[ScooterinAB]

I'm still pawing through the rulebook, but I thought I'd throw an observation up. Given the high cost of cyberdecks, I'm curious to see if a Street Level hacker is possible. I realize that such a hacker would be pretty ghetto, but having a rating 1 deck and nothing else seems a little too ghetto.

So. I challenge you folks to pitch me a Street Level hacker who isn't completely terrible. A full character isn't needed, so feel free to share the key details (where the priorities lie, how some of the resources will be spent).

[Crunch]

I think honestly that if I were to make a decker for a street level game I'd go for the kid with the skills but not the gear. The eager kid trying to make the big score to buy his deck. Probably Skills A, Stats B, Race C, Gear D and Magic E. Build him heavy on computer and electronics skills, but with enough utility stuff (locksmithing, sneaking etc) to be useful while he tries to upgrade from a cruddy comlink to a full fledged deck.

That's sort of the beauty of street level games though, the characters have so much growing to do.

For a character more functional out of the box converting karma to nuyen would let you spend 60,000 at priority B. That's enough for an Erika MCD 1 and 10,000 yen of gear.

[ZeConster]

Alternatively, if you want to start with an actual deck, you can go Resources A, Skills B, Attributes C, Metatype D (Human(3)), Magic E.
Attributes are probably something like 2/2/2/2/5/5/4/2 (judging from what the Decker archetype finds important), with 2+3 = 5 Edge. That only leaves Skills and Resources.
As for Resources: with a maximum of 5 Karma converted into nuyen, that gives you 85k max, which means you can take a Microdeck Summit and have between 17k and 27k left for everything else. That should give you a decent enough start.

[firebug]

I think honestly that if I were to make a decker for a street level game I'd go for the kid with the skills but not the gear. The eager kid trying to make the big score to buy his deck. Probably Skills A, Stats B, Race C, Gear D and Magic E. Build him heavy on computer and electronics skills, but with enough utility stuff (locksmithing, sneaking etc) to be useful while he tries to upgrade from a cruddy comlink to a full fledged deck.

That's sort of the beauty of street level games though, the characters have so much growing to do.

For a character more functional out of the box converting karma to nuyen would let you spend 60,000 at priority B. That's enough for an Erika MCD 1 and 10,000 yen of gear.

I'm not sure if it's what you intended, but you realize you cannot hack with a commlink at all, right?  It lacks and Attack and Sleaze rating.  Personally I'd wonder how a character who lacks the gear to even attempt hacking has any skill in it, but I wouldn't tell a player they couldn't do it.

[ScooterinAB]

I think honestly that if I were to make a decker for a street level game I'd go for the kid with the skills but not the gear.

Amusingly, that was more or less the idea I had (only with gear). A street level decker would likely be a script kiddy trying to go pro. And I agree with your thoughts on character growth. A younger decker is going to have more room to grow and more ability to adapt than and older, set-in-his-ways decker.

I'm not sure if it's what you intended, but you realize you cannot hack with a commlink at all, right?  It lacks and Attack and Sleaze rating.

I don't think it's so much an issue that you can't hack, since you still have a die pool. However, the lack of a Matrix Att means that your limit is 0 hits, so hacking is pretty moot.

Personally I'd wonder how a character who lacks the gear to even attempt hacking has any skill in it, but I wouldn't tell a player they couldn't do it.

This does raise an interesting question. There are other home and server units (nexi) available. It's possible, though a stretch, that such a decker could have some hacking experience from them. Or from an older commlink. But like I said, it's a stretch.

[Crunch]

I'm not sure if it's what you intended, but you realize you cannot hack with a commlink at all, right?  It lacks and Attack and Sleaze rating.  Personally I'd wonder how a character who lacks the gear to even attempt hacking has any skill in it, but I wouldn't tell a player they couldn't do it.

Yep. And the kid would have the skill the same way that a lot of real life people have skills they don't own the tools for. He learned on someone else's machine, through hands off virtual training tools or in some sort of formal (if illegitimate) training scheme. ]

I would assume that in a world with BTLs and skillsofts online training options are pretty extensive.

[Csjarrat]

just looking at the cheapest rig you can get: erika MCD 1,
has a program slot, so stick virtual machine in there, you now have 2 slots.
Put exploit and stealth in those for +3 to sleaze. run firewall 4 and sleaze at 3(6) and with good skills you should be able to achieve stuff for a street level campaign (opening doors, turning off camera feed and stuff)

[Ricochet]

just looking at the cheapest rig you can get: erika MCD 1,
has a program slot, so stick virtual machine in there, you now have 2 slots.
Put exploit and stealth in those for +3 to sleaze. run firewall 4 and sleaze at 3(6) and with good skills you should be able to achieve stuff for a street level campaign (opening doors, turning off camera feed and stuff)

That is exactly the deck build I used designing my first decker on a budget for SR5, before I simply dropped my deck altogether and blew it up in my backstory.

[Dracain]

I think honestly that if I were to make a decker for a street level game I'd go for the kid with the skills but not the gear. The eager kid trying to make the big score to buy his deck. Probably Skills A, Stats B, Race C, Gear D and Magic E. Build him heavy on computer and electronics skills, but with enough utility stuff (locksmithing, sneaking etc) to be useful while he tries to upgrade from a cruddy comlink to a full fledged deck.

That's sort of the beauty of street level games though, the characters have so much growing to do.

For a character more functional out of the box converting karma to nuyen would let you spend 60,000 at priority B. That's enough for an Erika MCD 1 and 10,000 yen of gear.

In Street level games you have No A priority and 2 E priority. 

[ZeConster]

I think honestly that if I were to make a decker for a street level game I'd go for the kid with the skills but not the gear. The eager kid trying to make the big score to buy his deck. Probably Skills A, Stats B, Race C, Gear D and Magic E. Build him heavy on computer and electronics skills, but with enough utility stuff (locksmithing, sneaking etc) to be useful while he tries to upgrade from a cruddy comlink to a full fledged deck.

That's sort of the beauty of street level games though, the characters have so much growing to do.

For a character more functional out of the box converting karma to nuyen would let you spend 60,000 at priority B. That's enough for an Erika MCD 1 and 10,000 yen of gear.

In Street level games you have No A priority and 2 E priority.

Uh... where'd you get that info from? Page 65 lists different nuyen amounts for the A, B, C, D and E priorities if playing at Street-Level, which implies that all 5 priority levels are available.

[Crunch]

In Street level games you have No A priority and 2 E priority.

Nope. The priority levels are simply different values. See the sidebar in the chargen chapter.