Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: JakeConhale on <06-04-15/0048:26>
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EDIT - new stats posted, on page 2 as reply #20.
After having my 3rd character pretty much dismantled (got knocked out by an earth spirit chucking a boulder at my head, leading to the loss of every valuable asset I had during the extraction including a 60,000+ nuyen APC.... no, I'm not still bitter, why do you ask?) I came up with this new guy. Hoping for a sanity check before I get another character shot out from under me.
This guy is meant to be in the midst of the action. I think that's what's called a tank. Backstory is he's an out of luck UCAS citizen who enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. Now he's living in DeeCee after mustering out. The GM said I could have 39 additional post-creation karma to help catch up to the other runners. He's a front-line character, relying on the armor and Common Sense quality along with armor enhancements like orthoskin to save his hoop. One of my next planned purchases will be the camera grenade mentioned in Run & Gun to help prevent me from charging into the local "RPG Enthusiast!" fan club meeting.
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Attributes (A):
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Body 5+2 (Bone lacing)
Agility 6
React 5+2 (Synaptic Booster)
Strength 3
Willpow 4
Logic 3
Intuit 3
Char 3
Edge (Human - D) 5
Initiative: 10 +3D6 (2 from Synaptic Booster)
Mental - 5
Physical - 7
Social - 5
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Qualities (Negative):
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Addition (mild) - Kamikaze
Day Job (10 hours)
Dependents (slacker sister - "Caroline")
Driven
National SIN (France)
National SIN (UCAS)
On File
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Qualities (positive)
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Bilingual (French)
Common Sense
Jack of All Trades
Perceptive I
Restricted Gear (light mil-spec armor)
Post-character creation:
Firefight - Close quarters defense against firearms
Quick healer
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Contacts:
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Bounty Hunter - "Electra Coyote" 2 3 (Can act as a fixer and knowledge resource on the criminal underworld)
France Embassy Official - "Mathis" 3 1 (is blackmailing my char as an intelligence asset, but occasionally provides support to engender some goodwill)
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Skills (C):
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(5) Long arms
(6) Automatics - Spec: Assault rifle
(5) Heavy weapons
(5) Pistols
(5) Perception - Spec: Visual
(1) outdoors (group) - survival(W), navigation(I), tracking(I)
(1) Athletics (group) - gymnastics(A), running(S), swimming(S)
Post creation skills:
(1) Blades
(3) Unarmed
(3) Armorer - used to repair armor
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Items (B)
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(1) Light Hardened Mil-spec Battle Armor
[1 - armor] Chemical seal
[1 - armor] AR gloves
[1 - armor] Shock weave
(1) Hardened Mil-spec helmet
[1 - helmet] Vision: Low-light
[1 - helmet] Headphones
(1) Contacts
[1 - Contacts] Vision: Flare
[1 - Contacts] Vision: image
[1 - Contacts] Vision: Smart
(1) Lined coat
(1) Earbuds
(1) Ballistic Mask
(1) Bone Lacing (Standard) Aluminum
(1) Lvl2 Synaptic Booster (Used)
(1) Lvl 3 Orthoskin (Standard)
(1) Lvl 4 Damage compensator (2&2) (Standard)
(5) Credstick (standard)
(1) subvocal microphone
(1) Hermes Ikon commlink
(1) Ares Alpha Assault rifle
(1) Savalette Guardian Heavy pistol
(1) sling (assault rifle)
(1) Quickdraw holster
(1) Weapon personality (C-3PO)
(1) bayonet (assault rifle)
(12) Regular (Heavy) x10
(100) Regular (assault) x10
(12) APDS (Heavy) x10
(3) Flash-pak
(12) GL: HE grenades
(1) Survival knife
(1) Combat knife
(1) knucks
(1) shop [armorer]
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Savalette Guardian)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (knucks)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Synaptic Booster)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Bone Lacing)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (driver's license)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Orthoskin)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake sin ("Pierre Devereaux")
(4) Restraints Metal
(1) survival kit
(1) medkit
(1) Biomonitor
(1) Flashlight (standard)
(4) Drug: Kamikaze
(1) lifestyle (low) - 2200 per month
(1) Spoof chip + Morph plate
(1) Honda Citizen (Ford Americar - gunmetal gray)
Starting nuyen - 1410
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Knowledge skills
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(4) Military Procedures (Foreign Legion)
(2) Sports - Cricket
(2) DeeCee Arms Dealers
(2) DeeCee Drug Dealers
(2) DeeCee Money Launderers
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You do realize that by having 2 national SINs, it means that ALL your biometrics are in the system not once, but twice?
Meaning, you leave a drop of blood, or hair, or even a finger print at a crime scene, you have doubled the chance of getting linked, and thus charged with the crime....
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Hadn't thought about that to quite that degree, however police investigations are almost never involved in our runs, for some reason. I'll talk to the GM, see how likely that is of happening. The base plan, however, is that the armor would hold everything.
As for the France SIN, Mathis may be able to run interference on that point, or even hold it over the character's head as blackmail "you know that shootout three weeks back? Well, do this favor for me and I'll make sure any inquiries dont find anything...."
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1. Synaptic Boosters are cultured bioware, which means they were created specifically for you by cloning and bioengineering your own cells. You just cannot have Used (or any) grade cultured bioware, 'cultured' is it's own grade.
2. There is no 'Heavy pistols' skill in the game.
3. IMO wasting restricted gear for a piece of armor is quite suboptimal. If you're a frontliner get yourself a Pain Editor and laugh at damage penalties.
4. You don't need that much licences. You'll be fine with 'Restricted cyberware', 'Restricted bioware', 'Firearms', 'Concealed carry'. And 'Restricted Armor'.
5. No social or stealth skills is a poor idea.
6. A flying Microdrone > Grenade camera.
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1. I asked the GM specifically about it. His response: "I don't think there's any rule against it".
2. No, but there is a "Pistols" skill, which is explicitly stated on Page 133 of the 5th Edition rulebook that it "includes all types of handheld pistols". I'm not sure what your point is here.
3. Perhaps, but a pain editor only protects against unconsciousness while armor protects against death.
4. The thinking for the licenses is that if I help Carmen Electra with some bounty hunting, that would involve at least interacting with the police, so I'd better have anything prominent that's restricted as licensed. I misread the book as that each individual thing needed a license, I'll consolidate. Still, the armor is explicitly 16F, can't get a license for that.
5. Got a point there, perhaps sneaking? Leadership would be a easy choice for anyone with military experience, along with intimidation. However, the focus on weapons is to give my character a higher chance of surviving at least the first run, where i can then use Jack of All Trades to accelerate skill acquisition. I'll look it over.
6. Good point. The Fly-Spy would seem cost effective, I'll put that on my wish list.
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You do realize that by having 2 national SINs, it means that ALL your biometrics are in the system not once, but twice?
It's not quite as bad as you paint it. The GSR is pretty far from being a perfect system, and errors aren't unheard of.
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1. It isn't outright stated, but it shouldn't have to be. Cultured Bioware is created specifically for your genetic makeup. Unless you have a genetically identical twin/clone you can harvest bioware from, you can't have Used Cultured Bioware. But whatever, it's your table and your rules.
2. Uh, sorry. I wasn't totally awake when I wrote that. Heavy weapons and Pistols got merged together in my mind lol.
3. Armor 18 is easy to get without restricted gear. The "Hardened armor" quality lets you to shrug off some small arms fire but you shrug it off anyway. APDS ammo, SnS ammo, and sniper rifles will punch through that no problem. Mana spells outright ignore your armor. Milspec armor doesn't prevent death, it provokes the opposition to bring bigger guns or to drop lightly armored teammates first.
4. You really don't need that much licences because the law enforcement doesn't force you to have them.
5. Sneaking and Intimidate sounds fine!
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On the numbered points:
1) The text states that "Cultured Bioware must be tailor-made for the body in which it will eventually find a home" (emphasis mine). Not "usually is"; it's quite a strong rule (even if spelling it out might have been better). Semi-official answer: http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=12106.0 reply #4.
2) You're not the only one that read that wrong, Zelda...`
3) Besides the relative waste of a PQ, running around in Milspec... attracts attention. Not that it's not good to have, but like Zelda says, there are better ways. (If you do, eventually, buy Milspec, might as well go for Heavy - despite the name, Heavy is not any more cumbersome, and they're both very unsubtle).
4) ZeldaBravo's consolidation would be all you need indeed. Note that you don't need a Driver's Licence - that's not a restricted activity or item (as far as the game is concerned, anyway). Although you're right about the armor.
5) Sneaking is really the only one you need from stealth. (Not that the rest can't be useful). Social skills are more diverse. If anything, Leadership is one you don't really need - that only really becomes useful when you're an actual face, and a dice pool of 4 isn't really going to help anyone. Intimidation is good, and at least some Etiquette, Con and Negotiation usually comes in nicely.
On SINs, I don't think you can actually get 2 SIN's. Well, you can, but not as a Negative Quality. I disagree with Reaver - it doesn't give you twice the chance to get caught. Nationalities and corporations don't all share biometics freely, only in special circumstances, so it's not like everything will be checked twice. It does mean your records are on file in two places when people do start digging wide, but that's not that much worse than having them out there once. Certainly not "Have another 5 karma"-worse.
Small point on Bone Lacing - it increases your Body by 2 only for the purpose for damage reduction. Granted, that's one of the main things, but listing it as 5 (7) implies it counts for everything, which it doesn't.
What rating is your Medkit? It should be 6 (any less is kind of meh), and it should be listed.
