[Xenon]

A datajack would so totally let a Technomancer connect.

No.

A TM using her Living Persona will only be considered directly connected if she use Skin Link Echo or -depending on your reading- is inside the host the device is slaved to. This have been asked and answered.


She can also use a device based persona and connect the target device directly with her cyberdeck. No need for DNI (data jack, trodes etc) to do this as long as she don't do it from cold- or hot-sim VR.

[ScytheKnight]

Could a TM use a Data tap for this purpose?

No.

A TM can use a data tap to wireless access a device that is wireless off (because the owner turned wireless off, the device is wired or because the device is a throwback), but it will not count as a direct connection for the purpose of ignoring master ratings.

Having said that, a device that is wireless off will by definition not be slaved to a host (ever). A host is a matrix only entity. Only wireless enabled devices can be slaved to a host.

I call bullshit here as a Data Tap explicitly states that it creates a direct connection, that's what it's there for!

Data Tap: You use this hacking tool by attaching it to
a data cable. Once it’s clamped onto the cable, you can
use it via universal data connector. Any device directly
connected to the data tap also has a direct connection
with the devices on either end of the cable (see Direct
Connections, p. 232) and vice versa. The tap can be removed
without damaging the cable.

Technomancer places Data Tap on a cable. Technomancer touches Data Tap with Skinlink echo. Technomancer has direct connection to devices at either end of the cable.

[I_AM_ZHOUL!!!]

A common bit of confusion to people is what exactly a living persona is. People seem to think "You hax the matrix wif UR brainz." However what it really is, is you are connecting to the Matrix with your Resonance. Its that nebulous "I don't want to say magic...but magic" thing that makes Technomancers...well..Technomancers. Much like even with implanted simsense rigs, magicians can't allow people to experience what its like to astrally project your resonant soul is viewing the Matrix like a mage using Astral Perception, or you are projecting your resonant soul into the Matrix like a mage would astrally project. You can use Trodes and a Datajack, but that only lets your -brain- connect with the Matrix and your brain is not the goopy housing for your Resonance.

Uh.. Resonant Soul? You're not a magical being like a mage. A datajack would so totally let a Technomancer connect. Its not like they keep all their mental stats in their stomache or left foot. Its all in the brain.

Sometimes get so lost in the Fluff they lose track of what the Crunch is saying. Of course a TM who has a Datajack can bypass the Hosts Rating when hacking a Device... that's the whole point of the Skin link Echo. Honestly TMs should get the Skinlink as a standard ability in Chargen & not have it be an Echo but that's a separate discussion.

[Xenon]

I think I'd rather buy a deck...

Then you must use your device based persona.

If you want to use your living persona them you first have to reboot your cyberdeck, losing your marks on the device and the host.


A TM using her Living Persona and got access to cleaner and/or static can gain a mark on a host many many hours before a run start (Trying Again or resting between attempts). Once a decker get his mark on the host he got maybe 45 minutes before he need to reboot or risk convergence.....

Different play styles.

[Xenon]

Of course a TM who has a Datajack can bypass the Hosts Rating when hacking a Device...

No.

that's the whole point of the Skin link Echo.

You are confusing me.

The point of skinlink is to establish a direct connection (because a TM cannot do that with a physical cable if she want to still use her living persona).

[Xenon]

Could a TM use a Data tap for this purpose?

No.

A TM can use a data tap to wireless access a device that is wireless off (because the owner turned wireless off, the device is wired or because the device is a throwback), but it will not count as a direct connection for the purpose of ignoring master ratings.

Having said that, a device that is wireless off will by definition not be slaved to a host (ever). A host is a matrix only entity. Only wireless enabled devices can be slaved to a host.

I call bullshit here as a Data Tap explicitly states that it creates a direct connection, that's what it's there for!

Data Tap: You use this hacking tool by attaching it to
a data cable. Once it’s clamped onto the cable, you can
use it via universal data connector. Any device directly
connected to the data tap also has a direct connection
with the devices on either end of the cable (see Direct
Connections, p. 232) and vice versa. The tap can be removed
without damaging the cable.

Technomancer places Data Tap on a cable. Technomancer touches Data Tap with Skinlink echo. Technomancer has direct connection to devices at either end of the cable.

He was asking if a TM could use a data tap to get direct connection (without having skinlink).

That a TM can get a direct connection if she have a skinlink is not something anyone is contesting.

If he asked if aTM with skinlink can get a direct connection by touching a device (such as a data tap that either is connected directly into the universal access port of a device or attached to a wire between the universal access port of two devices or by directly touching a device) then the answer is; Yes.

[UnLimiTeD]

Pool?

The Pool Group I'm occasionally playing in (by the time I got into SR, 5 was just out and barely any fixed groups around) only allows submersions and initiations for every 75/100 career karma, so a second echo would require me to play some 20 runs.
I've never even gotten 5 with a single char. They tend to die, or prove useless.

[Triskavanski]

A datajack would so totally let a Technomancer connect.

No.

A TM using her Living Persona will only be considered directly connected if she use Skin Link Echo or -depending on your reading- is inside the host the device is slaved to. This have been asked and answered.


She can also use a device based persona and connect the target device directly with her cyberdeck. No need for DNI (data jack, trodes etc) to do this as long as she don't do it from cold- or hot-sim VR.

What?

Where has this been asked and answered?

[Marcus]

A datajack would so totally let a Technomancer connect.

No.

A TM using her Living Persona will only be considered directly connected if she use Skin Link Echo or -depending on your reading- is inside the host the device is slaved to. This have been asked and answered.


She can also use a device based persona and connect the target device directly with her cyberdeck. No need for DNI (data jack, trodes etc) to do this as long as she don't do it from cold- or hot-sim VR.

What?

Where has this been asked and answered?

I would also really like to know where that was asked and answered. It's a question that been discussed repeatedly with no useful conclusion.

[Xenon]

That there, at the time of the answer, wasn't a way for TMs to directly connect to a device the same way a decker could by using a wire between his deck and the slaved device?

I'm on a mobile device right now but i can try to search for it....

(With the release of DT TMs do have a way though)

[Xenon]

Here it is (one of them):

Question: is there an alternative to cable for TMs? It seems there is no way for them to connect to a device directly.

Since technomancers can't use cable, they're stuck with satellite TV. Just kidding.

There's no such ability in the core rules. There's a non-zero chance that something like the echo in SR4's Unwired that allows techomancers to directly connect by touching a device might make an appearance in a future source book.

And two years later it turned out he was correct.
There is now a skinlink echo in DT.

[Triskavanski]

Well a technomancer cant use any ware.

Or rather, they can. But players tend to say cant becayse it goes against the resonance value. No where in that quote does anyone say the datajack will not work at all for a technomancer.

[Xenon]

TMs didn't have a way to get a direct connection similar to deckers. Now they do.

No where in that quote does anyone say the datajack will not work at all for a technomancer.

Of course datajack will work for Technomancers if they want to have a private conversation with someone within one meter that also have a datajack, provide 1 point of noise reduction to their devices or to give them DNI so they can enter VR if they for some reason base their persona on a device rather than using their Living Persona.

Please provide me with a quote or page reference to any SR5 book where it say (or even hint) that Technomancers can use datajack (or trodes) to establish a direct connection to a device with their Living Persona to avoid host ratings (they can't).

[Triskavanski]

Wonderful little falacy there. But its right there on page 232, data jacks have the ability to create a direct connection.

[UnLimiTeD]

While I read it sort of like that until now, the question would then be what the hell the skinlink echo would be for if it grants you the equivalent of a trodenet and a data tap.