Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Ratboy on <06-25-12/1426:03>
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New to the system, trying to prepare for GMing, and I'm wondering if the following impressions are correct:
1) Unless you are specialized & optimized (mix/maxed?), you really don't stand a chance.
2) An optimized magician is so deadly (esp. if a summoner who gets concealment from a spirit), there's not much that mundane opposition can do. (E.g., with low-level direct spells using just a Willpower defense, it's nearly an autokill per IP without drain if a character is optimized for it.) Perhaps with the defense degradation (-1 per attack), several opponents could overwhelm the magician, but that isn't really relevant with a summonted beast.
3) Characters start relatively powerful, but advance slowly from there. E.g., hackers easily start with Rating 6 programs, while Rating 7 is so much more difficult to obtain.
4) Hacking is rather tedious and slow. Do GM's come up with "virtual worlds" for their nodes (see "Reality Filter") and describe them to players, or do you just do dice-rolling ("Okay, now I try to hack an admin account....") I guess I need to keep reading Unwired, but I'm confused about how these networks exist...are the data files and everything in one node, or are there different nodes for CPU, data files, etc.? I.e., if a player hacks in, does he get access to everything at once, by searching, or does he have to hack from node to node?
I guess that's it for now. Are these impressions correct, or am I missing something? I appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond, and if there's an FAQ for new GMs that addresses these things, please point me to it!
Thanks!
Ratboy
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1&2) In general, at a medium to high level of optimization, combat is rocket tag. A reasonably good magician can drop one target per IP. A reasonably good street samurai can do the same. Offense is easier than defense and winning fights is generally about getting the drop on people/going first/ganking them. The converse here is that even a fairly optimized character is not capable of just laughing off moderately competent, well armed opponents; being a badder dude generally means you are better at going first and better at dropping people fast, not that you aren't vulnerable to being counterattacked.
Spirits do deserve special mention because they are kind of a balance problem, in that many problems can be solved simply by getting a sufficiently high force spirit to do it and this is something to pay attention to as a GM.
3) Yes.
4) Hacking is indeed a terrible clusterfuck, if that's what you're getting at.
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In general, at a medium to high level of optimization, combat is rocket tag.
So, a starting party is evidently not a group of "individuals showing promise but just getting a start"... They are already better than veteran level in at least one skill. Not what I generally picture for a starting party.
Spirits do deserve special mention because they are kind of a balance problem, in that many problems can be solved simply by getting a sufficiently high force spirit to do it and this is something to pay attention to as a GM.
Well, when a spirit can convey--to a starting character--Concealment that gives a -6 to Perception without even overcasting, it pretty much guarantees that element of surprise against opponents, but also to ongoing mayhem. Seems like near-invulnerability for the character against most low-mid corporate security teams. (I suppose they could try to attack using Blind Fire [good luck!], even if they don't see the summoner.)
SO....as you put it, "something to pay attention to as a GM". Any recommendations on how to reasonably and fairly counter this problem?
3) Yes.
I like starting parties having the ability to do some things, not just sit there totally feeble. But doesn't it get boring to have characters advance slowly? I'm considering starting with 300 BP or perhaps capping at lower skill levels to start. Is that common? Unwise?
4) Hacking is indeed a terrible clusterfuck, if that's what you're getting at.
Glad it's not just me thinking that. :)
I'm figuring I'll have one of those omnipowerful NPCs 8) come along and clear all of the Matrix issues for the party, if I can't come up with a better solution.
Thank you, UmaroVI, for your help. Your character generation assistance was invaluable to me, and I appreciate the GM advice.
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I'm figuring I'll have one of those omnipowerful NPCs come along and clear all of the Matrix issues for the party, if I can't come up with a better solution.
There's a halway version of this gambit as well. For example, the party doesn't have a hacker. You give them an npc for the run from their fixer and they have to get him inside the corp site to do his thing. He gets the paydata but something happens to him or he sets off an alarm. Alternatively, you could roll it either in a abbreviated manner, even as much as shortening it to one single roll for success or failure of various degrees.
For example, in a recent 3rd ed. game I was a player in, we had to break a Johnson assigned Decker into a corp site, so that he could steal some data. Our infiltration went quite well due to most of us carrying no weapons and cyberware. However, once at the target server, the Decker mumbled something about having it, then went unconcious. I assensed him, determined little, then treat spelled him. Still unconcious and we then realize we are all morons who haven't played Shadowrun in a year and forgot to bring a single stim patch. So, the big difficulty of the run becomes getting this camatose Decker out alive. My stealthy giraffe was trying to steal a stim patch off security goons, but never quite managed it. Kinda a clusterf of a run.