If you have nuyen and essence left, you might consider a Datajack and an implanted Smartlink. The first gives DNI (useful for all sorts of things), the second gives a +2 instead of +1 dice pool as wireless bonus. They're both not that expensive.
Armorer isn't just armor btw - it's weapon care and modifications too. So that would indeed be good to get soonish. (Basic weapon care is also a part of the firearms skills though).
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WIL 4 isn't doing much. I'd take a point out to bump up INT. I'd also steal a point from LOG for INT as well.
Frankly you have a ton of redundant combat skills. I get playing to a concept but this needs to be pointed out when people build every soldier as if they must have 5+ in every firearm. You will use one per turn. You are incredibly over invested to your detriment. Post chargen you have 6 fighting skills and you frankly do nothing else well. I suggest you remedy this. I think you would be just fine with Unarmed (especially with Bone Lacing or Aug). Your STR is too low for Blades to be useful at any rate. This is really just one of those things but it is a lot of over investment that could be spent better elsewhere (like in Gymnastics or Sneaking or Tracking).
Armorer is not very useful especially with LOG 3. Find a contact to do this. It's never come up in a game I've ever seen.
Wait so you're a former soldier with a billion weapon skills and no Small Group Tactics? Hahaha. Fix that now.
I wouldn't expect to go running around in MilSpec outside of the Barrens. Get a good SMG, best general carry gun you'll find. Probably the Ares Sigma from GH3.
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Armorer isn't always terribly useful, but it's pretty flavorful. My soldier character has a tiny bit as well. I'd take 1, which allows you to buy one hit. That essentially covers the very basic stuff. It's not your MOS, but you can do a few things.
You absolutely need Small Unit Tactics. I wrote a mini-adventure for Bloody Business with the intent of making mooks deadly. SUT is a big part of this.
Buying skills, especially non-specialized skills, with chargen karma is pretty inefficient. I'm not as solidly in the "only automatics" camp as some, but you can save some skill points by dropping Longarms and switch them over to the one melee skill.
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I think taking both Longarms and Automatics is fine. Pistols is the overkill. You get what you need with MPs in Automatics. But having the option to spray fire with an SMG, snipe, or use wide choke buckshot isn't bad. 2 skills is much more reasonable at any rate.
You also don't need much heavy weapons if you just plan to use grenades. Aim for a spot and it'll hit that spot. The ground doesn't dodge.
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I think taking both Longarms and Automatics is fine. Pistols is the overkill. You get what you need with MPs in Automatics. But having the option to spray fire with an SMG, snipe, or use wide choke buckshot isn't bad. 2 skills is much more reasonable at any rate.
You also don't need much heavy weapons if you just plan to use grenades. Aim for a spot and it'll hit that spot. The ground doesn't dodge.
You do need some, because with no hits, the ground will be dodging your grenade after all.
Also, higher dice pools allow you to attack people directly (as an opposed test), which means they can't simply run away from your grenade with an immediate action.
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Sure. I just think high AGI, smartlink, a specialty and a point or two of skills should cover it.
That's what this character really needs is AGI boosting. Synaptic Boosters are nice and all but affording them means forgoing some pretty important and useful ware.
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Regarding cultured Bioware not being available as used - that was my initial concern specifically due to the whole cultured aspect. I asked the GM, he didn't disallow it, and I'm not above using something like that in my favor. Worked better than having Lvl2 Wired Reflexes (less essence, about the same price, never need to "activate"...)
I don't believe I can use Small Unit Tactics, though I will inquire. The GM posted some custom rules, here's what he said:
Use Your Own Damn Tactics: You cannot use the team tactics rules from Run & Gun to get the bonuses described in the book. However, these are generally good tactics so feel free to actually implement them, just don’t expect to get random bonuses other than what naturally occurs from acting upon a good idea.
I'll reconsider the longarms, that was a sticking point for me as well. I don't have a sniper rifle or such, as far as I know only one of our group does but no one knows how to use it. We don't have much in the way of straight combat personnel, just one street samurai after my last character got nerfed, so I expect to be pulling a lot of that weight while the mages and hacker hang back and do whatever it is they do. Getting a MP would help as well, I wouldn't scrap the pistols skill but would shrink it to 1 or 2 or something. The Ares Crusader II is almost equivalent to the Savalette Guardian anyways (just lacking 1 DV and 1 point of armor piercing) so that would handily fill the holster while consolidating skills.
My medkit is level 3, isn't that as powerful as it can get while still being something you can store rather than having to lug around?
I was thinkiing about the datajack. Smartlink sounds good too, though'd id have to massage some numbers. Remove it from the contacts, transfer low-light from Helmet to contacts, then perhaps later on I can add Thermographic to the helmet. Can't add it to the contacts (at least not at chargen) without taking out Flare and IMO, I might as well just hand my enemies weapons and say "go ahead, kill me".
For the record, using the previously posted configuration, my essence is 2.6
My plan for using the light armor is so that, on runs, I may be able to wear the armor beneath the lined coat to disguise it. No helmet, of course, but it'd be one heck of a surprise to anyone trying to take a shot at me or throwing a punch to my midsection. *CLANG* GM said Medium and Heavy would definitely not be concealable in such a fashion, though the additional Hardened Armor makes me salivate.
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Don't buy skills at ranks 1-2 with skill points, it's incredibly inefficient. If you want Pistols 1 buy it with karma. I wanted to point out the huge over investment because practically you will use one skill a turn and will rarely swap weapons during combat time.
You want a retinal smartlink implant for the wireless bonus. They're pretty cheap. A datajack is good to give DNI between your gun and retinal smartlink and is also cheap.
Hm. Well. Does that house rule mean you can't use the skill at all or you can't use it basically as a group? If the latter it's still useful to a degree. But maybe not. If you get the bonuses solely through role playing I'd read up on the section and implement it. You're a military guy; you should be thinking that way anyway.
I wouldn't allow wearing MilSpec armor under a jacket. That goes on your hands and feet and probably has a gorget. It appears to be designed to be sealed. No way.
R3 medkits fit in a pocket. R6 would need a backpack. Hardly the end of the world for a lot of runs.
Sniping as a role is of limited use in SR since most fights occur up close and/or in buildings with poor long range LOS. But sniper rifles do huge damage with big -AP whether you're at 2 meters or 200. The big issue close in is the lack of auto fire or suppression options. But there's no penalty to using them so close in aside from concealing them to get there in the first place.
I dunno I think Wired 2 + enough money to buy Muscle Toner is better than Synaptic Booster 2. Wired turns on as a Free or it's always on. Functionally it doesn't make a difference.
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Regarding cultured Bioware not being available as used - that was my initial concern specifically due to the whole cultured aspect. I asked the GM, he didn't disallow it, and I'm not above using something like that in my favor. Worked better than having Lvl2 Wired Reflexes (less essence, about the same price, never need to "activate"...)
I don't believe I can use Small Unit Tactics, though I will inquire. The GM posted some custom rules, here's what he said:
Use Your Own Damn Tactics: You cannot use the team tactics rules from Run & Gun to get the bonuses described in the book. However, these are generally good tactics so feel free to actually implement them, just don’t expect to get random bonuses other than what naturally occurs from acting upon a good idea.
Your GM is throwing you a bone then on used Cultured. If your campaign allows it, go ahead, I guess.
The Small Unit Tactics is understandable, and then there'd be little (mechanical) point in getting it. Getting a general knowledge skill might still be flavorful
My medkit is level 3, isn't that as powerful as it can get while still being something you can store rather than having to lug around?
Your R3 medkit will be throwing 6 dice to heal people. That makes it very unlikely to even get past the 2 hit threshold (the first 2 hits are wasted), let alone heal any significant amount. Having a R6, even if you can't always bring it along, is almost always better.
My plan for using the light armor is so that, on runs, I may be able to wear the armor beneath the lined coat to disguise it. No helmet, of course, but it'd be one heck of a surprise to anyone trying to take a shot at me or throwing a punch to my midsection. *CLANG* GM said Medium and Heavy would definitely not be concealable in such a fashion, though the additional Hardened Armor makes me salivate.
Yeah no. Light armor is light for Milspec armor. See the pictures - it's still very, very bulky, much more so then even full body armor. It is not even remotely concealable.
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Ok, this has been covered quite a few times but I would knock down your combat skills to as few as necessary. (I will admit I am FIRMLY in automatics only territory)
Smartlink and a Datajack are nearly the most efficient skill boosting ware in the game and being able to not run your stuff wireless can be a large boon.
18 Armor isn't impressive and while the armor is being downplayed by your GM (and I wish my GM would let me get away with those types of shenanigans) you are also paying Karma for soak dice. The CHEAPEST resource in the game. If your GM will let you cover MilSpec Light armor would he let you conceal Murder armor?
Murder Armor 13 Base
Gel Packs +2
Forearm Guards +1 (can also store equipment like a auto injector or bio monitor OR my personal favorite a mini welder)
Custom Ballistic Mask +2
Helmet (your choice) +2ish
20 Armor (assuming you have enough points in strength to support this and I didn't go into cyber limbs or the other stackable armor items.)
All for MUCH cheaper then you are paying for the MilSpec armor as you are effectively paying ¥20,000 Extra for it due to the Karma cost.
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Ok, this has been covered quite a few times but I would knock down your combat skills to as few as necessary. (I will admit I am FIRMLY in automatics only territory)
I will say you can get close in all ways but conceivability with Longarms. But not all in one gun like the Alpha, which even has a built in grenade launcher.
