How much cyber can one man take! I'm trying to make the ultimate Street Sam to be the leader of an all cyber NPC organization. I want the guy to be the most bada** a bada** can be. His skills will be cyber implant combat and athletics. Here is what I got, add and remove stuff as y'all see fit.

Move by Wire lvl 4 delta (3.5 essence)
2 kid stealth legs delta (1 essence)
hydrolic jacks for legs
2 cyberarms delta (1 essence)
2 submachine guns in forarms (what ever they are called)
blades on top of forarms
+3 strength on both arms and legs
balance tail delta (.25 essence)

essence left: .25

first of all, lose the move-by-wire.
theres no way you can live long with the stress from that thing.
also drop the tail. it wont fit in normal armor, you need custom pants, and it draws attention in a crowd. the kid stealth legs are probably a bad idea as well.

Get some bioware. even with .01 essence left, you can have 3 points of bio-index no problem.

do not try to do with cyber what can be done more easily with normal gear. The cyber is to do what gear cant do.

my own advice, avoid the cyber-limbs as they are not as effective for the essence as what else you can get. also, you have just weapons on him. a robot could do better. the only real advantage the cyberlimbs have is what you can put in em, and delta grade has a lot less room in it.

What you Desperately need, and im suprised you dont have: Smartlink 2, cybereyes with lots of upgrades, cyberears, a DATAJACK! Cyber is great for getting you better senses and such, chipjacks for those knowsofts, and so on.

For reaction-enhancement, the best combo is boosted reflexed and the synaptic accelerator. +4d6 total, although it needs cultred bioware to do.

He's not effective in the end, and he looks like a retard with the kid stealth legs. He's also not leading Jack and Squat, cause he'll be dead soon because of the MBW.

Take a sammy, give him MBW3, one cyberarm and one leg. Max the impact/ballistic on the arm/leg so he gets a pile of impact/ballistic that stacks with what he wears at no penalty and goes really fast. Give him orthoskin for even more armor. Bone lacing. And a smartlink along with coverall eyes/ears. Much cheaper, and he'll likely beat damn near anyone into oblivion.

Honestly IMHO kid stealth legs and the tail just screams idiot poser IMHO in an NPC. Real professionals will need to be able to blend in from time to time. Real scary frightening and good NPC's don't screm "OMG LOOK 4T T3h CYB3R IN ME!"

KISS principle is where it's at.

EDIT: or since cost isnt ab object, give him boosted/synaptic combo and reaction enhancers 6. better all around.

MBW isn't that bad to go with, considering it's an NPC - neither is the tail. But this guy certainly won't be the ultimate sammy - it doesn't look like he can take a hit. You need dermal sheathing and/or bone lacing. I'd take muscle replacements (or better yet, muscle augmentation and toner bioware) over the replacement limbs.

Download the NSRCG and keep trying. There are a few different ways that you can put together a guy with .01 essence left, and if this guy is the leader, i expect he wouldn't have an essence any higher than that.

Have his first orders be to kill everyone saying to drop the Move-by-Wire IV.

The cyberlimbs should probably go, though.

~J

Good feedback, some more info on the character.

He'll be wearing tons of armor though cause of the high quickness.

MBW4 is an insane advantage, and so long as you've got the money and time to spend on the theraputic surgury every month, it's a sustainable advantage. Since this guy's covered in delta ware, I'm thinking he has the cash.

The Kid Stealth legs aren't worth it, neither is the balance tail, as others have said before me.

I'm iffy on the cyberarms, but the stuff you can jam into them for low to nothing essence costs (especially at the delta level) can make it all worthwhile.

Use bioware to your advantage as well. Pain editors, muscle augmentation/toner, and genetech up the physical maximums so that you can conveniently get straight elevens in the physical stats (unless he's a meta, in which case, well, same deal applies, only bigger numbers)
He needs eyes/ears with all the trimmings, and yes, he should have a datajack.
Maybe an internal comm system, but that can be covered in gear easily.
Also, look at the nanotech possibilities, like nanosymbiotes (though I suppose you're not going to have him in the game long enough to display awesome powers of healing)

No Bio? Why not? If he has access to a Delta Clinic (which are superfuckingrare, if you didn't know), then he can undoubtedly get access to a clinic (or perhaps even in his Delta Clinic) that can give him bioware, and even cultured bioware.

Something else to consider: a guy with <1 Essence is going to be acting more like a machine than a human being--think Robocop here. Likely he's not going to be leader of an organization--these days that sort of thing ought to be the province of a social adept, who can throw so many dice at social tests at a lowered TN that they could talk a hated enemy out of their pants in the middle of a gunfight. This guy would make better muscle or second-in-command.

