One character I made is a adept hacker that uses AR. With improved reflexes 2 and multitasking. He is as fast as a Hot sim VR hacker and is immune to blackout and black hammer. He is as fast in the real world as he is in the Matrix. Also he is not dead meat in the real world as he would be in VR mode.

Any one else have a cool ideas.

That is actually a fairly common build, and the game is poorer for it in my opinion. Fortunately he''s usualyl generally pretty powerless against a dedicated hacker or TM.

An Adept AR hacker has 4 passes, at most. VR hotsimmers are literally the only people that can get 5 passes. VR users also get nifty things like a +2 bonus to everything they do in cyber and, if rigging, can get a control rig for another +2 to most drone tests. Not to mention being able to Jump In in the first place.

The +2 to skill is a nice jump in the beginning, with adept powers he can get even higher. I tend to like adepts alot anyway. Actually his can go toe to toe with VR hackers. I am just interested in interesting hacker designs.

The +2 to skill is a nice jump in the beginning, with adept powers he can get even higher. I tend to like adepts alot anyway. Actually his can go toe to toe with VR hackers. I am just interested in interesting hacker designs.

max out social skills, charisma and intelligence. grab the edges like friends in high places and contacts. Open or buy or get an executive position at a company that can afford a team of hackers. Give said hackers orders and make them do your bidding. now you have a whole team instead of just one dude.

That would be Interesting, but very unplayable. You tuned the character into the man, with corp and sin and all the perks of being he man. lol

Be an AI spec out for stealth. And use a horde of bots and agents to do you bidding. Till GOD try to shut you down then trace the buggers and steal there gear by using all the nuyen you'll have got from selling personal details your bot net has sniffed out to hire some runners to smash and grab GODs nexi. Then do the same with any one else that trys to take down your mitraix empire. Of cores that a whole comapine there but try out hacking the AI thats been slowing taking over every device with wifi on earth.

you are an empire builder. lol

I had a PC the basilcy planed that once along with the meat team they planed to slowly eat way at the matrix untill the glue holding the 6th world was mostly under their control. Of corse they messed up in a few places and GOD and the CC where a wee bit pissed. The AI survived as GOD never knew it existed the though that the TM in the group of runners was the brains behind it all.

Speccing for stealth is what AI do best. Your AI did the right thing.

I never said he didn't XD

least ya wouldn't be fantasizing about being a computer nerd.

Those two are fantasies. lol

The adept's inability to get the 5th matrix initiative pass is what would ultimately end them against a hot sim user. And multitasking doesn't help when you're in combat of any kind, except to make the observe in detail action faster (from simple to free). And if you stay in AR because you prefer to avoid matrix combat as much as possible by taking the route of a slow hack, remember that long-term firewall exploits have an extended test interval of a DAY in AR versus an hour in VR (cold or hot sim).

Goddamn double post. Bah.

That right there makes Adepts amazing Riggers, due to Active Sensor Targeting

What's the penalty for attempting actions in the real world while in VR? -6 dice to everything, according to SR4A 226. What's Adept Heighten Concentration do? Let you ignore a dice pool penalty, from a single source, equal to your magic. So why be a meatspace -AR- hacker? We can do better than that.


This is by no means a complete character, but it should give you an idea.

Ork: 20
Edge 4
Magic 6
= 115BP

Mystic Adept: 10
Restricted Gear (Milspec armor): 5
Restricted Gear (Agent): 5
Martial Arts 3: 15
=35BP

Skills:
Hacking 5(Exploit+2)
EW 5(Decryption+2)
Perception 4(Sensors +2)
Spellcasting 4
Unarmed Combat 4(Martial arts+2)
=98BP

Gear:
Light Military Armor: 12000
+Helmet 10000, + Rating6 upgrade 8500
VR, Hotsim: 250. Trodes: 50

Programs:
Agent 6, Mook/Unrestricted 18000
Analyze, Browse, Command, Edit, Encrypt, Purge, Scan. Ergonomic, Optimized 3: 7700
Armor, Attack, Biofeedback filter, Databomb, Decrypt, Defuse, Exploit, Medic, Sniffer, Spoof, Stealth, Track, Eccm 6: 78000
Autosofts: Homeground 4, Replicate 4, Adaptability 4: 12000
Tacnet 2: 6000
Pirated versions of the above: 12170


