OtherSpace: Millennium Hacker Sheet

=Introduction= Hackers are the computer savvy social deviants of the game. These types can come from many different backgrounds, but they all have a few things in common including their love of technology and information as well as that rebelious streak which makes them the trouble makers of the Infomatrix. Although anybody with an Infomatrix Access Neural Link (aka Data Jack) can enter the Infomatrix, there are some areas that are better secured than other, areas where one must either have clearance or be able to hack through the system.

=Sheet List=

Chargen Sheet
-< Cindy, a Female Human Hacker > Total SP: 100 Current SP: 0 Energy: 1220 Minutes: 1745 HP: 100%/100% Attribute Points: 30 Respecs: 0 RP Points: 5624 Craft Level: 7 ---< Attributes >-< Value: -14000 >--- Intelligence: Good                     Perception:   Fair Constitution: Fair                     Dexterity:    Mediocre Willpower:   Great                     Charisma:     Good Strength:    Mediocre                  Psi:          Non-existent (Scale: -3) ---< Skills >--< Value: 68000 >--- Fair Computer Operation               Fair Investigation Fair Firewall Penetration           Superb Terran Standard Fair Ghosting ---< Gifts, Faults, and Quirks >---< Value: 40000 >--- Computer Specialist --< Skill System 3.00 >---

This sheet is chosen by +class/choose hacker in the newbie trainer room. You may ask yourself, why exactly these skills? Computer Operations is self explanitory for the most part, but also none of the other computer skills can be raise above what the computer operations skill is. By taking the sheet Cindy also gets Firewall Penetration which is the essential skill for actually hacking into places, and Ghosting which is the skill Cindy will use to try and keep a system from tracing her. You may now be asking why would Cindy want Investigation. The answer is that this is the skill that's going to help her to actually retrieve information, which can be a very useful skill for any hacker.

200 SP Sheet
--< Cindy, a Female Human Hacker >--- Total SP: 200 Current SP: 0 Energy: 1220 Minutes: 1745 HP: 100%/100% Attribute Points: 30 Respecs: 0 RP Points: 5624 Craft Level: 7 ---< Attributes >-< Value: -14000 >--- Intelligence: Good                     Perception:   Fair Constitution: Fair                     Dexterity:    Mediocre Willpower:   Great                     Charisma:     Good Strength:    Mediocre                  Psi:          Non-existent (Scale: -3) ---< Skills >-< Value: 103000 >--- Good Computer Operation               Fair Network Spoofing Good Firewall Penetration               Superb Terran Standard Good Ghosting                               Fair Computer Programming Fair Investigation ---< Gifts, Faults, and Quirks >---< Value: 40000 >--- Computer Specialist --< Skill System 3.00 >---

Cindy is still a fairly general hacker at this point. She's had a chance to work at her main three skills and raisee them to a better level, as well as add a couple more skills to her set. A debuffer skill is usually a good choice for those wanting to be better able to fool the systems they're hacking. Cindy's chosen to go with Network Spoofing, but DOS Attack is also a good choice. And later on it could be a good choice to have both. The difference between these two is whether the hacker wants to fool the systems tracers by sending out a false signal, or to attack it's defenses directly by trying to overload them. Programming is also a highly suggested skill to get early on to give the hacker another means of income. Lets face it, hacking can, but doesn't always pay the bills.

305 SP Sheet
-< Cindy, a Female Human Hacker > Total SP: 305 Current SP: 0 Energy: 1220 Minutes: 1745 HP: 100%/100% Attribute Points: 30 Respecs: 0 RP Points: 5624 Craft Level: 7 ---< Attributes >-< Value: -14000 >--- Intelligence: Good                     Perception:   Fair Constitution: Fair                     Dexterity:    Mediocre Willpower:   Great                     Charisma:     Good Strength:    Mediocre                  Psi:          Non-existent (Scale: -3) ---< Skills >-< Value: 134000 >--- Good Computer Operation               Good Network Spoofing Fair Computer Programming             Fair Phreaking Good Firewall Penetration                Superb Terran Standard Good Ghosting                                Fair Tracing Fair Investigation                            Fair DOS Attack ---< Gifts, Faults, and Quirks >---< Value: 40000 >--- Computer Specialist --< Skill System 3.00 >---

