What it says on the tin. Let's assume the character is a human with Latent Dracomorphosis.

Given how a sammy's 'ware would hurt a drake's Magic, could such a character be good or at least good enough to be fun? (Does it matter less because they have no/less Magic for a long time?)

The magic isn't that big of deal, actually. You only need one point, so given the way the Latent abilities work, just keep your essence above 1 and you'll be ok.

The larger problem would be that it's a ton of karma to spend, and your character won't get much out of it. You'll basically have two forms - one that gets the drake stat bonus but no 'ware boosts, and then one that get the 'ware boosts, but no drake bonus.

In short, it would be playable, but pretty far from optimal. But hey, getting to shapeshift into a frakkin' dragon is pretty sweet, no matter the cost^^

120 karma for a neat trick is like a slap in the face.

If you're going to do it, make sure it's for the role-playing opportunities.

You may also want to look at having your character be an adept or mystic adept.

Adept powers will work on either the metahuman or drake body.

Losing Essense won't hurt a drake much, beyond making its elemental attack pretty weak, since the other abilities (armor, Attribute increases, etc.) are not tied to its Magic. But being a street samurai is still far less optimal than being awakened, and having abilities that can be used with the dracoform.

Their metahuman side will also be, perhaps, a bit weaker, since they will need to keep their Essence at 1 or better, rather than the fractional Essence that a lot of street samurai have.

The big issue with drakes and cyber is that the cyber does not exist when you're in drake form, essentially turning all of that fancy gear into peanuts (and then having the neat trick be a little less neat because of it).

It's neat to be able to fly (depending on drake choice) when you need to, but you don't get to bring all your clothes and gear.

That's why my drake also had a rtherium polymer (sp?) coated backpack (a camouflaging drake with a non-camo backpack doesn't work). Generally he had time to strip and stuff his stuff into the bag before needing to go drake.

Totally. Still waiting on those stealth jetpacks.