No, You are right... I totally agree...

Equivalent Karma means that the Decker will likely be better until there are stupid levels of Karma involved. BUT, a deck only ever gets so good, and if the TM is willing to get 'ware he can eventually surpass the Decker. Takes stupid levels of Karma and Nuyen though. Some would say that makes them balanced. I would not be one of them, because many of the TM's abilities are just too onerous to use (Looking at Complex Forms and Echoes here).

You can always follow the great tradition of reflex triggers: Don't rewrite the rules on how often pistols can fire, add a dirt cheap upgrade that allows them to fire twice per pass.


New SR5 terminology: Hacker is the overarching term for both deckers and TMs

If said amount of karma and/or nuyen is more than the vast majority of Shadowrun campaigns will ever see, then I think it's effectively a non-issue. The SR4 campaign I GM'd years ago hit 150 total karma earned after two years of playing (these were on the old karma payouts, pre-SR4A.) 150 karma is nothing to a technomancer. Karma evaporates like drops of water on a hot griddle iron. If after playing a character for two REAL LIFE years they cannot find parity in a role that another class can do better out of chargen, then they are not suited for that task. And operating inside the Matrix is supposed to be a technomancer's THING.

Personally, I'm down with allowing a technomancer to diversify out of just being a Matrix monkey. Unwired was letting them grow in other ways, giving them stuff to do besides being a God-level hacker. I think that was a fine approach, and should be taken further.

I know. My rants about this should still be archived here. They were ... rather angry. To me it seemed like somebody had watched too much Matrix.

Costing them 4 Echoes instead. Not exactly bargain bin

I know. That's why I put it as "free". But still, they can do it and it costs them no money and no Essence. As with anything in Shadowrun, you can do things in two or three different ways and none of them is so superior as to render the others worthless.

1) Resonance Patches (or some other name): bits of resonance code that Technomancers can integrate into their Living Personas. They are similar to, but different than, cyberprograms. It costs a little bit of Karma to know a Patch, and you can only use a few at once (maybe echoes make it possible to use more). They do not require submersion to pickup. New Technomancer characters can have them. Look at the really important things that Cyberprograms do and make sure those are addressed.

2) One (probably popular) Resonance Patch should provide a way to reduce Fading. It might do this through reducing Fade values, by providing a bonus to resist fading, or through some other mechanics (like a pool of point that can be spent to reduce fade damage taken, but requires a rest to replenish). Depending on mechanics chosen, you could easily have two Patches here, one for Complex Forms, and one for Sprites. This would further develop the divide in specializations between Technomancers and "Technoshamans."

3) Maybe a complex form called "Overwrite Ownership." With it a Technomancer can temporarily make themselves the owner of a Device. While the Form is active, they become the device's owner, and can use it like any other device. When the form ends, it reverts back to its original owner. This setup prevents the Technomancer from transferring ownership while in charge, but it's also an ultimate hacker move, as ownership is more powerful than having three (illegal) marks on a device. Note, this form does not remove or change marks (including not putting marks on masters when used on slaves. Hell, it probably knocks things out of a WAN/PAN when active.) Note it doesn't work on Hosts. Note that it doesn't work on Personas (which means it doesn't work on Decks while a Hacker is using them or vehicles while a rigger is jumped into them.) For balance purposes, it might also automatically trigger an alert to the "real" owner when successfully cast on a target, so using this to get a locked door to open on a run will draw the Spider's attention. This is exactly the kind of crazy power that plays into the Corp narrative of technomancers being dangerous/criminals. It's a very potent ability, but it might put Technomancers back on the map for hacking... it makes them good at dealing with devices while Deckers are still better at deal with hosts. If the device is knocked off-line (reboots or is toggled to off-line mode) the complex form ends. I expect that it would carry a high Fade value compared to Puppeteer?
NOTE: As of Data Trails, ownership manipulation is now something AI characters can do (on limited targets) so an ability like this isn't completely nuts.

A more limited concept might be a complex form that scrambles ownership while active. Such a power would make the target device useless to it's owner while active.

4) Complex Forms that allow a Technomancer to enhance their own matrix traits (instead of the exiting ones that target other device they can't use for their Living Persona.) Possibly allow it to work on any living persona, and maybe even Sprites? This would be a big help to making Technomancers on par with Deck users.

