Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Kerbarian on <07-10-11/0714:03>
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The idea (mechanically) for this character is that, in addition to being a decent mage on his own, he can reliably summon a Force 5 Valkyrie (guardian spirit) with no drain, give her a weapon, and bump her up to 4 IPs. There's no binding (which keeps the spirits happy) -- just summon a new Valkyrie each day or night you need one, or whenever you run out of services.
The summoning process involves boosting some stats first with Increase [Attribute] to handle the summoning drain, so it can add up to several actions. It's not something you want to do in combat, but it only takes seconds outside of combat. It goes like this:
- Cast Increase Willpower (Force 5) on yourself with 17 dice, looking for 5+ hits. Resist 1S drain with 12 dice.
- Cast Increase Charisma (Force 7) on yourself with 15 dice, looking for 5+ hits. Resist 1P drain with 15 dice.
- Summon a Force 5 Valkyrie with 11 dice. Resist 2-10S drain with 18 dice. 86% chance of no drain damage, and you can spend Edge if it comes to that.
- Cast Increase Reflexes (Force 3, using a sustaining focus) on the materialized Valkyrie with 13 dice, looking for 3+ hits. Resist 3S drain with 18 dice.
The Valkyrie now has Initiative 13, 4 IPs, 13 dice with an assault rifle (or whatever weapon you give her, assuming a laser sight), and on defense she has Reaction 8 and hardened armor 10.
The character himself will have Initiative 7, 3 IPs (via Increase Reflexes and the other sustaining focus), and 13 dice for Stunbolt (12 dice for drain). His armor is 14/11 in an armor jacket or 14/9 in a business suit (no encumbrance either way).
He's weak on non-magical skills, but he can somewhat make up for that with magic. For social skills, he can sustain his Charisma at 12. For stealth, there are spirits with Concealment. Overall, though, the character feels a bit less than well-rounded. I'd like to find more points for a better variety of skills or for boosting attributes like Intuition. Any suggestions?
The build, with 400 BP:
Metatype (30 BP):
- Elf (Álfar, via the SURGE II quality)
Attributes (170 BP):
- Body 5
- Agility 2
- Reaction 3
- Strength 2
- Charisma 7
- Intuition 2
- Logic 3
- Willpower 5
Extra attributes (50 BP):
Qualities (+5 BP):
- Magician, Norse tradition
- Class II SURGE (Álfar): Metagenic Improvement (Willpower), Extravagant Eyes, Striking Skin Pigmentation (both iridescent golden-white)
- Mentor Spirit: Sun (Sól), guardian spirits and health spells
- Sensitive System
- Ritual Geas, runecasting
- Records on file (Saeder-Krupp)
Active Skills (88 BP):
- Spellcasting 6 (+2 health spells)
- Summoning 4 (+2 guardian spirits)
- Counterspelling 3
- Dodge 3
- Influence group 1
- Astral Combat 1
- Assensing 1 (+2 metahumans)
Knowledge Skills (15 free points):
- English N
- German 3
- Sperethiel 2
- Orbital habitats 2
- Mana anomaly research 3
- Magical security design 3
- Corporate politics 2
Spells (24 BP):
- Increase Charisma
- Increase Willpower
- Increase Reflexes
- Heal (limited)
- Stunbolt
- Detect Life, Extended (limited)
- Trid Phantasm (limited)
- Levitate
Resources (27 BP + 8 BP for bonding):
- Power focus 2
- Sustaining focus 3 (health spells) x2
- Sakura Fubuki w/laser sight, 120 rounds Stick-n-Shock, concealable holster (for the Valkyrie)
- Telescoping staff
- Smartweave armor jacket w/chemical protection 6
- Synergist business suit (softweave suit jacket w/delta amyloid, slacks, shirt)
- Form-fitting body armor, half suit, w/nonconductivity 6
- Securetech PPP, all pieces except helmet
- Stim patches (ratings 6, 6, 4), trauma patch
- Health, detection, and illusion fetishes
- Commlink, low-light flashlight, emotitoy (rating 6) (if allowed)
- Medium lifestyle (1 month)
- Fake SINs (rating 4 and rating 1)
- Fake licenses (rating 4) for the Sakura Fubuki and all three foci
Contacts (8 BP):
- S-K security mage (connection 2, loyalty 2)
- Talismonger (connection 2, loyalty 2)
(Edit: swapped one point of edge for Influence group 1)
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1) 4 IPs is overkill. You won't need tham, and if your GM splits your movement into 4 sections based on your 4 IPs, you won't want them.
2) Same thing for your Valkyrie.
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I would get the points for the Influence skill group at 1, at the very least, even if you have to drop Logic or Edge to do so. Having a Charisma of 7 and no social skills whatsoever will scream "metagaming, in a bad way" to the GM, so I am recommending it more from an appeasing the GM point of view, than from the minuscule difference that a skill of 1 makes.
The sustaining focus for the spirit, I'm a bit iffy on, tactics-wise. It keeps the spirit stuck in manifest form, and any time you have a spirit get disrupted, you risk having the bad guys get their hands on that sustaining focus.
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The sustaining focus for the spirit, I'm a bit iffy on, tactics-wise. It keeps the spirit stuck in manifest form, and any time you have a spirit get disrupted, you risk having the bad guys get their hands on that sustaining focus.
I was figuring the Valkyrie just wouldn't get Increased Reflexes when going off on her own for that reason, but I just checked on the rules for this. In previous editions, the sustaining focus stayed with the spell being sustained, but it looks like that's no longer the case.
SR4A, p.199: "Once activated, a focus continues to operate as long as it is on the owner’s person, be it worn, carried, hand-held, or in a pocket or pouch."
The description of sustaining foci doesn't say anything to contradict this -- it doesn't mention the focus staying anywhere other than with the caster. That makes sense, I think, because without a focus the spell would be sustained by the caster's mind at the caster's location.
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Ah, no matter how well I think I know the rules, those little changes between editions will trip me up, because I assume it's the same way it was before. You still want to watch having the spirit go astral, though - since improved reflexes is a Physical spell, shifting completely to the astral plane could disrupt the spell.
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I would get the points for the Influence skill group at 1, at the very least, even if you have to drop Logic or Edge to do so. Having a Charisma of 7 and no social skills whatsoever will scream "metagaming, in a bad way" to the GM, so I am recommending it more from an appeasing the GM point of view, than from the minuscule difference that a skill of 1 makes.
Or he just got by on his natural charm and never paid that much attention to social interactions because they were always so easy :). But yeah, that's the kind of thing I'd like to find more points for. Having below-average Logic wouldn't really work for the character background, though I didn't explain that in the OP. It would also mean that he couldn't have all 3 foci active at the same time. Dropping a point of Edge could be possible...
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One more important thing. You need to have one of the other players play an adept with improved bike skills, so that you can have the BMX Bandit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuMpYTyRjw) to support your character.
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One more important thing. You need to have one of the other players play an adept with improved bike skills, so that you can have the BMX Bandit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuMpYTyRjw) to support your character.
As much as I love that UK BMX Bandit... I think Nicole Kidman was better in the 1983 movie of the same name ;)
1983 BMX Bandits (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsNjqh1MxiQ)