Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Black on <06-19-12/0604:35>
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Hi All,
Normally I spend my time creating NPCs for my players to frag, but today I put together a concept of a mage hunter with 400 build points.
This character was genetically engineered to be resistent to magic as a weapon against magically active enemies. My original thoughts were for him to be be linked to either Mitsuhama Corporation or their Yakuza buddies and originally used against enemies like the magic heavy Triad.
Originally he was raised by the corporation to hate magic in all its forms and formed part of a special security team to take down powerful magical enemies (a strike force, not defensive). He and his team where mostly successful until an bad run against the Triads where the team was betrayed and wiped out.
My guy was hit, but faked his death (explosion, fire, fell into the water, something anyways). He now spends his time living in a squat in the barrens, do odd jobs for the local gangs in return for supplies of Nitro. He has some gear from a Yakuza safe house he raided early on, but his really living on the edge, looking for a break. He is potionally still hunted by Mitsuhama/Yakuza, but he doesn't know if he can trust anyone there or even if he wants to go back to that life.
The alternative back story is that he was created by Renraku as a mage hunter. His team was sent into the old Archology in Seattle to deal with a Nosferatu (a former lab specimen). The Nosferatu turned out to be an ex-Red Samurai and slowly, effectively wiped out the team. Only my guy escaped. But, worried that he was also infected, the back up team tried to kill him, sending him rogue.
Character Design.
My main focus was on magic resistence as a mundane... So firstly, took 4 points of magic resistence. Secondly, too max will power. Now, he has a mix of genetec, bioware and some basic cyberware. Wanted to increase both Willpower and Reaction, but not have a second initiative pass (so he reacts fast, but his not super fast.)
So cyberware is an auto-injector which he fills with Nitro, cybereyes, and reaction enhancers. I'll get back to the nitro shortly...
Bioware/Genetec is Genetic Optimization:Willpower. This doesn't increase his willpower (but allows it to exceed his max of 6 later), but it does increase his augmented max... heheh... also has Daredrenaline which gives a further +1for all willpower tests include spell resistence. Also got Reakt, which gives him +2 for all defensive rolls which use Reaction. Its a +2 for defending against all known attacks. Also got Adrenaline Pump, which adds +2 to to Strength, Agility, Reaction and WIllpower and allows you to ignore stun damage.. for 2x1d6 turns... but you do take the number of turns in use as unresisted Stun damage and the thing can go off on its own sometimes.
So, whats up with the Nitro? Nitro is a mix of novacoke and other drugs, a nasty little chemical cocktail, but it does give you +2 strength, WIllpower, perception and high pain tolerance 6. and when you come down, it gives you 9 Stun unresisted.
I figure that Willpower is the best defense against many types of magic. So the corp boses equip him with the adrenaline pump to use in combat situations, and when its really going to hell, the auto-injector with doses of Nitro. Now the Nitro and Adrenaline combo will pump his stats up high for a while (long enough anyway), but could hit him with 21 Stun when he comes down... just enough to fill all his stun and physical boxes.
The auto-injector could also be used with other chemicals as well. He just currently prefers the Nitro.
So how resistent to willpower based magic effects is he?
Willpower 6 + Magic Resistence 4 + Daredrenaline 1 + Adrenaline pump 2 + Nitro 2 = 15 dp first magic mind effects, stun bolts etc. The Genetic Optimization allows the drugs to push his Willpower to 10, otherwise its augemented max was 9.
He has mild addiction to Nitro, a prejudice against Mages, and Mitsuhama as an enemy.
His is really, really good with his Katana, which he keeps in a concealed sheath inside his great coat. He also carries a collection of ceramic throwing knives, which he can dip in poison. One hand has a Hardliner Glove, the other hand a shock glove. His unarmed combat skills are very good.
He has a sniper rifle with two clips. He uses a mix of silver rounds, capsule rounds with breathtaker and Ex-Explosive rounds. The silver rounds are for critters with the weakness, the breathtaker round is for when he wants the mage alove and the ex-explosive rounds are for when he does not. He has a chamelion suit and camfolage netting for sniper missions.
