Hey all,

I'm new to SR, and have been invited to play in a troupe game with some friends.

I've chosen to be the technomancer for the group.

Problem being is that I don't know how to create a character maximized to do the job really well.

I was told the sample character in the book is kinda yuck lol, so if anyone can help me out with a build.

They told me it's good to specialize at something, so I figured cracking into systems would be good?

All help is appreciated, and thanks in advance!


SRNoob

Short answer: softmax your Resonance, and then specialize in summoning and binding Sprites. Threading and Assist Operation can be a huge help with just about anything.

Specializing Sprites is better than cracking?

And someone told me to max out as many Complex Forms at start


What's the word?

The word is that Shadowrun is a game of options. Different options have different strengths and weaknesses, so it really depends on you as a player and what you enjoy.

The other word is that Technomancers are very cool .... in the long run. Out of the box they are probably the hardest characters to build. There are many options for them, and they don't have nearly enough points for them. I compare them to older D&D mages (2nd edition and earlier mostly) where at 1st level you were very focused and limited in you ability, but your long term potential was a whole different world.

To be honest, if you are new to SR, I'd consider seeing if someone in your group with more experience will take the hacking role for now. Give you a chance to get feel for the game without jumping into one of the most complex parts of the rules set. However, if Technomancer is really what you want though, I'd suggest you search through here and read about them and the matrix. That way you can get an idea of what to expect and decide what to focus on from there.

What he said.

However, if you're going for it, then you should focus on what you can do that no one else can. That's summoning sprites. With them, you can temporarily become the ultimate cracker. Threading + Assist Operation can make up for a lot.

As far as CF's go, you want as few as possible that covers as much ground as possible. Saves on points, that way; and like Caadium said, you never have enough points. However, if you can, convince your GM to use the optional rule that makes CF's operate just like spells. They'll end up costing you less, and you'll get more rating points out of them.

Welcome! Keep an open mind when reading chargen advice hereabouts, we can be a bunch of minmaxers that take everything quite a bit too serious.

Some building advice:
- softmax Resonance. Resonance 5 is quite enough, and making a resonance 6 build "work" at 400 BP is (IMO) quite a challenge.
- CFs should be a)as high as you can get them, and b)as numerous as you can afford. Resonance 5 = (logic*2) at 5. Classic hacking TMs need Stealth, Analyse, Armor, Exploit, Spoof, minimum.
- Don´t sweat mental stats. A high fading stat (softmax) will come in handy, and without Unwired that´s a softmaxed willpower. You will rarely be detected, and no mundane security spider can even enter your living node. A bit of Charisma can´t hurt - social stuff is a good secondary occupation, and you will love any registered sprite you can get.
- skillwise you need Cracking and Electronics for groups and Compiling/Registering for skill. If in doubt - and you likely spent your allotment at this point - reduce the skill. Reduce compiling/registering last.
- If you want to do some combat, consider playing an Ork or Dwarf. If you want to do social stuff, consider playing an Elf.


Some questions:
What is your Matrix Focus (IE Hacking, Data Manipulation/Forgery, Rigging)?
What secondary field (Combat, Social) would you prefer?
What races can you imagine playing?
Does your group have Unwired?

