Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Leticron on <04-01-12/0004:40>
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All edited!
Streetkid-Burglar-Infiltrator-Face-Bigmouth for an existing Group. My previous Runner died taking his biggest Nemesis with him, in a great Fireball.
Cornerstones:
1. For story reasons she has to be an elf (ordinary elf) - she was mentioned a few times before and I'm not going to change that. Apart from that, and that she has a thief background, the exact details were left to me.
2. She won't be augmented - my decision, our pure adepts are a tad more powerful than they normally would be as we allow to get a powerpoint upon initiation as long as the adept is (and stays) unaugmented and only as long as magic is maxed out.
3. No mystic adept - again my decision.
4. No Way of the adepts discount. We do however allow the free use of the new "ways only" powers - as long as they make sense character wise. This includes buying intuition and logic through powerpoints.
4. Max 30k € in Gear of availability 7 or lower.
5. Setting is Berlin (for her at least, the others do however take on jobs in other cities and she eventually will do so too).
6. She's not a starting Character but instead has 900 karma experience (we use karma gen though, so it's 750 + 150). The others have between 950 and 1050 karma.
Until now she is no typical runner, but rather grew up on the streets and had to steal, con, run and hide her previous life to survive or at least keep her freedom.
In terms of enemies, we play rather hard (characters can die, although our GM does not make escape impossible), but do not generally fight dozens of red samurai, tir ghosts & free spirits. Also, not every possible enemy on a run has 3 IP's just to make fights "tight". We like to keep things rather realistic and neither character would define himself as a "prime runner", just as someone who "does things and survives", although objectively speaking they probably are.
So, there she is, version 2.0, some details are still missing.
Connections & Background will be edited in later this week.
Elster
==Info & Attributes==
==Info==
Streetname(s): Elster (German for Magpie) or Converse, though she got called many names, not all of which are pleasant...
Name: Kim Kowacz
Movement: 10/25, Swim: 6
Karma: 6
Street Cred: 2
Notoriety: 1
Public Awareness: 0
Metatype: female Elf Age: 19
Height: 1.69m Weight: roughly 58kg
Composure: 11
Judge Intentions: 11
Lift/Carry: 6 (lift 45kg/carry 30kg)
Memory: 8
Nuyen: most of the time she's broke - at start she'll own 400€ and a 30k € debt
== Attributes ==
BOD: 3
AGI: 6
REA: 4 (5)
STR: 3
CHA: 6
INT: 5
LOG: 3
WIL: 5
EDG: 3
MAG: 7
== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 6
Initiation Grade: 1
Initiative: 10
Init Passes: 1 (2)
Matrix Initiative: tbd
Matrix Passes: 2
Physical Damage Track: 10
Stun Damage Track: 11
==Abilities, Adept Powers & Qualities==
== Active Skills ==
Athletics Skill Group 3 + 3 Prodigious Physicality
- Climbing 3 (Pool: 9)
- Gymnastics 3 (Pool: 12)
- Running 3 (Pool: 9)
- Swimming 3 (Pool: 7)
Influence & Intimidate +3 through Kinesics
- Con 6 (Pool: 15)
- Etiquette 3 (Pool: 12)
- Leadership 3 (Pool: 12)
- Negotiation 3 (Pool: 12)
- Intimidate 3 (Pool: 12)
Hardware 3 (Pool: 6)
Lock picking 3 (Pool: 9)
Stealth Skill Group 4 + 3 Unseen Hands
- Infiltration 4 (Pool: 13)
- Palming 4 (Pool: 14)
- Shadowing 4 (Pool: 12)
- Disguise 4 (Pool 12)
Perception 5 (Pool: 10)
Pistols 3 (Pool: 9)
Unarmed Combat 3 (Pool: 9)
Survival 2 (Pool: 7)
Note that the influence group lvl 3 was bought and then disbanded to increase con. GM approved!
