[Kincaid]

Do you feel TMs are broken because of a lack of rules or because current rules are unclear?

[Mirikon]

Actually, I'm talking more along the lines of complete rewrite of the Technomancer 'class'.

I think TMs got thrown in a cell with Bubba the Love Troll for this edition. They used to be the 'swiss army knives of the Matrix'. Sure, a Hacker had more more reliable abilities, and only risked pulping their brain if they went against Black IC, while TMs took damage from even a regular attack program straight to their brain. They had the strategic edge. In return, TMs had a greater degree of versatility and the ability to become more powerful than hackers for brief periods of time, though it was risky to do such things often. They had a tactical edge. In 5th, not only are Deckers retain all the advantages they had over TMs to begin with, but they also got much more versatile, with being able to change up their attributes and load programs without Submerging. And to add insult to injury, TMs were even further gimped by taking away their ability to rig without first submerging. There was a whole TM stream devoted to Rigging and using drones, after all.

Basically, 5th edition kicked TMs in the balls, repeatedly.

[Kincaid]

Ah, well I can't predict a complete rewrite of techomancers, but I think I can predict some things in DT that will make deckers jealous.

[AndrewD2]

Anything new for Technomancers will excite me. It's a concept I've loved since well before I ever played Shadowrun and now that I am playing want it to be the ideal experience.

[Csjarrat]

Yeah, technomancers really need something good out of this book. They're way behind the curve at chargen under core rules due to a need for great mental stats, loads of skills and the RES choice all competing for priority slots . Sum to ten gives them more flexibility but still feel I can make a more useful character with a decker because the fade codes are punishingly high for fairly mediocre outcomes and the investment into being a good tm tends to bone you in the meat world

[Sir_Prometheus]

I think technomancers are great.  For one thing, they don't have to carry around a piece of electronics that costs as much as a house that can be easily broken or stolen.  But they really could use a lot of ....... inconsistencies and holes patched.

[LordGrizzle]

I think technomancers are great.  For one thing, they don't have to carry around a piece of electronics that costs as much as a house that can be easily broken or stolen.  But they really could use a lot of ....... inconsistencies and holes patched.

Except they do if they want to provide thngs like, I don't know, slaving their team (Because they can't do that on their own, and slaving is quite important in 5E), and also to have a versatile program choice they also need a deck, because you can't realistically submerge often enough just to get all nice programs. And there'll be more programs in Data Trails as well. So even as a Technomancer you need a bloody deck and a good commlink if you want to really be great

[Top Dog]

I think technomancers are great.  For one thing, they don't have to carry around a piece of electronics that costs as much as a house that can be easily broken or stolen.  But they really could use a lot of ....... inconsistencies and holes patched.

Except they do if they want to provide thngs like, I don't know, slaving their team (Because they can't do that on their own, and slaving is quite important in 5E), and also to have a versatile program choice they also need a deck, because you can't realistically submerge often enough just to get all nice programs. And there'll be more programs in Data Trails as well. So even as a Technomancer you need a bloody deck and a good commlink if you want to really be great

Deckers aren't that great at slaving their team either. You need ownership to slave for one. Second, decks have a relatively low device rating, so they can't actually slave all the gear the party has. Third, commlinks have competitive Firewall ratings already - decks may have slightly better ones, but only if you have both a high-end deck and prioritized Firewall.

There are some uses to slaving to the decker's PAN - you get a Sleaze rating for defense, for one (for running silent), and he can give you a slightly higher Firewall if he devotes the resources to that. But that would then only apply to some of your gear, so you'd have to keep the rest offline (otherwise, running silent won't really matter) - and then swap it back and forth all the time so you can slave it to your commlink when the decker isn't around or when you want to use all your gear.

Technomancers do have a problem with slaving - but that's slaving their own gear. Which they can still do, to a commlink, but then their items won't get their Sleaze rating (so it's harder for Technomancers to run silently), and they have to spend money on an otherwise useless commlink just for the Firewall.

[DeathStrobe]

TMs need a commlink anyway, not just for slaving but also to save data. I guess they could use an army of courier sprites to save data, but that sounds a bit impractical for all data.

[AndrewD2]

We've just been kinda going with the fiction where a TM can transfer stuff just by touching it. (Data chips and such)

[jackiepaper]

As one of the new freelancers that worked on Data Trails (Dylan Stangel or "The Smiling Bandit" in Shadowrun Chronicles) i can say that there will definitely be some more stuff for Technomancers in there and there are definitely rules for creating and playing AIs, (written by yours truly) but the big supplement for TMs is currently in the works. I can't really say much more than that it has been approved and Amy Veeres and I will be doing our best to give TMs their day in the sun.

Both of us agree that TMs have been shorted in 5E, though i can honestly say that it's never been something we did to reduce their place in SR. We had lots of new ideas for Matrix 3.0 that we wanted to fully flesh out in Data Trails and we felt that it would be better to give TMs their own supplement rather than try to shoehorn everything into DT.

The role of TMs has changed in the 6th world and we're looking to address that in setting as well as in the mechanics.

[Csjarrat]

ok, thats interesting, thanks for the update mate. Will it take long to get off the writing board and onto the bookshelves?

[AndrewD2]

As one of the new freelancers that worked on Data Trails (Dylan Stangel or "The Smiling Bandit" in Shadowrun Chronicles) i can say that there will definitely be some more stuff for Technomancers in there and there are definitely rules for creating and playing AIs, (written by yours truly) but the big supplement for TMs is currently in the works. I can't really say much more than that it has been approved and Amy Veeres and I will be doing our best to give TMs their day in the sun.

Both of us agree that TMs have been shorted in 5E, though i can honestly say that it's never been something we did to reduce their place in SR. We had lots of new ideas for Matrix 3.0 that we wanted to fully flesh out in Data Trails and we felt that it would be better to give TMs their own supplement rather than try to shoehorn everything into DT.

The role of TMs has changed in the 6th world and we're looking to address that in setting as well as in the mechanics.

You've got til next Sunday ...

[AJCarrington]

ok, thats interesting, thanks for the update mate. Will it take long to get off the writing board and onto the bookshelves?

Digital version should be out by end of May and hoping to have hard copy at Origins (though I suspect it might night until July that you see it on store shelves).

[Darzil]

Will be interesting to see what happens for Technomancers. They could certainly use some help (or fade values reduced - possibly by stuff added in the book).

Though it's my decker that's really interested !