Some players may not take kindly to automatic failures though for npcs or even partial failures. I had fun with it though.
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Don't read into it. It's all on the group. If your group's average pool is 8-9, then you, as the gym, tailor their enemies to not whack them on the first go around. There is a lot of optimization on this board, but a lot of it is crossing out redundancy, I.E. dodge vs. gymnastics, snipers taking longarms and being one trick ponies vs. automatics and using battle rifles, etc.
If you cut the BP, you're shooting yourself in the foot. If you don't want to do the slow slog up in stats, upping the BP is the better bet.
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Don't read into it. It's all on the group. If your group's average pool is 8-9, then you, as the gym, tailor their enemies to not whack them on the first go around.
An addendum:
For in-universe justification, think of it like this: If they're not good enough to stand a reasonable chance of getting the job done, they're not going to get hired for the job. That means the opposition is going to be challenging, but not above their pay-grade, because the Johnson would be stupid to waste his time on someone that can't hack it.
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One thing to keep in mind is that, while SR has its strengths as an RPG system, a character generation system that naturally encourages balance between different characters isn't one of them. How optimized your party actually is will vary widely.
To address your specific points:
Generally speaking, a group with a decently optimized mage can just run roughshod over any place without magical security. A huge amount of things that would seem like problems just aren't. Need to assassinate someone without magical security? They can do absolutely nothing about your mage sitting on the astral spamming Summon, the spirits manifesting, and attacking. Need to infiltrate somewhere without magical security? Concealment, as you pointed out, is really good. Obviously, you can concoct contrived situations where this isn't true, but...
The basic answer here is that everywhere that is meant to keep shadowrunners out and be a challenge for your group to go into needs to have at least basic magical security: modest-force bound spirits on patrol (remember that any magic shows up to their Assensing) and wards make things much less silly.
If you want less powerful out-of-the-gate characters, restricting BP like that is a bad idea as it actually makes people by hyperspecialists, rather than lower-powered characters. A good way to get lower-powered starting characters is to use the German-erratad version of karma generation (see Runner's Companion, but Race cost = bp cost in karma, and attributes are 5x, not 3x), restrict the number of starting points, restrict Availability, restrict the maximum karma spent on nuyen, the maximum for starting skills, and the maximum Magic and Resonance for starting characters. It's important that you do all of these or you'll have issues like Mages being better than everyone else because they don't care about availability or nuyen, or some such problem.
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Specifically, my recommendations would be:
600 (rather than 750) karma
Give out free Knowledge sp rather than making people pay for them
Availability 8 (with the Restricted Gear quality allowing 14 rather than 20)
Max of one stat at one-below-natural-maximum, everything else must be at least two below natural maximum (ie, a human could have at most one 5, and the rest 4 or less).
Max of one skill at 5, or two at 4. Rest 3 or less
Max of 4 magic or resonance.
Maximum of 60 karma spent on nuyen (born rich allows 80)
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RE: Concealment
Absolutely scrupulously enforce the difference between concealment and invisability. Concealment makes you more difficult to see if a perception test would be called for, but it doesn't do jack for you if there's no reason why a perception test would be needed. While it is still overpowered this distinction keeps the game from being all concealment power all the time.
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I recently ran concealment as a visibility modifer in combat... is that wrong?
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It's not appropriate in my opinion, others may disagree.
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It definitely is not a visibility modifier. It gives a penalty to Perception and Assensing tests. Visibility modifiers also give penalties to perception tests, but Concealment doesn't provide a Visibility modifier.
It's also worth noting that Concealment only penalizes Perception. It does not penalize tests like the Rating x 2 test a millimeter wave detection system makes.
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One thing to remember about the power level is that it is not an absolute scale, but each individual player trying to find the right mix between specialization and generalization - more specifically, balancing being good at their main role and being able to function outside of that role without any glaring weaknesses. The space on this continuum will vary by character concept.
A street samurai might want combat skill dice in the high teens, since combat skills are an opposed test with lots of potential negative modifiers. But you can overspecialize even for a combat character. A character with a dice pool in the 20's who can do nothing else is stuck in a rut. Despite his skill, he will be little more than dumb muscle, sitting there bored while the other characters do legwork, interact with contacts, and infiltrate places where you can't go in guns blazing. If the character has a slightly lower dice pool for combat, but can can spot an ambush, sneak up on someone, drive a getaway vehicle, interrogate someone, patch up a wounded teammate, and so on, then that character will probably get better, higher-paying jobs than the first character, even if he throws a few dice less for pistols. So even for a more specialist build, you can be too specialized.
