Shadowrun

Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: emsquared on <11-02-12/1437:34>

Title: Summoner/Back-up Face Build - My First Magician
Post by: emsquared on <11-02-12/1437:34>
"Just call me 'Blanks', alright, everyone else does... ...it's something I'm working on."

He doesn't know this but Blanks (it stuck quick at the bars, after all he could do was come up with blanks when asked about himself) is a former corporate wage-mage who got too hot to handle. He worked in the Arcane R&D Department - weaponized magic. He thought he could handle anything if it paid his bills, but when they started bringing in children... well, his co-workers could tell he was cracking. They let him off easy - just a memory wipe, no severance. So, about a month ago he simply awoke one morning in a sparse, run-down apartment he figured must be his, the dog - a whippet, "Devo" on it's name tag - seemed to know and love him, and he had a key that worked on the door. He knew himself, could feel his connection to the arcane pulsing though him, but no details. What the hell does a guy do with that situation? Blanks has spent his time scouring the media, usually from a bar-stool, hoping his face will flash across the screen (someone must miss him?) or maybe he'll run into someone who knows him? But he's broke, and with his unique skill-set and no ID, where else can he turn, but to the shadows?

Name: ???
Alias: Blanks
Race: Elf
Sex: Male
Lifestyle: "Low-down" 500Y/mo. (Low w/ Street Entertainment, Poor Condition -1LP, Defective CHN -1LP, Green Plan -1LP)

Attributes

BodyAgilityReactionStrength
3352
CharismaIntuitionLogicWillpower
7325
EdgeMagicEssenceInitiative
1568

Positive Qualities
Low-Light Vision
Magician
Negative Qualities
Amnesia (Past)
Dependent (Nuisance) - Devo, his only connection to his previous life.
Phobia (Common, Mild) - Children
Records on File

Active Skills
Influence Skill Group1 - 8 Pool
Assensing3 - 6 Pool
Automatics3 - 6 Pool
Binding4 - 9 Pool
Counterspelling4 - 9 Pool
Dodge4 - 9 Pool
Perception4 - 7 Pool
Spellcasting4 - 9 Pool
Summoning6 - 11 Pool
Knowledge Skills
EnglishN
Sperethiel4 - 7 Pool
Magical Theory6 - 8 Pool
News3 - 6 Pool
Bars and Clubs2 - 5 Pool

Spells
Stunbolt
Heal
?

Gear (15,000¥)
FFFBA (Non-conductivity6, Chem Prot3, FR3)3,850¥
Victory Camo Vest400¥
PPP Shin and Forearm Guard350¥
HK MP-7 (tricked out to 6 RC w/ smartgun)5,350¥
Contact Lenses (smartlink, flare comp, image link)725¥
Glasses (thermo, vis enh, vis mag)600¥
Earbuds (audio enh, spatial rec)420¥
Sony Emperor Commlink (Megadyne Deva OS, Hardening, subvocal mic)1,575¥
Backpack (GPS, Sleeping Bag, Survival Kit, Tent, 6 Rations)730¥
(all of my chars have GO-bags >.<)
50 rds. EX-Ex Sub Machinegun500¥

Contacts
ContactC/L
XXXXXXXXXX

Build Point totals: 30 Elf + 190 Attributes + 40 MAG + 15 PQ - 35 NQ +  3 Y + 10 Skill Group + 128 Skills + 6 Spells = 13 left for more spells, contacts, other skills or Y etc.

So, yeah, this is my first magician build - I've been observing mage critiques for awhile, looking at archetypes to try and sort out what's most important. I want to focus on summoning, but would also like to be decent at melting faces/be able to heal/use utility magicks and just generally be a good mage - but have no clue what plays well. I'd like to have a contact or two, but it would work well enough with his background if he didn't. I know I see a lot of recommendations towards Rating 4 Power Foci, but I didn't see how I could really get there - as they're 25 BP... I'm on the fence about my HK MP-7, it's vintage so it took a load of cred (2,900) to slap the smartgun on it, but it's the only sub-machine gun with AP...

Thoughts?
Title: Re: Summoner/Back-up Face Build - My First Magician
Post by: Ethan on <11-02-12/1536:59>
Don't sweat the AP much. You're either firing Stick-n-Shock or Ex-Ex, and it's better (and easier) to deal more damage to overcome armour than to reduce it by 1 or 2 points. If that fails, Stunbolt. Besides, that's a lotta money for a gun for someone that was just dumped somewhere.

If he's a Magical Researcher, perhaps "Analyze Magic" would be a good spell. For flavour reasons... Sterilize (to clean up spaces), some of the Health spells to increase Willpower on a target while you're testing, perhaps even some Mind Manipulation stuff. It depends on what kind of research.

Would you be amenable to perhaps a 5/5 split with Spellcasting and Summoning? You won't be Summoning constantly, see. One Force 5 Spirit is going to tear most opposition apart. You'll be casting spells more often though, so there's that.

