So one of the main purposes of black IC is to keep you logged on and connected while it batters you to ..at the very least...unconsciousness, so they can track you back. Now black IC also makes it a contested action to jack out once it smacks you around.

Does the current version have a ruleset for assisted forced jack outs? Like "Keep an eye on my biomonitor, and if it starts blinking (whatever color you used to tag your biorythms of getting your ass beaten by black IC), hit this button.

And if someone can externally jack you out, could you have an agent set up the same way monitoring your biomonitor and cutting the feed if it goes nuts?


Not an original idea, I imagine, but I'm curious if there's a pre-existing ruleset for it, can't seem to find it in corebook or unwired atm.

Second question, while this is up. Does knowing how to crack one firewall make a difference if you're using the same firewall for your other gear? In this case, say you're a hotshot hacker and program your own firewalls. Do you have to come up with a bunch of different ones, or could you load your custom firewall into all your gear. If someone breaks 1 firewall on say your smartgun or something, does that give them a benefit in cracking your firewall on your comlink for example?

You cannot log out easily once struck by BlackIC. While you could have someone physically disconnect you it would cause physical dumpshock and allow Track programs to continue to track your datatrail even after you were unplugged.

The only ways I can think an agent could kick you is through the Sever Connection action or by changing the accessID on you commlink. Since this is hardware you'd need a spoof chip to do it via command from yourself, an agent, or if your GM wants to screw with you, a spoofed command from an intruder. This severs your connection immediately. (Unwired, p99, last paragraph of "Spoofing a Datatrail Online')

Also note that the spoof chip would have your accessid and that the agent could be told to do it for an intruder via spoof command. The spoof chip itself could also be told to do it if its set up so an agent can access it. this means ideally you should have an offline commlink not connected to your hacking commlink that controls the spoof chip and have an agent not able to get to the matrix send commands to the spoofchip. You can have a second icon there by having a dedicated dni connection although if an intruder puts ic on it you're defensive dicepools will suck if attacked in a node you arent focusing on.

The second sexiest way is to have a commlink module called an Inertial Trigger (p58, Arsenal) and have a teammate pick up your commlink or if implanted pick up your body if the biomonitor spikes. Note that with combat turns lasting 6-ish seconds and multiple passes they cant be watching the Hockey game in the next room if you are to get kicked at the first sign of hemorrhaging.

You could also have a friendly agent use Matrix Attack to crash you

A spider could also use an Edit test to fake your biomonitor showing lots of damage thus severing you via your contingency.

Cracked software is simpler. Cracked software suffers program degradation but is otherwise identical to registered software.

Regarding Firewalls there is nothing in RAW about similarity of programs so each would need to be defeated individually if your GM goes strictly by RAW.

I only play SR3, but I've 'assisted' several deckers jackout, both friend and foe alike. Our last run we found the physical bodies of the 6 hostile deckers. We 'assisted' them out of the matrix and into unconsciousness.

I've also jacked out my girlfriends decker by having my character physically pull the plug when she started bleeding out of her ears and her deck started smoking. She was mightily pissed off (in character and out of character). Apparently she had the giant chimera shaped black IC that was kicking her ass 'under control'.

In both occasions, my GM provided copious amounts of stun damage, although I don't know the matrix rules at all well, so I couldn't tell you if he made it up or not. Since he called it dumpshock, and this website is named the same, I'm inclined to believe it had some basis in the rules

In SR4 once hit by BlackIC dumpshock causes physical damage.

It could have been physical on that occasion. Given the circumstances, it was the least of her worries. She's flatlined once in the matrix and come pretty close a bunch of times. Minor misunderstanding of the rules by GM and player meant our Matrix was a LOT harder than it should have been. She does much better since the mistake was noticed.

Yes and no.

It is possible for a hacker to study a particular program and get a bonus against said program, but it requires an actual copy of the program (As opposed to looking at it operating) and a fairly long extended test. It isn't something that a hacker is generally going to worry about for a custom made firewall program that only operates on 3 nodes in the entire matrix. They're more likely to try and get a copy of the latest Renraku Firewall (or whatever) and get the bonus against all Renraku facilities and people who buy the Renraku firewall.

So yeah, it is possible to be compromised by using the same firewall on everything, but it is highly unlikely if you are talking about a custom firewall.

You also have to take into account versions: If you are examining the fully updated version and the target hasn't been updating like they should, (or vice versa) then the vulnerabilities you find might not be applicable.

Tried something like this in our session just yesterday, actually, though I didn't end up needing to go through with it.

The character was recovering from surgery at the time, and had the dumb idea to go be reckless and hack a (small) corporate node while she still had a couple boxes of damage left and wasn't in top shape to face black IC. She called up another one of the team and had him sneak her directional jammer into the clinic -- not too difficult -- while he was visiting. There was a machine monitoring her condition, and the idea was that if she got smacked with black IC, he'd know and jam her to dump her from the Matrix.

The GM ruled that doing that would multiply dumpshock damage 1.5x, but it's better than being completely brain-fried...

The whole thing was moot, anyway, as she didn't run into any IC.


Though, now I'm wondering: How does one get someone's commlink, with certain implants or similar things, to display their vitals?

Well, if a hacker found an exploit in a firewall in node 1, and node 2 was running the exact same firewall, it's pretty safe to say that the same exploit would work in both cases.

I'd say a +4-+6 to the exploit dicepool, if the hacker notices that it's the exact same firewall.

Biomonitor hooked up to a commlink.

Dumb question, sorry. Thanks.