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[5e] Troll Decker, is it possible?

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Thepolkadotnat

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« on: <08-28-20/0438:56> »
Hi!

We are hopefully going to be playing our first Shadowrun game soon, with our GM leaning towards 5e.

I have a dream of making a Troll Decker, possibly fomori so I can be Irish haha. Purely because being an actual internet troll is a concept I enjoy 😂 is it possible though? What would you recommend build wise? I'm finding it difficult to wrap my head around character generation, having only played D&D before which seems a lot more straightforward. But from what I understand deckers rely on purchasing good kit but trolls come with a 100% price increase, so would it be impossible to go pure decker?

Thanks in advance!

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #1 on: <08-28-20/0454:28> »
Trolls face a +100% Lifestyle costs, which excludes gear and such. It basically means that if you want a Low Lifestyle, you pay 4k/month instead of 2k. Note it's a +100%, not a x2, so if you're using the custom lifestyle rules a +50% would combine to +150%, not x2x1.5=x3.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

Shinobi Killfist

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« Reply #2 on: <08-28-20/2152:50> »
What char gen system are you using?  Priority?

Assuming priority, your options are kind of limited. Not that its hard or weak but the reality of A,B,C,D,E.  Troll is either A or B, lets say B because edge you decide sucks(it doens;t but 450l vs 275k for a gear based build is hard to pass on, mainly because decks are moronically expensive. Now as a decker you need gear and lots of it, you might be able to squeak by with C but I kind of doubt it, maybe a ganger level decker. So you kind of need to put A into resources. A and B are settled, E is magic. So C and D attributes or skills, I'd go C skills, D attributes. 14 or 16 isn't a huge difference in attributes, you pretty much just don't put any points into body or strength and they start off good. So 14 points spread around 6 other stats, seems pretty bad.  But you got 450k to get your deck/programs and cyber/bio up any weak points so get your logic maxed out and flesh out from there. There are 2 skill groups that focus on decking, max out as many of those skills as you can. You are good to go.

FST_Gemstar

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« Reply #3 on: <08-29-20/0939:51> »
It's very doable. Fomorian is actually a little more annoying than regular troll though given their very low mental attribute maximums.

Troll deckers can dump attributes because their mental maxes are so low and they already have bonuses to physicals that they don't need further investment in.

So:

A Troll
D Atts
E Mundane
B Skills
C Resources

will get you a low 'ware R2 deck decker that is perfectly functional. A datajack and Narco and some Psyche/Cram goes along way, as does the Perfect Time/Overclocker combo. High edge will help out with decking too. With Skills B, you can but skillgroup points into Electronics, max hacking, decent Ewar, and have points in all around shadowrunning skillsets (a weapon, sneaking, some social, perception, etc.).

An alt model, especially for a Fomarian (which has even lower mental maxes), is to go E Atts and D adept, and shove some of that edge into adept powers and magic qualities. Spider Mentor and some improved ability hacking/computer go a long way when your mental atts are low.


Some folks recommend skills C, but I find that it doesn't really lead to builds that make troll deckers better deckers, and then they miss out on some other necessary running abilities.

 
Also, best not to compare character generation to D&D. It is pretty different.

UPDATE:

Couldn't help myself, prob too detailed for a new player build, but I did mock up a fomorian adept decker.

All I did was buy ware, a deck, and assigned active skills and qualities.
Karma Remaining = 5 (-12 fomorion, -10 nuyen, - 23 positive qualities, + 25 negative qualities)
Nuyen: 40k remaining for more gear/'ware.

Psyche and Cram (combined with Narco) will give bonuses to Intuition, Logic, Reaction, and physical initiative.

