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Jason Farlander
I'm making an NPC physad assassin, and would like to give him an essence point worth of 'ware to help round him out. I also have a headache and dont really feel like crunching numbers. If anyone would find it sufficiently amusing, I'd appreciate suggestions on what ware, exactly, to give him . Money is not a problem, and it can all be beta grade.

His list of adept powers, in case it helps:

Improved Pistols +5
Improved Stealth +6
Improved Reflexes 2
Traceless Walk
Blind Fighting

Oh... and dont worry about bioware.
Beast of Revolutions
Smartlink-2 would be the obvious choice. Vision magnification, or better yet cybereyes, would also help. Lastly, maybe a rating 1 dermal sheath.
Number 6
Smartlink is the best, it's something you can't get through Adept powers. The cybereyes, yeah thats a decent way, but the natural sight is better. Orientation Computer is ok.

Check out some Bio too. Cultured Enhanced Articulation, Platelet Factories, Cerebral Booster, Trauma Dampner, there's lots of good stuff there that straight adepts can't get.
Jason Farlander
I am aware of the benefits of bioware. The reason I said not to worry about it is that I have a houserule regarding bioware and the awakened, and, in the spirit of laziness, didnt feel like explaining it.

And yes, I agree that the SL2 should definitely be on the list. However, to clarify, what I am specifically looking for is a package that comes as close to 1 essence worth of betaware as possible without going over that provides the greatest overall benefit to the character. While I appreciate the suggestions that have been made so far, they are presented with a bit more vagueness than I would like.
Siege
Smartlink 2
Cyber eyes w/ all possible vision mods (as the adept has no sense powers currently)
*LL, Thermo, FC, Image Mag

Cyber ears
*Amplification, Damping, SSF, Echolocation, High frequency hearing
(since the adept doesn't have blind-fighting)

An orientation system w/ GPS could be potentially useful for pinging and tracking targets in the dark.

Since I'm equally lazy, I'm not going to crunch the numbers.

That will probably eat a full point of Essence on beta.

-Siege
Jason Farlander
I assume by Echolocation you mean Spatial Recognizer.

Also, in retrospect, I think I'll go ahead and switch out a single level of Improved Ability: Pistols for Blind Fighting.
Number 6
A Display Link in the eyes and a datajack also open alot of doors for an Adept.
Siege
Jason: Yep, sorry -- working by tired memory. Combine the spatial, high-freq and orientation system with blind fighting? grinbig.gif

6: I thought about that, but the npc looks like a straight up gun slinger opponent.

-Siege
A Rodent of Unusual Size
Here's a personal favorite. Sure, you could lose the ears and go with the adept powers, but all of the mods included are a nice compliment with the Orientation System.

Cyberears (0.18 Essence)
> Dampener
> High Frequency Hearing
> Select Sound Filter 5 (Alpha to keep the price down)
> Spatial Recognizer
Cyberhand, Synthetic (0.27 Essence)
> DNI Controller
> OMC Chip: 1,000 Mp (DNI-Controlled, Built-In) (9,000 nuyen)
Datajack (0.12 Essence)
Orientation System (0.12 Essence)
Smartlink-2 System (0.30 Essence)
Lantzer
I'd go with something like Siege posted, but I'd try to wedge in a Ultrasound vision system.
You've already got the high-freq-hearing and spatial recognizer, so why not?
Jason Farlander
Woah...woah...woah... hold up. Lets assume I *can* fit that ultrasound eye mod in there, essence wise. Can someone provide a good reason to keep blind fighting in that case?

GreatChicken
Uhh....Marvel's Daredevil?
Jason Farlander
To clarify:

Blind Fighting drops the penalty for fighting in full darkess or blind fire to +4

Ultrasound vision halves all TN mods based on lighting or invisibility - which not only drops the penalty for fighting in full darkness to +4, but *also* affects *all* other visibility TN mods AND lets you see invisible targets.

So... again: why keep Blind Fighting if you have Ultrasonic vision?

Jason Farlander
As a side note: no, the Ultrasound Eye mod wont fit... but I could pick it up as an adept sense, and get it for half the cost of Blind Fighting. Still waiting on a good reason to not do that.
Number 6
If it worries you that much, get IR eyelights. eek.gif
Eyeless Blond
Um, because it's not a sense?

