MARIONETTEThis complex form is the street samurai’s worst nightmare, allowing a technomancer to take control of a target’s body through their augmentations. In order to be vulnerable to this complex form, a target must have at least one bodyware augmentation or cyberlimb that is connected to their nervous system. Inert ware such as bone lacing, dermal plating, and smuggling compartments don’t count toward this, but wired reflexes, reaction enhancers, and skillwires do. Turning off wireless mode offers some protection against this complex form; in order to use it then, the technomancer must maintain line of sight with these targets and have the Aura Link echo. Targets who are running in wireless mode are also vulnerable via the Matrix, in which case physical line of sight is not required. To use Marionette on a target, make an Electronics + Resonance test that is opposed by the target’s Willpower + Firewall. If successful, note your net hits. You may use further actions to directly control the target’s body. If they only have a cyberlimb, you can only take actions to control their cybernetic limb, but most bodyware augmentations allow control over the target’s entire body. You must spend a Major and a Minor Action for each Major or Minor Action you force the target to take. This action must be a physical action that the target is physically capable of doing—their mind and emotions are not affected. Each time you force your target to take an action, reduce your total net hits by one. When all of your net hits have been used up, or if you stop sustaining it, the complex form collapses and ends.
If the target takes an action that requires a dice roll, use their normal dice pool, but no Edge may be gained or spent on the test. This complex form doesn’t prevent them from moving of their own volition. On their own turn, the target may take their own actions. While you can use this complex form to force a target to take actions that are clearly detrimental to their well-being, such as attack themselves, jump off a nearby height, etc., it’s not an instant kill. If you force a target to harm themself, they take base damage from whatever weapon they are using, with no dice roll to hit or increase damage with net hits. In the case of a fall, the target gets a chance to catch a ledge or something with an Athletics + Agility test. This complex form shouldn’t be used for an automatic kill, but it can provide a decisive tactical advantage. Even among criminals, the thought of forcing someone to harm themselves with a power such as this is horrifying. Each time you use this complex form to cause a target to damage itself, add +1 to the team’s Heat modifier at the end of the run.
Note that you could use this on a willing target with the goal of providing them with extra actions. No augmentations are truly designed to be used in this manner, so the target must still roll to resist. When using this form on a target with their consent, you gain a point of Edge that must be spent on the Electronics test, or it is lost. Even when used in these circumstances, actions forced by this complex form can neither gain nor benefit from Edge.
