Yeah, the 5e matrix stuff in general is weird, and only vaguely starts to make sense in the later-revealed context that the matrix is literally a bio-magical horror built from technomancer brains stuffed into vats on a space station (actual canon lore as of 6e).
Like the old school "plug the deck into the thing you want to hack" stuff is still there as the strongest option you can take since it means only the object you're connecting to can make defense rolls against you, but then on top of that there's all the nebulous weird shit with icons and infinite range instant hacking where distance may or may not actually matter because hosts are locationless meaning two people on opposite sides of the world are treated as having no distance separating them in one (because again, literal magic).
It's still funny that RAW you can use an RFID chip as a budget deck, though.
Shadowrun's also a bit weird in that it's more or less intended for characters to be broken in some way. Like in D&D 3.5e, if a character were to leave chargen with a stat at 20 and an AC of 30, that would be some absurd powergaming shit, but in Shadowrun it's expected that everyone leave chargen with at least one stat above maximum, and a combat-focused character should be throwing at least 30 soak dice. Like rolling 12 dice in a check is what's supposed to be the absolute best someone can naturally be, but mundane PCs should be rolling 16-20 dice in their role and it doesn't become real powergaming until you get to 22+ which takes some real shenanigans.
Yeah, the 5e matrix stuff in general is weird, and only vaguely starts to make sense in the later-revealed context that the matrix is literally a bio-magical horror built from technomancer brains stuffed into vats on a space station (actual canon lore as of 6e).
Like the old school "plug the deck into the thing you want to hack" stuff is still there as the strongest option you can take since it means only the object you're connecting to can make defense rolls against you, but then on top of that there's all the nebulous weird shit with icons and infinite range instant hacking where distance may or may not actually matter because hosts are locationless meaning two people on opposite sides of the world are treated as having no distance separating them in one (because again, literal magic).
It's still funny that RAW you can use an RFID chip as a budget deck, though.
deleted by creator
Shadowrun's also a bit weird in that it's more or less intended for characters to be broken in some way. Like in D&D 3.5e, if a character were to leave chargen with a stat at 20 and an AC of 30, that would be some absurd powergaming shit, but in Shadowrun it's expected that everyone leave chargen with at least one stat above maximum, and a combat-focused character should be throwing at least 30 soak dice. Like rolling 12 dice in a check is what's supposed to be the absolute best someone can naturally be, but mundane PCs should be rolling 16-20 dice in their role and it doesn't become real powergaming until you get to 22+ which takes some real shenanigans.