[Sinistra]

I will be joining a 4th edition Shadowrun game soon. My GM pointed me out to Chummer, set up a Settings file for me to use, and also loaned me the copies of Arsenal, Augmentation, Runner's Companion, Street Magic, Unwired, Streetmagic, and had me obtain the 20th anniversary PDF because those are the books we are using. After I learned with what the other character were doing in the group, I decided after asking a few questions I wanted to be the Rigger. Now having never played the system before I can say after browsing these books a lot has gone over my head and I am getting a little confused on what I should do to build my Gnome properly. We have 400BP and a max availability of 12. Also this is set in 2057 I believe he said, so the second crash has not happened (Think it was the second one), and Nanotech and the smallest class of drones, along with cultured bioware are off the table by his standards.

While I know Riggers are about there vehicle's and drones I have also picked up that some hacking ability would be needed, and I would also like to be able to defend myself other than with just my drones. We have a good hacker in the group (Boosted logic of 7 I believe), so we have someone who can hack well so I wont need to be full time hacking and Rigging.

For stats, which we are limited to 200 for Primary and edge bought separately.
Attributes:
Bod: 4
Agi: 5
REA: 4 (From what my GM told me this is important for Rigger's and I will be using Wired Reflexes or Reaction Enhancers to boost it, buying a 5 as gnome is expensive.)
STR: 3
CHA: 3
INT: 4
LOG: 4
WILL: 5
EDGE: 4

Positive:
Arcane Arrester (Gnome)
Thermographic Vision (Gnome)
None chosen yet.
Negative:
Distinctive Style (Gnome)
Neoteny(Gnome)
Day Job (10/Hr Week) Most of the other PCs seem to have one of some sort, and it adds a bit of story.
Extravagant Eyes (I did not plan on having Cybereyes.)
Unusual Hair
In Debt (20,000 Nuyen) (Again something I can work into the background, though can be changed out for another 20 BP of Negative Traits)

So far this is all I have, I am looking for any suggestions about what I have taken. And then maybe I can move onto the next part of the character being more sure of myself.

[Tiamut024]

You should talk to the GM, availability is generally how advanced something is, trying to play in the past but allowing the default of 12 availability seems silly to me. I am new myself but riggers need alot of BP for cash, probably all 50, i would say you have too much edge your skills will be low, you will want 2-4 of gunnery, pilot aircraft, pilot ground craft and pilot anthroform. I would recommmend Electronics Group, maybe a point in armorer, If you want to be able to defend yourself in the matrix Id just get a group or two of Cracking. Easiest way to build a character your first time, is to look at the sample characters in the books OR even better, there is a sticky on these forums with builds that can be played effectively.

Rigger is my favorite, hope to find a group, eventually I'll learn all the rules and just GM, finding a group is like asking Santa Claus for something :x

GMC Bulldog Step Van is pretty solid for a Rigger, alittle slow but if your group tends to need to escape alot invest in Morphing plates and gridlink override.

Another thing you have to decide is if you want to remote control your drones, or hotsim into them and just give commands to the others, I suppose you could actively use your character while your give commands, choice you gotta make before thinking about stats.

Lemme copy/paste a really important chart for Riggers;
common rigger/drone tests
Action        Jumped-In Rigger Dice Pool           Autonomous Drone Dice Pool            Remote-Controlled Dice Pool
Initiative                  as rigger                                       Pilot + Response                                            as rigger
Attack                  Sensor + Gunnery                          Pilot + Targeting                                    Command + Gunnery
Melee Def.      Response + Melee skill                Pilot + Defense                                     Command + Melee skill
Ranged Def.        Response                                        Response                                                   Command
Full Defense       as above + Dodge                       as above + Defense                                   as above + Dodge
Damage Res.         Body + Armor                              Body + Armor                                             Body + Armor
Infiltration         Response + Infiltration                               Pilot + Covert Ops                               Command + Infiltration
Maneuvering  Response + Vehicle skill                      Pilot + Maneuver                                 Command + Vehicle skill
Perception          Sensor + Perception                         Sensor + Clearsight                          Sensor + Perception

Drone Stats here: Sensor, Response, Body, Armor, Pilot,
Drone Autosofts used here: Maneuver, Clearsight, Covert Ops, Defense, Targeting
Rigger Programs used here: Command
Rigger Skills used here: Infiltration, Vehicle Skill, Perception, Dodge

Hope that helps you understand what stats/skills you need to use drones abit better, of course that is just the surface