As already mentioned, technomancers are limited at creation but have the potential to become very powerful. Keep in mind that technomancers are, IMO, even more karma dependant than mages, especially since complex forms need to be leveled up like skills (though at a lower karma cost). Another interesting side effect of being a technomancer is the character has less need for money as compared to the mundane hacker or even a mage (sprites don't cost nuyen to register unlike the need for materials to bind spirits). Unless you want to be a dronomancer, the only cash you'll need is for basic gear (guns, ammo, armor), lifestyle, a couple of cheap throw away commlinks (gotta have a place for storage and it's always best to have a decoy commlink on ya) and fake SIN's. Unwired is a must if you want a decent technomancer. Softmax your resonance and your fading resist stat. Since logic determines the maximum number of starting complex forms you can have, you may want to consider either Singularitians or Sourcerors for your stream (or make your own if the GM allows). This way you can softmax logic for more starting complex forms and better fading resistance. As for race, elves are good for the charisma (and thus better Biofeedback Filter), but I think they are a little high in BP cost for the metatype. I favor dwarves as I think they are a better value for the BP cost. Qualities are up to you, especially if you have access to Unwired and Runner's Companion. Aptitude and exceptional attribute are nice for the potential they allow later, but there are some other choices that can be fun. (I personally have a dwarf technomancer with natural hardening, class II SURGE*, sensitive system, virtual personality, reality impaired, *metagenic improvement [CHA], *extravagent eyes [silvered "whites" with pale blue iris], and *mood hair. He really doesn't do well when directly interacing with others in a non AR/VR situation.) Keep in mind that submergence is your friend. For only 29 karma, you can submerge twice and take overclocking and advanced overclocking to get 5 IP's in VR. Another 41 karma and you can submerge 2 more times and pick up swap twice to reduce the sustaining modifier for threading by 2 (one "free" threaded complex form, in addition to the assistance you can get from sprites). I only wish there was a RAW method to exchange nuyen for karma (donating to charity?).

Race-wise, I think Dwarves are the good, happy medium, as they can easily take a variety of roles on with their bonuses. They get bonuses to Body, Strength, and Willpower, and the only stat that has a 5 max is Reaction, so they could be rather good socially too, or even in combat in a pinch. Here's a Dwarf who can fill in other roles:

+ Qualities: Technomancer(5)
Choice of 5 points

- Qualities: 35 points. It's the max, but technos need the points.

Net Gain: 20 BP

Starting BP: 425

25 BP: Dwarf

Body: 3(10)
Agility: 3(20)
Reaction: 3(20)
Strength: 3(0)
Charisma: 4(30)
Intuition: 3(20)
Logic: 5(40)
Willpower: 5(30)
Resonance: 5
Edge: 2

This is a total of 245 BPs total, bringing your total from 425 down to 180.

4 Charisma is nice for sprites, and he can hang socially, too. A 3 agility will help him swing a knife or shoot a gun, if you want(a skill of Automatics(SMGs) 2(+2) is only 10 BP, and with a smartlink, he'd throw 9 dice, which is fine for secondary.) Nice Willpower, solid Logic for CFs. You could swap the Reaction point to bump up his Charisma again, as well, for a nice 5. His Body of 3 will enable him to at least wear fair armor without taking a penalty.

For other things:

Contacts: 8 BP
Resources: 8 BP(40,000)

This will leave 164 BP for CFs and active skills. Skills could be:

Compiling: 5(20)
Registering: 5(20)
Cracking Group: 3(30)
Dodge(Ranged): 1(+2)(6)
Etiquette(Choose): 2(+2)(10)
Negotations(Bargain): 2(+2)(10)
Automatics(SMGs): 2(+2)(10)
Perception: 2(
Pilot Ground Craft: 3(12)

This is 126, and it leaves 38 BPs for CFs. For backup skills alone he tosses around 7/9 dice socially, 9 dice with a smartlinked SMG, and has his sprite skills nice and high. Pilot Ground will enable him to drive around ground drones. 38 BPs for CFs should suffice due to Threading. You could knock off those extra 5 BPs I left up there for + qualities, and get another 5 BPs for CFs should you want them.

Again, it's tricky to build one with 400, but IMO this could be a workable build. But I have to say that yeah, if you are new, maybe a more experienced player can take this role until you learn the ropes of SR4, unless indeed, you reaaaly want to play one.

This build is missing the Electronics Group of skills. Depending on your concept you might not want Hardware as much, but Computer, Data Search, and Software are all important. At the minimum you will want computer and especially software. Computer is a skill used on a number of wireless rolls, and software is your ability to thread.

There are 2 things that make a technomancer special. I'd consider dropping the Compiling and Registering of sprites to a 3 in order to free up some points for that other thing; threading. I'd also free up a few other skill points. Because of their skill needs need (Electronics Group, Cracking Group, and Tasking Group ... or whatever minimal skills from those groups you choose) it is important to focus your concept early. If you want to be something of a face / technomancer go for it, but you'll need to drop just about all combat related skills. Points must be heavily rationed for technomancer builds. It's not very vialbe to make a socially adept, combat competent, good hacking technomancer. At least not out of the gate. Pick your focus, and run with it.

