Just wanting to post the first character that I've built under the 4th ed. rules and see if I did everything right, and maybe get some advice on making it a better build. This post should cover almost everything, and I'll point out what I've left out at the end. I was aiming for a skilled Rigger and competent Hacker with this build, and it's kind of a stretch to fit both concepts, but here goes:

Race: Human (0)

Attributes: Str 3, Bod 3, Reac 4(6), Agi 4, Cha 3, Int 4, Log 4, Wil 3, Edge 2 (200 points)

Skills: (174)
Automotive Mechanic 2
Aerospace Mechanic 2
Cracking Skill Group 3
Electronics Skill Group 4
Gunnery 3
Perception 3
Pilot Aircraft 5
Pilot Anthroform 5
Pilot Ground Vehicle 4
Pistols 2

Knowledge Skills
To be decided later, free points.

Contacts (11)
Fixer (4 Connection/2 Loyalty)
Mechanic (1 Connection/4 Loyalty)

Qualities
Sensitive System (+15)
In Debt (+20)

Equipment (50; 250,000Y)

Gear & Lifestyle: Lined Coat, Autopicker x4, Automotive Toolkit, Automotive Workshop, Fake SIN x4, Low Lifestyle (1 month), Goggles (Flare Compensation, Low Light, Thermographic, Image Link, Smartlink, Vision Enhancement x2)

Weapons: Colt Government 2066 with Internal Smartlink, Concealable Holster, and 3 clips of ammunition - 1 each of normal, armor penetrating, and explosive.

Augmentations: Control Rig, Datajack, Reaction Enhancers x2

Matrix Gear: Transys Avalon commlink (Firewall 5, System 5, Response 5, Signal 5), Hot Sim Module, AR Gloves

Programs: Analyze 5, Browse 5, Command 5, ECCM 5, Encrypt 5, Exploit 5, Scan 5, Spoof 5, Stealth 5, Track 5

Autosofts: Chaser 4, Covert Ops 4, Clearsight 4, Defense 4, Electronic Warfare 4, Targeting (Heavy Weapons) 4, Maneuver (Anthroform) 4, Maneuver (Aircraft) 4

Drones & Vehicles
- 2 Steel Lynx Combat Drones (Pilot 4, Signal 5, Firewall 4, Response 5)
o Ingram White Knights (2 belts of 100 rounds each)
o Sensors (Camera (Flare Compensation, Low Light, Thermographic, Vision Enhancement x3), Microphone, Radio Signal Scanner x6)
o Armor 12, Fuzzy Logic

- 2 MCT-Nissan Roto-drones (Pilot 4, Signal 5, Firewall 4, Response 5)
o Ingram White Knights (2 belts of 100 rounds each)
o Sensors (Camera (Flare Compensation, Low Light, Thermographic, Vision Enhancement x3), Microphone, Radio Signal Scanner x6)
o Armor 9, Fuzzy Logic, Improved Takeoff and Landing 2

- 2 MCT Fly-Spy (Pilot 4, Signal 5, Firewall 4, Response 5)
o Sensors (Camera (Flare Compensation, Low Light, Thermographic, Vision Enhancement x3), Directional Microphone, Laser Microphone)
o Chameleon Coating, Fuzzy Logic, Improved Takeoff and Landing 2

- 2 Shiawase Kanmushi (Pilot 4, Signal 5, Firewall 4, Response 5)
o Sensors (Camera (Flare Compensation, Low Light, Thermographic, Vision Enhancement x3), Directional Microphone, Laser Microphone)
o Chameleon Coating, Fuzzy Logic, Gecko Tips

- 1 Renraku Stormcloud (Pilot 4, Signal 5, Firewall 4, Response 5)
o Sensors (Camera (Flare Compensation, Low Light, Thermographic, Vision Enhancement x3, Vision Magnification), Directional Microphone, Laser Microphone, Radio
Signal Scanner x6, Laser Range Finder)
o Chameleon Coating, Improved Economy, Lighter Than Air

- 1 GMC Bulldog Step-Van
o Rigger Adaptation, Large Drone Rack x2, Rigger Cocoon

All right... I think that that's everything. I obviously left out Knowledge skills - I'll settle on those later - and the derived attributes (since I can manage that much math!). My big sticking point is the Vehicles and Drones section - I'm not sure that everything is legal, and I'm not sure that I've come in under the 250,000Y mark to be able to afford all of my gear. Any double-checking here would be much appreciated, as would any general advice on the character. I DO NOT want to make an Adept or Technomancer Rigger, so please don't point me in that direction. Otherwise, any pointers are welcome and thanks in advance!

Your selection of drones is impressive. When I make riggers, I usually can't be bothered to stat out that many drones with any detail at all.

