Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Onion Man on <06-11-11/0801:00>
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v5 posted.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
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Really?
Nobody criticized a character that I and my home group have now found multiple flaws in, including me brainfarting and choosing a spell that explicitly doesn't exist?
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ok, some things I don't like:
-neither Bear nor Shark are in the voodoo loa in Street Magic, I guess that doesn't really matter if you have your own interpretation
-Edge 1 is hard to survive, together with Bad Luck, you better not leave your room...
-Decrease Reflexes is a really useless spell, so is Increase Reaction without a sustaining focus
-You call it a touch mage, but don't have a lot of touch spells.
-Drop Blades, Unarmed is enough. You need only one melee skill, and you need Unarmed for your spells.
-Perception and Gymnastics are missing
-Drop Str by 1, won't change your damage
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Thanks. I'll be putting together a second draft later tonight with some of those changes in there, and some changes that one of my home players found that were numbers relevant.
It looked to me like bad luck worked best with low edge and was a greater risk with high edge. Could you maybe explain where I went awry in my reading?
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Bad Luck is never good. Independent of you Edge score. Sure, if you have a lot of Edge, you will use Edge more often and therefore you have to roll the Bad-Luck-die more often, but the chance of critical failure is still always 1/6. But with a very low Edge score you won't even have the chance to save yourself from death/loosing a limb/or whatever the GM deems for your critical glitch in the first place.
For example: you're in a hurry leaving the crime scene. there's an obstacle you have to jump over it. Agi-1 dice, 11% chance of breaking a leg.
Now with Edge 1, there's a chance you already spent it and you're a sitting duck, waiting for LS. With some Edge left and Bad Luck there's a 83% chance you can downgrade the critical to a normal glitch and hobble into safety
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- I usually get only 2-3 edge, there are better negative qualities that aren't such a detriment to the character
- Get rid of blades, and increase unarmed to 5 (While downgrading Spellcasting to 5). If your character's spells are based on touch, then a high spellcasting is useless if your unarmed isn't very good.
- Get more spells, especially touch based ones if that's the character. There are plenty more touch spells for you to utilize.
- Increase your Agility, a Body of 6 is unecessary. a higher dice pool when using unarmed is important.
- As said before, lower strength. Don't need it since all you're doing is getting the touch in
- Get rid of the cane and weapon focus.
- Get some sort of long-range weapon. Perhaps a dart gun or smg under a coat.
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A Reaction of 2 is just begging to be killed, especially for a character whose combat skills require him to be up in the thick of things.
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A Reaction of 2 is just begging to be killed, especially for a character whose combat skills require him to be up in the thick of things.
Don't I use unarmed to evade melee attacks and gymnastics (it's going to be in the second draft) to evade ranged attacks?
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A Reaction of 2 is just begging to be killed, especially for a character whose combat skills require him to be up in the thick of things.
Don't I use unarmed to evade melee attacks and gymnastics (it's going to be in the second draft) to evade ranged attacks?
Yes, you may use unarmed to parry melee attacks. However, ranged attacks are dodged with reaction only
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hmmm. Mr M was saying something about grabbing the martial artist quality out of Arsenal to use gymnastics to dodge ranged attacks before. Guess I have yet another edit of substance to make.
Edit: Seems that Mr M misread the use of gymnastics dodge. I've got pretty mixed feelings about saccing complex actions to dodge when Jolly's main role in combat would be using complex actions.
