Shadowrun 4th: Conjurigger

[Silent Wayfarer]

So I may have a chance to play one in an upcoming SR4 game and I'd like ot pick the brains of people as to whether or not I am doing it wrong. The basic character design is Human, Max Flaws, Control Rig, Simsense Booster, Simsense Accelerator for 5 IPs in VR mode, then Magic 4-5 (with a geas) to ensure I can summon up a bigass pokeymans for throwdown time.

For stats: softcapped Reaction and Intuition (obviously), then I dunno if I should get Logic because vehicle tests run off Response (which is an equipment issue).

For skills: softcapped Gunnery, Vehicle, Perception and Summoning, possibly the infiltration stuff too. I'm probably lucky here because I can skimp on buying all the physical mobility skills.

For gear: Best commlink, a fast, maneuverable vehicle, and as many Rotodrones with grenade launchers/LMGs as I can handle.

Is that about right?

[pragma]

Looks solid at first glance. A few notes:

* I don't think you need to pump reaction in SR4: if you're jumped in it is replaced with Response (so is Agility).
* Intuition isn't as important in SR4 since hacking attempts are resisted with Firewall, System and Analyze. Of course, it's nice for perception in meatspace (jumped in you use Sensor at the attribute) and initiative.
* Make sure to snag a tradition that uses intuition as it's drain stat. Reduces MAD.
* You'll want a little willpower to knock down drain, a little charisma to increase the number of spirits you can have bound (=CHA). You have little use for logic beyond repairing drones and launching hacking attempts (since you'll have the nice comm).
* You need the binding skill to get the most out of your pokeyman army
* It would be a shame not to get the spellcasting skill if you're building a mage. Ditto for counterspelling. Not sure you can counterspell while jumped in though. Also, in SR3 astrally projecting while you were in the matrix was a dicey idea. In SR4 that's not as clear.
* I'd argue the inflitration skiill is pretty important for rigging -- it's one of three you're likely to be called upon to roll.
* I'd go with heavily armored vehicle rather than fast and maneuverable. Speed actually doesn't get used for much in SR4. Acceleration determines your tactical combat movement rate, and though handling bounses are nice I've never seen a rigger fail a vehicle test (much less for lack of dice).
* You're going to be _very_ dollar intensive during runs because replacing drones is expensive and replacing bound spirits is expensive. Negotiate pay+expenses into your deals with Johnson.

[Silent Wayfarer]

I'm keeping Reaction and Intuition high because initiative still relies on my own stats. But yes, I was planning to invent my own tradition.

In that respect, assuming I made up my own (Intuition-based) tradition, what spirit types would be best for this?

[pragma]

Matrix initiative doesn't rely on reaction: it's system + intuition.

You don't need to make up your own tradition to get an intuition based one, buddhist and wiccan traditions from street magic let you do that. A homebrew tradition might be subject to spot nerf if the GM is touchy, but using a Street Magic tradition gives you the backing of canon.

I find air spirits to be the most useful because of a combination of movement, concealment and confusion out of the box. Fire spirits are good anti-vehicle tools because they ignite ammo.

I don't have street magic on hand, so I can't comment on the fancy spirits therein. I recall guidance & task being pretty good, but can't back it up. I think task spirits get one of your B&R skills so you might be able to use them to repair drones.

[pragma]

Whoops, response + intuition for full VR matrix initiative, not system.

Edit: and while I'm putting up stuff I forgot in the first post -- spirits of man are great because they get one of your spells as an innate spell. It's a good way to outsource drain costs.

[Silent Wayfarer]

I like Air spirits myself, though fire is a close second. Can Air spirits use sparks? That ought to set ammo off too.

[pragma]

None of an air sprit's powers say they do fire damage, though I think they can pick up innate spell (lightning bolt) as an optional power. Fire spirits specifically note that their engulf does fire damage, which I assumed would be the tool of choice for lighting up ammunition.

