Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: st. Nougat on <12-29-19/0027:07>
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This is the first 6e character I've made, and I skipped 4th and 5th edition so please critique but not to the min/maxing point.
Corsair is a muslim elf of the Sufi tradition and thinks of himself as a whirling dervish. Because it's often frowned upon to walk around with a bunch of weapons and armor in polite company he bought a drone to provide weapons drops (I think it's a really cool idea).
a bit advice i'm looking for:
commlinks: they all have firewalls of 0 or 1, how do I get decent defense on the commlink to prevent all his gear and ware from being easily hacked.
Do I need any other programs or accessories to hook everything up to his PAN and provide easy communication with the rest of his team?
Let me know what you think:
Corsair generation notes
Priorities:
A: Attributes: 24
B: Money: 270,000
C: Skills (20)
D: Metatype (4 adjustment points)
E: Magic
Elf:
Body 4 (+2)
Agility: 7 (+1)
Reaction: 4 (+1)
Str: 2 (+1)
Will: 4
Logic: 4
Intuition: 5
Charisma: 2
Edge: 3
Initiative (+1d6)
Special Qualities: Low light Vision
Qualities: no more than 6 total, karma bonus cannot exceed 20 (net +8 karma)
Exceptional (Agility)
• Cost: 12 Karma
• Game Effect: Select a Physical or Mental attribute. The character’s attribute maximum (but not current rank) for the chosen attribute increases by 1
Aptitude (Close Combat)
• Cost: 12 Karma
• Game Effect: Your skill maximum for the selected skill is 10, instead of 9, and your maximum starting rank is 7, instead of 6.
Honorbound (something like a mix of Khalsa and Bushido)
• Bonus: 10 Karma
• Game Effect: You cannot spend or earn Edge for twenty-four hours after you break a tenet of your code.
Social Stress (He’s really just a shy introvert and closes up in awkward situations)
• Bonus: 8 Karma
• Game Effect: Select a specific social stressor. When encountering your social stressor, you must make a Charisma (2) test as a Minor Action. Failure means you cannot earn or spend Edge until you succeed. You can choose not to take the test but if so, any tests made against you gain a bonus Edge.
Insomnia (night terrors)
• Bonus: 4 Karma
• Game Effect: Without proper rest, you can’t regain Edge or spend it as you might like. Each day the runner must make a Body + Willpower (3) test to get a successful night of rest. If they fail, they cannot earn more than two Edge from any source that day. Also, they cannot spend more than 2 Edge on any given test. The purchase and use of
a sleep regulator reduces the threshold on the test to 1. The runner can also purchase medication (50 nuyen/dose) that reduces the threshold to 2.
Incompetent (TBD)
• Bonus: 10 Karma
• Game Effect: When this quality is chosen, select a skill. You are unable to gain ranks in the selected skill.
Active Skills: (20)
Athletics 2
Biotech 1
Close Combat (aptitude) 7 (Blades +2) (Scimitar +3) (5 Karma)
Firearms 3 4 (20 karma)
Outdoors 2
Perception 2 3 (15 Karma)
Stealth 2 3 (15 Karma)
Knowledge Skills 3
Arabic (native)
English
Islam
Police Procedures
Poetry (3 Karma)
Karma: 58 (50 +8 from qualities)
Gear: illegal gear has a max rating of 6 (450,000 nuyen)
320 Sword (Scimitar)
52 Extendable Baton
790 Shock Gloves
350 Pulsar II
350 Hidden Arm Slide
50 50x darts
500 Internal Smartgun System
750 Predator 6
150 Concealable Holster
500 Silencer
500 Internal Smartgun System
50 50x regular rounds
100 50x stick-n-shock
150 50x APDS
60 2x clips
700 Mossberg CMDT
500 Gas Vent
500 Internal Smartgun System
100 50x Explosive Slugs (used heavy pistol pricing)
75 50x flichette (used Heavy Pistol Pricing)
375 3x flash-pak
6,832 Weapons Total