When wearing his Great Coat for more standard missions, he has a licensed Rugar Super Warhawk with a speed loader and quick draw holster and either silver rounds or ex-explosive rounds. This is his least favourite weapon though.
He also has a range of Grenades, including Thermal smoke, white phosporus, breathtaker gas, flash bangs and of course, Espirit 'petite brume' for magic users.
He only uses disposal commlinks due to being on the run from powerful enemies.
He also has some earbuds with enhanced hearing and spatial recognizer and glasses with ultrasound for invisible enemis.
A latex face mask and voice mask is used to infiltrate through disguise and miniweilder and wireclippers for more physical infiltration.
His last bit of gear includes Mantis Essence and Magemasks for magical enemies.
His knowledges include local areas with background counts (the better to lure magical enemies to a place where they are weak).
While he doesn't like magic users, potentially if a mage did work with and provide counterspelling support, he would be hard for a magic users to stop. A troll street sam however should be able to clean him up nicely.
Attributes:
2 Body
4 Agility
5(7) Reaction
2 Strength
2 Charisma
4 Intuition
2 Logic
6 Willpower
3 Edge
3.45 Essence
9(11) Initiative
1 Passes
Postive Qualities
Biocompatibility (Bioware)
Magic Resistence 4
Negative Qualities
Addiction Moderate Nitro
Enemy Megacorp/Yakuza 20 pts
Prejudiced against magic users
Active Skills
1 Athelitics Group
3 Stealth Group
6(8) Blades(Swords)
1 First Aid
4(6) Longarms (Sniper)
4(6) Perception (Detecting Magic)
2(4) Pistols (Revolvers)
4(6) Throwing Weapons (Throwing Knives)
3 Unarmed Combat
Knowledge Skills
3(5) Awakened Critters (Weaknesses) Academic
3 Magical Theory
2 Corporation/Yakuza(depends on background)
2 Home City areas with known background counts
N Japanese
3(5) Chinese (Cantonese)
3(5) English (Cityspeak)
Augmentation
0.1 Auto-Injector (Reusable)
0.3 Cybereyes R2 w/eye recording unit, flare comp, image link, thermo vision, low-light, vision enhancement r3
0.6 Reaction Enhancers R2
1.35 Adrenaline Pump R2
0.1 EPE: Daredrenaline
0.1 EPE: Reakt
0.2 Genetic Optimization: Willpower
Weapons:
HK PSG Enforcer w/ 12 rounds each of capsule rounds with breathtaker, ex-explosive, silver bullets, Silencer, internal smartgun
Ruger Super Warhawk w/6 rounds each of silver and ex-explosive, personalised grip, smart gun system internal, sound suppressor internal and speed loaders for the bullets, kept in a quick draw holster
Hardliner Gloves
Shockgloves
Katana with personalised grip and concealed holster
10 throwing knives, level 1 cermamic
5 grenades each of "Petite Blume", flash-bang, breathtaker gas, thermal smoke, and white phosphorus
Armour
Chamelion Suit with Gel packs, r5 nonconductivity and r4 thermel dampening
or
Great Coat with chemical protection, r5 fire resistence, gel packs, insulation and r5 nonconductivity
and always
Form fitting full body suit with gel packs, nonconductivity r5 and thermal dampening r5.
Matrix
4 disposable commlinks
Other Gear
Camoflage Netting
R3 Earbuds with Audio Enhancement R2 and Spatial Recognition
R4 Glasses w/ Smartlink and Ultrasound
5 Flourrescing Astral Bacteria IIB
Latex Face Mask
Mage Mask
Medit Kit R6
R6 Microtanciever
R6 Respirator
miniwelder
voice mask
wire clippers
5 Wyrd Mantis Essence
Vehicle
None :(
Social
1 month of a custom low/squatter life style with a linked r4 fake sin (Mark One) and fake bounty hunter licence
Contacts
Gang Leader c3/l1
(lives on his turf, does favours for him in return for a secure place to sleep and a supply of Nitro. Organised his fake sin)
Street Doc c2/l3
Helped him out when he first hit the streets wounded and half dead. In return, he keeps an eye on her and helps get her medical gear when able.
What do you think?
