Shadowrun

Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: CalibanX9 on <11-04-11/0221:57>

Title: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: CalibanX9 on <11-04-11/0221:57>

Name: Akki Strausson
Alias: Smidgen
Race: dwarf
Sex: Male
Nationality: mixed
Lifestyle: squatter
Karma Spent: 0
Physical Description: short, robust, sharp featured, dwarf
Tradition/Mentor Spirit Chaos Mage/ Fire Bringer.

Attributes

Body	Agility	Reaction	Strength
4	3	3	3
Charisma	Intuition	Logic	Willpower
3	5	5	6
Edge	Magic/Resonance	Essence	Initiative
1	5	6	6

Positive Qualities
Mentor Spirit, Magician
Negative Qualities
in debt x6
dependent

Active Skills

Sorcery Skill Group	4
Conjuring Skill Group	2
Summoning	3 (fire spirits 5)
Assensing	2
Dodge	2 (ranged combat 4)
Etiquette	2 (Go gangs 4)
Pilot Ground Craft	2 (Bike 4)

Knowledge Skills ( [Logic + Intuition] x 3 free points)

Spell design	4
Mafia	2 (families 4)
Street Drugs	2
Black Markets	2 (Magical Items 4)
Seattle Street Gangs	4

Language Skills

English	N
Japanese	3
Swedish	3

Spells

Name	Duration	Area of effect	Drain
Increase Body	S	LOS	F/2-2
Increase Reflexes	S	LOS	F/2+2
Stunbolt	I	LOS	F/2-1
Stunball	I	AOE (LOS)	F/2+1
Physical Barrier	S	Area (LOS)	(F/2+3)
Armor	S	LOS	F/2+3
Levitate	S	LOS	F/2+1
Heal	P	Touch	DV-2
Electricity Aura	S	LOS	F/2+3

Gear (134,975¥)

Armor Jacket Feeback Clothing, regular Helmet Commlink: Trans Avalon System 4 Firewall 4 Browse 4 AR gloves 2x Sustaining focus -3 Power Focus -2 Talislegger Kit Healing Fetish Combat Fetish Manipulation Fetish Magical Lodge Materials (rating 4) 2x Medkits (rating 6) 2x Stimulant Patch (rating 6) Fake Sin (rating 4) 5x Psyche Inhaler Backpack Sleeping Bag Mage Sight Goggles +Vision Magnigication +Image link Fake motorcycle license (rating 4) Fake Student ID (University of Washington) (rating 4) Binocular Chisel Chemsuit (rating 2) Vehicles Yamaha Growler Handling Accel Speed Pilot Body Armor Sensor Availability Cost +1 15/40 150 1 6 6 1 - 5500¥ Contacts Contact C/L Wiz kid Ganger Sally 3/4 Corner Pusher X1/2 Build Point totals:  400

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: Tecumseh on <11-04-11/0321:21>

Many players avoid the Sorcery skill group because it includes Ritual Spellcasting, which doesn't find a lot of use in many games. If it does in your game, great. If not, you may want to break up the skill group so that you can take Spellcasting at level 5 or 6. Remember that you can have two skills at 5 or one skill at 6. Skills will never be cheaper than they are during character generation so its good to boost them as high as you can afford to.

Your number of spells is limited to your Spellcasting (or Ritual Spellcasting) skill * 2. You currently have 9 spells, so you're over by one. That's actually another good reason to break up the Sorcery skill group (... so that you can raise your Spellcasting skill and get additional spells).

You currently have Summoning listed separately from the Conjuring skill group. Summoning is part of that skill group so technically you've bought it twice.

Not many people take the Conjuring skill group because Banishing is not widely used. Most players find stunbolts to be more effective. If you break up the group then you can take a specialization in Fire Spirits too, which wouldn't be allowed at character generation if you have the skill group. (You could break the skill group with a specialization after play begins.)

