Guys. I need some help. In a couple of weeks, I'll be playing a one-off character in a one night run, that's supposed to focus mainly on the matrix, in order to get me and a friend up to speed on the rules concerning the Matrix. My friend'll be using his regular character, which is a hacker, who at this point, basically have most to all programs at rating 6, a custom comlink with rating 6 across the board, and some decent skills and stats.

In the interest of not just putting together another hacker, I've elected to put together a Technomancer. Here's my problem. Despite running a character build with 450BP + 500 Karma + 500.000Y, I'm having problems coming up with a build that is both able to do something else than hack, and at the same time isn't going to be outclassed at every turn by the hacker.

So here's the question. What are the most important things to focus on for a Technomancer? When keeping in mind that you need a character that can do something else than just hack.

We've just recently discussed it.
With 500 Karma, you can have 5 IP in VR, 3 IP in real life, take echoes that allow you to drag anyone you touch into hot VR to smack them with blackhammer, and much more. Just browse all those tasty echoes from Unwired.

With that much karma and BP its impossible to make a TM that doesn't own face.

- J.

Spend 2 karma on a smartlink form and make sure your guns are smartguns, otherwise pretty much what Fatum said.

Oh, and don't forget about the Biowire echo. It gives you the benefits of a skill wires implant with a rating equal to your submersion grade. Just don't forget to buy the programs for threading. Can give you some flexibility for meat world operations.

500 karma? 500 karma? What. WHAT? You could make a technomancer be a good -mage- with that much karma.

You should be able to get a TM roughly equivalent to that meathacker dude easy. First? Get Unwired pronto

Buy CF's with build points(because they're SUCH a good deal, compared to karma) to five or six. Max resonance if you can. If you're not planning on taking ware, grab sensitive system. Submerge a bunch.

Keep in mind that your mental stats are your brain's commlink stats. High Cha/Logic/Will are important. Intuition is the sole stat for matrix initiative for TM's.

Important CFs
Exploit
Shield
Analyze
Stealth
Scan
Decrypt

Useful CFs
Armor
Edit
Browse
Encrypt
Attack
Blackhammer
sniffer
spoof
stealth
Simrig
Smartlink
Tacnet

Initiate several times. Grab any of the following: Overclocking, Advanced Overclocking, Skinlink, Resonance Trodes, Biowire, Acceleration, Info Sorteilage, Macro, Multiprocessing, Mesh reality or Swap. Or, hell, grab them all. Cause its only 15 karma each to buy them seperately.

Cracking group to six. Specialize with Hacking and EW. Ditto for Electronics with Computer and Software(threading)

And that's just off the top of my head.

Properly configured, your old-school hacker will be -so- outclassed in the matrix its not funny. So will your street samurai buddy.

yeah, i'm having a hard time grasping the concept of "i can't build an effective technomancer on 450 BP, 500 karma, and half a million nuyen" (unless that's five hundred and zero thousandths of a nuyen, but even then it's hard to grasp since you really only need a few thousand nuyen to have a good technomancer, the half a million just means you are going to be the grand high emperor of a small army of rather scary drones).

Jaid.
Simple answer. I haven't played Shadowrun for very long. I've never played a hacker type. I'm not 100% clear on all aspects of the Matrix game rules yet. In short I haven't the first idea about what might or might not work in an actual game. At the time I posted this, I'd tried putting together a character, but upon being done, I compared it with the information I have about the hacker character this technomancer will be playing along side. And based on that, my initial attempt didn't seem to be "up to scratch", so to speak. For that reason I turned to this forum for some help, and based on the above replies, I've put together a mark 2, and I believe this guy will work.
Additionally I'll add that if you read my original post, you'll see that my problem wasn't to put together a decent hacker, but a hacker that can do other things than just hack, as well measure up to a regular hacker with all programs at rating 6, associated skills at 4-6, a custom comlink with rating 6 across the board, and some decent other stats and skills.
Hope this answers your question.

Since you're playing a TM, read up on Threading(specifically, boosting complex forms), and on Sprite Services, specifically Assist Operation. At those levels, you should dominate in pretty much everything you do on the 'trix.

also be aware of their implications with the following complex forms:

stealth (threshold for detection, not an opposed dice pool; if you have a stealth rating of 18 (entirely possible at 400 BP chargen, nevermind 450 BP + a pile of karma), he has to roll 18 hits in a non-extended test, requiring on average a dicepool of more than 40 dice to have even a decent chance of successful detection i would say, with a theoretical 54 dice required to detect on a semi-regular basis i think)
command (replaces attributes when you use it to remote control a drone)
attack/blackout/black hammer/data bomb (in addition to increasing the dicepool, it also acts as the base damage; a rating 18 black hammer CF will dish out 18 damage + net hits damage)

also consider what select program options can do to these programs... with psychotropic, which you can thread any psychotropic effect you feel like, you can do some really terrifying things.

also, remember long-term sprite linking. especially as it relates to sustaining threading, and the assist operation service.