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Pollution
Cyberdecks... Can they be customized at this point? Working on my 5th edition character generator and just got to cyberdecks.

I remember that you could buy a deck and then upgrade it in SR3, 2, and 1 as well as customizing your Commlink in SR4/SR4a.

Can you do that in SR5 yet (other than moving around the stats) or are we waiting on a matrix supplement for that info?

Thanks!
DWC
We're waiting on the matrix splatbook. Right now, all you can do to your cyberdeck's hardware is jam it into your head or into a cyberlimb.
SpellBinder
The programs you can run on a cyberdeck can give you some extra flexibility, for a cost.

Better than what technomancers got.
CrystalBlue
Yeah...because technomancers being able to bend the Matrix without incurring a GOD score is such a limiting factor.
SpellBinder
Technomancers still build up OS for Matrix actions they take, just like deckers. The best cyberdeck available at character creation is already better than the living persona stats most technomancers can even hope to achieve at the same time, and are more flexible in the application of its stats.

And if GOD is really that scary, always run Baby Monitor (¥250 for a copy) and spend a full round rebooting your cyberdeck when you're almost at an OS of 40. Technomancers can do the same... After spending at least 13 karma for an echo to let them have a single program with their living persona.

And if you think deckers aren't good in a fight, from a friend's game that he started using SR5 the team's decker has done more shooting with an Einfield AS-7 using APDS ammo than decking and done some serious damage (and wasn't using the wireless bonus).
Sengir
QUOTE (CrystalBlue @ Jul 31 2013, 08:13 PM) *
Yeah...because technomancers being able to bend the Matrix without incurring a GOD score

How shall I put this...no, they can't
Jaid
oh, they can, actually. complex forms don't generate OS, and don't start the counter.

of course, you'd be *extremely* limited in what you actions you even have the option of taking, and in all likelihood the fading will restrict you to taking maybe 4-5 actions in most cases, but technically, technomancers are capable of bending the matrix to their will without generating OS or starting the counter.

it's just that doing so is generally either not very effective, or very likely to knock you unconscious or even kill you.
CrystalBlue
I'm not going to argue this point here, because it's been done to death. Yes, money does buy a better Decker. When hasn't it?
Jaid
QUOTE (CrystalBlue @ Aug 1 2013, 06:50 AM) *
I'm not going to argue this point here, because it's been done to death. Yes, money does buy a better Decker. When hasn't it?


well, SR4 for one. i never tried out otaku in SR3, but i can tell you for sure that technomancers in SR4 were crazy stupid good in the matrix (non-technomancers could still be quite good, but not nearly as good as technomancers, with the trade-off that they generally invested a heck of a lot less into hacking for their build).

the problem here is that we now have an archetype where choosing that archetype has mechanical penalties attached. it's fine if technomancers and deckers both have cool advantages and are better in different ways. it's not fine if one or the other is just straight up a worse choice all the time, which is basically the case for technomancers in SR5, so far as we have been able to tell. maybe that will change, and if it does, great; i really do hope that i'm missing some sort of amazing thing that technomancers can do to compensate for their much worse start and the agonizingly slow progression that they're going to suffer from.

but so far, every attempt to show that technomancers can do something awesome that sets them apart from deckers has left me feeling very unimpressed. generally speaking, the something awesome they can do is either unlikely to work, or works slightly better than a decker could do it... except that a decker doesn't have to take a bunch of damage to do it.
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