On the other hand, a lot of support skills don't need to be so high, since they don't suffer as many negative modifiers, and you often get an extended test to do them (and can do them during downtime, rather than when the pressure is on). And some skills can't be as high, because not every skill has the same number of possible dice pool modifiers. If someone is playing a private detective, they might have more average Attributes, a high perception, some data search, some stealth, some social abiity, and enough combat ability to fight off a security guard or too. He isn't a powerhouse like the street samurai, but has more versatility. Generalists, though, have to be careful not to spread themselves too thin. If you do a lot of different things, try to do them moderately well. Don't be nearly useless at everything; even generalists need some focus.
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If you use KarmaGen, check out the recent post Matthias made on these forums about how it's implemented in Hero Lab. 1000 Karma, max 625 on Attributes, Attributes cost (new rating x 5) Karma.
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1000 Karma?! That's pretty darned powerful if you ask me.
Even chars made with the recommended 750 are usually more powerful than a 400BP character.
Don't read into it. It's all on the group. If your group's average pool is 8-9, then you, as the gym, tailor their enemies to not whack them on the first go around.
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If you cut the BP, you're shooting yourself in the foot. If you don't want to do the slow slog up in stats, upping the BP is the better bet.
QFT.
Umaro's Archetypes are, in my opinion, probably a bit too optimized. For a group of new players and GM, I wouldn't recommend them. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot you can learn from those builds, but a lot of GM's don't want the beginning players to be better than NPC veterans/'elites', and they probably are.
I'll also second that cutting into the amount of BPs isn't really an answer to having more 'beginning' characters. You'll just end up with more heavily min-maxed ones; the kind of character that can kill 4 troll bodyguards before they notice they're under attack, but is incapable of using a computer or talking to a security guard without it ending in a fight.
Instead, talk to your players, explain that you don't want 20+ dicepools but you feel that ~12 in their "main skill" should be more then enough. Make sure to mention that this means you're building the game with with this in mind too! If you suddenly throw Force 9 Beast Spirits at them, they have every right to be upset about it. And explain to them that instead of cutting into their BP's, you want more 'rounded' characters. Encourage them to spend points in knowledge skills -more than just their free points- or buy some more contacts or grab skills that don't immediately seem to always be useful but simply fit the character. There's a lot of "Ex-army Spec-Ops" on this board with 25 dice for sniping and melee combat, 20 infiltration, but that apparently have never had any training in swimming, parachuting or diving and wouldn't know a grenade from a baby pineapple.
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Additionally, the game system already has some means in place to discourage min-maxing. Not being able to take more than one or two skills above 4 and a heavy BP penalty for trying to max out an attribute, for starters.
All reducing Build Points will do is force players to cut back on secondary skills and attributes and focus everything on only being good at one thing. They won't be able to afford not to min/max.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you're running a game with people you know (as opposed to the SR Missions games run at conventions), you can have input into character creation. You can talk with the players about what sort of character they want to play and encourage characters of the sort that you want to see. If they have an attribute that you think is too low because they wanted to put all their points into dishing out destruction, remind them that they'll have to play the character as stupid/oblivious/slow/wimpy/etc. to reflect this. If they've skipped on skills that their background should have but which aren't combat-oriented, point it out. If they're overspecializing, point out how crippling that can be and the value of being versatile.
Also, keep in mind that the characters that some of the people on these forums make are not exactly indicative of Shadowrun PCs as a whole. Most players won't have the intimate knowledge of the rules and experience at manipulating them that someone who makes a hobby of character optimization will.
Additionally, consider offering some points of free Contacts based on Charisma, similar to how Int + Logic gives free Knowledge skills. It'll encourage characters that otherwise might try to make Charisma a dump stat to put a few points into it. And the points not spent on Contacts will go towards that versatility thing. (But then, I honestly think that Contacts cost too much considering how situationally dependent their usefulness is. You may feel differently.)
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Umaro's Archetypes are, in my opinion, probably a bit too optimized. For a group of new players and GM, I wouldn't recommend them. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot you can learn from those builds, but a lot of GM's don't want the beginning players to be better than NPC veterans/'elites', and they probably are.
