Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: EpilepticEmu on <08-10-16/1544:42>
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Hey all! First post and first character! Gonna be playing in a game and I'd love some ideas for how to build this character concept. I got a bit hung up on the 4 different types of magic users and what the downside is of choosing one over the other.
Concept: Elf martial artist. Former corporate body guard. Knew too much and was going to be killed if he stayed with the Corporation, so fled and went Sinless.
Main fighting style: martial arts, knives, throwing knives, magically boosted, a few broad-use spells. How viable is this? Or is having guns pretty much mandatory.
defense style: super high reaction & intuition. Go first, and never get hit. Limited armor. Also, is this viable?
Social: Decent social stats, but mostly intuition to know when others are being deceptive.
Mostly disdains the Matrix & Drones, so won't be doing any rigger/decker type stuff.
Aspected Magician or Mystic Adept? Had trouble telling the pros and cons of each.
Thanks for any and all input for my first dive into Shadowrun!
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Concept is interesting and certainly possible.
The fighting style would call for some kind of firearm given your concept.
Corp body guards would normally have a burst fire weapon with at least 1 small weapon hidden as a backup.
For defense, you have no shortage of choices for armored clothes that won't draw attention.
Just don't expect them to stop anything bigger than a medium pistol.
Social, need points in Etiquette so you don't stick out and max Perception.
Would also advise some points in Negotiation.
All people in urban areas require at least a Meta-Link to broadcast a SIN.
Also, get yourself a fake SIN (or 4 or 5), at least R3.
Aspected Magicians only get 1 of the 3 magic skill groups and can't use the others.
Mystic Adepts are mages that can buy Power Points for Adept powers. (5 karma per, up to your current Magic Attribute)
With your concept and experience, Adept or mundane would be my suggestion.
These are just broad strokes to get you started.
Post your character build and you'll find plenty of people that can help out.
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Aspected magic is terrible because it's absurdly limiting. MysAd or bust.
Though I will note you're discussing like 4 combat styles and that is not viable because it spreads your points too thin. Guns aren't mandatory, but some degree of focus generally is.
Limited armor is primarily viable with high INT + REA, Agile Defender or Too Pretty To Hit, and Combat Sense.
I might consider a Physical Adept actually. It might be easier to be more of a martial artist with varying combat competencies if you're not also worried about casting and binding.
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Hmm, how about going Mystic Adept and pumping up martial arts melee, and only using spells if I couldn't close to melee? That would really only be 2 types.
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A lot of martial arts are solidly meh, as in, not getting a lot of value for the cost. The best ones use a sword. Hats more feasible. Really the combat style (tied to a skill) is better than the MA quality itself, just cost wise. It's very easy to be decent with a sword and spell and rely on not getting hit as your defense.
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First realize that a martial artist (character concept) does not need Martial Arts (Game mechanic). I would allow you to take a spec in unarmed combat and call it Martial arts (Note you get the extra dice when fighting but don't get the special abilities this way).
Based on concept I would defiantly go Mystic Adept and concentrate on some of the combat powers, A couple attack spells can make you a reasonable body guard w/o guns (I have a weird fascination with taking incomp firearms). Take a intuition based tradition
Make sure you take Increased Reflexes (Level 2 min, level 3 is sick)
Probably Magic A, Attributes B, Skills C, Race D, Resources E. Stick your Skill groups into influence, Blades, Thrown Weapons, and spellcasting all maxed with specs (Knives, knives, Depends on what spells you will be casting most)
If you are magically boosting you want to also take Focused Concentration (I run a buff mage right now, have both a sustaining foci and Focused Concentration, and still wish I had more....) Remember Force of Increased attribute has to be equal or higher than the attribute. I have found 4 to be a really good number in this area
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Why don't you simply go Elvish Adept ?
You can concentrate your Skills on Martial Arts, blades (incl Throwing) and use your Adept Powers to boost these .
You can even spend 1 (or 2) Essence Pouints on 'ware.
If You go Mystical Adept you have to use the Rubber Karma from the Start for your Power points. But they're better spend for pos Qualities and Martial Arts ;) ! !
You also have to spent Skill Points on Spell Slinging and Antimagic and Spirit Summoning and Binding ,etc etc.
Leave that to a Full mage ! You'd better spend your precious Skill Points on Melee,Throwing,Akimbo Pistole/Blade Fighting etc
Hough
Medicineman
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In what world are karma better spent on martial arts qualities than PP? And you can pick up many PQ post chargen or with NQ.
