Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Gnomeborg on <07-26-12/0938:21>
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Ok, so I'm making my first-ever Shadowrun character for a game that starts on Tuesday. The group currently has 5 players (4 besides me). We've got a dedicated hacker/rigger, a street samurai, a B/E guy with combat (unaugmented or adepted for some reason), and a cyberwear investigator.
I want to play the Face with a little bit of magical investigation. I am fascinated by the SURGE stuff in the Runner's Companion, so I'd like to, if I can, play around with that.
But I'm fairly lost on how to actually make this. How to make my character actually not be a mess of a sheet, and able to contribute to the group. I've looked through UmaroVI's new archetypes (found his/her stuff while google searching for some help) and didn't find one that really did what I was looking for (the Ork Paranormal Investigator was close, but I'm not sure how to adapt to make it into a face...)
Can y'all help me out?
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You don't have a magician in the group so go for that role.
An elf Shaman is easy to also make into a decent face.
If you go for Surge you could take metagenetic improvement Charisma or you could maybe take Glamour (or be a dryad). Just remember that Surged characters get the negative quality Distinct Style for free (you are after all a genetic freak).
It should be fairly easy to get a broad selection of spells for general use as a support character and investigation.
Chose a mentor spirit that gives a bonus to one of the social skills or just the type of magic you wanna be best at (probably manipulation because mental manipulation is a nice way of doing at least some of your face stuff).
Rasmus
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If you want to be a face and you're going to SURGE, Glamour is the way to go.
You might want to use the Spirit Medium as a base.
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Any other advice anyone can give me?
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Buy as many skills as possible at 1 or 4; take the Influence group, thank me in the morning. Tailored Pheromones is really good. Emotitoys are overpowered.
Dont get cybereyes unless you're stuffing more toys in them than glasses can hold; on the other hand, cyberarms are nice.
And as a face, even some of the negative SURGe qualities can be beneficial if you don't mind being very memorable.
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And as a face, even some of the negative SURGe qualities can be beneficial if you don't mind being very memorable.
I'm a little confused... Care to give an example?
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And as a face, even some of the negative SURGe qualities can be beneficial if you don't mind being very memorable.
I'm a little confused... Care to give an example?
I would guess: mood Hair, extragavant eyes, etc...they are beneficial because they really do not have much of
a mechanical drawback.
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And as a face, even some of the negative SURGe qualities can be beneficial if you don't mind being very memorable.
I'm a little confused... Care to give an example?
I would guess: mood Hair, extragavant eyes, etc...they are beneficial because they really do not have much of
a mechanical drawback.
And don't forget Mana Static on a Mundane character stripped down to less than one essence.
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^what both of them said. Mood hair isnt such a bad option for a face, especially if you an pass it off as fiber optic hair. A couple of the other appearance alterations can be used this way, passed off as cosmetic augmentation (which implies money). Neoteny is also good, since it would be very unsettling to anyone you negotiate with, or used to lure them into a false sense of security.
I'm wary of Mana Static, but by some interpretations it helps more than it hurts.
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I went ahead and built it as a Dryad. I was building it as a SURGE infected Elf, and taking both Glamour and Symbiosis with further points, so a Dryad was the right way to go.
Should I be buying my skills in sets, or individually? UmaroVI's archetype for the paranomral investigator didn't purchase his spell casting outside of the skill set, so I'm starting to get nervous that I shouldn't be looking at the full group.
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That depends on the skill set. Influence, yes. Sorcery...generally no. Ritual spellcasting isn't worthless, but IMO it isn't worth losing 6 spellcasting for and you don't need to be great at it; you can pick up 1 level with karma later on if you find you need it. Conjuring, never, Banishing is useless.
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That depends on the skill set. Influence, yes. Sorcery...generally no. Ritual spellcasting isn't worthless, but IMO it isn't worth losing 6 spellcasting for and you don't need to be great at it; you can pick up 1 level with karma later on if you find you need it. Conjuring, never, Banishing is useless.
For flavor reasons, I'd decided to take Incompetent: Conjuring. I liked the idea of not being able to summon spirits worth a damn.
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That depends on the skill set. Influence, yes. Sorcery...generally no. Ritual spellcasting isn't worthless, but IMO it isn't worth losing 6 spellcasting for and you don't need to be great at it; you can pick up 1 level with karma later on if you find you need it. Conjuring, never, Banishing is useless.
For flavor reasons, I'd decided to take Incompetent: Conjuring. I liked the idea of not being able to summon spirits worth a damn.
That severely limits you as a mage, but sounds interesting. If you have the Street Magic book, you may want to swap Incompetent for Aspected Magician.
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Conjuring is a skill group; that would actually be 3 incompetences (summoning/binding/banishing). Which is severely limiting, yes, because Summoning alone is really good.
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Why exactly is Banishing useless? Playing an anti-magic investigator and was thinking about investing in it heavily
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It's an entire skill just for getting rid of spirits that is worse at it than Stunbolt, and also causes dangerously unpredictable drain.
