity LMG. The drone could fire two Long Bursts per action and not worry about the recoil. And if I added some creds to it it could even ignore a Full Burst, mostly.

Oh, and is it true that drones can act 3 times each iniative round?

Don't want to rain on your parade Chris but if it's not in the Core Rule Book (also known as the BBB) it's not allowed in the game yet. I've seen some suggestions on here from Unwired and/or Arsenal and the Ares HVAR is from Arsenal. Until we get a decent handle on the rules I'm not allowing any of the other source books.

OK well what about when an expansion book elaborates on something that the core book left out? Like in the Arsenal book it actually has a sidebar for what is supposed to come standard on the drones in the core book. Or how it elaborates that drones get recoil compensation equal to their body attribute?

I can work with the Core book. . . For now. Man I really love how expansive the rules, world and equipment is. Feels like my first real Sci-Fi RPG and I'm pretty crazy with anticipation because I am a Sci-Fi nut!

At least that settles my decision between the two guns seeing as one isn't in the core book! Thanks!

If this is non core books thats OK because I'd like to know in case we use the other books at some point.

Hmm, I'm looking for the rules on how to improve a drone's Sensor attribute but the arsenal just says if you improve all the ratings of the onboard sensor arrays the the sensor attribute is raised to the lowest sensor rating. But all I can find is the radar upgrade, but not the others like the camera upgrade. And I'm not sure what the max rating is. 6 I think?

Hmm, I suppose you can't upgrade the cameras to be better and you just upgrade the radar so that you have a better sensor rating? Like for a doberman drone.

EDIT:

OK I'm starting to see that it is the Radar attribut that can go up to 6. But the Doberman is a medium drone that only has 6 slots. So you could have a radar of 5 and one camera. To have better than that they would have to have the Improved Sensor Array from the Arsenal so they could hold 8 slots. Which would leave one for another upgrade. Yay I figured it out! Sometimes this game leaves a lot out and it is hard to figure out!