What's his Magical Tradition? Is that something he'll discover on his own later on? Also, if he's somewhat Shamanic, a Mentor Spirit would be great.
Title: Re: Summoner/Back-up Face Build - My First Magician
Post by: emsquared on <11-02-12/1850:18>
Quote from: Ethan on <11-02-12/1536:59>
Don't sweat the AP much. You're either firing Stick-n-Shock or Ex-Ex, and it's better (and easier) to deal more damage to overcome armour than to reduce it by 1 or 2 points. If that fails, Stunbolt. Besides, that's a lotta money for a gun for someone that was just dumped somewhere.
Yeah, but since every other SMG is the same damage, that AP gives it a (albeit small) leg up... I know I could get an assault rifle for less cred that would have the AP and higher base Dam but he's not very strong, the SMG might be able to be concealed, and I dunno... I guess I didn't have too much else to do with the cred anyway :P But of course it is a lot for an old gun, probably won't end up with it. More worried about the rest though.
Quote from: Ethan on <11-02-12/1536:59>
If he's a Magical Researcher, perhaps "Analyze Magic" would be a good spell. For flavour reasons... Sterilize (to clean up spaces), some of the Health spells to increase Willpower on a target while you're testing, perhaps even some Mind Manipulation stuff. It depends on what kind of research.
Good suggestions, good flavor and function, I was looking at mind manipulation spells, but didn't know which were the more functional ones (Influence, Control Actions, Mob Control or even Confusion?).
Quote from: Ethan on <11-02-12/1536:59>
Would you be amenable to perhaps a 5/5 split with Spellcasting and Summoning? You won't be Summoning constantly, see. One Force 5 Spirit is going to tear most opposition apart. You'll be casting spells more often though, so there's that.
I am, I guess it's just reflex to go 6/4, and it makes sense that the 5 in spellcasting would go further than the 6 in summoning. Maybe even go 6 in Spellcasting to start and 4 in summoning?
Quote from: Ethan on <11-02-12/1536:59>
What's his Magical Tradition? Is that something he'll discover on his own later on? Also, if he's somewhat Shamanic, a Mentor Spirit would be great.
I'm working on it, doing a custom tradition - it is Shamanistic (CHA based) and admittedly I haven't looked into Mentor Spirits much, just because I've needed every single BP it seems for all the skills and spells.

Thanks for the input, keep it comin', all!
Title: Re: Summoner/Back-up Face Build - My First Magician
Post by: Captain Karzak on <11-02-12/2335:26>
You only have one initiative pass. That's very, very bad.

Spell list suggestions:

(1) Improved Reflexes. This will provide you with the multiple IP's needed to survive combat, and it helps with initiative. Bind a spirit of man, give it the optional power Innate spell: Improved reflexes. Have it sustain it on you for 1 service.

(2 and 3) Improved Attribute: Willpower and Charisma. If you want to do a lot of summoning and binding, you need to boost your drain pools. The very first spirit you bind should be a spirit of man who sustains improved attribute: willpower on you. Take a hit of psyche and sustain the improved attribute charisma on yourself when preparing for heavy-duty summoning.

The difference between a good summoner and a bad summoner is not really in their summoning/binding dicepools. The difference is that the good summoners have the ability to soak the prodigious amounts of drain that their conjuring tests might incur. The bad summoners, on the other hand, rapidly end up in the ICU, or the morgue because they just can't handle the drain no matter how well they do on the opposed skill tests.

Also, the Arcana skill can be linked to your attribute, charisma, per (optional?) rules in Street Magic. This means that Improved Attribute: Charisma would make you a more effective researcher of magical effects within the purview of your magical tradition.

(4) Levitate: this a great utility spell for enhancing your groups mobility. Why wouldn't the ability to fly be insanely useful?

(5) Mindprobe: This is the most efficient means of getting the truth out of someone. It can even uncover information that they don't consciously know. Very, very powerful. You could also consider the less intrusive Analyze Truth spell. If you are going to try and uncover the truth about your past, you'll be be well served by having at least one of these two spells.

(6) Trid Phantasm: This creates area illusions that can fool people and technological devices. You can display anything your character can imagine at a moment's notice. You can use it for anything from creating distractions to running an a D&D campaign for the other PC's in full smell-o-vision.

(7) Stunball: This spell represents the easiest and best means of inflicting Area of Effect damage that any character could have access to. Being able to AoE is one the prime advantages of playing a spellcaster as opposed to nearly any other type of character. Stunball has relatively light drain, and it is usually tactically superior to deal stun damage rather than lethal damage.

( 8 ) Improved Attribute: Reaction. This is one of the very few decent defensive buffs. This spell makes it harder for nearly any kind of mundane attack to hit you, but it also has the very useful side-effect of boosting your initiative even further, allowing you to go before your opposition - sometime the best defense is a good offense.