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Name: (doesn't have one yet)
Tag: Jolly Man
Metatype: 20 pts
Ork (20 pts)
Attributes: 230 pts (250)
Bod 5 (10 pts)
Agi 4 (30 pts)
Rea 3 (20 pts)
Str 5 (20 pts)
Cha 4 (30 pts)
Int 3 (20 pts)
Log 2 (10 pts)
Will 5 (40 pts)
Ini 5
Low Light Vision
Magic 5 (40 pts)
Edge 2 (10 pts)
Qualities: 5 pts (255)
Magician (15 pts)
Mentor Spirit (Bear), I know it's not an official Loa, I'll have the fluff (5 pts)
refluffed before origins to justify the use
Sensitive Neural Structure (-5 pts)
Sensitive System (-15 pts)
Prejudiced (Politicians, Outspoken) (-10 pts)
Martial Arts (Capoeira, +1 die to gymnastics defense) (5 pts)
Active Skills: 100 pts (355)
Unarmed Combat 5 (20 pts)
Summoning 4 (Spirits of Man) (18 pts)
Spellcasting 5 (20 pts)
Influence Skill Group 2 (20 pts)
Counterspelling 2 (8 pts)
Assensing 1 (4 pts)
Enchanting 1 (4 pts)
Gymnastics 1 (Dance) (6 pts)
Knowledge skills and languages: (15 free points) 0 pts (355)
English N 0 pts
Breakdancing routines (Interest) 3 6 pts
Seattle Club Scene (Street) 3 6 pts
Orzet (Language) 1 (Trog dialect) 3 pts
Connections: 8 pts (363), from Seattle Season 4 Connections
Laurent Nazaire, Dwarf Fixer (C5, L3) (8 pts)
Spells: 21 pts (384)
Death Touch C Touch, damage v willpower (3 pts)
Stunball C Area, stun (3 pts)
Increase Reflexes H Touch, +Initiative passes (3 pts)
Increase Reaction H Touch (3 pts)
Decrease Body H Touch (3 pts)
Heal H Touch (3 pts)
Increase Charisma H Touch (3 pts)
Misc: 3 pts (387)
Bond sustaining focus (3 pts)
Gear: 13 pts (400) 65000 NY (13 pts)
Magical Lodge Force 5 2500 NY
Sustaining Focus Force 3 (Cane) 30000 NY
Mortimer of London, Greatcoat Line 3000 NY
Novatech Airwave Commlink (Novatech Navi) 2750 NY
Tacsoft 2 6000 NY
Empathy Software 4 2000 NY
Browse 3 150 NY
Analyze 3 150 NY
Command 3 150 NY
Encrypt 3 150 NY
Reality Filter 3 150 NY
Scan 3 150 NY
Healing Fetish (Decrease Body) 500 NY
Combat Fetish (Death Touch) 200 NY
Ruger Super Warhawk (entirly for show) 250 NY
2 Spare clips 10 NY
Concealable Holster 75 NY
10 Gel rounds 30 NY
10 Stick n shock rounds 80 NY
30 Regular rounds 60 NY
Fake Sin 4 4000 NY
Fake License 4 (Combat Fetish) 400 NY
(Super Warhawk) 400 NY
(Sustaining Focus) 400 NY
(Shock Glove) 400 NY
Simrig (Channel 1,2,3) 1000 NY
Glasses 4 100 NY
(Image Link) 25 NY
(Thermographic, Channel 4) 100 NY
(Flare Compensation) 50 NY
Earbuds 3 30 NY
(Audio Enhancement 1, Channel 5) 100 NY
Micro-microphone (Channel 6) 50 NY
Lifestyle: 15LP, 1 month 5000 NY
Comforts: Low 2LP
Entertainment: High 4LP
Necessities: High 4LP
Neighborhood: Low 2LP
Security: Middle 3LP
Shock Gloves 200 NY
Gas Mask 200 NY
Backpack 250 NY
2 Bust a move drones (possession targets) 700 NY
Dodge Scoot (Lame. I know, but a man has 3000 NY
got to get around and I'd rather
have something cheap and
disposable than nothing at all)
Reasonably stylish breakdancing clothes 340 NY
Edit: One of my local players noticed that I didn't have analyze, tweaked the price of my plain clothes and added analyze to fix that glaring misstep. Guess that makes this v2.1
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These are the things I would do to make the character better
- Decrease body and strength to 4. Having a body of 4 with decent armor is plenty of defense. And you will never, ever be using strength to deal damage. You would be just as deadly with a strength of 1, so why is it at 5? Make it 3 or 4, if that
- Increase Reaction by 1 with those points you just saved
- You got a commlink but no skills for it. Get some skill groups, man
- Still get some more interesting spells. This is your only way to attack, so check out the illusion and manipulation spells. Those have touch versions that reduce the drain.
- Don't need the increase charisma spell. The fact that you're using touch spells (which reduce drain) and with a high pool for resisting already, it's just unecessary.
- Get a skill for your Ruger. Having a ranged weapon that you can use is definitely useful in the end. Even if you only get 3 in that skill, it's still useful.
- I'd get some more uses other than just combat. Sitting around waiting for combat and not doing anything else can get old real fast. Increase your influence skill group, you'll have more to do
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Thanks everyone. You guys have been incredibly helpful.
