[orewashinigamiza]

Hello folks!   I'm looking to create a Rigger who dabbles in hacking on the side, but I thought first and foremost I should ask some questions since this is my first time actually making a character I intend to play.  I've had 4th edition for about 2 years now and read it pretty thoroughly and I try to keep the books up-to-date for the most part so I'm familiar with the setting on a non-mechanical note, but on a mechanical level not so much.  I mean, I can pick the best skills to optimize my character, but I have this nagging feeling that I will leave out a skill that would keep me out of trouble.  So without further ado:

Are there any skills that people think every character (or most every character) should have?

What about general equipment that every runner should carry?

Anything else that I'm forgetting?

What about drones (for a rigger), should I start with those....?

For clarification, I'm hoping to play this character on the play-by-post section here.

[Ethan]

Hi there! Relatively new player here as well, but I can answer some of these:

1) Perception, Etiquette, and Infiltration are necessary. You need to be able to observe things, interact with people without making a fool of yourself, and you need to be able to sneak. To what degrees you'll need these are up to you.

You'll also need a defense stat. Many people prefer Gymnastics and a Melee Weapon Skill for their defense rolls at range and in melee. The simplest is to invest in Dodge, which is useful if you're not planning on making a combat-centric character.

2) Gear? Cheap commlinks with Rating 1 Fake SINs. Tasers, which are legal to own so you can bring them almost anywhere. There's plenty of gear you should have, but remember this and you'll do well: dress the part.

3) Yes, definitely start with Drones. Don't forget the Gunnery and Pilot skills. Also, keep an eye on Electronic Warfare. You can make do with just a Rotodrone to start off, but a small menagerie of Drones would be quite acceptable. You'll need at least one "spy" drone too, and of course, a vehicle.

[orewashinigamiza]

Wow!  Thanks for the fast reply.  I have a few more questions as well.  Is going for a Technomancer worth it for a rigger?  Regardless, should I invest in any Agents (or Sprites for Technomancer)?

[Ethan]

I would say "No" but it is possible to do so and if you have a solid concept, go for it. The reason is due to the cyberware you'll want as a Rigger, which would mess with your Technomancer abilities.

There's an alternative to that, however. You can create a "Dronomancer" or a "Technoshaman" who summons Sprites to take over drones and vehicles and whatnot. You're not actively controlling stuff, just ordering things to do stuff, which is similar to the "Commander" type of Riggers who use the Command software a lot more than jacking into things.

I haven't kept up with the newer Technomancer stuff, so I'm not too familiar with what they can Emulate and so on.

[baronspam]

Hi there! Relatively new player here as well, but I can answer some of these:

1) Perception, Etiquette, and Infiltration are necessary. You need to be able to observe things, interact with people without making a fool of yourself, and you need to be able to sneak. To what degrees you'll need these are up to you.

You'll also need a defense stat. Many people prefer Gymnastics and a Melee Weapon Skill for their defense rolls at range and in melee. The simplest is to invest in Dodge, which is useful if you're not planning on making a combat-centric character.

2) Gear? Cheap commlinks with Rating 1 Fake SINs. Tasers, which are legal to own so you can bring them almost anywhere. There's plenty of gear you should have, but remember this and you'll do well: dress the part.

3) Yes, definitely start with Drones. Don't forget the Gunnery and Pilot skills. Also, keep an eye on Electronic Warfare. You can make do with just a Rotodrone to start off, but a small menagerie of Drones would be quite acceptable. You'll need at least one "spy" drone too, and of course, a vehicle.

For the most part I agree with Ethan's skill list.  Perception is almost always a good buy if you have some points.  Similarly, infiltration is a powerful and usefull skill that most characters will use at some point.

Ettiquette-  Certainly useful, but keep in mind what a 0 in a skill means.  It doesn't mean no abilities, it means the same ability as a typical person.  A person with no ettiquette skill is not a social misfit, they can eat with silverware, dress themselves, and generally understand social situations.  Someone with the ettiquette skill has an above average ability to get along.  They can influence people by playing an appropriate social role, certainly a useful skill.  But don't think that somone with 0 ettiquette is going to poop in the middle of the box of soybars.  Many character concepts, the grizzled old soldier, the tech focused hacker or rigger, the magician who never leaves his lodge unless he is dragged out to work, might not have it.

Gear- second vote for non-lethal weapons.  For every one time you are going to want to blow the place sky high there will probably be three where you want to go easy.  A heavy body count brings trouble, trouble from the cops, anger from the corp you just hit, friends, family and business partners of the departed who want a piece ofyou.  Dont kill unless there is a specific need or you absolutley have to defend yourself.  Of course, you want to be ready for the times when you do want to blow the place sky high as well.

Secure the heck ouft of your primary comlink.

Have multiple IDs, both quality and disposable to work with.

Have armor for all occasions from an armored suit to medium gear like a armored jacket or lined coat to heavy gear for when it is going to be full on military style ops.