One of the Saturday night players is attempting to make a Troll TM. I have no idea how he is going to fit that into 400 points.

I've thought about it. It's not much harder than any other metatype really. Trolls cost 15 bp more than Dwarfs, and using the above example you use a troll with a minimum body (saving 10 points, leaving us only 5 more points down). Then you pick a Will focus for your Technomancer, drop your Cha to 3 and Logic to 4 (20 bp points saved, so now we are 15 ahead of that build), and while we are at it we can soft max Int at 4 and Will at 5 (this costs 10 bp, but all in all we are still +5 bp ahead of the dwarf build).

Tweak and focus the skills a bit more (probably lose some of the social skills, and add in electronics), and viola you've got a troll technomancer.

Thats just a quick example of how to do it. Remember, trolls and orks make better technomancers than hackers in some ways. The lower Cha affects their biofeedback filter, but if they go for a dodge focus regarding their living persona this shouldn't be as big of a deal. The lower system rating affects the amount of CFs they can start with, but CFs aren't limited by System as with a real commlink. Furthermore, the way matrix rolls work (skill + program / cf) means they won't be relying on Logic as much for the logic skills.

Well, he doesn't need to touch his Body or Strength, so that's some freed up points. If i did the stats:

B: 5
A: 3
R: 3
S: 5
C: 3
I: 3
L: 4(30)
W: 5(40)
R: 5
E: 2

Total BP: 200
Troll: 40
+30 BP Negative Qualities(430 to start)
BP Left: 190
Also gets his Thermo Vision, and +1 Natural Armor.

Compared to some other races technos Ive seen he can actually carry his own shoes and take a hit. He'd make a pretty ideal on-the-spot technomancer, even if he didn't have any combat skills.

i'll throw a quick 6 resonance TM into the ring, here... it does have some very hefty disadvantages however.

Race: human (you may wish to trade in for dwarf, lose a point of edge, and gain 5 BP and a point of strength... but imo, 1 edge is a bit dangerous)

Str 2 (10)
Bod 3 (20)
Agi 2 (10)
Rea 2 (10)
Cha 4 (30)
Int 4 (30)
Log 5 (40)
Wil 4 (30)

Edg 2(0)
Res 6 (65)
Ess 6.00

Cost so far: 245 BP

Complex Forms: (10 @ 6 BP each): 60 BP

Skills:
Dodge 2(ranged +2) (10)
Compiling 4(spec +2) (18)
Registering 4 (spec +2) (18)
Perception 1 (4)
Electronics 3 (30)
Cracking 3 (30)
Con 1 (4)

Cost so far: 419

Qualities:
35 points negative (in debt highly recommended)
technomancer (5)

cost so far: 389

leaving 11 points for contacts, resources (probably only 1-2 points, or 0 if in debt) and extras of your choice. i highly recommend a friendly free sprite as a contact... it will save you tons on submersion costs. a TM tribe may also be useful, or at least a submersion group. you could also save a few points by removing specialisations until after gameplay starts, and spend them elsewhere, or even lose a little on the attributes (note: this guy is not useful in a fight at all. he has dodge for a reason: your first action should be to full dodge and find a deep, dark hole to hide in, preferably with a reinforced concrete lid. this is a purely matrix-oriented technomancer)
(also: you may find surge to be a useful quality. it lets you cram in extra negative qualities in exchange for extra positive qualities)

this build would probably work best if you have access to arsenal, particularly the PMV section. make your PMV as hard to destroy as you are capable, and stay in it as much as possible.

Are technomancers viable with Karmagen considering the new errata?

At character gen, you shouldn't be spending BP on specializations. They should be bought with Karma after you earn it.

that's a nice opinion, but it isn't necessarily always the best choice.

dodge 2 is pretty much useless. dodge 4 is way too expensive for this guy. dodge 2(+2 ranged) gives the effects of dodge 4 most of the time (hopefully nobody does manage to get close, but if they do he's hosed real good), and will hopefully keep the TM alive long enough to last through to actually getting some karma.

if, on the other hand, you're referring to the other specialisations, then you could potentially wait. the character is probably able to be effective enough without them (particularly if you use those skill points to improve compiling to 5, for example) but i did mention that in my little blurb at the bottom about tweaking the character.