I've got some business to attend to around the homestead, but I'll polish the build off a little later in the afternoon and bounce it off the the guy I'm heading to Origins with tonight or tomorrow. I wasn't all that impressed with the illusion and manipulation touch spells on my first read through, but I'll take your word for it and give them a second consideration. I'm really not sure what to expect out of a con mission, in the local game I'm in we have a gnome (and a Johnson) that keep us up to our gills in combat and near combat situations (and he's the most experienced player at the table), so I've been operating under the impression that my first shadowrunner was built a little to fluffy and without enough muscle to get through life.
I'll probably put v3 up here when I get it done for another round of "Please help me get to Origins with a character that will be fun to play and effective at the same time" (NML, my rigger is a ton of fun to play but isn't necessarily all that effective, I half expect him to die a horrible death by falling out of the van or drowning in shallow water, but meh. I live and learn).
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I had a day of "sick as a dog" and then a day of busy with appointments and getting together with the guy I'm headed to Origins with, and both of our character concepts have gotten a lot more concrete and a LOT more efficient, thanks largely to the excellent advice here and in other threads at this community.
Expect a v3 to appear as a likely final version sometime tomorrow morning, but this insomniac is about to finally get some sleep after 4 days of awake thanks to a finally refilled prescription.
"Baron Jolly" will be up for one more round of criticism, this time with some background, some character, and some outside the game text details on Haitian Vodou. Thanks for all the input, you guys have been invaluable in making a character I think I'll be able to be proud of.
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CAN YOU TRUST VOODOO-MAN??? NO!!!!!!!
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CAN YOU TRUST VOODOO-MAN??? NO!!!!!!!
You put your faith in technology which has failed catastrophically several times, I put mine in Baron Samedi.
:P
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CAN YOU TRUST VOODOO-MAN??? NO!!!!!!!
You put your faith in technology which has failed catastrophically several times, I put mine in Baron Samedi.
:P
If you've got the mojo...
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Since I've got the mojo... v3, new tag but still no name (he gets a name when the artist finishes the portrait...) I don't remember exactly what was in the sensor bundles nojose and I came up with, waiting for him to call me back, just remember that it's 950 NY of sensors to hand to a team member that doesn't quite have enough channels to be in on his Tacnet.
Name: (doesn't have one yet)
Tag: Jolly Man
Metatype: 20 pts
Ork (20 pts)
Attributes: 210 pts (230)
Bod 4 (0 pts)
Agi 5 (40 pts)
Rea 3 (20 pts)
Str 3 (0 pts)
Cha 4 (30 pts)
Int 3 (20 pts)
Log 2 (10 pts)
Will 5 (40 pts)
Ini 5
Low Light Vision
Magic 5 (40 pts)
Edge 2 (10 pts)
Qualities: 0 pts (230)
Magician (15 pts)
Mentor Spirit (Bear), Baron Samedi the Lord of Life and Death (5 pts)
Signature (Every time he is involved in a bloodless kill he takes the (-10 pts)
time to paint a Haitian burial skullmask and other burial rites
with the Voodoo Kit and positions the body)
Sensitive System (-15 pts)
Prejudiced (Politicians, Outspoken) (-10 pts)
Martial Arts (Capoeira, +1 die to gymnastics defense) (5 pts)
Active Skills: 112 pts (342)
Pistols 2 (8 pts)
Running 1 (4 pts)
Unarmed Combat 5 (20 pts)
Summoning 4 (Spirits of Man) (18 pts)
Spellcasting 5 (20 pts)
Influence Skill Group 2 (20 pts)
Counterspelling 2 (8 pts)
Assensing 1 (4 pts)
Enchanting 1 (4 pts)
Gymnastics 1 (Dance) (6 pts)
Knowledge skills and languages: (15 free points) 0 pts (342)
English N 0 pts
Breakdancing routines (Interest) 3 6 pts
Seattle Club Scene (Street) 3 6 pts
Orzet (Language) 1 (Trog dialect) 3 pts
Connections: 8 pts (350), from Seattle Season 4 Connections
Laurent Nazaire, Dwarf Fixer (C5, L3) (8 pts)
Spells: 27 pts (377)
Death Touch C Touch, damage v willpower (3 pts)