Certainly you must be using a different system than me, medicineman. :P
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Sorry, what are PQ and NQ? Thanks!
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Positive Quality / Negative Quality I suppose.
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Positive Quality / Negative Quality I suppose.
Correct. And PP are Power Points, which are relevant to PhysAd (physical adepts) and MysAd (mystic adepts).
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>> And you can pick up many PQ post chargen or with NQ.
of Course you can , but You have to pay double the Karma later ;)
And since you get so small a Karma (especially in the US RAW and Missions )
Thats why I wrote he should better get (at least some) Pos Quals
And NO , I don't think we're playing different SRs
>>> In what world are karma better spent on martial arts qualities than PP?
It always depends on the Build
Remember that Epileptic Emu wants to build a Char with Martial Arts, and lots of fighting skills
You're....concentrating your Post on me writing MA , but MA isn't the Point.
The Point is:
a mythtical Adept needs to spend most of his Rubber Karma for his Powerpoints if he wants to be Awesome, so he lacks Pos Quals !
He gains the Abilities to sling Spells , Summon and Bind Spirits, etc all the good stuff the Mages can do too (except for Astral Projection) but that is (ImO) not what Epileptic Emu wants to Create .He wants to make an Awesome magical Martial Artist
And thats why an Elven Adept is the better Way to go (especially if he chooses the right Way which is so damn expensive in 5th Ed)
with a friendly Dance
Medicineman
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Ok, just made my first character and hope to play tonight! The concept has taken a big change from where I initially started. we're starting low power, so only had 10 Karma off the bat.
Human Aspected Magician [sorcery] (I know people crap on Aspected Magicians, but this fits for RP reasons, and also it seems to not be awful at Magic Priority B, as you start with a full magic skill group 4 and one point of magic higher than adepts/magicians). My in-game role is magical firepower with a bit of Face on the side. I'm also good at protection via counterspelling. My gremlins make me totally eschew most technology; I use magic and charisma to get by.
Concept is an ex-mageslave. I was sitting pretty as the Executive Assistant to the Regional Vice President of Marketing at Aztecnology in Los Angeles. As the PCC forced Aztecnology out of the area, shit began to hit the fan. I knew too much and was a liability. Top Brass was going to have me executed as an inconvenience. But my boss was too fond of me (I was sleeping with him, after all) and managed to fake my death and ensure that no one asked too many questions, on the condition that I never tried to contact him again. Forced out, I had to turn tricks (magical and otherwise) to make ends meet. I was pretty despondent until a Dragon Slayer mentor spirit found me, at which point my magic method changed from Hermetic to Chaos and brought me a bit of optimism. Now, I revile the Corps, specifically the PCC (which controls LA, where the campaign is starting) and also Aztecnology due their betrayal, but try to focus on the positive.
Priorities: Attributes, Magic, Skills, Resources, Metatype
Body: 4, Agility: 4, Reaction: 6, Strength: 2, Willpower: 4, Logic: 2, Intuition: 6, Charisma: 4, Edge: 2, Magic: 6+2 (foci)
Skills: Spellcasting 6 (specialized in combat magic), Ritual Spellcasting 4, Counterspelling 4 (specialized in manipulation), Etiquette 2, Leadership 2, Negotiation4 , Running 2, Swimming 2, Clubs 4, Pistols 4, Pilot ground 2,k Sneaking 2, Perception 3, Assensing 3, Palming 2.
English N, Aztlan Spanish 4, Corporate Politics 4, Magic Groups 2, Corp Security 2, Business 2, Vices 2
Equipment:
Armor: Armor Jacket
Ranged: Browning Ultra Power w/ sight
Melee: Stun Baton
Foci Power 2
Fake Sin R2, x2
Fake License R2, x5
Contact: Eduardo, L2 C2. he was MY assistant at Aztechnology. The higher ups didn't think him much of a threat (he truly wasn't) so he got to sneak away with his SIN intact. He has now transferred to our new PCC overlords.
Qualities Negative: Gremlins 2, Addiction to Foci Moderate
Qualities Positive: Mentor Spirit
Spells: Ice Sheet, Physical Mask, Heal, Detect Enemies, Lightning Bolt, Stunbolt, Blast.
**How are these spell choices, especially the combat? I was thinking Lightning Bolt for mech types, Stunbolt for highly armored street sam types or astral enemies, and Blast if I needed to clean a room. I really don't like killing if I don't have to, so I tick to stun. Also, what barrier should I take for my 8th spell? **
Ritual spells. I also get 8? Which is almost every ritual spell in the book? Is that right?
