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First Technomancer - Please Help

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Chuck Stuff

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« on: <01-21-16/1904:25> »
Hey guys, how’s it going? I’m looking for some help with improving my technomancer. This is the first time that I’ve made a character that does a lot of interacting with the matrix, so any help would be appreciated. There are a few points things I wanted to ask opinions on as well, so I threw those down at the bottom of the post. As for the character themselves, I’m imagining someone who can take their time in the matrix and do what they can to avoid a conflict. This is why I picked a technomancer over a decker, because of the complex form Cleaner (reduces OS score) and Static Veil (Prevents OS score from going up due to time).

PRIORITIES:
A: Attributes (24)
B: Skills (36 single/5 group)
C: Special (Resonance 3, 1 Complex Form)
D: Metatype (Human 3)
E: Resources (6,000 Nuyen)

ATTRIBUTES
Body: 3
Agility: 5
Reaction: 2
Strength: 1
Willpower: 5
Logic: 5
Intuition: 5
Charisma: 5
1 Attribute point leftover (See bottom)

SPECIAL
Edge: 2
Resonance: 6 (3 from priority, 3 from Metatype)

QUALITIES
Positive:
-Otaku to Technomancer (+2 to resist Biofeedback) (Data Trails
-Focused Concentration 2 (Sustain a level 2 or lower complex form without penalty)
-Photographic Memory (+2 to memory tests)
-Speed Reading (Quickly skim through data, helped by photographic memory)
Karma Cost: 24
Negative
-Creature of Comfort Medium Lifestyle (Run Faster)
-Moderate Uncommon Addiction (Undecided)
Karma Bonus: 20
Remaining Karma: 21

SKILLS
Cracking Group 5
Pistols 5 (Heavy)
Sneaking 4 (Urban)
Compiling 6
Registering 6
Software 6 (Puppeteer)
Perception 3
Con 3
Etiquette 1 (Purchased for 2 karma)
Negotiate 1 (Purchased for 2 karma)
Remaining karma: 17

COMPLEX FORMS
Static Veil (So long as it’s sustained the target’s OS doesn’t go up)
Cleaner (Reduces OS by net hits, figured I’d use this after using a sleeze action or two)
Diffusion of Firewall (Make it easier to hack into things, provided the dice removed from his dice pool is more than the dice that I would lose for sustaining this if I don’t use Focused Concertation for it)
Puppeteer (I figure this would be good for doing anything from making things spit out data to forcing a reboot)
Karma left: 5 (Purchased 3 complex forms for 12 Karma)

ITEMS
For the sake of buying items, I just had myself dump the 5 karma into money to give myself a starting pool of 16,000 nuyen to work with.
Ares Light Fire 75 (Cost: 1,250) (From my understanding, machine sprites can help with the smartgun systems to make me better through the use of diagnostics?)
Chameleon Coat (Cost: 1,700) (Again, my understanding is that machine sprites can use the wireless function to improve my die pool with diagnostics)
Sony Emperor (Cost: 700) (For maintaining cover and storing data)
Fake Sin 4 (Cost: 10,000) (Mostly to use for rent and stuff I’m thinking, though I don’t know what’s a good rating to use for this)
Regular light pistol ammo X100 (Cost: 100)
Remaining money: 2250 (Or 250 with 1 karma remaining, whichever)

Here are the things that I'm already wondering about, even when typing this up.
Attributes: So I’m not sure which of the mental attributes would be best for me if I’m going to try to more or less sneak into matrix systems. My thoughts were intuition (linked to sleaze) or willpower (linked to firewall). I also thought about charisma as well, strictly to play a minor face if I had to.
Qualities: Would there be something better for me to grab than Photographic Memory and Speed Reading? To get both of those cost me 6 karma total. Would the karma from that plus the possible 1 karma left over from items be better used to buy a specialization in something or maybe have some starting sprites?
Complex Forms: I honestly just went with what seemed good for someone who wouldn’t be good in a straight-up fight. I know I can’t go toe-to-toe with a decker cybercombat-wise, so I figured I’d hope whatever sprites I can compile and register once we start playing can help level the field or force them out of the matrix and hope I can complete the mission before they recover from dumpshock.
Items: What else would be a good idea to grab? I feel like my current list is a little bit sparse, though I can’t think of what else a technomancer might need.
Contacts: What would be some good contacts for a technomancer? I figure a fixer is never a bad choice, maybe a doctor, but I can't think of much else beyond that.

Feel free to be as frank as you want with critiques - any help is appreciated.

Whiskeyjack

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« Reply #1 on: <01-21-16/1914:37> »
Read this first: http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=20066.0 Basically, TMs are not in a good place this edition. They're weak, they're very multiple-attribute dependent, and they have trouble doing the job the book says they want to do, because they are heavily punished by mechanics in ways that Awakened are not, and you're right, they just cannot keep up with Deckers in the Matrix, except in the extreme longitudinal period. 