(9) Fix. If your group uses a lot of drones of medium size or smaller, then this spell can save a lot of money on repairs and replacement. It even works on objects that are considered "broken," - a condition that requires large amounts of successes on a build & repair test to ameliorate. It works really quickly compared to mundane repairs and requires no tools/shops/facilities, allowing to fix broken guns or commlinks during a mission.

(10) Mana Static: When you get in over your head against magical opposition, this the spell that will neuter them. Also, it has a "permanent" duration of 1 hour per force, so you can use it to set up traps ahead of time, or create a safe zone for your mundane allies.

Build suggestions:

The main way to jump-start a mage's power during chargen is to equip them with a force 4 power foci. With one of these bad boys, ALL of your magic-based dice pools get a fat +4 bonus. That's huge, because a lot of spells reach the apex of their usefulness when you can reliably get 5 hits on a spellcasting test. Similarly, you will live longer if you suffer fewer failures on summoning and especially binding tests. You really don't want to have to make more binding tests that you absolutely have to because the crazy unpredictable drain.

(Starting with a force 4 power foci will require the Restricted Gear quality from the Runner's Companion.)

Drop the 4 points in dodge. Active defense costs your complex action. Rarely is it worth trading the ability to act for a mere 4 extra dice on defense tests.

Drop the 3 points in automatics. There's no added versatility from being bad with guns. You should still CARRY an automatic weapon, just so people don't immediately realize that you are a mage.

Lower your ranks in Assensing to 1. Spirits are very good at assensing, and it generally does not cost you a service for you have them look someone over and tell you what they can "see."

Lower your summoning to 4. You don't need large numbers of net hits to be a highly effective at summer. Spellcasting on the other hand...

Raise your spellcasting to 6. This will also allow you to start with the largest number of spells, and the effectiveness of spells is often hugely dependent on generating several hits. Also, spells are considerably cheaper to buy at chargen than during play.

Pick a mentor spirit, or make one up. Ideally: +2 to all conjuration tests for your favorite kind of spirit (I suggest Man or Guardian), and +2 to all sorcery tests for your favorite school of magic (just don't choose illusion).

You may have to shave some points off your attributes also. You might consider taking agility down to 2 and logic or strength down to 1. Depending on how much karma your GM gives you, buying these values back up to levels you are comfortable with should not be very hard.

How many BP's did you spend on language/knowledge skills? You get a certain amount for free. Did you exceed that amount and end up paying out of pocket for some of yours? If so, cut the fat. Pretty much any knowledge skill and language can be bought in-game via software for relatively small amounts of nuyen.
Title: Re: Summoner/Back-up Face Build - My First Magician
Post by: Katrex on <11-02-12/2355:45>
Everything the guy above said/ Wow I like Cap karzak Gonna check out his other posts. :P A decent spell selection and Improved reflexes 3 is god Imo, You'll probs go second then you get loads of turns to use your mojo, Materialise your spirit thats tends to distract people from shooting you. Then start the mind fuckery or stunballs, whatever works for you. Mind fuckery might be cool given your back story.
Title: Re: Summoner/Back-up Face Build - My First Magician
Post by: JustADude on <11-03-12/0047:08>
Quote from: Katrex on <11-02-12/2355:45>
Everything the guy above said/ Wow I like Cap karzak Gonna check out his other posts. :P A decent spell selection and Improved reflexes 3 is god Imo, You'll probs go second then you get loads of turns to use your mojo, Materialise your spirit thats tends to distract people from shooting you. Then start the mind fuckery or stunballs, whatever works for you. Mind fuckery might be cool given your back story.

Also highly potent, since "Strip naked, swallow your cuff keys, and then cuff yourself to the railing with your hands behind your back" and the ever-popular "Kill yourself" are both perfectly valid commands once you've got Mob Mind or Control Thoughts up and running on a pack of guards.
Title: Re: Summoner/Back-up Face Build - My First Magician
Post by: rasmusnicolaj on <11-03-12/0509:52>
Just remember that increase attribute spells has to be cast at a force equal to your attribute.
So F5 for Willpower and F7 for Charisma.
That is a fair amount of drain and not always possible to resist and of you are passing wards you will have to cast them again.

Rasmus
Title: Re: Summoner/Back-up Face Build - My First Magician
Post by: UmaroVI on <11-03-12/0711:30>
The drain on those is 1. They are f/2-2, so it's not really a problem to recast them.
Title: Re: Summoner/Back-up Face Build - My First Magician
Post by: emsquared on <11-03-12/1848:23>
Yeah, the Dodge and Automatics really did eat up a lot of BP (enough to get a Power Focus 4 >:D). Old habits, I guess...

Some more very good advice, once I figure out my tradition and mentor spirit (they do seem like a pretty good deal) I'll post Mk-II.

Thanks again!