Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Strungest on <09-12-12/1245:04>
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I am joining a shadowrun game if a few days and this is my first character. I dont have the best grasp of the rules yet, so the group suggested I play the "muscle" because it isn't that complicated. I have extensive experence with 3.5 CharOp, but I just started reading the shadowrun rulebook three days ago.
Goals: Non-obvious , No 4xcyber lims trolls dual wielding HMGs. High potental for upgrades/improvement. High lethality, and solid non-lethal options. Ranged combat is prefered. Optimization is emphasized, roleplay is secondary as I am learning the rules.
I have almost no idea what I am doing, so any advice will be accepted. I really need help on equipment, as the number of options is mind-blowing. I have just under 90 BP left, so there is much room to manuver. Nothing is sacred, so anything can be changed.
== Info ==
Street Name:
Name: Unnamed Character
Movement: 10/25, Swim: 5
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Ork
Composure: 5
Judge Intentions: 6
Lift/Carry: 11 (45 kg/30 kg)
Memory: 6
Nuyen: 0
== Attributes ==
BOD: 8
AGI: 5
REA: 5 (7)
STR: 3
CHA: 2
INT: 4
LOG: 3
WIL: 3
EDG: 1
MAG: 0
== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 3
Initiative: 9 (11)
IP: 1 (3)
Astral Initiative: 8
Astral IP: 3
Matrix Initiative: 4
Matrix IP: 1
Physical Damage Track: 12
Stun Damage Track: 10
== Active Skills ==
Animal Handling : 0 Pool: 3
Animal Training : 0 Pool: 3
Archery : 0 Pool: 4
Armorer : 0 Pool: 2
Artisan : 0 Pool: 3
Automatics : 6 Pool: 11
Blades : 0 Pool: 4
Climbing : 0 Pool: 2
Clubs : 0 Pool: 4
Computer : 0 Pool: 2
Con : 0 Pool: 1
Cybercombat : 0 Pool: 2
Data Search : 0 Pool: 2
Demolitions : 0 Pool: 2
Disguise : 0 Pool: 3
Diving : 0 Pool: 7
Dodge : 4 Pool: 11
Escape Artist : 0 Pool: 4
Etiquette : 1 Pool: 3
First Aid : 0 Pool: 2
Flight : 0 Pool: 2
Forgery : 0 Pool: 4
Gunnery : 0 Pool: 4
Gymnastics : 0 Pool: 4
Hacking : 0 Pool: 2
Heavy Weapons : 0 Pool: 4
Infiltration : 4 Pool: 9
Instruction : 0 Pool: 1
Intimidation : 1 Pool: 3
Leadership : 0 Pool: 1
Locksmith : 0 Pool: 4
Longarms : 0 Pool: 4
Navigation : 0 Pool: 3
Negotiation : 0 Pool: 1
Palming : 0 Pool: 4
Parachuting : 0 Pool: 7
Perception : 4 Pool: 8
Pilot Ground Craft : 0 Pool: 6
Pilot Watercraft : 0 Pool: 6
Pistols : 1 Pool: 6
Riding : 0 Pool: 6
Running : 0 Pool: 2
Shadowing : 0 Pool: 3
Survival : 0 Pool: 2
Swimming : 0 Pool: 2
Throwing Weapons : 0 Pool: 4
Tracking : 0 Pool: 3
Unarmed Combat : 4 Pool: 9
== Knowledge Skills ==
== Qualities ==
Erased (24 Hours)
In Debt (30,000¥)
Low-Light Vision
Pacifist (Minor)
== Lifestyles ==
Middle 1 months
== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Wired Reflexes Rating 2
== Armor ==
Armor Jacket 8/6
Form-Fitting Full-Body Suit6/2
SecureTech PPP Armor (Ensemble with Helmet)2/6
== Weapons ==
AVC-7.62
DV: 7P AP: -1 RC: 1
Beretta 97
DV: 5P AP: - RC: 0
Unarmed Attack
DV: 2S AP: - RC: 0
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Hey there Strungest, do you have an idea of what weapon types you want to use?
First, stats: You may attract your GM's ire by having a Logic of 1. 2-3 means "average" so you can get away with that. I'd reduce Charisma to 2 and bump Logic to 2. Also, you may want to remove the points for the Social Group and just put some in Ettiquette or perhaps Intimidation. No one expects the Street Sam to be diplomatic, just slightly well-behaved.
Second, the skills: Infiltration and Perception are usually required for just about any character. You need to be sneaky sometimes, and you need to be aware of things. Focus on one weapons skill and set that thing to 6. Pistols, Longarms, Automatics, or even Heavy Weapons.
Third, the 'ware: Aluminum lacing and wired reflexes aren't "visible" but any metal detector should light up your bone lacing. I'd consider removing that, since you have a Body of 8.
And wait, what? He's an Adept? Okay, remove the Cyberware totally for now. Adepts use Magic, which is lowered by 'ware. It can also be used to provide some of the same benefits of 'ware. You can combine both, but it requires some finesse.
Do you want to be an Adept Street Sam, a 'Wared Street Sam, or a mix of both?
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Welcome to the craziness that is 4th edition. I've got a couple things to tack on here.
1. Drop the specializations with skills. It's cheaper in the long run to do it with Karma, because you can take the 2 BP and use it one something else now.
2. You have...tons of skills. And you aren't very good at most of them. Is he a street sam, a face, a B&E specialist...what is he?
I calculated what you are spending on skills, and I've got you at 60 for skill groups and 70 for skills, for a total of 130 spread out as:
Groups
Athletics 2
Electronics 1
Influence 1
Outdoors 1
Stealth 1
Skills
Automatics 6 (Battle Rifles)
Blades 1
Clubs 1
Perception 1
Pistols 4
Unarmed Combat 4
Again, lots of skills, and you aren't very good at any of them. You should focus on one or two areas and load those up instead of trying to get everything. Being mediocre at a lot of skills will get you to accomplish almost nothing once you start playing.
For starters, drop Electronics altogether (Computer, Data Search, Hardware, Software). This skill group is linked to LOG, and your LOG is 1. Not to mention that you aren't a hacker, so there is really no point in trying to do this stuff on your own. You'll save yourself 10 BP right here.
You are spending 42 BP on Automatics (specialized) and Pistols, but for 40 BP you could take the entire Firearms skill group at 4. This would give you Automatics, Longarms, and Pistols all at 4 and you've still got 2 more BP to play with.
On a similar thread, you are spending 24 BP for Blades 1, Clubs 1, and Unarmed 4. While these skills are good, it's best (in my opinion) to pick one and go with it. You never want to get into a gun fight armed only with your fists. Shadowrunners are fragile, and most fights are going to involve weapons. If you really need these, take the Close Combat group at 2 and save yourself 2 BP in the process.
At this point, if you take my advice (which you don't have to - it's merely a suggestion), you are at 134 total BP spent on skills. Yes, that is 4 more than I stated you were at currently. But you still need to decide what type of Street Samurai you want to be. You've got 10 BP tied up in Influence, 10 in Outdoors, and 10 in Stealth. If you drop all 3 of these groups, that puts you at 104, or 26 less than you started with. I suggest to pick one of these and drop all 30 BP in that one area. This will make you effective at not only weapons (per Firearms and Close Combat), but also skilled in one specific area. And your INT, CHA, and WIL scores are all 3, so any of these is good.
Just my 2 cents.
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The Firearms group is one to consider carefully, since Longarms' usefulness is limited to sniper rifles and sport rifles.
Shotguns in SR4 suffer the following drawbacks:
1) Hard or impossible to conceal. The shortbarrel Defiance T-250 from Arsenal is an exception, being in the same category as a heavy pistol.
2) Can't accept Gasvent modifications. The Auto-Assault 16 (also from Arsenal) includes a built-in Gas vent 2 modification - this makes it the best shotgun worthy of your consideration. Other shotguns in Shadowrun should be considered purely on a basis of flavor.
3) Uncompensated recoil from shotguns shooting in burst fire mode (BF/FA) is doubled.
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The Firearms group is one to consider carefully, since Longarms' usefulness is limited to sniper rifles and sport rifles.
Shotguns in SR4 suffer the following drawbacks:
1) Hard or impossible to conceal. The shortbarrel Defiance T-250 from Arsenal is an exception, being in the same category as a heavy pistol.
2) Can't accept Gasvent modifications. The Auto-Assault 16 (also from Arsenal) includes a built-in Gas vent 2 modification - this makes it the best shotgun worthy of your consideration. Other shotguns in Shadowrun should be considered purely on a basis of flavor.
3) Uncompensated recoil from shotguns shooting in burst fire mode (BF/FA) is doubled.
You can't forget that if the fecal matter hits the rotating blades and security is locked down tight, that shotgun filled with Shock Lock rounds can be a serious boon in getting your hoop out of there.
Welcome to the craziness that is 4th edition. I've got a couple things to tack on here.
1. Drop the specializations with skills. It's cheaper in the long run to do it with Karma, because you can take the 2 BP and use it one something else now.
2. You have...tons of skills. And you aren't very good at most of them. Is he a street sam, a face, a B&E specialist...what is he?
I calculated what you are spending on skills, and I've got you at 60 for skill groups and 70 for skills, for a total of 130 spread out as:
Groups
Athletics 2
Electronics 1
Influence 1
Outdoors 1
Stealth 1
Skills
Automatics 6 (Battle Rifles)
Blades 1
Clubs 1
Perception 1
Pistols 4
Unarmed Combat 4
Again, lots of skills, and you aren't very good at any of them. You should focus on one or two areas and load those up instead of trying to get everything. Being mediocre at a lot of skills will get you to accomplish almost nothing once you start playing.
For starters, drop Electronics altogether (Computer, Data Search, Hardware, Software). This skill group is linked to LOG, and your LOG is 1. Not to mention that you aren't a hacker, so there is really no point in trying to do this stuff on your own. You'll save yourself 10 BP right here.
You are spending 42 BP on Automatics (specialized) and Pistols, but for 40 BP you could take the entire Firearms skill group at 4. This would give you Automatics, Longarms, and Pistols all at 4 and you've still got 2 more BP to play with.
On a similar thread, you are spending 24 BP for Blades 1, Clubs 1, and Unarmed 4. While these skills are good, it's best (in my opinion) to pick one and go with it. You never want to get into a gun fight armed only with your fists. Shadowrunners are fragile, and most fights are going to involve weapons. If you really need these, take the Close Combat group at 2 and save yourself 2 BP in the process.
At this point, if you take my advice (which you don't have to - it's merely a suggestion), you are at 134 total BP spent on skills. Yes, that is 4 more than I stated you were at currently. But you still need to decide what type of Street Samurai you want to be. You've got 10 BP tied up in Influence, 10 in Outdoors, and 10 in Stealth. If you drop all 3 of these groups, that puts you at 104, or 26 less than you started with. I suggest to pick one of these and drop all 30 BP in that one area. This will make you effective at not only weapons (per Firearms and Close Combat), but also skilled in one specific area. And your INT, CHA, and WIL scores are all 3, so any of these is good.
Just my 2 cents.
On specializations in creation, I think too many people advise against them, as when you actually think about it, they make sense to take since you're likely to take the specialization that fits your primary weapon that uses the skill in question, and when using that weapon you essentially get +2 dice for 2 BP rather than +1 die for 4 BP--sounds like a good value to me. On top of that, if the skill is at 6, a specialization or the Aptitude quality is your only option for improving the actual skill with the weapon--specialization being a much better deal, IMO.
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The whole idea is that the cost of getting or upgrading new skills is equal with BP at rating 4 and cheaper for rating 5 and 6 then it would be with karma as 1 BP equals 2 karma. Its the same idea with getting - availability items at the start of play every BP is precious so save them wherever you can.
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Yeah, their point with specs wasn't that you shouldn't take them (As for the BP for spec-ing versus the BP for raising is favorible) but more that you should immediately take them with karma. They cost the same in karma (2), but raising skills with karma is DRASTICALLY more expensive than with bp. So you should always raise with BP, spec with karma.
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I have updated the original post with my new build.
Hey there Strungest, do you have an idea of what weapon types you want to use?
First, stats: You may attract your GM's ire by having a Logic of 1. 2-3 means "average" so you can get away with that. I'd reduce Charisma to 2 and bump Logic to 2. Also, you may want to remove the points for the Social Group and just put some in Ettiquette or perhaps Intimidation. No one expects the Street Sam to be diplomatic, just slightly well-behaved.
