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Adept Rigger needs some guidance

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Dreyven

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« on: <05-05-16/2028:51> »
Hello everybody.

I'm making a character for an upcoming game. My first game to be exact.
I've read the books and got a pretty good overview of most of the stuff but i'm just not certain how to value certain stuff.

Human                         
Nuyen: 187295

== Attributes ==
BOD: 3                            CHA: 5
AGI: 4                              INT: 2
REA: 4 (5)                      LOG: 6
STR: 2                            WIL: 2
EDG: 2                            MAG: 1 + 1 bought with karma

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 4.4                      Initiative:           6 (7) + 2d6

== Qualities ==
Mentor Spirit (Raven)
The Burnout's Way

== Powers ==
Improved Reflexes 1

== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Control Rig Rating 2

This is the gist of it, after buying gear i'm left with roughly 190k nuyen and i have 2.4 essence that i can spend.
I'm struggling with the decision what ware to pick up, mostly because i'm not certain how specialized i have to be and how many dice i should have.

Is it worth buying a rating 2 Cerebral booster? Do i really need a Logic 8?
Should i buy some muscle replacement even though i'm not really planning on doing much non-drone/vehicle combat or is something like the synthcardium a better pick if i just care about the physical skills?
Other things i considered: Tailored Pheromones, Control Rig Optimization

I would appreciate any opinions.

FST_Gemstar

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« Reply #1 on: <05-05-16/2111:01> »
Adept Riggers can be tough --- Some might say that adepts are better "wheelman" or "pilots," basically not "jumping-in" to vehicles/drones but physically driving. This is because they can get high Reaction and Initiative from the Improved Reflexes power.

As of now, if you keep on adding 'ware, you are going to lose your Magic rating and unless you get it up to 2 again, you'll lose your Improved Reflexes 1.

I would think a Burnout Out Way adept rigger would be better off just fully burning out (don't worry about having a Magic rating). With Resources A, you can afford a nice vehicle and/or drones, and afford and have the space for lots of 'ware.

firebug

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« Reply #2 on: <05-05-16/2232:13> »
Generally, I agree with FST_Gemstar.  I'd go as far to say though, that if you want to have a Control Rig at all, it's probably best to ditch Adept.

I'd like if you could post how you made the character; if it's Priority or Sum to 10, what order you picked the priorities is also good to know.

With this build, you'd probably be better off dropping Adept all together.  If you have no interest in doing non-drone/vehicle combat, you don't really need Improved Reflexes.  Instead of the Priority points (and Karma) spent on it, increase something else like Resources, Skills, or Metatype for the extra Edge.

You should take some of the stuff out of Charisma and put it into Intuition--  It's a very useful attribute, used in defense (yes, including when you're piloting a drone) and initiative, and is used Perception, Navigation, and with Electronic Warfare (in particular, if you're using a Sensor Array in place of Perception tests.)

If you do want to go Adept, ditch the Control Rig all together--  Rather than jumping into drones, you'll want to spend your PP on high Initiative and improving your Gunnery and Pilot skills.  You'll do most of your rigging via AR, using AGI + Gunnery to remote-fire mounted weapons.  You won't get the Control Rig bonuses, but you won't need them, since you'll have higher dice pools in general.



Now, for general advice...  Anything you consider a "main skill" should have at least 12 dice.  If it's secondary, 9 is acceptable but unreliable.  The reasoning behind that number is based on opposed pools.  Most skills are opposed by two-attribute pools.  Since 3 in an attribute represents "human average" a theoretically average opponent will have 6 dice to oppose you.  Since two out of the six sides of the dice are a hit, and you have a 1/3 chance of rolling a hit, every 3 dice is about one hit on average...  9 dice means you'll beat a 6 dice opponent the majority of the time.   But that's barely succeeding, so I'd say that's "competent" level, where you can be expected to succeed at the task when it's required.  12 is another hit on average, which is also much more "secure" of a number.  At this point, this theoretical opposition will only rarely beat your roll.  It's also enough to get 3 dice if you "buy hits", which is also important.

You probably don't need many physical skills on such a character beyond Perception.  I'd also suggest against trying to be a Face as well unless you're an Elf and have a LOT of skill points to spare (such as after picking A in skills).  Especially if you want to be an Adept, as the Adept is all about specialization and will suffer if you split yourself between archetypes.
« Last Edit: <05-05-16/2242:01> by firebug »
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Tarislar

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« Reply #3 on: <05-05-16/2259:30> »
Inc Reflexes isn't something I go for with a CyberAdept, your better off with Cyber/bio versions of that IMHO.