== Knowledge Skills ==
Although Karma Gen doesn't normally know free knowledge skills (at least that's how we interpreted it) we still give away (LOG + INT x3) for free - otherwise
Language German (Native)
Language Russian 3(+2) (Pool: 10)
Language Turkish 3(+2) (Pool: 10)
Language English 1(+2) (Pool: 8 )
Language Polish 1(+2) (Pool: 8 )
Stories & faire tales 5 (Pool: 10)
Gang Territories 3 (Pool: 8 )
Gang Identifications 3 (Pool: 8 )
Marzahn-Hellersdorf (territory) 5 (Pool: 10)
Rest tbd
==Adept Powers (8 PP)==
Prodigious Physicality 3 - 1.5 PP
Unseen Hands 3 - 1.5 PP
Kinesics 3 - 1.5 PP
Imp Reflexes 1 - 1.5 PP
Commanding Voice - 0.25 PP
Nimble Fingers - 0.25 PP
Sustenance - 0.25 PP
Linguistics - 0.25 PP
Enthralling Performance [Con(Impersonating/Storytelling)] - 0.5 PP
Voice Control - 0.5 PP
== Qualities ==
+ Adept
+ Linguist
- Dark Secret
- Enemy (2/4) -
- Debt (30k €) - down from 50k
- Obligations (5 year old sister)
- Prejudice "helpful people" - (in her world you don't give out things for free, helpful at a fair price is a different story)
==Lifestyle, Gear & Stuff==
==Lifestyle==
Rundown Apartment in a Kiez in Marzahn-Hellersdorf near Lichtenberg quarter (for those who have the book, for those who haven't it's a rather shitty area but it could be worse). Apartment Community is actually really good. Troll Concierge at the front door (many, many houses in berlin are pre WWII buildings - and still are in 2073 - and have unnaturally high ceilings - like 3,50 to 4 m), small inner yard. They live in the 5t floor, under the roof, no elevator, the immediate neighbors (turkish-german family, human father, orc mother) have 4 children themselves and babysit her sister when needed. On the same floor a quiet, decent guy in his thirties keeps an eye on both (he's a bit like the guy from "Drive"). The 4th floors is inhabited by a bunch of polish workers that leave house early and return late. They never smile, don't say much but always hold the door open and carry stuff to the other inhabitants apartments. No one knows who they actually work for. The 3rd is home to 3 young punk communists that are actually decent hackers that steal whatever bandwidth is left. Second floor is inhabited by an old orc prostitute & 2 of the landlords anarcho-friends in a living community (they where three until recently when the third died of a heart attack trying to seduce the young mother from across the street (the other two have come to tell jokes about it). They can get a bit annoying but are otherwise harmless (and each has his own AK). The prostitute has a malicious tongue but a heart of gold. First floor belongs to Harald von Gruenen, the Troll "concierge". He's mostly there to guard the landlords warehouse in the back room and basement, but has an eye on everyone who wants to enter. The house has a roofgarden where the residents can grow vegetables in big tubs.
On the not so sunny side the apartment leaks, gets quite cold in winter and matrix is unstable at best. Crime rate is okish, but her landlord an old charming anarchist at heart has a soft spot for her and her sister and sometimes turns an eye blind when she can't pay the rent in time.
Comforts: Squatter (1LP)
Entertainment: Squatter (1LP)
Necessities: Low (2LP)
Neighborhood: Low (2LP)
Security: Low (2LP)
+ friendly neighbors (1LP)
+ alert neighbors (2LP)
+ easy going landlord (1LP)
+ self sustaining (1LP) - probably the wrong translation
- network Bottleneck (-1LP)
- poor condition (-1LP)
- defect CHN (-1LP)
costs x1.1 as she lives with her sister
= 2,200€ per month - more than she can easily afford, but her sister's worth it.
==Weapons==
Remington Room-sweeper with 3 clips of regular ammo & 3 clips of shotgun rounds modded with Folding Stock & Personalized Grip and a laserpointer. Mainly for Intimidation. Stored at home.
Hammerli 620S modded with Personalized Grip and Underbarrel Weight - technically its availability is 8, but the GM was ok with it. The EX Shocker worries him more, i guess. Later on a Yamaha Sakura Fubuku will follow (i guess :) ). 4 clips of normal ammo. 2 Clips Gel Ammo.
Defiance EX Shocker modded to SA with a Folding Stock - we argued about that, in the end the GM allowed me to mod it but without wires (in order to get it to SA mode it can't reasonably have wires) the Drive Stun prongs had to go. It now shoots stronger than usual taser darts, which will also be harder to get. She has the blueprints though.
==Commlinks, Software & Licenses==
VOLKSKOM including VOLKSIN (given away by the corporations in an effort to slowly gain influence on the alternative part of berlin, tracking devices etc. included for free! Absolutely free! Oh, mighty Mega Con, thy kindness shall be repaid a thousandfold!)
Renraku Sensei with Renraku Ichi (Response: 2, Signal: 4, Firewall: 2, System: 2)
Basic User Program Suite (Analyze: 2, Browse: 2, Command: 1, Edit: 2)
Fake SIN lvl 3 on the Name Esther Vogel
==Other Equipment==
Tag Eraser... don't trust the corporate guys, they give away stuff for free...
2 Lockpick Sets
Chisel
Wire clippers
Miniwielder
Earbuds with lvl 2 Audio enhancements and built-in Microphone
Contact lenses with Image Link
Aviator Goggles with Smartlink, Flare Compensation & Vision Magnification (technically above availability limit but GM is fine with it)
lvl 2 Area Jammer
lvl 4 White Noise Generator
lvl 2 Sequencer
lvl 2 Maglock Passkey
Low-light Flashlight - produces just enough light for people with low-light vision.