Follow ups:

I would put that last point in Intuition.

Taking the whole Cracking group is a bad idea, because you will want specialties in Hacking and Cybercombat.

You cannot effectively play a minor face with dice pools of 6-8 for opposed tests. Sorry, but it just will not turn out well.

I'd probably lose those qualities honestly, they're not going to help much in a world of recordings.

Starting sprites are not worth spending karma on, do that in pre-1st run downtime or during the legwork phase.
Playability > verisimilitude.

FST_Gemstar

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« Reply #2 on: <01-22-16/0325:33> »
Hobbes' breakdown really is a great technomancer guide.

I think you are on to the right track. Technomancers just don't have the room during character generation that other archetypes get. Every point is really precious (not in a power-gaming sense, but in that technomancers need lots of attributes, lots of skills, and lots of special attribute [resonance and edge] and if they are going high resonance and everything else, they probably don't have resources for 'ware and it is tough to get enough to make 'ware worth it anyway). There are things that are just going to have to wait until play starts. Jack of All Trades is nice for this, but it looks like you are already at 24 karma in PQs. It's a tough call. I might start with JOAT and pick up speed reading at 2x karma after char gen. Or remember, if you are able to compile higher level sprites (as written you are), sprites can do a lot of that reading through data quickly if you prefer to play that way. You character doesn't have Computer as of now, so the character  can't do matrix searches/matrix perception on their own, so they may have to rely on sprites. Sprites can also do some sustaining for you, so Focus Concentration may be able to go too for space (though it is nice to just threat Static Veil on a Sprite and let them do the work without dealing with the penalty).


I agree with Whiskey that maxing Intuition is a solid  choice for maxing for this technomancer. I would drop the social skills for now. You have a high starting charisma so are likely to buy a hit if you need one just defaulting, and as Whiskey said, social skills are opposed test and adding a die or two isn't going to make much of a difference. Perhaps put those 3 Con points into Electronic Warfare. I would put the group skills in Electronics, and put those software points into Hacking. Getting a spec in Registering would be nice too, perhaps from Sneaking? Nothing more annoying than a crap roll on Registering tests and this character is just not going to have the Edge with the current priority selection to use at every turn.
so Skills:

Electronics 5
Pistols 5 (Heavy) [whatever it is, make sure you have the option to stick a machine sprite to it]
Sneaking 3 (Urban)
Compiling 6
Registering 6 (I would recommend a Machine specialization usually, as other sprites are for more shorter term work or work that can be extended by casting Static Veil/Cleaner on them)
Hacking 6 (Hack on the Fly)
Perception 3
Electronic Warfare 3

I think this spread helps you do solid in the action hacking and good legwork. You'll have solid dice for Complex Forms (though Puppeteer is tough to use unless it's a last ditch as the Fade is very high). You can sneak around (machine sprite enhanced Chameleon suit is even better) with the rest of the team, and you can pull out a gun when you need to. Pick of up con, etiquette, etc. with karma later. The nice thing about being an Attribute A technomancer is that you have high Logic, Charisma, and Agility, so you can default with 4 dice on almost every skill that allows defaulting (buying you a hit). If avoiding conflict is also part of your concept, I might pick Resonance Veil over Puppeteer. It is good for causing a distraction or a plausible getaway or to help get whatever IDs checked to avoid a confrontation. Puppeteer always seems so cool, but if your character is a take your times Technomancer (Technomancers are good at this), Puppeteer is on the other end of that spectrum (do something quickly without prep, even though it might not succeed and you will get hurt no matter what).

In terms of gear. Technomancers don't need much. I play that gear that provides a wireless bonus a machine sprite's DIagnostics power can work on, so you might want to pick items that can benefit from your technomancy. Smart-link glasses or contacts would be nice. If you can swing for a chameleon suit and a less obviously going to do something illegal armor, I'd do that. More than anything, I always like drugs for technomancers. If you can swing Drug Tolerant quality  from Chrome Flesh (perhaps instead of Focused Concentration) you may more safely take advantage of high Logic + Willpower for more safely using psychologically addicting drugs like Psyche (+1 to Logic/Intuition for many hours [and perhaps lowers penalty for sustaining complex forms] and Cram (+1 to Reaction and +1d6 initiative for many hours) are nice to be able to take when you know you are going to see some action. Zen is nice to have around for downtime when compiling/registering sprites. It is short acting, not very addictive, and can gives a +1 to Willpower to help resist Fade.

Also just noticed that your physical limit is 3 I believe. That means sneaking is capped at 3 hits, so perhaps you don't need as many dice there as you are not going to be able to use a lot of your hits anyway. Maybe shift some to specializations in Compiling and/or Perception?
« Last Edit: <01-22-16/0340:10> by FST_Gemstar »