But you have to use choke settings on shotguns, which means not-slugs, which means crap -AP. And to hit one thing super hard, you need a rifle, which means SA at best.
Yes, Automatics uber alles...that said the auto-shotgun is pretty cool.
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I will say you can get close in all ways but conceivability with Longarms. But not all in one gun like the Alpha, which even has a built in grenade launcher.
But you have to use choke settings on shotguns, which means not-slugs, which means crap -AP. And to hit one thing super hard, you need a rifle, which means SA at best.
Yes, Automatics uber alles...that said the auto-shotgun is pretty cool.
Hell Yeah! Underslung grenade launcher on your FA shotgun and you are CLOSE to as awesome as you can get with an Alpha. Though if I could mod my Sniper Rifle for FA fire and mount a grenade launcher under the barrel I would be SOLD on longarms instead of Automatics.
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I have to agree with all the other calls to cut down on your gun skills:
If you think of a real soldier, they are not experts in every type of firearm imaginable. They specialize in a few types - you'd want to be the same. Automatics and Longarms pretty reasonably covers everything. Then you can get other skills that round the character out: tracking, sneaking, specializations, etc.
Also, like others have said: you can't take a negative quality twice. So you can have only one national SIN (dual-citizenship isn't really a 'thing', at least mechanically speaking. RP-speaking I think you could use your one national SIN that way).
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Okay, I rebuilt the character, nixing the Restricted Gear quality and switching over to Biker Armor and a motorcycle. Think it turned out pretty well. Didn't touch the base attributes though. Swapped out the knucks with shock gloves to facilitate his moonlighting as a bounty hunter - the better to immobilize the target. To reiterate - my GM has granted me 39 post chargen karma to help catch up to the other players. I'll double check with my GM, but I believe he's where I got the idea of 2 SINs to reflect multiple citizenship (UCAS by birth, French through the Foreign Legion)
Thoughts?
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Attributes (A):
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Body 5+2 (Bone lacing on DMG resistance tests)
Agility 6
React 5+2 (Synaptic Booster)
Strength 3
Willpow 4
Logic 3
Intuit 3
Char 3
Edge (Human - D) 5
Initiative: 10 +3D6 (2 from Synaptic Booster)
Mental - 5
Physical - 7
Social - 5
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Qualities (Negative):
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Addition (mild) - Kamikaze
Day Job (10 hours - Bartender)
Dependents (slacker sister - "Caroline")
Driven (on finding a "Benedict Arnold" style traitor from his old unit, reunion will involve lots of sharp, red-hot, pointy things)
National SIN (France)
National SIN (UCAS)
On File
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Qualities (positive)
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Bilingual (French)
Common Sense
Jack of All Trades
Perceptive I
Toughness
Post-character creation:
Firefight - Close quarters defense against firearms
Quick healer
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Contacts:
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Bounty Hunter - "Electra Coyote" Con:2 Loy:3 (Can act as a fixer and knowledge resource on the criminal underworld)
France Embassy Official - "Mathis" Con:3 Loy:1 (is blackmailing my char as an intelligence asset, but occasionally provides support to engender some goodwill)
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Skills (C):
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(5) Etiquette
(6) Automatics - Spec: Assault rifle
(5) Heavy weapons
(5) Sneaking
(5) Perception - Spec: Visual
(1) outdoors (group) - survival(W), navigation(I), tracking(I)
(1) Athletics (group) - gymnastics(A), running(S), swimming(S)
Post creation skills:
(1) Blades
(3) Unarmed
(3) Armorer - primarily used to repair armor
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Items (B)
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(1) Biker Armor
[1 - armor] AR gloves
[1 - armor] Shock weave
(1) Biker Helmet helmet
[1 - helmet] Audio system
(1) Contacts
[1 - Contacts] Vision: Flare
[1 - Contacts] Vision: image
[1 - Contacts] Vision: Low light
(1) Lined coat
(1) Earbuds
(1) Ballistic Mask (Modified William Shatner mask, if anyone gets that reference...)
(1) Datajack
(1) Smartlink (implant in natural eye)
(1) Bone Lacing (Standard) Aluminum
(1) Lvl2 Synaptic Booster (Standard) (Changed from "used" because it was kinda making me feel uncomfortable)
(1) Lvl 3 Dermal plating (Standard)
(5) Credstick (standard)
(1) subvocal microphone
(1) Hermes Ikon commlink
(1) Ares Alpha Assault rifle
(1) Ares Crusader II Machine pistol
(1) sling (assault rifle)
(1) Quickdraw holster (machine pistol)
(1) Weapon personality (C-3PO)
(1) bayonet (assault rifle)
(12) Regular (MP) x10
(100) Regular (assault) x10
(12) APDS (Heavy) x10
(3) Flash-pak
(12) GL: HE grenades
(1) Survival knife
(1) Combat knife
(1) shock gloves
(1) shop [armorer]
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Restricted Cyberware)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Restricted Bioware)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Firearms)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Concealed Carry)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake sin ("Pierre Devereaux")
(4) Restraints Metal
(1) survival kit
(1) medkit (lvl 6)
(1) Biomonitor
(1) Flashlight (standard)
(4) Drug: Kamikaze
(1) lifestyle (low) - 2200 per month
(1) Spoof chip + Morph plate
(1) Suzuki Mirage - gunmetal gray)
Starting nuyen - 1400
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Knowledge skills
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(4) Military Procedures (Foreign Legion)
(2) Sports - Cricket
(2) DeeCee Arms Dealers
(2) DeeCee Drug Dealers
(2) DeeCee Money Launderers
post char creation knowledge:
(1) Small Unit Tactics (as flavor, if not necessarily practical, I'll clear with my GM who disallowed any benefits from using the actual tactics)
Total remaining karma: 0
Total 'ware augmented armor: +5
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Gear wishlist:
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- Second skin (stacked with Biker Armor)
- Ear Damper implant
- Spacial recognizer, either ear implant or in biker helmet
- Fly-Spy drone
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In case it hasn't been asked yet - you know that buying PQ post-chargen costs double karma?
Second Skin doesn't stack with Biker Armor, just with Zoe lines.
Speaking of Biker Armor, what is that? Do you mean Bike Racing Armor? Because that's actually quite terrible. Your Lined Coat actually has better protection. Granted, Biker is cheap and might be thematic, but meh. There are much better options.
R3 Dermal Plating costs you 1.5 Essence and 9000 nuyen. If you switch that to Used Orthoskin, you spend a bit more (4500 more) but save over a half point of Essence. The extra money can be recouped by, for example, making the Bone Lacing Used as well. That saves you a net 0.3125 essence, at no difference in cost.
If you have money leftover, you could also spend a bit more and get Used Orthoskin 4 at the same Essence cost. If you nééd more money, you can leverage that extra essence to turn your datajack and smartlink to Used (granted, that's not exactly a big windfall). Mind you, if you need money, ditch the Shop - you don't really need more then an Armorer Kit at your level of skill.
You don't need a subvocal microphone - sending messages directly via DNI is easy and safer (subvocal can still be overheard; it's actually a fairly minor penalty). Not that having a backup mic is a bad idea. Same goes for AR gloves and Image Link, except for the being overheard.
Having no Agility increase really will hurt you, like others said. In the long end, you can of course fix that by, well, getting that. I can't really see any glaring options that let you afford one earlier... At least not with this attribute array.
One of the downsides is a non-stellar attack pool. Luckily, you have Automatics! You can just spray people with bullets and give them -9 dodge. Except you have no recoil compensation to speak of. So get some Gas Vents going or something.
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You want more INT. It goes to dodging. It goes to initiative. It goes to Perception. It is supremely more valuable for this character than either WIL 4 or LOG 3.
Etiquette 5 is tremendous overkill. If you want a social skill for this character I would go with Intimidation. 1-2 etiquette will easily suffice.
Why do you want Blades? Your STR is not high enough for it to be viable.
16 dice on ARs is good. I'd recommend switching the specialty to something you can more easily concealed carry legally though like SMGs or MPs. Fact is the AR can't be taken on all runs depending where they are but most clubs will allow you to carry an MP.
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Hmm you're right, it's 16; I forgot the smartlink. That's good enough.
I disagree on SMG/MP vs AR though. MPs are a sidearm, and won't do that well in "proper" combat (although it'll do well in clubs and such where you can't really take an AR - but where there's no heavy armor). SMG's are slightly more powerful, but at the cost of significant less concealability and being barely less likely to get the police called compared to Assault Rifles.
If we stick to non-Forbidden weapons, Assault rifles give 2 DV and -2 AP over the best SMG (and 3 DV over MPs). That may not seem like a lot, but when shooting at a typical ganger with 18 or so soak, that makes it 2P vs 5P (before net hits) on average, and then it's suddenly a big difference.
That's not to say he shouldn't get SMG or MP specialization. If he does plan on ending up doing a lot of infiltrations or hanging out in higher-security, then yes, it's worth considering. But overall, it's certainly not an automatic sell - and for this character, I'd say Assault Rifles are the better bet.
(Of course, having a backup MP is still a good idea - 14 dice will still be able to do quite a bit of damage - but specialtywise, meh).
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My experience is that it's much easier to conceal or talk in an SMG than an AR. Particularly as the main ARs you'd want--the Alpha and the Raiden--are Forbidden.
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In case it hasn't been asked yet - you know that buying PQ post-chargen costs double karma?
Sure do! 25 Karma from negative qualities, 24 spent on positive qualities, 20 karma spent on post char creation karma at double cost, 1 spent on knowledge skill, and 19 spent on additional skills using Jack of All Trades. Why, is there a calculation error in there somewhere?
