I find the idea of running a T-Bird Pilot as a character interesting. Sort of the faster more awesome version of the Rigger with a Van.
Of course it's incredibly expensive to buy a LAV-VTOL and at the moment there is only so much money available to a starting character through resource priority and karma to cash conversion. This build uses up every single bit of cash available to make a low quality rigger with an awesome ride.
Making the character an Ork fits my "Cascade Ork Tribal" concept, but it's slightly less effective than making him Human.
Note: This build uses a price of $500 per rank for a Autosofts, as per the "hot fix" Missions Errata.
But is he a real T-Bird Pilot? Can he travel at Mach 1 at low altitude, weaving through terrain features to avoid radar?
Well an Ares Venture has a base speed of 7, which is 640 meters per 3 second at "running speed." that's 477 miles an hour.
Now as odd as it seems, his Control Rig pushes that up to Speed 8, which is 954 Miles an hour, putting it over the 761 mph of Mach 1.
So what does that look like? Using page 199's guide, let's assume that flying low requires regular uses of Average Maneuvers: "Avoiding an obstacle, maneuvering through a narrow spot, tight turn (75-130 degrees)" Of course it's also more complicated by the low altitude which meets the Restricted Terrain description on page 201: " low altitude flying over heavy terrain." That means the base target number for T-Bird smuggling runs is 4 (2 Average Maneuver + 2 Restricted Terrain.) For Laughing Vulture, his control rig reduces this number by it's rating of 1, making it 3.
Dice Pool 13 = 5 Reaction + 6 Pilot Aircraft + 2 Specialization + 2 Hot Sim VR - 2 "Running"
Limit 8 = 5 Handling + 1 Control Rig + 2 VR Piloting
With a dice pool of 13, he can buy success at 4 dice to each hit, allowing him to automatically reach the target threshold of 3 with one die to spare.
Note that dodging an active sensor lock actually uses the Sneak skill (although the book calls it infiltration) capped by the vehicle skill. This build has an equally good Sneak, complete with specialization, so Laughing Vulture can dodge radar equally as well as flying.
His Gunnery skill is nearly as good as his piloting, assuming the skill really is Logic based.
For style points, he's well versed in airborne smuggling, air traffic patterns and regulations for Seattle, and a tad of Salish law, which fits the description of Cascade Orks/T-Bird relations from the 4th edition Sixth World Almanac. I've also given him just a hint of Survival Skills for similar reasons... especially because with his squatter life style, he probably does a little camping in the cascades beyond living in his jet.
[spoiler]
Laughing Vulture
T-Bird Pilot, Cascade Ork Rigger
Priorities:
A - Cash
B - Skills
C - Race (Ork)
D - Attributes
E - Magic/Resonance (Mundane)
Attributes
Body 4
Agility 1
Reaction 5
Strength 3
Willpower 4
Logic 4
Intuition 4
Charisma 2
Edge 2
Essence 4.5
Limits
Physical: 5
Mental: 6
Social: 5
Initiative
Physical Initiative 9 +1
Cold VR 8 +3 (Not Counting Toolbox Program)
Hot VR 8 +4 (Not Counting Toolbox Program)
Qualities:
SINner (Salish-Sidhe national, Cascade Ork tribe): +5
Gearhead: -11
Allergy (Seafood, Moderate): +15
Addiction (Mild, Cram): +4
Contacts:
Fixer: 3c / 1L
Aircraft Mechanic (Cascade Tribal): 2c / 3L
Knowledge Skills:
Professional (Aircraft Control, Specialization: Seattle) 5
Street (Smuggling Routes, Specialization: Air routes) 5
Language (Or'zet) 2
Interest (Urban Brawl) 1
Academic (Salish Law) 1
Skill Groups
Engineering 3
Acting 1
Influence 1
Active Skills
Pilot: Aircraft (Specialization: VTOL) 6
Pilot: Groundcraft 2
Pilot: Anthroform 5
Gunnery 6
Automatics 1
Perception 1
Navigation 1
Electronic Warfare (Specialization: Sensor Operations) 3
Hardware (Specialization: Pilot Systems) 1
Gymnastics 3
Survival 1
Sneaking (Specialization: Sky) 6
Free Fall 1
Lifestyle:
Squatter (lives in the vehicle, camping in the cascades)
Augmentations:
Control Rig 1 (used)
Smartlink (used)
Vehicles:
Cascade Skraacha (Ares Venture Similar Model) VTOL Aircraft
+Rigger Interface
+Standard Weapons Mount (Forward Facing): Ares Alpha Assault Rifle, RC 18, 50 regular ammo, 2 high explosive grenades
+Standard Weapons Mount with Manual Control (Door Gun): Ares Alpha Assault Rifle, RC 18, 100 regular ammo, 1 thermal smoke grenade
+Thermographic, Flarecomp, Imagelink
Drones
Ares Duelist medium humanoid drone
+Standard Weapons Mount: Ares Alpha Assault Rifle (+Suppressor), RC 6, 50 regular ammo
Weapons & Armor:
Ares Crusader II Machine Pistol
+40 Ammo
Armor Jacket
Helmet (Fighter Pilot Style) with Image Link
Hardware/Software:
Easy Motors DroneMaster (Rating 3 RCC), Autosoft (Ares Alpha Targeting) 3
Cyberprogram Software (Toolbox, Signal Scrub, Encryption, Biofeedback Filter, Sneak, Wrapper)
Metalink Commlink (Rating 1)
Gear:
Survival Kit
Drugs
Cram (4 doses)[/spoiler]
