Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Mythik on <07-12-12/2148:38>
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Daniel Barnett (400BP)
Human (SURGE Changeling)
B: 4 Edge: 2
A: 2 Essence: 6
R: 3 Magic: 5
S: 2 Initiative: 8
C: 5
I: 5
L: 2
W: 5
Drain: 10
Positive Qualities
Restricted Gear Power Focus 4
Magician
Mentor Spirit: Lion
Changeling (Class II SURGE)
Celerity
Low-Light Vision
Claws
Fangs
Negative Qualities
Allergy: Common (Mild): Pollution
Prejudiced: Cyber-Enhanced: Biased
Sensitive System
Critter Spook
Unusual Hair-Mane
Spells
Bind 15
Detect Enemies 15
Heal 15
Healthy Glow 15
Increase Charisma 15
Increased Reflexes 15
Levitate 15
Lightning Bolt 19
Manabolt 19
Shatter 19
Stunball 19
Stunbolt 19
Skills
Assensing (2) 7 (+2 Aura Reading)
Counterspelling (4) 13
Intimidation (1) 6
Perception (1) 6
Heavy (1) 3 (+2 Grenade Launchers)
Spellcasting (6) 15 (+2 Combat Spells)
Summoning (1) 10
Famous Local Magicians 6
Gang Signs 7
Magic Theory 5
Parazoology 3
Urban Brawl odds 6
English N
Afrikaans 9
Japanese 7
Or'Zet 8
Salish 7
Sperethiel 7
Contacts
Fixer C: 3 L: 3
Talismonger C: 2 L:3
Greatcoat 6/5
Industrial Coveralls 5/4
Steampunk Outfit 7/7
Respirator 6
Arm Tech MGL-6
-Extra Clip
-Inc Clip Cap
-Ext Smart Link
-Imp Range Finder
x7ea Flash, Frag, HE, TSmoke mini grenades
C Credstick (50k max)
Sustaining Focus: Health (3)
Binoculars
Meta CommLink
Smart Glasses
Power Focus 4
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Don't forget the negative quality: Distinctive Style. It comes for free (0BP) with SURGE.
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Thanks for replying. I didn't take any overtly noticeable SURGE characteristics, so I didn't think Distinctive Style was appropriate.
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Don't forget the negative quality: Distinctive Style. It comes for free (0BP) with SURGE.
You have a page reference for that? I know that Glamour comes free with it, but it's listed in the Glamour description on p113 of RC.
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You really suffer from average attributes. Lower some and raise others. You should get softcapped drain stats. And you could benefit from being an elf when you are a shaman. Willpower should be 5 anyway because that would give you +1 condition track.
You don’t want Astral Combat. Spirits will kill you. Just default to a stunbolt or powerpolt. The same goes for Banishing. Stunbolt is just more effective and much cheaper in BP on top of that. I would also drop Unarmed Combat. You are not good at it and will get hurt. Instead of pistols you could get heavy weapons and use the pistol sized ArmsTech MGL-6. Pistol dicepool 4 isn’t doing you much good but grenades doesn’t need to be as precise and they have greater utility with options like flashbang and smoke.
I would try and find points for a few more spells. Maybe some of Levitate, Metal Wall, Physical Mask, Imp. Invisibility, a elemental type attack spell for dealing with drones and vehicles. And I would drop Death Touch. You really should avoid melee with people that most of the time will be much better than you.
Have you access to other books than the core rules?
Rasmus
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Don't forget the negative quality: Distinctive Style. It comes for free (0BP) with SURGE.
You have a page reference for that? I know that Glamour comes free with it, but it's listed in the Glamour description on p113 of RC.
All the advanced character options in this book automatically suffer the effects of Distinctive Style and do not get a BP bonus.
Last line on p. 103 in RC.
In the description of the actual negative quality so maybe not the best place to mention a general rule.
Rasmus
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Don't forget the negative quality: Distinctive Style. It comes for free (0BP) with SURGE.
You have a page reference for that? I know that Glamour comes free with it, but it's listed in the Glamour description on p113 of RC.
All the advanced character options in this book automatically suffer the effects of Distinctive Style and do not get a BP bonus.
Last line on p. 103 in RC.
In the description of the actual negative quality so maybe not the best place to mention a general rule.
Rasmus
Hummn... that's interesting. So I wonder if that means that glamour counts as the two distinctive styles with double the penalty since it's called out in the glamour description above and beyond what is described in things like scales.