Well, actually, the high-frequency receiver is a sense, but the ultrasound emitter is not. Neither is the interpreter part that turns the "binocular" ultrasound hearing into "vision".
Jason Farlander
Its not so much that it *worries* me- rather, I've noticed that you can get Improved Sense: Ultrasonic Vision - a seemingly all-around better power than Blind Fighting - for half the PP cost. And that, if true, is silly. So I'm hoping that someone can clarify the part about Blind Fighting that I am missing that makes it better.

Edit: Eyeless Blond: the "Direction Sense" improved sense isnt *really* a sense either, and Ultrasonic vision doesnt involve radio or a technological phenominon similar to radio, so, by the book, it's legal.
Siege
Ultrasound sense may or may not be considered canon powers.

That being said, I'd suggest that "Blind Fighting" and "Ultrasound Sense" would actually stack -- +4 cut to +2 would be pretty slick.

And there may be circumstances that would deprive the character of ultrasound abilities, but the blind fight effect would still be in play.

-Siege
GreatChicken
Edit: It's at times like this where you wish there was a delete button. dead.gif
GreatChicken
The word 'Ultrasound' means that there is supposed to be an active component in the system; the person is supposed to emit waves that bounce off objects and return to sender, enabling the critter with it to judge anything from distance to shape (Bats do this). The biggest problem with Ultrasonic anything (heck, even Radar anything) is that you are BROADCASTING. Bye bye stealth rolls if anyone has the sensor equivalent.

Blind fighting is just that. You rely on all your other senses apart from sight to tell you where the opponent is. It doesn't actually let you 'see' per se, but it's passive and not subject to detection like above. Biggest problem is that you can't actually 'see' at all.

Note: I have no access to the books now; not for the next 6 hours or so. All the above should be common sense.
Jason Farlander
QUOTE (Siege)
That being said, I'd suggest that "Blind Fighting" and "Ultrasound Sense" would actually stack -- +4 cut to +2 would be pretty slick.

I'd say a little *too* slick. Hell, quite a bit more than just a little too slick. Never having a vision based TN mod greater than 2 is... well... doom.
Eyeless Blond
QUOTE (Jason Farlander)
Edit: Eyeless Blond: the "Direction Sense" improved sense isnt *really* a sense either, and Ultrasonic vision doesnt involve radio or a technological phenominon similar to radio, so, by the book, it's legal.

Sure it is. You can get a "Direction Sense" as a passive sensor. In fact, there is a theory going around that there is a bit of magnetic iron in your nasal cavity that already does this.

Ultrasound "vision" is actually two systems put together. Only one of them is really a sense: the ultrasound detector. The ultrasound emitter is not in fact a sense, no more than your vocal cords are a sense.
Jason Farlander
Well... honestly, I dont feel like debating this at the moment. Perhaps I'll email Rob about it sometime... perhaps not. Great Chicken had a good point about broadcasting your location to ultrasound detectors, and I just thought of a couple of things - first, that ultrasonic vision is directional, whereas blind fighting isnt. Also, Blind Fighting would bypass concealment modifiers, whereas ultrasonic vision wouldnt (it only bypasses vision mods derived from lighting). Those various things have convinced me of the general utility of Blind Fighting, Even if Ultrasonic Vision would be better in many situations.
GreatChicken
Don't forget that you can whiteout Ultrasonic vision. Perfect trap for the Daredevil himself: triggered Ultrasound emitters in every corner of the room. Now he's REALLY blind (all he can really 'see' is a field of white...that's how his brain interprets it)...not completely helpless because of his other senses, but incapitated nonetheless. Also useful for killing Radar and Sonar capability.

Edit: Not to mention this trap is hideously painful to Ultrasound Hearing users. It's like speaker feedback from everywhere.
A Rodent of Unusual Size
QUOTE
Blind Fighting drops the penalty for fighting in full darkess or blind fire to +4

Ultrasound vision halves all TN mods based on lighting or invisibility - which not only drops the penalty for fighting in full darkness to +4, but *also* affects *all* other visibility TN mods AND lets you see invisible targets.

So... again: why keep Blind Fighting if you have Ultrasonic vision?