Increase Reflexes H Touch, +Initiative passes (3 pts)
Increase Reaction H Touch (3 pts)
Decrease Body H Touch (3 pts)
Heal H Touch (3 pts)
Increase Charisma H Touch (3 pts)
Control Actions LOS (3 pts)
Physical Barrier LOS (3 pts)
Physical Mask Touch, Realistic, Multisense (3 pts)
Misc: 3 pts (380)
Bond sustaining focus (3 pts)
Gear: 20 pts (400) 100000 NY (20 pts)
Magical Lodge Force 5 2500 NY
Sustaining Focus Force 3 (Cane) 30000 NY
Mortimer of London, Greatcoat Line 3000 NY
Nonconductivity 3 600
Chemical Protection 3 750
Fire Resistance 2 200
Insulation 1 100
Novatech Airwave Commlink (Novatech Navi) 2750 NY
Tacsoft 2 6000 NY
Empathy Software 4 2000 NY
Browse 3 150 NY
Command 3 150 NY
Encrypt 3 150 NY
Reality Filter 3 150 NY
Scan 3 150 NY
Analyze 3 150 NY
Healing Fetish (Decrease Body) 500 NY
Combat Fetish (Death Touch) 200 NY
Ruger Super Warhawk (entirly for show) 250 NY
2 Spare clips 10 NY
Concealable Holster 75 NY
10 Gel rounds 30 NY
10 Stick n shock rounds 80 NY
30 Regular rounds 60 NY
Fake Sin 4 4000 NY
Fake License 4 (Combat Fetish) 400 NY
(Super Warhawk) 400 NY
(Sustaining Focus) 400 NY
(Shock Glove) 400 NY
Simrig (Channel 1,2,3) 1000 NY
Glasses 4 100 NY
(Image Link) 25 NY
(Thermographic, Channel 4) 100 NY
(Flare Compensation) 50 NY
Earbuds 3 30 NY
(Audio Enhancement 1, Channel 5) 100 NY
Micro-microphone (Channel 6) 50 NY
Lifestyle: 15LP, 1 month 5500 NY
Comforts: Low 2LP
Entertainment: High 4LP
Necessities: High 4LP
Neighborhood: Low 2LP
Security: Middle 3LP
Shock Gloves 200 NY
Gas Mask 200 NY
Backpack 250 NY
2 Bust a move drones (possession targets) 700 NY
Ares Humvee-Civic (Even better of a ride than that 25000 NY
rotorbike)
Reasonably stylish breakdancing clothes 340 NY
3 Sensor Bundles 2850 NY
Voodoo Kit (Face Paints, Cotton Wads, Cornmeal, 500 NY
Basic Vessel Preparation tools, pure fluff)
3 Extra Simrigs 3000 NY
10 Stimulant Patch 6 1500 NY
10 Antidote Patch 4 2000 NY
3 Trauma Patch 1500 NY
Edit: One final tweak, nojose convinced me that properly dressing the dead with funeral masks and all would probably count as a signature.
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As a fellow Origins player, I'll give my advice and point out some errors.
First off I'll do the errors. First off, you can't have a martial art in Missions. It sucks, but you'll have to drop it. While not technically illegal, having Sensitive Neural Structure and being a non-hacker is often considered a no-no.
As for the other issues, why Bear? Unless you have a really strong personal reason, Bear has issues. It's the power to aggro like a video game mob and get yourself killed. You'll make it on the average, but not on below average roll without spending edge. I'm not sure if you need a health mentor, but if you do I'll say Dark Goddess or Sun.
Sadly enchanting is hard in Missions. With a roll of 6, that's 3 hits downtime. So you can prepare a OR:1 item or a guy with Willpower 3 or less. To enchant your drones, that's 18 hits so you need a pool of a 13. I'll advise dropping it. You might find a GM that will let you roll (generally I've seen GMs being too busy with 9000 different things to watch downtime rolls), but that's still like 4 hits.
More importantly, what is your strategy? You're a voodoo mage. Are you planning to possess yourself? You'll be one of those people (don't worry I'm playing a Qabbal mystic adept so I'll be with you), but more importantly, you won't need that unarmed 5. You'll be able to use the spirit's skill. I'll advise reading the possession rules very carefully, it's likely it works differently than you think. Mainly it's just not a buff (even with Channeling). The spirit wears you and unexpected things happen. Channeling lets you drive it better and lets the hybrid get access to your skills. If you are planning self-possession + kung-fu, learn power aura. Cast it on yourself (or though a focus) and then punch people with aura damage + whatever your spirit does.
If you don't plan self-possession and you aren't tied to it, I'll drop the Death Touch and Unarmed Skill and get Sorcery 6. Just grab Powerbolt (or better yet Stunbolt). You'll save 16 BP and have a much easier time hitting. You'll take +2 drain, but drain isn't too bad anyways. You could then drop your agility and buy up more drain dice or other statistics.