You're missing Perception as a skill. Besides being generally useful, it's occasionally necessary for you to target your spells via Line of Sight. A GM may make you roll Perception under certain conditions - explosions, smoke, confusion, other situations Shadowrunners inexplicably find themselves in - to determine if you even notice/see your target.

I don't think you spent all your free Knowledge Skill points. I count 22 but you have 30 to spend. That said, your Logic is rather high for not having any skills linked to Logic. If you needed some extra BP to spend, that's probably where I would look first. Edit: Rasmusnicolaj is right about Logic being used for Drain.

From a realism standpoint, you have rather a lot of gear (including a vehicle) for a Squatter lifestyle. Maybe that lifestyle is an in-character choice for your mage, but it would be hard to keep all that gear secure without a regular place to sleep and lock the door. Plus it's a lot to carry around on a motorcycle with you.

I'll let the others take it from here. Have fun!

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: rasmusnicolaj on <11-04-11/0758:53>

Besides Tecumseh's fine advice I will point at your skills. Get them at 1 or 4 and Spellcasting 6.
2 & 3 are not very karma efficient. Also specializations are really cheap in karma so you could wait to get those until you have starte playing.

If you want to carry your foci and be a licensed magician you need Fake Licenses for both.

Maybe go for a restricted gear quality and a powerfocus rating 4. That is a really nice choice for at starting mage.

Edge 1 is really low. Edge is your friend a really really nice  ;)

Armor is your friend. Security types has a tendency to not like mages and so they shoot at you before anything else. You really need to get as much armor as possible to stay alive. You have made a dwarf so body 5 should be a posibility and then go form fitting body armor, securetech stuff and another armor on top of that.

Personally I would go for some more sensory equipment in lenses, glasses and ear buds.

I think Logic is to resist drain - can't remeber that of the top of my head.

Rasmus

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: CalibanX9 on <11-04-11/1421:23>

Thanks for the advice!
Squatter was more of a rp choice, was just figuring on having a fire spirit on guard duty until I could afford something better.  the skill choices make a lot of sense. I'll alter them.

I didn't realize the spell learning limit, what skill level is generally effective for counterspelling?

Logic is a resist drain attribute for chaos mages,

What are thoughts on Magic 6?

I was playing around with restricted gear for a power focus 4 and sustaining focus 5.  I'll reroll and post what I come up with.

Thanks again!

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: Tecumseh on <11-04-11/1440:05>

Magic 6 is expensive. Instead of spending 25 BP to raise Magic from 5 to 6, you could pick up the Restricted Gear quality for 5 BP, some extra nuyen, and then boost your Power Focus above rating 2. The net result is the same if not better, and it would cost you fewer build points.

Counterspelling is a good skill to have at a high level - I would aim for 4 at character generation for myself - but if you have a strong Power Focus then your boosted Magic attribute will buy you some extra dice for the skill tests. It also depends on the overall power level of your game. If your GM is throwing you against wizkid gangers then you might not need a high Counterspelling skill, but if you're going up against corporate wage mages then it would be advantageous to have a strong rating. I'd aim for 12-ish personally, but if you can't get there right away then you can add a specialization after play begins. 

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: jonathanc on <11-04-11/1456:16>

For what it's worth, I think people who skip out on Ritual magic are suckers. It's the most effective form of tracking in the game, isn't it?

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: CalibanX9 on <11-04-11/1500:19>

OK, this is an updated version, increased body, lowered intuition and logic, jumbled gear a bit (I still need to add some hearing/ vision accessories). What character generator is par for the course around here?