There is no such thing as too much ammo.

Everyone should have a trama patch.  In their underware. 

A level 6 medkit and someone in the group who can use it is a good idea as well.

[Maelstrom]

It can be done.  There are hacker and rigger builds in this forum which may be helpful to you.  This isn't all-inclusive but it's plenty for one read:

Find out how your GM handles software because vehicles/drones will cost you a lot.  For example, if your GM allows you to load copies of the same program to multiple nodes once the copyright protection is cracked, buy one copy, crack it, and keep it patched/upgraded.  In any case, most GMs will allow you to install your software on a node and keep the “master” software elsewhere – so you don’t lose it when your drone is destroyed.

Starting out:
Buy only what you really need and crack the copyright protection only on what you have to.
Put Firewall R6 on your commlink and (eventually) on every drone.
Buy R6 programs where possible and let them run at rating 5.  Upgrade your commlink to 5 (6 if you have the money and take the Restricted Gear positive quality for 5 BP).  Otherwise upgrade the commlink to rating 6 later.

Using legal programs in Matrix actions makes it easier to track you.  Find out your GM’s interpretation of this.  They may or may not include drone Pilots, Firewalls, Encryption, Autosofts, etc.  You will want to eventually crack all your matrix-action programs.

Later on in-game, you have a couple of options for software:
1 - Download pirated versions from a pirate network (UN94) and pay the monthly/bi-monthly patch update cost.
2 - Buy a legal copy of the same program with the same options and use the legal patch downloads to update your cracked copy and save you the patching time.
3 - Patch/upgrade them yourself, but this become unwieldy and impossible.

Eventually get ECCM on all your vehicles and drones to help avoid jamming.

Augmentations:
Cerebral Booster (+1 to +3 LOG)
Nanohive R2 (AU113) with neural amplifiers: Limbic R3 (+3 INT skills) and Neocortical (+3 LOG skills)
PuSHeD (AU90) (+1 LOG skills)
Encephalon (AU36) (+1 or +2 to some LOG skills)

Skills:
See SR247 for drone tests
Go with groups where possible and avoid specializations at character generation.
Electronics group 4, Cracking group 4; Mechanics group, armorer, dodge, first aid-1, gunnery, perception, pilot, con, etiquette, and automatics

Software:
Agent (crack it for team assists)
Common (R6, all) with options (AU114) as desired, i.e. Crashguard, Ergonomic, Optimization, and Viral Resistance
Hacking: Armor, Attack, Biofeedback, Decrypt, Defuse, ECCM, Exploit, Sniffer, Spoof, Stealth, and Track
Software Publishing Suite R5 (UN118) later in-game, plus access to Programming Environment (UN118)

Drones:
Upgrade devices when you can.  Include electronics hardening R6 (150¥; AR58) on each drone.  Add the Improved sensor array modification (AR126) wherever possible and upgrade sensors to support TacNet (UN124).  Add other modifications as desired.  Remember DV must exceed vehicle armor or is ignored, so armor is your drone’s friend.

Platforms I find very useful:
Micro-Tapper Bug (UN198)
Cyberspace Designs Dragonfly mini-drone (AR117)
Ferret RPD-1X mini-drone (AR117)
MCT Fly Spy mini-drone (SR351)
Renraku Stormcloud medium LTA aerial drone (SR351)
MCT-Nissan Roto-drone medium aerial drone (SR351) with Ingram White Knight LMG (SR321)

[Vyth]

*cough cough sputter*

Dusting the mothballs off this old thread...

I been trying to dredge up info on riggers and find this awfully informative with a few exceptions...

Like... I'm using the daisybox chargen which seems to be missing a ton of info.  Also, half the stuff that's been
mentioned as good for riggers, is restricted... example: cyberspace dragonfly is 12R, normal armor mod is 6R

I've seen roto drones mentioned several times but they do not have gun mounts... that's 4000 nuyen for just a
 rotodrone WITH a weapon mount added... then you still need autosofts, just get a doberman for 3000...

there any place like a repository for .sr4c files? would like to get some riggers others have made and take a look
at them.

[baronspam]

There is restricted and there is restricted.

For standard rules, the only thing that matters in terms of if you can have a item at character creation is the number of the availablitiy rating.  If its rated 12 or lower you can have it.  A "R" item is restricted in the sense that to have it legally you need a special liscense or permit.  A "F" item is forbiden, meaning its flat out against the law to own one.  Shadowrunners have fake paperwork for  the first issue and generally don't give a devilrat's puckered butt about the last issue.  All that matters at character creation is the number.

There is a quality called "Restricted Gear" that lets you start with an item that has an availability rating higher than 12 (up to 20).  You can take this quality up to three times at character creation for the really advanced cyberware, the really huge gun, the unbreakable fake ID, etc.  You DONT have to take it for an item that is "R" unless it is over 12R.  Otherwise you would need it for almost all of the weapons and cyberware in the book.