Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: ShinigamiWolf on <06-19-11/0225:47>
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Basically for background, the character at birth was sold to a Triad boss due to the rare and unusual markings and the triad group began operations out in the US. Upon awakening, the boss decided it would make an interesting enforcer and began versing it in Chinese and English to the ability to being able to command the new enforcer in missions. While uneducated on the whole, he learned the language of the current country to better accomplish the tasks required (English) and was given his assignments in Chinese to keep most prying eyes from understanding the documents carried. The character upon a 'botched' raid in which the majority of the triads were crippled or killed, he stole away into the night and took to running as far as he could till he stumbled into the city of (Campaign City). He lived mostly off the wilds in the process and reaching the city has run low on what little cash he had on hand and tired of spending his life solely in the woods as he was unaccustomed to, he's taken up becomming a Shadowrunner to make money and live as he had become accustomed to throughout his life with the triads...That's my thoughts so far
Shapeshifter (Tiger)
Attributes
Body 6
Agility 7
Reaction 6
Strength 4
Charisma 1
Intuition 2
Logic 2
Willpower 4
Edge 4
Magic 5
Skills
Dodge 5 20 BP
Unarmed 4 16BP
Perception 4 16BP
Pistol 5 20BP
Assensing 1 4BP
Outdoors 1 10BP
Athletics 1 10BP
Stealth 3 30BP
Knowledge
English N
Chinese N
Triad 3
Qualities
Erased 5BP
Lightning Reflexes 15BP
Bilingual 5BP
Adept 5BP
SimSense Vertigo -10BP
Vendetta (Triad) -5 BP
Uneducated -20 BP
Allergic (Silver, Severe) Lovely little Freebie
Vulnerable (Silver) Lovely little Freebie
Lifestyle Low
Ranged Weapons
Ares Viper Slivergun
Spare Clips (4)
x150 Ammo Hollow Points
x150 Ammo Regular
Concealable Holster
Laser Sight
x5 Flashbang
Melee weapons
Unarmed
Claws (Tiger form)
Shifter Abilities
Shift (Human)
Dual Natured
Hearing
Smell
Low Light Vision
Regen
Armor
Armor Vest
Lined Coat
Backpack
x10 Street Clothes
Glasses (Rating 4)
Commlink
Fairlight Caliban
Novatech Navi
Adept Powers
Critical Strike (Rating 4)
Attribute Boost (Strength, 1)
Attribute Boost (Body, 1)
Improved Reflexes (Rating 2)
Mystic Armor (2)
I've double checked the math, 75 for the Shapeshifter....200 for the Attributes....126 for the skills....and -5 for the Qualities (30 BP Positive, -35 BP Negative) Leaving 4 (20,000 for cash of which I spent less than 15,000)
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Some things don't fit to me.
Let's go : 1 charisma, 2 logic and intuition, as a GM, this character's sheet would be saying "kick my ass" to me. At least, since it's a zoocanthrope, so an animal, you can give him a decent "intuition". Stay on low logic if you got a decent intuition, why not, but 1 charisma, I think you should be aware what it means. You see "Sloth" in the Goonies ? that's 1 charisma. 1 charisma is the guy you instinctivly despise and make fun at, you may feel pity for him, but that's all, and when he begins to talk to you, you juste find an excuse to leave as quick as you can, because he bores you and makes you feel uneasy.
And 1 chasrima, for a tiger, it's a crime, I'll call the police.
Then : erased. Why ? as far as I can see, your character as nothing to do with the matrix, so why something would be erasing this animal ? sounds odd to me.
Skills : at least, a little bit of "etiquette" with the "triades" specialisation.