4) I was disappointed to see Machine Sprites aren't any good at using devices. Their Diagnostic power is helpful for gaining limit and dice pool bonuses, but they have no skills or powers associated with controlling vehicles or using gunnery. How about a new Sprite that's more useful at operating vehicles and drones? Drone Sprite, or Pilot Sprite, or Rigger Sprite, or Jacker Sprite?

5) Clarification on how a Technomancer can gain a Direct Connection to a device, one of the key ways a Shadowrun hacker gains access to host systems. Yes, Data Trails gives technomancers the Touch-Link echo now, but that still requires subversion first. Can a Technomancer use trodes/data jack with their living persona to get a direct link?

6) Linked to #5, consider a Complex Form that allows a Technomancer to enter a Host system. It doesn't provide a Mark, making the technomancer stand out as not where they belong to anyone that inspects them (IC or Spiders) but it also doesn't risk alarm. You're either in or your not, and you take fading either way.

7) Maybe I missed this in Data Trails, but an Echo, "Patch" (see #1), or Complex Form (or multiple) that provides RCC abilities for a technomancer. Specifically the ability to control and rapidly jump through drones, and the ability to share Autosofts. Rapid jumping/control might be a patch, but the autosoft thing might need to be an Echo similar to the Echo ability to use Skillsofts.

Many thing were said, most of the old stuff are missing right now! And THAT is unacceptable, and the rules are buggy as well!

The main problem I see is the Databomb! Databombs are an instant killer of all Technomancers, they do way to much damage, and the only trick in SR4A to survive a databomb explosion was the Cascarde power... that option do not exist anymore, and it was a f**k-up move!
A better solution is needed, really bad! Some sort of anti-databomb-form or -echo. Maybe an option to get a Matrix Condition Monitor for them or reducing the Damage of the databomb. Mainly a sentence like: "Matrix Damage do not overflow, if the Stun Damage Track is filled, the TM will be unconscious and kicked out off the Matrix (Dumpshock included)." If you think that is not a problem, make a test run and try to defend against a databomb (a Rating 2 databomb can make 12 DV, a Rating 6 form 6 to 36 DV, it is seriously to f**king much!)

The second thing I recognized was, there is no mentioning of the effect of spellcasting attribute spells on TMs, in previous Editions there was a sentence along with it. Why is that, why is it gone?

The next thing, since TM have to cast ever complex form every time, we need something like foci to ease their pain...
I don't know if the designer/authors of that idea really thought through, but TMs aren't Magicians and they need their complex forms far more often than Magicians need their spells casted. It is like a magican is always casting a couple of spells and every damage they get is stun... but for magic characters there are many ways to deal with drain... for TM there isn't...

Greetings
UV

So don't open anything suspicious without thoroughly checking it out maybe?

I've been thinking this whole topic over while trying to read through Data Trails (there never seems to be enough time), and the biggest things that annoy me with my TM character aren't necessarily things that can easily be fixed based on how intractable the devs have been so far on reducing Fading costs. If we're to be expected to accept that the original Fading values for Forms are never going to change, then maybe give me a in-world *reason* why it's so damn hard for TMs to actually influence the Matrix now. This may be a tall order (considering that the whole Foundation bit seems to imply that the Resonance is involved somewhere in the underlying programming of the new Matrix), but even something like a page or two going on about how the Corps responded to the "public concerns" about the "technomancer threat" and researched (unspoken: through capture/torture of TMs) ways to ensure that the "new" Matrix would be 99.99% Technomancer-Free™. Heck, that even leaves an opening for making "new" Forms with lower Fading values by way of saying that TMs have spent their time since Matrix 3: Electric Bumblebee came out trying to find ways to work around what GOD and the Corps did to lock them out. It could be like that cool "new" Echo MMRI ("all the functionality of Mind over Machine, with none of the ambiguity!").

Maybe a Form that allows you to make a test against the Device Rating of something, with the net hits being the number of Marks that you can be assumed to have for non-Attack tests against that target as long as you sustain it (or even a one-shot deal). There could even be something where if you get a ridiculous number of hits or the target glitches that you are considered the owner for a short while (not long enough to transfer ownership).