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I'm playing our groups mage so I have to state that I hate the concept. People should be nice to each other and defenitely not hunting mages.
Oh wait. I'm a shaman so that should make me free of persecution ;D
I like the concept, but I think you could be more skill effective.
Doing some fast calculations I think you have spend 84 BP on skills to hurt others. I think that is way to much. You don't really need unarmed and blades and you have 3 skills for dealing damage at range.
Also his attributes are kind of average, and body is kind of low wich limits your armor capacity. And with al those combat skills you should have a better agility.
Why not more cyberware? Cyberware and bioware has a good synergy and you are not mundane anyway so you would benefit from som more ware. In example a cheap cyberarm of awesomeness.
Is there a set reason why he is a human? You could be a fomori and get Arcane Arrester.
And have you considered Astral Hazing as a "positive" quality? (Positive because it maybe could enhance your build and at the same time give you some BP).
Rasmus
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I think you sacrificed a bit too much for a very narrowly focused defense against magic. The big problem, given his concept, is that he gets worked over by Possession mages and summoned spirits, both of whom can roflstomp him in physical combat.
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In fact for a mage hunter I will try to go for something like a magician with the negative quality of aspected magician toward astral aspect and try to bargain for the use of the counterspelling skill.
When I play my gamemaster use the house rule of essence loss decrease the max magic and not magic rating itself. if it's the case for you it will be easier to go for cyber/biotech... Otherwise you have to adjust your magic to not loose the benefits of your magical skills.
You will have this way the possibility to use weapon focus, counterspelling focus which could be usefull for your job.
BA
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Thanks all for your feedback. My replies:
Rasmus:
I will rethink the skills. I could drop throwing to 1 or remove it. Maybe focus of the Pistol skills and remove the sniper rifle. I like the sword, so I want to keep the blades, and I feel his background means that he should have some unarmed skills. I'll do this tonight and see what happens.
His stats are a bit average. However, I have maxed out on the BP maxium with 194 BP on stats. I could lover Edge to increase agility maybe.. or lower reaction and have them both at 5.
Low Body is a risk, so its important that he doesn't get hit much/often with physical attacks. His armour is actually not so bad, with 14 Ballistic and 9 Impact. He also has (if wearing the Great Coat and the form fitting armour), 9 protection against Fire and 9 protection against Electricity... and he gets 9 to 13 Dp vs the incapictation effects of electricity. Take that Lightning Bolt!
I actually had more cyberware during the initial character creation. I think I was looking at muscle replacement at one stage. But all his gear and current augmentation takes him to $250,000 nuyen. I actually kept removing cyber/bioware to pay for guns, cause I maxed out at one stage purely on augmentation. At least he has lot of future improvements he can sink his cash into. Couldn't even afford a decent bike, almost got the scooter and decided I can walk instead...
I guess I could have got better BP usage in the stats by going metahuman. A dwarf metatype would have been good for his willpower. But his background (Japcorps), and the idea of a human with megahigh willpower appealled to me.
Which book is Astral Hazing in? I did consider getting Astral Sight for 5BP, which would allow a weapon foci, but I was aiming for a completely non-magic character.
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I think you sacrificed a bit too much for a very narrowly focused defense against magic. The big problem, given his concept, is that he gets worked over by Possession mages and summoned spirits, both of whom can roflstomp him in physical combat.
His prime focus is certainly the mage himself, not the spirits. But, with 13-15 dice normally with the Katana and 6P I-1 damage... okay, it will be challenging, but not impossible to take out Force 6 or below spirits. But he also, unlike so many other mundanes, has a real chance with an Attack of Will. He gets 7 to 10 dice in the attack and it ignores immunity to normal weapons. Admittedly, his charisma sucks and thus the damage is limited... His also tough against the non-physcial spirit/critter powers like influence, confusion, fear etc.
He also cannot be possessed easily, with a DP of 11 to 16 against possession. Against possessed enemies... well see above against materlised spirits.. not great...
I think its very hard, besides using massive firepower, for mundanes to do much against spirits.. its a challenge.
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In fact for a mage hunter I will try to go for something like a magician with the negative quality of aspected magician toward astral aspect and try to bargain for the use of the counterspelling skill.