I guess that gives you an idea of how glamorous it really is, if your grace and beauty is twice as memorable compared to someone with scales shedding their skin.
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Ok, so some changes made. Some of the options mentioned are a no-go (Not going elf, sorry). Others I took much more seriously. Added one more focus so the spells will be hard to resist.
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A few more tips ;D
I would still try to get Willpower and Charisma 5. Drain is very important. Maybe lower Edge to 1 (not that expensive to buy back with karma) and then I would probably lower Logic with 1.
Airburst Link on your Grenade launcher.
Another really good investment from the start is a R4 Power Foci (needs Restricted Gear).
Rasmus
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derp for highlighting the wrong stat. Also derp-a-derp for not typing in Airburst link (the big reason I bought SmartLink...). I'm severely constrained by BP for that power focus. WAY too expensive (24 BP that has to come from somewhere else).
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Looks like you've got spellcasting and counterspelling 5. If you do 6 spellcasting and 4 counterspelling you'll not only gain the die in casting, but will be able to add two more spells. I think you could get a lot of mileage out of increase attribute for your drain stats.
Increase charisma will be one you could use a lot for out of combat, you can get more bonus charisma than the sustaining penalty so it will overall help in social situations. Not to mention the option of having a spirit of man cast it on you.
It also gives you the ability to essentially trade spellcasting or summoning die for drain resistance by sustaining them, and often at a better than 1 to 1 ratio.
It's a trade off, but something to think about.
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Interesting and attractive idea Dem. Would have to take points from somewhere else to buy the two extra spells as well.
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I know you are pressed for points - you always are as a magician ;)
Even though +4 to all tests with magic is a really big advantage and I think it is worth the BP. If you can find them that is.
Else you know why you are a runner - earning money to buy one.
Rasmus
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I really hate you people. But I mean that in a nice way ;D Changes in green (I think)
EDIT: Yup, changes in green lol
grumble grumble ;)
EDIT PART 2(electric boogaloo) Dropped Athabaskan for Or'Zet. Might be more useful in Seattle. Maybe later if I take off to the Great White North (TAKE OFF EH!) I might pick up Athabaskan, but the driving idea was to be passably fluent in the major languages found in Seattle first...
EDIT 3: (LOL) Somewhere in there I wound up with add'l Knowledge points so I put them toward Sperethiel as well. Most likely when I did that point shift Dem suggested...
NOTE: This is quite easy to do since I'm using Hero Lab....however, I note that HL does not recognize the Negative/Positive Qualities you mentioned above...(also why I haven't included them here, but again, none of the Surge qualities added alter my appearance in a drastically, noticeable way)
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I really hate you people. But I mean that in a nice way ;D Changes in green (I think)
EDIT: Yup, changes in green lol
grumble grumble ;)
EDIT PART 2(electric boogaloo) Dropped Athabaskan for Or'Zet. Might be more useful in Seattle. Maybe later if I take off to the Great White North (TAKE OFF EH!) I might pick up Athabaskan, but the driving idea was to be passably fluent in the major languages found in Seattle first...
EDIT 3: (LOL) Somewhere in there I wound up with add'l Knowledge points so I put them toward Sperethiel as well. Most likely when I did that point shift Dem suggested...
NOTE: This is quite easy to do since I'm using Hero Lab....however, I note that HL does not recognize the Negative/Positive Qualities you mentioned above...(also why I haven't included them here, but again, none of the Surge qualities added alter my appearance in a drastically, noticeable way)
Celerity does give you ropey and prominent leg muscles. I guess they're very memorable or something. It is actually not that hard to get a fairly "normal" looking changling, but you still get that distinctive style.
I'll look into the character more. Quick question, why are you changling? Do you just want the positive qualities? Do you have some sort of theme you want to follow?
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I really hate you people. But I mean that in a nice way ;D Changes in green (I think)
EDIT: Yup, changes in green lol
grumble grumble ;)
EDIT PART 2(electric boogaloo) Dropped Athabaskan for Or'Zet. Might be more useful in Seattle. Maybe later if I take off to the Great White North (TAKE OFF EH!) I might pick up Athabaskan, but the driving idea was to be passably fluent in the major languages found in Seattle first...
EDIT 3: (LOL) Somewhere in there I wound up with add'l Knowledge points so I put them toward Sperethiel as well. Most likely when I did that point shift Dem suggested...