Drones:
Ford LEBD1: 4500. Ingram White Knight, clip mode: 1500 = 6000.
Ford LEBD1: 4500. Ingram White Knight, clip mode: 1500 = 6000.
Ford LEBD1: 4500. Ingram White Knight, clip mode: 1500 = 6000.
200 Rounds Ex-Ex: 2000
20,000
= 174670, 35BP



Adept Powers: Five points Adept, One Spellcasting.
1: Heightened Concentration
1: Mysadept Spellcasting
0.5: Multitasking
0.25: Nimble Fingers
0.25: Sustainance
0.75 Improved Technical Ability (Electronic warfare) 3
0.75 Improved Technical Ability (hacking) 3
0.5: Killing Hands
0.5: Enhanced Perception 4 (ALL perception tests. Like Sensors )
=6

Spells:
Improve Reflexes. Analyze Device.
Heal. Powerbolt.
Improved Invis. Stealth.
Physical Mask. Levitate.
=24BP

Martial Arts:
Krav Maga 1(take aim as free action), two more, likely +DV

=307BP

Viola. Can VR in meatspace at no penalty, or ignore sustaining 3 spells as the situation calls for it. We have a rating 6 commlink, the ability to get bonus dice via analyze device on it, and a super-good agent to handle half this stuff so we don't have to, and the ability to put a copy of it anywhere we see fit.

Three points about the character above:

1) The penalties for sustaining spells, while they are totaled to apply together to any actions not using at least one of the sustained spells, are in and of themselves separate penalties. Abilities that allow one to ignore a single combat penalty, such as centering or adept centering, would only account for a single -2, not all three.

2) What is heightened concentration, and where is it located? I went through adept powers, metamagics, and positive qualities in SR4A, Street Magic, and Runners Companion without finding it. Please take pity on me with a location?

3) In addition to the limits of how strong the spell could be (see below), analyze device cast on the character's comlink wouldn't help them when jumped into a drone because at that point the comlink has nothing to do with it. It's just the drone and the character. Casting it on the drone, of course, would be an entirely different matter.

Also, the section of martial arts is very clear about GMs being careful about not allowing a player to claim a bonus when not acting in a way consistent with that martial art. Krav Maga has nothing to do with virtual reality or drones, so the take aim as a free action bonus would not apply unless it was the character themselves acting in meatspace with a weapon in their own hands. Also, even if the character had another way to make both observe in detail AND take aim to be free actions, they could only do one or the other in a single initiative pass even if they had multitasking. This is because the extra free action that multitasking provides only applies when the character is not in combat of ANY KIND.

Also, the multitasking aspect that makes observe in detail a free action does not, by RAW, apply to the use of sensors. These are done with their own action (use sensors, pg 169 SR4A, which is the action referenced in the section on active sensor targeting on pg 171.) and so wouldn't benefit.

Beyond these questions, which are the ones that my GM hindbrain came up with after skimming what you wrote, it seems like a solid character concept. Just seems like there's a serious effort being done to squeeze benefits out of unrelated abilities. But I do agree with you, a properly focused grease monkey adept could make a solid rigger. Especially if said adept was willing to eat some essence loss to get a VCR installed. Also, I would make the character a full adept, NOT a mystic adept. Because having a spellcasting magic of only 1 makes any spells you cast basically useless and some of them can't be effective at all. Because remember, the force of the spell limits the total number of hits (NOT net hits) that you are allowed to count on the spellcasting test. So spells like heal (which requires you to hit a threshold of 1 BEFORE you can count hits towards healing) are only useful to heal bad paper cuts. And offensive spells at force 1 or 2, even direct ones, won't be more than an annoyance to all but the most wimpy opponents.

If a player brought this concept to me in one of my games, I would point these things out to them. And if they understood that and intended to raise that half of their mystic adept magic score split during play then I'd very likely sign off on the character build.

I have thoughts of these things, and i'm going to try to respond to them.

First: Heightened Concentration. I'll save you the trouble of looking it up. Its in Digital Grimoire on page 18, and reads as follows. 'The Adept is capable of tuning out a single distraction to her task at hand. When using thie power, the adept can ignore a single situational negative dice pool modifier of up to her Magic attribute. This power requires a Complex Action to activate and may be combined with Adept Centering metamagic.'
So, by spending a complex action to begin ignoring the Sustaining Modifier, you may then ignore up to six dice worth of it.
I realize i -may- be wrong about how the sustaining modifier works, and I would like to confirm or deny it. If you have page numbers, please point them out to me. I'd also like to know, because its related to another question/problem I have. How the penalty stacks(whether the -2's lump into one big penalty, or several different small ones, i think) also relates to the Shooting Multiple Targets penalty, which is also -2, and I would -very- much like to know if its possible to use an Ares HVAR and Heightened Concentration to shoot multiple targets in one pass without reducing a dice pool to a dice puddle.