There needs to be some sort of Centering equivalent for TMs, though preferably not an Echo (since Echoes are a pretty limited resource considering how many quality-of-life functions end up as Echoes). Maybe an advanced Sprite power or something.

One big gripe that I have with Data Trails is the inclusion of the Multidimensional Coprocessor. Say what you will about the inability of TMs to get any sort of Initiative boosts without risking their Resonance (yeah, yeah, Lightning Reflexes), at least I knew that only my Submerged TM was getting to add FIVE dice to his initiative roll (when in VR) while even the chromest of the chrome was limited to four. PSYCH! It cost *me* 13+ Karma to get that fifth die, but Johnny Decker just needed 1400 and a call to a semi-competent fixer. (Not sure what you can do to offset that; maybe just bake it into Submersion as a benefit or something).

In the end, I just want Technomancers to feel like a character that I don't need to wait until I've spent 150+ Karma to be semi-decent when I'm pushing the limit using Edge compared to a brand-new Decker. (This may be oversimplifying it a bit, but you get the point).

Sounds like an example of success for the higher ups against the "overpowered" technomancer threat.

Don't get me wrong, I believe that TMs deserved to be knocked down a peg or two in this edition, but nowhere near the level of degradation that they ended up being subjected to

Not at all, though I do agree with you to some extent as well.

I agree with most of the posts on how Technomancers need to have some way for them to be strong enough to be viable at character creation outside of just being a Digimon tamer. The easiest way would most likely be a good selection of TM specific qualities, both positive and negative, that help them out, especially stuff that makes drain resist a bit easier so that maxed out Will and even RES aren't such a must if you want to do more than one complex form a fight. Right now I think sprites are probably fine, though one or two that work well with drones would be cool to make the droneomancer more viable from the start, then able to get stronger with echos that already exist. Another thing I have kind of a problem with, and something I have a problem with in any rules system, is how ambiguous some of their abilities are, and not just in the fluff which is fine, but like Resonance Veil; that power gives literally no concrete rule on what it does, just that it does "something" which leaves it to GMs for it to either be busted as hell or totally worthless. Since it says illusion in the description then it's possible to take it that whatever is thought to be happening doesn't actually happen, but that still leaves out what it does; what has happened in the matrix? Can it replicate matrix actions, or does it just look like something is happening. Right now I'm running it in my game under the assumption if it goes through, then the device believes say you have your mark on it or it on you, that kind of stuff, but it's still somewhat oddly worded.

Something I actually just thought of while looking up Resonance Veil and seeing Tattletale, which isn't all that useful, would maybe be an upgraded version that maybe requires submergence to do, is one that lets the TM give someone an OS when they otherwise wouldn't; obviously not a host, but like giving the security spider or a g-man an OS then forcing convergence on them would be a neat, subversive kind of ability for them, and would make OS more relevant to the players as something other than a thing they don't want, and know most opponents won't ever have to worry about depending on the game.

As a GM who liked Otaku in 3rd but my players ahardly touch TMs in 5th i have a couple easy ones.

1st more Techno and less Mancy. They are too magical and do not exhibit enough technological ffluff. There should be mystery for sure, butinstead its more every day technosorcery.

2nd TMs need to clearly excel at something and also clearly be wimps at something. 3rd editionn Otaku had a nice boost to metal attributes and penalty to physical ones. they shied away from all thing physcal but excelled at the Matrix. TMs are too similar in power and ability to Deckers. Please increase the contrasts.

That is it. stick with those two general principles and they could be a lot more fun to have in a group at the play table.

I agree wholeheartedly.

About the origin of Technomancers I am not too sure. There is not really one way of explaining them that I prefer,
I guess it would be best to keep their origin, and how their abilities work, mysterious still.
It just leaves more to the imagination of the players and GMs. Mystery has been lacking a little in Shadowrun for a while.

If we go along the similar relation between a Sammy and an Adept, a Technomancer should have a lot of abilities which a Decker CANNOT have.
This could be reasoned in the Matrix systems not knowing how to react to TMs, giving them unique approaches to many situations.
Having their abilities just be copies/equivalents of the abilities and possibilities of Deckers is boring imho.

