For my upcoming game i wanted to try technomancer, this is what I have this far. Since this is my first technomancer and first matrix user I would appreciate advices.

Former corp kid who desided to run after realizing he was technomancer and hearing rumours about what his corp(Horizon) did with them. With the help of free sprite he managed to get away without raising suspitions. Needing money to live he has turned to shadowrunning.

Nelson Bartlett
Human
B 3
A 2
R 3
S 2
C 4
I 4
L 5
W 5
200 BP

E 4
R 5
60 BP

Ess 6
Init 7 IP 1
Matrix 9 IP 3

Qualities:
Technomancer(Sourceror)
Analytical Mind
Paragon(01)
Combat Paralysis
SINner
Records on File
-20 BP

Skills:
Cracking SG 3
Electronics SG 3
Perception 2
Pilot Ground Craft 2
Compiling 5 (+1)
Registering 5 (+1)
116 BP

CFs:
Analyze 5
Attack 5
Browse 3
Edit 3
Exploit 5
Spoof 5
Stealth 5
Shield 5
36 BP

Contacts:
Sparks(Free Sprite) L4/C3
7 BP

Gear:
Hardware Kit
Biker Rasing Armor /w Helmet
Formfitting 2
Leather Jacket
Comm: Meta Link
OS: Renraku Ichi
Mapsoft(Campaing City) 4
VR Game x2
AR Gloves
Tag Eraser
Fake SIN R4
Fake LIcence R4
Contacts
*Vision Ench 3
*Image Link
*Flare Comp
Glasses
*Lowlight
*Thermo
Earbuds
*Audio Ench 3
Fingernail Data Storage
Mini Welder
Skinweb Array
Fiberoptic Cable 4m

Aztechnology Crawler
*Gecko Tips
*Grapple
Sensors
*Ultrawideband Radar
*Camera /w Lowlight
*Microphone
*Geiger Counter

Flyspy
Sensors
*Camera /w Lowlight
*Microphone

Thundercloud Contrail
*Antitheft
*Motorcycle Gyrostabilization

Lifestyle 1 month
C 2
E 2
Nes 2
Neigh 2
S 2
In Tune
Workplace
Sprite Magnet
Total 5000 Month

Gear total: 29700
6 BP

Grand Total 405 BP

Problem is that I need to cut 5 BP from somewhere, but dont really know where.
I could drop S to 1 and then buy more gear and maybe few Program options, but I dislike dumping stats to 1.
Commlink is there just for show, he doesnt want anybody to know he is technomancer.

Also for future, which one do you think is better drone:

LEBD-1
/w Ingram Smartgun X
*Autoadjustable Weight
Clearsight 3
Targeting(Automatics) 3
Defense 3

7100

Or

Cyberspace Designs Dragonfly
*Weapon Mount(external, fixed, remote)
/w Ares Crusader
*external Smartgun system
*Underbarrel Weight
Clearsight 3
Targeting(Automatics) 3
Defense 3

6925

I see him having no weapons himself but being surrounded with either few LEBD-1s or a swarm of Dragonflies. Coupled with good Pilots or Machine Sprites.
I chose those weapons because because my GM will not let me install LMG on drone the size of a dinner plate, but SMG and Machine Pistol for Small and Minidrones feels more fitting.

Comments?

An Armor CF is worth its weight in gold. Attack programs hurt your meat body!
With Response 3 and no Control Rig you're not throwing many dice either in the meat world or via Full VR to drive. I'd drop the Piloting skill.

The Dragonfly drone is able to carry and emplace Kanmushi drones. Its better than a Flyspy. Although legal by RAW I wouldnt think it reasonable to take a drone that fits in your palm and put a pistol thats twice as big as a human hand on a weapon mount. Pet peeve but I'll concede its legal by RAW.

The LEBD is a legal killing machine. With SMG's firing Gel and permits you can withstand a lot of scruitiny provided you arent caught in the act.

Combat Paralysis will get you killed. Dont plan on doing a high risk VR node with Combat Paralysis.

