[HaikenEdge]

I'm kind of curious if the two archetypes are mutually exclusive; sure, they fulfill the same role, but they also use many of the same skills and attributes, yet all the discussions I could Google were Decker vs Technomancer threads, as opposed to technomancer as decker. Action (and actual) economy aside, why shouldn't a technomancer get a high end cyberdeck and a datajack (ignoring for the moment the loss of resonance), and cold-sim into the matrix through the cyberdeck when the technomancer needs to run programs, then employ sprites and complex forms as necessary when using said cyberdeck isn't a viable option?

[Whiskeyjack]

No, but it's basically impossible to build for both.

Deckers need a lot of money for a deck (fuck dongles) and ware (Cerebral Boosters, Datajack, initiative boosters if you're an AR decker). Deckers therefore need to spend Essence on ware, which TMs don't want to do.

TMs have a lot of problems due to needing a lot of attributes at decent ratings, as well as skills. Like mages, they usually pick low priority for Resources because they need higher priorities elsewhere.

Then there's the fact that TMs cannot use their Resonance if accessing the Matrix through a persona, so a deck is (at best) an expensive piece of ablative armor for their brain if they're running in AR or cold sim.

TMs can benefit from running a deck with an agent, and being in the Matrix simultaneously with their Living Persona, using CFs and sprites to boost the Agent, but that is really hard to do at chargen (though I think I've seen a build or two).

The whole reason it's difficult is action economy and actual economy. The archetypes need different things to shine. TMs work best as a pet class though, and they can boost their Sprites better than they and their Sprites can boost agents.

[halflingmage]

I agree.  Nothing in the rules forbids, but a Technomancer needs a high priority for Resonance, needs attributes more than deckers, and need more skills than a decker to boot.  There just ins't room for a deck worth having, at least at character gen. 

[HaikenEdge]

How about 5 years down the line? I wasn't really inquiring about at creation, per se, but for at any point in a technomancer's career.

[Whiskeyjack]

Leveraging all the pet class powers to buff your agents is the best possibility. Actually forming a non-Living Persona and hacking through the deck directly? Too much redundancy.

[HaikenEdge]

Leveraging all the pet class powers to buff your agents is the best possibility. Actually forming a non-Living Persona and hacking through the deck directly? Too much redundancy.

How would one go about doing so?

[Whiskeyjack]

Agent does the actual hacking work, Machine Sprite on the deck for Diagnostics, you use stuff like Puppeteer and Static Veil to protect/hide the Agent.

[firebug]

They did create an echo that allows that...  As much as I dislike it.  The best way to play a TM shouldn't be "buy a deck and use Diagnostics".  But it's honestly the most effective and least dangerous.

[HaikenEdge]

So, do you use Puppeteer to force the Agent to do things, then?

[Hibiki54]

This has been my opinion when comparing Deckers to Technomancers.

Deckers and Technomancers have similar skill sets. Technomancers can do what Deckers can. Deckers CANNOT do most of what Technomancers can do, but the things they can do, they do better and are more specialized. Technomancers are more versatile because they cheat with Sprites.

[HaikenEdge]

This has been my opinion when comparing Deckers to Technomancers.

Deckers and Technomancers have similar skill sets. Technomancers can do what Deckers can. Deckers CANNOT do most of what Technomancers can do, but the things they can do, they do better and are more specialized. Technomancers are more versatile because they cheat with Sprites.

Not sure of relevance, since this isn't a decker vs technomancer thread. I'm not trying to compare them, I'm trying to figure out how one goes about blending them together into one character.

[Marcus]

Down the line it is possible to take a techno into decking. But it would be way down the line, it would still be highly inefficient.
The resource needed make this work is money primarily and skill to a somewhat lesser degree. But to be clear the character will have to invest a decent resources, to get started on it, and will probably be not as good with decking as they are with technoing. Further deckers these days tend to be more combat equipped which generally involves some amount of ware, and that part won't be possible.

[firebug]

So, do you use Puppeteer to force the Agent to do things, then?

No, the echo allows you to be logged into a deck but still command sprites.  You cannot, however, compile or register them, and you cannot use complex forms.

Down the line it is possible to take a techno into decking. But it would be way down the line, it would still be highly inefficient.

About 13 Karma for Resonance Riding (the echo to use a deck) and 89k for a Little Hornet.  And maybe 3k for programs.  You should already have hacking skills, yeah?  Unless you are just playing a TM who literally knows nothing about being a matrix character and just has sprites do everything (Barf.  Seriously, barf.).  Your LOG will be a few points below a decker's but you'll be getting around +4 to all your rolls from Diagnostics which will result in higher dice pools (especially Intuition-based ones).

Additionally, you'll have a +1 to all limits, so the Little Hornet's limits aren't as restrictive.

Don't get me wrong, over 90k nuyen is a lot but it's not like, years down the line and it doesn't require more skills.  Unless you mean the single skill Hardware.

[HaikenEdge]

So, do you use Puppeteer to force the Agent to do things, then?

No, the echo allows you to be logged into a deck but still command sprites.  You cannot, however, compile or register them, and you cannot use complex forms.

Fair enough, but I was also inquiring about what Puppeteer would do in WhiskeyJack's suggested agent/pet-oriented decker-technomancer. While I find the idea of the cold-sim decker-technomancer more interesting, I'd like to know about the other options as well.

[Whiskeyjack]

You don't need puppeteer to control your own deck. You put the agent on a task and then use Puppeteer against system functions that try to stop it. Or you use puppeteer in combat to eject clips or format guns.