750 Armor Vest (+3 DR)
500 Cold Resistance
500 Fire Resistance
500 Electricity Resistance
2000 Chameleon Suit
1500 Actioneer Business Clothes
5000 Hermes Ikon Commlink (rating 5, Data 3, Firewall 0) Program Slots 2
50 Subvocal Mic
10,800 All this stuff total
10,000 Rating 4 Fake SIN (Murderman)
800 Rating 4 License Predator
800 Rating 4 Conceal Carry
800 Rating 4 License Mossberg
800 Rating 4 License Flash-Pak
800 Rating 4 License Smartlink
800 Rating 4 License Bone Lacing
800 Rating 4 License Muscle Aug
800 Rating 4 License Muscle Toner
7,500 Rating 3 Fake Sin (Joe Chummer)
23,900 ID’s Total
500 `Gun tool kit
400 Capacity 4 Glasses
250 Flare Compensation
500 Thermographic Vision
500 Vision enhancement
200 Climbing Gear
250 Gecko Tape Gloves
750 Rating 3 Medkit
750 5x Rating 6 Stimpatch
1000 2x Trauma Patch
16,000 Ford Americar
8,000 Federated Boeing Blackhawk
3,000 Rating 6 Stealth Autosoft
3,000 Rating 6 Maneuvering Autosoft
9,000 Onotari Interceptor
11,200 4x anti-vehicle rockets
55,300 This Stuff total
Cost Ware Essence
1000 Datajack 0.1
800 Image Link 0.1
4000 Smartlink 0.2
30,000 Titanium Bone Lacing 1.5
40,000 Wired Reflexes 1 1.0
31,000 Rating 1 Muscle Aug 0.2
32,000 Rating 1 Muscle Toner 0.2
12,000 Sleep Regulator 0.1
150,800 Ware total
15,000 3 months middle lifestyle
6,000 3 Month low lifestyle (safehouse)
368 Total remaining
Contacts: charisma * 6 point to spend on loyalty and connection
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Commlinks form PANs without any additional programs. The best Matrix defense is to turn Wireless off on anything that doesn't give a meaningful Wireless bonus. Your Smartlink, Smartgun, and Drones would be the only things you would be running Wireless on. And your Team decker can also provide protection by putting your PAN under his.
Optimization notes, take 'em or leave 'em:
You're not using your Exceptional Agility Quality, either shuffle a point over to Agility or Drop the Quality.
I'd also shuffle a point into Reaction.
Augmentations you want more +1d6s for Initiative to get more Minor Actions. +3d6 to get enough Minor Actions to take two Major Actions a turn.
I'd also recommend more Agility, level 4 Used Muscle Toner would be my suggestion.
Skills, in general it's best to buy a few skills to max level using points and buy other skills / specializations with Karma.
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I am confused about your Attributes, your base values appear to be the base 8 + 24 points you received, but you only put 2 adjustment points of your 4 into your Edge. Your between-brackets bonuses appear to be from your augmentations, so you're not only missing out on 2 Adjustment points, you also didn't maximize any attribute after your Exceptional Agility.
(Note that Bone Lacing doesn't ACTUALLY raise your Body, it only adds to your damage resistance rolls. So it doesn't boost natural recovery, condition monitor, etc.)
Maybe you should remove 1 Attribute point from Agility to lower it to 6, then raise Agility with 2 Adjustment point to its max of 8, and put the extra attribute point into Reaction for better dodging. Alternatively, Agility 8, Edge 4, so that you can always start a fight with enough Edge for Anticipation, which you could use to cut several people in one go if you're in the middle of a brawl.
I see with skills you put karma into raising Firearms from 3 to 4, Perception from 2 to 3, Stealth from 2 to 3, and a specialization. So that makes your points 2+1+(7+1)+3+2+2+2 = 20 points. But you could be more efficient there. Since you basically raised 3 points with karma, I'd go with buying Athletics 2 and Biotech 1 with karma, for a total of 20. That already saves you 30 karma.
