I'm looking to build a Breaking & Entering Stealth Specialist, probably looking at the Harumen Dwarf Metavariant just for flavor and general fun. I was wondering if it's feasible to also tack on drone rigging and some Matrix abilities on top of that to round him off as an anti-security specialist. I really like the idea of a stealthy guy with the help of microdrones and maybe some firepower backup but since I've never really made a rigger before I'm wondering if it's reasonable at chargen to be decent at drones AND B&E.

Any suggestions for Att/Skill distribution would be appreciated... Or you can say I'm completely off my nut and trying to do too many things at once.

I think that kind of generalist is fine, as long as you recognize that your dice pools won't equal those of a true specialist.

Your important attributes are going to be Reaction, Agility, Intuition, and Logic. Many skills that you take for B&E will be (if applicable) usable for drones you jump into.

The Command rules from Unwired makes anyone with a ~600 and a decent drone really good at rigging.

Are you talking about the "remote controlling Drone" rules? (Don't have book in front of me at the moment). That's the ruleset I think I remember from SR4A rulebook at least.

Skillwires are your friend!

Generalists work absolutely fine, unless you are expected to throw 20 dice in order to accomplish average tasks.

Riggers mostly need money (commlink, drones, programs), and much of that is what Hackers need, too, so you can easily cover some Matrix skills as well. Stealthy basically requires one Attribute and one Skill. Adding moderate combat ability is not much of a problem either.

Of course, you must limit yourself a bit... i.e. don't take all the vehicle skills, but just one or two (ground/air). You can always improve upon those later.

Bye
Thanee

Harumen like other metavariants, depending on GM interpretation, may have Distinctive Style, which again depending on GM interpretation may be highly disadvantageous to a B&E Stealth specialist. Find out how he is ruling on Advanced Character Options and how Distinctive Style interacts with Stealth group skills first.

The point is actually not the expectation to succeed at average tasks, but needing that large amount of dice to succeed because the other guy also has average levels of dice. Tests against fixed thresholds are not usually the motivation to get as much dice as possible, opposed tests or tests where the threshold are determined by someone else's dice roll is. So figure out whether the primary use of the skill is rolling against generally fixed thresholds or as part of an opposed test. Generalists are alright generalising in skills with fixed thresholds. For combat skills, there is usually some form of opposition, thus you'd want as much dice as you can efficiently gain.

As a idea I quite like it,

I would also suggest the possibility of higher end drones as back up, Boost the stats of the drone and throw in a high pilot program and you have some commandable support.

A couple of flyspy drones upgraded as your eyes and ears can give you the edge in infiltration.

Or you could go the whole thing rigger and use a heavily modified bust a move as your infiltration drone, a bust a move with geko tips and a ruthinium paint job makes for a very small target

What I meant is, that some people tend to set the difficulties so high (because specialists can achieve such big dice pools easily enough), in order to "challenge" them.

As long as the difficulties are within reason, and 3 hits is actually what it is meant to be in the book, then you can do totally fine with 10 dice and some Edge for the tougher tasks.

Of course, in combat situations, you better have somewhat higher dice pools, for the reasons you mentioned. But there are plenty bonus dice to be grabbed easily, so that's not difficult to do without going fully overboard.

Bye
Thanee

You know, I've read the Distinctive Style quality a few times and I think it's definitely a quality that wasn't really thought out. It's got a 5-35 point cost, but no ACTUAL progression for how much it costs. And while I'll stand out (monkeyboys) and I can buy into not being able to disguise myself or pass off as a corporate wageslave easily, I don't see why someone would get perception bonuses for me hiding behind a tree. I'll check on that though.


That was the idea, I was thinking running the extra eyes and have say, a LEBD with armament for when the going got tough.
On another note, Gecko Tips... I've seen a lot of suggestions for those in regards to walker drones, but how are peoples' mileage with Setae/Gecko Hands on their actual characters?

Well if its a small drone then you have the chance to climb up the walls and hide above people, most people dont look up above them all the time.

bloody double

Yeah, it's odd, my Pixie for example gets the penalty even if nobody's actually seen her.

I just live with it.