Except that the Archetypes aren't really for Home Games... they're for a "Sanctioned" Missions table, where personal feelings take a back-seat to raw mechanics because GM Fiat is put on a heavy leash.
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RE: Concealment
Absolutely scrupulously enforce the difference between concealment and invisability. Concealment makes you more difficult to see if a perception test would be called for, but it doesn't do jack for you if there's no reason why a perception test would be needed. While it is still overpowered this distinction keeps the game from being all concealment power all the time.
In practical terms, you're saying that a Concealed target is perfectly visible, but actually noticing it or getting detailed information about it would be at a penalty?? If I want to say, "I'm looking for the summoner of that spirit with Concealment 6," I get a +3 for "Perceiver is actively looking/listening for it" and -6 for the Concealment, for a net -3 to determine whether I can notice the summoner standing there?
Or is it used only if the summoner is actively trying to hide behind cover, in a crowd, etc.?
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Additionally, the game system already has some means in place to discourage min-maxing. Not being able to take more than one or two skills above 4 and a heavy BP penalty for trying to max out an attribute, for starters.
Agreed. I was wondering if even more restriction would be helpful, to broaden characters.
All reducing Build Points will do is force players to cut back on secondary skills and attributes and focus everything on only being good at one thing. They won't be able to afford not to min/max.
Agreed that it would do that if lower initial ceilings weren't also used. But doing so might help to create a faster initial climb in character development, without the "have to go on several runs before I get enough karma to improve my main specialty" problem.
I imagine this has been tossed around for ages and repeatedly, and is probably an old discussion. It's just that I'm new to the system and find it odd that the characters start relatively "elite" and then build slowly.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you're running a game with people you know (as opposed to the SR Missions games run at conventions), you can have input into character creation.
Yeah...I think my players got burned by an earlier campaign where their non-optimized characters didn't stand a chance or were overshadowed by the specialized, and they're reacting by specializing.
If they've skipped on skills that their background should have but which aren't combat-oriented, point it out. If they're overspecializing, point out how crippling that can be and the value of being versatile.
Since pointing it out seems to fall on deaf ears, it might have to be a painful lesson--but that's their choice. Thanks for the suggestion/reminder.
I don't want to railroad or just target their weaknesses (skimped skills, etc.), but it might be helpful in small doses.
Additionally, consider offering some points of free Contacts based on Charisma, similar to how Int + Logic gives free Knowledge skills. It'll encourage characters that otherwise might try to make Charisma a dump stat to put a few points into it. And the points not spent on Contacts will go towards that versatility thing. (But then, I honestly think that Contacts cost too much considering how situationally dependent their usefulness is. You may feel differently.)
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I already did that....and that freed up more BP to put into a specialization in Combat Spellcasting, for another bonus, rather than broadening the character in other ways! :-\
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Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I already did that....and that freed up more BP to put into a specialization in Combat Spellcasting, for another bonus, rather than broadening the character in other ways! :-\
Well, your last hope is to go with the Karmagen system.
BP-builds encourage optimizing, because it's much better to buy up things really high with BP than buy them kinda high with BP and top it off with Karma. Karmagen fixes the issue since it costs more for that Troll to get that 1 last point of Body than bringing an entire new skill up to 4.
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RE: Concealment
Absolutely scrupulously enforce the difference between concealment and invisability. Concealment makes you more difficult to see if a perception test would be called for, but it doesn't do jack for you if there's no reason why a perception test would be needed. While it is still overpowered this distinction keeps the game from being all concealment power all the time.
In practical terms, you're saying that a Concealed target is perfectly visible, but actually noticing it or getting detailed information about it would be at a penalty?? If I want to say, "I'm looking for the summoner of that spirit with Concealment 6," I get a +3 for "Perceiver is actively looking/listening for it" and -6 for the Concealment, for a net -3 to determine whether I can notice the summoner standing there?
Or is it used only if the summoner is actively trying to hide behind cover, in a crowd, etc.?
Basically in practical terms if the summoner is just standing there in the open under reasonable lighting conditions their seen, no test required. Now as GM you have to make the call on when the conditions come up enough where perception tests are actually called for but yes in that instance the modifiers work much like you've said. Basically if the target can be reasonably seen with no special effort concealment doesn't apply, if they can't be readily seen without some level of practice or skill concealment does apply.
