Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: aridun64 on <05-17-12/0050:07>
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Hello Folks, well today our GM decided to start a new shadowrun campaign using the archetypes listed in the SR4A book and we are allowed to modify them as we see fit. We drew lots (no changing once chosend) and I ended up choosing the Bounty Hunter (yay me), as we all know that this archetype as listed isnt the best to play so any help in making it tolerable to play would be most helpful. I will be changing the positive qualities to something to my liking and the metatype to Ork as I have never liked playing Trolls (just my preference)
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first thing i would do is decide if you want to use melee weapons if you do pick 1 skill as the build has 3 which is a bit silly.
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How big is the group? What role(s) does your character have to cover? How large are the dice pools at the table?
Being a "Bounty Hunter" is reasonably fluid, given the wide variety of bounties available. Depending on the GM, you could make whatever type of character you want as long as you have a few token skills to meet the definition, like Tracking or Shadowing. What role you have to fill on the team may help inform some of your decisions. If the team needs combat, then say that you're a hunter who packs explosive rounds and only needs to come back with a handful of teeth to claim a bounty. If the team needs subtlety, be a stealthy hunter specializing in non-lethal takedowns to bring the subject back alive. As long as the character has the proper background and motivations, you could make anything from a street sam to a B&E specialist to an assassin and still get away with calling him or her a "bounty hunter". Unless you're expected to be an animal wrangler with high levels of obscure skills, you should have a good deal of flexibility to play what you like. (And if you are expected to be that, then hopefully the GM has plenty of jobs lined up that utilize your skill set.)
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Step 1: Light the bounty hunter sample character on fire.
Step 2: Figure out what a bounty hunter is.
Step 3: Make a character.
More seriously, Step 2 is really important because the Bounty Hunter is not actually very good at bounty hunting. He can do violence, First Aid, Tracking, Survival, and Perception, and fails all social skills forever (including being trivially easy to intimidate or lie to, which is a really huge problem for bounty hunting). I would say that an actual bounty hunter should probably have at least some social skills (in particular Con and Intimidate), and should probably have at least acceptable levels of Stealth as well. I'm not sure First Aid is all that important (and with no other Logic skills being critical, you won't be able to be very good at it either); I'd just carry a medkit there.
You might have more like taking one of the Archetypes from my signature (first link) and modifying into a bounty hunter, rather than trying to make the Bounty Hunter into a decent character.
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The archetypes often come under fire, but honestly, some of them are at least functional, if not optimized. Some of them are problematic, though, such as the bounty hunter and the weapons specialist. The bounty hunter archetype really sucks when it comes to actually doing his job. I can see what they had in mind for him - a rough, barely civilized troll that hunts criminals out in the boonies.
The main problem is that the way social skills work, and the way the Uncouth flaw works, this guy isn't a gruff, antisocial type - he is someone who can be suckered by anyone, who backs down from any threat, who can't even default when he is trying to shake down someone for information.
His skills, while they fit the concept at first glance, don't work out well in actual play. His dodge skill is useless - is he really going to use his single initiative pass to go on full defense, for a whopping two extra dice? Plus, he has gymnastics: 2 from the athletics group which does the exact same thing for ranged full defense, and multiple close combat skills that are actually better than dodge for blocking in melee. His combat skills, like the weapons specialist's, are a bunch of redundant low-rated skills for the most part, and combined with his low Agility and single initiative pass, make a character who is underwhelming in combat. Which is a bad thing, for a character intended for a combat role, who has significant resources invested in it.
He has tracking for the great outdoors, but he is not so hot in the sprawl. No intimidation, no shadowing, no data search; even his perception is on the low side.
UmaroVI's advice is the best, but if your GM insists on using the archetype as a starting point, then let's see if we can fix it, making it an ork per your request. I will annotate what I do, so you can explain the reasoning to your GM. I am assuming the basic book only.
BREAKDOWN (400 Points)
Core Attributes: 200
Special Attributes: 10
Race (Ork): 20
Active Skills: 146
Qualities: <25>
Contacts: 14
Resources: 35
=Attributes=
Body: 7
Agility: 5(7)
Reaction: 5(9)
Strength: 5(7)
Charisma: 2
Intuition: 3
Logic: 3
Willpower: 3
Edge: 2
I wanted to keep him as a physically tough specimen, but his Agility and Reaction definitely needed a boost for him to actually be effective in combat.
=Qualities=
Guts
High Pain Tolerance: 1
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Addiction - Hurlg (think strong liquor), Mild
Allergy - Silver (Uncommon), Moderate
Bad Luck
The qualities, I completely re-did. They were some "meh" positive qualities, and some fairly crippling negative qualities. The ones I picked are meant to evoke what I think they had in mind for this archetype - a rough, tough, hard-drinking, down on his luck guy. The moderate allergy to silver is one I often pick for metahuman or awakened characters. Unlike more exotic allergies, it can come up enough that it isn't free points.
=Active Skills=
Athletics skill group: 1
Data Search: 2
Influence skill group: 1
Intimidation/Physical: 3/+2
Long Arms/Sporting Rifles: 6(7)/+2
Outdoors skill group: 2
Perception/Visual: 3/+2
Pistols: 3
Shadowing/Tailing: 3/+2
Unarmed Combat/Subdual: 3/+2
The biggest outlay, since he needs to be able to find people, then bring them in. His combat skills have been pared down - rifles for hunting people, a pistol for when he needs to keep it concealed, and either grappling or a shock glove at close range. His perception is better. He lacks dodging ability but has a much higher base Reaction (and can improve his Athletics later). He is still good in the wilderness, but now he can intimidate people for information, tail people without them (hopefully) noticing, and look for basic information on the matrix. Also, he is still a gruff customer, but can at least function within society socially.
=Knowledge Skills=
They are okay, although I would probably switch the two languages to make English the native one.
=Contacts=
Also okay. Sure, they could be more optimized, but I'm only fixing the really bad stuff.
=Resources=
I added 15 points to resources to add the following (keeping his existing 'ware):
Cyberware: olfactory booster: 3, wired reflexes: 2.
Bioware: Muscle Augmentation: 2, Muscle Toner: 2, Reflex Recorder - Longarms.
New Essence: 1.05 (remember that the bioware, the lower total, only counts for half Essence).
Mostly buffs, although I added the olfactory booster because it fit the concept - he can literally smell out his prey, now.
Other suggested changes: Tweak his weaponry to reflect his pared down combat skills. Be sure to add a smartlink to the hunting rifle, and skinlinks to all of his guns. You might downgrade his DocWagon contract to Basic, to get things like more survival gear and a good commlink (this guy is still outdoorsy, but not as much of a Neo-Luddite).
Hope this helps!