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It's an entire skill just for getting rid of spirits that is worse at it than Stunbolt, and also causes dangerously unpredictable drain.
This, combined with your suggestion that I not buy the whole group for spellcasting, was a god-send.
I'm currently using Chummer to create my characters. Is there a better option?
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Of the character creators, some people like HeroLab more but I think Chummer is still more popular.
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I'm currently using Chummer to create my characters. Is there a better option?
If you are willing to pay a little bit: Hero Lab. It is actively developed, patched regularly, and is the officially licensed
product.
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I'm currently using Chummer to create my characters. Is there a better option?
If you are willing to pay a little bit: Hero Lab. It is actively developed, patched regularly, and is the officially licensed
product.
A little? It's getting close to 100 dollars to get everything just for SR for it.
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I'm currently using Chummer to create my characters. Is there a better option?
If you are willing to pay a little bit: Hero Lab. It is actively developed, patched regularly, and is the officially licensed
product.
A little? It's getting close to 100 dollars to get everything just for SR for it.
True, but it can be spread out, too...Frankly, I think I have paid more for the books, and I am not a computer programmer, so
I do not want to try messing with something like chummer that, since it is free, is going to be un-supported eventually as the
guy volunteering to do it gets a job/girlfriend/family/tires of Shadowrun
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Of the character creators, some people like HeroLab more but I think Chummer is still more popular.
The main problem with HeroLab is that they're still missing certain key things, like "War!" and Attitude that have a few pieces of gear that are either "key" for certain builds, or just highly nifty.
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I'm currently using Chummer to create my characters. Is there a better option?
If you are willing to pay a little bit: Hero Lab. It is actively developed, patched regularly, and is the officially licensed
product.
A little? It's getting close to 100 dollars to get everything just for SR for it.
True, but it can be spread out, too...Frankly, I think I have paid more for the books, and I am not a computer programmer, so
I do not want to try messing with something like chummer that, since it is free, is going to be un-supported eventually as the
guy volunteering to do it gets a job/girlfriend/family/tires of Shadowrun
I guess I just find the cost to be more than a bit ridiculous, considering that it almost comes to buying most of the books twice. If it were 40 bucks TOTAL for the program with ALL of the information for any one particular game system, then I would consider it.
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This is what I ended up with. Critique?
== Info ==
Street Name: Laufey
Name: Unnamed Character
Movement: 10/25, Swim: 6
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 1
Public Awareness: 0
Elf (Dryad)
Composure: 11
Judge Intentions: 10
Lift/Carry: 3 (15 kg/10 kg)
Memory: 7
Nuyen: 0
== Attributes ==
BOD: 2
AGI: 2
REA: 3
STR: 1
CHA: 7
INT: 3
LOG: 3
WIL: 4
EDG: 2
MAG: 5
== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 6
Initiative: 6
IP: 1
Astral Initiative: 6
Astral IP: 3
Matrix Initiative: 7
Matrix IP: 1
Physical Damage Track: 9
Stun Damage Track: 10
== Active Skills ==
Animal Handling : 0 Pool: 2
Animal Training : 0 Pool: 2
Archery : 0 Pool: 1
Armorer : 0 Pool: 2
Artisan : 0 Pool: 2
Assensing : 4 Pool: 7
Astral Combat : 1 Pool: 5
Automatics : 0 Pool: 1
Blades : 0 Pool: 1
Clubs : 0 Pool: 1
Computer : 1 Pool: 4
Con : 4 Pool: 14
Counterspelling : 4 Pool: 9
Cybercombat : 0 Pool: 2
Data Search : 1 Pool: 4
Demolitions : 0 Pool: 2
Disguise : 1 Pool: 4
Diving : 0 Pool: 1
Dodge : 0 Pool: 2
Enchanting : 1 Pool: 6
Escape Artist : 0 Pool: 1
Etiquette : 4 Pool: 14
First Aid : 0 Pool: 2
Forgery : 1 Pool: 3
Gunnery : 0 Pool: 1
Gymnastics : 0 Pool: 1
Hacking : 0 Pool: 2
Heavy Weapons : 0 Pool: 1
Infiltration : 4 Pool: 6
Instruction : 0 Pool: 6
Intimidation : 0 Pool: 6
Leadership : 4 Pool: 14
Locksmith : 0 Pool: 1
Longarms : 0 Pool: 1
Navigation : 0 Pool: 2
Negotiation : 4 Pool: 14
Palming : 5 Pool: 7
Parachuting : 0 Pool: 1
Perception : 0 Pool: 2
Pilot Ground Craft : 0 Pool: 2
Pilot Watercraft : 0 Pool: 2
Pistols : 1 Pool: 3
Riding : 0 Pool: 2
Ritual Spellcasting : 3 Pool: 8
Shadowing : 0 Pool: 2
Spellcasting : 5 Pool: 10
Survival : 0 Pool: 3
Throwing Weapons : 0 Pool: 1
Tracking : 0 Pool: 2
Unarmed Combat : 0 Pool: 1
== Knowledge Skills ==
== Qualities ==
Allergy (Common, Mild) (Bright Light)
