Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: LastRose on <10-20-12/2322:30>
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Hello, so my friend is starting a shadowrun campaign, and I seem to be the only one who hasn't played it a hundred times. I have thus far spent around 2-3 days trying to study the system, and I am slightly overloaded with options, and even when I limit them down I don't have the right experience with a system such as this one to narrow them down past the "okay I want this type of concept". With only a week to study, and learn a system that I have no way even touched I feel a bit lost to sea with these books. I was wondering if I could pick the minds of those here, I have seen some great ideas here, and I figure I should try asking.
Rules I have been given:
You have 400 BP. No more than half your points can be spent on Physical and Mental Attributes.
Accepted Books:
Shadowrun Core Rule Book
Runner's Companion
Street Magic
Arsenal
Augmentation
Concept:
I want to be a rigger that hacks into other machines, and takes them for a spin rather then having his own drones, rather then being tracked down by a downed drone. With how I saw Edge in the game I was thinking about maxing out edge with a human, and then working on my stats, but I'm not sure how much that will hurt me considering there are mixed feelings about Edge from useless to one of the best stats in the game.
I do understand that I'll be needing a Control Rig, and contacts, but the way the system works is vastly different then what I'm used to.
If you have any tips or suggestions for how to go along this path they would be greatly appreciated.
Edit 01: So, I came down with some base stats that I am planning on going with.
BOD: 3
AGI: 4
REA: 3
STR: 2
CHA: 3
INT: 5
LOG: 5
WIL: 3
Edge: 6
50 BP to 250,000 Nuyen.
NQ: Allergy (Common, Moderate)
Allergy (uncommon, moderate)
From what I understand from looking at other builds, and such, the two skills I NEED is Electronic Warfare, and Hardware? I also went into hacking, engineering electrical, and mechanical, thinking that they would be used to fix up the drones.
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Gonna leave the Rigger stuff alone, since that's not my area of specialty.
However, I am going to say that Edge... really depends on your GM. If your GM refills it every Session, or even every Run, then you're golden. If you have to earn the points back over time... don't bother, even with Edge 3-4 you'll spend 'em faster than you earn 'em.
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I will continually edit this as I figure out things.
Also he'll be refilling them every few sessions, I'm guessing once a run is done.
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I will continually edit this as I figure out things.
Also he'll be refilling them every few sessions, I'm guessing once a run is done.
In that case, you want to have some, but don't worry about going ridiculous on it.
Now, a couple things that are general advice:
You want an odd amount of Body, because Physical Damage boxes round up. You want 3, rather than 5, since your main role should be to stay in the back where you're not likely to get shot at.
Secondly, I would really recommend dropping Strength and Reaction (again, not really top-tier important for what you're going to be doing) and soft-capping your Intuition and Logic, then buying up a point or two of Charisma. Why? Because you should be working from VR, and your Matrix Initiative uses your Commlink's Response rating, rather than your Reaction stat. Also because Charisma is used for all your social stuff.
And, on that subject, I'd recommend at least one rank of the Influence Group and Intimidate. Combined with decent Charisma, it means you're less likely to be "sweet-talked" into doing something stupid by an enemy Face.
On the "Equipment" side of things...
You want a Form Fitting Full Body Armor. It's 6/2 armor that counts as 3/1 for encumbrance, and stacks with other armor. Check with your GM, because one possible reading of how FFFBA interacts with Gel Packs is that it becomes 7/3 and still counts as 3/1 for encumbrance. Combine an Aces High jacket, or something similar, with some PPP armor to get to 6/6 encumbrance and your golden.
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So something more on the line of:
BOD: 3
AGI: 4
REA: 3
STR: 2
CHA: 3
INT: 5
LOG: 5
WIL: 3
Edge: 7
(since edge doesn't count towards the physical/mental stats)
Also I'm having a hard time with skills, either I spend too much, or too less to get what I want. lol
I did place two Allergies, both moderate, common, and uncommon, so that's an extra 25 BP.
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So something more on the line of:
BOD: 3
AGI: 4
REA: 3
STR: 2
CHA: 3
INT: 5
LOG: 5
WIL: 3
Edge: 7
(since edge doesn't count towards the physical/mental stats)
Also I'm having a hard time with skills, either I spend too much, or too less to get what I want. lol
I did place two Allergies, both moderate, common, and uncommon, so that's an extra 25 BP.