Seriously? You wouldn't spend 2 BP for +2 dice on using Wheeled Ground Vehicles, or Semi-Automatic Pistols?


Or are you stating how you feel people would play the game in your ideal world?

what he means is that the BP-to-Karma ratio of specialisations is terrible. 2 BP for a specialisation or 2 Karma for a specialisation = 1:1, which is not very good.

for example, let's go with attributes, assuming we compare all costs as if we're starting from 0 (under the new system, for a human; incidentally, for some metatypes this "efficiency rating" can go much higher in some attributes, particularly for trolls and body or strength)


for 2: 10 BP, 10 karma (1:1) (note that this is the worst efficiency, and is still as good as specialisations)
for 3: 20 BP, 25 karma (1:1.25)
for 4: 30 BP, 45 karma (1:1.5)
for 5: 40 BP, 70 karma (1:1.75)
for 6: 65 BP, 100 karma (1:1.54) <== the actual efficiency of going from 5 to 6 is worse than this value, this is just a comparison

normally it would be a bad choice to boost resonance to 6 (as compared to 5), but because we also have 10 complex forms at 6 it actually becomes efficient (complex forms are in fact one of the most efficient expenditures of BP you can make, since it costs so much karma to actually improve them... for example:

rating 1: 1 BP, 2 karma (1:2) <== note this is already higher than any of the attribute ratios
rating 2: 2 BP, 4 karma (1:2)
rating 3: 3 BP, 10 karma (1:3.33)
rating 4: 4 BP, 18 karma (1:4.5)
rating 5: 5 BP, 28 karma (1:5.6)
rating 6: 6 BP, 40 karma (1:6.67)

if you were wondering, the 1:6.67 ratio is *extremely* high. there is a reason it is important to buy as many of your complex forms as you can (that you want) right at chargen, and this is it. this is also the reason it's actually a really good idea to set resonance to 6, *if* you can afford it (and provided you're buying enough complex forms... iirc, it's something like 7 or 8 to break even)

so in a manner of speaking, he's right... it really isn't an efficient use of BP to spend them on specialisations. in general, a specialisation should only be used if it's absolutely necessary, which in the case of the TM above for dodging, i would personally say it is.

One faux-question; my GM told us that you couldn't spend more than 200 on attributes at character creation...?

Wish I had thought of that. However, I don't get how this save you submersion costs.

Edge and Resonance don't count against that limit.

A lot of Submersion ordeals involve working with a Free Sprite of some sort. An ordeal will lower your Submersion cost by 20%. This can really add up quickly, into a huge karma savings.

...

I was thinking Great Hacks and TM network submersions. Actually, I can't recall very many ordeals that require free sprites. Evisceration, source code, and resonance realm search, to name some of the others. None of those require sprites at all.

...Huh?

They don't, it's clear if you examine the sample characters in the core book. Edge and Resonance doesn't count against the limit, and that's what'll put you over 200.


Reassembling. What's more, it can be repeated, thereby creating Mecha-Bloodzilla.

Not to derail, but what is the most efficient BP to Karma trade off? Top of my head, Power Foci are the winners, coming in at 1:8 to bond. Certain Cyberware come pretty close.

indeed. in fact, not only does this mean that you have extremely easy access to a friendly free sprite for your ordeals, it also means that you have a contact who can perform the services of a registered sprite, including sustaining threading, assist operation, etc and is willing to take payment in the form of registered sprites... ie time spent at your leisure. compare the difficulty level of great hack to registering a rating 3 sprite (which you can attempt repeatedly) or handing off a sprite with only 1 service left to the free sprite. heck, you can even use the registered sprite to pay for services from the free sprite, *and* get your submersion ordeal out of the way as an added benefit. and as cain implies, your free sprite friend *may* start off as rating 1 or 2 even, but it will very quickly become a very strong ally if you trade services to it even remotely often... allowing it to increase it's rating and eventually offer even better services. and you can just keep an extra instance of your persona running in it's node (or even just some random node that you mutually agree to use) for it to provide it's services through.

essentially, it's just so good it makes every other ordeal look bad except as a roleplaying experience.

the amount of mileage a TM can get from a free sprite friend is just so much, it's almost crazy not to spend the BP on a free sprite contact.