NOTE: This is quite easy to do since I'm using Hero Lab....however, I note that HL does not recognize the Negative/Positive Qualities you mentioned above...(also why I haven't included them here, but again, none of the Surge qualities added alter my appearance in a drastically, noticeable way)
Celerity does give you ropey and prominent leg muscles. I guess they're very memorable or something. It is actually not that hard to get a fairly "normal" looking changling, but you still get that distinctive style.
I'll look into the character more. Quick question, why are you changling? Do you just want the positive qualities? Do you have some sort of theme you want to follow?
HAHA ok so I guess I do have a noticeable change. Can they be seen and noticed when wearing slacks and a great coat? Or are they masked over for the most part?
I thought I was taking an obvious thematic approach with the positive and negative selections made while diminishing the overall impact on appearance (this is why I chose an option that slightly increases movement instead of giving a bite attack. I can always cover and disguise my legs, not so much with a pair of sharp overgrown canines), but I don't see why there would be an implied need to justify those choices. :D
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I thought I was taking an obvious thematic approach with the positive and negative selections made while diminishing the overall impact on appearance (this is why I chose an option that slightly increases movement instead of giving a bite attack. I can always cover and disguise my legs, not so much with a pair of sharp overgrown canines), but I don't see why there would be an implied need to justify those choices. :D
There are some people who do require justification especially if you have the higher SURGE III quality. I just wasn't sure how attached you were to your metagenetic qualities.
Do you have Street Magic? It looks like you want to focus on Intuition and aren't using your Charisma for much. Therefore, you'll likely want to belong to an Intuition tradition like Buddhist or Wiccan instead of Shamanism. Then you can drop your Charisma down to 3. If you are planning on being facey, then I'll swap Intuition and Charisma.
Right now you're not getting much out of being human. You want to be an elf. It'll cost you precisely nothing and save you having to buy Low-Light. It'll also let you have a higher Charisma. If you're going for an Intuition tradition, then Ork is an great idea.
As for your metagenetic qualities, my suggestion is to drop Low Light. You can just buy some contact lenses that let you see in the dark. Metagenetic Improvement (Drain Attribute) is a really good buy especially if you get the higher SURGE class. Arcane Arrestor is one of the best magical defensive quality. It's pretty expensive though.
If you want an example of a human magician, you can check out UmaroVI's Magical Rocker (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PJhEQj13rguJr9cmlp9dGvTYvMrsr1qGTZTJLTasDJY/edit?authkey=CN2OnoYN&authkey=CN2OnoYN). I'll change out Artisan for other skills though.
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I thought I was taking an obvious thematic approach with the positive and negative selections made while diminishing the overall impact on appearance (this is why I chose an option that slightly increases movement instead of giving a bite attack. I can always cover and disguise my legs, not so much with a pair of sharp overgrown canines), but I don't see why there would be an implied need to justify those choices. :D
There are some people who do require justification especially if you have the higher SURGE III quality. I just wasn't sure how attached you were to your metagenetic qualities.
The important part is that I don't have SURGE III, I have SURGE I. Therefore, "justification" is unnecessary. I'll keep it in mind that I'll need a permission slip from these forums later if I want to make a character higher than SURGE I in the future. Thanks for the update! :D
Do you have Street Magic? It looks like you want to focus on Intuition and aren't using your Charisma for much. Therefore, you'll likely want to belong to an Intuition tradition like Buddhist or Wiccan instead of Shamanism. Then you can drop your Charisma down to 3. If you are planning on being facey, then I'll swap Intuition and Charisma.
Intuition is at 5 to cover one of the more important skills used in our game (perception) plus it bolsters up initiative and assensing (both rather important to me).
Right now you're not getting much out of being human. You want to be an elf. It'll cost you precisely nothing and save you having to buy Low-Light. It'll also let you have a higher Charisma. If you're going for an Intuition tradition, then Ork is an great idea.
Elf costs 30BP. Human 0. At this point, a "ground-up" rebuild isn't in the cards, but I'll keep your suggestions in mind for future use in this regard. Thanks!
As for your metagenetic qualities, my suggestion is to drop Low Light. You can just buy some contact lenses that let you see in the dark. Metagenetic Improvement (Drain Attribute) is a really good buy especially if you get the higher SURGE class. Arcane Arrestor is one of the best magical defensive quality. It's pretty expensive though.
I could hardly justify prejudice while sporting cyberwear eh? Also, without external provocation, advancing SURGE isn't allowed (house rule. GM will let us know when "the stars are right") :D
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Elf costs 30BP. Human 0. At this point, a "ground-up" rebuild isn't in the cards, but I'll keep your suggestions in mind for future use in this regard. Thanks!