It's almost exactly why you just said. Ultrasound Vision halves all TN mods based on lighting or visibility. Blind Fighting reduces your penalty for fighting blind to +4, thus Ultrasound Vision reduces that in half to +2.
Glyph
Option 1)

Smartlink II with personalized smartlink safety
Skillwires: 3 (with appropriate Max MP rating)
Chipjack Expert Driver: 3
2-Slot Multi-Slot Chipjack

This guy has the smartlink, and can also roll 6 dice for any skills that wouldn't come up as much for him - he can be a real Jack of All Trades.



Option 2)
Smartlink II (Replace Eye Display with a full Image Link)
with Rangefinder, personalized smartlink safety
Internal GPS
Orientation System
Cyberears with:
>Dampener
>High Frequency Hearing
>Select Sound Filter (5)
>Spatial Recognizer
Cybereyes with:
>Low-Light
>Ultrasound Vision (cheaper because of High Freq Hearing)
>Flare Compensation
>Electronic Magnification (3)
Math SPU (1) (for the alarm clock, chronometer, etc. functions)

Information is power, and someone who knows exactly where they are, what their surroundings are, and where their enemies are... has power.
Eyeless Blond
That second one's got connectivity issues; you've got five seperate systems that need to talk to each other. Fortunately with betaware you've got room for two datajacks, or a datajack and a chipjack (for knowsofts). That select sound filter's expensive. Too bad you can't add it as alphaware; you can afford it essence-wise, but accessories to betaware must also be betaware.

The first one's got connectivity issues too, depending on whether or not you believe that a chipjack can be used as a router or not (a datajack can, but a router might not be able to, depending on who you ask).
Jason Farlander
I've always simply ruled that items that are quite obviously designed to work together (either by their nature, as with a chipjack and skillwires, or as mentioned in the item description, as with the orientation system/internal GPS combo) do not actually require a router.

IMO, Routers are for things that wouldnt generally be designed to work together... like your biomonitor and your cranial cyberdeck or your cyberarm and Math SPU.
Siege
QUOTE (GreatChicken)

Blind fighting is just that. You rely on all your other senses apart from sight to tell you where the opponent is. It doesn't actually let you 'see' per se, but it's passive and not subject to detection like above. Biggest problem is that you can't actually 'see' at all.

Not to beat a dead horse, but the book doesn't actually define how "blind fighting" actually works.

And while I encourage the idea of any GM to define it as necessary for their game, my point is "blind fighting" could as easily be a quasi-mystical awareness just as easily as it could be dependent on alternative senses.

-Siege
GreatChicken
Because if you can 'see' it completely defeats the purpose of the word 'blind'. grinbig.gif
Siege
QUOTE (GreatChicken)
Because if you can 'see' it completely defeats the purpose of the word 'blind'. grinbig.gif

"See" refers to the traditional human sense of vision, not to a sense that could be construed as having rough parallels to vision.

Hah! How's that for bulldrekking? grinbig.gif

-Siege
Bearclaw
Were it in my game, I would rule that Blind Fighting is a mystical ability, and has nothing to do with hearing, smell, etc. Those are already included in the +8, rather than + infinity TN. It's already assumed that you can more or less track your target by sound, smell or whatever, and shoot at them. Blind Fighting means that you are using the force, or sensing their Chi, or whatever. Making it easier to hit a target when your vision is impaired.

Ultrasound helps you locate things. With the proper emitter and detectors, you can halve vision penalties. Making your TN to shoot some one at close range in full darkness 8. Blind fighting would, in my game, still halve the smaller penalty, because it still helps you locate your target better, so your TN with Ultrasound vision and Blind fighting would be 6. No SG bonus or anything though.

PS, how well does ultrasound vision work in the almost constant rain of Seattle?
Lantzer
Bearclaw, I'd say about as well as it handles the AC iside a building. In an area with significant white noise, you start getting TN mods, like the table in CC mentions.

Incidentally, I've had an adept with cyber-version ultrasound because I think the description in the CC is inappropriate for a natural sense. It's a processed vision overlay in much the same way that a smartlink targeting cursor is, in my opinion.

That, and it didn't fit my character to have him clicking like Flipper.
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