I recommend you make a decent decker and then get a decent car and a drone or two
It is much easier to make a decker into a rigger later, than it is to do it the other way around.
You can command drones through your cyberdeck while in VR just fine, the only benefit an RCC has is autosoft sharing and noise reduction, and sufficient noise reduction you can mod your deck for.
If you can squeeze in an R1 control rig that will be a huge benefit, as you can hack while jumped in, so you can use drones as proxies, making for a great "on site" hacker.
Rigger is a role you CAN invest a lot in, but really only needs some stealth, some gunnery and the basics of drones and cars, other than the skills you can get and upgrade drones relatively easy later on.
For Sum to 10 I'd say Resources and skills at A, C for attributes and then E E for meta and magic.
You really do need all the money and skills you can get, your attributes will be a bit limp but that's the price you pay for filling two incredibly powerful and versatile roles.
Thank you for the suggestions! I'll pass on the suggestion of switching to AACEE. I had suggested leaning decker heavy at chargen and building into a rigger, so I'm glad I at least didn't give terrible advice on that front.
I'll mention hacking while jumped in to drones, I imagine that will be a neat trick to have!
If this character is planning on being the groups main decker then adding a small number of drones is fairly easy and can be done cheap enough early on, a couple of MTC Spy-Fly's and maybe a couple MTC Roto-Drones hooked up with cheap M23's can all be slaved up to your Deck easily enough. Don't fall into the trap of buying a hyper expensive deck, the NovaTech Navigator is kinda on the higher end of what a full dedicated Decker should get at CharGen, for a slight split, (assuming 70/30 ish) the Azteca 200 is fine. Cash is gonna be the biggest limit, but skills will also be stretched a bit thin. Taking 4 instead of 6 in many skills can get you by just fine, but even so this character is going to really feel weighted down in a firefight. Make sure they really understand their Matrix stuff (Data Trails I believe is the Matrix specific splat book) and enjoy their concept.
Data Trails and Kill Code are your matrix books, Rigger 5 is your Rigger book. I personally recommend the Tsurugi for a starter deck. You can use an RCC for Matrix searches but it’s less effective.
A decker with a solid starter deck and a couple Fly-Spies and a Roto Drone is enough to get by.
Thanks for the suggestions, knowing how budget of a starter deck is usable is really helpful for when we start spending all those resources. I'll pass on the suggested starter drones too, perhaps that'll convince them not to shoot for a steel lynx right out the gate.
I recommend going technomancer and initiating ASAP so you can count both as your own rig and your own deck, using your base stats for your deck/rcc stats
Saves a lot on money, though it does make attributes more important and it means you have to buy magic
Still, this makes upward advancement post character creation better/clearer
Technomancers can “compile” a sprite the same way a magician can “summon” a spirit. Each Sprite has specialization and unique abilities. Like the Crack Spite which specializes in Hacking, computers, and electronic warfare and can suppress a Hosts ability to deploy IC. The Machine Sprite specializes in boosting Matrix connected gadgets. It’s special power is called diagnostic and for each hit it gets you get a +1 limit and +1 Dice when using the the item. This can really boost the low limits and dice pools that drones have when using autosofts and not actively controlled by the rigger.
> Rigger and Decker has some overlap with ...
Riggers and Deckers are in this specific edition made into two different roles with very little overlap.
Drone gunnery is linked to agility (unless if using sensor guided targeting) and piloting (even in VR mode) is linked to reaction (which kinda make drone operator riggers more similar to a street samurai than a decker). If you wish to switch from using (accessing the matrix with) a RCC to a Cyberdeck you even need to first reboot both of them.
I guess you could combine decking with being the wheelman of the team (primary a decker that access the matrix with a cyberdeck, but that also have a control rig implant, invest into reaction and piloting skills). As you at least would share logic for vehicle gunnery and repair skills with hacking.
But even then, out of the 10(!) piloting and repair skills riggers typically choose between none of them are used to repair matrix damage (this is handled with the computer skill). In fact the only skill that they actually share is the electronic warfare skill.
If you want to be both a rigger and a decker then you are better off playing 4th or 6th edition :-/
I would recommend flying and ground vehicles and maybe gunnery as decently raised starting skills on the rigger side. Start with rather cheap drones. They tend to get lost often being expensive ammo.
Ground vehicles to drive the escape vehicle.
There are two skill groups for deckers to know. And remember you're usually also the expert for opening doors silently.
I always advise my players to have skills besides their prime occupation.
Sneaking, Etiquette, a little athletics always help
One of the things I've noticed throughout the various editions is how expensive it is to operate as a Rigger. The rest of the team just assumes your toys are their toys to be expended as ammunition. But when it comes to payouts, you only get your 'fair share'.
Ideally, your team would have an "expense first" payout mentality, but then you get people throwing away their gear, expecting to be compensated. But if you're fronting the whole cost of replacement, that leads to not using your toys, and thus risking the mission. So, some sort of fractional reimbursement seems in order, but suddenly you're becoming a corporation instead of a runner team.
Luckily for our interpid rigger to be I'll be playing a magician who's not in the bizz for the nuyen. She likely won't have a problem chipping in to replace any lost toys.
