At the moment i have a little competition with my GM we call "give me your build and i tell you how durable it is". I already frustrated him with my ghoul-troll-adept and i am also not going to loose the next fight.^^

Actually i have always been interested in a homanoid cyborg-like combat drone, but i don´t have the book at hand (only PDF´s) and all the rigger stuff is really out of my interest. So does somebody have a good (character creation status if possible) drone-build for me i am allowed to copy?

I would really appreciate your help and maybe some comments, do´s and don´ts, weaknesses and updates that would make sense after character creation.

Thank you in advance.

What exactly do you need?
Stats for a humanoid Drone?
Stats for a humanoid Drone, possible at CharGen (Which with the book drones isn't possible iirc, since the official ones got an availability of 24)
Stats for rigger using one?
Stats for a cyborg using one?

Your drone durability is heavily dependent on how you rule armor layering on a drone body.

GC spoiler:

If your GM doesn't allow the Cyborg-Drone above, the Otomo gives you 6 Body and potential 10 concealed Armor. Or 18 if you don't want to look like a human and don't need concealed.

We houseruled that an attack either needs to be higher than your worn armor or your internal armor to be able to harm you and not the sum of the two.
Another option, which is "slightly" more realistic but more time consuming is resisting an incoming attack with your worn armor only. If the remaining damage is higher than the internal you resist with that and your body, if not you don't take any damage.

Ok, this is quite simple...see below.

Yes please.

This would be the most needed build, so yes.

If you have some ready-builds, yes please.

No thank you.

We didn´t thought about layering armor above what we already experienced with possessing mages, FFBA etc. But this doesn´t matter. I also don´t necessarily need a concealable drone, but if you could offer me an alternative...? One concealable, one obvious?

The problem is, that there are no humanoid drones (besides the renraku manservant which doesn't count >.<) that are available from chargen.
So either you crate something fishy like a Motorbike with 2 mechanical Arms, Walker Mode and Mimic System and call it a day or you houserule, that the 24 availibility is a copypaste error and Otomos arent supposed to be as rare as an cyborg assassin or Mecha (Troll-sized Cyborg Combat Mech, the alternative Version is called the Ares Madcat )

Come on, don´t leave me high and dry. ^^ Is there maybe an alternative option for a drone that is capable to come along with the runner team like an additional person?

Why not use a Doberman drone. You can have a license as a Personal Protection drone.
Doing a humanoid cyborg right out of chargen is not possible without GM fiat.

More a walker with seat(s) than a drone:
Hyundai Shin-Hyung 17,000¥ AV -
Walker Mode 5,000¥ AV 4
2*Full Mechanical Arm 2*4000¥ AV 6
Rigger Adaptation 2500¥ AV 4
Sum: 32500¥
This Vehicle is available at CharGen, easily affordable and totally legal. 7 more mod slots are available. Though it can't take armored clothing, 15 more points of vehicle armor are possible (after CharGen)

If you want to go smaller take the Contrail as base. Only Bod 6 Armor 4 and 3 free slots though.

As a really alternative ask your GM if the Bust-a-Move shouldn't have mechanical arms off the rack like other humanoid drones. You can have an army of SMG wielding Teddybears for little money.

4 slots. 10 slots base - 2 Walker Mode - 4 for 2 Full Arms = 4 left over.

I believe he was also including the rigger adaptation.

What I did for my pixie rigger's CharGen humanoid drone:

Renraku Manservant (Arsenal)

- Removed CCU Adaption (No mechanical benefit)
- Added Mimic Adaption 3 (so it looks like a human)
- Upgraded the Response/Signal/Software/etc ratings as much as practical with CharGen starting cash.

In my case I also added a pixie-sized Rigger Cocoon and Extra Entry/Exit Point, but my character is using it as a Human Suit, you probably don't need that. I use regular worn armor and gear for everything else. You might want to add some speed boosting. I did not seeing as it rides other vehicles much of the time (either a motorbike or a Segway), so I decided to just live with the slow speed.

In-game, the character is saving up to buy an actual Otomo drone, which will be kitted out with internal vehicle armor and other upgrades.




-k

the manservant doesn't have CCU adaptation. did you perhaps mean rigger adaptation?

What, not the Ares Mad Cat

... Excellent point.

Ack, brain fart. The character will be removing the CCU adaption from the Otomo when she gets it. You are right, the Manservant doesn't have it.



-k

It's harder to pass a Madcat off as Tom Cruise.






-k

no worries, just pick the right actor and nobody will even notice that they're kinda robotic

Calculon, best robot actor since David Duchovny *g*

Ah, but back ontopic: I am really amazed on that gap between cheap, ok-ish walker robots like the Manservant and the step up to "good functional specialist robots" like the Otomo. the pricegap ist nearly insane. (But i guess it is like the pricegap betwwen a cool, if underpowered Toyota and a Ferrari)

I am pretty sure one could (and should) find intermediary models. Used Robots, heavily overmodded Manservants, old surplus military de-weaponized stuff from russia (or whatever). It is just logical to get your hand on something with significantly lower availibility than an Otomo for maybe 1/5 the price, and only slightly less good.