Don't forget Ultrasound Vision in the eyes, and a good set of armor.

(Edit): Also, don't forget that with replacement arms and legs bonelacing and dermal sheathing is going to be much cheaper Essence-wise. Not only that, but you can also add armor to the arms and legs themselves, though with delta you won't be able to add nearly as much (a stupid, stupid rule IMO.) Finally remember you get extra Body dice for damage resistance when you have multiple cyberarms/legs; check out M&M for details on that.

Make him a Troll too, for maximum intimidation factor.

In Shadowrun, there is no personality change listed in the rules as going along with low Essence. A .01 Essence person can be the lovable old coot running the country store.

~J

I'd also recommend removing MBW 4, even if he does have the resources to remove the Stress. But unless you have an Ultimate Clinic, it will be very difficult to remove Stress and be useful before the next point of Stress is accumulated.

You have surgery to remove Stress, cool. But you still have that MBW 4. After the surgery, you need to heal up and that takes time, time for the MBW to stress whichever attribute again.

My recommendation (just pulling some things out of my head here):

Wired 3 + Reaction Enhancers 6
2 obvious cyberarms
Dermal Sheathing 3 Rutherium (instant stealth mode)
Titanium Bone Lacing
SL 2

I generally make Faces so this type of character is a little foreign to me but here is my suggestion:

Bone Lace, Titanium(D)
Datajack(D)
Dermal Sheath Level 3 (D)
Ears Cyber Repl(D)
+ Balance Augmentor(D)
+ Ear Dampener(D)
+ Ear Hearing Amp(D)
+ Ear High Freq(D)
+ Spatial Recognizer(D)
Eyes, Cyber Replacement(D)
+ Eyes, Image Link(D)
+ Eyes, Flare Comp(D)
+ Eyes, Low-Light(D)
+ Eye, Rangefinder(D)
+ Eyes, Thermographic(D)
+ Eyes, Ultrasound (w/HFq)(D)
+ Eyes, Vis Mag Ele[3](D)
Internal GPS(D)
Orientation System(D)
Smartlink Processor II(D)
Lim. Simsense Rig (SmrtLnk)(D)
Induction Pad(D)
Move-by-Wire [3](D)
Spur(CYB)(D)

Cultured Platelet Factory
Cultured Level 4 Muscle Augmentation and Toner
Trauma Damper

Edge: High Pain Tolerance Level 5
Metatype: Ork

Essense: 0.11
Bio Index: 3.10
Essence Index: 3.11

Including the racial mods, he would get:

Body + 9
Quickness +7
Strength + 6
Charisma - 1
Intel -1
Reaction + 6
Initiative +3d6 extra dice

Edited once to correct a mistake

A cyberzombie is really the only way to go if you want someone with MBW-4 and the full-body cyber look (limbs, skull, torso). A step below that, a character who has heavy cyber and judicious bioware can be super-tough, super-strong, and very fast - add military-grade armor and heavy weapons, and the cyberzombie has some real competition.

Limiting yourself to 6 Essense and foregoing bioware, you won't get the "ultimate street sam". So you need to ask what your priorities are. Since this is the leader of a group of cyber-fetishists, it makes sense to give him cyberarms with the works, kid stealth legs, an obvious cyberskull and cybertorso, and an articulated arm weapon mount. But even with deltaware, you can't get that and have the MBW-4, too. So instead, take Wired II with a reflex trigger and reaction enhancer: 6. That will give him +10+2d6 initiative, respectable for a tank-type character.

My build would be:

>Cybereyes & ears with the works (delta essense worth of the freebies)

>Cyberarms with dikoted spurs (plus venom sack if you want him to be really nasty), smarlink II on one of them.

>Kid Stealth Legs

>Obvious cyberskull with horns, and cybertorso

>Articulated Arm, DNI-equiped & routed to the smartlink, with a cyberarm gyromount

>Wired Reflexes II with reflex trigger and reaction enhancer: 6

>Internal Air Tank, Datajack - other goodies such as an Orientation System and GPS can be put in the cyberlimbs. Also Router and 10 ports, to handle the articulated arm and assorted other stuff.

For the cyberlimbs, get +3 Strength and Quickness (giving him 7 for each), then get 7 points of impact and ballistic armor for the limbs, torso, and skull. Give him either the ambidexterity Edge or a high off-hand weapons skill to make the most of his dual spurs, and put a nasty weapon on that articulated arm.



To be honest, a lot of "starting" street sammies could still do better (mainly due to bioware), but this guy does fit the role of a leader of a group of half-crazed cyber-worshippers.

