Character Concept: Completely unremarkable human with an uncanny ability to go anywhere and do anything unnoticed, with a bit of planning
Metatype: Human
Metavariant: Boring
Attributes: 290 karma

Active Skills: 220 karma

Qualities: 0 karma

Ware

Equipment: 53,500 nuYen


Now, Dumpshock, this is a new problem for me; I have 140 karma that I don't know what do to with. Is this finally the day I list Damien Knight and Ares' board of directors as 6/6 contacts, or what? Increasing attributes breaks my facade of utter averageness (although incredible luck) and increasing skills seems pointless because I'll be pirating skillsofts as soon as I have two nuyen to rub together. What do I do, buy Aptitude and 10 instances of Restricted Gear?

Also, I have no interest in firearms skills other than Longarms, or in close combat skills, because I'll be getting a shotgun implanted in my arm ASAP. Either a ceramic/plasteel job in my natural arm, or a normal one in a cyberarm. How best to go about having a big gun in me that nobody will ever find?

Contacts. lots and lots of contacts.

Nice. Very nice indeed. Looks like things could get pretty rough for him if the enemy manages to find him or lure him into a fight in the open. But with the skills he's got so far, and that desert strike rifle... (I have witnessed the power of a strong and unprepared-for first strike myself, and it is frightening.)

Suppose the only question is what the other runners on his team specialise in.

Also, are you saving up for tailored pheremones?

You left something out McAllister...

Nano Bioware Palmprint Adjusters.

And I would go with biological eyes with the Nano Bioware Retinal Adjusters as opposed to the chrome ones. Again, that's me. That will really let you go where you please. Facial recognition will be a trick, though.

Anyhow, my two centinuyen.

Pistols you can get a side arm into a lot of places where you can't get a shotgun.

Pilot ground craft so your not screwed if a cab or bus isn't available.

I have the Nano Bioware Palmprint adjusters, I just call them Dynamic Handprints. It's what they're called on page 112 of Augmentation, anyway.

I would love to stick a Retinal Duplication system in my cybereyes, but sadly that's availability 16F, so I'll have to work for it. I know of the nanocybernetic Retinal Adjusters, but if I already have cybereyes, doesn't it make more sense to just pop an additional system in there? I left some room for them.

Facial recognition will be a trick, but with a Rating 4 False Front with a Mimic Option and my rating 6 Medkit, plus at least 9 dice to program the disguise, it's a trick I will be able to perform with some ease. Convincingly imitating a dwarf, troll or ork will be far beyond a puny yooman of my stature, but I can pull off sapiens nobilis and sapiens sapiens pretty well.

Thank you for your input! I appreciate it.

commlink's system and programs can't be higher than it's response.

Absolutely right. Suggestions for fun ones? Feel free to throw in ludicrous group contacts.

Jackpoint as a Matrix Contact?
Humanis?
Ancients?
Spike Wheels?
Hello-Weenies?

It's true, his survivability is pretty low in a stand-up fight. An interesting quirk of the SR4A sniper rifle rules is that, with Edge 4 or more, you'll never suffer a penalty from using a sniper rifle in a non-sniping battle (the rule is every round of non-sniping combat, roll Edge; if you fail, add a stacking -1 penalty until you can sit down and recalibrate it), because you can always buy a hit. That said, he'd rather either issue said strong first strike, or, even better, disguise himself so well that he can just walk into wherever he needs to go, and grab what he needs to grab without shooting.

And tailored pheromones are nice, but they're pretty Forbidden, and probably among the hardest bioware to hide (can't turn them off when you pass the odd pheromone detector). I figured empathy software would be his main source of bonus dice, but he could also disguise himself as someone with mad Street Cred, and fake people out that way. What do you think of Enhanced Pheromone Receptors? Almost the same bonus dice, added smell-based benefits, and totally legal. Besides, when Mr. or Mrs. Johnson has the Tailored kind, I can break out the respirator.

There are a lot of places I can't get a shotgun, even if it's sawed-off. I'd rather remedy that with a cybergun than a new skill, though, especially because, if the need becomes dire, Pistols 4 (or Pilot Ground Craft 4, for that matter) is only 12 hits on Computers + Browse and 4,000 nY away. And if I were to need the activesoft LIKE NOW, I'd probably get my agent to look for it while I concentrate on not dying. With luck, I'd have it running in under 20 seconds.

EDIT: and it's not like I'm an ork, I can drive just fine. I just can't pop wheelies or jump chasms, not without some help. Stupid orks.

What? How frustrating! Where will the extra 4,000 nY come from? Hmm... I guess I can drop the Caribbean Tourist SIN. Being paranoid, I like the idea of having a legit one, a shady one, and a clean one for GTFO times, but I have to do something hot before I need to GTFO, right? So I'll have a bit o' cash.

Humanis would like me, wouldn't they? I'll have to see who seems useful.

In any event, if I ever run into a GM who says "karmagen is broken, 650 karma for you!" I will have an answer.

Oops, missed it. Sorry.


Restricted Gear, they're under 20.