When I play my gamemaster use the house rule of essence loss decrease the max magic and not magic rating itself. if it's the case for you it will be easier to go for cyber/biotech... Otherwise you have to adjust your magic to not loose the benefits of your magical skills.
You will have this way the possibility to use weapon focus, counterspelling focus which could be usefull for your job.
BA
I was trying to create a mundane that could be effective against magic users, though he is not very strong (but not really weak either) against spirits.
I could have taken, and certainly considered, the Astral Sight quality, which would have given him astral sight, magic one, allowed astral combat and allowed bonding to weapon foci, assessning, and some metamagics as well.
I still might... However, would all my augementations (and accompanying essence lost) negate my Magic 1 that I get throught this quality?
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His Attack of Will is awful like whoa, and no, you don't ever want to do that to a spirit.
He will get roflstomped into the floor by any of the fighty spirit types. Try rolling out a few fights with, say, a Force 6 Fire spirit. I guarantee you, it will practically always end with you being burnt to a crisp. Not to mention, melee is not a really great plan against enemies who can fly.
Here's how you win fights against magical opponents as a mundane:
Step 1) Go first.
Step 2) Tase them.
Re: Astral Sight, yes, that's how it works. No, you don't want it.
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I think its very hard, besides using massive firepower, for mundanes to do much against spirits.. its a challenge.
That's why I thought that a bit of magic could be a boost and can be relevant to the story : seeing it as a curse, a bit like BLADE
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mmm... maybe... He would be good in combination with an actual Mage (and his prejudices arnt high enough to prevent a 'professional' if slightly tense relationship).
I could go, as an alternative, with a 'hunts his own kind' type character.
On the flip side, I actually like playing underdog type characters, so if the mage gets the chance to whip out a Spirit which kicks my arse until I nail the mage, that might be ok with me.
Umaro, I might try that out, give him a test run. The flying enemy is a risk... not sure how to beat that... I think he works best in a team, because he has strengths, but also some serious weaknesses...
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Physical Mage, aspected magic: Defensive Aspect (http://forums.shadowrun4.com/index.php?topic=6001.0)
Add a little bioware, perhaps, but get some magic in there and some good Counterspelling. Spell Defense is your 'default mode'; pick up Shielding ASAP.
NOW build your 'I KEEL YOU' whatever.
(Note: this is essentially what the main character from Pananagutan (http://forums.shadowrun4.com/index.php?topic=5111.0) is in the Seattle / Now stage, in 207x.)
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I think the main things you need to rethink are the focus on melee weapons and trying to be combat-oriented while being a mostly-unaugmented mundane. You can probably make a reasonable "mage-hunter" who's a mundane with significant amounts of 'ware and a focus on ranged combat.
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I brought this up on your thread asking about the combo, but nitro and a level: 2 adrenal pump are a bad combination, because they both give you unresisted stun damage. In other words, 9 + 2d6 total stun damage, enough to fill in your stun track completely, and give you some overflow physical damage most of the time.
I would reconsider hard-maxing Willpower - it is not really worth 25 BP, when there are other ways to boost your defenses against magic (such as a higher Edge).
Astral hazing is in Runner's Companion, a negative quality from SURGE that gives you, in effect, a personal rating: 4 background count. Very distinctive astrally, and something that will attract negative attention from magical types, but it definitely gives a boost against magic.
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Thanks all for your feedback.
Your welcome - thats why we are here ;D
Low Body is a risk, so its important that he doesn't get hit much/often with physical attacks. His armour is actually not so bad, with 14 Ballistic and 9 Impact. He also has (if wearing the Great Coat and the form fitting armour), 9 protection against Fire and 9 protection against Electricity... and he gets 9 to 13 Dp vs the incapictation effects of electricity. Take that Lightning Bolt!
If you use all that armor you are way over your body x2 and will suffer penalties to your Agility & Reaction:
Armor and Encumbrance If a character is wearing more than one piece of armor at a time, only the highest value (for either Ballistic or Impact) applies. Note that some armor items, like helmets and shields, provide a modifier to the worn armor rating and so do not count as stacked armor.