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Charisma as I was to understand it would mean social interactions, not intelligence. So that would be more along the lines of a Satanic worshiper having a discussion with a Priest of the Vatican. They'll be butting heads and his manners will be terrible for interacting with the person. Rp wise, I do in fact plan on increasing Cha over time as he interacts with humanity on a whole instead of just killing the targets he was handed as was his role in the Triads. Erased was decided upon as another player of the group suggested it as he's the Matrix expert and any person he socializes with is a liability to himself so as a precaution he's erasing the more 'recognizable' characters. Hmmm.....etiquette with the triads, I would consider if I had any points left just for the fact that it does indeed fit in with the RP aspect. There are more specialized people in the group I'm going to be playing with for the social interactions, I plan on using my character for stuff that is more action and less talk for the most part. Till he progresses enough RP wise and gets enough karma to fix social interaction aspects.
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Charisma as I was to understand it would mean social interactions, not intelligence. So that would be more along the lines of a Satanic worshiper having a discussion with a Priest of the Vatican. They'll be butting heads and his manners will be terrible for interacting with the person.
That's more than that. Imagine the same, but instead of having the wrong attitude with some persons of different cultures, your character has exactly the wrong attitude with everybody, including its own species. Another example : the policeman's unbearable son in "The Simpsons", good example too for very low charisma. He isn't stupid, he just acts completely wrong (and look stupid). 1 in an attribute, in agility you would be a cripple. So in mental attributes...
Now, be conscious that your character has low charisma but is really stupid too, due to low logic and intuition. Would I be you, I would lower to 5 body, agility and reaction. That would be 4 points, three in intuition and one in charisma, so charisma 2 and intuition 5, it's still low charisma, but it's "playable", and intuition will allow you a lot more things (check the attribute for the "stealth" group, check "perception", and it counts in initiative). Plus, it's a natural attribute for a natural born hunter, and then you're no more stupid. You're not good with logic, but you "feel" things much better than most people.
Another point I missed : no contacts. Means unless you're the pet of another player character, you'll never get a run. At least take a fixer.
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Some of your math isn't adding up for me. It is 75 for a Tiger Shape shifter, but you spent 210BP on attributes (20 on BOD, 20 on AGI, 40 on REA, 10 on STR, 0 on CHA, 10 on INT, 10 on LOG, 30 on WIL, 30 on Edge, and 40 on Magic for a total of 210BP spent).
I'd also second anotherJack... currently your character has one Charisma and no social skills. Mechanically this means that anyone can con you, persuade you, intimidate you, or impress you, and you won't even put up a challenge (Defaulting causes -1 dice... and you only have 1 charisma). In addition to this, Shape shifters are supposed to be more susceptible to aggression than your typical metahuman. For the Triads, I'd suggest Etiquette, as they're big on the rituals.
I'd also agree that Erased isn't particularly appropriate. If you've got a Matrix specialist in your group, you can have him preform such actions in game, but (and especially if he's doing it for more than one person) it takes as much (if not more) time as it does skill. The Erased quality implies you have an NPC who actively moves through the Matrix to clear your records; this doesn't fit particularly well, as fleeing the Triads caused you to lose contact with those familiar with you, and your lack of social skill would prevent you from befriending an elite hacker (and since you've got no technical ability, I'm going to say an AI was impossible).
Also, the Vendetta quality also dictates that you have an Enemy quality:
The character must also take the Enemy quality (with an Incidence rating of at least 4).
Going by your background, the Triads that held you captive were wiped out, so unless you had a lasting record for capture (unlikely due to the Erased you took as well), it would be difficult for them to track you.
If you plan on going through with this character, take it with a grain of salt... you're heavily combat focused, with no social ability, and you're unable to default on social skills. This means you fall back, literally, into the role of muscle support. My suggestions would be to move something and have charisma up by 1 more (if only so that you have a single die to roll), as even with four edge, taking Long Shots on social tests wouldn't be much help. While I like the background, I find it unlikely that you'd be taught how to use a gun before you were taught how to respect others and be humble, as well.
EDIT: A few typos I just caught.