Second, the skills: Infiltration and Perception are usually required for just about any character. You need to be sneaky sometimes, and you need to be aware of things. Focus on one weapons skill and set that thing to 6. Pistols, Longarms, Automatics, or even Heavy Weapons.
Third, the 'ware: Aluminum lacing and wired reflexes aren't "visible" but any metal detector should light up your bone lacing. I'd consider removing that, since you have a Body of 8.
And wait, what? He's an Adept? Okay, remove the Cyberware totally for now. Adepts use Magic, which is lowered by 'ware. It can also be used to provide some of the same benefits of 'ware. You can combine both, but it requires some finesse.
Do you want to be an Adept Street Sam, a 'Wared Street Sam, or a mix of both?
AFAIK, an adept can do some of the things that cyberware/bioware can do, but you cant mix them. I really have no idea/preference if he should go for cyberware or the adept route. The 3+ initiative passes is important, but how he gets them is not. I shuffled the stats a bit, taking some out of strength due to probably not using it much. He is now slightly less retarded. I focused on Automatics, with 1 point in pistols as I think I will use one sometimes.
I have re-done the skills almost completely, grabbing what I think I understand as the "bare minimum". I think I will focus on stripping down extraneous items that aren't necessary, and once I have the "street sam" distilled to its base form, I can mix in some other things. I found http://jackpointers.blogspot.com/ , which has some interesting math with the shadowrun weapons. He does some funky assumptions about removing mods, but besides that it looks like a good resource. I am thinking something small, silent, concealable and non-lethal for use when discreetness is required, and the something else that excels for "normal" combat. Any suggestions on a light/heavy/holdout/machine pistol and some kind of rifle that meet those requirements? modification/acessory suggestions are needed as well.
I also have no idea on this cyber thing. I have figured out that I can replace my goggles/earbuds with actual artificial eyes/ears. Should I? Also, wired reflexes(or an equivalent) is a must, but besides that I have almost no idea what would be good to use.
There is also a "martial art" tab, any recommendations? I also probably just need a list of "basic" items to take, like fake SINs and ammo and whatnot.
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AFAIK, an adept can do some of the things that cyberware/bioware can do, but you cant mix them. I really have no idea/preference if he should go for cyberware or the adept route.
You <i>can</i> put cyberware/bioware on your adept, but the first problem is that the reduction in Essence also reduces your Magic attribute... and therefore the number of powers you can have. So for instance if you put 2 points of Essence worth of cyberware on your adept, and put 40 BP into your magic attribute, you only get Magic 3, and 3 points of power instead of 5. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, this is not a good idea (if you do know exactly what you are doing, and which powers and cyberware to combine, it can be extremely powerful, but you are not there yet).
Also, some cyberware/bioware enhancements are not compatible with some adept powers, most notably anything that gets you extra IP
My advice: stay with the cyber for now
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Cyberware and Bioware can be used by any Magic-using character. There's a reduction in Essence and the Magic stat, which starts out at 1 when you choose the Adept quality and must be raised. So if you're an Adept and install any 'ware your Magic goes from 1 to 0 and you're no longer an Adept. So you have to raise that Magic stat. Any loss in Essence is added up then rounded up to the nearest whole number (so 0.1 is rounded to 1.0) and that's how much Magic you lose.
It gets complicated so it might be best to go with 'ware to start off with.
You may want to consider the Pacifist negative quality. It's rather odd for a Street Sam to be one.
Bioware uses less Essence though is costlier. Look at Muscle Toner 2, gives you a nice +2 to your Agility (did you have this before?) and is pretty cheap for what it does.
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Bioware uses less Essence though is costlier. Look at Muscle Toner 2, gives you a nice +2 to your Agility (did you have this before?) and is pretty cheap for what it does.
I did have it before, but I have removed all of the "im not sure about this 90+%" things so that suggestions are easier to give. Are muscle toner/entrancement a recommended buy?
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Yeah, Muscle Toner and Augmentation are good buys. Usually, you put your Agility and/or Strength at an odd number then those two at rating 2.
Another thing you could do is use the Restricted Gear quality and take Muscle Toner at Rating 4 (since going to 4 increases the availability to 20R).
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its worth it to get 2 items of restricted gear and grab second hand muscle toner and second hand suprathyroid gland. Also the best ammo you can get is Ex-explosive and its always good to have a few stick-n-shock rounds if you need to not kill someone.
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its worth it to get 2 items of restricted gear and grab second hand muscle toner and second hand suprathyroid gland. Also the best ammo you can get is Ex-explosive and its always good to have a few stick-n-shock rounds if you need to not kill someone.
Not really, no.
Suprathyroid, maybe, but you're better off getting 2nd-Hand Muscle Replacement 2 cyberware at CGen and upgrading to Muscle Toner 4 later. It's just not worth the Quality Points for Restricted Gear, given the in-game price tags.
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How much sense does it make to make the character with the karma gen system?
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How much sense does it make to make the character with the karma gen system?
Karmagen encourages you being "good" at a lot of things, rather than "great" at a few things, thanks to the different way prices work.
Also, you need to figure out whether you're using the new, errata'd "German" karmagen system from the latest printing, or the older system. And, if you're using the "German" system, are you using it at 750, as printed, or the post-printing errata that changes it to 1000 karma?
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How much sense does it make to make the character with the karma gen system?
Karmagen encourages you being "good" at a lot of things, rather than "great" at a few things, thanks to the different way prices work.
Also, you need to figure out whether you're using the new, errata'd "German" karmagen system from the latest printing, or the older system. And, if you're using the "German" system, are you using it at 750, as printed, or the post-printing errata that changes it to 1000 karma?
Ill probably be using the one you guys recommend...
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750 builds character close to 400 BP where as 1000 builds characters closer to 500 BP it really is up to your gm what you will use personally I prefer 400 BP but its just a matter of perference
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How much sense does it make to make the character with the karma gen system?
Well, looking at the most stringent version of karmagen (750 karma, karma cost to buy metatype, Attributes use the x5 multiplier), you have - 20 karma to be an ork, 375 karma on core Attributes, 0 Karma on special Attributes, 140 Karma on skills, and get 50 karma back for your net -25 in qualities. So that's 485 karma so far. Assuming that you spend 100 Karma on resources (the equivalent of 50 Build Points), that leaves 165 karma for contacts and knowledge skills - more than enough, so you are likely to also go back and add to other areas. For your particular character, karmagen would be a good idea. If your GM uses the original karmagen, or the 1,000 karma version, karmagen would be a great idea.
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The GM decides what character creation method will be used in their campaign. If you don't have a GM yet and are just making characters for practice, then I suggest just using the Build Point method. It's the standard, and it's also simpler. You can convert it later if you wind up with a GM who's using KarmaGen.
If you're making a street samurai, then you're probably going to need a lot of nuyen to buy augmentations, weapons and armor. Best to assume that you're going to be putting the maximum 50 BP into Resources. If you wind up with cash leftover then you can trade it back for more BP, but I doubt you will.
You should probably put the maximum 200 BP into your Physical and Mental Attributes. You're going to be adding those to pretty much all your rolls, so you want them to be good. While Physical attributes are the main thing, don't neglect your mental stats entirely. Intuition applies to Initiative and Perception, so if you don't have it expect to get caught off guard a lot. Willpower helps you resist magical attempts to mess with your mind and maintain your self control.
You seem to want to play an ork. That's good, both because orks have interesting roleplaying opportunities and because they get some good boosts to physcial attributes for only 20 BP.
As a result, you have about 130 BP left for skills, Contacts and Edge (which doesn't count towards the 200 BP max for attributes). This might go down if you decide to take Positive Qualities, or go up if you decide to take Negative Qualities. You should probably try to get the max 35 BP of extra points if you can find enough Negative Qualities that work for your character concept.
Lets talk augmentations for a moment. I've made a fair number of street sams, so I like to think I'm pretty good at it. The big advantage of street sams is that they're versatile: the bonuses that their cyberware and bioware gives them to their Physical Attributes means that they can do a variety of physical things at least moderately well. Your main limiting factors for how much 'ware you can get are the cost in nuyen and the cost in Essence. Your Essence starts at 6 and can't hit zero or you're a corpse. Waste all your nuyen and you'll have nothing left for all the other gear you'll need. Bioware takes less Essence, but is more expensive. It's a balancing act. Probably about two-thirds of your cash is going to go to 'ware.
You've got Wired Reflexes 2. That's good. As a combatant, you'll want those extra Initiative Passes and that bonus to Reaction for intiative and defense, and the bioware option costs too much for a starting character to get without seriously draining himself. Stick with that. Maybe even add some Reaction Enhancers for extra Reaction if you can afford it. Wired Reflexes is completely internal, so people can't see it, but scanners can. Might not hurt to get a fake license claiming that they're legally obtained.
Cybereyes and cyberears are great. You can load them up with vision mods and audio mods so that you can operate in all sorts of situations, gain bonuses to perception, avoid penalties to attack, you name it. Smartlink is the most crucial. It calculates ballistics and paints a crosshair in your viewpoint so that you know where your gun is aimed. But you'll probably want the full set, or close to it. It's up to you whether they look just like real eyes and ears or are obviously fake, but either way they're legal and not uncommon.
A datajack is cheap, low essence and useful. By plugging your commlink into it (or equipping it with a skinlink), you can control all your equipment through direct neural interface, and issue commands to your gear or communicate with your teammates with just a thought. Datajacks are extremely common, so having one doesn't effect how people treat you.
Muscle Toner and Muscle Augmentation will let you improve your Agility and Strength by a couple points, and thus all the skills that tie to those. Very important. Agility is crucial for combat, but don't neglect Strength: in addition to melee damage, it's also valuable for many Athletics skills, carrying the sheer amount of gear that you'll soon have, and if high enough can even grant a point or two of recoil compensation. As bioware, these are completely undetectable without surgery.
Street sams are tanks, so you're going to want to be able to soak a little more damage. Orthoskin or Dermal Plating will add Armor. The splat book Augmentation adds Dermal Sheath, which is a lot like Dermal Plating. Bone Lacing or Bone Augmentation will add to Body for purposes of resisting damage, which is even better, and also add to unarmed damage. Bone Lacing will probably trigger a metal detector. Dermal Plating or a Dermal Sheath is very obvious.
You'll also want good armor, possibly including one set that's as much as your Body Score will allow, and another that's the best you can wear and still be street legal.
(At this point I have to ask... what books do you have available? I don't want to advise taking a bunch of stuff from splat books if you only have access to the core book.)
I agree that specializations can probably wait. They're much cheaper to get with Karma, and it gives you something to buy early on when you don't have enough yet for any big purchases. Get specializations with BP only if you have a couple left over and nothing else to spend it on.
For weapons, Assault Rifles are a great go-to for a street sam. Power, range and full auto capability without being so big that they're awkward to use. The best Assault Rifle, in my opinion, is the Ares Alpha in the core book. Comes with smartlink, underbarrel greande launcher, and two points of free recoil compensation that stack with everything. Leaves plenty of room for more add-ons.
If you want to go the heavy weapons route, that's also an option. It's largely a matter of personal taste and style. Machine guns, assault cannons, rocket launchers... but most of the good stuff is too high an Availability for a starting character, and none of it has any subtlety. However, it still pays to get at least a couple ranks of Heavy Weapons skill for an assault rifle's underbarrel grenade launcher, or for those rare cases when you need to use the biggest gun possible.
Skill groups cost 2.5 times as much as an individual skill, so if there are at least three skills in the group that you want, then it's worth getting. If it's just one or two skills, then best to just get them individually.
Athletics group is good to have at least a couple ranks of. Being able to run, swim, climb and jump can be very useful for covering ground, and with the good physical stats of a street sam, you can have a pretty good dice pool with even a little bit of the skill.
You might want the Stealth group or you might not. I guess the question to ask yourself is, do you see yourself using Disguise a lot? What about Palming? Because if you just want it to sneak into places and sneak up on people, then all you really need is Infiltration. (Possibly get an Urban specialization later, assuming that you do most of your work in a city. Or some other specialization if your background mostly had you fighting in a particular environment.) If you can afford to buy a stealth suit of some sort (Chameleon Suit or Reuthenium armor mod) that will be a substantial advantage for sneaking around.