I guess there's the fact you get +1 Edge over an Elf. The attribute points otherwise balances out the cost of Elf. But honestly, you want to jack up charisma if you're staying with a Charisma tradition. And Elf's where it's at for Charisma.
You actually don't need cyberware for low-light vision. You can just buy Contact Lenses with Low-Light. Sure it doesn't help with casting, but the -2 isn't that bad and helps with knowing people are trying to sneak up on you. If I'll get a visual metagenetic quality, I'll get Thermographic vision. You want to see in the dark so you can zap people with your spells.
Also, what about going with an Intuition tradition? You're right that Intuition is very important. Why not synergize it with your magic? Especially since you aren't using your charisma to its fullest.
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Elf costs 30BP. Human 0. At this point, a "ground-up" rebuild isn't in the cards, but I'll keep your suggestions in mind for future use in this regard. Thanks!
I guess there's the fact you get +1 Edge over an Elf. The attribute points otherwise balances out the cost of Elf. But honestly, you want to jack up charisma if you're staying with a Charisma tradition. And Elf's where it's at for Charisma.
You actually don't need cyberware for low-light vision. You can just buy Contact Lenses with Low-Light. Sure it doesn't help with casting, but the -2 isn't that bad and helps with knowing people are trying to sneak up on you. If I'll get a visual metagenetic quality, I'll get Thermographic vision. You want to see in the dark so you can zap people with your spells.
Also, what about going with an Intuition tradition? You're right that Intuition is very important. Why not synergize it with your magic? Especially since you aren't using your charisma to its fullest.
Ah ok I mis-read your post regarding the eyes. Changing traditions radically re-writes the background I have for Mr. B. Originally from South Africa (hance Afrikaans language) he was chosen by Lion. I know quite a bit about Wicca and I'm really not interested in roleplaying that out. Strangely enough, I was able to select Wicca as a tradition, but encountered no violations for having Lion as a mentor! Another oddity. attribute points for Intuition and Logic are only 4 pts for some stupid reason, so "just switching them out" may work but I'll hit violations on the printout. I'll go to HL forums about that though...
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I'd advise finding points somewhere to get the cash to use that Restricted Gear you took for a Force 4 Power Focus. Saving that quality "for later" would just make me very nervous. Far too easy for a GM to continually "forget" about it so that it ends up wasted in my opinion. (Not something I've run across, but I can see it happening.)
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I'd advise finding points somewhere to get the cash to use that Restricted Gear you took for a Force 4 Power Focus. Saving that quality "for later" would just make me very nervous. Far too easy for a GM to continually "forget" about it so that it ends up wasted in my opinion. (Not something I've run across, but I can see it happening.)
Any suggestions for actually affording that? (24 BP, I'll let you suggest where it comes from there cupcake) ;D
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Elf costs 30BP. Human 0. At this point, a "ground-up" rebuild isn't in the cards, but I'll keep your suggestions in mind for future use in this regard. Thanks!
I guess there's the fact you get +1 Edge over an Elf. The attribute points otherwise balances out the cost of Elf. But honestly, you want to jack up charisma if you're staying with a Charisma tradition. And Elf's where it's at for Charisma.
You actually don't need cyberware for low-light vision. You can just buy Contact Lenses with Low-Light. Sure it doesn't help with casting, but the -2 isn't that bad and helps with knowing people are trying to sneak up on you. If I'll get a visual metagenetic quality, I'll get Thermographic vision. You want to see in the dark so you can zap people with your spells.
Also, what about going with an Intuition tradition? You're right that Intuition is very important. Why not synergize it with your magic? Especially since you aren't using your charisma to its fullest.
So after sleeping on it I changed a point from Intuition to Charisma. Edits in purple.
I've also considered switching out Celerity for Fangs and Critter Spook for Unusual Hair-Mane (because a swarm of Devil Rats charging out of the alley is never a good thing), but this would fall under the heading of the Rule of Cool
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool)
Edit: Clearly I'm also not formatting this correctly, otherwise the link would be embeddded in the text. You win this round forums....but I will be back!
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Now that I have a better idea of the character, here's my suggestions. I understand that this might seem "a rebuilt" but really it's just some shuffling. You can pick and choose some of the cuts and buffs, but this should get you a Power Focus with points to share.