Flashlight
Rappeling Gloves
lvl 4 Medkit
Hardware Tools Kit
==Drugs (stored safely)==
Mostly stuff that either gets her high or that gives mild physical edges. She hasn't forgotten her mother though and takes them only when really depressed or desperate.
2 Doses of Long Haul
3 Doses of Bliss
2 Doses of Aisa
3 Doses of eX
2 Doses of G3
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First question: Can you use the stuff from Way of the Adept, War!, Spy Games, etc?
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Obligatory question: does your GM have/allow geasa for power discounts, or adept ways? The latter, especially, would probably be useful for a pure adept. But even if the answer to the two above is "no", you will still have 8 power points to play with, which is pretty decent. And at 900 Karma, I don't think you have to worry about not being well-rounded. You can be good at social abilities, stealth/athletics, and combat.
Face-wise, obviously kinesics: 3 and commanding voice are both no-brainers. Improved reflexes at some level, Attribute (Agility) boost: 1, and combat sense are good for combat. I would get one high ranged skill and one or two lower ones, with specializations. Athletics and Stealth, though, as well as Influence, are worth taking the skill groups for. For close combat, I would probably pick one thing, either unarmed (which, I will warn you, can be pricey) for abilities like killing hands and critical strike, or edged weapons to use with the martial arts rules (specifically two-weapon style) - she could be someone who was taught Escrima by a scar-faced expatriate Filipino, or something. Maybe she could have a knife that is a weapon focus. The hardware skill (for bypassing MagLocks) might be hard to justify, but on the other hand, you could have the locksmith skill, for when the group runs into one of those old-fashioned key or tumbler locks.
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Glyph's advice is largely good. The two things I would complain about are:
Attribute Boost, I am not a fan of. Having to blow an action at the start of combat is killer. If you know a fight is about to start, 95% of the time that means you're going to have a major advantage anyways, and drugs are a perfectly good way to boost yourself in that sort of situation. If you don't, it is not worth the action to Attribute Boost.
On combat: you cannot half-ass the Critical Strike-based line of unarmed combat adept. And it doesn't work so hot as an unaugmented elf, either. If you focus very heavily on it, you can throw 13P punches, but I'm willing to guess you don't actually want to focus that heavily on it. I would suggest picking either Clubs, Blades, or Unarmed (just one), and taking a fairly minimalist focus: grab 1-2 Martial Arts styles (I can't advise you specifically without knowing what other choices you are making) depending on how many manuevers you need, Iaijutsu, Two-Weapon Style, Off-Hand Training (if not Unarmed), and Vicious Blow (if not blades), then use either Vibroblade Swords for obvious and Ceramic Knives for hidden, or stun clubs, or Shock Glove. You won't do great damage, but the way TWS works you can get huge melee defenses and thus be able to "stall" against pure melee opponents like a lot of types of paracritters and such.
For fairly cheap ranged combat, make sure you don't load up on 5 different ways to roll agility+skill to do damage at range. Automatics alone, Pistols alone, or Pistols+Heavy weapons are all good choices.
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Quick update to cover some of your questions and thanks for the input so far.
I have every book at my disposal (I think ;)) except for WAR!, and i haven't had the time to read spy games properly. Our GM owns WAR! though and i can always give him a call. Someone in our group also owns Way of the Adept, but we haven't decided if we use the discount from the ways or if we'll apply some houseruled bonus instead. I'm not sure if i want her to follow a certain way anyways, I'll have to read through WotA again. However we houseruled kinesics, prodigious physicality and unseen hands the following way for all adepts regardless of the use of WotA: A total of 6 levels in the afore mentioned abilities with each ability capping at lvl 3 (just as they normally would). So I'll probably take 2 of each, instead of 3 lvls in two of these abilities. While Kinesics is probably the best of the three, I favor the more "balanced" idea behind an even split.
Speaking of spy games, i don't want her to be able to change her appearance "on the fly" with something like facial sculpt (regardless of that talent being rather underwhelming to begin with. At least without the masking metamagic), so 1000 faces is out.
Geasa are not only allowed but also appreciated, they need to be believable though. So no "while being unaugmented".
"After sunset", "while physically unharmed", "while wounded", "while unarmed" and so on and so forth are all good examples of the types of geasa we play with.
Should one of you have a good idea for a geas I'd be happy to know. Haven't really given them deep thought so far.
Glyph mentioned specializations, which i totally forgot to mention. We do not "buy" specializations but rather get them "for free" at a certain point during our campaigns, as a little bonus. Our street Sam for example has "his" gun, that even has a name (Marilyn or sometimes "the Monroe" - he is a nostalgic and a fan of 20th century 2D movies), with which he is even deadlier. I might get one or two specializations, in her "trademark" skills, depending on her story, but they'll be free of charge. So sadly there will be not Skill 1(3) "tricks". Sorry for not mentioning that earlier.