Even IF you can only ignore one spell's sustaining, it is very good to have - blind fire is hefty penalties, and wound penalties can cripple your dice pools.

Analyze device: I would point that if you're Jumped Into a drone through a VR unit, then analyze device on the commlink/VR should apply equally. Scarier, Analyze Device on a smartlink is rather useful too. Or a rating 6 Medkit.

Martial Arts: I do realize that multitasking does not apply in combat. However, SR4a 147 says you may take a Free action in place of a Simple action, which changes things considerably. However, a Jumped In rigger IS the drone. Rigger's skills, Drone's Hardware. I would -not- allow Free Action take aim via the Command program, because Control Device is a Complex Action, always. While jumped in, certain actions are different: Moving is a free action, burst fire is a simple, other small details when you don't have to go through the Command program - and while Jumped In, there is no reason you can't have a Kung Fu Robot. (Okay! Granted, doing it in a flying robot is a little silly! But the point stands. )

Hell, even one of the novels had an injured wheel-chair bound former military person who droned it up so they could walk and move again.

A drone running by itself, Autonomously, without outside input doesn't have the martial arts quality anyway, so that's right out.

I am, however, a little embarrassed I forgot to put More than Metahuman in the qualities section, which lets you jump into and out of a drone with a Free action - which has a very useful implication for riggers, since Free actions may explicitly be held in reserve and taken later in the Initiative pass(4A 146), so a rigger with an unused free action will never suffer dumpshock, because they may simply jump out before it blows up.

You're also wrong about Mystic Adept spellcasting. 4th Anniversary made some changes to how the Split is calculated. In nearly every instance, now, Mysadepts get their Full magic value for a lot of things they didn't before. Drain, and where it turns into overcasting, the amount of foci they may have bonded, that kind of thing. Everything that's not called out specifically as being one or the other. 4A: 195 For 'ALL other purposes, the full magic attribute is used'. I was very, very tempted to give the character Death Touch, which has a drain code of F/2-2. In the above build, it may be cast at Force 12 for four physical drain, and makes sense for a super-deadly martial artist.

On Perception: I'd like to point out that in several instances of the rules, having extra dice on Perception tests helps non-physical perception tests. See the Postive quality Perception(RC100), which adds +1 to all perception tests, and calls out both Astral and Matrix Perception tests. in Augmentation(p70) over in the Bioware section. Same thing, the Reception Enhancers adds to all Perception tests, and also says its cumulative with Sensors. Its -quite- good, helps cut through Stealth programs AND spot people on sensors, and I don't see any reason the Adept power works any differently, especially because the Sensor Test on 4a 171 is a Sensor+Perception test. I'm pretty sure that accessing a drone through a VR unit IS a Matrix Perception test.
Additionally, the Multiprocessing Echo(unwired 146) is worth mentioning, because it changes Observer in Detail while VR- or AR-ing into a Free action, and specificalls calls out its similiarity to Adept Multitasking, which is where I got the idea.
Use Sensors IS indeed a Simple Action - for a person driving Manually. For someone Remote Controlling, it would be a Complex Action, because that's how the Control Device action works. With VR - which is what we'd be doing in combat - and VR only - its a Free Action to Observe In Detail, because VR-rigging is more action-efficient, and it happens to be a free action for this character.

The drone running by itself gets no bonus, clearly.


Now, I can see where you're coming from. A good deal of the confusion with the character I posted has to do with his given status in play. For the -MOST- part, the build is most effective while jumped into a drone, and not all bonuses, qualities, or tricks apply at the same time. It has a lot to do with what commlink mode the character is in, and what spells are up at any given time. I hope that answers any questions you may have had, and if i missed something, please point it out.

Actually, your response does explain many of the mental sticking points I had but didn't mention in my post because I didn't know HOW to explain my misgivings.