First off is Attributes. You're not using that Logic. I'll lower that to 2. That frees up 20 points. I'll pump that Intuition back up to 5. Then I'll increase your Body to 4. That'll let you wear more armor which is really going to help you stay alive.
Now for your spells, you have a decent amount of redundancy in them. You want Stunbolt, one spell that does Physical damage for dealing with vehicles and dudes with pain editors, and an AoE option. My suggestion is to drop Blast, Lightning Bolt*, Manabolt, and Shatter. I'll grab either Powerbolt (if you feel like you can regularly get 5+ hits) or an P indirect spell like Laser or Boom. After that, grab an AoE spell. I personally like Stunball, but I can see getting a P AoE spell instead. That saves you 6 BP. Personally I view Healthy Glow as not worth it since griminess is something that isn't hard to work around if it ever matters. But you might want it anyways for fluff so I'm assuming you're keeping it.
Now for the skills. I'll lower Assensing to 1 and specialize in Aura Reading, giving you a dice pool of 8. Most assensing is for reading auras. For really hard rolls, you can get a spirit to do it. They roll Force x 2 so even a Force 5 spirit rolls 10 dice which is better than you even now. You do want some Assensing so you can at least roll. That's 10 BP saved there. I'll drop Dodge. Taking a phase and rolling 6 dice instead of 3 dice isn't going to save you. Those BP can be better spent elsewhere to hopefully reduced the change you'll be looking down the barrel of an AK-97, or surviving if you do. That's 12 BP saved there. I'll specialize your Summoning in a spirit type you like. Man's the best since it can cast buff spells for you. But, most spirits have their uses. That costs you 2 BP. That's 20 BP saved there.
After Spells and Skills cutting, you have now saved 26 BP. Now let's spend it.
The first thing is to replace the Spellcasting Focus with a Rating 4 Power Focus. The net cost is 12 BP (Spellcasting Focus 3 45000Y + 3BP to bound versus Power Focus 4 100,000Y + 4 BP to bound). You now have 14 BP left. I suggest getting Influence 1. That way with Increase Charisma on you, you're rolling 10 dice which is acceptable backup face territory.
With 4 BP left, there's some stuff you can do. You can just throw it at cash and get a vehicle to move you around. You can get another contact. You can specialize Intimidation or Perception. Or whatever.
Now for Qualities. I suggest maxing out your negative qualities. More points are always good. I'm not sure if your Prejudiced is assuming Cyber-Enhanced are Common or Specific but you should be able to get 5-10 more BP either way. You know your character better than I so I won't say which qualities you ought to pick. Remember that you're now a Changeling so you can just grab metagenetic qualities as if they were normal qualities.
As for your positive qualities, I'm not entirely sold on Astral Chameleon. Clearing Astral Signatures is something a Watcher Spirit can do within 15 seconds so they're easy to clean up. If you left one behind anyways, the mages can take their time and still analyze the heck out of it. The -2 isn't going to hurt them that much. But you might want to keep it.
I'm sad that your GM won't let you SURGE more. Dropping Astral Chameleon and getting SURGE II Metagenetic Improvement: Charisma would let you have a 6 charisma and buff it up to 10 at the expense of 5 more BP worth of metagenetic qualities. If you're just Rule of Cooling it up, then I'll just pick what you think is cool.
*- While Lightning Bolt is an indirect spell, I find people with nonconductivity common enough to switch over to another indirect spell that's harder to find armor modifications to resist anyways. It also may not be the best way to take out vehicles.
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Now that I have a better idea of the character, here's my suggestions. I understand that this might seem "a rebuilt" but really it's just some shuffling. You can pick and choose some of the cuts and buffs, but this should get you a Power Focus with points to share.
First off is Attributes. You're not using that Logic. I'll lower that to 2. That frees up 20 points. I'll pump that Intuition back up to 5. Then I'll increase your Body to 4. That'll let you wear more armor which is really going to help you stay alive.
Now for your spells, you have a decent amount of redundancy in them. You want Stunbolt, one spell that does Physical damage for dealing with vehicles and dudes with pain editors, and an AoE option. My suggestion is to drop Blast, Lightning Bolt*, Manabolt, and Shatter. I'll grab either Powerbolt (if you feel like you can regularly get 5+ hits) or an P indirect spell like Laser or Boom. After that, grab an AoE spell. I personally like Stunball, but I can see getting a P AoE spell instead. That saves you 6 BP. Personally I view Healthy Glow as not worth it since griminess is something that isn't hard to work around if it ever matters. But you might want it anyways for fluff so I'm assuming you're keeping it.