Smidgen


Metatype : Dwarf
Magician

Attributes
Body: 5
Agility: 3
Reaction: 3
Strength: 3
Charisma: 3
Intuition: 3
Logic: 4
Willpower: 6

Edge: 1
Magic: 5
Initiative: 6
Essence: 6
 
Knowledge Skills
English : N
Japanese : 3
Swedish : 3
Spell Design : 4
Mafia (Families) : 2
Street Drugs : 2
Black Markets (Magical Items) : 4
Seattle Street Gangs : 2
    
Active Skills
Summoning : 4
Assensing : 1
Dodge : 4
Etiquette : 1
Pilot Ground Craft : 1
Counterspelling : 3
Spellcasting : 6
Perception : 1
Binding : 3
Arcana : 1
 
 
Positive Qualities
Mentor Spirit
Restricted Gear
    
Negative Qualities
In Debt 6
Addiction, mild
 
Weapons
    
Armors
Armor Jacket
Feedback Clothing (Regular)
Helmet (Regular)
Form-Fitting Body Armor Full-Body Suit
PPP-System Vitals Protector
 
Vehicles
Yamaha Growler (Off-Road Bike)
 
Commlinks
Commlink : CMT Clip
Commlink : Meta Link
System (Rating 1)
System (Rating 1)
    
Equipments
Sustaining Focus (Rating 3)
Talislegger Kit
Healing Fetishe
Combat Fetishe
Manipulation Fetishe
Medkit (Rating 6)
Medkit (Rating 6)
Stimulant Patch (Rating 6)
Stimulant Patch (Rating 6)
Fake Sin (Rating 4)
5x Psyche
Inhaler
Fake License (Rating 4)
Fake License (Rating 4)
Power Focus (Rating 4)
 
Spells
Increase [Attribute]
Increase Reflexes
Stunbolt
Stunball
Physical Barrier
Levitate
Armor
Heal
Electricity aura
Lightning Bolt
    
Spirits
Sustaining Focus
Power Focus
 
Contacts
    
Contacts
Cindy Sharp Hands (wiz kid ganger) (L:2 C:2)

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: jonathanc on <11-04-11/1542:56>

I think Chummer (http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=34674) is one of the best you can get, but there are a lot of good ones.

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: nsweeney on <11-04-11/1609:46>

I agree, Chummer is an awesome character builder.

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: kirk on <11-04-11/1615:18>

Quote from: nsweeney on <11-04-11/1609:46>

I agree, Chummer is an awesome character builder.

It's what I use most of the time. However, I also run my characters through DamienKnight's rework of Autarkis Generator (use signature link for this post (http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=23735&view=findpost&p=1119517).) Its two advantages are it is a spreadsheet and it doesn't need .Net 4 to work.

Both are quite good. Both hit some strengths the other misses. ymmv

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: jonathanc on <11-04-11/1631:45>

I can't justify this mathematically, but I like buying Magic/Resonance up to 6 at chargen so I won't have to worry about it afterwards. Karma costs are typically twice that of BP costs, aren't they? And that way, when you initiate, you're ready to move on to Magic 7, instead of just hitting magic 6....Initiation is cheap. Grade 1 is like, what? 13 karma?

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: CanRay on <11-04-11/1942:10>

Wouldn't Butterfly be a better Mentor for a Chaos Magician?  ;D

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: UmaroVI on <11-04-11/2025:43>

If you haven't already, take a look at the magician archetypes in my sig.

You have the following issues that I can see:

Average Stat-itis. This is bad because BP costs are flat and Karma costs scale. You also have a bunch of places where you have a mediocre stat and no skills related to it, or at least not enough to make it worth investing in. Specifically:
Agility 3, no agility skills.
Charisma 3, one Charisma skill.

Meanwhile, you have much better mileage out of Intuition (which boosts more skills, and also Initiative) and Logic, which is a drain attribute.

Counterspelling and Binding 3 are both also bad times for karma efficiency. Cough up the 8 points to have 4s, both of those are worth it if you're going to have the skills at all.

Increase [Attribute] is a spell per attribute, ie, you have to pick when you learn it.

Armor is visible and glows, which makes it rather shaky as a spell selection. It's also kinda meh defense. Deflection is in the Manipulation school and not visible. Combat Sense is Detection, and also not visible. Both of those are generally better spells.

