Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: DamienHollow on <01-31-13/0044:57>
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Mine has always been riggers. From my Nimrod equipped speed freak to my Adept submariner, i have never failed to be entertained by the trouble I can get into, i mean cause. The ability to be in more than one place at once, in expendable bodies, loaded tot he brim with functionality never looses it's appeal. I'll never forget this discussion.
The party has just jumped back into my submersible Cartel Courier and we are pulling out when we see security piling into a Sea-cop.
"You round the peninsula and immediately spot a boat at the dock. Security is scrambling to get her ready."
"What kind of boat?"
"A Seacop..."
"How far away is it?"
"About one hundred meters. Throw you're composure test for Thrill Seeker..."
"... Crit Glitch..."
"Okay, so what are you going to do. And it had better be good."
"Look there! It be the great white beast! Balls to the walls, boys! Ramming speed! Diesel boats forever!"
"Did you seriously just reference Moby Dick, Army of Darkness, and Down Periscope all in one battle cry?"
"I think so..."
"... I am never letting you take that quality ever again."
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Sniper/Face
It isn't exactly the best combo, since if things go south during my con attempts, I don't have much to fall back upon (I wouldn't be carrying my sniper rifle around fully assembled during a con obviously), but I do love being able to pull off some cons where nobody gets killed or I'm able to get someone else to do my dirty work for me, and as a sniper, I just like their combat. Nothing real flashy, just get down to business and put some bullets in some heads.
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I'll second the Face/Shooter combo - pistols for me (granted its one of two types I've played in SR4A).
You always have something you can do. You can have expert level pools in both disciplines AND stealth. Just makes for a very diverse and effective character.
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Face/shooter/infiltration
Can get out of pretty much any situation. try to be discreet about stuff, if that does work, talk/bully your way out of it or else spray the baddies and run!
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I have to agree pistols/face/inflitration. I imagine myself as michael weston. I actually like orc for this even though they have slightly lower charisma because orc get free points in body.
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I haven't played him yet, but I've got a feeling that I'm going to enjoy the Elf Shinto Shaman/Face that I recently rolled up.
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Usually street sam/face. I'm usually the most outspoken IRL in our group. And I'm kind of a gun nut, so it fits.
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Though I haven't played many, I'm a little keen about mages. I tend to be a blasty utility mage, but who isn't. Though grabbing some underrated spells and peppering on some creativity helps keep things interesting.
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I don't really do 'builds', so much as 'characters'. But if I had to pick, I'd go with a dual-wielding possession mage using twin swords, or catgirls. I've also been toying with the idea of an AI face, but the lack of good anthroform drones (that aren't cyborg bodies) makes that difficult. What I really need for that character is something like a generic 'stress relief' robot that the AI could take over.
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I've played - or built for others, which has usually included some pretty in-depth characterization work - just about everything. My first character was the classic elven decker (The Wyrm Ouroboros), but I've done quite a bit more - a black panther shapeshifter shaman, his invisible way adept son, a shaman Malibu Barbie surfer chick, a shaman-ganger, a giant demolitions expert with Vory ties ... quite a bit.
Suki, however, is I think my favorite. When she started out, she was pretty much second best - at everything. There was a better gunman, a better driver/rigger, a better hacker, a better swordsman, a better negotiator. She wasn't magical at all (yet) ... but when it came down to it, she was better at most things than everyone else, and everyone knew she was smart enough not to take a person on in their area of expertise. Because she wasn't the Pro from Dover, though, it meant that she knew a fair amount about everything, and how they all could work together. She came up with the plans, she was the one the team looked to for direction when things deviated from the plan, she was the team leader. She's the one who built the cover company (Praesidium Services, Ltd.) and everything else.
So her original 'build' might, I suppose, be termed a samurai/shooter/face/infiltrator. She's grown well beyond that point, though, and at this point she's probably best defined as a troubleshooter, and especially a mage- and spirit-killer.
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Of course I don't "do" a build either. I just write out years 6 - 20 of this persons life that I have in my head and these numbers magically appear on my character sheet, I don't really know what they mean, but I guess they have to be there.
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Okay. Sorry for the snark, but if you're gonna use that kind of affected pedantry to condescend the OP (and others), only to follow it up with one of the most PG of power-gamer builds, well... Frankly you have it comin'.