You have both an expertise and a specialization in Close Combat, but in chargen, only a specialization is allowed. Only after chargen are you allowed to start converting into an expertise and then adding a second specialization (if the skill is rank 5+). Also, expertise are actually supposed to just be an upgraded specialization. So during play eventually you spend 5 karma to upgrade your Blades +2 Specialization into a Blades +3 Expertise, then afterwards you can pick up a second Specialization, e.g. Unarmed Combat +2. Right now, all you're allowed is Blades +2, so that's 5 karma extra. Consider buying Outdoors with 15 Karma, add 3 Specializations for Firearms, Perception and Stealth, and you still spent only 53 karma (so 5 extra remaining) and still have 2 skill points you can put into Firearms, Perception or Stealth to raise them a bit more. If you want a +1, you could use the extra 5 karma to buy 10k nuyen for a Reflex Recorder (Close Combat).
Your Initiative is 9(10) + 1(2)d6, right? Wired Reflexes are incompatible with other augmentations, but combat drugs aren't augmentations so you could use Cram or Jazz. I strongly recommend checking if your group has a Detox/Antidote mage to help get rid of the side-effects after the drug's initial duration ends.
License-wise, you generally only need a license per category, not per individual item. If you look at page 83 (Covert-Ops Specialist), you'll see a cyberware license listed, and a concealed carry license (and missing a possession license, whups...). Manual driving, cyberdeck, bioware, magic, that kind of thing. "Each type of item/activity requires a separate license." (p273, also lists a few examples.)
So in your case, consider the following: Firearm possession, Concealed Carry, Bounty Hunter (this explains why you're using Flash-Paks), Bioware, Cyberware. That saves you 2400 nuyen, which you could put into a few licenses for Joe Chummer if needed.
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Commlink/Anti-Hacker note: Remember you can flip the D/F values. your 2/0 commlink is also a 0/2 commlink anytime you want it to be (and as a non-hacker, DP is probably not something that really matters to you so.. may as well go 0/2 virtually all the time). You can also run cyberprograms on commlinks in this edition, so Armor is an option for buffing your Matrix Defense Rating.
But as already stated, the best defense is simply ensuring that you run with a team that includes a dedicated matrix defense character (decker, technomancer, or rigger) and letting that person worry about keeping hackers off your stuff.
Another thought: As already stated by MC, you can't start with an expertise. I want repeat that, and make clear that the nature of an expertise isn't a "specialization within a specialization"- it's a "developed specialization". If you start with a specialization in Blades and later gain an expertise, Blades goes to +3. You don't pick only a subset of Blades to advance.
Optimization advice: Don't spend skill points on small skill values. For example, look at Firearms and Biotech. It would have been more efficient with your starting resources to give that skill point in Biotech to Firearms instead. You could have bought Biotech 1 for 5 karma, and be in the same place you are now (Firearms 4, Biotech 1) but for 15 less karma spent getting there. A popular rule of thumb: Don't spend skill points on specializations or any skill you'll only have at rank 1. Spend karma on those instead.
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I just want to express my gratitude to everyone who has replied. I really learned a lot thanks to this feedback.
Changes:
1. increased Agility to 8 and reaction to 5 (I remembered those two points shortly after posing but I was on my way to bed).
2. Removed the Insomiac Trait, after reworking the karma spending I had 4 extra that i didn't know what to deal with. Also removed sleep regulator (I want that in real life) and added Reflex recorder for close combat
3. Took everyone's advice about skill points and spending karma, very grateful for that advice
4. Gear: added a couple of programs to the commlink, thank you for the clarification on those rules (yes, hooking up with the decker is best but I want some defense for when the decker get fragged)
Adjusted the Licenses
Here's the finished Corsair, once again thank you guys.
Priorities:
A: Attributes: 24
B: Money: 270,000
C: Skills (20)
D: Metatype (4 adjustment points)
E: Magic
Elf:
Body 4 (+2 to soak damage)
Agility: 8 (+1)
Reaction: 5 (+1)
Str: 2 (+1)
Will: 4
Logic: 4
Intuition: 5
Charisma: 2
Edge: 3
Initiative 10 (11) + 1d6 (+2d6)
Special Qualities: Low light Vision
Qualities: no more than 6 total, karma bonus cannot exceed 20 (net +8 karma)
Exceptional (Agility)
• Cost: 12 Karma
• Game Effect: Select a Physical or Mental attribute. The character’s attribute maximum (but not current rank) for the chosen attribute increases by 1
Aptitude (Close Combat)
• Cost: 12 Karma
• Game Effect: Your skill maximum for the selected skill is 10, instead of 9, and your maximum starting rank is 7, instead of 6.