Second Skin doesn't stack with Biker Armor, just with Zoe lines.
Drat
Speaking of Biker Armor, what is that? Do you mean Bike Racing Armor? Because that's actually quite terrible. Your Lined Coat actually has better protection. Granted, Biker is cheap and might be thematic, but meh. There are much better options.
Yeah, meant Bike Racing Armor. Chose it because of the helmet, really, and because it blends in. Other armors with helmets are usually unavailable to me right now (Mil-spec, swat, security...) Other contenders are the Riot armor, which seems rather.... obvious, and the Urban Explorer Jumpsuit, though that looks a bit better and cheaper, if I can find one in black. Just terrified of headshots, ya know? (And can embed so many audio/visual enhancements in the helmet)
R3 Dermal Plating costs you 1.5 Essence and 9000 nuyen. If you switch that to Used Orthoskin, you spend a bit more (4500 more) but save over a half point of Essence. The extra money can be recouped by, for example, making the Bone Lacing Used as well. That saves you a net 0.3125 essence, at no difference in cost.
If you have money leftover, you could also spend a bit more and get Used Orthoskin 4 at the same Essence cost. If you nééd more money, you can leverage that extra essence to turn your datajack and smartlink to Used (granted, that's not exactly a big windfall). Mind you, if you need money, ditch the Shop - you don't really need more then an Armorer Kit at your level of skill.
Did just that - turned all my 'ware save the synaptic booster to used, switched the dermal plating to orthoskin 4 (used), and changed the shop to a kit. That shop was mainly just to support the original mil-spec armor anyways, but it's good to have. I want to keep my starting essence above 2 if possible, so that I have room to add new 'ware later on and keep some social limit.
You don't need a subvocal microphone - sending messages directly via DNI is easy and safer (subvocal can still be overheard; it's actually a fairly minor penalty). Not that having a backup mic is a bad idea. Same goes for AR gloves and Image Link, except for the being overheard.
Having no Agility increase really will hurt you, like others said. In the long end, you can of course fix that by, well, getting that. I can't really see any glaring options that let you afford one earlier... At least not with this attribute array.
One of the downsides is a non-stellar attack pool. Luckily, you have Automatics! You can just spray people with bullets and give them -9 dodge. Except you have no recoil compensation to speak of. So get some Gas Vents going or something.
Not sure what you're getting at with the recoil compensation. Both the Ares Alpha and the Ares Crusader II come with built-in RC 2, the Crusader even describes itself as being a gas-vent system. May be able to apply such to the rifle, though, for a mere 600 nuyen that seems like a steal.
Okay:
New starting nuyen: 3650
New Starting essence: 2.125
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You want everything to have a Gas Vent 3 and pick up whatever other RC mods and gear you can. Otherwise expect to spend a lot of passes not shooting to reset RC. And get Personalized Grips from Sail Away Sweet Sister. 100 nuyen for 1 ACC is a huge steal.
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In case it hasn't been asked yet - you know that buying PQ post-chargen costs double karma?
Sure do! 25 Karma from negative qualities, 24 spent on positive qualities, 20 karma spent on post char creation karma at double cost, 1 spent on knowledge skill, and 19 spent on additional skills using Jack of All Trades. Why, is there a calculation error in there somewhere?
No error that I know of. Just saying that getting PQ's after chargen is expensive. But it might still be worth it.
Speaking of Biker Armor, what is that? Do you mean Bike Racing Armor? Because that's actually quite terrible. Your Lined Coat actually has better protection. Granted, Biker is cheap and might be thematic, but meh. There are much better options.
Yeah, meant Bike Racing Armor. Chose it because of the helmet, really, and because it blends in. Other armors with helmets are usually unavailable to me right now (Mil-spec, swat, security...) Other contenders are the Riot armor, which seems rather.... obvious, and the Urban Explorer Jumpsuit, though that looks a bit better and cheaper, if I can find one in black. Just terrified of headshots, ya know? (And can embed so many audio/visual enhancements in the helmet)
There's a regular helmet in the base game that you can get, fits with everything. Some armors have their own, which sometimes come with benefits (like the full-body armors that come with a +3 helmet), but Biker armor has the same +2 as the regular helmet.
That shop was mainly just to support the original mil-spec armor anyways, but it's good to have.
That's fair - just saying it's a good thing to save on if you're low on cash (shops are easy to buy later on).
One of the downsides is a non-stellar attack pool. Luckily, you have Automatics! You can just spray people with bullets and give them -9 dodge. Except you have no recoil compensation to speak of. So get some Gas Vents going or something.
Not sure what you're getting at with the recoil compensation. Both the Ares Alpha and the Ares Crusader II come with built-in RC 2, the Crusader even describes itself as being a gas-vent system. May be able to apply such to the rifle, though, for a mere 600 nuyen that seems like a steal.
2 isn't that much if you go and spray a lot of bullets. I mean, it's a fair start, but even a simple action FA burst gives an instant -6 recoil to compensate (and you now have 4 points total compensation, including strength and such).
There are a lot of very cheap ways to get recoil compensation. Don't have easy access to Run Faster right now, which adds a bunch of new ones, but adding Gas Vent 3 and a Shock Pad to the Ares Alpha will give you a total of 8 recoil compensation. That means that you'd have a -4 on your second burst, instead of the -8 you'd have now (with a -2 on the first for the current one as well).
(The Crusader does indeed come with a builtin Gas Vent, so you can't stack that with a new one, but you can still get other mods).
And yes, Personalized Grip is another very good purchase.
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Nobody else seems to have mentioned this.... Synaptic Booster & Kamikaze don't stack for Initiative!!! You have the Essence so get Wired Reflexes 2 (alpha costs an extra 29.8 & saves .6 Essence) & Reaction Enhancers 3, that way you can use the Kamikaze to boost up to +5D6. Switch your Attributes & Resources around.... you can get way more than 4 points with the additional cyberware.. Drop Logic & Charisma (maybe Strength as well) to 1 during Charge & buy them back up with you extra Karma. Drop Dermal Plating & go with Orthoskin 2 (max), get used Muscle Toner 3 (Used saves ¥24,000 & costs .15 Essence), ABL should be Alpha (¥3600 to save .2 essence, Worth It), some Reflex Recorders would also be helpful. Also use Sum to Ten build so you can drop Metatype from D to E & Raise Skills from C to B. It should be Resources A/Attributes B/Skills B/Magic E/Metatype E. Those skills will be way more useful than Edge, just use Edge for rerolling failed important rolls. Might also want to take the NQ In Debt, each point up to 15 gets you an extra ¥5000, you owe 10% of ¥7500 per point every month... just pay it off with nuyen & karma a point at a time.
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Pretty sure drugs stack with everything.
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Most initiative boosters say what they don't stack with, usually not listing combat drugs. But Synaptic Boosters do state that they stack with no other initiative bonuses at all. So it seems he is correct.
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Nobody else seems to have mentioned this.... Synaptic Booster & Kamikaze don't stack for Initiative!!! You have the Essence so get Wired Reflexes 2 (alpha costs an extra 29.8 & saves .6 Essence) & Reaction Enhancers 3, that way you can use the Kamikaze to boost up to +5D6. Switch your Attributes & Resources around.... you can get way more than 4 points with the additional cyberware.. Drop Logic & Charisma (maybe Strength as well) to 1 during Charge & buy them back up with you extra Karma. Drop Dermal Plating & go with Orthoskin 2 (max), get used Muscle Toner 3 (Used saves ¥24,000 & costs .15 Essence), ABL should be Alpha (¥3600 to save .2 essence, Worth It), some Reflex Recorders would also be helpful. Also use Sum to Ten build so you can drop Metatype from D to E & Raise Skills from C to B. It should be Resources A/Attributes B/Skills B/Magic E/Metatype E. Those skills will be way more useful than Edge, just use Edge for rerolling failed important rolls. Might also want to take the NQ In Debt, each point up to 15 gets you an extra ¥5000, you owe 10% of ¥7500 per point every month... just pay it off with nuyen & karma a point at a time.
I'll look into it though I've been told that attributes should be highest as karma can be a lot harder to find than nuyen as time goes on. (Especially with how often my group meets). I'm just not seeing anything thus far that would justify making such a shift in resources, there's nothing quite that expensive I would consider make or break.
For the record, your recommendation of Wired Reflexes 2 Alpha is not possible - that would be 14R and simply not available without the Restricted Gear quality, same goes for Aluminum Bone Lacing (which is what I think you mean by "ABL")
My current build (reply 20 on page 2) uses Used Orthoskin 4, not sure why one would just max that out at 2 though.
I'll ask my GM about the synaptic booster compatibility with Kamikaze, the way it's worded I can see someone interpreting it as referring just to 'ware, not drugs. (I mean, I can see wired reflexes being limited by technological limitations, perhaps the wires can't keep up with the signals, but why would the body's inherent system suddenly become incompatible with a drug that worked fine before?)
Now that I'm looking into it though, Used Titanium Bone Lacing is juuuuust within my budget if I drop just about every non-essential item (shock gloves, bayonet, HE grenades, shock weave, etc.... though taking out the Smartlink would fulfill about half of what i would need....but it would drop my Essence to 1.5, which I consider getting into the danger zone) Ugh, time to go stare at a spreadsheet some more.
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You are getting an extra 37 or something karma right??? So Prime Run Build (gets you availability 15 & an extra 50k) subtract 10 from the extra you get... simple. Use Sum to Ten build system....