Now before I say this next bit I will point out that this my quasi houserule/fluff from previous editions. In my own games I limit concealment power to a setting appropriate for the creature or spirit using the concealment. So in order to be concealed in a crowd you'd need a spirit of man. It's not a hard core nerf the casters thing as much as trying to apply a narrative difference between spirit types and forcing them to not have a one size fits all tool for every problem.
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Thanks Lurks. I might, however, move this to a new thread by itself, so not to take away from the OPs original question/concerns.
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Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I already did that....and that freed up more BP to put into a specialization in Combat Spellcasting, for another bonus, rather than broadening the character in other ways! :-\
Well, your last hope is to go with the Karmagen system.
BP-builds encourage optimizing, because it's much better to buy up things really high with BP than buy them kinda high with BP and top it off with Karma. Karmagen fixes the issue since it costs more for that Troll to get that 1 last point of Body than bringing an entire new skill up to 4.
What he said. The flat BP costs during chargen encourage people to max out skills to start, because once they start play it's a lot cheaper in Karma to buy new skills at low levels than to increase existing skills to higher levels.
I haven't used the Karmagen system in SR4, but I played with the SR3 equivalent before, and it worked pretty well. Being able to get a couple skills at 1 for the same cost as raising one skill from 3 to 4 encourages people to diversify more.
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One way I, personally, restrict my players is that I *REQUIRE* minimums of
Etiquette 2, Perception 2, and at least one non-combat, non-magic/resonance active skill at 1,
and for combat characters, I require that they have 2 skills in their specialty area, and 1 outside.
(I.E., if they are a close combat specialist, I expect them to have at least 2 close combat skills and
a ranged combat skill. If they are a gun specialist, I expect them to have 2 ranged combat skills and
a close combat skill).
I also expect everyone to have 1 attack skill at a minimum of 3, and dodge or gymnastics at 2.
Even Faces and Hackers get shot at, and need to be able to get out of the way, and fight back, you know.
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What Mara said. Perception, Data Search, a combat skill, and an artistic, hobby or technical skill are things it's hard not to pick up IRL, so I tend to make players have them. You never know when that Discovery special on Rock Climbing or those years spent skateboarding could save your life.
Also, First Aid.
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What Mara said. Perception, Data Search, a combat skill, and an artistic, hobby or technical skill are things it's hard not to pick up IRL, so I tend to make players have them. You never know when that Discovery special on Rock Climbing or those years spent skateboarding could save your life.
Also, First Aid.
I firmly conseider being able to pick up an ambush and knowing how to not offend your contacts to be key survival skills...
Uncouth=Death Sentence in my games.
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RE: Concealment
Absolutely scrupulously enforce the difference between concealment and invisability. Concealment makes you more difficult to see if a perception test would be called for, but it doesn't do jack for you if there's no reason why a perception test would be needed. While it is still overpowered this distinction keeps the game from being all concealment power all the time.
In practical terms, you're saying that a Concealed target is perfectly visible, but actually noticing it or getting detailed information about it would be at a penalty?? If I want to say, "I'm looking for the summoner of that spirit with Concealment 6," I get a +3 for "Perceiver is actively looking/listening for it" and -6 for the Concealment, for a net -3 to determine whether I can notice the summoner standing there?
Or is it used only if the summoner is actively trying to hide behind cover, in a crowd, etc.?
Basically in practical terms if the summoner is just standing there in the open under reasonable lighting conditions their seen, no test required. Now as GM you have to make the call on when the conditions come up enough where perception tests are actually called for but yes in that instance the modifiers work much like you've said. Basically if the target can be reasonably seen with no special effort concealment doesn't apply, if they can't be readily seen without some level of practice or skill concealment does apply.
Now before I say this next bit I will point out that this my quasi houserule/fluff from previous editions. In my own games I limit concealment power to a setting appropriate for the creature or spirit using the concealment. So in order to be concealed in a crowd you'd need a spirit of man. It's not a hard core nerf the casters thing as much as trying to apply a narrative difference between spirit types and forcing them to not have a one size fits all tool for every problem.
Personally I see Concealment power as something along the lines of the "Perception Filters" you see if you watch a lot of the newer Doctor Who or Torchwood shows from the BBC. The Summoner is there, but you just don't really pay enough attention to 'notice' unless you get at least 1 hit on a Perception test (or beat the infiltrate hits if the summoner is actively hiding). Handily, most basic security guards would have a shot at it if actively looking for the mage. Standard 3 Int, likely a point or two in Perception, and possibly some cheap Vision or Audio enhancements in glasses / earplugs (they are guards after all, it makes sense). Against a Force 6, it's easy for them toss at least 1 or 2 dice without trying, 4-5 if actively looking. And that's just your basic rent-a-cop with no magical aid and cheap basic gear for his line of work.