So. I realized something over the weekend, thinking about game mechanics, particularly those related to stealth games.
Part of this relates back to Cogmind and some of the blog entries talking about information warfare and stealth.

And I finally made the connection:

A hacker being able to load up every program and hit the matrix with whatever he will and might need means that he makes no decisions about how to approach attacking a target: Stealthed until seen, then attacking whatever spots you, remaining behind stealth. Repeat.

So we have the following meta:
1) Stealth to the max, all the time, every time
2) Exploit to the max, all the time, every time
3) Spoof, edit, data search, analyze, etc. decent
4) Attack, armor, data bomb, etc. ignored (but still present; e.g. rating 3ish)

You end up with this. That is: You have all of the stealth capabilities of a ninja, all of the defensive abilities of a brick wall, and all of the offensive capabilities of a nuke (where money can be afforded) without any downsides (mechanics not withstanding: just because the roll came out bad doesn't mean you were weak: you were still tromping around with Rating 8 programs).

And I know I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but...

Bring back program limits. If a hacker can only have so many loaded programs at once, and can switch between program loadouts with a complex? action ("Shit I was spotted, drop stealth and bring weapons and shields online!") then there's an opportunity for a Technomancer's threading ability to shine: He always has every possible action at his finger tips ready to go...but he can only do one at a time (with complex forms being the "active set" of tools he always has available). It lets the TM get spotted through his Stealth, take a shot at the IC, and "dive for cover" while he reconfigures his active set. The Hacker can't take that pot-shot, but will have more options available to switch to.

Fading also needs to change. I'd personally put it as some future penalty, e.g. "You get the complex form now, but in 5 minutes you take 2 stun" kind of thing instead of an immediate penalty. More like adrenaline pumps, mechanically, than spells. Spell drain is clearly intended for "small benefits all day, orbial nukes once...at a cost" while Threading feels like something that needs to happen frequently, but not all the time. More like a "get out of jail free" card: spend it now, take a penalty later. And the more you spend, the bigger and sooner those penalties come, so you'd best get going while the going's easy.

(Also the biofeedback nature of matrix damage on the TM is bollocks. Hackers get programs and a buffer and a program to heal that damage, Technos take it immediately, don't get the "biofeedback resitance" roll on it,* and it hurts their meat parts).

*Nope sorry, that's only on actual biofeedback. From Black IC. The special attack. Matrix damage that hurts your meatbrain doesn't count!

It is a valid idea, making them change load outs is half the fun.


Fading does need tweaking, but was more thinking about adjusting the amount of damage versus delaying it, maybe knocking a few points off drain values.

However, we could lift a page from how when you perform an Attack or Sleaze action your OS increases by the number of hits, so that a TM facing Fading still resists with WIL + RES but would not take actual damage, rather increases OS by the final amount taken?
Again this would only apply to Fading. Dumpshock/biofeedback and such still do their usual bit to the body.
Am sure someone could spin a tale of how when they draw on connection to the Matrix ripples it also leaves ripples that GOD and Co. eventually pick up on....

Get in a big fight with both attacks and fading bouncing up the OS, one could get kicked out at an inopportune time.

This would give your TM a bit bigger 'drain pool' to work from though one would have to consider a few other points one of them being whether to allow Cleaner to work on OS generated by Fading or not, as their magical counterparts can not normally heal Drain via magic.
likewise the issue of sprites since there is stun vs physical fading depending on level....maybe Fading as OS normal for Res and under, if Sprite is over your RES its double the Fading based OS generated.

So it is not perfect by any stretch, but might serve as a base idea to toy with.

I'd say making Fade into your OS would take away another niche that TMs fill, and remove some of their flavor in the process. Right now the big mechanical benefit to a lot of what TMs do outside of traditional hacking is that it doesn't raise their OS, and as long as they don't perform illegal Matrix actions, can more or less use CFs and sprites as they wish, and then Static Veil themselves when they have to start hacking. The other problem there is that say Fade is now an OS thing, and especially if Cleaner wouldn't affect these points, the only way to remove them is to reboot your living persona. And while a decker might have the ware and extra skills to handle a fight in meat space, a TM relies on that matrix connection to be effective, and can't really take ware to compensate for their low physical stats, leaving you with a wimpy bit of dead weight until they can boot back up again. I feel the best way to fix Fade is to give options at both character creation in the form of qualities, and later on as echos, that can either increase your dice, or lessen what damage you do take, along with any new complex forms having much more reasonable Fade values.