You'll want at least one melee skill. You may want to get the whole Close Combat group to suit your character's backstory, but you may find that you can't afford it. Which melee skill you decide to go with is a matter of personal taste. I like Unarmed Combat, because you know you'll always have it available. Other people like Clubs, which in addition to things like batons and staves also covers hitting people with the butt of your gun or picking up a random heavy object. Blades is stylish, can include anything from a bayonet on the end of your rifle to an ancestral sword, and has the options with the most damage, but is also the easiest to find yourself without.
Firearms group at 4 is a beautiful thing. I have to confess, however, that the last street sam I played, despite having the whole group, never once used Longarms. Perhaps that would have changed had the game kept going, since he's just gotten his hands on a seriously powerful sniper rifle. And there is something to say for being able to pick up any gun and use it if you have to. You'll have to decide for yourself based on how desperate for points you are. Automatics is versatile. In addition to the aforementioned assault rifles, there's also battle rifles for longer range (although not if you only have the core book) and machine pistols for concealability. Pistols is great for you everyday carry sidearm, and your concealable hold-out pistol. (You want a heavy pistol for damage and a hold-out for concealability, especially one of the ones that's immune to metal detectors. Light pistols are sadly pointless.) When you eventually specialize Pistols, got for "Semi-Auto", which covers so many of the guns that I kind of can't believe that they made it an option.
There's also a few Technical skills that you might want to consider having at least one rank of so that you can maintain and modify your own equipment, like Armorer and Demolitions. You can use Hardware to override maglocks for B&E, but you might want to leave that to another team member who specializes in that sort of thing if you have one.
I like to have at least one rank in the Influence group, so that I can at least try talking my way through if need be. The team's Face can't always handle it for you. Sometimes it's your contact who needs talking to, and sometimes it's you who has to tell a lie. Although I guess by that logic, you could get by with just Etiquette and Con.
...any of that help?
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Cybereyes and cyberears are great. You can load them up with vision mods and audio mods so that you can operate in all sorts of situations, gain bonuses to perception, avoid penalties to attack, you name it. Smartlink is the most crucial. It calculates ballistics and paints a crosshair in your viewpoint so that you know where your gun is aimed. But you'll probably want the full set, or close to it. It's up to you whether they look just like real eyes and ears or are obviously fake, but either way they're legal and not uncommon.
While I agree with getting auditory and visual enhancements, I disagree with getting cybereyes and cyberears to do so.
Glasses and earbuds are cheaper, and you don't lose essence to get them. Not to mention you can get a couple of spare pairs of each, with all the mods on them that you need, in the event you lose a pair. Implants need to be replaced, and it's not like you've got a spare pair of cybereyes laying around the house. Or maybe you do?
Either way, I recommend the glasses and buds.
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Consider that strenght 6 give you +1 recoil. Dont get a high strength for just that just be aware of it.
I would get more cyberware and bioware. You have chosen to be an augmented fighter so be that.
Reflex Enhancers, Reflex Recorder (Automatics), Muscle Toner, Musle Augmentation, Suprathyroid Gland, Synthacardium and whatever else make you better at what you do.
Also remember to modify your guns and optimize your armor.
Body 8 isnt really better than body 7. And you could lower Logic to 2.
important attrivutes for you are Agility, Body, Reaction and Intuition.
Try to take a look on Umaro's archtypes. The Ronin is a cool fighter.
Rasmus
-
Cybereyes and cyberears are great. You can load them up with vision mods and audio mods so that you can operate in all sorts of situations, gain bonuses to perception, avoid penalties to attack, you name it. Smartlink is the most crucial. It calculates ballistics and paints a crosshair in your viewpoint so that you know where your gun is aimed. But you'll probably want the full set, or close to it. It's up to you whether they look just like real eyes and ears or are obviously fake, but either way they're legal and not uncommon.
While I agree with getting auditory and visual enhancements, I disagree with getting cybereyes and cyberears to do so.
Glasses and earbuds are cheaper, and you don't lose essence to get them. Not to mention you can get a couple of spare pairs of each, with all the mods on them that you need, in the event you lose a pair. Implants need to be replaced, and it's not like you've got a spare pair of cybereyes laying around the house. Or maybe you do?
Either way, I recommend the glasses and buds.
Allow me to explain why I feel differently.
First off, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "implants need to be replaced." Implants don't wear out, to my knowledge. Unless you're swapping them out for superior versions, you're generally not going to replace them. And having them surgically implanted makes them rather hard to lose. Essentially, for somebody to take them from you, they would have to be cutting your head open, in which case you have bigger things to worry about than what they cost to replace.
Second, by that same token, with implants, you always have them. And nobody need know that you have them. Nobody can ask you to check your cybereyes at the door. Nobody can order you at gunpoint to hand them over. They could look like completely ordinary eyes and ears, and then they wouldn't even know to ask. And you will never be in a situation where you don't have them available. You never have to worry about whether you have your glasses on, or a surprise combat causing you to roll out of bed without your contacts in, or that wearing goggles in public would attract too much attention.
Third, the implants can hold far more upgrades, enhancements and modes than the worn stuff. Earbuds, headphones and contacts max out at three Capacity. Glasses go up to 4 and goggles to 6. Cybereyes and cyberears have the options of 4, 8, 12 or 16. I've put together Awakened characters with strictly non-implant eye and ear wear, and I've put together characters with implants, and believe me, the implant ones were able to get a lot more awesome stuff installed.
Fourth, given how much a street sam is already spending on cyberware, the nuyen and essence cost of the eyes and ears isn't much more.
Fifth, the cyber comes with image/sound link and recording unit for free at no capacity cost. the worn stuff does not.
Sixth, some of the enhancements, like the Balance Augmenter and Damper, are only available as implants.
Seventh, since they can communicate with your brain and datajack through DNI, you don't need to use wireless connectivity, meaning either two four less possible vulnerabilities to hacking or four less things that you need to install skinlink on to prevent hacking.
Eighth, the implants and their various enhancements can count as sensor channels for a TacNet.
Ninth, while I can't speak for anyone else's GM, in any game I run, I'm not going to let anyone issue DNI commands to their smartgun unless they've actually got DNI communication with their smartlink.
...that was a bit longer than I meant it to be, but I kept thinking of more reasons. I really do feel that the implants are superior... as they should be. There would be no point in having cyberware if it wasn't any better than the external stuff.
And you could lower Logic to 2.
I don't particularly agree with the need to have a Logic 2 street sam. Just because he's the muscle doesn't mean that he has to be dumb, and Logic 2 is below-average intelligence. There may be technical or knowledge skills that he wants to not suck at, like Demolitons, Armorer, Knowledge: Tactics and Knowledge: Weapons.
-
Allow me to explain why I feel differently.
First off, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "implants need to be replaced." Implants don't wear out, to my knowledge. Unless you're swapping them out for superior versions, you're generally not going to replace them. And having them surgically implanted makes them rather hard to lose. Essentially, for somebody to take them from you, they would have to be cutting your head open, in which case you have bigger things to worry about than what they cost to replace.
And what happens in the event you are in combat and your eye explodes from gunfire? It's cheaper in the long run to replace the glasses than it is to replace the implant. And with your example of swapping them out for superior versions - you don't have to pay for surgery with glasses.
Second, by that same token, with implants, you always have them. And nobody need know that you have them. Nobody can ask you to check your cybereyes at the door. Nobody can order you at gunpoint to hand them over. They could look like completely ordinary eyes and ears, and then they wouldn't even know to ask. And you will never be in a situation where you don't have them available. You never have to worry about whether you have your glasses on, or a surprise combat causing you to roll out of bed without your contacts in, or that wearing goggles in public would attract too much attention.
Highlight is my emphasis.
Glasses won't get you weird looks from bouncers with MAD scanners as you are trying to get through the door. The eyes and ears might. Not to mention that I don't think anyone with a MAD scanner will stop you at the door with glasses, but if your eyes set it off, they may not allow you in on the premise that you have some cyberware.
And if someone is being a dick over you getting in somewhere with glasses, you can always take them off. Eyes/Ears are in your head and can't be removed easily as you pointed out.
Third, the implants can hold far more upgrades, enhancements and modes than the worn stuff. Earbuds, headphones and contacts max out at three Capacity. Glasses go up to 4 and goggles to 6. Cybereyes and cyberears have the options of 4, 8, 12 or 16. I've put together Awakened characters with strictly non-implant eye and ear wear, and I've put together characters with implants, and believe me, the implant ones were able to get a lot more awesome stuff installed.
I've got no argument on this as you are correct, sir.
Fourth, given how much a street sam is already spending on cyberware, the nuyen and essence cost of the eyes and ears isn't much more.
Au contraire, mon frer. Considering how much nuyen the sam is already spending on stuff, wouldn't it make more sense to go the route that saves a few extra bucks? Those extra bucks could be that one grenade that saves the guy's life at some point down the road, you know.
Fifth, the cyber comes with image/sound link and recording unit for free at no capacity cost. the worn stuff does not.
Sixth, some of the enhancements, like the Balance Augmenter and Damper, are only available as implants.
Again, no argument as you are correct.
Seventh, since they can communicate with your brain and datajack through DNI, you don't need to use wireless connectivity, meaning either two four less possible vulnerabilities to hacking or four less things that you need to install skinlink on to prevent hacking.
I respectfully disagree. Smartlink works with the smartgun system in a weapon, which makes it wireless by default (unless I am reading something incorrectly). Which means it can be hacked.
Eighth, the implants and their various enhancements can count as sensor channels for a TacNet.
I've got nothing here as I'm not as familiar with TacNet as I should be.
Ninth, while I can't speak for anyone else's GM, in any game I run, I'm not going to let anyone issue DNI commands to their smartgun unless they've actually got DNI communication with their smartlink.
This goes back to your earlier statement about eyes not being hackable. In YOUR games, they aren't. But as I stated earlier, by default they are wireless as they work with the smartgun system. Without a datajack or trodes, they are hackable.
...that was a bit longer than I meant it to be, but I kept thinking of more reasons. I really do feel that the implants are superior... as they should be. There would be no point in having cyberware if it wasn't any better than the external stuff.
Just because it's cyberware or bioware doesn't automatically mean that it is better. In most cases, yes it is. But not in all cases. I think you and I are just going to have to agree that on this issue, we disagree. :D
-
I don't recall off the top of my head but are there some Vision/Audio Enhancements that are Forbidden? I think the Smartlink just requires a registration... but that could be one thing that'll get you arrested.
Also, I have a weird feeling my GM will let someone hack my eyes. That just creeps me out.
But I like the idea of some implanted stuff. My sams usually have implanted Flare Compensation and Dampers.
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Have to agree with the crow. Cyberears and eyes are to expensive. use your nuyen and essence on things you cant get otherwise.
And dont take the firearms group. You want to be good at shooting people instead of being mediocre at shooting them in different ways. If you want to branch out go Heavy Weapons.
Oh and remember a shock glove for unarmed combat.
Martial arts gives most to melee types but there are a few that are good for a shooter like Firefight and Krav maga.
Rasmus
-
And what happens in the event you are in combat and your eye explodes from gunfire?
Then you're in even more trouble if you didn't have cybereyes, because your flesh and blood eye just exploded. Getting a cloned replacement eye would probably cost more than getting a new cybereye.
Glasses won't get you weird looks from bouncers with MAD scanners as you are trying to get through the door. The eyes and ears might. Not to mention that I don't think anyone with a MAD scanner will stop you at the door with glasses, but if your eyes set it off, they may not allow you in on the premise that you have some cyberware.
Cybereyes and cyberears are legal and common implants. It's unlikely that they're going to refuse anyone access for having them, just like they won't refuse you access for a datajack. Instead, he'll probably be refused entry or arrested for the Wired Reflexes or the Bone Lacing.
I respectfully disagree. Smartlink works with the smartgun system in a weapon, which makes it wireless by default (unless I am reading something incorrectly). Which means it can be hacked.
No, you are correct that the smartlink needs to communicate with the smartgun, so it's always a vulnerability. But if you equip both with skinlink (or the gun and your datajack with skinlink, turn off the wifi on the cybereyes and have it use DNI to talk to the datajack) then you don't have to worry about having them hacked unless they either go through your commlink or touch you. But if you have glasses and earbuds, then you have to do that for all of them, because they're all vulnerabilities just by talking to your commlink so your AR will work.