Your commlink can start with a "Nonstandard Wireless Link" rating 6 from Unwired to start with Signal 6.

I have Shield CF, which I think is better than Armor. If I can get the BP I might take it. I will hopefully avoid Cybercombat and even then Assist Operation to Shield can save the day.

For piloting yes, I will drop it. Then I just have to avoid any situation where I actually have to roll Piloting or use Sprite.

For drones and their weapons I will have to speak with GM. Putting any weapon to drone that small is silly, but hopefully I can justify machime pistol. I thing I'll settle with Dragonfly. It is also more discreet and can be hidden in backpack or under loose clothes, while LEBD-1 can't.

Combat paralysis isn't that bad with low Init. Sure, it drops my average Init from 12 to 10.5 in first round. But I intend to keep my Stealth high with threading or sprites, so they dont see me until I want them to and then I will be ready.

Nonstandard Wireless Link, thanks for the tip.

Smart money says to get both and keep them both active.

:-)

Smart Money says to keep ALL of your CF's active, there is no downside to that...

Yes, but if you can afford only one, I prefer Shield.

If I drop Pilot Ground I can take Armor 3 and be at 400 BP.

Now I am tempted to drop S to 1 after all and get more CFs, few of those Dragonflies and maybe smugling compartment to crawler and/or bike to house said Dragonflies.

Well, you are limited to 10 CF's at character Creation (Logic x2), so keep thet in mind...
Yeah, I would drop your Pilot Skill and get the Armor CF, definitely.
And if you are ever looking at Commanding Devices, you need the Command CF (Generally cheaper to start out with what you want than buy it later), but you may not be able to fit it in...

Combat Paralysis, as others have mentioned, is risky if you intend on hitting those highly secure systems at some point, especially with a Initiative of 9 in the Matrix. I would change it to something Else (Bad Luck would keep you balanced there)...

Looks like a fairly solid TM build to me.

I'd say you should be fine without the armor program. You're already at 15 dice for defense, which is more than any agent/IC can even get, though only being 3 dice above isn't the greatest as far as odds. Still, 5 BP for a maxed out armor program isn't that bad of a deal.

I know having a 1 attribute isn't something you like, but it would make a fair bit of sense in a former corp kid gone Techno for strength. It helps that you have all of 3 pounds of equipment and drones to help you carry stuff.

Instead of rigging your drones directly, you could consider getting a high grade command program. Even without the absurdities of thread + assist Operation it still allows for a decent DP, and also means you could reasonably afford to drop your reaction to 2. You're already going last in the meat anyway (Which means combat paralysis won't be a big drawback) so may as well pull some extra BP back out of your reaction. That or you can just throw machine sprites into the drones to pilot them.

Oh, right, and a scan program. Can't find a node without it. You could of course thread it, but it is something to consider getting a couple of ranks in at least.

It really isn't that big of a deal, especially considering the high rating stealth programs that a TM can manage. Should usually be able to get the drop on IC, or simply never set off an alarm.

And even if combat does start... big deal. Goes from 9 + 9d6 to 9 + 5d6. I don't think the loss of 1.33 init on average is going to make that big of a difference. And TMs tend to be fairly hard to hit on the matrix, so going second isn't necessarily such a big deal.

Edit: Oh, and if you do switch to bad luck, you might want to consider dropping your edge since you're likely to use it less.

A few points:
First: Do not be afraid of powergaming and minmaxing. Technomancers need any point of Karma they may get.

Lets start with the complex forms.
Take 10 and take them all to 5! It is close to impossible to buy that stuff in game.

I would even go so far to say: Cut perception to 0, cut strengh to 1 and cut pilot to 0 and even cut gear to 4 (drones could be bought in game)
Thats a total of 10+8+8+2=28.
The total amout of Karma you would need to buy back these things ist 10+8+8=26.
Now you have 23 Karma to spend on Komplex forms.
Raise the ones you got to 5 (for 4BP), get armor (5 BP) get another for 5BP and raise Charisma for Biofeedback to 5. So you are one BP short. Maybe scrab it from gear or whatever.
You will play in the Matrix, make sure you survive it. There will be the day someone will hit you with an attack 6 Programm an 4 net-hits in the face. (Normaly this happens on the first run)
If you try to soak this with 4 dices of Biofeedback... Have fun. I spare you with databombs...
And of course there is the Point of Karma: To get the things I have suggested in game you would need to spend: 73 Karma!