Also why Pistols 2? It seems you plan on never shooting, so move those 8 BP elsewhere. Buy a smartlinked firearm. With agility 5, you get a default roll of 8 (more likely 10 with a rating 4 TacNet). Still not great, but not much worse than you are now and you really should be using magic as your combat plan.
You should spend 35 in positive qualities and gain 35 in negative. There's a lot of good positive qualities to take and negative ones to balance it the cost.
If you can afford it, SURGE and Restricted Gear (Rating 4 power focus) will be great. I strongly advise the power focus. It's 100,000Y, but you'll be paying that either way and that's 10 runs to earn at best. The big difference is that it's 4 BP to bond versus 32 karma. I don't like it either, but don't hate the player, hate the game.
Now let's do your armor. With a Body of 4 and a Strength of 3, that gives you a encumbrance maximum (henceforth called cap) of 8 and a -3 to use. I like the Greatcoat myself so let's keep that. But let's softweave it. That makes it 3/5 for the cap. Buy a Full Body Suit of FFBA. That's 3/1 for the cap. That puts you at 6/6. Then buy Secure PPP Leg and Arm Casings and a Vitals Protector for +2/+2. That hits your cap and gives you a final armor of 14/9. A bit lopsided for my tastes, but I'm not sure what happens when you softweave a complete PPP set so let's keep it simple.
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Omg I can't believe I didn't put 2 and 2 together... I didn't even think to look in the FAQ for a chapter to be restricted...
and it looks like my math was wrong on the qualities section, which I'm shocked I didn't catch until a 3rd version.
Looks like it'll be another revision tonight to be posted before morning.
The strategy is tied in to a hacker that nojosecool is running, with the Tacsoft and slaving my commlink and such. I should have a fairly beefy resistance to his CS grenades, and he plans on dropping them potentially right at my feet after any sort of combat had engaged. I would go in with reduce body and death touch, overcasting liberally when necessary, to increase the effect of the CS and drop tangos. Self possession would be an option for if things look grim, but under normal circumstances the spirits would be intended to stay astral or possess the dead or inanimate objects.
Outside of combat situations there should be the clear face opportunities from increase charisma, emotisofts, and the skill group. Maybe not great, but workable. That and some misc. fun spells.
I hadn't actually looked at what a hassle enchanting would be, I guess I'll stick to hoping the spirits can execute their possession without vessels prepared. Looks like I got a lot of reading in front of me.
Thanks for the feedback.
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Where do I find softweave?
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Where do I find softweave?
It's in WAR! p160-161.
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I don't have WAR :(
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Okay, v4, fixed some of those wonky skills I guess.
I don't have WAR, so I can't really do that armor stuff. I guess I'll look at WAR as a possible acquisition at the con and live, learn, and improve as we go. All of the gymnastics and dance related stuff is pure fluff, I intend to role play my asterisk off while I'm there.
Dark queen is right out because I don't want to be mindlessly escalating arguments into kills at any point, and the sun also enforces a personality I'd rather not play. Becoming enraged when an ally or I get injured and overcast death touch them to death in anger fits the strike down in a flash imagery I have of Baron Samedi too, so I guess thats an RP decision.