Come on, it is cyberpunk in the far future... nearing diamond perfect age. You can't tell me they aren't selling humanlike sexbots with full motor control and human-like strength and speed, which cost maybe 5 months salary. And you can't tell me some high-tek wizkids didn't program complicated high-AI pilot programs for the damn things, turning them into personal all-around tools.

So what i am trying to say: You don't have to resort to modify motorbikes or something into a crude walker, just ask your gm and he will provide a fair set of stats for another models. And if not: kick him in the shins...

Actually, it's closer to near-future, considering that there's very likely dumpshockers who will live to see 2070 (I'd be 88, so I'm not terribly optimistic about my own odds, but it certainly wouldn't be unheard of). Beyond that, there's a fair number of people who don't want Shadowrun to get too high tech. In fact, I remember a few people posting to the effect that they'd rather not see nanotech get too crazy and that trans-humanism shouldn't really become the focal point of the setting. It's funny that you would use the term "diamond perfect age" since the book The Diamond Age represents a fairly interesting setting but one that is a bit distanced from a lot of the territory Shadowrun mines. The book isn't particularly subtle about it either, since it rather quickly discards the notion that technology=dystopia and opens up with the unceremonious execution of a fairly stereotypical pink-mohawk cyberpunk caricature.

Yeah, i myself prefer my shadowrun much more dark, violent, disgusting myself. There are just too many inconsistencies with the described society in 2073.

Much of that, in fact, has to do with the drones and robots. Damn things are WAY to cheap and good at what they do... and essentially we have highly safe and easy energy for all too. The only three things messing everything up is dangerous magic, lingering pollution and of course metahumanity itself...

If you do the math Damien Knight is about 88 also. He was kicking around in 2033, and it's 2073 now, so he's N+40. N is probably somewhere around 30-40 to start with (making him between 70 and 80), since he was already in the corporate swimming pool, unless he was an 18-year-old super-genius investor, in which case he'd still be 58.

EDIT: I bet he got Leonization and Physical Vigor as soon as they came out though.

I guess I need to quit posting so much and start working on that nano-second buyout then.

The idea of a manservant supped up to be a dodger might be ok...but it has so little capacity. You really can't even fit a turret on it and do anything else with it.

use cyberlimb rules

I will agree with you on that. I'm actively using a Manservant with Mimic, but for practical purposes it really doesn't give THAT much benefit, especially compared to the cost.

In my case, it gives my pixie the awesome superpower of... being like other metahumans. You know, the power to sit in normal sized chairs, use normal sized equipment, etc.

Oh, and she has a full comm suite in the unit, so she can constantly be checking Facebook and LinkedIn even in the middle of a firefight (Media Junkie negative quality + Multitasking Adept Power, hah)

So the suped-up Manservant ends up most of the time being fancy expensive vanity armor, while the rigger does the REAL work with her other drones.

In short, if you want a humanoid drone for real Shadowrun work, get an Otomo. Or a Tomino if you don't care about subtle.



-k

Here's the thing:
The reason why Akiyama's (no similar models), Otomo's (Evo Consort, Monobe Mimic), and Tomino's (Madcats) are so expensive is the CCU. Listed in the vehicle modifications, the Cyborg Adaptation mod (actually modifying the drone to accept a CCU) costs 15,000 at 18 Availability (not 18R or 18F, strangely enough) and the CCU itself costs 250,000 (no availability listed). However, it's not as easy as "subtract CCU and Cyborg Adaptation costs and Availability" because the Akiyama, for instance, costs 250,000 itself. Therefore, it's left to houseruling, GM fiat, and Manservants.

I wonder though, would a Manservant with Mechanical Limbs and Mimic have to take synthetic limbs? If not, you save money and arm slots. And can a drone with Walker Mode take cyberleg modifications? That's also a houseruling, probably.

And IIRC Fastjack is in his 90's by now.


I use this houserule. I don't allow headware slots or torso slots though.

From my archives...:

Plus Model Humanoid
Thundercloud Contrail [-, 5,000]
Mechanical Arm, Full Modular [7, 4,400]
Mechanical Arm, Full Modular [7, 4,400]
Rigger Adaptation [4, 2,500]
Walker Mode, Modular [5, 3,300]
Han Accel Speed Pilot Body Armor Sensor
+1 15/25 25 3 6 0 3
Av: 7R
Cost: 14,600
Note: The listings are only for prices and function - the vehicle is actually a drone chassis that follows all rules for drones (IE: no one can "ride" the Plus Model Humanoid [except maybe piggy-back]).

I think this is a fair, middle-ground, 6 Bod drone with a lot of customization options. Noticably more expensive than the Manservant and less-so than the Otomo.

None of those drones include CCU, so i can't fathom what the frak are you talking about.

Yes, after re-reading, I have to correct myself. They contain the Cyborg Adaptation modification, but cyborg PCs must purchase the CCU (at 250,000) in addition to the drone cost. But yes, your choices are basically a suped-up Manservant, which don't have to suck, or a modified motorcycle, which also don't have to suck. I'd suggest the Manservant because your competitor might call shenanigans.