That was directed more at my GM, not you.



Yes, reassembling. That's one; that's the one task that requires a sprite...

As for what I would suggest, the Analytical Mind quality. I sure wish I took this at character creation, because I really want it now. Depending upon the concept, I'd also look into the paragons. Be careful with the negatives, though; a lot of them are unpredictable.

Here is an extreme version of a starting Technomancer, from which you could pull back to give some rounding out of attributes and skills. He is more likely to be an off-site hacker, as he does not do well in combat (at start, he is a complete physical gimp), but with a Sprite-piloted Horseman you can at least keep up with the team while you do your mojo. This build tries to max out efficiencies you get from character creation in the BP system for a Technomancer. Capping Resonance is cheaper in BP's than Karma, now, with the SR4a 5x rule, and lets you get higher rated Complex Forms at CharGen, which saves enormous Karma from upgrading, as well as giving 1 die for resisting Fading and for Threading, Compiling, etc.

Later on, if reducing your Resonance only reduces the effective rating of your complex forms and not their actual rating so that you won't have to buy them back up, you can Submerge once, buy one Essence worth of cyber/bio (including the best possible cybergrade of Skillwires-4 you can get) and spend 30 karma to bring the Resonance back up to 6.

Anyway, it can be changed to taste, hope that it helps with character design. Of course, actually PLAYING a Technomancer is a whole different question, for which I have few answers, being generally a mage instead.

Remote Technomancer

Human

Positive Qualities (+35)

Technomancer (+5) Logic Based Stream
Changeling: SURGE II (+10) : Metagenetic Improvement (Logic) +20, Impaired (Body) -5, Impaired (Strength) -5 (Metagenetic Improvement increases the Max AND MIN of the stat by 1. That is insanely good)

20 Points out of the following 30 points of choices depending on role (cybercombat, spotter, compiler, etc.)

Analytical Mind (+5) (for Data Search)
Paragon (+5) (for any of the action and sprite bonuses, as appropriate)
Codeslinger (+10) (especially for hacking or cybercombat)
Home Ground (+10) (for working with sprites or doing coding)
Perceptive (+5, +10) (Matrix perception)

Negative Qualities (-35)

In Debt (-20) (Gives you 20k starting in return for 3k a month, which is not bad, especially since he can hack his lifestyle each month. A Techno doesn't have too much gear he has to buy with his payouts other than drones, maybe vehicles, and possibly cyber and hacked activesofts (if he is willing to lose Resonance), too, so In Debt is a good deal overall.)
-15 Points of other Negative Qualities (Could be more In Debt if you want to buy more things at start, like, maybe, clothes.)

Attributes (+130)

B 1
S 1
A 1
R 1
W 4 (+30)
I 3 (+20)
L 6 (+40)
C 5 (+40)

Special Attributes (+65)

Edge 2
Resonance 6 (+65)

Skills (+128)
Electronics Group 4 (+40)
Cracking Group 4 (+40)
Compiling 6 (+24)
Registering 4 (+16)
Any skill at 1 (+4)
Any skill at 1 (+4)

27 Points of free Knowledge/Language Skills

Complex Forms (+72)
12 Rating 6 Complex Forms (which ones will depend on your role, I'll let others opine on that, but at least take Analyze so that you can see what is in the node)

Contacts (+5)
Free Sprite Connection 1 (So you can always reach him)/Loyalty 4

Gear (from In Debt)
Daiatsu-Caterpillar Horseman w/ advanced cargo module 17,000
Fake SIN 3 3,000
With more points of In Debt, can get clothes, drones or other gear, as needed. Hack your lifestyle rather than buying it, though.