Now for the skills. I'll lower Assensing to 1 and specialize in Aura Reading, giving you a dice pool of 8. Most assensing is for reading auras. For really hard rolls, you can get a spirit to do it. They roll Force x 2 so even a Force 5 spirit rolls 10 dice which is better than you even now. You do want some Assensing so you can at least roll. That's 10 BP saved there. I'll drop Dodge. Taking a phase and rolling 6 dice instead of 3 dice isn't going to save you. Those BP can be better spent elsewhere to hopefully reduced the change you'll be looking down the barrel of an AK-97, or surviving if you do. That's 12 BP saved there. I'll specialize your Summoning in a spirit type you like. Man's the best since it can cast buff spells for you. But, most spirits have their uses. That costs you 2 BP. That's 20 BP saved there.
After Spells and Skills cutting, you have now saved 26 BP. Now let's spend it.
The first thing is to replace the Spellcasting Focus with a Rating 4 Power Focus. The net cost is 12 BP (Spellcasting Focus 3 45000Y + 3BP to bound versus Power Focus 4 100,000Y + 4 BP to bound). You now have 14 BP left. I suggest getting Influence 1. That way with Increase Charisma on you, you're rolling 10 dice which is acceptable backup face territory.
With 4 BP left, there's some stuff you can do. You can just throw it at cash and get a vehicle to move you around. You can get another contact. You can specialize Intimidation or Perception. Or whatever.
Now for Qualities. I suggest maxing out your negative qualities. More points are always good. I'm not sure if your Prejudiced is assuming Cyber-Enhanced are Common or Specific but you should be able to get 5-10 more BP either way. You know your character better than I so I won't say which qualities you ought to pick. Remember that you're now a Changeling so you can just grab metagenetic qualities as if they were normal qualities.
As for your positive qualities, I'm not entirely sold on Astral Chameleon. Clearing Astral Signatures is something a Watcher Spirit can do within 15 seconds so they're easy to clean up. If you left one behind anyways, the mages can take their time and still analyze the heck out of it. The -2 isn't going to hurt them that much. But you might want to keep it.
I'm sad that your GM won't let you SURGE more. Dropping Astral Chameleon and getting SURGE II Metagenetic Improvement: Charisma would let you have a 6 charisma and buff it up to 10 at the expense of 5 more BP worth of metagenetic qualities. If you're just Rule of Cooling it up, then I'll just pick what you think is cool.
*- While Lightning Bolt is an indirect spell, I find people with nonconductivity common enough to switch over to another indirect spell that's harder to find armor modifications to resist anyways. It also may not be the best way to take out vehicles.
Thanks for the options, I'm intrigued by what you offered. Regarding spells I submit the following reasons:
Blast Traded for Stunball. (Reduction in drain is nice too)
Lightning bolt was grabbed for drones and such
Manabolt was/is direct damage for High Body, Low Will targets
Shatter I took for doors walls vehicles and such
(You're making me type too much, and I'm running out of colors for the OP edits LOL)
Just for you Tsu....
Always remember...haters gonna hate, pwnies gonna pwn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGI6mhfJyA
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Speaking of the Wu Tang Clan, it's time to protect your neck.
With a Body score of 4, your armor cap is 8. You want to get as close to this as possible. This is too hard. Another thing to keep in mind is Form Fitting Body Armor. It's half encumbrance (round down). The full suit is obviously better but comes with a hood and gloves and thus you may or may not be able to go to parties in it. If you think you can't, you should go with a half suit that only covers things you should be protecting at a party anyways. Don't forget to stack armor. The SecurePPP line is key for this.
Here's two sample outifts to help you get started. One's with a Full Suit of FFBA and the other is for Half Suit FFBA.
Half Suit Outfit (10/9 total armor):
Half Suit FFBA 4/1 (Halved to 2/0 for encumbrance)
Steampunk Vest, Slacks, Shirt 4/4
Securetech PPP Shin Guards, Forearms Guards, Vitals Protector, Leg and Arm Casings 2/4
Full Suit Outfit (11/9 total armor)
Full Suit FFBA 6/2 (Halved to 3/1 for encumbrance)
Synergist Suit Jacket, Slacks 4/3
Securetech PPP Shin Guards, Forearm Guards, Vitals Protector, Half of Leg and Arm Casings (reduced to +0/+1) 1/4
You can play around with armor options as well.