Regarding sustaining penalties, some extra thought and time reading the new FAQ has me leaning in the same direction as you. Specifically, that it is considered a single penalty no matter how many -2s might apply. So yes, that build could conceivably hold more than 3 sustained spells without penalty provided that their actions involved the spells in question in some way (as the penalty from a given sustained spell doesn't apply on actions that use it).

Heightened Concentration being in digital grimoire explains my inability to find it as I don't have it. Sticking point is the complex action it takes to set it up, which could cause problems. But since it doesn't say that it only lasts for a single task roll, it could be very useful, yes.

Saving a free action to avoid dumpshock via More than Metahuman is a great idea and one that I will be bringing up to our group's rigger at our next session.

For using analyze device on the comlink, I have always ruled that once you are actually in the drone, the comlink that got you there is no more than a link in your mesh. As you point out in other areas of your post, it becomes just you and the drone in many fun filled ways. But to restate, cast the spell on the drone you're going into and the issue is moot.

Martial arts via jumped-in rigging could work with the right /kind/ of drone. Specifically something humaniform like the manservant. However, from a purely stylistic perspective, I would keep it out of any campaign that did not intend to have an anime feel. But if that's a style your group enjoys playing in, then hell, power up Voltron.

Regarding mystic adepts and spell power, I must report that the new FAQ contradicts you. Here it is:



The emphasis in the first line of the response is mine.

Are you sure that is not the Old Faq on the same page? Its important to keep in mind the timeline, and products when printing errata and FAQs

4th. FAQ. 4thA, and all its unlisted changes, newfaq.

Here is Google's Cache of the 2006 FAQ, with the exact same ruling.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/sear...lient=firefox-a

And here's the new one, with all the 4th NON-Anniversary edition rulings stuck in it.
http://www.shadowrun4.com/resources/faq.shtml

Which is bullshit. AH, i believe, pointed out in a recent thread that the Mysadept changes was in fact one of the New Things in Anniversary edition. So that FAQ is for a rule that no longer applies, because the rule itself changed, which is ALL sorts of fucked up and just contributes to the Undocumented Changes problem in 4thA.

Someone needs to upload the New Faq in a -completely seperate- file, without all the previous rules-cruft dragging things back half an edition.
Hell, it directly contradicts the book. Here, i'll prove it.

The FAQ has This to say about 4th: "So for the example above, a mystic adept with Magic 6 with 2 points devoted to Magic skills and 4 points to adept powers, the maximum Force he can cast at is 4, and anything over Force 2 is Physical Drain. His adept powers are limited to rating 4 or lower. "

And the -fancy new rules that don't need rulings in Anniversary- say this, on page 195: For very point of magic invested in physical abilities, the character gets one Power Point that she can use to purchase adept powers. Every point of Magic invested in mana-based abilities grants the character one point to use with Magic-Based Skills. For all other purposes, including the determination of the maximum level of adept powers, the character's full Magic attribute is used. Such a character will not have as many adept powers as moth other adepts, nor will they be able to cast spells with the same skill as true magicians. Mystic adepts may use their adept powers normally"
And -then- there's the Example below.
"Roxanne is a mystic adept with a magic attribute of 4. she spends one point of magic for 1 power point, which she uses to purchase four levels of Rapid Healing. Her other 3 points of magic are dedicated to Magic skills. When using her Magic-linked dice pools, such as Spellcasting or Summoning, she will be ablle to allocate 3 dice for Magic(since the other is tied up in adept powers). For all other uses, her Magic attribute counts as its full value of 4."

So we have a 4/1 adept, who would not be legal if the FAQ were true. It may be for 4th, but not Anniversary. Which is just ridiculous. If they want to introduce rule changes, the dev team should use Errata files. Or bother to read their own product before applying fixes.



Analyze Device: This spell allows the subject to analyze the purpose and operation of a device or piece of equipment within range of the sense. The caster must gains enough hits on the Spellcasting Test to beat the item's Object Resistance. Each new hit gives the subject a bonus die while operating the device, and allows the subject to ignore and skill defaulting modifiers for using the device while the spell is sustained.

If you're running a Persona Program - like any matrix user - on the commlink, that just so happens to be using its Signal to connect to a drone, with your Icon(on the commlink).... it seems pretty cut and dried to me that you are using the commlink.
So is there any reason you can't use Analyze Device on the commlink AND the drone?