You have to specify the school for you sustaining focus (Health).

What spells to you have tied to fetishes?

What do you see yourself doing with Electricity Aura? Do you have a melee character as one of the other PCs?

More generally, you're a Logic tradition mage who's taking advantage of none of the reasons to be a Logic mage - you aren't using the Logic-boosting cyberware and you have no Logic-linked skills. You would be much better off either doing those things, or using an Intuition tradition and dropping your Logic (and then being an Ork rather than a Dwarf). That said this is more character-changing and if you want to be a non-cybered dwarf Chaos Mage, go for it.

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: CalibanX9 on <11-06-11/0223:57>

Thanks!
The magi archetypes are pretty good, I like them, the GM just told me that we were using a 500 pt build, so I put in cerebral boosters and bought up to 250 k worth of foci, and put at least one skill point into each log skill that was remotely related. And put everything I liked at rating 4.

Then I added orthoskin, because I had the cash.

How do feitshes work?I haven't really played since 1st Ed, but then you would just have one and you got two extra dice when resisting drain for that family of spells. Reading over 4ed rules and street magic hasn't really disabused me of that notion, but when I read your char builds, there is obviously something else going on.

There is totally a melee based pc in my campaign and I plan on electricity aura-ing the drek out of him. I dropped armor and went with deflection, because it's manipulation. Combat senses is also really cool, and I may pick it up later, but it's not supported by my mentor spirit. How do you feel about mind net?

my main draw to chaos mage is that is an over arching theory of magic, which reminded me of the theoretical magic department at the unseen university in the discworld novels, and is kind of related to a more science-y approaches to magic. And I like dwarves because of the high willpower. and at 5'10" I can relate more to dwarves than orcs or elves or other tall persons.

Also, I laughed at the butterfly mentor spirit for chaos magic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEt86vB1seU

And I totally agree, at the five v.s. six magic argument. but doesn't initiation only raise your max magic rating, not your actual magic rating like it did in 1st and 2nd editions?

Thanks for everyone's help. I'll repost my final build post GM approval.

Cali

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: UmaroVI on <11-06-11/0647:18>

Don't harcap magic, especially on a cybered magician. Would you rather pay 25 bp now, or 25 karma later? Very few characters want to hardcap any stats; the only times it's worth it are people who are jacking their stats really high already (like 8+ softcap), and Technomancers always want to harcap Resonance.

Fetishes have to be linked to spells, and the spell doesn't work without the fetish. So, like, you would like Electricity Aura to a fetish, and you get +2 drain with Electricity Aura, but you can't cast it without the fetish. Generally, fetish spells that are high-drain and that you can live without temporarily, but don't fetish basic stuff you need to function.

Incidentally, you might want to consider a different element for your aura - either Sound, or Blast. The reason is:

Blast does damage that there's no elemental protection against; people often have Nonconductive armor, but there's no Blast equivalent.

Sound does Stun damage that ignores armor, and nauseates anyone who takes more boxes than Willpower.

Blast has the advantage of letting your adept buddy punch through tanks; Sound won't work on vehicles or drones but it will let him one-shot anyone he can hit.

Mindnet is a terrible piece of crap, and anyone who takes it is a Bad Person. You can send messages, images, and emotes! Just like... an ordinary commlink/simrig setup that everyone should be using anyways for Tacnets. And it does F/2+FIVE drain if you want it to have respectable range? And threshold = number of people in it? And everyone has to remain in range? And it costs a spell slot, and you have to sustain it?

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: CalibanX9 on <11-06-11/1308:50>

Again, thanks for the explanations.

Don't worry, wasn't agreeing that hardcapping magic was optimal, just that it feels very much like something you should do, not that one actually does it, because 30 karma v.s. 25 build points is ridiculous.