I'll definitely go with umaros advice and get fairly cheap ranged combat and will probably try to do the same with close combat. I don't want her to be helpless, but for anything beyond solid she ain't the type and she knows it. Elves, especially on a street level, just aren't as beefy as trolls and orcs, something she learned early (and maybe the hard way), so she'll deal with them with her wits, social skills, and, if necessary with a big, big gun.
So far I'll probably get the following skill groups on a range from 3 or 4 (while i'm allowed to get 5 or even 6 in a skill group, that might just be too expensive, with the possible exception of influence as it also works as a defense):
Influence, (we do take social skill tests, although we almost always roleplay them. We, in general, use the dice throw as an indicator on how to roleplay a certain situation but good roleplay also might ad a bonus and net you some hits.)
Athletics,
Stealth
and the following skills:
Perception,
Lock picking,
Pistols,
1 close combat skill (i favor unarmed, displaying a knife or a club can be an act of aggression all by itself so she's probably better of unarmed),
Intimidate,
hardware (maybe, as glyph said, probably hard to justify - i guess that depends on how common maglocks are. I'll discuss that with my GM. So far we stumbled across ordinary locks more often than I think is "officially advertised").
Spare points might be for survival and tracking (we use tracking tests to determine for example if that particular apartment looks uninhabited for more than three days, or to see if that savehouse was used lately etc. - i guess that's the intention of the skill, but i know of some groups that use perception for these kind of things - so i just mentioned it).
You'll get more info statwise later today or tomorrow.
Thanks and so far,
L.
Did i miss something important?
On adept powers i haven't done the math yet, but 3 points for 2 kinesics, 2 unseen hands, 2 prodigious physicality seem pretty appealing and believable.
I'll probably get improved reflexes 1, improved perception, combat sense, commanding voice, nimble fingers and maybe some unarmed dmg +2 for 0,5 points (although that shock gloves would most likely be better in almost every way, i kind of like the psychological idea behind a girl that punches like a Strength 8 guy. It won't be enough to knock out a troll, but most of the times her reputation might be enough).
Speaking of that, we're currently discussing Mind over Matter (I think it's in the afore mentioned WAR!, i don't know for sure, but i know it's rules) and will probably houserule it for the intellectual attribute to work as a complete substitution for the physical attribute. Price might go up to 2 power points though. That needs some thoughts. We play again on Wednesday and i will bring it up. Does someone have any experience with mind over matter working on everything, not just tests? Right now only logic - agility seems "good" the rest suffers from too many cases in which the attribute itself determines stuff without testing involved. Also, would a price increase be reasonable?
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As-is, yes, Logic->Agility is the only non-terrible one. I actually don't think you need a price increase - I'm pretty sure whoever wrote that power was completely unaware of this problem. There's some useful things you can do with it otherwise, but I don't think there's anything OMG broken.
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Hm, took me longer to update that I expected.
Ok, now with stats and some background!
First of all, location is not Seattle but Berlin 2073, runs will eventually take her to anywhere in the ADL, Poland and other parts of Europe.
Now, Berlin (do german Sourcebooks get translated?) is a multicultural City that is a clusterfuck of different ideas on democracy, government, freedom etc. with old communists, anarchist, corporate Enclaves. Even in 2073 it's still a melting pot of cultures where east meets west (and north and south), Europe's rotten/shiny heart.
In some (not so few) quarters it's part of the etiquette to wear a gun. Openly. Not necessarily Barrens style but rather, that that tough looking troll with his AK97 might just help an old lady across the street or watch after his neighbors kids for an hour or too. In short, Berlin is weird.
Elster
==Info==
Streetname(s): Elster (German for Magpie) or Converse, though she got called many names, not all of which are pleasant...
Name: Kim Kowacz
Movement: 10/25, Swim: 6
Karma: 6
Street Cred: 2
Notoriety: 1
Public Awareness: 0
Metatype: female Elf Age: 19
Height: 1.69m Weight: roughly 58kg
Composure: 10
Judge Intentions: 11
Lift/Carry: 7 (15 kg/30 kg)
Memory: 7
Nuyen: most of the time she's broke
== Attributes ==
BOD: 4
AGI: 6
REA: 4 (5)
STR: 3
CHA: 6
INT: 5
LOG: 3
WIL: 4
EDG: 3
MAG: 7
== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 6
Initiation Grade: 1
Initiative: 10 (11)
Init Passes: 1 (2)
Matrix Initiative: tbd
Matrix Passes: 2
Physical Damage Track: 10
Stun Damage Track: 10
== Active Skills ==
Athletics Skill Group 4
- Climbing 4 (Pool: 9)
- Gymnastics 4 (Pool: 10)
- Running 4 (Pool: 9)
- Swimming 4 (Pool: 7)
Con 6(9) (Pool: 18)
Etiquette 3 (Pool: 12)
Leadership 3 (Pool: 12)
Negotiation 3 (Pool: 12)
Intimidate 3 (Pool: 12)
Hardware 3 (Pool: 6)
Lock picking 3 (Pool: 9)
Stealth Skill Group 4
- Infiltration 4(6) (Pool: 15)
- Palming 4(6) (Pool: 16)
- Shadowing 4 (Pool: 12)
- Disguise 4 (Pool 12)
Perception 5 (Pool: 12)
Pistols 2 (Pool: 8, gosh 9! with a laser pointer)
Unarmed Combat 3 (Pool: 9)
Survival 2 (Pool: 6)
Tracking 3 (Pool: 8)
Note that the influence group lvl 3 was bought and then disbanded to increase con. GM approved!