Eh, what the heck I'm bored. Seeing as everyone's cramming Deltaware into the bad boy, I'll follow suit with delta and cultured. Jsut remember that if your players have the stomach for it, they'll make a fortune selling the body piecemeal afterwards

Bioware:
Synaptic accelerator [2]
Enhanced Articulation
Damage Compensator [8]

Cyberware:
Boosted reflexes [3]
Bone lacing (titanium)
Dermal Sheath, Ruthetium [3] (Yes, I know it's been done to death, but it works)
+Scanner
Smartlink II processor
Lim. Simsense Rig
Induction Pad
Toxin filters (Air[9], Blood[7])
Cyber Eye replacement
+Flare compensator
+Image Link
+Rangefinder
+Low-Light vision
+Thermographic Vision
+Ultrasound Vision (w. h.freq. hearing)
+Protective Covers, Mirrored
+Vision Magnification (electronic, 3)
Cranial Bomb, Area (To ruin all these goodies if he dies. No sense in letting the players keep millions worth of Deltaware)
Datajack
Memory (100Mp)
Orientation System
Ears, Cyber Replacement
+Dampeneer
+Hearing Amp
+High Freq. Hearing
+Balance Augmenter
+Spatial Recognizer
Internal GPS

------------------------------
Essence: 0,18
Ess. Index: 3.18
Bio Index: 3.05

Modified Stats:
Body +6
Impact Armor: +3
Ballistic armor +1
Reaction +3
Initiative: 5d6

Toxins are reduced by 7 and 9 respectively, effectively negating all combat chemicals. He doesn't get wound penalties until he's at 9 boxes worth of damage. He has a more or less permanent camouflage cover bonus thanks to the ruthetium, he can see and hear just about anything, he can find his way everywhere thanks to the mapping software, headware memory and gps, gets an extra die to his combat tests thanks to the enhanced articulation, he has smartlink-II which is always good and he'll blow up when he dies, taking all the cyber and bioware goodies (and probably a few players too) with him.

If the attribute department is lacking, you can always drop the toxin filter levels and add muscle replacement or some of the damage compensator and get muscle aug./toner.

If going the way of a cyberzombie he would need a chip jack, to be able to insert the chips that contain the remanence of what it is to be human?

torz x


ooh and talking about bioware, I agree go for the synaptic accelerator every time!

Eh, if he's just going to be a one-time combat monster, there's no need to outfit him with a chipjack. He'll have the active skills he need to fight and that's that. If you really wanna CZ him, you can add in the chipjack after the ritual.

There seems to be as many house rules as there are groups about what happens when you reach low essence. Personally, I try never to get below 2 essence and just avoid the whole quagmire

Yes. The IMS (Invoked Memory Stimulator) is its own seperate piece of cyberware required for cyberzombies to not get lost in the machine and lose themselves utterly.

another option is to give him something unique, experimental cyber with the modifiers you need but a heavy enough drawback that noone in their right mind would want it installed <like MBW4 atm>

make sure he is heavily armored and has some way out if you want a recurring villain .
A cool option would be someone who is slowly turning mad because of the MBW4 & rest of the metal he carries.. he could even start up as someone the runners work with who degenerates rather quickly into a main villain.

DS

Mm, well, in Torzzzz's defence she did say "the chips that contain the" - what I assume to be - "rememberance of what it is to be human", not the "acting human" chips.

For some reason, this thread reminds me of the opening narration from that cheesy 1970s sci-fi series, The Six Million Dollar Man.

Steve Austin...astronaut...a man BARELY ALIVE...

Gentlemen....We can rebuild him; we have the technology; we have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before...better...stronger...faster....

Gah. Now I *really* feel old.

--Foreigner

The "na-na-na-na-na" echoing sound from the "Six Million Dollar Man" has to be the best sound in the entire world. Go Lee Majors!

hehehe I know what you mean.

On another note, I think if you are going for the "Chrome God" image, cyberskull, torso, arms, and legs would help. I like the idea of a move by wire system for these reasons:

The advantages are insane.

The drawbacks shows the extream of what happens when you use too much ware. (ie seazures)

They make you move and act in a way that gives you a min. +2 to your social mods. As I've said in other posts, I think anyone with low essence should act inhuman in some way. In this case, you move too well, too fluid to be fully human.


As to other ware... if he is a leader in the sense he needs to no tactics, a tac computer might be useful. Someone told me they nerfed them in 3rd ed. but this was comming from a guy who hates third and to be honest, they NEEDED to be nerfed a bit. Before it added its rating to your tactics skill. (also up to your reaction in bonus to init and let you target things so you had more dice to hit.)
Don't know if that fits your concept or not. Plus, the bloody things use way too much essence.