Decker

Overview

The decker fights a second run inside the building's network while everyone else works the physical one. Hosts get cracked, cameras loop, maglocks release, and the security rigger's own drones stop reporting, all in the seconds an infiltrator needs to cross a corridor. It is the archetype most dependent on equipment. The cyberdeck is the tool that makes Matrix intrusion possible, and losing it costs a decker the role in a way that losing a gun does not cost a samurai. Deckers also take damage that the rest of the team cannot see, since hostile ice pushes back through the deck and lands on the stun monitor of 8 plus half Willpower rounded up.

How it works

Key Attributes: Logic above all, since it powers both Matrix skills. Willpower absorbs feedback, and Intuition keeps Perception useful while you are distracted. Key Skills: Cracking for intrusion, cybercombat, and electronic warfare. Electronics for legitimate use, hardware, and repair. Perception and Stealth for the half of the job that happens in your own body. Dice Pools: Logic plus Cracking, counting each 5 or 6 as a hit. A lightly defended device asks about 1 hit, a corporate host expecting intruders asks 5. Gear: A cyberdeck, a commlink, and enough augmentation to keep up without trading Logic for it.

Tips and playstyle

Best for: Players who enjoy a parallel mission with its own pacing and want to be the reason the alarm never sounded. Character concepts: A console cowboy running a stolen deck, a fired corporate security analyst using the other side's playbook, a data thief who works from the van and never enters the building. Synergies: Dwarves raise the Willpower ceiling that keeps feedback survivable. Split ranks between Cracking and Electronics so you can both break systems and maintain your own, and coordinate timing with the face, who buys the minutes an intrusion needs.

Frequently asked questions