== Personal Data ==
Street Name:
Name: Unnamed Character
Movement:4/8 (1m/hit)
Swim:3.5 (1m/hit)
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 3
Public Awareness: 0
Troll(Fomorian)
Composure: 6
Judge Intentions: 7
Lift/Carry: 9 (75 kg/50 kg)
Memory: 6
Nuyen:40,005¥

== Priorities ==
Metatype: A,4
Attributes: E,0
Special: D,1
Skills: B,3
Resources: C,2

== Attributes ==
Current Form:
BOD: 4
AGI: 2
REA: 3
STR: 5
CHA: 3
INT: 4
LOG: 3
WIL: 3
EDG: 3
MAG: 4

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                                5.48
Initiative:                             7 +1d6
Rigger Initiative:                      7 +1d6
Astral Initiative:                      8 +3d6
Matrix AR:                              7 +1d6
Matrix Cold:                            5 +3d6
Matrix Hot:                             5 +4d6
Physical Damage Track:                  10
Stun Damage Track:                      10

== Limits ==
Physical:                               6
Mental:                                 5
Social:                                 5
   Impassive [-1] (Does not include Intimidation.)
Astral:                                 5

== Active Skills ==
Automatics (Submachine Guns)            Base:4          Pool:6(8)
Computer                                Base:5          Pool:13
Con (Fast Talk)                         Base:1          Pool:4(6)
Electronic Warfare                      Base:6          Pool:9
Etiquette (Corporate)                   Base:1          Pool:4(6)
Gymnastics (Climbing)                   Base:1          Pool:3(5)
Hacking (Devices)                       Base:6          Pool:12(14)
Hardware                                Base:5          Pool:8
Perception (Visual)                     Base:4          Pool:8(10)
Sneaking (Urban)                        Base:6          Pool:8(10)
Software                                Base:5          Pool:8

== Knowledge Skills ==

== Qualities ==
Addiction (Mild) (Psyche)
Addiction (Mild) (Cram)
Adept
Arcane Arrester
Drug Tolerant
Impassive
Jack of All Trades Master of None
Mentor Spirit (Spider)
Overclocker
Perfect Time
Thermographic Vision
Weak Immune System

== Powers ==
Combat SenseRating: 1
Hang TimeRating: 2
Heightened Concentration
Improved Ability (skill) (Computer)Rating: 3
Improved Ability (skill) (Hacking)Rating: 3

== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Datajack Plus Rating 3 (used)
Narco
Nephritic screen Rating 2 (used)

== Weapons ==
Unarmed Attack
   Pool: 1   Accuracy: 6   DV: 5S   AP: -   RC: 3

== Commlink ==
Little Hornet(ATT: 5,SLZ: 4,DP: 1,FWL: 1)
   + Sim Module, Hot
   + Universal Connector Cord (Meter)
   + Commlink Functionality[Camera, Micro, Chip Player, Credstick Reader, Earbuds 1, GPS Guidance System, Micro Trid-Projector, Music Player, RFID Tag Scanner, Shock- and Water-Resistant Case, Touchscreen Display]

« Last Edit: <08-29-20/1451:30> by FST_Gemstar »

Shinobi Killfist

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« Reply #4 on: <08-29-20/1352:10> »
Its doable with C resources but its pretty much the lowest usable deck. I was bumping into the chariots limits more often than I thought when I went that route with a forger ganger decker build. And you wont have much ware. It might be worth it for B skills, it sort of depends on how advancement works in your game. If you kill a enemy decker can you steal his deck and use it or is that suicide, how much cash do you earn, how much karma. You wont have much ware, but hey 6 edge is pretty damn powerful. If there are less than 6 rolls you make a session, 6 edge is crazy powerful. If you make rolls left and right, or edge regeneration is slowed a bit due to the narrative its not as amazing.

DigitalZombie

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« Reply #5 on: <09-14-20/1141:12> »
Dinendae made a troll decker here
(And an adept too, as an added bonus)


https://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=15932.0



Beta

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« Reply #6 on: <09-14-20/1520:11> »
It is a lot more possible if you are using Data Trails, allowing the Little Hornet deck, (which has an array of 5/4/1/1).  With the combo of Perfect Time and Overclocker you can always have a 6 in the key attribute for the moment, which is generally good enough for a basic decker.  The Little Hornet costs less than 90knY.  Which in turn means you can live with resources C (not as much ware as you might like, but it will do, especially with In Debt).




Nightshadow70

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« Reply #7 on: <09-15-20/1544:54> »
I agree with Beta on this one