Name: Henri St Pierre-DelaCroix
Tag: Jolly Man
Metatype: 20 pts
Ork (20 pts)
Attributes: 220 pts (240)
Bod 5 (10 pts)
Agi 5 (40 pts)
Rea 3 (20 pts)
Str 3 (0 pts)
Cha 4 (30 pts)
Int 3 (20 pts)
Log 2 (10 pts)
Will 5 (40 pts)
Ini 5
Low Light Vision
Magic 5 (40 pts)
Edge 2 (10 pts)
Qualities: 0 pts (240)
Magician (15 pts)
Mentor Spirit (Bear), Baron Samedi the Lord of Life and Death (5 pts)
Signature (Every time he is involved in a bloodless kill he takes the (-10 pts)
time to paint a Haitian burial skullmask and other burial rites
with the Voodoo Kit and positions the body)
Sensitive System (-15 pts)
Prejudiced (Politicians, Outspoken) (-10 pts)
Astral Chameleon (5 pts)
Natural Athlete (10 pts)
Active Skills: 110 pts (350)
Running 1 (4 pts)
Unarmed Combat 4 (16 pts)
Summoning 4 (Spirits of Man) (18 pts)
Spellcasting 6 (24 pts)
Influence Skill Group 2 (20 pts)
Counterspelling 2 (8 pts)
Assensing 1 (4 pts)
Gymnastics 1 (Dance) (6 pts)
Knowledge skills and languages: (15 free points) 0 pts (340)
English N 0 pts
Breakdancing routines (Interest) 3 6 pts
Seattle Club Scene (Street) 3 6 pts
Orzet (Language) 1 (Trog dialect) 3 pts
Connections: 8 pts (348), from Seattle Season 4 Connections
Laurent Nazaire, Dwarf Fixer (C5, L3) (8 pts)
Spells: 30 pts (378)
Death Touch C Touch, damage v willpower (3 pts)
Increase Reflexes H Touch, +Initiative passes (3 pts)
Increase Reaction H Touch (3 pts)
Decrease Body H Touch (3 pts)
Heal H Touch (3 pts)
Increase Charisma H Touch (3 pts)
Control Actions LOS (3 pts)
Physical Barrier LOS (3 pts)
Physical Mask Touch, Realistic, Multisense (3 pts)
Detect magic (3 pts)
Misc: 3 pts (381)
Bond sustaining focus (3 pts)
Gear: 19 pts (400) 95000 NY (15 pts)
Magical Lodge Force 5 2500 NY
Sustaining Focus Force 3 (Cane) 30000 NY
Mortimer of London, Greatcoat Line 3000 NY
Nonconductivity 3 600
Chemical Protection 3 750
Fire Resistance 2 200
Insulation 1 100
Novatech Airwave Commlink (Novatech Navi) 2750 NY
Empathy Software 4 2000 NY
Browse 3 150 NY
Command 2 100 NY
Encrypt 3 150 NY
Reality Filter 3 150 NY
Scan 3 150 NY
Analyze 3 150 NY
Linguasoft 2 Spanish 1000 NY
Linguasoft 2 Japanese 1000 NY
Healing Fetish (Decrease Body) 500 NY
Combat Fetish (Death Touch) 200 NY
Ruger Super Warhawk (entirly for show) 250 NY
External Smartlink 400 NY
2 Spare clips 10 NY
Concealable Holster 75 NY
10 Gel rounds 30 NY
10 Stick n shock rounds 80 NY
30 Regular rounds 60 NY
Fake Sin 4 4000 NY
Fake License 4 (Combat Fetish) 400 NY
(Super Warhawk) 400 NY
(Sustaining Focus) 400 NY
(Shock Glove) 400 NY
(Smartlink) 400 NY
Simrig (Channel 1,2,3) 1000 NY
Glasses 4 100 NY
(Image Link) 25 NY
(Thermographic, Channel 4) 100 NY
(Flare Compensation) 50 NY
Earbuds 3 30 NY
(Audio Enhancement 1, Channel 5) 100 NY
Micro-microphone (Channel 6) 50 NY
Lifestyle: 15LP, 1 month 5500 NY
Comforts: Low 2LP
Entertainment: High 4LP
Necessities: High 4LP
Neighborhood: Low 2LP
Security: Middle 3LP
Shock Gloves 200 NY
Gas Mask 200 NY
Backpack 250 NY
2 Bust a move drones (possession targets, fluff) 700 NY
Ares Humvee-Civic (Even better of a ride than that 25000 NY
rotorbike)
Reasonably stylish breakdancing clothes 340 NY
3 Sensor Bundles 2850 NY
Voodoo Kit (Face Paints, Cotton Wads, Cornmeal, 500 NY
Basic Vessel Preparation tools, pure fluff)
3 Extra Simrigs 3000 NY
10 Stimulant Patch 6 1500 NY
10 Antidote Patch 4 2000 NY
3 Trauma Patch 1500 NY
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Bear is a pretty suicidal choice of mentor spirit - Shadowrun in general and Missions in particular likes the "overwhelming force shows up you gotta run" trope. Bear going off when overwhelming force shows up and someone gets hurt will lead to your character charging off into the jaws of certain death.
Mentor spirits that won't kill you and don't have some other dramatic drawback, but give Health: Crocodile, Dark Goddess, Horse, Phoenix, and Sun.
Also, I hate to tell you this, but that combat strategy is ill-advised. It sounds in-genre, but the problem is that Shadowrun combat is very fast and tends to be over by the time a full combat turn has gone by, or at least in the "wrapup" phase; a strategy that revolves around lowering people's defenses to an attack that only goes off at the end of the turn isn't a good plan. You're better off paying less character points for the ability to oneshot people from a distance.
