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Decker summoner

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Chalkarts

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« on: <02-05-20/1546:44> »
I've made a character and wanted to ask some Qs to fill in some holes in my knowledge.

If a decker were to get cyberware the bare minimum needed would be a datajack, correct?

Also,
The Wiki has a mentor spirit of "Spider" that gives +2 to computer skills but I don't know the official source for that.
Does anyone know where Spider Totem is from?
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Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #1 on: <02-05-20/1558:16> »
In 6we, you'd want a Cyberjack and they come with a fairly significant essence hit.

In 5e, you don't even need a datajack, although it's still recommended due to the very nice wireless bonus and the low essence cost. Still, if you're ok with forfeiting the noise reduction you could save the essence/magic entirely and use a set of trodes instead of the cyberware.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

Horsemen

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« Reply #2 on: <02-05-20/1755:24> »
The official source for that version (prime) of Spider comes from Howling Shadows.
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Hobbes

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« Reply #3 on: <02-05-20/1809:43> »
5e or 6e you can simply use 'trodes.  You can make a 6 Essence/Magic Decker if you want.

5e you lose the Noise reduction from the Data Jack.  6e if you skip the Cyberjack your Firewall is dangerously low unless you get an RCC as well.

https://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=30354.0

Was my 6e version of a Mage / Decker combo.  Summon friends, toss out a dozen medium sized buffs on the team, do Matrix stuff, or Face stuff.

Chalkarts

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« Reply #4 on: <02-05-20/2025:37> »
The concept is for 5e.
Elf, Aspected Summoner, Gives up 1 point of essence for some cyber and bio to make himself a better decker.  Spider totem.
He doesn't even have that high of a magic rating, the spirits are mostly just to watch over him when he goes full VR.

He's a prime decker who just happens to be able to perceive and call up some spirits for situational purposes.  I was thinking of investing in an ally spirit for him, maybe if there were one that could boost his logic.
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Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #5 on: <02-05-20/2121:28> »
Well, if what you want are bodyguards to watch over you in VR.. that's what the rest of the team is for :D  Or, if noone is able/willing to watch over you, you can always use drones. As a bonus, you can interact with those drones (and see what they see...) while you're in VR.  That's a hell of a lot more synergistic/efficient than using spirits as bodyguards.

But, if you're set on the idea of mixing magic with decking, and damn the consequences...

Decking imposes a serious demand on priority pick via resources.  If you're going to be a metahuman magician decker... you have no dump picks on priority.  two things are going to have to suck, and resources can't be one of them.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

FST_Gemstar

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« Reply #6 on: <02-06-20/1945:57> »
Here is an template to work from, my dwarf channeling vr decker, Waterloo.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6kA-rvHAq-rR3UyLUJfY29tMFU/view

Channels an F6 guardian spirit to turn his body into a not helpless puppet while vr decking. Or at least summon a spirit guard.
« Last Edit: <02-07-20/2345:58> by FST_Gemstar »

Chalkarts

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« Reply #7 on: <02-13-20/2231:36> »
Channels an F6 guardian spirit to turn his body into a not helpless puppet while vr decking. Or at least summon a spirit guard.

My guy is going to summon a F1 every day at dawn, he'll get plenty of services, then have the spirit guard him like a magical drone that can warn against both magical and mundane threats. and hang around all day, until the many services are used up.

They're less for forceful attack than they are for recon and early warning.
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Michael Chandra

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« Reply #8 on: <02-14-20/0228:28> »
That's assuming your GM will let the services last that long and an F1 kinda sucks when it comes to detecting hidden things.
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Chalkarts

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« Reply #9 on: <02-14-20/0820:48> »
That's assuming your GM will let the services last that long and an F1 kinda sucks when it comes to detecting hidden things.

I thought you had the spirit until the next sunrise/sunset?

I could go up to F2 and probably still be ok on services.  They are more like sidekick animals than full blown spirits.  It's like having a second me running around, if the DM lets me choose what my spirit looks like, my spirit of man will look like me, lol. 
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Michael Chandra

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« Reply #10 on: <02-14-20/0830:34> »
I thought you had the spirit until the next sunrise/sunset?
The spirit, yes. But that doesn't mean its services last that long. A GM can easily go 'safeguarding you isn't a specific service type, and so it won't do that indefinitely'.
« Last Edit: <02-14-20/0907:41> by Michael Chandra »
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« Reply #11 on: <02-14-20/0848:19> »
One character in my home game is a magician-decker.  As mentioned already that really does stress your priorities.  Some good use of qualities and the like certainly helps:
- as you have chosen, Spider mentor for +2 on computer skill
- Possession tradition, and as soon as possible took channeling, to make up for terrible physical stats at character creation (was basically all 2s)
- Prototype transhuman, so didn't have to spend any essence on on the logic boosting bioware.  Added in the memory boosters and some other minor tricks, making logic based knowledge skills somewhat ludicrous (10+skill level).
- Perfect Time to give 2 free actions per pass, allow deck to get re-configured before and after matrix actions, so it can be in defense mode most of the time and swap to sleaze mode only for the moment of the hack action
- Overclocker, for +1 on a matrix attribute, but as it is swappable when deck is re-configured this plays well with Perfect Time
- The above two made the "Little Hornet" deck viable.  It is something like 5/4/1/1, but with the above and programs can generally have a 7 in the key matrix attribute at any given time.
- Jack of All Trades quality bought as soon as play started, to allow broadening out the skill suite more cheaply.

FST_Gemstar

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« Reply #12 on: <02-14-20/1931:03> »
You can get by with magic 1 then.

You wanted to be an elf?

C elf
E Atts
D conjurer
A/B Skills/resources depending on how much you want to invest in ware/deck.

Narco and some psyche, cerebral boosters, and a datajack all fit just fine under 1 essence.

However... if you are just looking for tiny alarms/messengers, i might suggest being a ritual sorcerer and use watchers and homonculi. Their force limit isnt set by magic rating (but by lodge rating). They last longer and dont eat up services. And it is easy to get ritual spellcasting dice high even with magic 1. (Ex. Ritual casting 6, minion spec, any ritual focus 4 , gets you 13 dice).  Also, most team magicians dont take ritual casting, so you can have a useful complementary skillset. This build also gives you access to counterspelling and actual spellcasting for basic low hits spells (levitate, detox, etc ) if desired


« Last Edit: <02-18-20/1519:23> by FST_Gemstar »