Shadowrun, Sixth World archetype
Technomancer
Technomancer is an archetype in Shadowrun, Sixth World: Living conduit to the Matrix who threads complex forms and compiles sprites without ever touching a deck.
Last reviewed
Overview
A technomancer does what a decker does, using nothing. Resonance replaces the cyberdeck entirely, so there is no hardware to confiscate at a checkpoint, nothing to fry in cybercombat, and no purchase order tying the runner to the intrusion. Sprites are compiled and set to tasks the way a magician sets spirits to work. That invisibility is also the danger. Corporations treat the Emerged as an unexplained security problem rather than a hire, so a technomancer who is identified is hunted rather than recruited. Resonance rates 0 to 6 and falls with Essence loss exactly as Magic does, which closes augmentation off to this archetype as firmly as it is closed to a mage.
How it works
Key Attributes: Resonance sets your ceiling, Logic drives the Matrix skills you share with deckers, and Willpower absorbs the feedback that intrusion inflicts. Key Skills: Tasking for compiling, decompiling, and registering sprites, which runs on Resonance rather than Logic. Cracking for intrusion and cybercombat, and Electronics for everything legitimate. Dice Pools: Resonance plus Tasking for sprites, Logic plus Cracking for intrusion, counting each 5 or 6 as a hit in both cases. Gear: Almost none, which is the point. A commlink for appearances, and no cyberware, since Essence loss reduces Resonance.
Tips and playstyle
Best for: Players who want the decker's job with a stranger toolkit and a built in story problem attached to the character. Character concepts: A squatter kid who woke up talking to the Matrix, a corporate research subject who escaped the study, a rigger's little sister who never needed the hardware. Synergies: Sprites persist and act on their own, so a technomancer can hold a host open while handling something else. Keep Cracking and Tasking both rated, because one is the intrusion and the other is the help you bring with you.
Frequently asked questions
Technomancer or decker?
The decker's power lives in a cyberdeck that can be replaced or upgraded. The technomancer's lives in Resonance that cannot be taken away, cannot be bought back if Essence is lost, and marks you if it is discovered.
Why can a technomancer not take cyberware?
Essence loss from augmentation reduces Resonance the same way it reduces a magician's Magic. Chrome directly shrinks the pool behind every sprite you compile.
Are sprites like spirits?
Functionally similar and thematically parallel. Sprites are compiled with Tasking on Resonance, spirits are summoned with Conjuring on Magic, and both do work their creator cannot do alone.