Blast Aura sounds like a wonderful idea, thanks. I may pick up sound aura later.

Yes, when you put it that way, mind net is a horrible spell.

Title: Re: Dwarven Chaos Mage
Post by: CalibanX9 on <11-17-11/1203:13>

Smidgen
by CalibanX9

500 pt build

Name: Akki Strausson
Alias: Smidgen
Race: dwarf
Sex: Male
Nationality: mixed
Age: 23
Height 112 cm weight 68 kg
Lifestyle: Low
Karma Spent: 0
Physical Description: short, robust, sharp featured, dwarf
Tradition/Mentor Spirit Chaos Mage/ Fire Bringer (+2 manipulation , +2 fire spirits, -1 illusion spells)

Attributes

Body   Agility   Reaction   Strength
6    1    3    3
Charisma   Intuition   Logic   Willpower
2    5 5(7)    6
Edge   Magic/Resonance   Essence   Initiative
2   5(4)   6   6 5.1 8(10) with increase refle

Positive Qualities
Exceptional aptitude: spellcasting
Restricted gear: power focus
Mentor Spirit, Magician
Negative Qualities
in debt x6
dependent

I/B 17/12

Physical condition track:11
Mental condition track:11


Active Skills
Spellcasting   7(Manipulation 9)
Summoning   4(fire spirits 6)
Binding 4
Perception 4
Assensing   4
Dodge   4
Etiquette   1
Pilot Ground Craft   1
Arcana 1
First Aid 1
Ritual Spellcasting 1
Data search 1

Knowledge Skills ( [Logic + Intuition] x 3 free points)
Spell design   4
Mafia   2 (families 4)
Street Drugs   2
Black Markets   2 (Magical Items 4)
Seattle Street Gangs   4
Magical background 5
Art 3

Language Skills
English   N
Japanese   3
Swedish   3


Spells
Name   Duration   Area of effect   Drain
Increase Body   S   LOS   F/2-2
Increase Reflexes   S   LOS   F/2+2
Stunbolt   I   LOS   F/2-1
Stunball   I   AOE (LOS)   F/2+1
Lightning Bolt I LOS F/2+3 (requires fetish)
Physical Barrier   S   Area (LOS)   (F/2+3)
Deflection   S   LOS   F/2+1
Levitate   S   LOS   F/2+1
Heal   P   Touch   DV-2 (requires fetish)
Blast Aura   S   LOS   F/2+3 (requires fetish)

Cyberware/Bioware
Cerebral Booster (2) 0.4 Essence
Orthoskin (2) 0.5 essence

Gear
Armor Jacket (8/6)
Form fitting body Armor (6/2) (3/1 for encumbrance)
Feeback Clothing, regular
Helmet (1/2)
Commlink: Trans Avalon
System 4
Firewall 4
Browse 4
AR gloves
Health Sustaining focus -3
Manipulation Sustaining focus -3
Power Focus -4
Counterspelling focus (combat) 3
Talislegger Kit
Healing Fetish Heal
Combat Fetish Lightning bolt
Manipulation Fetish Blast aura
Magical Lodge Materials (rating 6)
2x Medkits (rating 6)
2x Stimulant Patch (rating 6)
Fake Sin (rating 4) Arri Silverarm
10x Psyche
Inhaler
Backpack
Sleeping Bag
Glasses rating 4
+Vision Magnigication
+Image link
+flare compensation
+low light imaging
Fake motorcycle license (rating 4)
Fake Student ID (University of Washington) (rating 4)
Fake Magic license (rating 4)
Fake Focus license (rating 4)
Binocular
Chisel



Vehicles
Yamaha Growler
Handling   Accel   Speed   Pilot   Body   Armor   Sensor   Availability   Cost
+1   15/40   150   1   6   6   1   -   5500¥

Contacts
Contact    C/L
Wiz kid Ganger Sally    4/4
Corner Pusher    1/2

Build Point totals: 500