Oh, the amount of damage needs to come down too, don't get me wrong.

I agree as I first said they need ways to bring the damage down in the first place.

The Fading to OS option was just an alternate idea if they were not going that route and like you pointed out has a number of problems of it's own.

Indeed, just a critique of my own there. We at least agree Fade values suck right now.

Do they suck though because they actually have consequence? When compared to magicians that's definately the case. Right now most starting magicians can cast force 6-8 fireballs all day just about. To me this is the problem, not technomancers.

If I was going to play with the system I'd probably up all spells drains by about 2 and perhaps make technomancer abilities slightly less punishing and maybe slightly more effective.

Is there a reason why a mage shouldn't be able to throw fireballs like that? Because if so, then why not just play a gun bunny or a street sam, cause until you run into a spirit then you'll be took week as a mage to really do much then with those spells because you'll be destroying yourself almost every round for maybe the same amount of damage. Fade values don't suck because they have consequences, they suck because it heavily penalizes you for try to do the unique thing that archetype is supposed to be able to do, and instead would have to fall back on doing the same things a decker does, but that they will be actively worse at because they don't have the same versatility and buffs to those things that a decker does. So yes, Fade values need to come down or have a good way to increase your defenses against other than buying more Willpower or Resonance. It doesn't mean that using them shouldn't have a risk or consequence, but that right now the risk is almost not worth doing more than once, maybe twice if you're lucky.

note that the only part of the technomancer's toolbox that is considered even remotely viable (ie spamming sprites all over the place) is the one part that doesn't have fading values ~4 points higher than spellcasting values. and even when you focus hard on that thing, the technomancer is still not remotely as powerful as a mage.

never mind that the mage also has tools to be useful in meatspace, and contrary to what the devs believe, forcing gear to be on the matrix for no clear reason does not give the technomancer (or the hacker) a useful way to constribute in meatspace (on the other hand, all the other things that already were on the matrix could be worthwhile... i could care less if the hacker takes out some chump security guard's goggles. i want the bloody door that's keeping me from getting away from those security guards, and more importantly the HTR team that is on its way, to be open).

I think that what's really important to consider is the basic question:

- Does the game need Technomancers?
or, assuming you can't answer "no"
- What do Technomancers bring to the game?

Once you've answered this question, you should be able to get an idea of what they should be able to do, or not, and maybe how.

To me, Technomancers add a nice fluff layer, allowing the Matrix to be a stranger world. But if it's just it, then they should just follow decker's rules, with a few changes for the sake of fluff, the way Shamanist use Hermetist rules with a few changes for the sake of fluff. Maybe a better comparison would be adepts to streetsam: same combat rules, similar perks, just a different way to access and improve them.

Another thing I could see technomancer add is a "easier" way for players who want to do things in the Matrix but are put off by the whole technical aspect. In that case, Technomancers could be a "lite" version of the decker. They can do stuff in the Matrix, but don't have to worry about programs, hardware and all technical details. In SR4 terms (I don't know SR5 enough to judge), that would mean replacing all the concepts of programs/matrix actions/etc. with a set of "spells" similar to mage spells with simple and specific effects "Crash", "Prevent alarms", "Confuse people", "Intercept comms", etc.

This idea doesn't work very well in practice, at least not in SR4. The sheer number of dice rolls you make in any Shadowrun subsystem in the game's history is staggering. Even if Fading values for these "spells" were relatively low, the law of averages would catch up with you in no time as you are constantly making Fading rolls. Spending a half an hour in the library public host looking for books and doing research might be enough to lay you out for a day. Add on top of that the cumbersome nature of effectively doubling the number of rolls needed to perform anything (which already is a problem for technomancers in SR4) and you're looking at an approach that frankly isn't very fun.