This goes back to your earlier statement about eyes not being hackable. In YOUR games, they aren't. But as I stated earlier, by default they are wireless as they work with the smartgun system. Without a datajack or trodes, they are hackable.
I think we're misunderstanding each other. I know that the link between the smartlink and the smartgun is hackable (which is why you should use skinlink). I'm talking about the link between your brain and the smartlink that allows you to use mental commands to do things like eject the magazine and change the firing mode. With contacts you wouldn't have a DNI connection to the smartlink to give those commands. (Unless you used trodes to your commlink and had the commlink talk to the smartlink in your contacts.)
I don't recall off the top of my head but are there some Vision/Audio Enhancements that are Forbidden?
The only Forbidden eyeware is the Retinal Duplication, which is too high availability to start with anyway and insanely expensive.
The Smartlink requires a license, but so does the gun to go with it. Also, a smartlink needs a license whether it's implanted or worn. They're both "R" legality.
And if that's an issue, aren't they more likely to find a smartlink in your glasses than in your eyes? I would think that telling that you have cybereyes and telling what you have in your cybereyes are two different things.
All other visual mods and all audio enhancements are legal.
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Implanted eye and ear augmentation is really just a convenience thing that, while a bit more expensive, can--as Narrator has suggested--be more secure than the external versions. It is also quite true that you can fit quite a bit more into rating 3 cyber eyes or cyber ears than you can in the external devices. It's all a matter of preference is all.
As to the suggestion that his rating 2 Wired Reflexes are good to have, in my opinion, this is incorrect. I've never run into any situation where 3 initiative passes was required, and the cost in money and essence to get that third pass just doesn't seem worth it to me. IMO, if you want that extra reaction in character creation, then spend the Restricted Gear and cash for Suprathyroid for the bonus to all physicals (especially since it's the only implant that increases Body directly, and thus increases encumbrance and possibly damage track).
I know there are a lot of people who claim that the Firearms group is a waste, but it really isn't for that many types, as one doesn't really need to have a 6 in a skill right off the bat. In fact, that can pull just as much if not more GM aggro than having a 1 in an attribute.
-
That's quite true. I've been satisfied with 2 IPs and 3 IPs just seems like overkill most of the time. Consider that a Streeet Sam's probably shooting BF with an Automatic, he can easily down 2 targets a phase. A small team of corpsec/drones can be dealt with in 2 IPs if he has the proper skills, and the rest of the team can shoot.
'Ware does add flavour though, even if it's not optimal. If you're considering any further cyberware, and want a cyberarm, consider the Gyro. Adds 3 Recoil Compensation, but it's F and metal detectors would go off if you have one.
A popular alternative is going for a "BioSam". Muscle Aug and Toner, Platelet Factories, and a Synaptic Booster can make you pretty deadly even if you're not a Sam. I've seen Faces with that much 'ware. Also, Bone Density Augmentation is harder to detect than strapping on kevlar or ceramics to your skeleton.
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I have taken all of your wonderful suggestions and made many modifications. His cyber/bio is set up so that he can just fit wired reflexes 3 as an upgrade if he ends up using it. 100 round mag+reload/aim/ready as free action+high velocity+0 recoil even with 2x long=so much death. His armor is set up to be the best legal armor that money can buy, any recommendations for mods are appreciated. I also gave him the synth biomod for retarded high gymnastic dodge bonuses. Some assorted drugs for others if they need them are also included. He has a skinlink network going, and uses the non-implanted disposable comlinks for wireless connections. Anything starts looking strange and he just takes it off, killing all outside access. He is nearing completion i think. Anything that I have obviously missed or any other suggestions?
Also: I have no idea how the matrix program/agent/autosoft/autohard/tacknet/whatever thing works. what should I put on my comlink if I never plan to do any of the hacking stuff? I made an educated guess based on some other threads.
== Info ==
Street Name:
Name: Unnamed Character
Movement: 10/25, Swim: 5
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Ork
Composure: 5
Judge Intentions: 7
Lift/Carry: 15 (90 kg/60 kg)
Memory: 5
Nuyen: 0
== Attributes ==
BOD: 8 (9)
AGI: 5 (9)
REA: 5 (8)
STR: 3 (6)
CHA: 2
INT: 5
LOG: 2
WIL: 3
EDG: 1
== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 1.80
Initiative: 10 (13)
IP: 1 (3)
Matrix Initiative: 9
Matrix IP: 1
Physical Damage Track: 13
Stun Damage Track: 10
== Active Skills ==
Animal Handling : 0 Pool: 4
Animal Training : 0 Pool: 4
Archery : 0 Pool: 8
Armorer : 0 Pool: 1
Artisan : 0 Pool: 4
Automatics : 6 Pool: 15
Blades : 0 Pool: 8
Climbing : 0 Pool: 5
Clubs : 0 Pool: 8
Computer : 0 Pool: 1
Con : 0 Pool: 1
Cybercombat : 0 Pool: 1
Data Search : 0 Pool: 1
Demolitions : 0 Pool: 1
Disguise : 0 Pool: 4
Diving : 0 Pool: 8
Dodge : 0 Pool: 7
Escape Artist : 0 Pool: 8
Etiquette : 4 Pool: 6
First Aid : 0 Pool: 1
Flight : 0 Pool: 5
Forgery : 0 Pool: 8
Gunnery : 0 Pool: 8
Gymnastics : 4 Pool: 16
Hacking : 0 Pool: 1
Heavy Weapons : 0 Pool: 8
Infiltration : 4 Pool: 13
Instruction : 0 Pool: 1
Intimidation : 0 Pool: 1
Leadership : 0 Pool: 1
Locksmith : 0 Pool: 8
Longarms : 0 Pool: 8
Navigation : 0 Pool: 4
Negotiation : 0 Pool: 1
Palming : 1 Pool: 10
Parachuting : 0 Pool: 8
Perception : 4 Pool: 9
Pilot Ground Craft : 0 Pool: 7
Pilot Watercraft : 0 Pool: 7
Pistols : 0 Pool: 8
Riding : 0 Pool: 7
Running : 0 Pool: 5
Shadowing : 0 Pool: 4
Survival : 0 Pool: 2
Swimming : 0 Pool: 5
Throwing Weapons : 0 Pool: 8
Tracking : 0 Pool: 4
Unarmed Combat : 4 Pool: 13
== Knowledge Skills ==
== Qualities ==
Amnesia (Past)
Biocompatability (Cyberware)
Erased (1 Week)
In Debt (25,000¥)
Low-Light Vision
Restricted Gear (Rating 2)
== Lifestyles ==
Street 1 months
== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Commlink
+Skinlink
Cyberears Rating 1
+Ear Recording Unit
+Sound Link
+Audio Enhancement Rating 2
+Radar Sensor Rating 4
Cybereyes Basic System Rating 2
+Eye Recording Unit
+Image Link
+Smartlink
+Low-Light Vision
+Vision Enhancement Rating 3
Muscle Augmentation Rating 2
Muscle Toner Rating 4
Suprathyroid Gland
Synthacardium Rating 3
Wired Reflexes Rating 2
== Armor ==
Armor Jacket 8/6
Form-Fitting Full-Body Suit7/3
+Gel Packs
SecureTech PPP Armor (Ensemble with Helmet)2/6
== Weapons ==
AK-97
+Gas-Vent 3 System
+Gyro Stabilization
+Shock Pad
+Smartgun System, External
+Barrel Extension
+Extended Clip, 100 Drum
+High Velocity
+Personalized Grip
+Skinlink
DV: 6P AP: -1 RC: 11
Ruger Thunderbolt w/ Smartgun
+Concealable Holster
+Gas-Vent 3 System
+Barrel Extension
+Extended Clip
+Personalized Grip
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
+Underbarrel Weight
DV: 5P AP: -1 RC: 7
Shock Glove
DV: 5S(e) AP: -half RC: 0
Unarmed Attack
DV: 3S AP: - RC: 0
Yamaha Pulsar
+Concealable Holster
+Extended Clip
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
DV: 6S(e) AP: -half RC: 0
== Martial Arts ==
Krav Maga
+Ready Weapon as Free Action
+Take Aim as Free Action
== Commlink ==
Disposable Commlink (1, 2, 1, 3) x2
+Disposable Commlink OS
Hermes Ikon (4, 4, 3, 3)
+Trodes
+Novatech Navi [Agent 3, ECCM 5, Stealth 5, Suite: Basic+, Tacsoft 2, Tactical Satellite Mapping Software 4, Telematics Infrastructure 5]
== Gear ==
Ammo: APDS (Assault Rifles) x600
Ammo: Gel Rounds (Heavy Pistols) x60
Ammo: Taser Dart (Tasers) x30
Ammo: Tracer (Assault Rifles) x3
Fake License (Wired Reflexes) Rating 3
Fake License (AK-97) Rating 3
Fake License (Ruger Thunderbolt w/ Smartgun) Rating 3
Fake SIN (Michel) Rating 4
Kamikaze
Medkit Rating 6
-
You're going to want Willpower at 3 at least, that's an extra box for stun damage.
-
You might consider swapping that Etiquette and Palming. You're a street sam, so you should be able to get by with less in the Etiquette, while Palming will help you conceal that Thunderbolt (Lone Star Special), which by the way is a Heavy Pistol, not a Machine Pistol--despite being a Burst Fire weapon, and thus it uses Pistols skill rather than Automatics. I suggest you ignore the comment someone made about not using Firearms skill group for this purpose. You could even throw a sport rifle (for long-range sniping) or a shotgun (for breaching doors in an emergency with Shock Lock rounds) into the mix.
There's really no reason for your comm to be implanted either since you're not a hacker, so you might consider replacing that with a datajack that you can plug into the comm--as an external device--to still control it and everything skinlinked to it via DNI with that comm's wireless capability completely shut off.
I still suggest sticking with Wired Reflexes at rating 1 to save money and essence for the reasons I indicated before (that could help with affording that sport rifle and/or shotgun should you take my suggestion from the first paragraph.
Currently, you're losing a point of Agility boost, so you might consider dropping to a 4 base Agility and going to a 4 base Strength. Your final Strength would go to an augmented value of 7 doing this (which should give another point of unarmed damage should you ever be without those Shock Gloves), and you would be getting the full benefit of your Muscle Toner and Suprathyroid together.
Other than that, I think it's a pretty solid build.
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Get a machine pistol instead of the pistol. The firearms group cost 40 BP and that is overpriced.
Stick with Wirred Reflexes 2 (Wirred Reflexes is rather cheap) but I agree you dont want to implant your comlink. I dont really think you should have a datajack as everything just can be skinlinked.
The Agility Strength swap is good advice.
if you want to snipe (and sniping is a niche skill) get a battle rifle (heavy weapons also have some cool sniping options).
Rasmus
-
Ok, what do you think now?
Also: I really need help with this commlink thing. The whole agent/OS/autosoft/program thing is really confusing.