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Well the scenario in the background is implying the unit of Triads I was with was wiped out and without an easy way of escorting the character back, he fled to keep from being recaptured. I may have been to vague in what I was describing of that part but I get what you are saying more about the etiquette part I'll look over my stuff, possibly drop a skill point or two of something to at least put two in etiquette. I'll drop the Erased as I get what you guys are saying about it. I'll drop one in Agi to get up another in Cha. Maybe drop one in Will to increase Intuition and one in Reaction to increase Intuition as well so it's at a 4. That'll still have my character in the muscle department and should help even it out a bit. I like the idea of having the Vendetta in my character as a flaw for some reason. I'll drop a point in edge if I need to to fix the situation on my math and just gain it back when I get a chance with Karma.
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I like the idea of the character with Vendetta as well... if I was kept essentially a captive from birth, I'd hold ill will too. The threat of being turned into medicine could also be something you could use as a pet peeve:
The various Chinese states maintain good prices for tiger shapeshifters and their parts for use in traditional Chinese medicine.
I think what may have misled you on the Edge was that shapeshifters shift into human form. While humans have 2/7 edge, shapeshifters do not, which may be where that extra point came from.
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That was probably where my mistake lay, I adjusted the states as I mentioned and took a hit in edge to get back to 200 with an initiative of 4, I also dropped one in perception and on in dodge and dropped erased and picked up three in etiquette so I shouldn't be spitting in damn near everyone's face. I'm not sure where to put enemies in on the character sheet, but ill have my gm help with that and I'm thinking ill just have to take the whole no contacts setup as I can't find a skill or something to drop to give me the points to get above a 1/1 contact. It's gonna be interesting how I play it as it being my first time playing any pen and paper I think I should stay in the shadows of the group while I get used to everything. This probably will only be a short lived character and once I'm more familiar i'll roll anew or I may just keep the character for certain days when I fill like being a ruffian and have another character for my better days ^^.
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Enemy
Bonus: Variable (max. 25)
The character possesses an Enemy (or more than one). Enemies are described on p. 132 and are a constant foil and threat to the character’s activities and plans. The BP cost of an Enemy is equal to the sum of its (modified) Connection Rating and its Incidence Rating.
The nature and depth of the bad blood between the two characters should be defined together with the gamemaster when the Enemy quality is chosen. The Enemy may even be a group or organization, rather than a single antagonist or rival (for more details on this option, refer to Enemies, p. 132). Enemy can easily be paired with a number of Negative qualities like Wanted and Vendetta.
It's a negative quality as well. I might even go so far as to say that the Triad wouldn't want someone totally uneducated working for them, as it would really hinder their operations if you can't follow orders via commlink... so you could replace Uneducated with Enemy. You still wouldn't be proficient by any means, but due to your entire history being at the beck and call of a Syndicate, you wouldn't look at a computer or commlink and go, "Whuh?"
If you're trying for a contact, I'd say that since you can't use pistols while in tiger form, drop that by one. That will give you a 2/2 contact. With your agility at 6, you'd still roll 10 die when shooting with a pistol.
EDIT: It's a pretty interesting way to start, and if you can have him survive long enough to not be victim to lies and underhanded deals, it would be an interesting Shadowrunner. However, since it's your first time, I'd encourage the contact (because role playing them and keeping them can be a large part of SR... "It's not what you know, it's who you know.") as well as a the etiquette, as it'll give you a way to connect with the group (potentially your only truly trustworthy allies and willing to put up with your oddities, showing you not all metahumans would lock you up).
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If you're searching for points to get back, check to the skills groups : a skill group is the best choice if you want to use frequently at least 3 skills of the group ; if you're only using 2 skills, you shall drop the group, and only up these two skills, with specialisations, or it's spoiling points.
Here, I'm not sure you really want to use the 4 skills of the stealth group (though you can, with a good intuition).
Be aware too that a spec, it's 2 BP for two more dices ; so lowering a skill by one, and taking a spec, it's one more dice than your previous skill when you're using your spec, and 2 BP saved.
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Perhaps it would be best to drop 4 in pistol, specialize four in heavy pistol and use the 4 left over for a 2/2 contact?