By this point in time Cindy has had a chance to work on her main hacking skills. Her core skills are now at a good level, so now is also a good time to start working on secondary skills. Tracing is recommended and is useful in combination with the programming skill for creating some types of software. At this point it also depends on where Cindy would like to go from here. Phreaking is a useful skill in that it covers general 'trouble making' or 'interferance' type skills such as taking over cameras or communications devices, control of other similar devices, or even changing records and the such. There are also other skills to consider such as signal interception, privilege escalation, or possibly even adding DOS attack if it hasn't been already.

What Now?
Now that Cindy's at 300 SP, she has all of her core skills at a good level, and a decent number of secondary skills to fair. At this point it's important to decide what direction it would be good to take Cindy in. It's possible to specialize in one or two of several areas, or to be at a good level in more areas. It's also a good idea to ask what kind of roleplay you would like to get out of Cindy. She could in more of an investigative direction (freelance or otherwise) by raising her investigation skill. It's also possible for Cindy to go the direction of the programmer/ hacker by raising programming more, or she could even go the route of AI Programming. She could also go the route in intel (military or otherwise) crytography would be a good skill to consider in this case as well as invesitgation, or she could continue with the criminal hacker route and go with forgery or any other combination of abilities. Also keep in mind that there are several other skills not specifically in the hacker skill set that can be useful. Languages are always a good idea. It's nice to be able to not only understand what others are saying about you, but also to be able to reply to them. In some situations Street Savvy, Wordcraft, or Political Savvy can be good options. If Cindy chooses to continue on with the criminal idea then Underworld lore is another option that's good to invest in.

Core Skills
The core skills for a Hacker include:
 * 1) Computer Operation at the level you want you highest computer/hacker skills at - This is a prereq for all your computer/hacker skills, none of which can be higher in level than Computer Operation.
 * 2) Firewall Penetration at fair or higher - This is the skill required for actually hacking. There are also areas in the matrix grid that only hacker characters can get to, and this is the skill tested.
 * 3) Ghosting at Fair or higher - This skill is for keeping others from being able to trace you. On the matrix grid this is the skill that is tested to keep the system your breaking into, from tracing you.
 * 4) Network Spoofing/DOS Attack - These skills are debuffers to be used before actually hacking into a system spoofing is used to send a false signal for the systems securities to trace, and DOS attack is used to overload the system by sending more packets of information than the system can safely handle.
 * 5) Investigation at Fair - This is exactly what it says it is. The ability to find and retrieve information using the matrix.
 * 6) Phreaking at Fair - This is the skill that allows hackers to cause trouble in general ie. taking over electronic equipment (cameras, holoviewers, commlinks, etc..), changing records, and other such things.
 * 7) Programming at Fair - This is exactly what it says, the ability to design and write programs and software packages.

Specialization vs. Generalization
Eventually you will need to decide what it is that you would like to be able to do with your character. In particular the important decision is if you wish to have a good number of skills which you are fair to good at, or a few skills which are good to great level, or even superb. Keep in mind that above great the skills become costly and so superb hackers tend to be highly specialized in a very few skills.

Gifts, Faults and Quirks and Cybernetics
Gifts, Faults, Quirks, and Cybernetics are useful for adding further to a hackers skills, or even just rounding out their personalilty. As far as Cybernetics go, in order for your hacker to access the infomatrix an Infomatrix Access Neural Link (aka data jack) is required. A synaptic booster is also a good idea as a boost to intelligence. As far a quirks go computer specialist is important if the hacker wants to be able to raise any skills above fair. Suggested gifts would be improved intelligence, improved willpower, or improved perception. Other ideas to add to a characters personality could include curious, perhaps your character is the naturally curious sort (hence why they became a hacker?) or pehaps they are a slacker, but using that data jack doesn't require that much energy. Impaired constitution, perhaps you've spent so much time behind a computer or using that data jack that your just not that healthy. Or any other combination of GFQ's don't let this guide hold you back from exploring other ideas.