== Info ==
Street Name:
Name: Unnamed Character
Movement: 10/25, Swim: 5
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Ork
Composure: 5
Judge Intentions: 7
Lift/Carry: 13 (60 kg/40 kg)
Memory: 5
Nuyen: 0
== Attributes ==
BOD: 8 (9)
AGI: 4 (9)
REA: 5 (8)
STR: 3 (4)
CHA: 2
INT: 5
LOG: 2
WIL: 3
EDG: 1
== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 1.725
Initiative: 10 (13)
IP: 1 (3)
Matrix Initiative: 9
Matrix IP: 1
Physical Damage Track: 13
Stun Damage Track: 10
== Active Skills ==
Animal Handling : 0 Pool: 4
Animal Training : 0 Pool: 4
Archery : 0 Pool: 8
Armorer : 1 Pool: 3
Artisan : 0 Pool: 4
Automatics : 6 Pool: 15
Blades : 0 Pool: 8
Climbing : 0 Pool: 3
Clubs : 0 Pool: 8
Computer : 0 Pool: 1
Con : 0 Pool: 1
Cybercombat : 0 Pool: 1
Data Search : 0 Pool: 1
Demolitions : 0 Pool: 1
Disguise : 0 Pool: 4
Diving : 0 Pool: 8
Dodge : 0 Pool: 7
Escape Artist : 0 Pool: 8
Etiquette : 1 Pool: 3
First Aid : 0 Pool: 1
Flight : 0 Pool: 3
Forgery : 0 Pool: 8
Gunnery : 0 Pool: 8
Gymnastics : 4 Pool: 16
Hacking : 0 Pool: 1
Heavy Weapons : 0 Pool: 8
Infiltration : 4 Pool: 13
Instruction : 0 Pool: 1
Intimidation : 0 Pool: 1
Leadership : 0 Pool: 1
Locksmith : 0 Pool: 8
Longarms : 0 Pool: 8
Navigation : 0 Pool: 4
Negotiation : 0 Pool: 1
Palming : 2 Pool: 11
Parachuting : 0 Pool: 8
Perception : 4 Pool: 9
Pilot Ground Craft : 0 Pool: 7
Pilot Watercraft : 0 Pool: 7
Pistols : 4 Pool: 13
Riding : 0 Pool: 7
Running : 0 Pool: 3
Shadowing : 0 Pool: 4
Survival : 0 Pool: 2
Swimming : 0 Pool: 3
Throwing Weapons : 0 Pool: 8
Tracking : 0 Pool: 4
Unarmed Combat : 4 Pool: 13
== Knowledge Skills ==
== Qualities ==
Amnesia (Past)
Biocompatability (Cyberware)
Erased (1 Week)
In Debt (25,000¥)
Low-Light Vision
Restricted Gear (Rating 2)
== Lifestyles ==
Street 1 months
== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Cyberears Rating 2
+Ear Recording Unit
+Sound Link
+Audio Enhancement Rating 3
+Radar Sensor Rating 4
+Commlink
Cybereyes Basic System Rating 2
+Eye Recording Unit
+Image Link
+Smartlink
+Low-Light Vision
+Vision Enhancement Rating 3
Muscle Toner Rating 4
Orthoskin Rating 3
Suprathyroid Gland
Synthacardium Rating 3
Wired Reflexes Rating 2
== Armor ==
Armor Jacket 8/6
Form-Fitting Full-Body Suit7/3
+Gel Packs
SecureTech PPP Armor (Ensemble with Helmet)2/6
== Weapons ==
AVC-7.62
+Gas-Vent 3 System
+Gyro Stabilization
+Shock Pad
+Smartgun System, External
+Barrel Extension
+Extended Clip, 100 Drum
+Firing Selection Change, Small Mod (FA)
+High Velocity
+Skinlink
DV: 7P AP: -1 RC: 11
Ruger Thunderbolt w/ Smartgun
+Concealable Holster
+Gas-Vent 3 System
+Barrel Extension
+Extended Clip
+Personalized Grip
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
+Underbarrel Weight
DV: 5P AP: -1 RC: 7
Shock Glove
DV: 5S(e) AP: -half RC: 0
Unarmed Attack
DV: 2S AP: - RC: 0
Yamaha Pulsar
+Concealable Holster
+Extended Clip
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
DV: 6S(e) AP: -half RC: 0
== Martial Arts ==
Krav Maga
+Ready Weapon as Free Action
+Take Aim as Free Action
== Commlink ==
Disposable Commlink (1, 2, 1, 3) x2
+Disposable Commlink OS
Hermes Ikon (4, 4, 3, 3)
+Trodes
+Novatech Navi [Agent 3, ECCM 5, Stealth 5, Suite: Basic+, Tacsoft 2, Tactical Satellite Mapping Software 4, Telematics Infrastructure 5]
Hermes Ikon (4, 0, 0, 3)
== Gear ==
Ammo: APDS (Assault Rifles) x600
Ammo: Gel Rounds (Heavy Pistols) x60
Ammo: Taser Dart (Tasers) x30
Ammo: Tracer (Assault Rifles) x300
Fake License (Wired Reflexes) Rating 3
Fake License (AVC-7.62) Rating 3
Fake License (Ruger Thunderbolt w/ Smartgun) Rating 3
Fake SIN (Michel) Rating 4
Kamikaze
Medkit Rating 6
-
Get a machine pistol instead of the pistol. The firearms group cost 40 BP and that is overpriced.
For getting three skills at 4, no, it isn't overpriced. It is actually 8 points cheaper than buying the skills individually. Buying the Firearms group gives more versatility in that one could pick up any type of firearm other than heavy weapons and use them proficiently.
Stick with Wirred Reflexes 2 (Wirred Reflexes is rather cheap) but I agree you dont want to implant your comlink. I dont really think you should have a datajack as everything just can be skinlinked.
Wired 2 is overkill, as I stated before. That 3rd pass isn't necessary in the majority of cases.
The datajack would be an innocuous implant that few would even blink an eye at that would provide him a constant DNI and thus would render it unnecessary to even have wireless enabled on anything but his "dummy comm" when combined with skinlink.
if you want to snipe (and sniping is a niche skill) get a battle rifle (heavy weapons also have some cool sniping options).
Sure, sniping is niche, but that's why you don't focus entirely in that area. Battle rifles are okay, but they're military hardware, while a good hunting rifle wouldn't draw near as much attention (same applies even more so to the heavy weapon options). Plus, as I said, he could get a shotgun with Shock Lock ammo for "emergency exit" times.
-
Wired 2 is overkill, as I stated before. That 3rd pass isn't necessary in the majority of cases.
I must strongly disagree. Three initiative passes has been the norm for starting characters in every game I've ever played.
Number of actions is one of the most important things, if not the most important, in deciding the outcome of a combat situation.
Cyberears Rating 2
+Ear Recording Unit
+Sound Link
+Audio Enhancement Rating 3
+Radar Sensor Rating 4
+Commlink
Radar Sensor and Commlink are headware, not earware. They can't be installed in ears. Luckily you have plenty of essence left so you can install that radar sensor normally. (And radar sensor is really fantastic: lowest visibility penalty in pretty much every situation, sees through Invisibility and sees through walls.)
As others have said, there's no particular reason to get your commlink implanted. Carrying it plugged into a datajack should be fine.
I would suggest at least getting Flare Compensation for your eyes and a Damper for your ears, so that you can't be flash-blinded or deafened. And they're cheap.
AVC-7.62
+Gas-Vent 3 System
+Gyro Stabilization
+Shock Pad
+Smartgun System, External
+Barrel Extension
+Extended Clip, 100 Drum
+Firing Selection Change, Small Mod (FA)
+High Velocity
+Skinlink
Pretty powerful setup. But I have to ask... you do know that a gyro-stabilization harness takes 5 minutes to put on, right? You'd need prep time to use this rig to its full potential.
As for the commlinks... okay, this will take some explaining.
The commlink hardware has two stats, Signal and Response. Signal is obvious: it's the range you can reach and how much jamming you can cut through. Response it basically the processor power, and it limits the level of the programs running on the link. You want your Response to be as good as you're willing to shell out for, and your Signal to be at least decent.
The commlink OS has two stats: System and Firewall. Firewall is the commlink's defenses. System is how much the OS can handle. System is limited by Response, and is also how many programs the commlink can run at once before it starts to lag. You want your System to be as high as your Response, and your Firewall to be as high as you're willing to pay for.
The individual programs can't run at a higher rating than the Response, and you don't want to run more of them at once than the System, but they add their rating to particular things.
Since you're not a hacker, you really only need the basic stuff to get by (one of the Common Use Program Suites should do) and some defensive stuff. Analyze adds to Firewall to spot hacking attempts. Stealth makes it harder for them to even find your commlink to hack it. Encrypt will keep people from eavesdropping on your communications and if you encrypt your link then they'll have to decrypt it before they can even try to hack you. ECCM lets you cut through jamming. You probably want to buy these at Rating equal to your Response, except with the Hacking programs (Stealth, ECCM) which you might just get at Rating 3, since after that the price jumps up. I noticed that you have an Agent, which is sort of a weak A.I. that you can have do your matrix sutff for you. You can assign it to watch your link for hacking, but if you want to use it to do any hacking for you, then it will need more programs.
TacSoft is very powerful, but it requires all of your teammates (minimum Rating + 2) also running it and having enough sensor channels (minimum Rating x 2) for it to work.
I'm not familiar with the mapping software. Sounds cool, tho.
Battle rifles are okay, but they're military hardware, while a good hunting rifle wouldn't draw near as much attention
It's Restricted, and he has a license for it, so it shouldn't be problem. And honestly, you can't really carry any rifle openly in a city without the cops coming down on you. Hunting rifles are not a normal sight in an urban environment.
(Keep your licenses on the Ruger Thunderbolt up to date, by the way. It's the standard gun of Lone Star, and they get very touchy when they see anyone else, especially a metahuman, carrying it. But then, Lone Star aren't the police in Seattle anymore. Knight Errant is.)
Speaking of pistols, a machine pistol would use your Automatics skill, which is better than your Pistols skill, even if it was slightly weaker in damage. If you decide to, then I recommend the FN 5-7C. Also, consider a hold-out pistol that you could smuggle into places, especially one of the ones with no metallic parts that are immune to metal detectors.
Plus, as I said, he could get a shotgun with Shock Lock ammo for "emergency exit" times.
The variety of things that you can fire out of a shotgun is pretty handy, but there are at least two pistols (Remington Roomsweeper and Eichiro Hatamoto II) that can fire shotgun shells if it comes down to that.
I like the Firearms group and try to get it for my own characters for background reasons, but in this case he's already got a weapon with more range than a sport rifle, and the damage of a shotgun. Unless he's going to grab one of the anti-materiel sniper rifles for cracking hardened targets, Longarms just doesn't offer him that much. Sorry.
-
Wired 2 is overkill, as I stated before. That 3rd pass isn't necessary in the majority of cases.
I must strongly disagree. Three initiative passes has been the norm for starting characters in every game I've ever played.
Number of actions is one of the most important things, if not the most important, in deciding the outcome of a combat situation.
Well, I was speaking from experience as well. I've never had a situation where I've needed more than 2 passes, and it wasn't because of a GM "going easy-mode" or from being extremely broken in build.
Wired 2 is overkill, as I stated before. That 3rd pass isn't necessary in the majority of cases.
I must strongly disagree. Three initiative passes has been the norm for starting characters in every game I've ever played.
Number of actions is one of the most important things, if not the most important, in deciding the outcome of a combat situation.
Battle rifles are okay, but they're military hardware, while a good hunting rifle wouldn't draw near as much attention
It's Restricted, and he has a license for it, so it shouldn't be problem. And honestly, you can't really carry any rifle openly in a city without the cops coming down on you. Hunting rifles are not a normal sight in an urban environment.
I can see this one depending on the GM, but personally I wouldn't be as hard on someone with a sport rifle as I would someone with a battle rifle. To each his own, I guess.
Plus, as I said, he could get a shotgun with Shock Lock ammo for "emergency exit" times.
The variety of things that you can fire out of a shotgun is pretty handy, but there are at least two pistols (Remington Roomsweeper and Eichiro Hatamoto II) that can fire shotgun shells if it comes down to that.
I like the Firearms group and try to get it for my own characters for background reasons, but in this case he's already got a weapon with more range than a sport rifle, and the damage of a shotgun. Unless he's going to grab one of the anti-materiel sniper rifles for cracking hardened targets, Longarms just doesn't offer him that much. Sorry.
There is always the main thing that I was mentioning, the versatility of being able to pick up any gun and use it proficiently. That alone can make it well worth it. I guess I don't just look at things in the way of "mechanically optimized", which IMO is a good thing.
-
Firearms group is 2 dices less than automatics 6 and cost 16 BP more.
Battle rifles ære military gear yes but if you start sniping you do it to murdet-kill and then lone star or KE really doesnt care about what weapon you use. You can load a SMG with stick-and-shock not just a shotgun.
Get thermographic and flare compensation for your eyes. Get dæmper for your ears.
Stick with +2 IP. It is rather cheap and defenitely worth it. It is the fourth IP that is really pricy and not worth it from the start.
Its a fine build. Maybe shift 1 from palning to another skill like heavy weapons.
And I would drop Pistols and the Ruger and just get a easily concealed maschine pistols. You really only need one way to kill people and that is automatics for you ;)
Rasmus
-
Firearms group is 2 dices less than automatics 6 and cost 16 BP more.
Again, versatility, and a maxed out skill right out of character creation can generate as much aggro as a 1 in an attribute depending on the GM.
You can load a SMG with stick-and-shock not just a shotgun.
When did I ever mention Stick-and-Shock? I said Shock Lock, the rounds that are better for breaching doors...
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You can load a SMG with stick-and-shock not just a shotgun.
When did I ever mention Stick-and-Shock? I said Shock Lock, the rounds that are better for breaching doors...