A. Resources B. Skills B. Attribute E. Magic E. Metatype
Body 5 [2]
AGI 6(9)
Rea 5 (10)
STR 2 (4) 10 Karma
Will 4
Log 2 10 Karma
Int 5
Chr 1
EDG 3
Ess 0.05
Ini 15+3d6 (14+3d6 with Pain Editor on)
Physical Condition 11 Boxes
Stun Condition 10 Boxes (11 with Pain Editor on)
Limits
M 5
P 8
S 3
Qualities -23/+25 still more available
Positive
Restricted Gear- (B ) Pain Editor
Biocompatibility (Cyber) [Augmentation 4th until Chromed Flesh:July]
Agile Defender
Negative
Cyberpsychosis (Augmentation 4th until Chromed Flesh:July]
In Debt ¥75,000
Augmentations
Fingertip Compartment (A) .07 ¥3600 (MonoWhip goes here)
Wired Reflexes 2 (A) 2.1 ¥178800
Reaction Enhancers 3 .9 ¥39000
Muscle Toner (U) .75 ¥72000
Aluminum Bone Lacing (A) .7 ¥21600
SmartLink (A) .14 ¥4800
Datajack. (A) .07 ¥1200
Muscle Augmentation 2 .4 ¥62000
Pain Editor (B ) .21 ¥72000
Reflex Recorder (Automatics) .1 ¥14000
Reflex Recorder (MonoWhip) .1 ¥14000
Orthoskin 2 ( A) .4. ¥14400
Totals Essence= 5.95 ¥497400
Skills 36/5 (13 used)
Automatics (Assault Rifles) 6 (7) (+2)
EWP (MonoWhip) 6 (7)
Gear
(Nice dressed armor) total armor value: 18
Mortimer Berwick Suit (Biomoniter installed)
Mortimer Argentum Coat
Forearm Guards
(Slum dressed armor/Running armor) total armor value: 18/21
Lined Coat/Armor Jacket (Biomoniter installed)
Ballistic Mask
Forearm Guards
Secure PPP legs kit
Secure PPP Arms Kit
You have ¥77600 to spend on armor, guns, commlink, & monowhip
The point with the combo of Cyberpsychosis & Pain Editor always turned on is that you are dead inside. Your are just playing a FPS with your body up to including a Health Bar keeping track with the Biomoniter. Just try not to talk to anyone that you can help, glitches suck & critial glitches turn you into an NPC for an unspecified amount of time. You will have 14 defense dice (23 w/full defense) & 25/28 Damage Soak Dice, so hard to hit & hard to hurt. You seem to want to go Mil Spec but without cyberlimbs to use as Armor Sinks the real benefit of Hardened Armor is lost since you can't jack your Armor score into the sky. Restrictive will really cut down on your mobility as well as being obnoxiously obvious anywhere but Chicago or an active warzone.
Sidenote: if you play with the Pain Editor permanently on as far as your character goes than you should be able to use 10 dice instead of 9 for your Kamikaze addiction tests. You are going to fail those, so don't start with an Addiction to it & save your Edge to Reroll dice that didn't get a hit. Like seriously save your Edge for that or Burning 1 point to not die. Question... why didn't you burn an Edge point to not die with your last character????
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I'm sorry but.... where the heck are you getting this stuff? This is the first I've heard of "Cyberpsychosis", I have no idea what you're talking about with that Fourth of July stuff, and this is NOT a prime runner build, as with all other characters in the run this is a standard character, just with a little additional karma to play catchup. I don't want to spend karma on Restricted Gear as, after thinking about it, it's wasting Karma over nuyen. Unless i went for something really rare like heavy mil-spec armor or the heavy laser gun, I couldn't feel like I was justifying it. And bilingual is one of the core character concepts, throw that out I might as well be building a completely different character. I want the additional 3 edge for two reasons - survival and more fuel for the Common Sense quality.
As for why I didn't burn an edge for the last character - that's because he didn't die. He got knocked out and, over the course of the run, resulted in him losing the following:
1. Newly acquired laser pistol was just left on the ground during the extraction
2. Last remaining Ares Duelist drone destroyed by police
3. Heavily modified Ares Roadmaster with most of my gear inside, including 3 tool shops - destroyed by police while on autopilot escaping a crime scene as I couldn't cancel the last directive. Even if it was salvageable, it was impounded.
Net nuyen loss was about 100,000, all I had left was the clothes on my back and my lifestyle. (And that's not including how my teammate was trying to let me bleed out rather than heal me so as to curry favor with a former fixer.)
The character is still alive, but after being so effectively dismantled, most thought I might as well just build a new character and get on with it. I think burning an edge was the only thing which kept the boulder from actually crushing the character's skull in the first place.
Now back to the current character, the former French Legionaire...
Now, I'm currently planning to go Used Titanium Bone lacing, though it's going to cost me a number of minor gear (weapon personality, combat knife, shock gloves, medkit, etc). Just enough nuyen left to change up the armor. How's this: I get the Urban Explorer suit + helmet + all three securetech PPP. I'd love to go for the Riot armor, but I simply do not have enough nuyen unless I want to start deleting 'ware.
Counting Orthoskin 4, Ti BL, and all that armor, I come out with 3+4+13 = 20 armor total. If possible, I'd also wear the lined coat to help conceal gear like my machine pistol or rifle-on-a-sling, putting the deleted items on my wishlist for the next run. I've never been sure what actually counts as full body armor - there's the explicit "full body armor" in the core rulebook and the mil-spec armor is described as being fully enclosed, but is that it? Do other armors, such as the Urban Explorer, Bike Racing armor, or Riot armor count as "full-body"? Does that mean I can equip all three pieces of the Securetech PPP over the Urban explorer?
If there's no problem with this, I'll prep a new build, I think we're closing in on the end goal.
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Cyberpsychosis & Biocompatibility are in Augmentation book which is 4th edition. Chromed Flesh comes out in late July/early August which will be the Augment book for 5th edition. If you are so super serious about wanting Mil Spec Armor... go full cyberlimbs, with Biocompatibility (10 Karma gets you 10% reduction on Cyber) & Alphaware it'll cost you 2.8 essence. That way you can really stack Armor... 8 starting with 12 possible. Toss in some aluminum bone Lacing, huff some Kamikaze & call it a day. That way not much can get through to Physical & the special effect of Mil Spec is that it's Hardened Armor so Stun damage doesn't count. You will be one very slow walking tank that will take high level sniper rifles, missles, or other advanced high powered military equipment to put down. It's just not the usual game that uses that... though Chicago & active war zones would be appropriate, maybe in Boston you could get away with right now.
Also.... not sure why Bilingual is so important but ok. The thing I would like to say is that one of the main points of joining the French Foreign Legion is to become someone else. To run from trouble & get a new identity, so keeping both SINs doesn't work thematically or mechanically since you only have 1 SIN at a time. But if being Canadian and bilingual is important keep it. It's Quebec that's French right???
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Cyberpsychosis & Biocompatibility are in Augmentation book which is 4th edition.
It's not that I discourage you from using previous edition in your games, but it is wise to assume that the person whom you are giving an advice to plays 5e rules if he states that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be bitter or something.
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Cyberpsychosis & Biocompatibility are in Augmentation book which is 4th edition.
It's not that I discourage you from using previous edition in your games, but it is wise to assume that the person whom you are giving an advice to plays 5e rules if he states that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be bitter or something.
True enough... using a Quality or 2 from a previous edition Splatbook just didn't seem like a big deal to me. Wasn't really thinking about it, the 5th edition Splatbook comes out in 2 months so it'd fly in the game I play in and any game I'd be running. If it was required we'd just modify the character up or down as needed when Chromed Flesh is released.
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Yeah, I'm not dealing with 4E. Sure, I got the morph chip and spoof plate, but that's it. I have enough trouble keeping track of 5E without delving into translating over components.
I'm not sure you read my last post, I said I'm not going with mil-spec armor (I said if I was to use restricted gear, I'd have to do with something really expensive/rare like heavy mil-spec armor). What I am going with, currently, is:
- Used Orthoskin 4
- Used Titanium Bone Lacing
- Urban explorer jumpsuit
- All three Securetech PPP add-ons
That is, assuming, that the securetech PPP is compatible with Urban Explorer. All told - that gives me 20 armor. I can put Riot armor on my wishlist. My GM has previously allowed me to wear a lined coat over the jumpsuit to conceal equipment, so I'll double check the encumbrance rules, but it looks good.
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As was said upthread you want to soft cap Intuition. Str, Logic, Will, or Cha drop two of them to two to bump up Int.
Addiction to Kamikaze is suicide. Literally the most addictive substance in the basic book. You've got about a 4 month life expectancy, give or take, depending on how rehab goes in month 3. Pick something easy to shake like Heroin.
Armorer Shop is a decent sized investment for an RP hook. Tool Kit will get you everything you'll every want to roll dice on, and Medkits save lives.
You don't need Biker armor for the Bike helmet to blend in, you need a bike : ) Personally, I prefer either Ares Wild Hunt (Gear Access) or Mortimer of London (Concealability Bonus), the quintessential Pink Mohawk vs Black Trench coat YMMV. I keep the Secure tech, Forearm guards and other add on's stashed in the bike's saddle bags and pull them out when the group is going heavy.
I think it was mentioned upthread already but Specialization in SMG > Assault Rifle at most tables. Given that your last character was tooling around in a Roadmaster with a Laser Pistol that may not apply.