Ah, but how about mimicing a SPECIFFIC person? I was under the impression it was a single alternate form... but I only read the entry once in passing because I had something else of my OWN in mind to fix that. *shrug*

sorry, can't really help you with what you should take in terms of contacts, there was a few threads around here where people wrote fun and interesting ones. have them everywhere, and in various shapes and colors.

the point is, the bugs under the floorboards should owe him favors.

EDIT: Can't seem to find the thread of the community project where people would dump their contact descriptions.

Don't they simply default down to response then?

They're under 20, but I'm already at 70 karma of positive qualities, and I like my martial arts. They'll serve me well when those sword-wielding maniacs assume that having nothing in my hands means that I can't shoot them in the face if they charge me.

The False Front is a complex and many-layered beast. The generic version allows you to take a 50 nY signal drug which changes your appearance in an essentially random fashion; its manufacture is imprecise, so you'll get a different ethnicity, age etc. every time. However, if you add the Mimic Option for +4 availability and +10,000 nY, you can also take a 500 nY signal drug to assume a specific shape. You need to use the Edit program to design the specific version of the signal drug (depending on whom you want to appear as), and some chemicals and tools from a medkit to apply those changes to the generic 500 nY dosage, but after that it'll turn you into whomever you like for 30 minutes per dose, adding/subtracting up to 20% apparent body mass and adding (hits on computer+edit test, up to 4) to your disguise roll, +1 if you also have chameleon skin. The chameleon skin enhances the disguise because it works with the signal drug to make a convincing skintone.

Why is this better than a latex face mask? I'm not positive. The bonus to Disguise tests is always Computer + Edit, whether I'm changing my face or entire body. All I know is I can pop a cheap pill, slip into a bathroom for a minute, and emerge unrecognizable.

Yes, though I didn't know it at the time. I shuffled some nY to... friggin' drek, I forgot the Response 6 chip is Availability 16. Lame. I guess I'll just go back to having a bug-out SIN, and operate a little sluggish until I can track down a fancy chip.

What makes you presume that your'll have wifi access while you in a do or die situation? Wifi inhibiting paint, security spiders, I wouldn't leave my personal defense up to skill softs. Cybeerguns essentially double your chances of getting detected and caught by a decent scanner suite.

Which is, of course, why you really want to stick that cybergun into a cyberarm. Makes it a heck of a lot harder to detect.

Much like everyone else in the thread, I'm afraid that I can't be of too much help with how to spend the remaining karma for this character. I do know that you'll have one hell of a fancy Contacts section on your sheet by the time you get done, though

For every scanner, there's a way to defeat it. MAD scanner? Make it ceramic/plasteel, or better yet, put it in a cyberarm, because that's going to set off the MAD scanner anyway. Chemical sniffer? It's safe to say you can hermetically seal the chamber inside your machine arm. Cyberware scanner? That's a real tough one, but 171,000 buys you a deltaware cyberarm with a shotgun in it. It's not cheap, but nobody (and I mean nobody) will ever know it's there without Assensing you with 5 hits. Oh, or if you shoot them with it.

There are qualities that don't mess with the 35BP cap... what if I were a Drake? But then I'd either have to bump Magic a lot or lose the ability to turn into a Drake, which is of course no fun. Maybe I'll just take Latent Dracomorphosis, and deal with that if I get there. *reads Runner's Companion for ideas*

Because mundane disguises like the face mask are trivially penetrated by assensing. While disguises you paid essence for are not, as they are a part of you.

So as long as the mage assensing the person you are pretending to be isn't familiar with the aura of the person you are pretending to be, they'll just spot someone who looks like whoever you are pretending to be on the astral, rather than you wearing a mask that looks like the person you are pretending to be.

I see a few things missing. I am unsure if karma creation has a money cap, so forgive me if you're unable to spend more money.

The first is a lack of upgrades on your car. If you're going to pimp it out, do so in character creation.
The second is a lack of stealth program on your commlink.
As a sneaky guy, you may want to pick up Forgery(credstick) since it isn't in any skillgroup.
Data Search 1, at least. You're going to want to look things up, and that stops you from defaulting. Except this is a matrix action, and you can't.


If you're seriously short ideas, check if your GM will let you initiate, snag Astral Sight(This lets you assense!), initiate a few times so you actually have a magic rating left after your implants, and snag the metamagics that let you pretend to be mundane(Masking, I think.) I double checked your math real quick, and I don't believe you applied the essence discount for mixing cyberware and bioware; the lesser value counts half.

Good point, sir! That makes me feel better about the investment. I'm guessing Altskin would be similarly easy to "see through" on the Astral. Brilliant!

Karma creation has a money gap that I have reached, but there's always some shuffling one can do.

I would pimp out my car, but then it wouldn't be Utterly Unremarkable, would it? Which is important to me.

My commlink lacks any hacking programs. If I must get them, I'll having my Agent (who can Data Search) track down a pirate network, and buy them on the cheap.

