So, somewhere else, KarmaInferno suggested rigger-adapting cyberarms. Aside from the obvious dangers of having them be hacked, does anyone see why this wouldn't work?

You have to buy (or more likely write) a Pilot program for cyberarms, but the existing Targeting programs should work just fine. It would remove penalties for dual-wielding (except for recoil).

Suggestions? Thoughts? Ideas?

Pilot per RAW is generic, so any Pilot program would do.

On the other hand (no pun intended), Sensors might be an issue.

I think there are scanner options you can purchase for drones and vehicles in the equipment section. Includes things like cameras and directional microphones. I think there might also be costs to upgrade the sensor on vehicles.

The biggest problem I see with this concept is that to directly control your arm, you have to abandon control of the rest of your body. Not super useful. Otherwise you need to make a control device check every time you want to pick anything up. That could get really old really fast.

If, as a GM I saw a player try to do that I'd slap them stupid and make them wear a hubcap of shame.

As a GM I intend to steal this idea and make a mockery of the players bad-assitude with a host of psychotic rigger-Samurai bots... the anti-runners from hell.

Of course, they are all naturally quadrapelgic and every limb has it's own pilot program, all working as a team under the captains chair rigger/body doner.

First of all, I'm not asking this because I've got my min/maxed combat rigger planned to screw with my GM's game. I'm asking because I WANT TO KNOW.

Second of all, can't you control drones through AR and not lose control of your body? Or, if worst comes to worst, have the team rigger control your arms for you (presuming, of course, you trusted him enough to do this which is debatable).

Look, I'm just throwing this out as an intellectual exercise. I don't give a rat's @$$ if it is a good idea, if GMs allow it in their campaigns, or if it's practical. I just want to know if it can be done!

Why do we climb the mountain? Because it's THERE!

you could also do the crappy human sized voltron, each rigger controlling a seperate limb.

I think that a drone arm is kind of, not really worth the effort. A seperate drone has all the advantages of an drone arm, but is not attached to a frail human body. Which then gives it vehicle abilities and armor. Having a seperate drone gives two targets to shoot at, rather than just one, which basically means only one of you or the drone will get hurt (peferably the drone).

You can't jump into your arms to rig them directly as when you jump into a drone the RAW states that you effectively become the drone. Sure you could control them by AR, but that would mean making a command test every time you want to do something, and then the drone rolls its pilot+autosoft to fold a crane or whatever you want it to do. Hardly ideal.

Having the teams rigger rig your arm would mean you had no control over that arm which could be interesting. If you had both arms replaced in this manner you'd need two riggers as you can only be jumped into one drone at a time. That and you have two bodies you have to stay within the signal of. go past some wifi blocking paint and your two rigger mates get dumpshock and your arms drop whatever they were carrying.

This would be rather funny to do when dealing with mages.


mage casts control actions on street sammy. Team mage sends a signal to the rigger, who then jumps into the street sammy's arms and proceeds to fill the enemy mage full of lead while the street sammy desperately tries to do the command he was given.

I'd say with established 2070 tech, this is possible. Furthermore, I think a rigger is unnecessary - a couple of pilot programs would be sufficient to run the arms and keep them firing. If a player really wanted to do that, I wouldn't stop them.

The reasons why you don't see this, however? Well firstly, I think firing a gun depends on much more than just the hand / arm. I think you need to position your body, brace it, etc., to fire effectively. Someone who has actually used firearms leap in here if I'm wrong, but if it's solely the arm without support from the body, then I forsee penalties. Especially if the body it's attached to is running about with no regard for when and where it wants to shoot. If it's firing anything with significant recoil I can see the body getting penalties too. And if the two arms are both firing recoiling weapons with no regard for each other...

Secondly, there doesn't seem any advantage over having a drone do this, and in fact I see disadvantages. A drone can be better armoured, doesn't deprive you of your arms, is a separate target, etc.

Thirdly, there's the cost. If a player wanted this then I would certainly charge them extra for the unusual nature of the pilot programs.

On the plus side, a player would get the following:

More smuggleable than a drone.
He get's to keep firing without penalty no matter how much stun he takes.
Separate surprise rolls for each arm.
Ability to work in AR / VR whilst his arms get on with the actual violence.

I think the minuses far outweigh the positives and I wouldn't touch it myself, but as I say, I reckon it's viable under cannon 2070 tech-levels.

The FAQ mentions that the Pilot of a rotodrone doesn't know how to pilot a car, which might imply that Pilot is specific to the drone type (i.e. rotodrone, crawler, anthroform). It says that its left up to the GM's discretion if they want to impose dice pool penalties or not.

there is no change in the FAQ to my knowledge. pilot programs are still generic.

anyways, as i recall there is basically a piece of tech that did this (basically, that is) in previous editions. chances are, it will be in augmentation... so i would probably allow it, but make it a bit more expensive than just a regular cyberarm. and you'd have to assign either essence costs or capacity costs to the rigger adaptation, imo. (i'd probably make it cost some essence, but that's just me).

altogether, it's not a very good idea anyways.

i don't see why you'd need a separate pilot program for each limb. anthroforms have 4 limbs, and only 1 pilot. i don't think a set of rigged cyberlimbs would need separate pilots.

i wouldn't think this would be all that dangerous--it'd be a no-brainer to just give DNI a higher priority than rigger control. so you wouldn't have to worry about riggers taking over your limbs, unless they hacked your commlink.

i would have something like this allow the character to take advantage of indirect fire data for direct fire--sensor-enhanced gunnery, in other words.

That mentions that Maneuver programs are specific. Where does it say that Pilot programs aren't?

And that's the only thing I said.

There is no direct requirement in the RAW for Pilot being specific - only for Maneuver.

Ah, but MY guys are even more insane: They've got four (or more!!!) cyberlimbs, each running their own rating 6 pilot program, allowing them to take four seperate actions without ANY dice pool splitting at all. One for each limb!!!