Are autosofts drone-specific? Or am I just thinking of pilot programs? I know Targeting is weapon-specific, but I imagine Targeting: Ingram White Knight is to autosofts what Xerox is to copy machines.

I think your negative qualities are harsh. I know it's more flavorful to take Sensitive System on a character who has cyberware, but taking Bad Luck on a human is muddling up the only bonus they have. If you must take Bad Luck, you might as well take your points out of strength and invest in being an ork (and you'll get bonus BOD plus low-light vision for your trouble). Also, instead of Sensitive System, if you want to play someone who's frailish (like SS implies), go for Asthma: if you want to play someone whose body has trouble with implants, try Implant-Induced Immune Deficiency and Nano Intolerance, or Buggy Ware 2 and Mystery Mod Noise. Those will still give you trouble, but you'll be able to get more fun toys like a simsense booster, an encephalon, skillwires if you want 'em, cerebral boosters, a cyberlimb with a nanohive in it, etc. etc.

A simsense accelerator is a commlink add-on for 15,000. Pricey, yes? And its availability of 14 put it out of your range at the start. However, investing in getting one later might be wise, because it adds another initiative pass in the matrix, plus it stacks with control rig boosters (nanoware that gives you bonuses while jumped-in) and the simsense booster (cyberware that adds a matrix initiative pass, for a possible total of 5), even though they don't work together.

Finally, you might want to consider getting yourself the gearhead quality, it's fun. Overall, though, it's a good build. Nothing screams "I don't know what I need to have in order to accomplish my goals," and your negative qualities will hinder you, but some people prefer it that way.

Do you have any books outside the basic one?

Pilots are drone specific, Autosofts are weapon specific and situation/skill specific.
I think. Shit, don't listen to me, I'm drunk. Never mind.

I get the impression you're a fun drunk, not least of which because your activity (at the moment) while drunk is to surf DS.

one thing i would say is make sure you have some really inexpensive drones that are easily replaced. if you gotta sac a combat drone, it'd be better to cover your retreat with an unmodified doberman with an AK-97 then it would be to lose one of your upgraded drones.

on a side note, i would clear up beforehand whether the group is going to treat some of your drone costs as being group expenses rather than being your personal expenses. even a 'cheap' drone like the doberman with AK-97 above will set you back 3400 credits, and if you're losing that much per run you'll likely stagnate. (then again, you may also be able to steal a drone occasionally... make sure you have appropriate knowledge skills to know what it takes to do it, and find out from your GM how involved that process is)

one possibility: you're looking at a rigger who clearly has spent a lot of money. the in debt negative quality would feel appropriate. do remember though, that you can't buy off the quality without spending karma, no matter how much sense it makes.

I'm a fun, smiley, bounce off the walls, say inappropriot things at the right time, happy fun drunk.
Goddamnit why won't spellchecker work?
Just don't get inside point blank range, I tend to shoot at peoples' pinkie toes.

Jaid is right, many mass produced garbage drones, for when you absoultely, positively, have to use 30 kilos of plastic explosives.
All problems can be solved with the proper application fo explosives. Just not while in my current condition.

Edit: personal spellcheck, cuz spellcheck is not working.
Edit: personal spellcheck again.

Warning: from here on out, drunken posts will be in italics. If I remember.

as a secondary Hacker/Hot Sim user Biofeedback Filters is good addition to programs.
Why buy OS? just buy Response chip and Signal chip, rating 5 and install them to commlink
no need for OS, save 1000 yen..
No Analyze program?..
Armor Jacket (8/6) for Body 3 means -1 to Agility and Reaction, change it Lined Coat (6/4) and no penalties..
and for money.. Born Rich- Quality (Runner's Companion), and In Debt- Quality (Runner's Companion)

Also, it's important to pick a method of drone control and go with it. You're a jump-in kind of guy, right? So your important attributes are hardware+skills. Unfortunately, that means you're going to sink money into your drones to increase the hardware, but it's usually worth the price. And I agree completely that you should try to milk as much money out of your teammates as possible. You need money to increase YOUR commlink/augmentations/programs so you can hack, so it only makes sense to pool funds for the group's drones.

I actually like Sensitive System a lot, in particular. I see a character who has a lot of trouble accepting cyberware in their body on a psychological/emotional/spiritual level, rather than someone who's frail as the explanation for the increased essence loss. On the other hand, he's a guy who loves playing with drones, hardware, and software, so some implants are inevitable. It's a character choice =)

I agree on the accelerator and had looked at that but, as you mentioned, it's not available out of the gate, so not on this build (yet).

I'll scope out the Gearhead quality - which book is it in?

And, I have access to all the books save SR4 (since I only have SR4A at the moment).