== Knowledge Skills ==
Language German (Native)
Language Russian 4
Language Turkish 4
Language English 3
Rest tbd
==Adept Powers (8 PP)== (as I explained we allow up to 6 points - 3 rank max - in kinesics, prodigious physicality &/or unseen hands and do not use way of the adept - not until we've come up with a better discount balance. Right now a way with 1-3 expensive powers (like the speakers way) benefits way more from it than let's say the unseen way that lacks expensive powers)
Unseen Hands 3 - 1.5 PP
Kinesics 3 - 1.5 PP
Imp Reflexes 1 - 1.5 PP
Commanding Voice - 0.25 PP
Nimble Fingers - 0.25 PP
Imp Ability - Con 3 - 0.75 PP
Imp Ability - Palming 2 - 0.5 PP
Imp Ability - Running 2 - 0.5 PP
Imp Ability - Climbing 2 - 0.5 PP
Imp. Perception 2 - 0.5 PP
Sustenance - 0.25 PP
== Qualities ==
+ Adept
+ Ambidextrous
+ Surge
++ Jacobson Organ (I'm really unsure about that one... might result in way too much dice for social skills - although the stink in her area is a real drawback the alternative would be Celerity & Balance Receptors)
- - Exceptional Eyes (one sapphire blue, one emerald green)
- Dark Secret
- Enemy (2/4)
- Debt (30k €) - down from 50k
- Obligations (5 year old sister, a father that just disappeared and a chiphead mother that basically tried to sell both children to the vory for another beetle)
==Lifestyle==
Rundown Apartment in a not so secure area of Berlin (Marzahn-Hellersdorf for those who have the book)
exact stats tbd
Basically it looks like it'll fall apart any time soon, but the neighbor community is very good. Very Berlin, so to speak.
I'll give some details on her neighbors too, once I find the time to post them here.
==Gear, Stuff, etc==
tbd.
Cavalier Deputy (mostly meant as a deterrent)
1 light pistol (the one she actually uses - should she have to use one. It'll be a simple, trustworthy gun).
1 or 2 Tasers! (she'll use one for close combat also, the one from the core book)
a lowlvl comlink in addition to her
VOLKSKOM! (special Comlinks that are given away for free including a "second class SIN" the VOLKSIN. All in an effort to get old anarchists but also those raised in "free Berlin" to register and to slowly accept corporate government again)
fake SIN lvl 3
a tag eraser... don't trust the corporate guys
some hardware stuff
I should have roughly enough karma left for 3-4 connections of reasonable level (I'll post them tomorrow, together with her background).
So, my question for you is not so much if I failed at math (that's why I left out karma costs, while I have roughly 900 karma to build her, my group won't go enrage if i spend 910 or 920 as long as the character strikes the right tone), but rather if some skills appear to be inappropriately high or low given her supposed background (I know, i left out most of it, I'll post it tomorrow. Until then you could give it a quick glance) or if I forgot something basic.
Also I'm not against optimization within certain boundaries. So should you happen to know a neat trick that doesn't scream SOTA or TOP RUNNER i'd be happy to know.
I still haven't decided on a martial arts, I think I have karma left to get it (and to boost unarmed combat by 1) but I'm not convinced if it suits her (although I could make that happen). Does anyone of you know an appropriate eastern europe martial arts?
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Does anyone of you know an appropriate eastern europe martial arts?
Hopak (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAWLW3G5NoQ&feature=related) is from Ukraine I think; you can find it in Arsenal.
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What is Jacobson Organ? I think it might be a literal translation of something from another language? In English there is something called a Vomeronasal Organ that sounds like what you are describing.
Vomeronasal Organ is not actually that bad, because as written a Respirator negates the penalties but not the drawbacks. You do need to wear a respirator all the time but that isn't super terrible. Glamour is amazingly good and if you are going to be a Changeling, Glamour is worth it.
Adept powers: I'm not a big fan of all those Improved Abilities, other than Con. You could take Improved Physical Attribute (Agility) and more Increased Reflexes and do generally better on being good at physical skills. Also enhanced perception is strictly (albeit, marginally for you) better than Improved Ability (Perception) because it adds to all perception, including Matrix and Astral. Even if you don't expect to need those, it is free.