Too much armor, however, can slow a character down. If either of a character’s armor ratings exceeds his Body x 2, apply a –1 modifier to Agility and Reaction for every 2 points (or fraction thereof ) that his Body x 2 is exceeded. Note that this may affect Initiative as well. If a character is wearing multiple armor items, add their ratings together before comparing to Body.
From SR4A p. 161.
Edge doesn't count toward the 200 BP you can use on Attributes. That is only the 8 normal attributes that does that. Magic and Resonance don't count toward that limit either.
Rasmus
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Thanks all for your feedback.
Your welcome - thats why we are here ;D
Low Body is a risk, so its important that he doesn't get hit much/often with physical attacks. His armour is actually not so bad, with 14 Ballistic and 9 Impact. He also has (if wearing the Great Coat and the form fitting armour), 9 protection against Fire and 9 protection against Electricity... and he gets 9 to 13 Dp vs the incapictation effects of electricity. Take that Lightning Bolt!
If you use all that armor you are way over your body x2 and will suffer penalties to your Agility & Reaction:
Armor and Encumbrance If a character is wearing more than one piece of armor at a time, only the highest value (for either Ballistic or Impact) applies. Note that some armor items, like helmets and shields, provide a modifier to the worn armor rating and so do not count as stacked armor.
Too much armor, however, can slow a character down. If either of a character’s armor ratings exceeds his Body x 2, apply a –1 modifier to Agility and Reaction for every 2 points (or fraction thereof ) that his Body x 2 is exceeded. Note that this may affect Initiative as well. If a character is wearing multiple armor items, add their ratings together before comparing to Body.
From SR4A p. 161.
Edge doesn't count toward the 200 BP you can use on Attributes. That is only the 8 normal attributes that does that. Magic and Resonance don't count toward that limit either.
Rasmus
Thanks Rasmus. With the form-fitting suit, you get to half the rating (rounding down) for the purposes of working out encumbrance. That said, I had an optional rule ticked in herolab and thus my encumbrance was truly screwed up. I am making changes as I type and will repost the character shortly... Defintely a body increase in store...
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Thank you everyone for your feedback. The below update incorporates some of the feedback, but not all. I almost didn't take Astral Hazing as I didn't want my guy to be a changling... but then I figure it actually made sense in a way. His already a bit of a freak with his magic resistance, what if its all connected?
The magic resistence, high willpower, adrenaline pump, daredrenaline and astral haze are a good combination. The mix of astral haze, nasty vibe and intimidation.. his a bit creepy actually...
Added Judas because its a fun quality for the GM to play with. Combined with the 'Enemy' and the plot thickens...
The bike was expensive... but so worth it... maybe :) Given its speed and the character's weak bike skills and the daredrenaline's thrill seeking effects and the adrenaline pump going off when he gets too excited and it could be the death of him :)
Anyway, here is Mage Hunter Mark II
Attributes:
4 Body
4(8) Agility
5(9) Reaction
2(6) Strength
2 Charisma
4 Intuition
2 Logic
5(7) Willpower
4 Edge
2.17 Essence
9(14) Initiative
1/2 Passes
Postive Qualities
Biocompatibility (Bioware)
Magic Resistence 4
Changeling (Class I Surge)
- Balance Receptor
- Nasty Vibe
Negative Qualities
Judas
Enemy Megacorp/Yakuza 20 pts
Prejudiced against magic users 5pts
Changeling
- Astral Haze (2.17 meters)
Active Skills
1 Athelitics Group
2 Stealth Group
6(8) Blades(Swords)
4(6) Perception (Detecting Magic)
4(6) Pistols (Revolvers)
1 Throwing Weapons
3 Unarmed Combat
2(4) Intimidation (The Stare)
1 (3) Pilot Groundcraft (Bike)
Knowledge Skills
3(5) Awakened Critters (Weaknesses) Academic
3 Magical Theory
2 Corporation/Yakuza(depends on background)
2 Home City areas with known background counts
1 Local Street Gangs
N Japanese
3(5) Chinese (Cantonese)
3(5) English (Cityspeak)
Augmentation
0.3 Cybereyes R2 w/eye recording unit, flare comp, image link, thermo vision, low-light, vision enhancement r3
0.6 Reaction Enhancers R2
2.0 Muscle Replacement R2
1.35 Adrenaline Pump R2
0.1 EPE: Daredrenaline
0.4 EPE: Reakt
Weapons:
Ruger Super Warhawk w/6 rounds each of silver and ex-explosive, personalised grip, smart gun system internal, sound suppressor internal and speed loaders for the bullets, kept in a quick draw holster
Hardliner Gloves
Shockgloves
Katana with personalised grip and concealed holster
5 grenades each of "Petite Blume", flash-bang, breathtaker gas, thermal smoke, and white phosphorus
Armour
Chamelion Suit with Gel packs, r5 nonconductivity and r4 thermel dampening
or
Great Coat with chemical protection, r5 fire resistence, gel packs, insulation and r5 nonconductivity
and always
Form fitting shirt with nonconductivity r5.