You see, I interpret it that the Initiative goes to a 5+5d6, not 9+5d6... that is a very BIG difference... 1/2 Initiative affects the whole initiative, not just your dice...

Yes, Stealth could get you through, but then again, since it is a contested roll, it just might not either... even with 12 dice, I have seen only a single success netted from such a roll... Of course, you can always spend that edge to re-roll those failed dice, but it is still not a guarantee, and once you have been spotted, it is combat at that point... Sucks to go last in the Matrix, even if you ARE a Technomancer...

Agreed on Bad Luck, though you could still have a high Edge, it just means that when you rely upon your luck, it sometimes comes out bad is all....

As for the COmplex Forms, it is not Impossible to get them after the game starts, it just costs some Karma... but I would agree, get at least 10, you may not get them all to a 5, but I would definitely get them...

And never underestimate the power of Threading... Use it always...

I don't understand why you're building a droid collection if you're not planning on jumping in AND you don't have the Command CF.

I know you're not planning on using that commlink for anything other than phone calls, but get the team hacker to get you one that's secure.

I don't see a stream. You need to choose one.

Look at Paragons if you haven't. If you have, look at them again, just in case.

Only get the droids you're going to need for that first mission.

You're actually thinking about mounting a gun on a dragonfly? (Is that legal by RAW? You're GM will get you get away with it?)

Stream (Sorcerour) and Paragon (01) are both in the writup...
Yeah, A gun on a Dragonfly is a real stretch there...

I am thinking of following:

Drop bike mods & FlySpy = gear is 5 BP, saves 1. Cannot go lower, bike & crawler reguired for concept.
Drop Strengh to 1, saves 10
Drop Perception to 0, save 8
Drop Pilot to 0, save 8

27 BP Available, -5 to get it to 400 BP, 22 left

Increase Edit + Browse to 5, uses 4
Take 2 of Scan, Armor, Command, uses 10

8 left
Options:
Squeeze 2 from somewhere(hard!) and raise Int. More important than Cha, IMO
Buy any combination of gear, program options, perception.

I am not taking Bad Luck, it is too big risk. Combat paralysis says you roll only half initiative, so difference it not that big.

Out of those 3 CFs, its hard to decide. Without Scan I cant find nodes, but it can be threaded when needed. Command would be nice, but I also have access to Machine Sprites. Armor would be nice, but I have Shield and I intend to avoid combat altogether. When needed can use threading and/or Assist Operation to raise Shield.

Motorcycle for moving around and crawler mainly as a pet. It also has the awesome ultrawideband radar. For other drones there are Machine Sprites.

Commlink is just for show, there will absolutely nothing in it. No data, no phone numbers, no adresses, nothing. I might even turn wireless off. Or heck turn the whole commlink off. It is just a subtle way to make say: "See, I have commlink, no technomancers here. Really."

Stream and Paragon are there.

By RAW I can install LMG to Dragonfly. Silly I know. Pistol is largest weapon I could think that actually fit in it and would make sense.
I think my GM would allow it, I havent asked yet.

So yeah, it says roll half, it doesn't say your init is halved.

Totally. I've just started playing my first TM in a game on the boards here and she is kicking butt thanks to often threading up her CFs by 5-6 points (Sourcerer + Cerebral Boosters + trauma damper = win fading). I loved it when my first roll to hack on the fly into something netted me 11 hits

Half Initiative Attribute is Half Initiative Attribute... could go either way I admit, but there you go... I would guess that most people interpret it the most beneficial way possible, which effectively reduces the drawback of the NEGATIVE Quality (Which gives you a HEFTY 20 point benefit).... Anyways...

What am I missing?

So if it doesn't have a body of 3, it can't have a mount, correct?

The dragonfly has a Body of 1 correct?