Other things you might consider that are IMO more useful than all those Improved Abilities:
Linguistics: it is trivial to have every language you remotely care about at 1. That's not half bad.
Voice Control: combos handily with Commanding Voice, amusing at parties.
Enthralling Performance: you can, with GM permission, take this with Con(Impersonation). This means you can do an Elvis impersonation that is so good that people cannot look away.
Weapons: Get a Shock Glove with Personalized Grip and Custom Look 2, so you can threaten to taser-punch people in the nuts for +2 Intimidate. It's fairly cheap and handy, even if Intimidate is not your focus.
Guns: There are various guns with niche abilities. What I would recommend for all-around versatility:
Yamaha Sakura Fubuki with Stick-n-shock. It's a Taser++. Make sure you get Chameleon Coating on it if you care about hiding it.
Your choice of either:
two Ruger Thunderbolts, modded/accessorized to have 3 recoil compensation in whatever way you want (there are various mods that can get you the extra little bit quite easily). Hold one in each hand, Narrow Burst with one hand as your first simple action and then with the other hand for the second simple action - no recoil penalty, no offhand penalty since you're Ambidextrous.
two Ruger Super Warhawks, modded more heavily. Add on firing selection change (full auto), personalized grip, and a rigid stock accessory. You can then fire as above, but with -1 on the second shot from uncompensated recoil and a lot less ammo - but it does a bit more damage. And looks more intimidating, if you care about that sort of thing.
the Thunderbolt option is probably more in line with simple and reliable, but I mention the warhawk option because dual-wielding warhawks is funnier.
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Does anyone of you know an appropriate eastern europe martial arts?
Hopak (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAWLW3G5NoQ&feature=related) is from Ukraine I think; you can find it in Arsenal.
Sambo is a Russian martial art that might be appropriate. It's an offshoot of Judo mixed with traditional Russian wrestling styles.
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Systema is also russian, and is perhaps a little less sportive than sambo. ROSS is a sub-style of Systema in Arsenal, but is mainly concerned with guns.
But Hopak looks so fun ;) !
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Thanks so far.
I guess you're right about all these improved abilities. My main problem is (was) running and climbing being too low for my taste.
But i fixed that, I guess, by using con on our GM. In short, he sees where I'm heading and will allow me 2 points of prodigious physicality (I also used marinated roast beef on our next play session as a bait). Con and cooking were well spent karma points when i character generated myself, I guess.
Apart from that, Voice Control and Enthralling performance both fit and will be fun, especially with her high con ability (she can also use it to tell her little sister fairy tales, fables and stories of wondrous lands far far away, shrouded in mystery). Linguistics is cool too, especially paired with linguist (not 100% sure if that's the right translation, I'm talking about the +2 on languages gift) and might come natural to her in a multilingual city like Berlin. I might drop sustenance and ambidexterity for that. Reading through it again it's a combat gift (or so it seems), while i intended it to be helpful on palming, pickpocketing etc.
I won't take glamour. It's probably the best of all the changeling gifts, but I'm not convinced it is right for her. Maybe I'll change my mind, but I think she'll be too recognizable and i want her to be able to keep a low profile should she have to. Vomeronasal Organ is out too.
Prodigious Physicality 2 - 1.0 PP
Unseen Hands 3 - 1.5 PP
Kinesics 3 - 1.5 PP
Imp Reflexes 1 - 1.5 PP
Commanding Voice - 0.25 PP
Nimble Fingers - 0.25 PP
Imp Ability - Con 3 - 0.75 PP
Linguistics - 0.25 PP
Voice Control - 0.5 PP
Enthralling Performance - 0.5 PP
We banned Stick'n'Shock ammunition so i can't use it and i don't like the sakura fubuku. Would be the best choice though :). I think i'll get her a hammerli with personalized grip. Probably with smart gun aviator goggles.
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No SnS and no Ambidexterity on an unaugmented character actually cuts down nicely on your gun options: the best pistol for general-purpose use is the Ruger Thunderbolt, by quite a wide margin.
The mods you want are Personalized Grip and Underbarrel Weight, and also get a stock accessory and a smartgun accessory. There's no other way for you to get a pistol that can use fully compensated burst-fire, and that's a very significant advantage over everything else.
You might also want a silenced gun, in which case I suggest the Lightfire which has a magic silencer.
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The more I think of it the more I come to the conclusion that she actually might have a big badass looking gun at home. So why not make it a Ruger Thunderbolt.
The Lightfire is the Hammerlis hardest contender. I might just get both. Also, I'm about to translate some of her background. Stay tuned :P.
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The real question, I think, is what the not-Ruger-Thunderbolt gun is for. I think the answer should be "hiding it and being silenced."