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I firmly conseider being able to pick up an ambush and knowing how to not offend your contacts to be key survival skills...
Uncouth=Death Sentence in my games.
Oh, they certainly are, I agree. I was just listing skills I think every runner should have because you couldnt not have picked them up at some point.
Why that got me a cadre of smites, IDK. Hard to keep track of who I might have offended with so many threads.
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I firmly conseider being able to pick up an ambush and knowing how to not offend your contacts to be key survival skills...
Uncouth=Death Sentence in my games.
Oh, they certainly are, I agree. I was just listing skills I think every runner should have because you couldnt not have picked them up at some point.
Why that got me a cadre of smites, IDK. Hard to keep track of who I might have offended with so many threads.
I concur Arkangel, there appears to be a lot of smiting going on recently. I've never noticed anything particularly smitable in your post (I have no idea why anyone would smite you at all), its just a weird thing going on currently. Keep on posting, ignore the smites.
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I concur Arkangel, there appears to be a lot of smiting going on recently. I've never noticed anything particularly smitable in your post (I have no idea why anyone would smite you at all), its just a weird thing going on currently. Keep on posting, ignore the smites.
It comes and goes, sometimes. Every now and then someone (often someone new) gets a wild hair and goes on a smite/praise frenzy. Over a long enough time period, it'll eventually settle back down and the activity will go back to normal. Normal-ish, at least. Some folks just hold grudges and have nothin' better to do.
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Why that got me a cadre of smites, IDK. Hard to keep track of who I might have offended with so many threads.
You too? My rep dropped ten points today and I have no idea why.
Anyway, back on topic...
Since I started GMing again recently, I've found that the powers of summoned spirits can be rather annoyingly powerful. If you've got a summoner in the group, then you need to be prepared for the possibility that they might use spirit powers to do things that they themselves would not be able to, and throw your expectations for how things will go completely off.
In general, magicians can be rather potent (although if they make themselves vulnerable they can expect to be torn to shreds by a street sam), so if there's a magician in the runner team then you should giving any serious opposition some degree of magical support to counter them.
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Apparently not:
The 2.16 release of the Hero Lab files for Shadowrun is now available from the automatic updates mechanism within Hero Lab.
This update adds the Priority System and Karma System alternate character creation methods from Runner's Companion, along with some bug fixes.
I wanted to give everyone who's using the Karma System with Hero Lab a heads up. We're using different costs for attribute increases and for the total karma than are listed in Runner's Companion, based on the following email exchange we had with Jason Hardy:
1) The cost of increasing an attribute with karma increased from "new rating * 3" to "new rating * 5" with the publication of the 20th anniversary edition. Does this also change the cost of an attribute when buying it in the karma system method from runner's companion? If so, should the default karma build points for the karma system go up slightly, since the attributes have increased in price?
JMH: Yes, the cost of attributes in the KarmaGen system should change from 3 times rating to 5 times rating. Here's how I do the math--going from 3 to 5 is an increase of 66.67 percent. You can spend up to half your 750 karma in KarmaGen on attributes (with the addition of the build points for metatype, but I don't think that affects this), meaning you can spend 375 on attributes. If we increase that by 66.67 percent, we get 625. We add that to the other half of the karma and we get 1,000 karma to start with. But we also should tweak the amount of karma you can spend on attributes. Instead of only being able to spend half on attributes, you should be able to spend 62.5 percent of your karma (plus the metatype adjustment) on attributes. Make sense?
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What Mara said. Perception, Data Search, a combat skill, and an artistic, hobby or technical skill are things it's hard not to pick up IRL, so I tend to make players have them. You never know when that Discovery special on Rock Climbing or those years spent skateboarding could save your life.
Also, First Aid.
Eh, I tend to be more flexible as while It hink everyone should have a certain skill set to be a professional runner points are scarce at creation and I'm not going to make them sacrifice their concept to build to my ideal. Having said that, the information you could have got via datasearch is always floating out there waiting to be utilized and your only hurting yourself by not having that.
I built a technomancer face for one of my players the other day, and boy did she end up being able to do nothing else, and not even both of her specialties all that way, but some day she'll be scary at both, just don't expect her to ever be a front line fighter like my missions technomancer or my prior missions hacker were.
My philosophy for character creation has always been you should bring at minimum two solid facets to the team.