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Well, that's something of a bummer. I had heard from somewhere else that Shadowrun missions were on the relaxed side, the gotcha type combat encounter tendencies of other games has been something that has pushed me away from the Living campagns of DnD and Star Wars... they sort of reduce the game to competitive algebra when all is said and done in that regard...
SOunds like nojose and I need to scramble and rapidly reevaluate the combat tactic. I'll stick with voodoo but will most likely change the mentor spirit and completely reevaluate the approach to magic.
Thanks for the input.
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I wouldn't sweat this too much, OM. Minor changes only should be required. Just change to kill/knockout spells instead of stat weakening spells, and drop the bear spirit like everyone is saying. I'll still shoot the CS grenades, but it's more likely that you'll be charging into the cloud than drawing people into it.
I think the touch attacks make your guy different than all the other magicians at the con. Sure it costs more points, but it's fun. Also, if we're in a severely aspected domain, you're still useful in combat (most magicians cannot say that). You did pretty good at making a fun-to-play character without making him useless. I agree that it's going to be more difficult to survive if you don't crunch the numbers like others are suggesting, but I don't think it will be as fun if you show up with a more traditional magician. Voodoo break dancer all the way!
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Okay, v5 with some further edits and some justifications. Since I don't mind being "That guy" that uses some points wonky or doesn't run a stock character to be superoptimized but I definitely don't want to be "That guy" that gets everyone killed, bear is out in favor of dragonslayer. Dropped reduce body and took up stunball to go along with the combat dice pool bonus and give me a clear ranged attack option. Juggled around gear to get that softwoven armor stack.
I'm sticking to the touch attacks largely because it will be fun, and because if I do go possessed i'll be in position to shock glove still, or the spirit will at least.
Also stayed away from the power focus to be not a duplicate of every other caster I expect to see, but also because it soaks up an awful lot of points no matter how you go about getting one. I'd rather just forgo the power focus altogether.
Jolly would end up being okay with wet work but not a colded blooded sort of gent, fits with Samedi's protector of life, lord of death, "you can't die if Samedi refuses to dig your grave" sort of fluff.
Thanks for all the input, even the stuff I've opted not to follow. You all have been a huge help to me.
Name: Henri St Pierre-DelaCroix
Tag: Jolly Man
Metatype: 20 pts
Ork (20 pts)
Attributes: 220 pts (240)
Bod 5 (10 pts)
Agi 5 (40 pts)
Rea 3 (20 pts)
Str 3 (0 pts)
Cha 4 (30 pts)
Int 3 (20 pts)
Log 2 (10 pts)
Will 5 (40 pts)
Ini 6
Low Light Vision
Magic 5 (40 pts)
Edge 2 (10 pts)
Qualities: 0 pts (240)
Magician (15 pts)
Mentor Spirit (Dragonslayer), Baron Samedi the Lord of Life and Death (5 pts)
(+2 Combat +2 Con dice pool)
Signature (Every time he is involved in a bloodless kill he takes the (-10 pts)
time to paint a Haitian burial skullmask and other burial rites
with the Voodoo Kit and positions the body)
Sensitive System (-15 pts)
Prejudiced (Politicians, Outspoken) (-10 pts)
Astral Chameleon (5 pts)
Natural Athlete (10 pts)
Active Skills: 110 pts (350)
Running 1 (4 pts)
Unarmed Combat 4 (16 pts)
Summoning 4 (Spirits of Man) (18 pts)
Spellcasting 6 (24 pts)
Influence Skill Group 2 (20 pts)
Counterspelling 2 (8 pts)
Assensing 1 (4 pts)
Gymnastics 1 (Dance) (6 pts)
Knowledge skills and languages: (15 free points) 0 pts (340)
English N 0 pts
Breakdancing routines (Interest) 3 6 pts
Seattle Club Scene (Street) 3 6 pts
Orzet (Language) 1 (Trog dialect) 3 pts
Connections: 8 pts (348), from Seattle Season 4 Connections
Laurent Nazaire, Dwarf Fixer (C5, L3) (8 pts)
Spells: 30 pts (378)
Death Touch C Touch, damage v willpower (3 pts)