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Ok, some background:
Kim was born 2054, as Kim Helene Kowacz, the first and only child to Heinrich Sebastian Kowacz and Marie Toussaint, one year before corporate power tried to wrestle Berlin free from anarchist control and in its wake divided Berlin again. Her parents being proud anarchists married and stayed in the city's alternative eastern part. Though she grew up in a no government environment, early childhood life holds sweet memories, mostly due to her father, who not only organized a lot in their neighborhood community - from schools to trash collection to dealing with other neighborhoods. On top of being a very charismatic, gentle person, he was also a brilliant storyteller, something she has inherited from him.
But the times keep changing. And things changed for the worse...
Late in the evening on the third November 2064 her father woke her up from sleep and told her that he loved her very much, that she should take good care of her mother and that she should always trust her instincts. The next morning, it's day two after Crash 2.0, he is gone, never to be seen again. Kim, at that time is ten years old.
His sudden disappearance heralded the decline of her immediate neighborhood that slowly but steadily got grounded between Vory, the New Islam Movement and anarchogangs that where ever looking for easy prey. Far worse however was her mothers fate. She had always been somewhat unstable, irritating in her behavior, but her husband acted as an anchor for her and so she was charming as ever most of the time. Without the stabilizing effect of her husband she slowly slipped back into the embrace of drugs and finally BTLs. Her decline didn't come fast though or without her trying to fight it, but in the end it was as unstoppable as it was slow. She enjoyed the company of the wrong men (she was charming and handsome after all), wallowed in self-pity (everything was her husbands fault), and finally tried to sell her daughter for sex to the same men whose company she should avoid - just for another shot.
Kim however spent the time since her fathers disappearance seeing his archievements getting eaten by a living nightmare. She rapidly became independent in the wake ofr her mothers slow decline (and realizing that whatever she did, it changed nothing). Left on her own in a city without laws, she stole what she could without getting caught, left alone that which might have caused too much troubles, conned and begged herself through the different neighborhoods, ran from the metahuman predators and survived through luck and skill - although the city had enough helpful souls that gave her that extra little bit of luck.
So when her mothers friends come that day, her mind and body are ready to take the next step and she fully awakes, she outsmarts them, outruns them, and finally brings a group of orc anarchists to beat the three would be rapists to death.
After that she confronted her mother who, so ashamed, fled the neighborhood, swearing to return once clean. It would be long till she saw her again, and the last time they spoke to each other.
From that day on she basically lived on the streets of eastern berlin. She grouped up with other Kids, lost her virginity to a handsome (and eventually not so reliable) punk boy somewhere along the way, she did some prostitution, when she needed money badly or to rob her tricks, either alone or with her "gang", she begged, relying on her skills and looks and a desperate look upon her face, she stole, getting very good at palming and shoplifting - without a gun, she even settled conflicts between rival gangs, worked as a decoy for her crew and her talents, both magical and mundane developed accordingly.
All in all she spent five years on the streets, doing everything to get by, not only becoming quite skilled in what she does, but also establishing a wide network of street level contacts (all in all she's got around 10 connections). She mostly stayed out of troubles, bared a few bruises and scars though there is a nonconsensual sex tape of her when she tried to trick a higher ranking Vory and failed... . Since then she tries not to get into organized crimes way.
Eventually she might have gotten deeper into organized crime, smuggling or might have left Berlin for greener grounds, but then she heard rumors about her mother.
It turned out her mother not only got somewhat sane again (and through all her drug abuse stayed charming and handsome) and made it to west Berlin where she had started to deal with corporate clientele, smuggling some of eastern Berlin's darker goods into corporate hands or even organizing weird parties for questionable tastes but also had a daughter from the end of her wild days, three years old, named Chloe.
Kim got somewhat overwhelmed by emotions and unable to (but also seeing no reason to) believe her mothers newfound sanity and given her at best shady trades she pulled some strings and kidnapped her own sister. Fearing her mothers revenge, she also plotted against her and lay open her business including orgies with unwilling subjects captured on the streets and rigid drug dealing. She meant for her to get caught or to die, but her mother did neither. Somehow she was able to flee Berlin, hiding somewhere, maybe plotting revenge.
Still she tried hard to take care of the little girl, doing rather honest work and moving to a small community block in a better area of eastern Berlin, full of alternatives but further away from the true melting pots. She realized she could probably get by without "honest work" (and probably could have done so before) and Chloe, who at first showed signs of constant neglect unbend and started to turn into a quiet but charming little girl that loved getting told stories. Of course it was too good to be true and not before long her sisters condition suddenly got worse. It turned out, her mothers drug abuse during pregnancy had left its marks upon her little sisters body. Unfortunately the crash had left the medical situation in alternative berlin even worse than before, and 8 years later even basic stuff was hard to get. In her desperation she turned to the Vory and one particular Boss, a bullnecked but surprisingly clever man named Nikolaj realized her talents (probably because of his mage advisor) and organized the necessary treatments in exchange for a few favors. Favors worth more than 50k Euros... . Shortly after, in 2072 corporate power took back the city and Berlin was united once again and Kim and her sister try to find their place in this new, ever-changing environment. Ordinary things like school system and even money (eastern berlin in its anti capitalistic state of mind relied heavily on barter trade) are somewhat new to her (and in a lesser extent to her sister) and so she struggles to get along.