I'd get Wired-1 & Reaction Enhancers-2/3

I also agree that Rigger+Adept isn't the greatest combo.

But if you go that route, save 15 Karma for 2 Magic Points & just cyber to the roof.

That or skip adept all together & just be a Rigger with plenty of Cyber/Bio to start & more cash.

Dreyven

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« Reply #4 on: <05-06-16/0618:49> »
As of now, if you keep on adding 'ware, you are going to lose your Magic rating and unless you get it up to 2 again, you'll lose your Improved Reflexes 1.

Well, with just the control Rig i already lost my 2 starting points of magic, But i should easily have enough karma "left over" to purchase a magic rating of 2 to start out with.

Inc Reflexes isn't something I go for with a CyberAdept, your better off with Cyber/bio versions of that IMHO.

I'd get Wired-1 & Reaction Enhancers-2/3

I did take a look at all the other initiative increasing things but in the end gravitated towards inc Reflexes.
I already need to use 2 (1.6 with way) Essence for my Control Rig and another 2 (1.6) felt just too heavy on the essence side for my taste as i wanted to start with 2 magic.

I'd like if you could post how you made the character; if it's Priority or Sum to 10, what order you picked the priorities is also good to know.

You should take some of the stuff out of Charisma and put it into Intuition--  It's a very useful attribute, used in defense (yes, including when you're piloting a drone) and initiative, and is used Perception, Navigation, and with Electronic Warfare (in particular, if you're using a Sensor Array in place of Perception tests.)

If you do want to go Adept, ditch the Control Rig all together--  Rather than jumping into drones, you'll want to spend your PP on high Initiative and improving your Gunnery and Pilot skills.  You'll do most of your rigging via AR, using AGI + Gunnery to remote-fire mounted weapons.  You won't get the Control Rig bonuses, but you won't need them, since you'll have higher dice pools in general.



You probably don't need many physical skills on such a character beyond Perception.  I'd also suggest against trying to be a Face as well unless you're an Elf and have a LOT of skill points to spare (such as after picking A in skills).  Especially if you want to be an Adept, as the Adept is all about specialization and will suffer if you split yourself between archetypes.

Metatype: E - Human
Attributes: B - 20 Attributes
Special: D - Adept or Aspected Magician
Skills: C - 28 Skills/2 Skill Groups
Resources: A - 450,000¥
In no particular order.

So sensor perception is intuition, not logic like i assumed. That's certainly good to know.

I do actually want a control rig, without one you can hardly call yourself a rigger, now can you?
But i was under the impression you use logic + gunnery for shooting with drones in AR, is that not the case?

So far it looks like we are going to be a very small party, probably around 3 people, and i have not the slightest idea what the others are bringing, so i wanted to cover as many things as i can comfortably fit. I was also a bit afraid of "overdoing it" with anything in particular. I could easily get Logic 8 + Gunner 6 + Specialization + jumped in bonuses for shooting but it seems overkill, especially because we are all more or less new to this.

Tarislar

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« Reply #5 on: <05-06-16/1946:50> »
I did take a look at all the other initiative increasing things but in the end gravitated towards inc Reflexes.
I already need to use 2 (1.6 with way) Essence for my Control Rig and another 2 (1.6) felt just too heavy on the essence side for my taste as i wanted to start with 2 magic.

Perhaps look at the following instead?

Boosted Reflexes   (.8 iirc)
Cerebral Booster-2  (.32)
Control Rig-1  (1.6)
Reaction Enhancers-2  (.48 )
Cybereyes-4  (.4)   (Maxed toys)
Lower Cyberarm  (.36)   (Maxed toys)


Spent Karma
Bonus Contacts  =  2k   (Mechanic-7pt, Smuggler-7pt)
Magic-1/2 = 15k
Burnouts Way = 15k
Gearhead = 11k
JoaT = 2k
Trust Fund = 5k
Negative Traits  =  +25k
« Last Edit: <05-06-16/1956:09> by Tarislar »

Whiskeyjack

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« Reply #6 on: <05-07-16/1500:26> »
If this is your first ever character he best advice I can give you is to keep it simple and not try to play complicated hybrids that only work with a high level of system knowledge and very specific builds.

Maybe just be a Sam rigger.
Playability > verisimilitude.