I will use threading and sprites as much as possible. Because it is effective, flavourful and fun. Also to show my group how technomancer should be played.

Our last (and only this far) technomancer wasnt really effective. Useless in meat, rarely used sprites and threaded even less. Back then I didn't really know the rules for them and wasnt interested. That game ended soon after Unwired come out.
After reading Unwired and following topics about technomancers I certainly am interested.

I will probably start slowly, but when situations come I will show why technomancers are feared.
I will buy Cerebral Booster and leg /w nanohive when i get the money. Nothing shall stop me.



Arsenal changes that. It is rounded up. 147 Arsenal, second chapter.

That would be correct... Must have a Body of at least 3 to have a weapon...

Current Build:

Nelson Bartlett
Human
B 3
A 2
R 3
S 1
C 4
I 4
L 5
W 5
190 BP

E 4
R 5
60 BP

Ess 6
Init 7 IP 1
Matrix 9 IP 3

Qualities:
Technomancer(Sourceror)
Analytical Mind
Paragon(01)
Combat Paralysis
SINner
Records on File
-20 BP

Skills:
Cracking SG 3
Electronics SG 3
Perception 2
Compiling 5 (+1)
Registering 5 (+1)
108 BP

CFs:
Analyze 5
Armor 5
Attack 5
Browse 5
Command 5
Edit 5
Exploit 5
Spoof 5
Stealth 5
Shield 5
50 BP

Contacts:
Sparks(Free Sprite) L4/C3
7 BP

Gear:
Hardware Kit
Biker Rasing Armor /w Helmet
Formfitting 2
Leather Jacket
Comm: Meta Link
OS: Renraku Ichi
Mapsoft(Campaing City) 4
VR Game x2
AR Gloves
Tag Eraser
Fake SIN R4
Fake LIcence R4
Contacts
*Vision Ench 3
*Image Link
*Flare Comp
Glasses
*Lowlight
*Thermo
Earbuds
*Audio Ench 3
Fingernail Data Storage
Mini Welder
Skinweb Array
Fiberoptic Cable 4m

Aztechnology Crawler
*Gecko Tips
*Grapple
Sensors
*Ultrawideband Radar
*Camera /w Lowlight
*Microphone
*Geiger Counter

Thundercloud Contrail

Lifestyle 1 month
C 2
E 2
Nes 2
Neigh 2
S 2
In Tune
Workplace
Sprite Magnet
Total 5000 Month

Gear total: 24450
5 BP

Grand Total 400 BP

Thinking to drop Perception to 0 and getting 2 BP from CFs(Browse & Edit to 4 or Armor or Command to 3) and raising Int.

Comments?

<- reads paragraph.
<- dies a little inside.
<- looks up eratta.
<- dies a little more.

Microdones with LMGs and 250 rounds of belt fed stick and shock ammo by RAW. Fun fun fun in the sun sun sun.

What? No. You guys are forgetting that Weapon Mount is a Standard vehicle upgrade. Only Standard class vehicles and drones can take it. (because upgrades are either Micro, mini, standard or all). Minidrones can't take standard upgrades, so no weapon mountings. The minimum entry for a weapon mount is a Small drone.

You could, however, use a full mechanical arm with a cybermachine pistol, but that is -really- expensive for what you get.

Makes sense, but damn, there goes my Murder Swarm^tm

Good thing SR4a changes it back to round down, and 4a has president over Arsenal.

hmmmm... some people might look at me like i'm crazy, but i'm going to have to say... i'm not a big fan of spending 200 BP for attributes on a technomancer. grab log 5 so you can get 10 CFs, sure, but i really hesitate to spend more than about 160 BP on attributes, personally. attributes are really expensive.

also, skill groups: it might be a better idea if instead of buying the whole skill group, you considered what you're going to use most and grab those skills at higher ratings, while keeping other skills at 1 or 2. yes, you get a better deal in BP if you buy it as a skill group. but it can pay off to have key skills (such as computer and hacking) at 4 or 5 or even 6, while i doubt you'll regret too much having your electronic warfare at 1 or 2 (or not even have it) and having a sprite handle that end of things.