While we're on the subject of the FAQ, though, this is a new ruling with -frightening implications- for More Than Metahuman. Here, read this:

"If a drone has already spent an Action Phase operating autonomously, and a rigger jumps into it, what is its Initiative? What if the rigger jumps out again?
When a rigger jumps into a device using the Jump Into Drone/Vehicle/Device Simple Action (p.229, SR4A); the drone's Initiative is changed to the rigger's Initiative Score and Initiative Passes for any subsequent actions in that Combat Turn (Switching Initiative, p.145, SR4A). If the rigger jumps out again, the drone keeps the rigger's Initiative Score and remaining Initiative Passes for the rest of the Combat Turn (Drone Initiative, p.245, SR4A). "

A five-pass rigger or technomancer is Subscribed to a pair of Steel Lynxes, ready to attack, is already Logged on and their icon is present in both nodes.
The rigger takes a Free action with More Than Metahuman to jump into one drone, downgrade a Simple to a Free to Jump Out again, and another Simple-> free to Jump In to the other lynx. End rigger's action phase.
Pass 2, the rigger jumps out, and uses a free action to Jump Out, and Simple Action to Issue Command to his dronebuddies: 'Go shoot those jerks with your guns.'
There are now two steel lynxes with an extra pass each, and the rigger's initiative instead of their own.
Bonus Mode: With Multiprocessing or Multitasking, and not being involved in combat(Yet), you could conceivably do that in one pass. Or issue the attack command -first-, and -then- jump into the lead drone to give it extra passes and initiative. You could even use it to change a low-rolling drone's initiative to one higher so it goes first, before other things. Whether its an enemy, or you have a spotter-drone outside the building with Ultrawideband Radar, and want it to go first so you can use the Tacnet's Information Guided Warfare rule to Active Sensor Target for other members of the tacnet. Like your steel lynxes.

The captain's chair rigging style just got even better.

Edit: Yes, I realize this gets into rules-lawyery dickwaving, and keeping track of changing initiative is a pain in the ass. But its there for you to abuse. Enjoy.

It might be rules-lawyery dickwaving, but I've played in groups where it would be just the sort of things our players would jump on (including me whenever I've played a rigger).



When you're jumped into a drone, are there any tests that use your persona attributes? That, to me is the dividing point. Any test that uses the attributes of the comlink (specifically signal and response as they are the only hardware-based attributes of a comlink... the spell must be cast on something you can see and how can you see software?) would certainly benefit from analyze device cast on it. Any actions using the drone's attributes along with the rigger's skills would not. If you cast it on both, then you'd cover all your bases in that regard.

However, should it occur that you could benefit from two devices with the spell cast on them, I would only allow one of the modifiers (the higher one) to apply. I don't know if there is RAW about not stacking dice pool modifiers from the same source or if it's a houserule in our group, but that's where my brain goes.

EDIT: I would point out to the OP that while it might seem to the untrained eye that Udoshi and I have hijacked the thread's intent, many if not most of Udoshi's ideas for his mystic adept rigger would work just as well when applied to a hacking mage.

EDIT the SECOND: Udoshi, reading back to the other suggestions for things to use analyze device on has definitely made that a must have spell for my current, newly awakened character's expanding personal grimoire. And my own comment above about 'how can you cast a spell on software' has given me the next topic of discussion with our GM regarding our campaign's rules blending magic and resonance. Not in using analyze device to boost a comlink's software-based ratings or a TM's complex forms, but more of a foundation point for how we've been trying to do things like come up with possession/great form rules for sprites, or of how a TM/Adept's adept powers might affect their matrix actions. Thank you.

I wonder, has anyone experimented with IC that damages hardware? Crashing personas is nice and all, and biofeedback too, but what about just burning out a commlink?

Something like this perhaps?

Doesn't matter. You're casting the spell on the commlink, and the spell is giving you a bonus to literally everything you do with the commlink (and the commlink is an integral part of every matrix (and rigging) action you perform).

Not when you are jumped in. Then it no longer becomes your persona taking the actions, but your own mind. If it were your persona, then damage to the drone would damage your persona, not you directly.

You're still using your commlink to send the signal from your meatbody to your drone, right? Oh look, that means that jumped in rigging uses your commlink.

And now we voyage into the realm of the theoretical...

Alright. More hijacking of -interesting- hacker Stereotypes. AI's are up this time.