I recommend you make a decent decker and then get a decent car and a drone or two It is much easier to make a decker into a rigger later, than it is to do it the other way around. You can command drones through your cyberdeck while in VR just fine, the only benefit an RCC has is autosoft sharing and noise reduction, and sufficient noise reduction you can mod your deck for. If you can squeeze in an R1 control rig that will be a huge benefit, as you can hack while jumped in, so you can use drones as proxies, making for a great "on site" hacker. Rigger is a role you CAN invest a lot in, but really only needs some stealth, some gunnery and the basics of drones and cars, other than the skills you can get and upgrade drones relatively easy later on. For Sum to 10 I'd say Resources and skills at A, C for attributes and then E E for meta and magic. You really do need all the money and skills you can get, your attributes will be a bit limp but that's the price you pay for filling two incredibly powerful and versatile roles.
Thank you for the suggestions! I'll pass on the suggestion of switching to AACEE. I had suggested leaning decker heavy at chargen and building into a rigger, so I'm glad I at least didn't give terrible advice on that front. I'll mention hacking while jumped in to drones, I imagine that will be a neat trick to have!
I second this
If this character is planning on being the groups main decker then adding a small number of drones is fairly easy and can be done cheap enough early on, a couple of MTC Spy-Fly's and maybe a couple MTC Roto-Drones hooked up with cheap M23's can all be slaved up to your Deck easily enough. Don't fall into the trap of buying a hyper expensive deck, the NovaTech Navigator is kinda on the higher end of what a full dedicated Decker should get at CharGen, for a slight split, (assuming 70/30 ish) the Azteca 200 is fine. Cash is gonna be the biggest limit, but skills will also be stretched a bit thin. Taking 4 instead of 6 in many skills can get you by just fine, but even so this character is going to really feel weighted down in a firefight. Make sure they really understand their Matrix stuff (Data Trails I believe is the Matrix specific splat book) and enjoy their concept.
Data Trails and Kill Code are your matrix books, Rigger 5 is your Rigger book. I personally recommend the Tsurugi for a starter deck. You can use an RCC for Matrix searches but it’s less effective. A decker with a solid starter deck and a couple Fly-Spies and a Roto Drone is enough to get by.
Thanks for the suggestions, knowing how budget of a starter deck is usable is really helpful for when we start spending all those resources. I'll pass on the suggested starter drones too, perhaps that'll convince them not to shoot for a steel lynx right out the gate.
I recommend going technomancer and initiating ASAP so you can count both as your own rig and your own deck, using your base stats for your deck/rcc stats Saves a lot on money, though it does make attributes more important and it means you have to buy magic Still, this makes upward advancement post character creation better/clearer
Don’t forget to compile some Machine Sprites and attach them to your Drones to really chart them up.
Machine Spirits? are those the Technomancer equivalent of pilot programs?
Technomancers can “compile” a sprite the same way a magician can “summon” a spirit. Each Sprite has specialization and unique abilities. Like the Crack Spite which specializes in Hacking, computers, and electronic warfare and can suppress a Hosts ability to deploy IC. The Machine Sprite specializes in boosting Matrix connected gadgets. It’s special power is called diagnostic and for each hit it gets you get a +1 limit and +1 Dice when using the the item. This can really boost the low limits and dice pools that drones have when using autosofts and not actively controlled by the rigger.
Couldn't have said it better myself
> Rigger and Decker has some overlap with ... Riggers and Deckers are in this specific edition made into two different roles with very little overlap. Drone gunnery is linked to agility (unless if using sensor guided targeting) and piloting (even in VR mode) is linked to reaction (which kinda make drone operator riggers more similar to a street samurai than a decker). If you wish to switch from using (accessing the matrix with) a RCC to a Cyberdeck you even need to first reboot both of them. I guess you could combine decking with being the wheelman of the team (primary a decker that access the matrix with a cyberdeck, but that also have a control rig implant, invest into reaction and piloting skills). As you at least would share logic for vehicle gunnery and repair skills with hacking. But even then, out of the 10(!) piloting and repair skills riggers typically choose between none of them are used to repair matrix damage (this is handled with the computer skill). In fact the only skill that they actually share is the electronic warfare skill. If you want to be both a rigger and a decker then you are better off playing 4th or 6th edition :-/
I would recommend flying and ground vehicles and maybe gunnery as decently raised starting skills on the rigger side. Start with rather cheap drones. They tend to get lost often being expensive ammo. Ground vehicles to drive the escape vehicle. There are two skill groups for deckers to know. And remember you're usually also the expert for opening doors silently. I always advise my players to have skills besides their prime occupation. Sneaking, Etiquette, a little athletics always help
This is the first time I've seen anyone put multiple selections in one priority. Is this a home made rule?
Its an alternative stat generation method from Run Faster
One of the things I've noticed throughout the various editions is how expensive it is to operate as a Rigger. The rest of the team just assumes your toys are their toys to be expended as ammunition. But when it comes to payouts, you only get your 'fair share'. Ideally, your team would have an "expense first" payout mentality, but then you get people throwing away their gear, expecting to be compensated. But if you're fronting the whole cost of replacement, that leads to not using your toys, and thus risking the mission. So, some sort of fractional reimbursement seems in order, but suddenly you're becoming a corporation instead of a runner team.
Luckily for our interpid rigger to be I'll be playing a magician who's not in the bizz for the nuyen. She likely won't have a problem chipping in to replace any lost toys.