Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Longshot23 on <10-19-11/0634:46>
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Okay, this is just for interest's sake. And predominantly to do with knowledge skills.
How many skills - knowledge or Active - do people take that have nothing to do with running the shadows? At first glance, anyway.
Has anyone ever gotten reactions along the lines of "why the $#!& did you waste points on that?"
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I think skills that helps define a character and his background are fine.
Isn't that one of the reasons you get free knowledge skills?
And at some point any skill could become relevant.
Rasmus
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I got this reactions lots of time; but most of my characters have this kind of skills both among Active and Knowledge ones.
As far as I can remember, at least half the knowledge skills points of every character I ever made had "almost" nothing to do with running the shadows. The almost is just there since the shadows are a really inpredictable place, and sometimes the most strange skill can prove itself useful. also, almost all my characters spend a little something to get a skill non-related to running the shadows; my most min-maxed character ever has it as his rating 6 starting skill (Digital Art), and it even has an specialization. That's 26 BP into a flavor skill, and it was really worth it!
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All depends on the background.
I have one character that can cook, and another that's an accounting wizard.
Not that I ever got to play them. :'(
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in BP system: none
in Karmagen system: a few to several
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I can't say anything, my dwarf street sam has urban brawl teams, Soccer (he's Brazillian, note Not Amazonian) and star trek trivia. You never know whenyou might need it.
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My smuggler knows how to play an instrument or two.
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My main character build(a combat face) has 10 knowledge skill, most of them not related to running and she has 17 language skills, oh and also Riding (Side Saddle) 1(3).
But really as a face one can never know when any of those skills might be "needed"
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are we talking Active Skills or Knowledge Skills? Because I was talking the former in my post.
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With Knowledge Skills, there is always a couple thrown in.
With Active Skills, not so much so. I can't remember the last time I built a character with a non-running useful Active Skill.
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Admittedly, Active skills are pretty much all running-related. That's why they're there. Still, not every Active skill will be used in every run.
I was more interested in reactions to skills people have given their characters.
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I used to have that reaction quite often to my players' selections of Knowledge Skills and Contacts. The kinda puzzled look and a slow "o-kay" as if the player had never played SR before...
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All of my Chars have those Skills .Both Knowledge and Active .From playing Instruments to Knowledge Sci-Fi-Movies (Spec 1960-2060) to Mechanics to Diving, to whole Groups (Sports Group for a Streetsam, etc)
Its a Default for all of my Chars to have some non-running Skills
and I pity the Fool who has only Running Skills !
Hough !
Medicineman
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I do remember in SR2 having characters that took Acting, Music, Sport and Chess (among others) as part of a back story, before the game really became all about 'running and professional 'runners, and less about people that happened into 'running...
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All of my Chars have those Skills .Both Knowledge and Active .From playing Instruments to Knowledge Sci-Fi-Movies (Spec 1960-2060) to Mechanics to Diving, to whole Groups (Sports Group for a Streetsam, etc)
Its a Default for all of my Chars to have some non-running Skills
and I pity the Fool who has only Running Skills !
Hough !
Medicineman
You would have loved some of my SR2 games!
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The Troll Sam in my group recently saved his team a bunch of hassle with his Trog Rock (European) Knowledge Skill. The Technomancer of the group is spending his first Karma on a Psychology Knowledge Skill and the Artisan Active Skill for RP purposes.
I personally tend to spent a lot of points in silly Knowledge Skills, for some special characters a couple of points in an active skill at chargen.
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Back in the SR3 days, I had a Face that had Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy, Economics and other Academic Skills because you never knew when they were going to come in handy as Complimentary Skills.
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Admittedly, Active skills are pretty much all running-related. That's why they're there. Still, not every Active skill will be used in every run.
I was more interested in reactions to skills people have given their characters.
Artisan is running related? Arcana?
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Artisan is running related in social infiltration scenarios, and it is handy as knowledge of the method to perform the arts.
Arcana is a handy skill if you need to decipher an ancient text that the Johnson needed, esp. if you think he is gonna double-cross you. It also helps in discussions with NPC mages about magic as ANOTHER social skill. Almost every skill in the game can have a social context.
Admittedly, these skills are only useful in high level international running groups, not with street thugs.
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mmm. ok. Which means they're as useful as many knowledge skills:
local politics. local laws. psychology (spec: criminal psych). Forensic science.
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Depends on the character, though I usually have at least one.
My former Tir Tairngir Ghost has TTPF Military Tactics. Not likely to come up in the shadows, even in Seattle, but there ya go. I've got a Technomancer who has Anime and Manga as a knowledge, being a full on otaku, in the older sense of the word. More things like that. I find knowledge skills a good way to help round out characters and make them more real.
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I like to think of a character like "he had a life before i start to play him" And because of that he´s going to need some other skills, probably non-runner skills. I know a bunch of military people, rangers, anti air officers, tank personel etc and all of them know rather many things beside their "runner" skills. Always make the chars feel alive, get the story, give them related skills to their life/work/hobby and get a picture of them.
Flavor is everything, specially in SR.
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Since I only have played one character in SR and he is a mage that had magical upbringing and lived together with his master for his last 10 years he only have magical skills. But he has knowledge about : Magical groups, spirits, spell design, Magical History, Dragons, Talismans and Focis.
He is an Interpretor as a living beside his running, so he can handle his gramatics in 10 different languages too.
Rather living char in my eyes.