This is actually something that I've been having trouble with - I want to be able to do an acceptable job of all three, but I'm thinking that autonomous drones (just telling them what to do, yeah?) plus one jumped-in drone at a time is probably going to be the way to go for this character. Fortunately for me, both of these options are pretty hardware-intensive on the drone side of things, so by increasing the drones' hardware, I'm making them function better independently and as a node to jump into.

Some good suggestions, and thanks for the spotting! I'll add the OS change and the armor change immediately and look up those qualities, though I'm stretching my points thin enough as is that I may not have room for them. Is there any particular reason that I'm going to need Analyze right out of the gates for a character like this? And Biofeedback Filters is on the list but, again, I think that I'm stretching my cash pretty thin on this character, so it may be something that I'll have to pick up after a run or two.

Analyze is for Hacking Detecting attempts..early warning is always better..

Just a minor thing, but I don't think anyone's mentioned this: there's no rating down for those fake SINs , and I expect Rating 1 to be fairly useless.

Of course, I may be misunderstanding your notation completely.

Yep, that's just misunderstood notation, and I was afraid that someone might make that mistake - that's one rating 4 Fake SIN, not 4 rating 1's =D

No one piece of armor can encumber you. Otherwise no one would ever be able to realistically wear Mil spec armor.

That's an optional rule, sir or madam. Furthermore, if heavy milspec armor followed the more-than-double-body rule for encumbrance, then a dwarf with BOD 6 would be able to wear a suit of heavy milsepc armor (rated 16/14) with no penalties, if the suit had the Mobility 3 enhancement. However, RAW states that milspec armor MUST be fitted to its wearer, and, as a result, triples the wearer's BOD for encumbrance purposes rather than doubling it. As a result, anyone with BOD 6 can wear the heavy milspec armor plus its helmet (rated 2/2) and suffer no encumbrance, as long as the suit was fitted to them.

Yeah, Analyze is to the matrix what Perception is to the meat world. You NEED it. What, do you just assume nothing has Data Bombs on it?

Gearhead - Runner's Companion. The 5BP version enhanced your ability in a specific model of drone/vehicle, the 10BP version enhances it in a family (i.e. groundcraft, anthroforms etc. etc.) And by "enhances your ability" I mean
"a Gearhead can increase the
Acceleration of her chosen vehicle by 20 percent, or increase the
Handling modifier by +1. She also gets a distinct +2 dice pool
modifier when attempting difficult maneuvers or stunts in the
vehicle. This quality only benefits manual or VR control of the
vehicle. "

Like I said, if it's a character choice you like, that's more important than any number of dice one way or the other. And besides, there are only a half dozen or so implants that directly aid hacking/rigging, it's not like you're gonna be a cyberzombie. Though you could, someday, go for brain-in-a-jarness.

Actually I disagree here. The quality itself lists inside it what you need to pay.

Now I may disagree on the amount (I think the amount in the quality works for street level games, but higher level games should probably double or triple the amount owed), but I don't see a problem w/ the player paying it off. (and I also don't see a problem with the loanshark interfering with the guy getting out of debt too quickly... EG: hacker raiding his accounts and similar.). Really at the full 30point... the player should expect to see half to 3/4s of his income go to debt servicing (forget capital payoff) and the rest to his lifestyle.

Even after you've paid the principal. You still have the in-debt quality, it's not gone. And this can still come back to the detriment of the character. I'm sure a loanshark isn't beyond blackmail or selling the character out for example. (easily shown up as making the character easier to track down, and forcing him to keep a lower profile than others).


To the OP:
Yeah your choice of negative quality is pretty severe. Sensitive system is pretty hard on riggers (who need a lot of cyber).

I'd heavily look at other negatives if you need the points.

An alternative with similar flavour would be Sensitive Neural Structure, if you're willing to take the risk of very nearly dying if you're not very careful...

I've been away from a keyboard for a few days at the family's cabin, but wow! Thanks for all of the responses, folks.

That said, I had my books with me and had the time to do the math on the money expenditure last night. I found that I'd overspent by a fair bit, and made some edits to gear (mostly cutting drone racks from the Bulldog) and had to swap the Bad Luck quality for In Debt in order to make up the difference. Those two, however, made things affordable.

I like Sensitive System more than Sensitive Neural Structure because it's the implantation that I'd like this character to have a problem with, not the interfacing with VR. And, as McAllister pointed out, Riggers/Hackers can actually get by with fairly minimal implanting if they play it carefully, while still being pretty ace at their jobs. Overall, after a couple of editions, I'm pretty happy with this character at this point - thanks for all of the advice and help, and I look forward to finding an opportunity to play this character and see how it goes.

Good luck! Keep us posted (or me at least), and if you ever leave off an adventure with your character in a sticky situation, throw it up here; when you've got all those drones and matrix assets, a clever way out is usually close at hand.

You can come up with a pretty cheap lifestyle using the runners companion rules with positives and negative lifestyle qualities.