Stats look good. Remember, though, you pay 25 BP for the final point of Edge. You're better off just taking it at 6 and raising it the last point in play.
Take another 10 BP of Negative Qualities. you always want to have the maximum -35BP from NQs.
It also wouldn't hurt to drop to Agility 3, rather than Agility 4... but it also wouldn't hurt to keep it up there for those few times when you will need it.
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Thank you for the help, It seems I'm going to have to do this by hand, Chummer doesn't seem to have a lot of options.
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Chummer has most of them it just takes a little getting used to. And can be really tedious with having to pick out every peice of equipment with no find function
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Thank you for the help, It seems I'm going to have to do this by hand, Chummer doesn't seem to have a lot of options.
Have you gone into Options and enabled all the other content?
If you don't, it just shows the Core Book stuff
Chummer has most of them it just takes a little getting used to. And can be really tedious with having to pick out every peice of equipment with no find function
It should have a name search, IIRC.
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Okay I don't want to type out a whole bunch again, but if you want to look at the character with Chummer...
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7IfYmHo3wVmSWg0a3NMZjhNbEk
I put the file on google docs.
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I will continually edit this as I figure out things.
Also he'll be refilling them every few sessions, I'm guessing once a run is done.
If it's not refilled every session, then the game is one where Edge is completely worthless except in extreme emergencies, so don't go over 1 or 2.
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lol Like I said, some people swear by them, some people hate them. I like the thought of having 6, if they refill every few sessions, like every 2-3 then I don't mind having them considering as a rigger I should be out of most of the fire.
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Rigger is not my thing either, but I will agree with what others have said in that having 6 EDG seems a little extreme if you don't get it refreshed every session. At 6 it's a central focus and probably key to the functionality of your character, and if you can't use it every session, you've been gimped - because generally everyone else can use their "focus stat" at will. IMHO those BP are better spent elsewhere, unless you have absolutely nothing else you can imagine spending points on (Posi Qualities, Contacts and of course Skills being good options).
I should add, my opinion is formed in the frame that my GM does it like yours: EDG refreshes after a "Run" has been completed (which takes 1 - 2 sessions early on, but has talked about up to 4).
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Well the problem is I didn't want to put contacts for one reason. I took some interesting negative traits that I thought would be fun to roleplay, amnesia, and flashbacks (uncommon). Which I don't think anyone with amnesia would have very many contacts, I might get one or two but I still have around 20 bp left over that I'm trying to figure out where to put it. I didn't use the 35 BP to make it 7, just went to 6.
Considering I get about 12-14 dice hacking with one of my drones, which I'm still trying to fully understand, got a decent car, and a personal vehicle to drive everywhere with a horseman, patched in with a rigger's cocoon.
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Well the problem is I didn't want to put contacts for one reason. I took some interesting negative traits that I thought would be fun to roleplay, amnesia, and flashbacks (uncommon). Which I don't think anyone with amnesia would have very many contacts, I
Depending on your GM, your lack of contacts might not be an issue at all. ;D I find that GMs tend to go really easy on new players who "forget" to buy contacts ;D A more experienced player can often times expect their GM to shaft them repeatedly for not buying a small network of people who'll do their character favors.
About the Amnesia part - it might be fun actually if you DID have contacts who were trying to get in touch with you...but you have no idea who these people are! THEY seem to know YOU but hell if you want to talk to them! Just an interesting idea for you to consider if you felt that you "couldn't" have contacts because of your character's amnesia
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I'm maybe 2.5 or 3 months into playing my first Shadowrun ... the first 6 weeks was mostly us building our characters. As a matter of fact, when I went to my local "RP'ing" supply store, the chick at the counter gave me a 10% discount because it takes a long time to build a shadowrun character (that or my charisma is higher than I thought my augmented max is).
There's also a LOT to catch up on in regards to the history, the culture, the interplay of magic and technology. If you haven't already noticed it, Shadowrun is kinda like smashing the Matrix, the Avengers, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice together into one world.
One topic of discussion among my group has been which super hero movie character we've realized we were building or how we could build a given super hero, etc. One guy says... so I'm building my backup character as a mage focusing on electrical abilities with a knack for martial arts when I realized I was making Raiden ...