Race: AI
110BP
Logic 4
Willpower 4
Intuition 4
Charisma 4
Edge: 4
AI Rating: 4
=150

Qualities:
Intuitive Hacking 5 (Emulate)
Intuitive Hacking 5 (Spawn)
Code Flux 5
Rootkit 10
Authority 10
OR Sapper 5
Or Exceptional Attribute to reach AI Rating 7, through the magic of rounding...eventually.
Heck, even Trust Fund to handwave away stupid AI lifestyle rules.

Skills:
Computer(Analyze+2)
Software(Emulate +2)
Hacking(Exploit+2)
EW(Decrypt+2)
Gunnery.
So, basically, the Cracking+Electronics skillgroups.

On first glance, Intuitive Hacking may seem to be useless. In fact, it pretty much is. Let's take a look at what it does.
Intuitive Hacking, 5bp(Unwired37) "A character with this qualitiy is highly intuitive about a single aspect of the Matrix. The character may perform one specific type of Matrix action without a program or Complex Form. The specific Matrix action is chosen when this quality is taken. For Example, a hacker with Intuitive Hacking(Detect Hidden Node) may perform that action in the Matrix without a Scan program, adding only the Electronic Warfare skill to the dice pool. This quality may be taken more than once, each time with a different Matrix Action."

So you waste five points to let you do one action without a program, at a gimped dice pool. Big whoop. Except, wait, it lets you -take- an action. If you look, there are many useful Actions. Threading is a matrix action. So is Compiling sprites. So while it -could- be like Spell Knack for the resonance, mechanically it kind of falls through - no drain stat, no list of sprites you have access to.

For AI's though. Well, the designers didnt put BP costs in the RC to all of the AI abilities in unwired. Only some. Which is really lame. Because Emulate, AI's version of drainless Threading, is worth far more than 5bp, but that's all it costs with Intuitive hacking. Ditto Spawn.

Emulate(UNW169) is actually pretty balanced - unlike TM's, they have no way to deal with the -2 sustaining, and they can't summon sprites at all, so the Assist Operation boost to insane levels is right out.
Spawn(UNW169) is the AI version of the Replicate Autosoft, and lets it copy its own programs for use by other users - it also has interesting synergy with Emulate, and an AI with both may create its own Agents - oh ho.


There's a neat little sidebar on page 121, about Technomancers and Malware. Basically, the resonance doesn't let regular TM's Thread or Complex Form malware, such as viruses, trojans, or worms, though Dissonant Tm's and Entropic sprites can. Which is great news. Because AI's dont give a devil rat's ass about the Resonance. An AI with Emulate is fully capable of whipping a baby Virus out of its virtual behind, letting it copy and infect itself over other programs, and then stop sustaining the threading - the original program vanishes, but any changes(such as a backdoor-creating trojan) or copies of viral code, well, they'd remain.

Back to Spawned Agents. Read unwired 110, about Copied Agent's and ID's. It's the nerf to Agent Smithing, in which only one copy of an agent with the same access ID may be in a node at once - the firewall simply blocks all further copies, even if hacked past. Even worse, it takes week long tests, with a threshold of 3xAgentRating to change that hardcoded access ID. For an AI, its almost as bad: Software+Spoof(AIRating, 1 day) test. For comparison, the average matrix user can make a spoof(2) test as a complex action to flat out change it on the fly. Unless you have the CodeFlux quality, which lets you automatically change your ID when you hop between two nodes. Excellent. Automatic AND instant. Quite useful for spawning Agents with different access IDs.

Put all of the above together, and you have a mean, nasty Viral(in every sense of the word) AI that is itself a malware-spewing Botnet. Ticked off that AI's are limited to 3 passes, and don't even get the hotsim bonus? That's okay. Bring a few copies of yourself along for the ride.

Man my AI master mind was bad enough building his bot net from scratch. I'm stealing that for when it's needed.

Yeah, pretty much. I probably wouldn't allow something like this in one of my games, even if it IS possible, but the Viral Intelligence would probably make a pretty good NPC. A johnson, fixer, or even an antagonist.

I'd alow it in one of my one-to-one games as power levels aren't a big deal with only one PC but in a group well the rest would have to be ok with it plus so would i

Oh man, that's going down in my book next to the Mind Fuck Mage (he casts Alter Memory on his party members, changing the details of the run as he sees fit--which I would have the GM run as the altered version of the run to mind fuck the other players*).

*Yes, I'm aware that the other players, when they find out, will promptly beat the shit out of me. It would be so worth it.