[/quote]
Sorry my bad.
And you are right that a characters power level should depend on the table it is used at.
Rasmus
-
I'm going to go ahead and argue the other side of this one for a moment. I want to present a balanced perspective so that he can make his own reasoned decision. (In fact, in the course of this, I think I actually changed my mind.)
Automatics 6 + Pistols 4 = 40 BP, which is the same as getting Firearms Group 4. And since Strungest seems attached to his Ruger Thunderbolt, has a Taser, and could probably use a holdout pistol to smuggle into places, he's probably not getting rid of Pistols. So the cost is the same either way.
Sure, his Automatics would only be 6 instead of 4, but he'd get a whole other skill at 4 and access to a whole new class of weapons. It's not like his shooting won't still be pretty fantastic, with Agility 9 + Automatics 4 and +2 for a smartlink, with the option to specialize for another +2 after his first run. Later on he might want to get that Barret Model 121 sniper rifle for killing armored vehicles from a mile away. And characters could stand to have a little versatility, instead of being one-trick ponies. Circumstances don't always let you have things in the way most optimal to you. Especially when your primary weapon works best with a gyromount that takes 5 minutes to strap on and has all the subtlety of a raging bull in a minefield.
Speaking of which, I can't really stress enough the need to have silenced/suppressed options and less-lethal options while on runs. If you're just dealing with some street thugs, then it's fine to let loose with the firepower, but if you're being paid to break into a corporate facility, then it pays to keep the body count down. The client generally doesn't want a big bloody mess that will attract a lot of attention and retaliation. So having options to quietly and non-lethally take down guards without alerting the whole facility is a good idea. I see you've got gel rounds and a taser and shock gloves, which is good, but you might want a Sound Suppressor for at least one of your guns, for stunning guys quietly when the alarm hasn't sounded yet.
(Side note on something I just noticed: the bonus from tracer ammo doesn't stack with a smartlink. Might want to trade that for another type.)
I can see this one depending on the GM, but personally I wouldn't be as hard on someone with a sport rifle as I would someone with a battle rifle. To each his own, I guess.
Either way it would be a "keep in the trunk of the car until it's go time" sort of thing, because carrying a rifle on your person in a city is an instant panic-causer for everyone in the area.
Mind you, some of the mods on that battle rifle of his take it way out of the realm of something you'd expect a civilian to own. But you have to expect Shadowrunners to have illegal gear.
(Speaking of, Strungest, you need a vehicle. You can't carry all your gear on the bus with you, there's too much of it. And you need an actual Lifestyle, rather than Street, because right now you're homeless, starving, have no clothes other than your armor, and won't be allowed into anywhere outside the Barrens because you haven't bathed in a month.)
-
There is no doubt that gearing up in my "legal" full armor outfit, complete with helmet, and carrying around an BR with a 100 round drum magazine will cause disturbance. whenever he doesn't plan for combat, a Machine pistol and less armor will be carried. I think I will go with the automatics+pistols+1 point in heavy weapons. Any recommendations on a silenced concealable pistol for self defense?
-
Colt Government 2066 fires electronically. Meaning, it's quieter since there's no "action" with the hammer. Build it with a Silencer and you're good.
You already have a taser, take that where you go.
I've found the need for two pistols: one for concealed carry, and another for intimidation purposes. Usually an Ares Predator IV suffices for the latter, or even a Ruger Super Warhawk. Just something you wear openly while walking around bad neighbourhoods in case some idiot doesn't realize how dangerous you are.
If you have chummer, there's a pistol using Ceramic components that was in Gun Heaven 2. Forgot what it's called. Could be useful since you won't be able to get the HK Urban series at chargen.
I used to really modify and customize my pistols, but I've decided on a "disposable" setup for most of them now. Browning Ultra Power is cheap and doesn't require linking with your smartlink. Stuff like that. You can throw it away after a run and not feel bad about it.
-
How concealable do you want it?
The Morrisay Elan is a holdout pistol made entirely of non-metallic composites and polymers, and if loaded with non-metallic Hi-C ammunition it's utterly impossible to detect with metal detectors. That plus the small size should make it hard to spot. Use modification rules to add a smartlink, an integral silencer (holdouts can't take accessories) and something to gain a point of recoil comp (personalized grip?) and you have very stealthy little weapon. Load gel, capsule or (most potent of all) Stick-n-Shock if you want it non-lethal.
(I love the Elan. Almost all my characters have had one as a concealed backup weapon.)
If you want a little more damage, there's a couple heavy pistols that are also non-metallic, but sadly the Availability is too high for a starting character. The HK Urban Fighter also uses hermetically sealed magazines to defeat chemical sensors and bomb-sniffing dogs, while the WW Infiltrator breaks down into smaller parts that appear harmless.
If you're not concerned with beating metal detectors, then all the holdout pistols are easy to conceal, but the Cavalier Scout has the most ammo (at a whopping 7 rounds).
If you want heavy pistol damage, then the Walther Secura Kompakt is a heavy pistol that's smaller and more concealable than the rest and can have a smartlink for +200¥. Any heavy pistol (that's not a revolver) can be equiped with a silencer accessory.
The Ares Predator IV is probably the best "normal" heavy pistol, having the largest magazine (15 rounds) and a smartlink already installed, but it's no more concealable than your Thunderbolt (which is also a great pistol, thanks to its burst fire and inherent recoil comp).
A Concealed Holster improves the Concealability of any pistol, and a Hidden Gun Arm Slide can let you hide one literally up your sleeve.
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You guys are awesome. I think my char is reaching completion. I decided that versatility is never bad, so battle rifle, heavy pistol, shotgun pistol, non-metallic holdout, tazer, and stunglove are the current offensive loadout. This char looks VERY different from my first, all thanks do you dudes. Now I just need to mess around with the bells and whistles.
== Info ==
Street Name:
Name: Unnamed Character
Movement: 10/25, Swim: 5
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Ork
Composure: 5
Judge Intentions: 7
Lift/Carry: 13 (60 kg/40 kg)
Memory: 5
Nuyen: 0
== Attributes ==
BOD: 8 (9)
AGI: 5 (10)
REA: 5 (8)
STR: 3 (4)
CHA: 2
INT: 5
LOG: 2
WIL: 3
EDG: 1
== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 1.185
Initiative: 10 (13)
IP: 1 (3)
Matrix Initiative: 9
Matrix IP: 1
Physical Damage Track: 13
Stun Damage Track: 10
== Active Skills ==
Animal Handling : 0 Pool: 4
Animal Training : 0 Pool: 4
Archery : 0 Pool: 9
Armorer : 1 Pool: 3
Artisan : 0 Pool: 4
Automatics : 7 Pool: 17
Blades : 0 Pool: 9
Climbing : 0 Pool: 3
Clubs : 0 Pool: 9
Computer : 0 Pool: 1
Con : 0 Pool: 1
Cybercombat : 0 Pool: 1
Data Search : 0 Pool: 1
Demolitions : 0 Pool: 1
Disguise : 0 Pool: 4
Diving : 0 Pool: 8
Dodge : 0 Pool: 7
Escape Artist : 0 Pool: 9
Etiquette : 1 Pool: 3
First Aid : 0 Pool: 1
Flight : 0 Pool: 3
Forgery : 0 Pool: 9
Gunnery : 0 Pool: 9
Gymnastics : 4 Pool: 17
Hacking : 0 Pool: 1
Heavy Weapons : 0 Pool: 9
Infiltration : 1 Pool: 11
Instruction : 0 Pool: 1
Intimidation : 0 Pool: 1
Leadership : 0 Pool: 1
Locksmith : 0 Pool: 9
Longarms : 0 Pool: 9
Navigation : 0 Pool: 4
Negotiation : 0 Pool: 1
Palming : 1 Pool: 11
Parachuting : 0 Pool: 8
Perception : 4 Pool: 9
Pilot Ground Craft : 0 Pool: 7
Pilot Watercraft : 0 Pool: 7
Pistols : 4 Pool: 14
Riding : 0 Pool: 7
Running : 0 Pool: 3
Shadowing : 0 Pool: 4
Survival : 0 Pool: 2
Swimming : 0 Pool: 3
Throwing Weapons : 0 Pool: 9
Tracking : 0 Pool: 4
Unarmed Combat : 3 Pool: 13
== Knowledge Skills ==
: 0 Pool: 0
== Qualities ==
Amnesia (Past)
Aptitude (Automatics)
Biocompatability (Cyberware)
In Debt (25,000¥)
Low-Light Vision
Restricted Gear (Rating 2)
== Lifestyles ==
Low 1 months
== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Cyberears Rating 1
+Ear Recording Unit
+Sound Link
+Audio Enhancement Rating 3
+Damper
Cybereyes Basic System Rating 3
+Eye Recording Unit
+Image Link
+Smartlink
+Low-Light Vision
+Vision Enhancement Rating 3
+Flare Compensation
+Thermographic Vision
Datajack
Genetic Optimization (AGI)
Muscle Toner Rating 4
Orthoskin Rating 3
Radar Sensor Rating 4
Skinlink
Suprathyroid Gland
Synthacardium Rating 3
Wired Reflexes Rating 2
== Armor ==
Armor Jacket 8/6
Form-Fitting Full-Body Suit7/3
+Gel Packs
SecureTech PPP Armor (Ensemble with Helmet)2/6
== Weapons ==
AVC-7.62
+Gas-Vent 3 System
+Gyro Stabilization
+Shock Pad
+Smartgun System, External
+Barrel Extension
+Extended Clip, 100 Drum
+Firing Selection Change, Small Mod (FA)
+High Velocity
+Skinlink
DV: 7P AP: -1 RC: 11
Morrissey Élan
+Concealable Holster
+Gas Vent 2
+Personalized Grip
+Silencer
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
DV: 4P AP: - RC: 3
Remington Roomsweeper
+Concealable Holster
+Gas-Vent 3 System
+Smartgun System, External
+Additional Clip, Pistol
+Barrel Extension
+Folding Stock, Powered
+Personalized Grip
+Skinlink
DV: 5P AP: -1 RC: 5
Ruger Thunderbolt w/ Smartgun
+Concealable Holster
+Gas-Vent 3 System
+Extended Clip
+Folding Stock, Powered
+Personalized Grip
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
+Underbarrel Weight
DV: 5P AP: -1 RC: 8
Shock Glove
DV: 5S(e) AP: -half RC: 0
Unarmed Attack
DV: 2S AP: - RC: 0
Yamaha Pulsar
+Concealable Holster
+Extended Clip
+Skinlink
DV: 6S(e) AP: -half RC: 0
== Martial Arts ==
Krav Maga
+Ready Weapon as Free Action
== Commlink ==
Disposable Commlink (1, 2, 1, 3)
+Disposable Commlink OS [Suite: Basic User]
Hermes Ikon (4, 4, 3, 3)
+Novatech Navi [Agent 4, ECCM 4, Encrypt 4, Stealth 4, Suite: Pro User, Tacsoft 2, Tactical Satellite Mapping Software 4, Telematics Infrastructure 4]
== Gear ==
Ammo: APDS (Assault Rifles) x900
Ammo: EX-Explosive Rounds (Heavy Pistols) x60
Ammo: Hi-C Plastic Rounds (Holdouts) x30
Ammo: Shock Lock Rounds (Heavy Pistols) x10
Ammo: Stick-n-Shock (Holdouts) x30
Ammo: Stick-n-Shock (Heavy Pistols) x30
Ammo: Taser Dart (Tasers) x30
Fake License (Wired Reflexes) Rating 3
Fake License (AVC-7.62) Rating 3
Fake License (Morrissey Élan) Rating 3
Fake License (Ruger Thunderbolt w/ Smartgun) Rating 3
Fake License (Remington Roomsweeper) Rating 3
Fake SIN (Michel) Rating 4
Medkit Rating 6
-
Looking better. A few notes, tho:
-The Morrisey Elan doesn't need a Gas Vent. It's Semi-Auto, so it only needs RC 1 to have no recoil penalties. Also, a Gas Vent and a Silencer can't work at the same time. (You can have both with mods, but only one works at any given time.)
-The same for the Remington Roomsweeper. It's SA, so it can only fire twice per Initiative Pass, so it only needs RC 1.
-And the Ruger Thunderbolt is Burst Fire, so it can only fire two three-round bursts in a Pass, for a total of six bullets. It only needs RC 5. Only a weapon with Full Auto needs more recoil comp than that.