@Abschalten: You'd obviously need to cut on the dice rolls (and it is generally speaking something that should be applied to many areas of Shadowrun, especially the Matrix). The idea is not that the TM would cast "spells" for all Matrix actions, but that the TM would have access to "spells" that would abstract all the hacking parts.

Doing the research in the public library would just require casting one "Datamining" techno-spell. In my examples, "prevent alarms" would be a sustained spell that would apply on all system near the TM (in the physical world if in AR or in the Matrix if in VR), no worries about accessing nodes, using exploit, deleting logs, etc.

Hacker needs fewer rolls as well. If a mage can open a blocked door with one spell, maybe two (Shape [Material]), the street sam can do it in one or two shots from a shotgun (with breeching ammo) why does it take two hundred and forty-seven for a hacker? Brute force entry into the system, avoid IC, search the network for the right node, spoof some commands/whatever, get spotted, fight some IC, log out...

This should have become painfully obvious when they did that short little piece for SR4A showing a hacker taking control of a drone, narrating it in-character and showing the rolls ooc. Took six god damn pages and they stopped giving a shit around page 4 and just fudged it so they could be done with the stupid exercise.

Well...
Blowing a hole in a door takes a second or two...
Picking the lock and disabling the alarm on that same door could take upwards of minutes.

Hacking falls somewhere in between.

And btw... why are you Brute Forcing the system? Many of the rolls you take after that are because you did just that. With a Sleaze, you don't need to avoid the IC immediately, you search the network (1 Action - which potentially nets you the door and the AID of the Spider on the system; 1 question per net on the Perception test), and then you spoof the device (1 Action) and done. You MAY need to avoid the Spider after the fact, but that is not a forgone conclusion. Hide after the Spoof and continue to ride the network.

Because probing the target takes hours?

Not in 5th Edition it doesn't. And we ARE discussing 5th Edition.
In 4th Edition, if you had not probed the target and provided yourself a backdoor for when the run was live (which can be accomplished with just a few rolls that take up almost no time at all), then you were doing it wrong (or at least inefficiently). And yes, sometimes that is not possible, which is why you then use social engineering or a good thuggin' to get on the network a different way.

Touche. But keep in mind I haven't touched 5th except with an 11 foot pole.
The point still stands that if a hacker can't do a simple task in less than 8 rolls, then the rules are wrong. (And 8 is pushing it, the ideal is 2).

Hello everybody.

On the german board I postet the concept of creating gadgets: Personalized gear for Technomancers to give them something they can spend their nuyen for and improve their stats (but don't get overpowered). Maybe you can find something useful.

The central ideas are:
- Gadgets are physical objects made of electronic components, which deliver an anchor for a quite unstable resonance-construct.
- Gadgets must be constructed by the Technomancer who wants to use it, using his hardware and software-skill (and facing fade).
- Like Foki they have to be activated to work.
- Unlike Foki you don't have to spend Karma on them.
- Gadgets an quite instable so there is a chance of breaking the Gadget when activating it.
- Gadgets appear as icons slaved to the living persona and can be attacked in matrix combat (if they get hit, they are deactivated an need some time to recover.)
- The Number of Gadgets you can bind to your persona is limited: Similar to adepts a technomancer gets an amount of synchronization-points (SP) equal to his resonance.
- Each Gadget needs some SP to be synchronized with the living persona.
- Nuyen an SP costs are different for each gadget. Some Gadgets have levels to increase the effect, but this also increases the amount of nuyen an SP you have to pay for. If not limited by the gadget itself the max. level for a gadget is 1+Submersion grade.
- The number of active gadgets you can obtain is equal to [Resonance]/2.
- If a gadget is destroyed (by an enemy or yourself) you get the SP back, the nuyen are lost.

Gadget example:

Adapter
0,25 SP per level
500 ¥ per level
Allows the technomancer to act as master to a number of devices not higher then level x5 or [Resonance] x3.


The whole text can be found here (because I'm not used to write in english ;-D ):
http://www.foren.pegasus.de/foren/topic/24...r-technomancer/

Maybe they could be called, I don't know, "Widgets," or something like that...

The idea is similar to Widgets. The difference is that they are physical devices you can craft one day and use it later. Also I created some new effects different to the SR4a Widgets.