I'd recommend one of two things... a: start with a basic TYPE of character (Melee Master or Gun Slinger) to get a feel for how the system plays out. After playing your first couple of sessions you'll gain a lot of perspective on what helps, what doesn't, which weaknesses are worth taking and which ones really become a pain to have to RP. The other option would be make an apprentice character of a character of one of the other experienced players. They can help you learn how to use the abilities and skills that you have. Either of these options ought to let the game flow smoothly as you learn, all the meanwhile role playing. The last option is what my group has experienced, more inexperienced players than not. Our first real combat literally took 5 hours for 5 combat rounds. Granted we spent A LOT of time hashing out dice pools, opposition rolls, drone initiatives and handling, and worked through the area damage of 3 frag grenades. In the end an earth elemental died after 3 frag grenades, 2 charges from a minotaur, and lucky slash of a vibro sword. We did have fun...
The last thing I'll tell you is, don't underestimate the value of lessening your attributes to be able to afford augmentations, magic stuffs, and/or gear. A perfect example is a magician build (some might say a flawed example). If you build out the attributes of a magician to the attribute max, you won't have build points available to get as many spells as you're allowed. Especially, if you want to be able to do things like counterspelling, summoning, or use many/any other active skills. I'll admit magicians are expensive characters to build.
With rigging (technomancy and hacking too unless you're a Jack-In-From-Home type) you compound the amount of number of things to keep track of and account for, multiple drones, their initiatives movements etc. If you're a part of people who're patient and as skilled as they are patient, you'll have no trouble and will have fun. I don't want to dissuade you though, just wanted to share this Newb's experience and perspective with another.
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ShadowSwith, thank you for the long post of concerns, and the like. Luckily, even though I have never stepped into the shadows, as a runner, I have read rather large amounts of material on them. (Tommy Talon being one of my childhood heroes)
I have lowered my focus a bit, making me more survivable, and better with an assault rifle, more being an assault rifle wielding mechanic. I have a fix-it bot, a hacking toy, one extra gun in a drone (that is hard to see and likes to go up walls), and an ATV to drive around in (along with a garage to place it in). Though I did go into the adept to replace wired reflexes, went into heavy betaware, boosting my strength and agility, a control rig, and a commlink. My DM didn't like the fact that I had 18 ballistic, and 17 impact reduction, saying I rivaled some tanks as an armored fortress, so I reduced myself down to 8, 7 respectively.
I have played some heavy action people before, mainly a summoner that I had to deal with tactical ways to take down people with losing less summons, when everything that I had was weaker then everyone else, the advantage? Every time they attacked stuff that I could resummon, or in this case repair, they aren't hitting me or my allies, also numbers are always good.
BOD 5
AGI 3 (5)
REA 2 (4)
STR 1 (3)
CHA 3
INT 5
LOG 5
WIL 3
EDG 3
MAG 3
Qualities:
+
Bio-Compatibility
Adept
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Amnesia
Flashback
Distinctive Style
Allergy (Moderate, Uncommon)
My Mechanics are only 9 across the board.
And my Automatics is at 11.
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And, on that subject, I'd recommend at least one rank of the Influence Group and Intimidate. Combined with decent Charisma, it means you're less likely to be "sweet-talked" into doing something stupid by an enemy Face.
What?! What kind of GM doesn't let his players RP their characters (i.e. Instead, roll for the "Face's" skill, then act it out according to successes. Just cause a GM character rolls well they shouldn't auto convince).
Take another 10 BP of Negative Qualities. you always want to have the maximum -35BP from NQs.
Wow, even dragons don't allow THIS much meta-gaming.
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Though I did go into the adept to replace wired reflexes, went into heavy betaware, boosting my strength and agility, a control rig, and a commlink. My DM didn't like the fact that I had 18 ballistic, and 17 impact reduction, saying I rivaled some tanks as an armored fortress, so I reduced myself down to 8, 7 respectively.
Again, riggers aren't my thing, but did you weigh out the cost-analysis on this whole, dipping into Adept thing? Wired reflexes 2 costs you 3 ESS and 32K Y. Let's call it 6.5 BP for the cred (since you don't have to buy ESS). To dip into Adept for Improved Reflexes 2 you're paying 5BP for the Adept Quality and what? Depending on how much bioware you have (1-2 ESS points?) 50+ BP for your MAG attribute!?! That's 55 BP(!!) For a single ability that is no more efficient on a MAG:ESS basis!?!?! An ability you will lose if you ever get anymore 'ware. My god, I'm about to swallow my tongue!
Sir/Madam, you have gone coo-coo-bananas.
You could at least just have bought Synaptic boosters 2 for 32BP.