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Woops I mean 5 in heavy pistol and a 3/3 contact yes? That would be proper math right for dropping 4 in pistol
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...I don't understand your math :x you can only take a specialisation once (and as far as I know, only one spec' for each skill) ; here, your can go back from 5 to 3 in pistols, that's 8 BP saved, then specialise (check the specialisations availables, not sure "heavy pistols" is one), that's 2 BP and it still gets you 5 dices (3+2) when using your specialisation, and you still have 6 BP points (8-2) left.
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Hello, saw some things that raised the red flag. First it is late here so double check everything I am saying:) but after looking up adept powers: improved reflexes=2.5, both attribute=1.5, mystic armor=1, critical strike=1. So the total power points used is 6 while Magic attribute is 5?
Last thing that cought my attention was lightning reflexes: great quality if PC is unaugmented in anyway (including magic). But with the improved reflexes you would not gain benefit of this 15BP quality.
Cheers Frankie
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Well they make mention in the book as an example Pistols 3 (Revolvers +2) So I believe I can take two in it. As far as heavy pistol being a specialization, I'm not sure if its allowed or not. I'm trying to figure out what the specializations of pistols there are, I would assume if Revolvers is one, then Clip fed would be another....but that's too broad I would think, or perhaps Semi Automatic is one. But would that be work for the gun I've chosen which is one that has two modes, or would it only work when I've got it set in SA mode?
Which brings me to my next blunder ^^. Yes I did screw up my math, shouldn't do this stuff so late at night, I did accidentally use the math for Improved skill and not Improved Attribute. Another screw up is not realizing that Lightning Reflexes won't work with Improved reflexes, so I'll drop that magic which opens up my Adept Powers pool 1.5. While I could indeed find enough magic to waste that on....perhaps dropping 1 magic would be better and using the point to add to my Charisma? Then perhaps use the .5 left in my Power Pool for Killing Hands....which brings up another question for me.....does that coincide with Tiger form claws as claws are an unarmed attack? And I would assume that claws wouldn't be in the normal realm of unarmed damage of being stun damage but if that's so what would be the benefit of it?
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A specialization is a +2 bonus so they are formatted as XXXXX (Spec +2)
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that' it, and so, you dont take "two" spec, you take a spec', and it gives you +2 dices.
There's no degree in spec, you juste take it once. That's all.
For the specialisation list, see the skill description, specialisations availables are detailed for each skill.
I ain't got the book right here so I cant' check myself.
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Oh......I getcha >.<, silly me. So specialization costs 2 bp correct, so dropping two in Pistol leaves me with 6 for a 3/3 contact...correct? And yes Semi Automatic would indeed be the specialization then, thank you for pointing that out to me.
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I now have my book, and yes, semi-auto is an available specialisation for pistols ^^
And that's it, dropping two in pistol grants you 8 points, from which you spend 2 for the spec', so 6 left, a 3/3 contact is nice.
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Any particular suggestions for a contact for this character? I'm trying to look how to make them but I'm not exactly sure about the different types and how to 'create' one.
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The classic first contact is the fixer. It's usually the one who know who need who for what, and will put together Mr Johnson and the runners.
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Well let's see what the updates look like at this point.