Gecko Grip + grapple gun = Spiderman!





-k

I'm pretty sure the intent was that it was supposed to be taken in individual 5 point increments. This is based off the "standard" conversion from 3e's SRC where it was a 1 point flaw and 1 point = 5 points more or less between 3e and 4es point system generation. I think they gave the opportunity for up to 35 points because a character can receive up to a +6 dice pool modifier towards finding them through multiple styles, but there are different kinds of styles.

A character could have a distinctive Matrix style, which wouldn't always affect him in real life. He could have a distinctive way of talking (think Brad Pitt in Snatch) or a distinctive catch phrase (think Tom Sizemore and the nickname "Slick" in Heat) but neither of those might make him easier to find via a video that didn't have a recognizable audio track.

It's all supposed to be the GM's call, which leaves it somewhat ambiguous. Since it is a Negative Quality, it should actually affect the character, so having a Mage who owns a base model commlink and rarely uses the Matrix shouldn't be allowed to have a Distinctive Style that relates to his Matrix use. At the same time, a sedentary hacker who almost never leaves the house shouldn't be allowed to have nanotats and a propeller hat for his DS.

In the end though, it's a bonus to tracking you down, so for the rare metavariants, what makes your "style" distinctive" is that there aren't many of them around and remembering an individual and locating them isn't going to be as hard as "an elf".

Nah, I get WHY there is a distinctive style, I just don't think it works out balanced. Having any distinctive style at all "enables people to remember him" but also apparently gives "Any individual who attempts to identify, trace or physically locate the character (or gain information about him via Legwork) receives a +3 dice pool modifier on all tests made during such attempts (including Perception Tests)"
That's ridiculous. It also says that distinctive style is cumulative up to a +6 dice pool bonus which again makes no sense. "It's cumulative but it only up to two distinctive points." Seriously?

I personally think 3 dice per distinction is a little bit much, AND adding to all tests? Ridiculous. Just because I can be picked out of a Usual Suspects lineup by someone who's got a bad case of cataracts, doesn't mean that the rent-a-cop on the street should get bonus dice to me flitting from shadow to shadow to get behind him.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Doublepost.

I guess it's more a case of common sense against poor wording - possibly in part due to word count limitations.

I'd play it this way : it *will* add to a Perception test to pick you out in a crowd or visually identify you once spotted. It *won't* add to a test to locate you behind cover or while going Spiderman on the ceiling with gecko gloves/boots (which are IMHO better because you can remove the gloves while the biotech/Surge ones are permanently "on" and can make even simple tasks a royal PITA unless you cover them).

That would be a very interesting interpretation to that rule. But I don't think it would apply that way.

He wouldn't get that bonus if you're using infiltration because he's not looking for "you", he's just looking for anybody or anything suspicious. The GM might be able to rule if you're trying to shadow someone that they will notice you because of the "distinctive style", but not for infiltration. Infiltration is bout not being seen at all. Shadowing is about not being noticed.

You know, looking over it the two actually do completely different things... Gecko Tape Gloves(+kneepads+shoes+stuff) makes you treat climbing as if you were doing Assisted Climbing which will give a +2 dice pool bonus, but are useless when wet.

Gecko Hands/Setae (Surge gecko hands) on the other hand, work on liquid covered surfaces, just not on surfaces with loose debris or lubricant. However the gecko hands only allows you to treat all surfaces as Broken (a +0 bonus, but lets you ignore penalties from climbing say a sheer, wet building). It's true the problems of dropping things stuck to your hand is there, but I think the "won't fall even on a critical glitch" makes up for that. Besides you can have special gloves that you can just spend a complex action to peel off whenever you want to climb.


I agree. I still think the quality could have been written better though.

My next problem is in the character's Reaction (or rather lack thereof)
Soft-capped, a dwarf metavariant sadly only gets 4 reaction, which is sad, but I intended to get reaction and IP boosting 'ware anyways since I'm aiming at AR controlled drones+infiltration. How much nuyen (or essence) should I spend on it? Any other suggestions to 'ware (bio or cyber) besides Skillwires and Wired Reflexes/Synaptic Boosters?