A generous GM might allow an air spirit to steer flying embers or something, but that seems pretty situational. I think fire spirits are the way to go if you want to engulf things in flames.

[Silent Wayfarer]

Here's how the skills and attributes are going to look. Not sure if binding is a crock; I think FT said it was, but I have it high because I'm going conjurer.

Name: Vivian "Viv"
Race: Human (0 BP)

Attributes (160 BP)
AGI 1/6
BOD 1/6
REA 3/6 (20 BP)
STR 1/6
CHA 3/6 (20 BP)
INT 5/6 (40 BP)
LOG 3/6 (20 BP)
WIL 3/6 (20 BP)
EDG 2/7
INI 1/12
MAG 5/6 (40 BP)

Skills (148 BP)
Perception 6 (Visual +2) (26 BP)

Binding 4 (Specialty +2) (18 BP)
Counterspelling 4 (Specialty +2) (18 BP)
Conjuring 4 (Specialty +2) (18 BP)
Gunnery 4 (Ballistic +2) (18 BP)

Electronics Skill Group 1 (10 BP)
Social Skill Group 1 (10 BP)

Vehicle (Aircraft) 1 (Jumped In +2) (6 BP)
Vehicle (Groundcraft) 1 (Jumped In +2) (6 BP)
Vehicle (Walker) 1 (Jumped In +2) (6 BP)
Spellcasting 1 (Specialty +2) (6 BP)
First Aid 1 (Combat Trauma +2) (6 BP)

Knowledge Skills

Contacts

Magic

Positive Qualities (20)
Erased (5 BP)
Magician (15 BP)

Negative Qualities (+35 BP)
Debt (30 BP)
SINner (5 BP)

Gear (50 BP, 280k)
Control Rig (0.5E, 10k)

Horseman PMV w/ Advanced Cargo Module (17k) (19k)
- Rigger Cocoon (1.5k)
- Spoof Chip (0.5k)

Nissan Roto-Drone (2k) (5.9k) x lots
- Normal Internal Visibility Fixed Weapon Mount) (2.5k)
- AK-98 w/ external smartlink (1.4k)

[pragma]

Do the BP add up right?

160 att
148 skill -- total 308
50 gear -- total 358
-15 net qualities -- total 343

That leaves some points to play with before you hit 400. Some should go to contacts, but I assume that's in the cards since the build looks a bit skeletal.

Your pilot skills seem low for a rigger. I also think a point in the engineering skill group and a point in electronic warfare are both good investments.

I don't like to leave home without a 2 in each attribute for defaulting and a 3 in body so I can get the armor vest w/o penalty.

You need to buy a fancy commlink, upgrade all its attributes, get ECCM and a few other relevant programs, and a satlink. You also need targeting autosofts for the drone army (not clear on how many copies of the program you need in this edition). I like having Renraku Stormclouds, Fly-Spys and Kanmushis around for versatility. I'm especially fond of the Stormcloud hovring on the perimeter with a mounted sniper rifle.

I think laser rebroadcasters are also awesome for wifi shielded facilities. I'd usually use up the remaining 0.5 essence at chargen because getting cyberware in game is a pain.

[Silent Wayfarer]

Do the BP add up right?

160 att
148 skill -- total 308
50 gear -- total 358
-15 net qualities -- total 343

That leaves some points to play with before you hit 400. Some should go to contacts, but I assume that's in the cards since the build looks a bit skeletal.

Your pilot skills seem low for a rigger. I also think a point in the engineering skill group and a point in electronic warfare are both good investments.

Yeah, it is pretty skeletal. Planning to drop 30 BP on spells, which would be:

Heal
Detect Life
PMask
Fix
Increase Intuition
Improved Invisibility
Control Thoughts
Shape Metal
Mind Probe
Stunball

to roughly fit the theme of "unobtrusive puppetmaster" and "wrench wench".

