Ok, I'm working on a Rigger Technomancer. My question is: what does a rigger need to do his job? What skills? What complex forms?

I'm hoping for a list of the basic requirements, as well as any skills that really would be a good idea to pick up.

Any help, Dumpshockians?

You may have an easier time building a rigger/technomancer if your GM is using 750 Karma in Karmagen as opposed to standard 400 BPs. I've built a dronomancer myself, and I can honestly say that with the Resource demands of a rigger and the attributes, skills and complex forms demands of a technomancer, it's hard to make the two mesh together.

That said there's plenty of room to be utterly disgusting if you budget your points right and plan for long-term growth.

The bare minimum of complex forms you will want are Spoof, Stealth, Encrypt, ECCM, Analyze, and Scan. If you want to work in the ability to backhack enemy riggers and hijack their own drones and vehicles, consider Exploit, Decrypt, and Track.

For skills, if you're going to be a tinkerer then the Mechanic skill group is going to be wonderful. You can outsource upgrades and whatnot to your vehicles if you want the extra points, though. As a rigger you will need Gunnery, Pilot (vehicle/drone types you want to use), Electronic Warfare. If you want to do vehicular stealth, Infiltration and Shadowing. I believe Dodge helps if you are jumped in and trying to avoid getting hit with an attack.

Upgrade the Response chips in all your vehicles and drones to 5 or 6. Consider losing a point of Resonance for an implanted Control Rig, or talk the GM into letting you get it as a Complex Form. Also get the Smartlink CF if he'll let you use it when targetting with a drone mounted with a smartlink-enabled weapon.

When you submerse, you want to get Overclocking for that 4th initiative pass. Advanced Overclocking will get you a 5th, and your bodycounts will really start going upwards. Multiprocessing will enable you to pay full attention to several drone feeds at once, possibly even "jumped in" into several at a time.

You will want to have the books Arsenal and Unwired for all the options they will open up to you. If you're just using SR4A then you are seriously limited in what you can do. Also make sure you know the rules for vehicle/drone modifications, and consider all the options available to you.

If you want me to, I can PM you an old character sheet for my dronomancer and you can get an idea of what all goes into being one. It's in a text format so you'll be able to read it off the screen easily.

It's tough to build one, and you need to plan for long-term growth rather than being super right out of chargen, but it really is a stupidly powerful build -- granted, it's one that is hungry for both cash and karma.

You'll need to determine what is the primary mode of control for the TM Rigger. Then at least get the skills and CF to support that mode.

For example, a remote Control focus would mean you need Command CF and the Pilot Skill. If you plan on being jumped in, then Command isn't needed as high, but you need Pilot Vehicle. If you are going to summon lots of Machine Sprites and have them do the work then you don't need any Pilot skill at all. Determine a style and buy the skills and Cf to support that style. You'll also need to look at supporting skills. Do you need Electronic Warfare so you can find devices to Hack, Exploit, and take over? Do you need to spend BP buying your own vehicle? Do you want to compile sprites to help you with Diagnostics power while you drive? There are many choices.

For a less "hands on" approach there is always Machine sprites. A Rating 6+ registered machine sprite in a drone with enough services to cover operation requests can be rather effective. Just make sure they have the appropriate CFs to use the drone.

Its how Technomancers get their sprites to "Materialize" on the physical plane.

Well, it's more like Possession than Materialization, but the comparison is still valid.

I've found that the most important thing for any rigger to remember is that you HAVE to be a counterhacker to make it work if you have a halfway competent GM. Enemy hackers WILL try to get your drones, and they WILL succeed if you didn't prepare for this. ECCM is critical. Encrypt is kind of a joke in SR4, but if it buys a couple of passes, those might be the passes that save your life, so don't short yourself there.