I'm running Shadowrun and I would like to allow AI characters, or perhaps allow Technomancers who burn edge to survive extreme deaths to return as E-ghosts. But I worry that the need to physically accompany a runner team on a mission would hamper their effectiveness, not to mention the limitations on their response.

So I wonder what your experiences have been with AI characters, if any?

I find having an AI your team functions almost identical to having a cyborg on your team, which in turn is like having a semi-competent rigger/hacker.

I had an AI PC in my game, he was about as good as a non-technomancer Hacker, he worked very well in conjunction with the other so-so hacker in terms of enhancing his node and running in with him on Node hacks. In terms of being physically there, he inhabited a Renraku Manservant so as to have a physical body, modded it to have a satelite link and other things handy to hackers on the go and he was really a pretty interesting, entertaining, and useful character. If you're going to for optimization, I'd run a technomancer though, AIs are way too BP heavy for what they do.

AIs also can't get more then 3 init passes in the matrix, which is a problem because technos and hackers can both get 5, which makes them monsters.

Basically, AI's need some serious houseruling to become anything other then an interesting oddity.

I just made my first AI PC, and ran him tonight, and I noticed these shortcummings. My average dice pool was also only 10, which is decent, but not the levels I can reach with a mundane hacker or a Technomancer.

The "accompany the team" part is not difficult - the AI only needs to be on it´s home node for about 1 hour per day. Your average runner team will carry quite a few nodes that can host an AI. I´d agree with AI+drone body = cheap cyborg.


Since I lack experience:

110 Race: AI
65 Charisma 6
40 Intuition 5
40 Logic 5
40 Willpower 5
30 Edge 4
Qualities: Media Junkie (20 BP bonus)
---
305 BP for existing. Derived: Rating 6, Firewall 6, System 5, Condition monitor: 11 boxes.



Pilot Origin (10 BP):
Assuming the AI developed from a milspec autopilot software suite. Autosofts instead of skills is too good to pass up.
Codebase:
Attack, Black Hammer, Command 6
Stealth, Armor, ECCM 5

Drone Body / Home node: MCT-Nissan Rotordrone, Imp. Sensor Array, max. Armor, weapon mount, Response 5, Signal 5, Firewall 5. => Medium Lifestyle, about 25k¥. Let´s call it 9 BP after buying a few months of lifestyle.

324 BP, home node rating 8.



Cracking 4, Electronics 1, 30 points of military-related knowledge skills.

Programs for 26 BP / 130.000 ¥. We permit cracked software to be bought at chargen, so I´m finished at that point. 400 BP.

My actual Abomi... Creation is an AI too, a redesign from a former Idea i had.

The Trick is to know what you want to do with it. The first Idea didn't have any kind of Hacking Skills whatsoever.
Yes, he couldn't even hack a vending machine if he wanted. He emerged from a surveillance drone so the best he could do was to finde People and Nodes. His favourite leisure activity was mapping seattle and recording people he found interesting. Combined with an Ultrawideband Radar he calculated three different escape routes for the team in no Time. So yeah, he may have only three IPs but that shouldn't bother you if you want to do an AI.

The new Idea is actually an classical Infiltrator and Matrix Assassin. He doesn't have any drones for which to "Inhabit" to join the team, since he isn't created as runner. If he wanted to do such a thing, he'd expect the humans to come up with something, since it's "their" world, not his.

Aye. Agree 100%.

- J.

I'm running a game with an AI in the group, and he's doing very well with 10-point Pilot Origins and Rootkit (I think it is). Everyone has a -6 Matrix Perception to see him, and he has another quality that auto-spoofs ID when he switches nodes. He's an invisible agent program, basically.

You guys HAVE to remember that an AI's home node requrires lifestyle costs = the home node. You need to be dropping 100k a month to get a R6 Home Node. And if you don't pay up, your node starts burning out.

Personally, if they had rules for Free Sprites, I'd never even look at an AI. Complex Forms > Ergonomic Programs.

The pilot origins-AI are street samurai with an actually pretty low profile, considering the option of hardened armor 9 and a base response of 8-9. You can get a bunch of skills at rating 4, too. There might be a secret reason for the existence of that quality.

AI hackers suffer from working on the power scale of agents. Their main advantage compared to an agent is the ability to run on any node, regardless of device rating. Good agents can´t move about freely, but must find a sufficiently high-powered node to change their home node - or suffer rating degradation. I did not find such a limit for AI.

Create AI with karma. Load up on as Positive Qualities like Authority, Rootkit, Sapper, etc. But I'm sure a sufficiently well built Technomancer will be better.

Those qualities are open only to NPC AIs. However I usually assign a random but fair sounding BP value to them and use them any ways

i suspect the AI is there as a interesting option for character focused play, not for "play to win"...

hobgoblin.Karma++;

if only...

actually, he can't give you karma per se, but he can potentially leave comments in your profile. which he apparently didn't, since there's no comments in your profile (i checked) =S

"Play to win" mentally in players is the #1 cause of RPG non-fun.

It's not just that. I love Complex Forms and Threading, but I don't like the poopiness of having a meat body. Hence, I'd love to play a free Sprite; a Technomancer without the body.

heh, try to convince your gm to allow a e-ghost with resonance

The values are in RC.

Or that you are allowed to take the Emulate Quality.

It wouldn´t have a living node, but apart from that, why not? If I´m having an AI in my game at all, everything goes.