Juggle your combat drugs between runs. RAW if you alternate, one week on Jazz, next week on Cram you technically put off addiction tests indefinitely. Although any GM paying attention will slap you with the book eventually.
Last Edit: With a Str of 3 you likely want to stop at +4 worth of additional Armor from Gear. Helmet is +2, Securetech Arms and Legs or Forearm Guards and Securetech Legs. If you drop Str to bump Int Helmet and Forearm Guards and done.
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Took me a couple times reading that section to realize I'd be over, yeah, so good call on the encumbrance.
So, ditching the vitals as that's the most expensive piece, I can keep the arms and legs and still have 20 armor (+3 BL, +4 Ortho, +13 worn). With the saved nuyen, I can recover the shock gloves, though the survival kit is a close second.... I'll go with the forearm guards as you suggested - more capacity than the Securetech Arms kit.
Thanks for the heads up on the addiction. I'll take out that quality along with On File used for padding (seriously, along with the 2 SINs that was overkill) and replace it with Big Regret. My character's story is that someone from the French Embassy is blackmailing him to do jobs, this will just be formalizing it. Say, while in the Legion, there was a massacre - bad intelligence led to the destruction of a civilian village, which the soldiers then burned to cover up, or something equally bad.
I'll get some Jazz and Cram, see how that works out. looks like I'd still have to spend one week sober to burn down the addition timer.
I'll grab one Logic and one Charisma to put Intuition at 5, I don't want to touch Strength and definitely not Willpower - I don't want to be a walking tank who gets knocked out at the first blow.
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I'll grab one Logic and one Charisma to put Intuition at 5, I don't want to touch Strength and definitely not Willpower - I don't want to be a walking tank who gets knocked out at the first blow.
Having Body and Will are even numbers is pretty much useless, as you gain additional boxes at odd numbers. So right now you have 4 will - you'd either want to drop that by 1 or raise it by 1 (likely drop by 1, as it sounds like you need the points elsewhere).
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I wouldn't exactly call it useless - the main benefit of Body and Will is still better soak/mental defense. By the time you get to that last box of damage an extra body will add you, things have already gone wrong.
Still, even numbers of Body and Will are worth quite a bit less than odd numbers.
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If you want a lot of armor then Ares Big Game Hunter+Helmet+PPP arms and legs=18 armor right there. And it will not even encumber you (if you stay at str 3). Sweet bonuses like gear access and free resistance included.
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I wouldn't exactly call it useless - the main benefit of Body and Will is still better soak/mental defense. By the time you get to that last box of damage an extra body will add you, things have already gone wrong.
Still, even numbers of Body and Will are worth quite a bit less than odd numbers.
It's not entirely useless, no. But WIL 4 is going to benefit fewer rolls than increasing INT will. +1 die isn't much, ever, sure, but over time that +1 INT is going to potentially bring more benefit more often on Perception tests, defense tests, Street Knowledge, and boosting initiative than +1 WIL is going to occur with (predominantly) rolls to resist Illusion spells and direct Combat spells.
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Well, I checked in with my GM. He rejected me using the SecureTech PPP with the Urban explorer armor, citing it being a jumpsuit as counting as being full body. Can't really say I disagree with him on that one. I'm waiting to hear back about the forearm guards, hopefully those will go through.
Big Game hunter is kinda outside my budget unless I want to start dropping 'ware, its looking more and more like I'm locked into my final configuration as is.
My current attributes are:
Body 5 + 3 From Used Titanium bone lacing for DMG resistance test
Agility 6
Reaction 5 +2 from Synaptic Booster
Strength 3
Will 4
Logic 2
Intuition 5
Charisma 2
I don't want to pull any more logic and/or charisma for the will power (and definitely not strength), so I'm thinking that's pretty much done. Reaction and Intuition to for initiatve (along with the Synaptic booster +2D6), Agility for combat, and body and armor for enduring damage. I want to keep logic to help with armorer tests, and Charisma is useful for etiquette. I just need to rejigger my skills listing (i was told Etiquette 5 was overkill, maybe split that into Ettiquette and intimidation or something. I'll figure it out then post the latest configuration.
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Well, I checked in with my GM. He rejected me using the SecureTech PPP with the Urban explorer armor, citing it being a jumpsuit as counting as being full body. Can't really say I disagree with him on that one. I'm waiting to hear back about the forearm guards, hopefully those will go through.
Big Game hunter is kinda outside my budget unless I want to start dropping 'ware, its looking more and more like I'm locked into my final configuration as is.
My current attributes are:
Body 5 + 3 From Used Titanium bone lacing for DMG resistance test
Agility 6
Reaction 5 +2 from Synaptic Booster
Strength 3
Will 4
Logic 2
Intuition 5
Charisma 2
I don't want to pull any more logic and/or charisma for the will power (and definitely not strength), so I'm thinking that's pretty much done. Reaction and Intuition to for initiatve (along with the Synaptic booster +2D6), Agility for combat, and body and armor for enduring damage. I want to keep logic to help with armorer tests, and Charisma is useful for etiquette. I just need to rejigger my skills listing (i was told Etiquette 5 was overkill, maybe split that into Ettiquette and intimidation or something. I'll figure it out then post the latest configuration.
I'd drop Will by 1 and push it to Strength - having Will 4 isn't really doing much for you that Will 3 would do ...
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You could get Aluminum Bone Lacing, Orthoskin 3, Wired Reflexes 2, & Used Reaction Enhancers 3. You would be moving 3 dice from your Damage Resistance Test to your Defense Test & increase your Initiative by 3. It would also save you ¥20,750... could buy some better armor with that. Like a Sleeping Tiger & Synergist Line Coat... throw on some Forearm Guards and you'd be at a very stylish 17 Armor (22 total w/29 Damage Resistance after a 15 Defense Test)
Of course going Sum to Ten A Resources B Attributes B Skills E Magic E Metatype would be even better. That way you could do Restricted Gear (Beta) Wired Reflexes & add Used Muscle Toner 3 as well.... having about 50k more than you do now.
B 5 [2]
A 6 (9)
R 5 (10)
S 3 (15 KARMA)
W 3
L 2 (10 KARMA)
I 5
C 1
EDG 3
ESS .275
Ini 15+3d6
You could even upgrade to put Alpha Titanium Bone Lacing (.2 essence more that ABL) in for ¥36,000 after a few runs. Alpha Orthoskin 4 would cost ¥28,800 after that. So you'll still get all the ware you wanted in the end but +3 AGI & + 3 REA. It's a much better & cheaper upgrade path.
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For some reason, the idea of not making attributes A leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Also, I fail to see why a soldier would wish to fight in a business suit. Stylish, perhaps if he was infiltrating a classy event rather than being in the middle of an all-out brawl it would work better. This character isn't a face. I do not wish to give up my Edge, both for live-saving purposes as well as fuel for Common Sense.
I am not doing Sum To Ten, not in this instance. I do not wish to do Restricted Gear as I see it as wasting karma on nuyen. I cannot confirm the math on your listed attributes, I believe you only used 19 additional points rather than 20 (and edge would be 2, not 3). Thank you for the suggestion but no.
I am, however, going to switch my strength and willpower, if what is said is true about Willpower 3 being functionally equivalent to Willpower 4 with regards to stun, then that will give me sufficient strength to carry forearm guards, securetech PPP legs, a helmet, and an armor vest (in case i need to ditch the lined coat). Total armor: 4+3+13 = 20. And this way I get to keep the smartlink and datajack AND have an essence above 1.0.
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Attributes (A):
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Body 5+3 (Bone lacing on DMG resistance tests)
Agility 6
React 5+2 (Synaptic Booster)
Strength 4
Willpow 3
Logic 3
Intuit 3
Char 3
Edge (Human - D) 5
Initiative: 10 +3D6 (2 from Synaptic Booster)
Mental - 4
Physical - 8
Social - 4
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Qualities (Negative):
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Big Regret - Unintentional civilian massacre, being blackmailed about it by Mathis - French embassy contact
Day Job (10 hours - Bartender)
Dependents (slacker sister - "Caroline")
Driven (on finding a "Benedict Arnold" style traitor from his old unit, reunion will involve lots of sharp, red-hot, pointy things)
National SIN (France)
National SIN (UCAS)
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Qualities (positive)
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Bilingual (French)
Common Sense
Jack of All Trades
Perceptive I
Toughness
Post-character creation:
Firefight - Close quarters defense against firearms
Quick healer
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Contacts:
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Bounty Hunter - "Electra Coyote" Con:2 Loy:3 (Can act as a fixer and knowledge resource on the criminal underworld)
France Embassy Official - "Mathis" Con:3 Loy:1 (is blackmailing my char into being an intelligence asset, but occasionally provides support to engender some goodwill)
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Skills (C):
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(5) Etiquette
(6) Automatics - Spec: Assault rifle
(5) Heavy weapons
(5) Sneaking
(5) Perception - Spec: Visual
(1) outdoors (group) - survival(W), navigation(I), tracking(I)
(1) Athletics (group) - gymnastics(A), running(S), swimming(S)
Post creation skills:
(1) Intimidation
(3) Unarmed
(3) Armorer - primarily used to repair armor
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Items (B)
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(1) Armor Vest
(1) Helmet
(1) Forearm Guards
(1) SecureTech PPP Legs kit
(1) Contacts
[1 - Contacts] Vision: Flare
[1 - Contacts] Vision: image
[1 - Contacts] Vision: Low light
(1) Lined coat
(1) Earbuds
(1) Ballistic Mask (Modified William Shatner mask, if anyone gets that reference...)