She is still deep in debt to Nikolaj who makes good use of her talents (he is part loan shark, part fixer, part sadistic asshole) and he doesn't seem willing to let her get away easily. Only time can tell what will happen, once she pays the last rate.
Her mother is still out there, somewhere, probably hiding, and it worries Kim a lot that she might plot revenge, not only on her but also on Chloe.
And lastly there is her father, who went missing years ago, but what will happen once she gets that notarized letter that is waiting for her at a certain law firm in west Berlin. And why would her anarchistic father have chosen a law firm that has close ties to S-K?
All in all, despite her efforts, she ends up on the wrong side of the new established law (not that she cares about abiding the law, she rather fears for Chloe's safety should she get caught). So, unable to do something else, and in desperate need of money she finally ends up in the shadows of newly united Berlin.
And that's where she meets "the others".
@ Umaro: Stat wise I agree on everything you said. Should i pick a weapon other than the Ares Lightfire it would be because of flavor. Same goes for the Ruger.
One point that we didn't cover though is, that there are areas in which small guns are or might be allowed but probably not with a sound suppressor. That is no reason not to get a light fire though but rather a reason for a third gun.
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For "no guns allowed" places I'd probably just carry a taser. They're always good times.
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True. Btw. did u do the math on which taser to use?
I edited the last part of her story. I'll probably put everything in the first post (with spoiler tags) tomorrow or on sunday.
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The Defiance EX Shocker and the Yamaha Pulsar are the only two tasers worth using.
Ways to go:
Yamaha Pulsar, and put on a stock.
Pro/Con: none, really.
Dual-wield Defiance EX shockers. Put a stock on one of them.
Pro: more damage. Con: -2 to hit on the second shot from offhand. On the whole, it's usually worth it; you're getting +2 DV on both attacks for -2 to hit only on the second one.
Defiance EX shocker, modded to SA, and put a stock on it.
Pro: more damage and no hit penalty. Con: it's now Restricted. I don't know how easy it is to tell that your taser is modded or how likely people are to care.
You can also do something like carry a modded Defiance EX Shocker and also carry one of the other options as a backup in case someone whines about your taser lisence.
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Thanks, changing the firing Mode is a good advice. Most of the time a restricted weapon won't make any difference, hell there are certain streets where Vory Guards openly display MPs and ARs... .
But i got another problem, after talking to my GM again he said, given her background and the Adept Powers at her disposal he wants me to keep gear available to her at 7 or below, so both the Ruger and the Hämmerli are out. So is most of the other gear stuff... . One Exception is a lvl 4 Sin.
All in all I only have about 30k to spend but can't really spend it on anything :D.
I might get the sound suppressor for the Ares Light Fire or something like that, though.
lvl 4 Sin would be 4000 €
Which leaves me 26k €.
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The tasers are in, though - they are "-" normally and the mod is 4R.
I'd recommend against buying stuff just to have stuff - if it's not something you want long-term, skip it and buy it with money you earn.
Actually, I just noticed something about the Light Fire - it blows. I thought it gave you a built-in silencer, but it's a silencer accessory with an extra -1, for a total of -5. You can just get an internal silencer on a better gun for -6. Oops. They are 8F, so you can't start with it, but they're cheap.
I'd carry modded Defiance EX Tasers, and then grab a Morissey Elan (good gun in general, you can't start with plastic rounds or chameleon coating, but you can get both of those later). Modded Defiance tasers are actually really, really good weapons in a SnS-less world and there's nothing wrong with relying on them as short-range weapons.
Once gameplay starts, I'd:
Pick up the Ruger as described above, buy some Armor Piercing Flechette ammo for it.
Mod the Elan to have Chameleon Coating, buy some plastic rounds, a built-in silencer, and buy some APDS ammo for it too.
Grab a Ruger Super Warhawk, mod it to SA, give it a Revolver Silencer, and load in some APDS.
That will give you a good range of weapons. Tasers are short-range and good against well-armored living targets, the Ruger has better range and is good overall, the Elan is for sneaking into places, and the Super Warhawk is for assassinating people and stuff.
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Modded Defiance tasers are actually really, really good weapons in a SnS-less world and there's nothing wrong with relying on them as short-range weapons.
If you do this, be sure to pick up the Clubs skill, since they're listed in their description as having Drive Stun prongs for melee use. Based on how modern Tasers with a Drive Stun feature work, using the melee prongs wouldn't cost ammo either, and the Defiance EX doesn't have a charge limit on its internal battery.
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I edited the first post. Close to final version now. Thanks again so far.