Matrix
4 disposable commlinks
Other Gear
Camoflage Netting
R3 Earbuds with Audio Enhancement R2 and Spatial Recognition
R4 Glasses w/ Smartlink and Ultrasound
5 Flourrescing Astral Bacteria IIB
Latex Face Mask
Mage Mask
Medit Kit R6
R6 Microtanciever
R6 Respirator
miniwelder
voice mask
wire clippers
5 Wyrd Mantis Essence
Vehicle
Suziki Mirage w/Engine Cust/ Acceleration, Engine Cust/Speed, Improved Suspension, Racing Tires and Gyro Stabilisation... and racing stripes :)
Social
1 month of a custom low/squatter life style with a linked r4 fake sin (Mark One) and fake bounty hunter licence
Contacts
Gang Leader c3/l1
(lives on his turf, does favours for him in return for a secure place to sleep and a supply of Nitro. Organised his fake sin)
Street Doc c2/l3
Helped him out when he first hit the streets wounded and half dead. In return, he keeps an eye on her and helps get her medical gear when able
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You are not that bad at driving. Reaction 9 is a good basis for manual driving your bike and a dicepool at 12 is above norm average.
I would drop Strength 1 and raise body to 5. That would give you even more armor capacity and an extra condition track.
Strength 5 is the same damage base as 6 so you wouldn't loose anything there.
Cybereyes are kind of expensive and they cost essence. You could get the same benefits from contact lenses and glasses for much less nuyen.
You could save 8 BP and drop your specializations and buy then for karma after your first run.
Rasmus
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Very nice concept and looks extremely effective!
I would recommend a spoof chip and morphing license plate for the Mirage, its another 1500 NuYen, but those pay off quickly, when you speed right through downtown...
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You are not that bad at driving. Reaction 9 is a good basis for manual driving your bike and a dicepool at 12 is above norm average.
I would drop Strength 1 and raise body to 5. That would give you even more armor capacity and an extra condition track.
Strength 5 is the same damage base as 6 so you wouldn't loose anything there.
Cybereyes are kind of expensive and they cost essence. You could get the same benefits from contact lenses and glasses for much less nuyen.
You could save 8 BP and drop your specializations and buy then for karma after your first run.
Rasmus
Thanks Rasmus,
Made the Body/Strength change, though his unaugmented strength is now 1. His was a bit of a weak chummer prior to his augmentation.. Maybe he was vat grown...
He has rating 4 glasses which come with Ultrasound and smartlink. They are fully at capacity. I don't feel comfortable mixing contacts and glasses together. I might instead splash out for some goggles. The only issue I have with goggles is that they seem so obvious and indiscrete.
I've ended up with 1bp left and I have no idea how to spend it. I am at max gear (250,000 nuyen). Everything else cost more then 1 pt...
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Increase the rating of one of your contacts.
Rasmus
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Very nice concept and looks extremely effective!
I would recommend a spoof chip and morphing license plate for the Mirage, its another 1500 NuYen, but those pay off quickly, when you speed right through downtown...
Thanks Char and Rasmun. I made those changes you noted and his all finished and ready to go.
I did all the work in Herolab and can provide in either PDF or herolab file for anyone who would like a copy?
Thanks All!