Distinctive Style
Glamour
Incompetent (Summoning)
Low-Light Vision
Magician
Nocturnal
Striking Skin Pigmentation
Symbiosis
Unusual Hair
Vomeronasal Organ
== Spells ==
(Tradition: Norse, Resist Drain with WIL + CHA (11))
Alter Memory DV: (F÷2)+2
Astral Clairvoyance DV: (F÷2)-1
Bugs DV: (F÷2)
Catalog DV: (F÷2)+2
Clairvoyance DV: (F÷2)-1
Detect Enemies DV: (F÷2)+1
Detect Life, Extended DV: (F÷2)+2
Detect Magic, Extended Area DV: (F÷2)+2
Heal DV: (Damage Value)-2
Mask DV: (F÷2)
== Lifestyles ==
High 1 months
== Armor ==
Form-Fitting Full-Body Suit6/2
== Weapons ==
Krime Stopper
+Custom Look Rating 2
+Firing Selection Change, Small Mod (SA)
+Metahuman Customization
+Personalized Grip
DV: 7P AP: -1 RC: 1
Unarmed Attack
DV: 1S AP: - RC: 0
== Commlink ==
Fairlight Caliban (4, 6, 6, 5)
Novatech Airware (3, 2, 1, 3)
+Disposable Commlink OS
== Gear ==
DocWagon Contract: Basic
Fake License (Masking Focus) Rating 4
Fake License (Lockpick Set) Rating 4
Fake SIN (Fake ID) Rating 4
Fake SIN (Fake ID) Rating 4
Lockpick Set
Magical Lodge Materials Rating 6
Maglock Sequencer Rating 4
Masking Focus Rating 4
RFID Sensor
Standard Passkey x10
Standard Passkey System
Stealth Tags x20
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Body 2 is really low and that is asking for it.
There's no reason not to have Willpower softcapped on a Magician.
You don't really need a 3 logic and can live with 2 a lot more easily than you can live with 2 body or 4 willpower.
You can probably lose a point of reaction if you really need to, although it's not useless.
I would lose the point of computer. There's not really a middle ground between "useless on the matrix" and "hacker" and you are firmly in the former territory. If you want to have a little bit of matrix usefulness, an agent setup is much more valuable and costs less (see the "Paranormal Investigator" first link in my sig for an example of a simple agent setup).
I don't think you are nearly good enough at Forgery to justify the 4 bp. You aren't good enough to forge anything and its a seriously niche skill. A contact who is actually able to forge stuff is a better buy if you really want that.
Why do you have Palming 5? That is a huge amount of BP for something that is not really helpful.
Why don't you have Spellcasting 6?
I would probably just have 1 ritual spellcasting. The main use of it is tracking, which doesn't really require you be awesome at it as compared to have it.
You are not actually good enough with pistols to do anything besides shoot yourself in the foot. I'd reconsider that 4 bp.
Nocturnal is an enormously terrible negative quality. It is not just the opposite of being diurnal like normal people and especially on a mage, -1 to all your mental stats during the day is horribly punishing.
You should really have a mentor spirit. They are more than worth the 5 bp.
Just so you understand, Incompetent (summoning) is really, really suboptimal. Even 1 point of summoning is hugely useful.
Bugs is a kind of silly spell and you should really just know Stunbolt.
Catalog is just way too specific to be worth a spell slot.
Detect Magic is like Assensing, but less useful and you already have Assensing.
If you're going to know Detect Enemies, it should probably be Extended.
Mask is a useless spell because technological sensors are so common. Physical Mask is very useful, though.
If you are looking for good spells: Mind Probe, Control Thoughts/Mob Mind, Levitate, and Trid Phantasm are all good choices that fit your theme. If you care even slightly about fighting you should know Increase Reflexes.
FFBA is good, but you don't just wear it! The point is that it stacks with other things. Your armor for encumbrance should always be adding up to twice your body exactly. Use FFBA + one normal armor piece + SecureTech PPP Systems to get it to add up.
I wouldn't have a masking focus that you can't use because you don't have masking.
It is well worth the points to get Restricted Gear and a f4 power focus at chargen, because it's very efficient boosting to all your abilities and the way the bonding costs work makes it much more so at chargen rather than getting it later.
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ok, I made all of the adjustments you suggested... do you have any suggestions for which mentor spirit?
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There's a bunch of good ones:
Dragonslayer (but be really careful about that drawback! I'd also talk to your GM about what constitutes a "promise." I'm not a big fan because it basically makes you have to lawyer your way around to avoid breaking promises, but if your GM is willing to not be a dick about it, DS is fine). [Freyr]
Moon Maiden [Mani]
Raven [Huginn and Muninn]
Seductress [Freyja]
Thunderbird [Thor]
Trickster [Loki]
Adversary (Counterspelling version) [Surtr]
Dragon [Jormungandr]
Sky Father [Odin]
Spider [The Norns]
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I can't thank you enough for your help, everyone.