Hey!
Due to a friend building an Electronics specialist character, I noticed that this item comes with a standard availability of 4 and has no capping in level (except that you have to pay for it, naturally). Now, does that mean that a character could install a lv. 15 expert driver into their chipjack and get 15 pool dice at every action for all skills slotted there, be they social, combat or technical? Is there any sort of downside to this? Otherwise, having natural abilites just doesn't pay off, now does it?
Anyway, just wondering what the rules experts here have to say to this.
Full Version: Chipjack expert drivers
I thought the cap for the CED was 3?
Where's that? I didn't find it in any book.
yea i think they errataed it to something like that, check shadowrunrpg.com...
Alright, thanks guys! 
Oh, while we're at it, how can the option of having more than one skill active in your wires at the same time ever be useful? In other words, does buying additional wire capacity (MP, ASIST) make sense or not?
Oh, while we're at it, how can the option of having more than one skill active in your wires at the same time ever be useful? In other words, does buying additional wire capacity (MP, ASIST) make sense or not?
It can be useful to have, for instance, both Athletics and a combat skill loaded simultaneously, if you do not possess either. It can also be handy to have a melee combat and a ranged combat skill loaded. It takes too much time to swap autosofts within your skillwire system to permit real on-the-fly improvisation (i.e. expecting a ranged gunfight and ending up with someone sneaking into hand-to-hand range, or underestimating your opposition and needing to pull an olympic-level sprint to get to cover), which is where having multiple skillsofts loaded simultaneously can help.
Generally its a really bad idea to chip skills, where you can use a Pool.
Use your Karma on combat skills, and chip athletics, small unit tactics, electronics, demolitions and stuff like that.
Its true that sometimes you could have use of more than one set of wires, but generally I'd believe you'd get more effective use of your money and essence if you get other 'Sam gear. (Trauma dampener/Bone lacing/Wired Reflexes etc.)
Use your Karma on combat skills, and chip athletics, small unit tactics, electronics, demolitions and stuff like that.
Its true that sometimes you could have use of more than one set of wires, but generally I'd believe you'd get more effective use of your money and essence if you get other 'Sam gear. (Trauma dampener/Bone lacing/Wired Reflexes etc.)
For some added fun, check out the cluster option. You can have skills out the wazoo all on one chip.
Also, don't forget that the CED gives you a die pool, not extra skill dice, which means that those extra CED dice only refresh once per round - so you don't get them for every action. Granted, a lot of skills you won't need to use more than once per round, but it's still an important limitation.
| QUOTE (weblife) |
| Generally its a really bad idea to chip skills, where you can use a Pool. |
DIMAP, baby. (cc.61) Expensive as all get out, but you can use pool with the skill.
What's really uber about the chipjack expert driver is that you can have several of them. Let's take an extreme case, an Ares Alpha. Let's say you have skillwires that can handle loading three activesofts at once -- assault rifle, launch weapons, and clubs, AND you have a level 3 expert chipjack driver in each.
You've essentially got 3 combat pool dedicated to each skill, plus all of your inherent combat pool, which you can reserve for dodge tests, or if you can manage DIMAP, you can allocate to each skill as necessary.
what was the take on multi-slot chipjacks again? do they need only one CED? and if so, do they share the pool or do they get a individual one?
IIRC, you need one for each.
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