Forgery(credstick) is fun, but it might be more profitable to just spoof a high lifestyle. Regardless, I don't think Forgery is very important to me, and if it ever becomes vital, I'll wire it. I'm actually trying to avoid taking too many skills, because so many of them can be taken care of by A. my Agent or B. skillwires.

how big is a medkit?

would it be awkward to walk into a bathroom carrying one or pass through security with one?

I assume people won't pay any mind, but it does seem a little suspicious. Likely they will not think that you'd be morphing your face, but maybe they'd think you were shooting up or something.

That's a good point. However, if I knew in advance the plan would be "my hacker put a good excuse for Joe Normal to enter building X in my SIN, so I get in, go to the bathroom, take the pill I smuggled in, and one minute later I'm the CEO's secretary, at which point...."

I think that would be more the idea. Keep a "turn into someone random" pill on me, and use the medkit in the safety of my home to design other forms, and carry those around individually.

So if I saw a guy walk into his office and though "damn, I need to look like him RIGHT NOW," I guess I'd be out of luck. But then we're back to the valid point that, caught in the open, I'm pretty slaughterable.

Can a False Front create breasts? I know it can alter apparent body mass, so I don't see why not, but... I'm curious.

I also intend to have an extensive wig collection.

I like the idea of the armorer kit, it's pretty solid. Come to think of it, with a lot of different types of kits you could probably "sneak" in a broken down shotgun.



John Malkovich, Clear and Present Danger. It'd be good for ideas, methinks.

I love John Malkovich! I'll keep an eye out for it, thanks.

I have to admit I was partially inspired by a bad movie, The International. The Big Bad Evil Corporation uses this guy as a hitman who's incredibly boring, except that he occasionally shoots people in the face for money.

Cyberhair would help by not requiring wigs anymore.

Hmmm... but do they make fiberoptic hair that's as convincing as a good wig? Or it does it look/feel like plastic?

Think you mean In the Line of Fire with Eastwood and Malkovich.

Crap, that was the one. Clear and Present Danger was Afleck, wasn't it? My bad.

If I could get my hands on one of those ,I'd never leave the house.(grin)*kanis ducks and covers*

Harrison Ford?

Affleck? Seriously no. Unless they redid this recently. This was also with Willem Dafoe as John Clark.

You know, this post got me thinking, so I checked the rulebooks twice over - nowhere does it say how large a medkit is.

Now, assuming that it's comparable to a toolkit for any other profession, it's designed to be pretty minimalist and portable. Extrapolating from that, and based on real-world equivalent toolkits and paramedic kits, then adding another 63 years of technology, I'd be pretty willing to bet that you could disguise a medkit in a briefcase. Either that or you could always see if your GM would let you toss on the Chameleon Coating and run with that...

Affleck played a young Jack Ryan in the terrible adaptation of Sum of All Fears.

The one thing about the False Front and magic is that although it will save you from the "mage just sees your real face under it" it won't solve the "mage knows your face is fake as heck" problem. Whether that's an issue depends on the particular mage in question and the situation, I suppose, but generally if a mage is concerned enough about you that he or she is taking the time to assense you, having fake looks probably isn't in your favor. That's just my take on it, of course.

I'm always running up against the magic problem when making infiltration characters, but I suppose that's actually a good aspect of SR: it takes a village.

A village populated by hackers, sammies, mages, adepts, etc.

Very cool character though. I like.

Just me, but you could spend up mental attributes w/o eliminating the whole perfectly average image.

Nothing wrong w/ playing dumb. He's perfectly average in appearance... but fear the chess like machinations of his mind type deal. You could exhibit some of the characteristics of a true sociopath! (word used properly!).


Also, I might look at moving some of the less noticable physical attributes from 3->4 (agility, reaction). (I generally consider 3-4 average, one just under, one just over).

Oh, hey... not a bad idea - go all American Psycho with it. I like that... supersmart, but able to fit in by playing dumb.

Completely agree. In fact, you could throw "Acting" in as a knowledge skill for support if you want. It would certainly fit with the "fitting in everywhere" goal.

I like you people.

And have we come to a conclusion what movie I should be watching? The one with Harrison Ford playing John Malkovich? Sum of All Clear and Present Lines of Fire? I'm so confused.

I can't help you on that one, I'm afraid, as I don't recall the scene they're referencing, but I would watch the hell out of Sum of All Clear and Present Lines of Fire. Best. Movie. Evar.

Nevermind me, I was getting my movies all juxtaposed. I was thinking it was a Tom Clancy adapted novel, that was the problem. link to movie info.

I would think that cyberhair, especially the higher grades would be fully realistic.

just garbage bin all that crap and watch some episodes of the Original Mission Impossible.

no direct wetwork, but lots of face-work.

Hm... ok, i understand why his physical attributes have to be normal (to look normal, bland). But you could raise your mental ones. Makes it easier: With more charisma you can play your roles better, and still try to be bland while drawing information out of people without them knowing *g*. Maybe higher intuition for precise, careful execution of your plans, or intelligence, so you can learn your roles faster, and plan out your your schemes.

Not to mention high Willpower to avoid having someone coerce your secret out of you, whether by slick talking or by torture...