They are expensive, but techno needs high mental and decent body is must. Str is already at 1. Maybe I could drop R to 2 since his Init is low anyway, but I'd rather leave it at 3. Even if I drop it the BPs would go to Int to raise Response & Matrix Init.

For skills the max I can go is 4 since i already have two at 5. Electronics has 4 skills so breaking it would cost much more. Splitting Cracking would result Cybercombat 3, Hacking 3 and EW 1 with 2 BP to spare. I'd rather keep all at 3.

Yeah, but depending on the character, they are more than worth it. 10 BP to raise agility for instance instantly gives you a +1 to about 15 different DPs, which would of course cost 50+ BP to do individually (Admittedly several won't be used, but even if you've only raised 3 skills that you will use it is a net benefit, and infiltration and a weapon skill are almost always going to be used, so that is already 2). And since a TMs entire ability revolves around their mental stats, I figure it is well worth spending a big chunk of your BP there. In fact, I'm working on a TM now and am considering having virtually no skills so that I can have soft maxed mental stats, with a hard maxed resonance and 12 rating 6 CFs because of the absurd amount of karma it will take to get those things compared to getting a couple points in some skills. Only problem is it will be hard to earn those few karma , and it makes for a somewhat hard to believe character .

It's generally a better idea to get skill groups really, especially when it is comprised of 4 skills (like computers), even if you'll mainly only use 2 of the skills, because you're getting 2 skills at 2 BP a rating, which is absurdly good and generally worth squeezing in. For cracking I might agree if hacking/CC could be raised to 5 or 6, but that is already been done with compiling/registering, so no option for that. May as well spend the extra 2 BP a rank to get some decent ECCM skill for just in case you need it (And it can be absurdly handy if you know what you're doing).

@Ard3 I know you don't really have any BP to spare at this point, but consider grabbing the 10 BP SURGE and getting a metagenic improvement for logic. It'll be a 1 point boost (So you could get the BP from logic if you wanted) and raise your max, which could be handy later when you're struggling for every point of fading resistance you can manage.

Normally I'd agree with you, but. Copy-pasted rules text isn't 'newer' at all. The book itself may be newer, but 4th and 4a use the exact same rules, so its not really updated at all.

Well, since neither one has been errataed to change that in particular, and since Arsenal was errated to include a large change to an example simply to change a bod 2 drone with a mount to a bod 3 drone with a mount, and since SR4a is newer, it still holds. There really isn't any way to tell if the rule in 4a was simply a copy+paste job, or if someone simply forgot to put the change in the arsenal errata, and so I'll go with the one that makes sense (And is technically the most correct RAW), which is the option that doesn't allow a drone to mount a weapon several times its size.

most of a technomancer's attributes don't actually add to very many technomancer-ish dice pools. except resonance, which i fully agree on boosting. like i said, you may think i'm crazy, but in my opinion spending the points to get your mental attributes high is generally not the best way to go.



well, it's up to the person grabbing the skill group, but i do still think it's important to carefully consider whether you are actually going to get a lot of use out of those skills. electronics is probably not too horribly bad a skill group to take if you consider personally handling data search to be a key element of your character and you want to handle hardware upgrades, but even then you can actually save points by choosing only the skills you feel you really need (software and computer), provided you don't mind ditching hardware and data search. this is especially true for many in the cracking group imo.... a lot of people will not be specialising in electronic warfare or cybercombat, so keeping a skill group in that area is likely not needed.

essentially, you need to carefully consider skill groups. if you were going to a car salesman, and he told you for an extra 500 dollars he can add 2,000 dollars worth of sound system, that's a really good deal... *if* you care about your car's sound system. if you don't care about the sound system, it's just a waste of 500 dollars, even though you'd be getting the stuff cheaper.

likewise, if you don't have much need for the 'extra' skills in a skill group, then you may end up paying extra BP for something you don't actually want or need, and even if you're getting a better deal on it, it still may not be worthwhile. i'm not saying you should *never* use skill groups, i'm saying you should look at the skill group and make sure you really do want to have at least 3 of the skills in the group at the high rating, and if you don't want at least 3 of the skills in the group then you should just take specific skills.