I don't like to leave home without a 2 in each attribute for defaulting and a 3 in body so I can get the armor vest w/o penalty.

You need to buy a fancy commlink, upgrade all its attributes, get ECCM and a few other relevant programs, and a satlink. You also need targeting autosofts for the drone army (not clear on how many copies of the program you need in this edition). I like having Renraku Stormclouds, Fly-Spys and Kanmushis around for versatility. I'm especially fond of the Stormcloud hovring on the perimeter with a mounted sniper rifle.

I was planning on sticking an AK-98 on a Nissan Rotodrone to drop big-caliber rounds, chem grenades or frag on the enemy, depending on how badly they pissed me off. Heavy weapons' long standoff range combined with V-Mag means that I can pretty much have my ~9 dice (Pilot 3 Autosoft 4 Smartlink 2) or so come in unopposed since I can be shooting from about half a km out in the middle of the night. (this assumes that I'm telling all the sniperbots to fire at will)

That said, sniper rifles have 3x that range and if I can double tap people they will just fucking die, so maybe I should do that instead.

I think laser rebroadcasters are also awesome for wifi shielded facilities. I'd usually use up the remaining 0.5 essence at chargen because getting cyberware in game is a pain.

I think the laser repeater bugs should help with that, they extend range by 1km in all directions. Any suggestions on what ware to get? I've thought of crap like a suprathyroid gland to cheaply buff all my physical attributes...

[pragma]

Influence is a very good spell depending on how the GM interprets it. Otherwise, the spell list looks awesome. Other spells that only need a few successes to be effective are fashion, makeover and analyze device. Shape plastic might also be a good call. I wouldn't take increase intuition, but that's mostly because of a gentleman's agreement with my group about sustaining foci.

Investing in the spells is a great call -- they're way more karma efficient at chargen than later.

No reason not to have both sniper blimps and assault rifle rotodrones. You've go tthe dollars to spread around.

Supathyroid sounds like a great call. My only thought was cybereyes because they're cheap, image link is good, and smartlink/vismag/enhanced perception are potent and often relevant. Microscope eyes is an often overlooked boost to B/R stuff. PuSHeD and other logic based nanotech can boost pretty weird pools that are relevant for a techie. Muscle toner / muscle aug are also cheap physical attribute boosts. So is playing a dwarf or ork ... you can pick up a big strength or body boost on the cheap.

If you're short on points I'd crib from gear: you can pick up drones in play pretty easily because of the relatively low price tag per drone.

[Silent Wayfarer]

I've taken most of that stuff into consideration, but I have another question: existing sensor ratings for drones are shit. is there a way to cheaply upgrade them for extra pew pew action? I recall something posted somewhere about average a bunch of Rating 6 things out and getting a high Sensor rating or something.

[pragma]

I don't remember that rule specifically, and it sounds wrong from what I recall. IIRC you're stuck with the vehicle mod rules in Arsenal for upgrading sensor.

There are some rules that relate sensor ratings to the sensors on a vehicle and they live somewhere in the bowels of Arsenal or Unwired (or Rigger 3 if my memory is especially fuzzy). I don't have either book on hand, so I can't help you with spelunking, which is a shame because the rules are difficult to find. I think all they talk about is the default sensor suite that comes with a vehicle.

[Silent Wayfarer]

All right, here's what I could find on SR4A p.334:

In the case of vehicles, their Sensor rating indicates the Sensor package rating installed in the vehicle. Vehicle sensors, and indeed sensors in any package, may be used individually in which case they generally have a default rating equal to the package’s Sensor rating.

The Sensor package rating should be used for most situations and is equal to the average rating of all the sensors in a package (rounded up). Sensors that do not possess ratings are treated as if they had a rating equal to the package’s rating for this purpose only. Under certain cir- cumstances, a gamemaster may decide that certain sensors in a package may not apply, or that only one specific type of sensor is relevant to the situation at hand. Some sensors might just not be suitable for the given task, may be pointing into the wrong direction, and so on. Alternately, the character may elect to use only one sensor for a particular job. In either case, consider the applicable sensor to have the same rating as the vehicle’s Sensor rating, though if the character has previously modi- fied the sensor package, the individual sensor may use its own rating (if higher.) If the character desires to use more than one sensor but not the full package (i.e., a microphone and camera) use only the highest rating.

