So, in the 3E game I'm currently running, a player has frustrated me enough with how seemingly difficult it is to properly factor in stat adjustments from being a troll, so I've taken it upon myself to make sure the sheet is in fact kosher. The main thing I need to know is how skillwires work. I know you can't use a skillsoft at a higher rating than the wires, but what about the size of the skillsoft, and the storage capacity of the 'wires? Is it possible to run a 'soft if it's total size is greater than the capacity of the 'wires?

[Deleted - I missed the 3E tag]

No, the Skill-Soft has to fit into the Wire-Cache, else it can't be run.

Figured that's how they worked.

On a related note, I've found that the player overspent on starting gear by half. His Sam/Decker/RiggerLite/KitchenSinkMan is gonna have to drop about 500k.

Tell him to lose the skill-wires.
in my eyes not worth the essence/money hit . .
maximum starting resources are 1 Million.
i'd advise on using the NSRCG3 in my sig to make SR3 characters that are uniform enough to compare.

All his softs are rating 4, and giving him the minimum capacity in the wires to run them, he still need to lose another 450k to make his character kosher.

I swear, it's like his 1million limit never occurred to him, and he stopped taking stuff at char-gen because he ran out of things that he wanted.

Might be easier to start over, then.

Indeed, $500k is hard to cut.

Skillwires can be very handy -- but only for specific builds. What really makes (or breaks) it is the Chipjack Expert Driver. If he uses that, make sure you use the errataed version which caps it at rating 3.

Nah, if he cuts the softs/wires and his Redbull Express drone that's well into negative load with a 30 Str mechanical arm, he'll cut a little over 500k. Along with the 75k Titanium Bone-lacing, it won't take too much effort.

30str mechanical arm?
wat?
also, cutting stuff worth 500k for a tyxpe of rigger under SR3 basically means a complete rewrite usually . .

Oh, the 30 Str mechanical arm...that's taking me back :O

Are you sure the player didn't start his character on NSRCG, but on the "ULTRA EXXXTREME CHARACTER MODE" which can have starting cash values of more than a Million?

Also...a million, AND a Troll? that's like, uh, 20 skill/stat points left over, isn't it?

-Tir


OH god - challange, make a troll with million nuyen, and try to play them. Difficulty: not an ex-special forces commando adept.

i always do that, what's so hard about that?
troll and magician, that one is hard to do <.<

I must have missed something in the rules: What's that skill soft <-> skill wire rule and were is it in the books (I always found OP to buy a chipjack and have any skill you'd like. I must have been totally wrong.)

Yes, you were.
You need a Datajack to access skillsoft and Skillwires to use them.
Chipjack is only good for knowsoft/data stuff, not for skills.
And Skillsoft can not be used if the rating of the skillwire is lower than the rating of the skill.

And roughly, what's the cost in essence and nuyen for skillwires?

Depends.
They come in levels.
Essence and NuyenCost depends on Level.

But it goes from high(useless) to obscene(usefull)

Skillwires 1 with 3 MP Cache:
0,2Essence and 1500 Nuyen.

Skillwires 8 with 192 MP Cache
1,6Essence and 768000 Nuyen

You can double the cache for double the money and the same essence cost.

i am, by now, in the process of doing just that.
and with skillwires to boot.
points are a bit slim, but using skillwires in a smart way, you won't need that many skill-points in the beginning.
a level 5 skillwire, expert driver level 3, a DNI-modified skillsoft jukebox and the datajack and chipjack and jukebox in a body compartment so nobody can get to it and you can change 15 level 5 skills on the fly with a thought using a free action.
and level 5 skill plus level 3 driver plus enhanced artwinculation means you have 15 skills with 9 dice in each at your disposal all the time!
use a multi slot chipjack and input more in there. or use more juke-boxes for even more selection of skills. not that you'd need it.
15 skills at 5-9 dice each is MUCH more than you can accomplish at start using skill points anyway . .
if you use things you get bonus dice for in the skillsoft it gets even better!
level 5 skillsoft, artwinculation, level 3 driver, math spu 3 and you have now 12 dice for computer tests.
level 5 soft, artwinculation, level 3 driver, synthacardium and you now have 11 dice in athletics.

Well, I may have erred in saying he's a rigger in just about any sense. I called him a 'rigger-lite' earlier mainly because he decided to pick up a drone for some reason. Notable because I KNOW he doesn't have a remote deck to actually control the damned thing, so he gives it it's orders at home or wherever, and hopes for the best. And with the thing being overloaded with enough weight to have troubles getting off the ground...

Ah, i see.

Well, in the challenge of making up a Troll using the 1 Million Ressources Option, i stumbled onto some questions about skillwires and softs and the such myself:

a) chipjack expert driver is per chipjack. but there are multi-slot-chipjacks. So, if i buy a 3 slot chipjack, to i need to have the driver 3 times as well?
b) where, actually, does one plug in a skillsoft jukebox? into a datajack or into a chipjack?
c) if i have a double slot chipjack with a level 3 expert driver, can i hook up 2 jukeboxes with 15 slots each and thus have 30 skills all getting the +3 dice from the expert driver of the chipjack the jukeboxes are presumeable plugged into?
d) if i want to control the jukebox via DNI, do i need to connect the jukebox to the datajack and the chipjack too?