now, perhaps the above character concept is someone who loves to tinker with computers and spends a lot of time in the matrix searching for crazy new ideas they can incorporate into their tinkering. if so, then the entire electronics group is pretty important. and perhaps the concept includes matrix warfare in all forms as a key element, and thus requires both electronic warfare and cyber combat to be at high levels.

but then again, maybe it's supposed to just be a kid who escaped from a corp (btw, horizon isn't actually known to do Bad Things™ to technomancers, you may wish to try mitsuhama if you want someone with a really bad reputation) and has appropriate skills for that. obviously, it's not my choice to make, but it's something to consider.

Well, its like this.

Groups: Cracking+Electronics 4: 80BP.
Hacking 4, Electronic Warfare 4, Cybercombat 1(because as a TM, a threaded Attack program makes up for the dice)
Software 4, Computer 4, Data Search 1(because as a TM, a threaded browse makes up for the dice. An analytical mind gives you two free effective levels. you have analytical mind, right?), Hardware 1(because not defaulting is good, and occasionally you need to mess with maglocks)
4+4+1+4+4+1+1=19x4=74BP.
As a TM, you need to shave points wherever you can. 6bp an mean the difference between starting with a car and a good lifestyle.(for the starting cash bonus), or other good things like SURGE 1.

If your GM lets you buy/split groups in character creation, take Cracking+electronics 1(20bp), then bringing the important skills: Hacking,EW, Computer, Software to 4(48bp) is the best bet, at 68BP.

You know, i had an interesting idea. Lets say A TM is going to take some essence loss anyway(say, for a pain editor).
How cost effective would it be to give them some skillwires?, and put the hackskills on them? They don't exactly need high Skill ratings to be effective.

What? Yes there is.





Just because the book is newer, doesn't mean the rules are. In this case, its exactly the same as the previous edition. Arsenal has the rules expanding on the weapon mounts. If you're using arsenal's rules, you should use all of them, instead of going piece-meal on the rules halfway through. That's just silly. They were meant as an expansion to the limited rules already there.

Besides, its not like corebook mounts don't have their own problems(like holding 250 taserdarts or grenades or missiles).

I'm sorry, I got confused. Which was the silly option? Having Dragonflys with 250 rounds of Stick and Shock ammo as part of the response team or NOT having Dragonflys with 250 rounds of Stick and Shock ammo as part of the response team?

What? Dragonflies are minidrones. Dragonflies can't take weapon mounts.(the mod).

You are the silly option. Go read your rules. Specifically, Terminology: Size and Type on arsenal 131. Arsenal's weapon mount rules already accounted for stupid things, such as minidrones with LMGs.

Exceptionally ineffective because you can't get the TM version of hacking/computer/other in skillwire form.


And just because the rule says the same thing in the old and new book doesn't mean the new book is wrong. I'm fairly sure alot of other rules stayed the same. Does that mean they're all wrong too?

And like I keep saying, read that example that they went through alot of effort to change so that it didn't include a mount on a drone/vehicle with a body of less than 3. I don't think they did that just for kicks. Much more likely they'd intended to errata the rule and it just got left out by mistake, and they haven't gone back and changed it yet.

The other possibility is that they intended it to be something like 'round up if it is above 1' so 1 and 2 body stuff don't get any, but 4 get two.

P.S. I can't wait to get my Entertainment Systems Falcon modified with a concealed LMG with 250 rounds of ammo in it via your rules

No, it doesn't mean they're wrong - it just means you need to take catalyst's fucked-up shadowrun 4.5 edition, and their lazy-ass lack of errata with a grain of salt, and actually think about it.

Second, which example, exactly? People keep saying about an arsenal drone size/weapon errata thing, but can't say exactly what it is. I'd like to look at it firsthand. So where can I find it?