Shapeshifter (Tiger)
Attributes
Body 6
Agility 6
Reaction 5
Strength 4
Charisma 3
Intuition 4
Logic 2
Willpower 3
Edge 3
Magic 4
Skills
Dodge 4 16 BP
Unarmed 4 16BP
Perception 3 12BP
Pistol 3 (SA+2) 14BP
Etiquette 3 12BP
Assensing 1 4BP
Outdoors 1 10BP
Athletics 1 10BP
Stealth 3 30BP
Knowledge
English N
Chinese N
Triad 3
Qualities
Lightning Reflexes 15BP
Bilingual 5BP
Adept 5BP
SimSense Vertigo -10BP
Vendetta (Triad) -5 BP
Uneducated -20 BP
Allergic (Silver, Severe) Lovely little Freebie
Vulnerable (Silver) Lovely little Freebie
Lifestyle Low
Ranged Weapons
Ares Viper Slivergun
Spare Clips (4)
x150 Ammo Hollow Points
x150 Ammo Regular
Concealable Holster
Laser Sight
x5 Flashbang
Melee weapons
Unarmed
Claws (Tiger form)
Shifter Abilities
Shift (Human)
Dual Natured
Hearing
Smell
Low Light Vision
Regen
Armor
Armor Vest
Lined Coat
Backpack
x10 Street Clothes
Glasses (Rating 4)
Commlink
Fairlight Caliban
Novatech Navi
Adept Powers
Critical Strike (Rating 4)
Attribute Boost (Strength, 1)
Attribute Boost (Body, 1)
Mystic Armor (3)
Contact
"Bob" (Fixer) 3/3
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Hmmm, think to put your contact in your background. He didnt' fell from the sky (well, actually he could, but it must be a pretty good story).
Now, critical strike, ok, cool stuff ; then I'm wondering about your attribute boosts : is it the power which you must activate and which grants you a bonus equal to the success of the test, or is it the power which improves permanently your attributes ?
If it's the second answer, then I think it's the wrong name, and you shall drop the body boost, and replace it either with 3 lvl of the true attribute boost, or with 3 lvl of enhanced perception (which will help you be VERY perceptive, plus it works with assenssing too).
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Based on the wording in the book, and the fact that it is added to the base to increase the attribute later with karma. Or so I'm reading, perception....what exactly is the benefits of it? I mean apart from being able to discern things that are odd around him. I was thinking it would be more useful for Shadowing or Infiltration or a combination of the two.
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Well what is the benefit of being aware of what is interesting/odd around ? guess ? :')
Perception is just one of the most usefull skill, whatever the situation is.
Makes you a good guard, a good investigator, a good hunter, makes you pick up clues, detect embushes, and so. Makes your character be much more than muscle.
Here, it's one dice in body, or 3 dices in all perception related test, + assenssing. Not that Body is useless, but 5 is already fine.
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Very well, your argument is quite good, plus what feline isn't severely aware of their surrounding....on top of that an escapee from being a pet of the tirade would be borderline paranoid on now in touch with his surroundings he'd want to be.
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Ummm...you're character isn't a hacker-type, so why in the world would you waste so much nuyen on a Fairlight Caliban commlink?
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I am new to the whole thing and just by reading the stats and since I assume that all characters should at least have a commlink and looking in on the stats of it, I figured it'd be best to have it have the best setup so that it would be hard to hack into and have the teams communications being monitored. If players can hack comms, I would assume then when dealing with a particularly weary foe or one that's been put on alert from a screw up....may have a techie try to hack our comms line, therefore my characters wouldn't be the weakest link. Am I wrong to think this way?
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if you have 5 BP to spare, you might want to consider SURGE I
for your 10 BP metagenetic advantage you could have retractable claws and then take a 5 BP metagenetic negative.
He is a Tiger after all
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I am new to the whole thing and just by reading the stats and since I assume that all characters should at least have a commlink and looking in on the stats of it, I figured it'd be best to have it have the best setup so that it would be hard to hack into and have the teams communications being monitored. If players can hack comms, I would assume then when dealing with a particularly weary foe or one that's been put on alert from a screw up....may have a techie try to hack our comms line, therefore my characters wouldn't be the weakest link. Am I wrong to think this way?
As our group's paranoid commlink guy, I'll chime in.
This particular character is pretty much invulnerable to most things a Hacker could do - no Cyber or Smart weapons or really any electronics to mess with. Worst case scenario, they hack your comms...but your group's Hacker or Techno should be running Encryption software. A Hacker might be able to take your comms down, still, but that's your Matrix-specialist's problem.
I'd get a decent but relatively inexpensive 'link and firewall the heck out of it. I'd probably not even bother with a cheap decoy...you don't really even have a PAN.
-Jn-
Ifriti Sophist