(1) Datajack (used)
(1) Smartlink (used, implant in natural eye)
(1) Bone Lacing (Used) Titanium
(1) Lvl2 Synaptic Booster (Standard)
(1) Lvl4 Dermal plating (Used)
(5) Credstick (standard)
(1) subvocal microphone
(1) Hermes Ikon commlink
(1) Ares Alpha Assault rifle
(1) Ares Crusader II Machine pistol
(1) Gas-Vent III (Assault rifle)
(1) sling (assault rifle)
(1) Quickdraw holster (machine pistol)
(1) bayonet (assault rifle)
(16) Regular (MP) x10
(90) Regular (assault) x10
(4) Gel rounds (MP) x10
(1) Flash-pak
(2) Spare clip (MP)
(2) Spare clip (assault rifle)
(1) Survival knife
(1) shock gloves
(1) kit [armorer]
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Restricted Cyberware)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Restricted Bioware)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Firearms)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake license (Concealed Carry)
(1) Lvl 4 Fake sin ("Pierre Devereaux")
(4) Restraints Metal
(1) survival kit
(1) Flashlight (standard)
(2) Drug: Cram
(2) Drug: Jazz
(1) lifestyle (low) - 2200 per month
(1) Spoof chip + Morph plate
(1) Suzuki Mirage - gunmetal gray)
Starting nuyen - 820
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Knowledge skills
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(4) Military Procedures (Foreign Legion)
(2) Sports - Cricket
(2) DeeCee Arms Dealers
(2) DeeCee Drug Dealers
(2) DeeCee Money Launderers
post char creation knowledge:
(1) Small Unit Tactics (as flavor, if not necessarily practical, I'll clear with my GM who disallowed any benefits from using the actual tactics)
Total remaining karma: 0
Total 'ware augmented armor: +7 (4: Ortho, 3 BL)
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Gear wishlist:
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- Medkit
- biomonitor
- Grenades
- Second skin (stacked with Biker Armor)
- Ear Damper implant
- Spacial recognizer, either ear implant or in biker helmet
- Fly-Spy drone
My plan is to slowly replace my used cyberware with alphaware, starting with the cheap things like the datajack and reuse some of the spent essence. Definitely going to replace the lined coat with an electrochromic one ASAP - the better to avoid traffic cams and whatnot. I upgraded the strength to 4 so now I can wear the helmet, forearm guards, and legs kit along with room to expand to the vitals kit if, for whatever reason, I happen to be caught without the vest. Might be going a touch overboard with that, but it's there, Really, I plan on getting the Riot armor next, but we'll see.
Unless there are any glaring flaws, I'll submit this to my GM and pray to the Gods of Gaming he doesn't find issue with it.
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Alright dude... it's cool. I gave you a build that has clearly superior Stats, better ware, better skills, & better upgrade path to your ware... he fights better & goes first barring the unluckyest of 3d6 rolls. This dude slaughters as well as being a great sneak if you want. Enjoy your worse stats and poor use of ware... I'm done.
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A bit harsh there, Zhoul. Besides, your build is illegal - you can't use Restricted Gear to get Betaware augmentations - you can't get Betaware during chargen, and Restricted Gear only lifts the availability restriction. And your character ends with 1 less logic and 2 less charisma (to 1!). Those might not be optimized, but I understand the guy wanting a relatively smart and charismatic character for roleplay reasons - that's not a bad thing. Also 2 less edge.
Although your first lineup in that post is not a bad idea - getting some extra defense at the cost of armor is generally a good thing anyway.
Jake, a soldier would fight in a business suit for the same reason anyone does - it offers the best protection you can get without also appearing as some sort of maniac. They offer better protection then a lined coat (some even better then an armor vest), and in many areas of town, running around in an armor vest will get you some strange stares at the least. Conversly, running around in a suit in the bad areas of town will... well they'll stare at you strangely there anyway so it's not that big of a downside (ideally, of course, you have two or more sets of armor for both - but that's a later concern).
I mean, I get you don't want to for style reasons; just know what you're giving up. Besides, depending on your backstory and with a lenient GM you might be able to get a more army-style suit.
(If you do stick with the armor vest, do please buy something you can wear in semi-polite company so you at least have some protection when you meet the Johnsons. A lined coat would be fine there.)
You don't need STR4 to get the +4 to armor, if I recall correctly - you only get a penalty for every two full points of bonus armor you have above STR. So you can have +4 with a STR3. (That depends on how your GM reads the terrible line in the armor encumbrance section though - you can read it as if you are capped to +3, in which case the whole agi/rea penalty never occurs. The rules are strange like that sometimes). At any rate, you're better off putting that into INT or something anyway (+1 defense and intiative and perception is better then a point in an attribute you barely use).
You still have some spare cash - I'd get some microgrenades to start out with, just so you have a wildcard when things go wrong. You have the launcher on your Ares and the skill already anyway. You should also think about getting some Gel Rounds for the Ares - Stun is quite often a better option in the field, and you at least want the option.
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you can read it as if you are capped to +3, in which case the whole agi/rea penalty never occurs
Or you can read it such that the natural bonus counts toward your Agi/Rea penalty, while the capped bonus counts towards your armour.
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you can read it as if you are capped to +3, in which case the whole agi/rea penalty never occurs
Or you can read it such that the natural bonus counts toward your Agi/Rea penalty, while the capped bonus counts towards your armour.
I guess. Although that would not be my interpretation.
At any rate, I'm sure there's discussions on this topic somewhere in the bowels of these forums. But even in the interpretation where you're limited to +3 armor (with STR 3), going INT 4 would probably be better - the loss of armor is offset by a gain in defense, and you also gain initiative and perception.
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you can read it as if you are capped to +3, in which case the whole agi/rea penalty never occurs
Or you can read it such that the natural bonus counts toward your Agi/Rea penalty, while the capped bonus counts towards your armour.
I guess. Although that would not be my interpretation.
At any rate, I'm sure there's discussions on this topic somewhere in the bowels of these forums. But even in the interpretation where you're limited to +3 armor (with STR 3), going INT 4 would probably be better - the loss of armor is offset by a gain in defense, and you also gain initiative and perception.
Good catch... I forgot that it was a houserule since 4th edition on Restricted Gear. The whole point being that if you are spending 10 Positive Quality points to break Chargen rules, you get to break Chargen rules. But thus dude obviously doesn't care about his Defense Tests, Initiative, or Perception tests... the only thing that is important is Damage Resistance rolls but not having the best armor or Metatype to do it. Going Troll at B, Attributes A, Skills C, & Resources D coupled with the In Debt NQ to afford (U)TBL, (U)Othro 4 & eating Kamikaze for dice (since 9 Body & 3/4 Will can easily handle the Addiction Tests) would let him have way higher Damage Resistance dice pools. Since that's the only thing that he cares about, carrying a Shield & SMG in combat could conceivably get him a Dice pool of 40ish!!!! Hence why I can't see any way of helping... making characters that are close to what he wants when in reality to achieve his true goal requires a different build.
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I'm going to stay with human and, upon further review, keep the current assortment of 'ware. Good armor, good initiative bonus, AND I start with a full quarter of my essence left in case anything interesting comes along in that augmentation book you mention. Elf is a close second, admittedly - I could get Agility 7 and have better overall attributes, and low-light vision would save me some nuyen from the contacts, but the loss of 4 edge just isn't attractive - it would take 70 karma to restore.
I have a troll character in mind for the next one, want to refine that one a bit before implementing. Everyone seems to groan at my name for the char though - the "Sioux Chef". Tribal history, cannibal, street samurai, speaks in two word sentences. Why does he run? "Do runs. Make money. Buy Restaurant. Serve man. Man tasty..."
Point taken about the business suit, what I mean is that I doubt it would be his go-to item given the opportunity, but I'll review, the primary objective of a soldier is to complete the mission and return home alive after all. Not a bad police deterrent, I suppose - low lifestyle bartender by day, stylish suit wearing shadowrunner by night. I added the extra strength before realizing the PPP vitals was explicitly incompatible with the armor vest. Good to have, but I may just save the nuyen from the Vitals kit in case there's any last minute item to purchase when we actually do the run. (which, I honestly have no idea when that will be)
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You keep taking Drugs.... DRUGS DO NOT STACK WITH SYNAPTIC BOOSTER!!! On top of that... Jazz is the 2nd worst drug after Novacoke, that's 2 separate Addiction tests of 8 dice & 6 dice to hit threshold 3. You will be spending all your Edge rolls to not be burnt out in 2 months with that. Cram is a bit better though still totally pointless since you get ZERO benefit & will be sinking your Edge into the Addiction Tests since that a 6 dice pool to hit threshold 3 every other month. Wired Reflexes is only an Augmentation Reaction & Initiative incompatibility (except wireless Reaction Enhancers) but still fine with Initiative Enhancement through spells & drugs. There are threads on here devoted to this issue... in the Rules section look for the "5th reaction adjustments" on pg 4 (iirc) is the chart of stacks with what that includes everything on Reaction & Initiative.
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GM override - I asked and he shares my viewpoint that synaptic booster is only incompatible with other ware like wired reflexes. Drugs will function fine. Now, yes, the addiction tests may be a point of concern, I'll review. That's one mechanism I've never had to study in depth.
Also, please stop yelling at me, it isn't causing me to be more receptive to your suggestions, quite the opposite in fact.
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Addiction to combat drugs shouldn't be a problem in most games. Usually some mage will eventually demand a month off for initiation and you can detox on a beach somewhere. Assuming you're not starting out with it anyway.