So theoretically, I could stick an R6 Camera in there and it would have a Sensor rating of 6. But what happens if I stick a Laser Rangefinder and a D-Mic in there (no rating)? Unrated devices use the Sensor (not Device) rating... but the Sensor rating derives from the Unrated rating! It's whack.

But my main objective is to cheaply boost up Sensor so I can make Gunnery and Perception tests with a higher chance of success. For that I could probably use the camera alone (with V-Mag and thermovision/low-light vision) to acquire targets. Since I'm only using the camera, I use its rating of 6. Et voila. Then pile on Gunnery(4+2) or Targeting (4), +2 Smartlink, +2 Tacsoft, +2 more if I'm jumped-in, and I get to roll 14-18 dice for just about any ranged attack I make. Which is actually pretty damn close to what I can get as a tweaked Sam (Agi 9 Guns 4+2 Reflex Recorder 1 Smartlink 1 +2 Tacsoft = 19d)

So yeah, fuck sams, riggers are gods.

EDIT:

Also, the custom tradition (which seems to be fine with the MC):

Combat: Guardian
Detection: Guidance
Health: Man
Illusion: Air
Manipulation: Water
Drain: Willpower + Intuition

[pragma]

Got it, the only point I'd like to make is that you can't pile on targeting for shooting the gun: drones use pilot + targeting if shooting on their own, riggers get the sensor + gunnery if jumped in.

I don't think drones can use the smartgun system since there aren't rules for installing a smartlink on the drones, but I think the rules could be read to support the rigger using the smartlink as long as she has an image link. You could also argue that the rigger is using the vehicle's drones so modifications to her eyes don't matter and the smartgun system is wasted. I'd advise getting a ruling. I'm basing this speculation off of stuff on 322 and 333 of SR4A.

Good find on the sensors stuff, that's new in SR4A and is a welcome clarification.

Given the most conservative interpretation of rules I think that puts your pools as follows:
Jumped in sensor+gunnery: 6 (sensor) + 4 (gunnery) + 2 (spec) + 2 (tacsoft) + 2 (hot sim) + active lock if you bother to get it = 16+hits on lock-on test = 16+
Drone pilot + targeting: 4 (pilot) + 4 (targeting) + 2 (tacsoft) + active lock if you bother to get it = 10+

Those values are on the order of the last rigger I built -- he threw 14 and 8 for those tests but didn't have a tacsoft. We're in rough agreement.

Why no spirit of fire in the custom tradition?

[Silent Wayfarer]

Got it, the only point I'd like to make is that you can't pile on targeting for shooting the gun: drones use pilot + targeting if shooting on their own, riggers get the sensor + gunnery if jumped in.

Yeah, that's mainly for my benefit and for my drones to acquire targets.

I don't think drones can use the smartgun system since there aren't rules for installing a smartlink on the drones, but I think the rules could be read to support the rigger using the smartlink as long as she has an image link. You could also argue that the rigger is using the vehicle's drones so modifications to her eyes don't matter and the smartgun system is wasted. I'd advise getting a ruling. I'm basing this speculation off of stuff on 322 and 333 of SR4A.

Well, if the drone's cameras have a smartlink and the gun has a smartlink, you have all the components to use a smartlink ... but yeah, I'll talk to the GM about this.

Why no spirit of fire in the custom tradition?

I felt that electrical damage would ignite explosives and gunpowder better than fire, since many explosives are electrically initiated rather than by heat. Plus, air spirits are faster. Fire spirits are also allergic to water and it's kind of a silly weakness for them to have.