[blinkdog]

Just wanted to double-check a rules interpretation that I made tonight.

The team's Decker was in a Host and spotted a File icon.
The Decker used Matrix Perception and discovered the presence of a Data Bomb (Rating 7) on the File.
The Decker attempted the Disarm Data Bomb action, and even after spending Edge, failed to get net hits:

You attempt to disarm a Data Bomb that you have detected (usually as the result of a Matrix Perception action).
If you score any net hits, the Data Bomb is removed and deleted.
If not, the Data Bomb activates, causing its damage and possibly destroying any file to which it was attached (assuming it was set to destroy the file).

So I looked at the Set Data Bomb action:

When a Data Bomb goes off, it causes (Rating)D6 Matrix Damage (resisted normally) to the icon that tripped it, deletes the file (if it was set that way), and then is itself deleted.

So I interpreted "(Rating)D6 Matrix Damage" to mean: Roll 7D6, add them up, and that many DV are headed toward the Decker, to be resisted normally.

The Decker and some other players at the table, thought it should mean roll 7 dice, like a pool, and only the hits (5s and 6s) are counted as DV headed toward the Decker, to be resisted normally.

As this is an order-of-magnitude (Average 24.5 DV vs. Average 2.3 DV) difference in damage, I thought it best to run it by the forums.

Was I right to throw 24 DV at the Decker? Or was he right that it should have been 2 DV?

[Darzil]

I think you did right, but a rating 7 databomb is huge. 7 Net hits on a Software + Logic [Sleaze] vs Device Rating x 2 (though I guess maybe if setting it on your own device you can ignore the defence.

Edit - I'd probably let the hacker know it looked like a large one. Databombs can be instantly very bad news, so you have to be aware you are throwing something really nasty with one that large. One of my databombs bricked an NPCs weak deck with a rating 3 one a few sessions back.

[cyclopean]

Yeah I think you've got the right of it, it's written as "xd6", which they only use for initiative and drug durations and such where you use/add up whatever numbers come up, instead of counting successes. Since you add there, it makes sense to me to add here as well. Like Darzil said though, maybe give some hint as to the size of the bomb (if not the actual rating itself) based on matrix perception, especially if they take the time to examine it in detail.

[Namikaze]

Spotting the data bomb should be the first thing a decker attempts to do when accessing a file that might be valuable.  Any file worth stealing is going to be worth protecting.  And that analysis should be able to reveal the general "oomph" of the bomb, either in fluffy or crunchy terms (at your discretion).  With that said, I agree that you should roll Xd6 and add all the pips.  Rating 7 is going to be military-grade as well.  Well, I should state that there's nothing in 5th Edition that specifically states that anything above Rating 6 is "military-grade" but that's how it's been in the past.  Since Device Ratings haven't seemed to change all that much in scope between editions, I'd say that anything above Rating 6 is going to be pretty hefty indeed.

[Xenon]

Mil spec is rating 4.

5 is black ops

6 is experimental

[Herr Brackhaus]

Given that a Matrix Perception test can be used to determine all host and device attributes and/or ratings, I'd have no problem allowing a decker to use a hit from Matrix Perception to gauge the rating of a data bomb or the protection rating of a file he's attempting to access.

[UnLimiTeD]

Mil spec is rating 4.

5 is black ops

6 is experimental

Those ratings are for general devices, however, and kinda end at 6.
Given that electronics can go above, and aren't as expensive as experimental stuff would be, I'm not sure that is an entirely fair assessment.
Still, it fits in this case.

[Csjarrat]

Yeah I had an r5 go off and nearly kill my technomancer player. Had to get creative with alternatives as t would have one shortted him with 22dv!

[Xenon]

I would personally use something like this:

rating 2 data bomb for "standard" SR5 File Icons.
rating 3 data bomb for "secure" corporate SR5 File Icons that contain pay data.
rating 4 data bomb for SR5 File Icons with "military secrets". not very common.
rating 5 data bomb for SR5 File Icons protected by G-Men. very rare.
rating 6 data bomb mostly being the stuff of legends...

[Kincaid]

As people in this thread have noted, data bombs can do significant damage; they're the only thing in the game that acts like a D&D fireball.  I've had deckers use them offensively to great effect.  (Note that the Rating of the data bomb you set is effectively limited by the Sleaze Rating of your deck, so going past 6 is possible, but yeah, you don't just casually stumble across a Rating 7 data bomb.)

[Syntetesh]

I've had deckers use them offensively to great effect

I want to play a surged technomancer with 8 max intuition only because i want my stats to reflect my character personality but if you can explain your tricks, I will be very thankful.

Do you spoof enemies hackers files/programs so they triggers the databomb by using their own decks?

[Razhul]

I've had deckers use them offensively to great effect

I want to play a surged technomancer with 8 max intuition only because i want my stats to reflect my character personality but if you can explain your tricks, I will be very thankful.

Do you spoof enemies hackers files/programs so they triggers the databomb by using their own decks?

I imagine setting a data bomb on someone else's files that they would not normally run Matrix Perception on every time. It just requires 1 Mark to be able to set the bomb.

[Kincaid]

The effectiveness of this depends on how your GM interprets how files are used as part of Matrix architecture.  For example, is the safety program in your smartgun system in a file?  Is the move/resize protocol for the GUI/AR aspect of your operating system (eqv.) in a file?  And so on.