-I noticed that you don't have Vision Magnification. You might want to consider it. You can use it to "zoom in" and shoot at longer ranges with no penalty.
-Automatics 7? I'm not sure that's worth it. You have to buy a quality and pay double for the 7th skill rank, so it costs 18 BP in total. Not really cost effective for +1 dice. That's 4 skill ranks, with a couple BP left over that you could use to either use to get specialization for +2 with Battle Rifles, or to pay 10,000 nuyen for a Reflex Recorder for +1 to Automatics.
-You can't actually have an augmented Agility of 10. The maximum augmented attribute is the natural attribute x 1.5 and your maximum natural Agility is 6, so your Augmented Agility can't exceed 9. Either take that Muscle Toner down to 3 or take that natural Agility down to 4 so that your augmented Agility is 9, and use the BP/nuyen to either increase your natural Strength or get Muscle Augmentation. I just noticed that you have Genetic Optimization (Agility). Honestly, I think that might be excessive, but it's your choice. Still, your Strength could stand to be higher. Even if your guy doesn't need Strength for melee damage, he's carrying some pretty heavy equipment, and his Strength is really low for a street sam.
-You can't have APDS at character creation. They have an Availability of 16, and the limit is 12. You used your two instances of Restricted Gear to get the Suprathyroid and Muscle Toner Rating 4 (and 900 rounds is an excessive amount to get from the Restricted Gear quality anyway). Also, they're assault rifle rounds, and you have a battle rifle. Trade them for some other ammo type.
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Good catches. Fixing now. I agree with you on the strength, but I'm at the 200 BP cap, and cant think of a different stat to take points out of. I have enough essence to add muscle aug 2, but that means when I go for wired reflexes 3 I will need alphaware to make it all fit. Worth it? Can you also recommend a vehicle and utility items like the 3.5 equivalent of 10-foot poles and caltrops? I also need to spend 10 quality points and some knowledge skill points.
-
yeah upgrading to wired reflexes 3 usually takes quite a bit of cash but the extra strength will help quite a bit till then.
-
Worth it to get the muscle augmentation, I think. It'll be a long time before you can afford Wired Reflexes 3, and by then you can find another way to free up some Essence.
Regarding vehicles, it depends on what kind you want to go for. If you're going to be transporting your oversized rifle and gyromount, then a motorcycle isn't going to cut it... you'll need something with a trunk. The Mercury Comet and Chrysler-Nissan Jackrabbit are cheap and common cars, while the GAZ P-179 and Toyota Gopher are cheap and reliable pickup trucks. A Rover 2068 is an SUV that's slightly more expensive. A Bulldog Step-Van or GMC Hermes Van is slightly more expensive still, but has the advantage of being a common delivery van (like a UPS truck) that you can take all sorts of places and it won't look suspicious. There's odder choices (the Ford Canada Buffalo is an RV and the Conestoga Vista is a surprisingly cheap bus) that you could live in if you wanted. It's sort of a matter of how much money you want to drop on it. You're not a rigger, so you don't need a super badass vehicle, just something to get around in.
You should probably add a Morphing License Plate and Spoof Chip to whatever you get, so that your movements are harder to track. Chameleon Coating will let it change color as well, but it's more expensive (Body x 1,000 nuyen).
As for miscellaneous things... lots of stuff in the Survival Gear section. Lemme check some lists I've done for other people....
Medkit, Rating 6 to do first aid on people. Forgot you already had one.
Stim Patches to temporarily negate stun damage to get you through a fight or get unconcious allies back up.
Trauma Patches to stabilize dying allies.
Endoscope, a fiberoptic device for checking under doors and around corners.
Gecko Tape Gloves for climbing sheer walls.
Respirator and/or Gas Mask in case of poison gas.
Rope, of course. Never know when you might need rope.
Suvival Kit, which is everything you'll need in the wilderness.
Climbing Gear and possibly Diving Gear, for... well, you know.
A Survival Knife. You don't want to fight with it, but you might need to cut something.
Flashlights and/or Lightsticks, just in case you need to illuminate something. Yeah, you can see in the dark, but lights make a good decoy, too.
Rappeling Gloves, to protect your hands and improve your grip.
Autopicker picks locks for you.
Some means of lighting things on fire, such as the Magnesium Torch or Miniwelder.
Something else to think about are the armor mods that protect against elemental damages and such. Chemical Protection and Non-Conductivity especially, because drugs and electrocution can really ruin your day. Sadly, Chemical Seal isn't an option with the armors you can get, but Chemical Protection plus Gas Mask will help quite a bit.
Oh, and now that you have Heavy Weapons, you may want to think about a grenade launcher and some grenades. The launcher will need a smartlink and airburst link. I'd say get it as an underbarrel weapon on your rifle, but the gyromount is taking up that slot. Explosions can be handy sometimes.
-
The Ruger Thunderbolt fires one Burst since it requires a Complex Action. So you only need 2 RC. I could be mistaking this for another gun though.
My suggestion for a ride? Hyundai Shin-Hyung. It's a sports car and you can use it in higher-end neighbourhoods without much of a fuss.
-
The Ruger Thunderbolt fires one Burst since it requires a Complex Action. So you only need 2 RC. I could be mistaking this for another gun though.
You're thinking of the Salvette Guardian. It's right under the Thunderbolt in the table.
The Thunderbolt fires only in Burst Fire mode, but it has inherent RC 2. It doesn't need more than RC 5, however.
My suggestion for a ride? Hyundai Shin-Hyung. It's a sports car and you can use it in higher-end neighbourhoods without much of a fuss.
Yeah, that's a decent car. And not very expensive, either.
-
I think its done. I added a GL with some flash bang/thermal smoke/white phosphorous/explosive rounds, and gave the launcher 2x clips so I could switch between ammo types as needed. Do effects like white phosphorous stack if you send multiple grenades to the same area? When I upgrade the wired reflexes to alphaware 3 I will have .01 essence left, like a true samurai should. I also now have radar+ultrasound vision(voice +super ears). I decided against the shotgun pistol due to it basically being my thunderbolt without the burstfire.
== Info ==
Street Name:
Name: Unnamed Character
Movement: 10/25, Swim: 5
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Ork
Composure: 5
Judge Intentions: 7
Lift/Carry: 15 (90 kg/60 kg)
Memory: 5
Nuyen: 0
== Attributes ==
BOD: 8 (9)
AGI: 5 (10)
REA: 5 (8)
STR: 3 (6)
CHA: 2
INT: 5
LOG: 2
WIL: 3
EDG: 1
== Derived Attributes ==
Essence: 0.205
Initiative: 10 (13)
IP: 1 (3)
Matrix Initiative: 10
Matrix IP: 1
Physical Damage Track: 13
Stun Damage Track: 10
== Active Skills ==
Animal Handling : 0 Pool: 4
Animal Training : 0 Pool: 4
Archery : 0 Pool: 9
Armorer : 1 Pool: 3
Artisan : 0 Pool: 4
Automatics : 6 Pool: 16
Blades : 0 Pool: 9
Climbing : 0 Pool: 5
Clubs : 0 Pool: 9
Computer : 0 Pool: 1
Con : 0 Pool: 1
Cybercombat : 0 Pool: 1
Data Search : 0 Pool: 1
Demolitions : 0 Pool: 1
Disguise : 0 Pool: 4
Diving : 0 Pool: 8
Dodge : 0 Pool: 7
Escape Artist : 0 Pool: 9
Etiquette : 1 Pool: 3
First Aid : 0 Pool: 1
Flight : 0 Pool: 5
Forgery : 0 Pool: 9
Gunnery : 0 Pool: 9
Gymnastics : 4 Pool: 17
Hacking : 0 Pool: 1
Heavy Weapons : 2 Pool: 12
Infiltration : 0 Pool: 9
Instruction : 0 Pool: 1
Intimidation : 0 Pool: 1
Leadership : 0 Pool: 1
Locksmith : 0 Pool: 9
Longarms : 0 Pool: 9
Navigation : 0 Pool: 4
Negotiation : 0 Pool: 1
Palming : 1 Pool: 11
Parachuting : 0 Pool: 8
Perception : 4 Pool: 9
Pilot Ground Craft : 0 Pool: 7
Pilot Watercraft : 0 Pool: 7
Pistols : 4 Pool: 14
Riding : 0 Pool: 7
Running : 0 Pool: 5
Shadowing : 0 Pool: 4
Survival : 0 Pool: 2
Swimming : 0 Pool: 5
Throwing Weapons : 0 Pool: 9
Tracking : 0 Pool: 4
Unarmed Combat : 3 Pool: 13
== Knowledge Skills ==
== Qualities ==
Amnesia (Past)
Biocompatability (Cyberware)
In Debt (25,000¥)
Low-Light Vision
Restricted Gear (Rating 2)
== Lifestyles ==
Low 1 months
== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Cyberears Rating 2
+Ear Recording Unit
+Sound Link
+Damper
+Audio Enhancement Rating 3
+Increased Sensitivity
+Select Sound Filter Rating 1
Cybereyes Basic System Rating 3
+Eye Recording Unit
+Image Link
+Smartlink
+Vision Enhancement Rating 3
+Flare Compensation
+Vision Magnification
+Thermographic Vision
Datajack
Genetic Optimization (AGI)
Muscle Augmentation Rating 2
Muscle Toner Rating 4
Orthoskin Rating 3
Radar Sensor Rating 4
Skinlink
Suprathyroid Gland
Synthacardium Rating 3
Vocal Range Enhancer
Wired Reflexes Rating 2
== Armor ==
Armor Vest 6/4
Form-Fitting Full-Body Suit7/3
+Chemical Protection 6
+Gel Packs
+Nonconductivity 6
SecureTech PPP Armor (Ensemble with Helmet)2/6
== Weapons ==
Ares Antioch-2
+Additional Clip
+Personalized Grip
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
DV: Grenade AP: - RC: 1
AVC-7.62
+Gas-Vent 3 System
+Gyro Stabilization
+Smartgun System, External
+Barrel Extension
+Extended Clip, 100 Drum
+High Velocity
+Personalized Grip
+Skinlink
DV: 7P AP: -1 RC: 11
Minigrenade: Flash-Bang
DV: 6S (10m Radius) AP: -3 RC: 0
Minigrenade: High Explosive
DV: 10P (-2/m) AP: -2 RC: 0
Minigrenade: Thermal Smoke
DV: (10m Radius) AP: - RC: 0
Minigrenade: White Phosphorus
DV: 8P/4P (-1/m) AP: -half RC: 0
Morrissey Élan
+Concealable Holster
+Extended Clip
+Personalized Grip
+Silencer
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
DV: 4P AP: - RC: 1
Ruger Thunderbolt
+Concealable Holster
+Barrel Extension
+Extended Clip
+Gas Vent 3
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
DV: 5P AP: -1 RC: 5
Shock Glove
DV: 5S(e) AP: -half RC: 0
Unarmed Attack
DV: 3S AP: - RC: 0
Yamaha Pulsar
+Concealable Holster
+Extended Clip
+Skinlink
+Smartgun System
DV: 6S(e) AP: -half RC: 0
== Martial Arts ==
Krav Maga
+Ready Weapon as Free Action
+Take Aim as Free Action
== Commlink ==
Custom Commlink (5, 4, 4, 3)
+Hardening Rating 6
+Custom Commlink OS [Agent 6, ECCM 3, Firewall 4, Stealth 3, Suite: Pro User, System 4, Tacsoft 2, Tactical Satellite Mapping Software 4, Telematics Infrastructure 4]
== Gear ==
Ammo: EX-Explosive Rounds (Battle Rifles) x600
Ammo: EX-Explosive Rounds (Heavy Pistols) x60
Ammo: Gel Rounds (Holdouts) x21
Ammo: Hi-C Plastic Rounds (Holdouts) x14
Ammo: Taser Dart (Tasers) x10
Backpack
Fake License (Wired Reflexes) Rating 3
Fake License (Morrissey Élan) Rating 3
Fake License (Remington Roomsweeper) Rating 3
Fake License (Ruger Thunderbolt) Rating 3
Fake License (AVC-7.62) Rating 3
Fake SIN (Public) Rating 4
Fake SIN (Running) Rating 1
Gecko Tape Gloves
Medkit Rating 6
Minigrenade: Flash-Bang x8
Minigrenade: High Explosive x16
Minigrenade: Thermal Smoke x8
Minigrenade: White Phosphorus x16
Miniwelder
Stimulant Patch Rating 5 x4
Survival Kit
Trauma Patch x2
== Vehicles ==
Chrysler-Nissan Jackrabbit (Subcompact)
+Vehicle Sensor
-
Looking good. Just a couple of things I'd like to bring up....