Hmm, I've got another quick question regarding wires. I would instantly lose access to a chipped skill the moment I removed the chip from my datajack, correct? Also, if I had enough headware memory, would it be possible to store the 'skillsoft' there and use it?

Yes, if you have enough built in memory to store them, you can load them into your skillwires just fine for use.
And, technically, if i understand this whole stuff correctly, you would not lose access to the loaded skill by removing the chip.
The Skillsoft is, when in use, in the Wire-Cache if i am not mistaken here. Not sure about that one though.

The way I've always played it:

Chips are loaded into the skillwire system's memory. Once it's loaded, you can remove the chip. So you can have one active, and another ready to go (in the jack).

The CED adds a pool only. The CED is installed once, basically to the skillwire system, (I've never seen anyone take multiple jacks), and is used, like a pool, among all of the loaded skills, regardless as to how they are loaded.

I believe, since the chipjack only permits knowsofts, but the datajack permits everything, must people just use a datajack and not a chipjack. Hence the DNI question is generally irrelevant.

If people have to use a Datajack, then why is there a Chip-Jack-Expert-Driver to begin with?
If it can't be used on the DataJack then it's worthless and useless and badong because it's supposed to help with Skillsoft . .

btw, the troll with the 1 million ressources?
i ran out of money and had to sell some bioware to make ends meet <.<

Chipjacks, unlike datajacks, can run data/knowsofts without any other 'ware.

The CED is an accessory to the chipjack, btb it seems a chipjack with CED and jukebox is the best set up.

so ..
sudo get
datjack
chipjack 2-slot
chipjack expert driver
skillwires
dni modded jukebox
connect jukebox to slot 1 of chipjack and datajack
insert chips into jukebox and switch skills via free action/thought and all of the maximum of 16 skills(15 in jukebox 1 in other chipjack slot) get the bonus dice from the expert driver system.
and if you have the correct skill and other augmentations, such as, say, the athletics skill at 5, synthacardium and enchanced artwinculation and level 3 expert driver, you end up with . . 5+3+2+1=11 dice for athletics? O.o

Right. You can get pool dice for skills that don't normally have pools.

In effect making the skills behave as if they were 3 levels higher, right?

Unless you're needing to roll multiple skills per round, in which case it doesn't quite cut it. But really, the only skills I can think of that would routinely be used more than once a round are melee combat skills, and for those you could just put actual skill points into those.

Which i did.
And it fits the Background Story to boot.

I see. Let me know when you're finished, I'm interested in seeing what you've come up with.

Also, next session for my game is tommorow, and the player hasn't made any effort to shave off the last 62k that he's over by. Honestly, he's a sam/decker, I would just drop the drone entirely. With the arm gone, it only adds a small amount to his versatility, and he doesn't even have a remote deck for it. Giving it commands at home and hoping for the best seems like a bad investment of even just 80k.

Meh. I'd just trash the character, and let him make one that exists in the same game world as everyone else.

Some things are just _too_ far gone to try to salvage and retain any sense of continuity.

Interesting idea, however, with what I know about the player, there's no guarantee that the replacement would be any better. This way at least I know the character will be legit.

here you go
http://www.share-online.biz/dl/C2DC06FMLGSL


edit:
2 things i need to say about that one:
our group builds with 123 points and our group gets one free level 2 contact.
otherwise, this is 100% rules legal with some creative tinkering to iron out weaknesses.
for example, both the datajackl and the chipjack are mounted inside the body compartment, where the DNI modded jukebox will be stored.
the jukebox is then connected to the chipjack for the skillsoft connection and the datajack to be able to switch skills with a thought via DNI.

this means the connection can not be broken and the stuff itself is safe and secure in an angry Body 14/STR12 Troll with 7 points of worn Armor above it.

Ah, with players like that, assuming I want them in my game at all, I offer to help them make their character. Use his suggestions to shape the character, and let him make the hard choices. The GM just guides him through it, makes suggestions, handles the crunching and keeps him on the same plane as the rest of the group.

It takes about 2 hours to turn a concept into a fairly straightforward character skeleton. It could take up to another 2 hours to flesh him out completely, still fairly straightforward. I'd avoid anything not straightforward with a player you can't trust to make a legal character, for whatever reason. Keep it simple for him.

My personal take on it:
If the player is a fun person to play with who is honestly incompetant at making a character, I'd do this to help him out.
If the player is a fun person to play with who is purposely messing with the character, I'd have an honest chat with him to see if he's willing to play the same game as everyone else. "Doesn't play well with others" is not an acceptable personality trait at my table.
If the player is not a fun person to play with, I won't invite him back. This is my fun time.