I know I don't have any cyberware, but figured that's just as well for a Mage. Thanks for your input!
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You're not going to be hitting much with a dice pool of 8 for clubs. The shooting is better only because you can use a smartlink.
Really the skills you have seem fluffy but not very useful overall, especially taking both melee and ranged skills on a mage.
Also not taking Increase Reflexes as a spell is a mistake. Lightning Bolt is basically a gun that bites you no matter if you hit or miss (just like all single target indirects...it's not very good for that reason as it is fairly easy to avoid). Ball Lightning is much better.
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You're not going to be hitting much with a dice pool of 8 for clubs. The shooting is better only because you can use a smartlink.
Really the skills you have seem fluffy but not very useful overall, especially taking both melee and ranged skills on a mage.
Also not taking Increase Reflexes as a spell is a mistake. Lightning Bolt is basically a gun that bites you no matter if you hit or miss (just like all single target indirects...it's not very good for that reason as it is fairly easy to avoid). Ball Lightning is much better.
I appreciate the quick input very much, but please keep in mindI have NEVER actually played SR before, so being more specific and using a bit more detail would be a huge help. Also keep in mind we're playing Street Level so only have 10 instead of 25 Karma points to spend.
Do you suggest dropping clubs all together then? My thought was to use Stun Baton with clubs specifically because I have low strength.
What skills should I take that are "more useful" instead of the ones I have?
I have Blast, which is indirect physical. Doesn't that make ball lightning redundant?
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Gotcha. Things might be a little different at street level. Enemies might not have "professional" level dice pools, or if they are, they're "bosses" or some sort and meant to be a challenge where they would be normal opposition in other games.
What I mean with skills is you have many skills with low dice pools, which translates to very low utility. Rolling 4 dice is statistically 1.33 hits. Why roll 4 dice for swimming when you could take Levitate and not worry about it? Why roll 4 dice for Running when you're not going to generate enough hits using that action versus just using normal unrolled movement? Compare this to improving skills that help the mage role better - more Counterspelling, more Assensing, more Perception. Simply trading in Clubs lets you boost your Pistols even higher (and with that I'd suggest Automatics instead because auto fire rules help your relatively low dice pool a LOT and machine pistols are very easy to conceal, plus it lets you use an AR if you ever need to).
It's also like...ok, you're not a face. Do you have a face in the group? If you do, you may as well not take Negotiation, because it comes up very infrequently and a dedicated face will get miles more out of it than you will with your dice pools. And having a little bit of Con helps everyone. Stuff like that. If you never think you'll do combat driving, you don't need Pilot: Groundcraft because just driving your car in normal traffic should never necessitate a roll.
The book is confusing because it makes all skills look equally valuable, when they are simply not. It also doesn't do a good job of telling you that Googling a restaurant should never require a Computer roll or climbing a secure ladder should never require Gymnastics or, again, driving a car in normal traffic without trying to be a Die Hard movie should never require a Pilot: Ground roll.
Generally, I encourage mages to take shooting over melee. If you are using a gun, you're less likely to be immediately outed as a mage and focus-fired to death because "geek the mage" is an in-setting conceit for good reason. If you have a gun and are also using spells without massive visual components or which aren't visibly coming out of your body, you can have the benefits of powerful area debuffs without "outing" yourself, leaving opposition to focus on tankier characters.
But really, it doesn't matter if you pick melee or shooting here except insofar as it's easier to boost ranged modifiers with gear, and with your relatively low BOD, you're better off shooting from cover than mixing it up in melee.
I suggest Ball Lightning over Blast mainly because the Electricity energy type is great. It does extra damage to drones and penalizes initiative. I'm otherwise not sure what you're trying to get out of your spell list. Ice Sheet looks good on paper but isn't as good as it looks. You now have 3 ways to fight: melee, spells, and ranged, but can use only one per round. Hence why I suggest taking Ball Lightning instead of Lightning Bolt, dropping Blast and Ice Sheet, and picking up utility spells like Levitate and Improved Invisibility. I suggest this because any guy with a gun can do damage like you can (and probably better to single targets) but being a caster opens up utility options that sams and physical adepts (i.e., traditionally fighty characters) simply can't replicate. So while it's good to have some combat capability.
My perspective is...specializing in combat is easy, especially for archetypes who are less toolbox, hence I think it's easy to paint yourself in a corner when mages can easily be batman instead of the hulk.
Gremlins is also a bit of a trap but w/e, there are tons of other NQs out there I'll note.