Any particular reason you traded your Armor Jacket for the Armor Vest? With your rather outrageously high Body score, you're nowhere near your max wearable armor. Armor Jacket or Camouflage Suit should be options for you.
There's a rule that you can't put more points worth of mods on an armor than its best armor rating x 1.5, so the Form Fitting can only hold 9 points of mods. You've got 13 points on it. I'd move the gel packs to your other armor (formerly a Jacket, currently a Vest) and either reduce the Non-Conductivity and Chem Protection to 5/4, or move one of them to the outer layer as well.
I kind of think that you need Infiltration (for sneaking up on people) more than you need Palming. That's just my personal opinion, however. They're both based off your enormous Agility score, so you'd still have 9 dice for whichever one is untrained.
I question whether you need Gymnastics 4, especially with +3 dice from synthacardium, as opposed to being able to get the whole Athletics group at one with some BP left over. You know that you only add Gymnastics to defense if you do Total Defense and sacrifice your actions for the next Initiative Pass, right? But then again, a great Total Defense can be quite valuable, especially if you have more IPs than the opposition. You can dodge all their attacks with one IP, then spend the other two fighting back.
How are you doing for nuyen at this point? Is there enough left that we could start recommending other gear, or are you almost out and picking your last few things?
As for the White Phosphorous Grenades, I believe that a second one does the initial blast damage again, and lengthens the duration of the on-going damage. I can't find anything specific one way or the other, however.
If it was one of the semi-automatic grenade launchers, and you could fire two grenades in one Pass, then the overlapping grenade rules from War might come into effect and you'd add half of one to the other for a total of 12P.
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The jacket/vest issue is brainfart on my end. I will also move the gellpacks when giving the jacket back. I am using the "no nuyen bp limit" because I already have 81 bp in nuyen. The current char has less than 500 nuyen left and 0 BP, but I can probably scrounge up a couple PB here and there. Equipment suggestions are always welcome. Does having my agent at level 1 cause any problems? It will just be keeping my commlink from being hacked.
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500 nuyen left, huh? Well, you might want to grab a gas mask. Enemies might use gas against you, plus it provides you with oxygen when there is none (yes, I know that's not how gas masks work in real life) and hides your face.
If you had more money to throw around I might suggest Reuthenium or Chameleon stealth mods with some Thermal Dampening, but you're not really a very stealth-oriented guy anyway.
I have to warn you, there probably won't be many GMs that will let you play a character that's gone over the 50 BP limit for nuyen, if you're making this to actually play in a game.
I'm not really well versed in agents, but I think that the agent being at Rating 1 means that it'll just add 1 to the rating of the program when using it. I'm not sure that you necessarily need an agent to keep your link from being hacked, however. Hidden mode, Stealth, Encrypt, Firewall and Analyze all together will slow down any attempts to get in to the point that they aren't likely to succeed in combat before you can escape, and mean that out of combat only the very best hackers will be able to get in without triggering an alarm (and if there's an alarm, you turn off your wifi and dump him). Any hacker who'd good enough to get in unspotted will probably be able to evade the agent, too. But Matrix stuff isn't my thing... you should probably get a second opinion.
-
I've come up against a problem:
Wired reflexes 2 is 3 essence and 32K nuyen
Wired reflexes 3 is 5 essense and 100K nuyen
synaptic booster 1 is .5 essence and 8K nuyen
synaptic booster 2 is 1 essence and 160K nuyen
synaptic booster 3 is 1.5 essence and 240K nuyen
Wired reflexes 3 doesn't make any sense, because you need at least alphaware to ofset the massive essense cost, which brings it to 200K nuyen, and you might as well get synaptic booster 3. However, before the 3rd level, wired reflexes is much more cost effective, allowing wired 2 at character gen. you cant replace the wired reflexes 2 with synaptic booster 3, so I have a delemma.
Start with:
== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Bone Density Augmentation Rating 1
Cyberears Rating 2
+Ear Recording Unit
+Sound Link
+Damper
+Audio Enhancement Rating 3
+Increased Sensitivity
+Select Sound Filter Rating 3
Cybereyes Basic System Rating 3
+Eye Recording Unit
+Image Link
+Smartlink
+Vision Enhancement Rating 3
+Flare Compensation
+Vision Magnification
+Thermographic Vision
Datajack
Muscle Augmentation Rating 1
Muscle Toner Rating 2
Radar Sensor Rating 4
Skinlink
Suprathyroid Gland
Synaptic Booster Rating 1
Synthacardium Rating 1
And end up with:
== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Bone Density Augmentation Rating 2
Cyberears Rating 2
+Ear Recording Unit
+Sound Link
+Damper
+Audio Enhancement Rating 3
+Increased Sensitivity
+Select Sound Filter Rating 3
Cybereyes Basic System Rating 3
+Eye Recording Unit
+Image Link
+Smartlink
+Vision Enhancement Rating 3
+Flare Compensation
+Vision Magnification
+Thermographic Vision
Datajack
Genetic Optimization (AGI)
Muscle Augmentation Rating 2
Muscle Toner Rating 4
Orthoskin Rating 3
Radar Sensor Rating 4
Skinlink
Suprathyroid Gland
Synaptic Booster Rating 3
Synthacardium Rating 3
or start with:
== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Bone Density Augmentation Rating 1
Cyberears Rating 2
+Ear Recording Unit
+Sound Link
+Damper
+Audio Enhancement Rating 3
+Increased Sensitivity
+Select Sound Filter Rating 3
Cybereyes Basic System Rating 3
+Eye Recording Unit
+Image Link
+Smartlink
+Vision Enhancement Rating 3
+Flare Compensation
+Vision Magnification
+Thermographic Vision
Datajack
Muscle Augmentation Rating 2
Muscle Toner Rating 3
Orthoskin Rating 1
Radar Sensor Rating 3
Skinlink
Suprathyroid Gland
Synthacardium Rating 2
Wired Reflexes Rating 2
and end up with:
== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Bone Density Augmentation Rating 2
Cyberears Rating 2
+Ear Recording Unit
+Sound Link
+Damper
+Audio Enhancement Rating 3
+Increased Sensitivity
+Select Sound Filter Rating 3
Cybereyes Basic System Rating 3
+Eye Recording Unit
+Image Link
+Smartlink
+Vision Enhancement Rating 3
+Flare Compensation
+Vision Magnification
+Thermographic Vision
Datajack
Genetic Optimization (AGI)
Muscle Augmentation Rating 2
Muscle Toner Rating 4
Orthoskin Rating 3
Radar Sensor Rating 4
Skinlink
Suprathyroid Gland
Synthacardium Rating 3
Wired Reflexes Rating 2
Aka, start with only 2 passes and eventually have 4, or start with 3 and never get 4.
-
Start with 3 and never get 4.
Do you realize how long it will take you, in-game, to save up the nuyen necessary to get the upgraded ware? Not to mention finding someone who will actually sell it to you, on top of finding someone skilled enough to implant it without geeking you on the table OR messing up the ware during surgery to the point where it's not usable.
-
What if the surgeon promisses not to install a cortex bomb? Would that make you feel safer?
I would also just start with 3 and keep it at that.
And just remember Move-By-Wire also. Even more expensive but it also gives other benefits.
Rasmus
-
Yeah, Wired Reflexes 3 rarely gets used. There isn't room for it if you want anything else.
If you hit it rich and decide to upgrade your Wired Reflexes, you might as well get Synaptic Booster. Wired Reflexes 3 is kind of a niche option that's only good for people who only want super speed and don't care about having anything else going for them, or for cyberzombies.
So I don't particularly advise planning your character with intent to get Wired Reflexes 3 later.
-
That is kind of the problem. If i start with wired reflexes 2 I also get to start with some other good upgrades, but if I ever strike it rich, I don't have enough essence for Synaptic 3. If I start with synaptic 1, I can barely afford anything else but I have the potential to get Synaptic 3 if I strike it rich.
Wat do?
-
Omae, if you ever get that rich I guarantee you'll have better things to spend it on. Wired Reflexes 2 is a solid choice. So is Move-by-Wires 2 if you want to use Restricted Gear for it.
-
That is kind of the problem. If i start with wired reflexes 2 I also get to start with some other good upgrades, but if I ever strike it rich, I don't have enough essence for Synaptic 3. If I start with synaptic 1, I can barely afford anything else but I have the potential to get Synaptic 3 if I strike it rich.
You'll have more than enough Essance for Synaptic Booster 3. It's bioware. It only costs 1.5 Essence. (And 240,000 nuyen.)
It's Wired Reflexes 3 that you'll never have enough Essence to have, but that's fine. It's not really worth it.
-
Don't forget that when you remove an implant, there is an 'essence hole' left that can be used for future essence costs until it's filled up.
-
Don't forget that when you remove an implant, there is an 'essence hole' left that can be used for future essence costs until it's filled up.
Is that how it works? I thought that each new implant had an additional essence cost, regardless of the previous implants.
-
Don't forget that when you remove an implant, there is an 'essence hole' left that can be used for future essence costs until it's filled up.
Is that how it works? I thought that each new implant had an additional essence cost, regardless of the previous implants.
Kinda-sorta. Think of Essence as "Money" and an Essence Hole as "Store Credit". Here's an explanation using both the metaphor and the proper terms.
"You have to spend money to buy stuff, but if you return something you get store credit back. When you go to buy something else, you use up your store credit before you have to spend any more money."
"You have to spend Essence to install cyberware. If you remove the cyberware, you're left with an Essence Hole. When you install more cyberware, you fill the Essence Hole before it costs any extra Essence."
-
Yeah, sorry, I suppose I should have been more clear.
If you remove your Wired Reflexes 2, then you'll have a 3 Essence "hole" left. (Or slighly less, since you have Biocompatability.) Your Essence doesn't go back up, but the hole is left unfilled and something else can be put in there. So if you then installed Synaptic Booster 3, it would fill 1.5 Essence of the hole. (Or rather, 0.75 Essence, since it's bioware and whatever kind of 'ware you have less of only counts for half. But at this point you might actually have more bioware than cyber, so... eh, it's complicated.)
The end result is that if you later pull out your Wired Reflexes and replace them with Synaptic Booster, your Essence score won't change, and you'll have some unfilled space that could hold other 'ware
-
This SOOOO changes how I was doing my 'ware. I thought that you needed to implant stuff at the level you wanted it at, otherwise you just lost essence. Upgrading is so much easier now.
-
As far as essence holes goes you've got to be a bit careful
In Augmentation it splits things into 2 essence holes, 1 for bioware and 1 for cyberware (see page 128 of Augmentation)
So by the book you can't directly use the essence hole from wired reflexes for a synaptic booster, check how your GM is doing things to see if he'll let you do so.
You can add additional cyberware into the hole (and possibly remove some bioware as well)
and there is the possibility of slowly reducing the essence hole with an expensive treatment
-
As far as essence holes goes you've got to be a bit careful
In Augmentation it splits things into 2 essence holes, 1 for bioware and 1 for cyberware (see page 128 of Augmentation)
So by the book you can't directly use the essence hole from wired reflexes for a synaptic booster, check how your GM is doing things to see if he'll let you do so.
You can add additional cyberware into the hole (and possibly remove some bioware as well)
and there is the possibility of slowly reducing the essence hole with an expensive treatment
I believe that was changed, but I could be mistaken. Lord I hope it actually was because honestly, that makes no sense to me--Essence is Essence after all.
-
The latest pdf version of Augmentation doesn't have multiple types of essence holes, but you'd still better discuss it with your GM
-
Either way, it won't become an issue unless you hit the jackpot and have 240K to spend.
-
Either way, it won't become an issue unless you hit the jackpot and have 240K to spend.
Or talk your GM into getting you Deltaware MBW 3 as a reward for doing something risky and high-profile.
A couple million (Delta MBW3 is 1,750,000¥, plus medical expenses) "retail cost" in goods and services, per Runner, sounds about right for saving Damien Knight from a massive SNAFU with a bunch of escaped Bugs, doncha think?