Increase Reflexes H Touch, +Initiative passes (3 pts)
Increase Reaction H Touch (3 pts)
Stunball C Area (3 pts)
Heal H Touch (3 pts)
Increase Charisma H Touch (3 pts)
Control Actions LOS (3 pts)
Physical Barrier LOS (3 pts)
Physical Mask Touch, Realistic, Multisense (3 pts)
Detect magic (3 pts)
Misc: 3 pts (381)
Bond sustaining focus (3 pts)
Gear: 19 pts (400) 94535NY (15 pts)
Magical Lodge Force 5 2500 NY
Sustaining Focus Force 3 (Cane) 30000 NY
Mortimer of London, Greatcoat Line 3000 NY
Softweave 300
Nonconductivity 3 600
Fire Resistance 2 200
Form FItting Body Armor, Full Body 1600 NY
Softweave 160
Chemical Protection 3 750
Insulation 1 100
PPP System, Full set, discreet 1000 NY
Novatech Airwave Commlink (Novatech Navi) 2750 NY
Empathy Software 4 2000 NY
Browse 2 100 NY
Command 2 100 NY
Encrypt 3 150 NY
Reality Filter 3 150 NY
Scan 2 100 NY
Analyze 3 150 NY
Linguasoft 2 Spanish 1000 NY
Linguasoft 2 Japanese 1000 NY
Healing Fetish (Heal) 500 NY
Combat Fetish (Death Touch) 200 NY
Ruger Super Warhawk (entirly for show) 250 NY
External Smartlink (Channel 7) 400 NY
Concealable Holster 75 NY
10 Gel rounds 30 NY
10 Stick n shock rounds 80 NY
30 Regular rounds 60 NY
Fake Sin 4 4000 NY
Fake License 4 (Combat Fetish) 400 NY
(Super Warhawk) 400 NY
(Sustaining Focus) 400 NY
(Shock Glove) 400 NY
(Smartlink) 400 NY
Simrig (Channel 1,2,3) 1000 NY
Glasses 4 100 NY
(Image Link) 25 NY
(Thermographic, Channel 4) 100 NY
(Flare Compensation) 50 NY
Earbuds 3 30 NY
(Audio Enhancement 1, Channel 5) 100 NY
Micro-microphone (Channel 6) 50 NY
Micro-camera (on back of hat, Channel 8) 100 NY
Lifestyle: 15LP, 1 month, with roommate 5500 NY
Comforts: Low 2LP
Entertainment: High 4LP
Necessities: High 4LP
Neighborhood: Low 2LP
Security: Middle 3LP
Shock Gloves 200 NY
Gas Mask (White, stylized Skullmask) 200 NY
Backpack 250 NY
2 Bust a move drones (possession targets, fluff , 700 NY
dancing bones)
Ares Humvee-Civic (Even better of a ride than that 25000 NY
rotorbike, also seems an all around good
investment with a hacker partner)
Reasonably stylish breakdancing clothes 290 NY
3 Sensor Bundles 2235 NY
Voodoo Kit (Face Paints, Cotton Wads, Cornmeal, 500 NY
Basic Vessel Preparation tools, pure fluff)
10 Stimulant Patch 6 1500 NY
10 Antidote Patch 4 2000 NY
3 Trauma Patch 1500 NY
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I don't mean to rain too hard on your parade.
I'm not sure how forgiving s4 missions are, but I've seen plenty of "there are many dudes coming, you should flee," which isn't a huge problem... but Bear would get you killed. The problem with the CS gas idea is more that the fights will tend to be over by the time that would kick in.
Melee IS suboptimal, but if it doesn't bother you too much, you can still be perfectly OK. You're still a voodoo mage :P. I would consider dropping Decrease Body for something else, though - how about Nauseate, from Digital Grimoire? It's a pretty neat spell and it lets you take people alive when you don't want to kill them with Death Touch. [edit: I see you replaced it with Stunball, that's also fine].
You have a high agility, but no Infiltration skill, and it's a really useful thing. I would try to scrape up at least a few points for Infiltration with the Urban specialization.
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Okay, just got off the phone with nojose and we think we've closed up all the glaring holes in the character. I'm going to knock counterspelling down to 1, add Infiltration 1. First 3 things done with Karma will be specialize in Touch attacks, Urban Infiltration, and Urban Running. FOuth will save up for initiate 1 and channeling. 5th address counterspelling. I seriously doubt I'll generate enough karma in 9-10 runs to do anything beyond that.
I also have to double check that armor combo, we think I have to drop some of the PPP stuff. I'm about to go learn that rule and figure it out. Be back to edit.
Edit: Yeah, the PPP helmet has to go, too. That's good though, it lets him keep wearing his top hat.
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The Shielding metamagic is also nice; you might want to get that at some point if you want more CS dice.