Also, Ares Wild Hunt. Not the Heavy Armor, basically an Armored Jacket with a few nice perks. Run and Gun P. 63. Handy for juggling drugs, grenades, and different ammo types. Turning a simple action into a Free action is really handy sometimes. Plus its a strong Military theme and it works fine with all the other + Armor gear you'll be humping around.
I would put the Etiquette 5 into Unarmed and pick up Etiquette post gen. Can you specialize in shock gloves? I'd go Unarmed 4 and specialize in whatever the heck shock gloves are.
Also consider Lockpicking and Pilot ground vehicle of one or two post gen. Easy and handy skills. And if you can scare up a couple thousand nuyen the Microdrones are handy disposable critters.
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Well then there's no reason not to take Synaptic Booster since your GM is willing to throw Balance out the window. Just weird that he would make such a Power Gaming call while at the same time saying that Big Game Hunter is Full Body Armor which it's not. It's the Wild Hunt Jacket that incorporates a Ballistic Mask essentially. Usually GMs make calls going in one general direction in my experience, hence why I kept trying to point out the Rules. But if it's a crapshoot on how he's going to use GM Fiat... congrats on figuring out ways that he'll allow you to game the system.
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A lot of tables let drugs stack with other boosts because the wording for some boosts are a bit vague. It hasn't been specifically squashed, so its pretty common. And Big Game Hunter is "heavy" armor. *shrug* For whatever value "heavy" armor is. Social penalties, strange looks, and getting stopped by security or law enforcement.
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Yeah, there's a weird combo where Wired Reflexes stack with drugs, but Reaction Enhancers don't, so using the two in combination with wireless bonuses wouldn't seem to also stack with drugs.
I'd say it's ridiculous to get histrionic on here about "balance" given that WR provides the same exact benefits as SB level for level, but is more expensive in Essence and can stack with drugs when used on its own. There's little logic to it. Occam's Razor with this edition leads me to believe it's just poor editing, not intentional "balancing."
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I'm 99% sure that RAI is no Initiative boost stacks with any other initiative boost unless specifically stated. Example Reaction Enhancers and Wired Reflexes with the wireless bonus. That new drug from Lockdown. Sadly, it wasn't written that way until a couple source books in, and issuing an errata doesn't seem likely.
Moving on.
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Well then there's no reason not to take Synaptic Booster since your GM is willing to throw Balance out the window. Just weird that he would make such a Power Gaming call while at the same time saying that Big Game Hunter is Full Body Armor which it's not. It's the Wild Hunt Jacket that incorporates a Ballistic Mask essentially. Usually GMs make calls going in one general direction in my experience, hence why I kept trying to point out the Rules. But if it's a crapshoot on how he's going to use GM Fiat... congrats on figuring out ways that he'll allow you to game the system.
Again, I don't know what you're talking about. I never asked my GM about whether or not Big Game Hunter was full-body because I honestly never seriously considered Big Game Hunter until now. (Too rural, really - our runs are based in DeeCee and that's pretty built up). I asked my GM about the Urban Explorer Jumpsuit for clarification as, after all, a jumpsuit is full body clothing by definition. (I just wish the writers would make "full body armor" a characteristic, up there with "restrictive" or "padded", if for no other reason than to determine which armors can take chemical seals) Does Big Game Hunter come with a mask? The image is wearing one, but the description makes no mention of it. Moot point, really, I'd have to give up a few things to get to that price I really want to keep.
As for my GM - experiences vary! Regardless of what it says in the book, he's the final arbiter and that's that. (such as his aforementioned rejection of tactics bonuses from Run&Gun)
At this point, I think I'll just go with a lined coat for the concealability bonus, legs and vitals PPP kit, forearm guards, and a helmet (+5 armor which with a strength of 4 I can now support sans penalty). Total armor: 9+5+ 7 Ware armor = 21, which I think is higher than I've ever had in any of our previous runs. That'll be enough to do me for the first run, I can use the profits from that run to get something permanent.
I'll swap Etiquette and Unarmed and take that specialization, we'll see what he says about it. Either "Shock gloves" or "Subduing Combat" - the latter of which is specifically is listed in the book (that almost sounds better, less restricted, in case I run out of charge or can't get to the gloves for some reason).
After reading the section on how to make addiction tests, I'm considering just throwing Jazz, Cram, and Kamikaze out so I don't have to deal with figuring out what that mess of deceptively-English seeming collection of words is saying. If there was any part of the book crying out for an example blurb, ugh.
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Yeah, there's a weird combo where Wired Reflexes stack with drugs, but Reaction Enhancers don't, so using the two in combination with wireless bonuses wouldn't seem to also stack with drugs.
Reaction Enhancers don't stack with anything except Wireless Wired Reflexes (& the Move by Wire System that'll most likely be in Chromed Flesh) but that only means you don't get the +1 Reation from Cram or Jazz. You still get the +1d6 to Initiative roll & the +2d6 from Kamikaze. It also let's the Increase Reflexes spell which is a purely Initiative bonus work with Wired Reflexes. That's the plus side of spending 3x the amount of Essence & .784x the Nuyen Cost of Synaptic Booster 2. If you are just going to give the same bonuses to Synaptic Booster regardless than it clearly becomes a Everyone Would Take It definition of OP. Synaptic Booster is already higher valued strictly for the Essence cost... if it can also stack Drugs & Spells, then Wired Reflexes is complete trash in comparison!!! Would you allow it to stack with say Adept Improved Attribute (Reation) as well...? Cause that would be a trifecta of awesomeness... my secret little munchkin heart gets all excited by the concept of allowing Synaptic Booster to stack, hence why I know it broken.
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I'm 99% sure that RAI is no Initiative boost stacks with any other initiative boost unless specifically stated. Example Reaction Enhancers and Wired Reflexes with the wireless bonus. That new drug from Lockdown. Sadly, it wasn't written that way until a couple source books in, and issuing an errata doesn't seem likely.
Moving on.
Accelerator is specifically mentioned to work "uniquely well with basic level cybernetics & bionetics"... meaning level 1. Which is a very true statement cause it can get you the full +5D6 but higher rating systems are still Capped at +5D6. No other drug in the game can get a Rating 1 system to +5D6. But considering the side effects are truly punishing, "severe & horrific hallucinations and paranoia" for the amount of hours that it lasted in Combat Turns... what PC is building a character around that???? Kamikaze gives +2d6 and not nearly as side effects... and people generally are anti Kamikaze. But it's not written specifically to be the only drug that works with cyber... you are not understanding the sentence if you believe that. "Uniquely well with basic(Rating 1)" does not equate to "this drug is unique in that it works with cybernetics" which is how you seem to be reading it.
Also... everything by RAW & RAI stacks with everything else unless it explicitly states that they are incompatible. Hence why different things are stackable with other things. Superthyroid Gland, Adrenaline Pump, Jazz/Cram/Kamikaze/Accelerator, & Increase Reflexes spell all stack with each other.... the only limit is the +4 Augmented Bonus. That's 2 augmentations, 1 drug, & 1 spell that none of them say are incompatible with anything. Now Muscle Toner/Augmentation/Replacement all say they don't stack with each other. But they all stack with Drugs or Spells since it's only Augmentation incompatible. But it gets real interesting when you realize that Muscle Replacement says "no augmentation to muscles" which allows it to stack with Superthyroid Gland or Adrenaline Pump. Muscle Toner/Augmentation specifically states "No augmentation to Strength." That is the whole thing about Balance between cyber & bio, bio is much cheaper in Essence & a bit more in Nuyen... but Cyber allows a greater range of compatibility.
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I asked my GM about the Urban Explorer Jumpsuit for clarification as, after all, a jumpsuit is full body clothing by definition. (I just wish the writers would make "full body armor" a characteristic, up there with "restrictive" or "padded", if for no other reason than to determine which armors can take chemical seals)
I can see you point.... got mixed up on the armors in my head since a Jumpsuit is clearly not Full Body Armor, it's a jumpsuit. I agree that Full Body Armor would be a good Feature to use but all the Full Body Armors say they are such in the descriptions. Full Body armor & the Chameleon Suit in SR5, the Mil-Spec/Security/Bunker/Riot/SWAT in R&G. Jumpsuits, Jackets, Suits, Coats, full body unitards all don't qualify as Full Body since none of the can take Chemical Seal... none of them even have a helmet.
After reading the section on how to make addiction tests, I'm considering just throwing Jazz, Cram, and Kamikaze out so I don't have to deal with figuring out what that mess of deceptively-English seeming collection of words is saying. If there was any part of the book crying out for an example blurb, ugh.
It's vague but understandable... take Kamikaze/Cram then you'll have to make an Addiction Test 2/7 weeks later. For every week that you don't take it before that date, reduce the Threshold by 1. So if you take Kamikaze once and never do it again you have a Body+Willpower Threshold (1) 2 weeks later. If you take Cram then you have an Addiction Test 7 weeks later, if you use it every week for a month an then stop that would be Willpower+Logic against a Threshold (0) to not glitch or critical glitch. But if you take Cram and then don't do it again for 6 weeks... then you are reseting the Threshold count back to 3. So your Addiction test would be (2) when you did the next week. It's very wonky & everyone wishes that the rules were more sensible or at least not so easy to game using downtime. But if you run a lot and don't take long downtime breaks very often... they work relatively fine.
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Drugs are meant to stack with everything. Drugs break all the limits. Drugs make you se fraggin' astral! Check the drug section of the CRB, maybe there's some info about that.