The ingame backround is that the new protocols prevent technomancers from using widgets so that they developed gadgets.

i'd prefer if the gadget had a chance of failing after a certain length of use (or when deactivated but have activation last only a limited time) rather than when you turn it on. breaking when you try to activate it makes them too unreliable. you should be able to use them at least once, imo.

The "curses" for magic items from (new) World of Darkness are a good place to look for stuff like this.

I think the "it breaks" one is more along the lines of "using while spending Edge" with the check made as you activate it, but it fails after you get the benefit. Also, the odds of it breaking goes up every time you make the check.

ah, well, so long as it works at least once, that's fine.

Ah, I was wrong; had to locate the right book and then the right passage, took me a bit (which included running to the store for milk and bread).

It's when the item is used and the user fails their task does the "Mortality" pool increases. The mortality is rolled before (a success means the item takes 1 damage) and the item is used normally (unless it is completely destroyed, and repairs are allowed). So yeah, you still get several uses out of it, even if you're unlucky.

Steal the rules for FOCI from the magic section and make Technomancer versions to give them an overall power boost. Steal the rules for Physads to give TM's more overall power.

Have TM's have at least 3 potential paths of power
1-sprite herder
2-mage(using complex forms almost exclusively to do things deckers CANNOT do while avoiding GOD)
3-being 1 trick ponies that are better than deckers at 1-2 tasks but worse at all the rest


echos that allow TM's to provide matrix overwatch

LOOT the Adepts Ways from the magic book, make sure that a rigging build is possible out of chargen.


general notes:
CLEARLY separate fluff from game rules. Have all the fluff you want about whatever, but clearly label EXACTLY what everything does, don't be vague about any game effect. Be vague about origins, and how it works but not what it does.

Include examples of play. You may think your explanations are clear cut, they are not, include examples.

Make sure everything DOES something. There are a ton of qualities that DON'T DO ANYTHING. Like those qualities that give you like +1 die on athletics test made to swim...which cost the same as +1 rank of athletics.

Reminds me of a Pathfinder thread for finding the worst feat.
The one they came up with was Caustic Slur. As a free action, you taunt one of your foes. Mechanical benefit, said foe gains the benefits of the Power Attack feat on his next attack if he targets you.
That quality would fit right into that thread, heh.

Re-reading my home-made SR system, I've been reminded of this concept I've created for Technomancers that you might be interested in: the resonance field.

The concept is that TM generate some kind of Resonance field that surrounds them and affect the Matrix in their (physical or matrix when in full VR) area. The TM player can decide on one effect he wants this field to have. It's a generic concept like "we're not here", "we're the cleaning team", "what are people saying?" that will affect all Matrix nodes in the area. For example, if the TM pretends that the team is a security team, all cameras around them will see them as a cleaning team and the SIN readers will report that they're the cleaning team.

The resolution mechanics in my rules is pretty different, so I can't be very precise in the system behind it but the field should get a rating depending on a roll or something, and this rating will be the maximum rating of the nodes that will be fooled by the field. Maintaining the field gives negative modifiers similar to maintaining spells.

I think that this ability goes quite well with the "instinctive" aspect of the TM use of the Matrix, as well as with the concept of Resonance, and it's also a good solution for players who play TM because they want to do stuff in the Matrix but are scared by complex rules and gear requirements.

The nice thing about a Technomancer is that they really do not need any Matrix Gear. Yes, they will likely get a comlink just to blend, but other than that, the Resonance Node handles it all.

That is because the Security team is posing as a Cleaning team to look innocuous.

Maybe they're just doing a clean scrub of the facility.

Oops, looks like I've mixed up two examples.

@Tymeaus Jalynsfein: That's my point exactly. I think that many players who play TM do so because they want to do stuff in the Matrix without having to bother with all the gear requirements and all the technical complexity of ha/deckers (which - on the other hand - is something that some ha/decker players truly enjoy). Hence the concept of having TM use lighter rules that are easier to grasp and use.

That's a very interesting way of going about it. I like the S.E.P. Field Effect, it fits right in with the mental perception I have of Technos.
I commend you for coming up with some mechanics that make it work.

It does sound interesting and worth taking a look at.