Honorbound (something like a mix of Khalsa and Bushido)
• Bonus: 10 Karma
• Game Effect: You cannot spend or earn Edge for twenty-four hours after you break a tenet of your code.
Social Stress (He’s really just a shy introvert and closes up in awkward situations)
• Bonus: 8 Karma
• Game Effect: Select a specific social stressor. When encountering your social stressor, you must make a Charisma (2) test as a Minor Action. Failure means you cannot earn or spend Edge until you succeed. You can choose not to take the test but if so, any tests made against you gain a bonus Edge.
Incompetent (TBD)
• Bonus: 10 Karma
• Game Effect: When this quality is chosen, select a skill. You are unable to gain ranks in the selected skill.
Active Skills: (20)
Athletics 2 (15 karma)
Biotech 1 (5 karma)
Close Combat (aptitude) 7 (Blades +2) (+1 reflex recorder)
Firearms 5 (+2 Pistols 5 karma)
Outdoors 2 (15 karma)
Perception 4 (+2 visual 5 karma)
Stealth 3 (+2 sneaking 5 karma)
Knowledge Skills 3
Arabic (native)
English
Islam
Police Procedures
Poetry (3 Karma)
Karma: 54 (50 +4 from qualities)
Gear: illegal gear has a max rating of 6 (450,000 nuyen)
320 Sword (Scimitar)
52 Extendable Baton
790 Shock Gloves
350 Pulsar II
350 Hidden Arm Slide
50 50x darts
500 Internal Smartgun System
750 Predator 6
150 Concealable Holster
500 Silencer
500 Internal Smartgun System
50 50x regular rounds
100 50x stick-n-shock
150 50x APDS
60 2x clips
700 Mossberg CMDT
500 Gas Vent
500 Internal Smartgun System
100 50x Explosive Slugs (used heavy pistol pricing)
75 50x flichette (used Heavy Pistol Pricing)
375 3x flash-pak
6,832 Weapons Total
750 Armor Vest (+3 DR)
500 Cold Resistance
500 Fire Resistance
500 Electricity Resistance
2000 Chameleon Suit
1500 Actioneer Business Clothes
5000 Hermes Ikon Commlink (rating 5, Data 3, Firewall 0) Program Slots 2
50 Subvocal Mic
60 Signal Scrubber
250 Armor
11,110 All this stuff total
10,000 Rating 4 Fake SIN (Murderman)
800 Rating 4 License Firearms
800 Rating 4 Conceal Carry
800 Rating 4 Bounty Hunter
800 Rating 4 License Flash-Pak
800 Rating 4 License Cyberware
800 Rating 4 License Bioware
800 Rating 4 Driver License
7,500 Rating 3 Fake Sin (Joe Chummer)
600 Rating 3 manual driver license
23,700 ID’s Total
500 `Gun tool kit
400 Capacity 4 Glasses
250 Flare Compensation
500 Thermographic Vision
500 Vision enhancement
200 Climbing Gear
250 Gecko Tape Gloves
750 Rating 3 Medkit
750 5x Rating 6 Stimpatch
1000 2x Trauma Patch
16,000 Ford Americar
8,000 Federated Boeing Blackhawk
3,000 Rating 6 Stealth Autosoft
3,000 Rating 6 Maneuvering Autosoft
9,000 Onotari Interceptor
11,200 4x anti-vehicle rockets
55,300 This Stuff total
Cost Ware Essence
1000 Datajack 0.1
800 Image Link 0.1
4000 Smartlink 0.2
30,000 Titanium Bone Lacing 1.5
40,000 Wired Reflexes 1 1.0
31,000 Rating 1 Muscle Aug 0.2
32,000 Rating 1 Muscle Toner 0.2
14,000 Reflex Recorder (close Combat) 0.1
152,800 Ware total
15,000 3 months middle lifestyle
6,000 3 Month low lifestyle (safehouse)
258 Total remaining
Contacts: charisma * 6 point to spend on loyalty and connection