Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Kaptain O on <11-16-11/1647:05>
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Barring the obvious...
I have read a few threads about how logic mages should get 'ware, others not so much. I would guess a CHA mage can dual as a face pretty well. What are the str/weaknesses of the different types of mages and what direction do they lend themselves to buildwise?
I'm going to be helping one of my players build their mage this weekend so I wanted to be able to answer some of their questions better.
Thanks!
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Logic mages benefit greatly from cerebral boosters and can easily have amazing drain resist. You'll be a cybermage, but that's an acceptable life choice. Cyberlimbs are quite nice for their armor and ability to cheap be okay at gunning if you ever find yourself in high background count. Logic is also the attribute for useful but not character defining skills like First Aid and Hardware. First aid is important for mages since you can first aid drain. Humans and dwarves are the best base for logic mages.
Charisma mages are elves. With a +2 charisma, they too have very good drain resist. In addition, you have a solid base as a face. With a 7 charisma and 4 influence, you have 11 dice. It's not pornomancer for sure, but passable for most games. You also combo well with street cred since you have get the benefit of up to 7 street cred (pushing your social dice to 18).
Intuition mages are for everyone else. Intuition is the most important attribute due to initiative. Even if you aren't an intuition mage, you'll want a decent intuition (or some means to raise it). In addition, the very price efficient ork can be an intuition mage without issue. Due to these factors, intuition mages save a lot of points compared to other attributes. Intuition's biggest flaw is that it has the lowest drain pool. There are no cheap boosts to intuition like logic and there's no metahuman race that gives a bonus to it like charisma.
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Charisma mages are elves.
And don't forget Pixies. +2 Will and +2 Cha = 14 Drain Resist at soft-cap. ;D
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I currently running a Wil + Cha human and it's not so bad. I Initiated for centering to get my drain dice up to 12 and plan to go more but we'll see.
I didn't think of that Inituation being higher part tho... o.O'
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Charisma mages are elves.
And don't forget Pixies. +2 Will and +2 Cha = 14 Drain Resist at soft-cap. ;D
I will admit I was only looking at metahuman races. However pixies are darn good candidates for mages if you can live with a your body's natural maximum being 3.
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Nagas also make excellent magicians.
In general, I'm part of the camp that says Magicians/Adepts/Technomancers shouldn't get any 'ware. You shoot yourself in the foot for a couple extra dice in one situation or another.
As for how the different drain attributes work out in play, Charisma mages have a solid chance to be a face. If your group already has a face, it is still worth dropping a couple ranks into one or two of the skills in the influence group, since it is nice to have some overlap in skills. Empathy Software helps with this, too.
Logic mages can do a lot with technical skills, which means they can help the rigger fix their gear, or fill in when the rigger's laid up in the hospital.
Intuition mages make for excellent investigators/problem solvers. This is especially good for those runs that don't just involve 'shoot them in the face' tactics.
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Charisma mages are elves.
And don't forget Pixies. +2 Will and +2 Cha = 14 Drain Resist at soft-cap. ;D
I will admit I was only looking at metahuman races. However pixies are darn good candidates for mages if you can live with a your body's natural maximum being 3.
Concealment + Chameleon Cloak + Distracted Modifier + Infiltration = What Pixie?
Just stay up near the ceiling and out of the LoF and you'll be fine.
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Yeah, no pixies in my game, just the core 5.
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Concealment + Chameleon Cloak + Distracted Modifier + Infiltration = What Pixie?
Just stay up near the ceiling and out of the LoF and you'll be fine.
I call that living with a 2 body. :P
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Concealment + Chameleon Cloak + Distracted Modifier + Infiltration = What Pixie?
Just stay up near the ceiling and out of the LoF and you'll be fine.
I call that living with a 2 body. :P
Also, grab Mob Mind. Just order them to not notice anything unusual happening and/or act as if your group belongs there.
Plus, there's none of the pussyfest "can't order them to hurt themselves" crap from AD&D. If the run's already gone south you can either use them as meat shields or, if you manage to snag all of them, just have them eat their bullets. Of course, either way will get you notorious fast, so you save those routes for emergencies.
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If you are going the 'ware mage... make sure that you get all your implants (i.e. loose you essence and magic) before raising your Magic or Initiating, because it is cheaper to re-buy a lower rank Magic than a higher rank Magic and you loose Initiation grades when you essence lowers.
As for the specific implants, Trauma Dampener is an automatic favorite of mine. Negate 1 stun or convert 1 phys to 1 stun each time you take damage, including Drain damage. Cerebral boosters are nice for Logic mages. Tailored pheromones, however, are not as useful for Charisma mages.