And yeah, round up if its above 1 would make a bit of sense. But, body 2 drones(per the size table) go up to dog-sized. and body 3 drones go from dog to motorbike sized. I think i'm okay with a dog-sized drone having a gun, even if the line is a little blurred.

You actually can't modify the falcon like that. It requires Gm approval to modify, unfortunately. Though sticking an LMG turret on a wheel chair is an awesome use of the Steed.

@'Udoshi'


Take a close look at the numbers. If with breaking up, we are talking about 12 Points saved. This means 3 Skillpoints.
Thats not that much. (By the way is the rule of max hits=skillrating*2 a house or optional rule?
But if you are going at it from the minmaxing point of few: Why having a "good" lifestyle or a car?

And with SURGE 1 we get to the point if this is in or out of the game.

By Raw you would not be allowed to use them for Technomancerstuff so... limited

@'Udoshi'


Take a close look at the numbers. If with breaking up, we are talking about 12 Points saved. This means 3 Skillpoints.
Thats not that much. (By the way is the rule of max hits=skillrating*2 a house or optional rule?
But if you are going at it from the minmaxing point of few: Why having a "good" lifestyle or a car?

And with SURGE 1 we get to the point if this is in or out of the game.

By Raw you would not be allowed to use them for Technomancerstuff so... limited

well, 6bp is 30 grand in cash. A technomancer can pretty easily turn that into a lifestyle with a Resonance Well or In Tune(+2 to all resonance tests while physically in your home), or a car with Amenities to live out of (such as a van, or rover 2068).

Its like half a page worth of the two page errata Hmm, actually it is smaller than I recalled. Anyway, page 2 of the errata, changing page 105. They go through effort to change it from a body 2 drone with an LMG to a body 3 drone with an HMG to demonstrate something that should suffer recoil. Of course that breaks the rules even more (now that I think about it) because under neither interpretation can a body 3 drone have an HMG because that requires a reinforced mount which takes up two mount slots.
Unless we're talking about a great dane sized pitbull when we're talking about 'dog sized' I still don't think something that size is going to be able to totally handle the recoil from an LMG. Mount it? Maybe. Not get tipped over whenever it fires on full auto? Doubtful.

You actually can. It requires GM approval to modify and still have look like a real animal.
It also lets you convert chargen money into in game money more easily, which is generally a nice thing to have a little nest egg starting out.

yes, 12 BP is 3 skill points. it can also buy 12 points of complex forms, 12 points worth of contacts, 60,000 , or various combinations thereof (could also potentially be used for anything else in chargen, obviously). essentially, the point is that 12 BP in one place may not get you an awful lot, but it can potentially get you an awful lot someplace else.

Please do a re-read of this thread.

On pg 1, the Ard3 is arguing that a Dragonfly can have a weapons mount by RAW pointing to pg 147 in Arsenal. It's then questioned what rule (round up or down) is correct, i.e. does Anniversary win or does Arsenal win since neither have errata that specifically covers this.

What you're bringing into this is a third rule (Yay) that indicates that under either set of rules the Dragonfly (proposed on page 1) isn't legal under either rule set.

So at least that silliness is dealt with.

When I made my first post I didn't realize that drone has to be at least Small(B3) to get that mount. I was wrong, can't have dragonflies with guns. Thats the end of discussion in my point of view. I will still buy them for scouting purposes when I get the money. And maybe those LEBD-1s for fighting.

For skillgroups, I have them at 3, so splitting 3, 3, 1 and 3, 3, 1, 1 costs exactly the same as taking both groups at 3. So no splitting. It is my first matrixuser and first time this GM is running SR so I want to have by bases covered, just in case I need them.

Nothing wrong with that...

Personally I like dragon flies with the antitheft system. Hehe, zat.

Agreed.

But that doesn't work either. Standard size mods can't go on minidrones.

Believe, me i tried. There was a great big OH DAMMIT moment when I realized I couldn't use a small swarm of Anti-thefted, laser-linked spyflies as a sort of reverse bugzapper security system for a car. You know, park it, deploy the flies, zap anything that gets close. Makes sense, right?

And it totally doesn't work.

could you at least mod their armor with shock frills?