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Emsquared, that's because you don't know the story of how that character came to be. See, I came to Shadowrun by way of D&D, M&M, and Hero System, and the possession mage is an homage to a character I played in a superhero RPG who had ice-type abilities and had a magic sword. That character was in turn an alt-universe version of a character I'd originally played on an X-men MUSH years before. And even in Shadowrun, that character has changed over time as I become more familiar with the setting, and got the opportunity to read through the earlier edition books. Two of my characters are deliberate homages to one of my favorite anime series of all time. Another came to life as I read the Shutdown book, and I filled in the numbers to fit the concept.
However, coming from a D&D background, 'build' has a certain connotation to me, usually involving multiclassing several times and picking feats in a certain order, etc. My characters in classless systems are all more organic, as I come up with a concept complete with background and personality, and then mold the numbers to fit.
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What's because I don't know the story? The fact that that is probably the no. 2 most abusive power-gamer build? No. It is a PG build because Possession and dual wield are both over-powered alone, combine them and you have, well... And don't get me wrong Mirkon, I like you and your posts and input 99.9% of the time, but the dichotomy of what was going on in this instance just astounded me. I'm not judging you, or even accusing, I just wanted to point out that disparity in logic that appeared to be going on.
I apologize for the massive derail, Hollow. Might I say, I think it's interesting how often facing has come up. And to expand on my original answer, I should have said Face-Adept/Shooter. Commanding Voice = giggles galore.
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Wheaton's Law, emsquared. That was thoroughly uncalled-for.
And what 'dichotomy' and 'disparity in logic' are you talking about, exactly? Your belief about how certain things fall out in-system - and believe you me, I know that those things are unbalancing, but hey, I also know that some of them are unbalancing in real life as well - does nothing to allow you to spill such venom. Suki's a dual-wielder - though in her case, it's a pistol in the left and a katana in the right, so she can shoot you unconscious and lop off your head with a coup as she goes past. She could dual-wield dai-sho, and sure she's done so in the past, but how often do you run into that sort of thing on the street, especially when you can't cast spells worth a damn?
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Sorry to butt in but would someone be so kind as to explain to me how this very over powered build works? I am just curious and I don't recognize any of the terms and I don't have time to sift through my pdfs or books.
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Possession mages have a spirit possess their bodies and add the spirit's Force to all their Physical stats and gain Immunity to Normal Weapons at the spirit's Force. That is really all that needs to be said.
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Yeah, that doesn't sound like something I would play.
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Your belief about how certain things fall out in-system - and believe you me, I know that those things are unbalancing, but hey, I also know that some of them are unbalancing in real life as well - does nothing to allow you to spill such venom.
I don't think I was spilling any venom. At first read it did seem pedantic and condescending to differentiate between a 'build' and a 'character' given the context of the thread, I was saying nothing of Mirikon other than that I thought he should have chosen a different approach to the subject, and do you disagree that a possession dual-wielder could easily be right up there with a BOD-Troll tank, as one of the crunchiest of crunch builds? I wasn't calling Mirikon a power-gamer, and I don't believe he is, but that is (usually) a power-build.
The disparity would have been the indicated preference for role-play over roll-play (which is what I thought he was "hinting" at), only to follow that up with what is usually a roll-play/crunch oriented build.
Having re-read Mirikon's original post and rebuttal, I could have misinterpreted what he was saying in the first place. Maybe he was putting more emphasis on the "character" part, and less on his assumed methods and motives surrounding the word "build". I am sorry for any misinterpretation, Mirikon. I hope you can see that I wasn't accusing you of anything, it just seemed inconsistent to essentially say "I don't put together a char. for the numbers, but my favorite char. is a huge numbers char."
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I like a wide range of characters, but I tend to gravitate towards combat/face builds. Mainly because I tend to enjoy chewing the scenery with the other PCs/NPCs, and combat, more than I enjoy the planning and infiltration stages.
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Possession mages have a spirit possess their bodies and add the spirit's Force to all their Physical stats and gain Immunity to Normal Weapons at the spirit's Force. That is really all that needs to be said.
Indeed. I've described characters of that sort to be 'toggle' characters, especially before they are able to initiate and gain Channeling. By that, I mean that they 'toggle' between two different roles, that of 'mage' and that of 'tank'. Actually, as for whether they are more or less powerful than other mages, that depends on weapons and tactics. Certainly, a possession mage with a high force spirit possessing him can wade into a group of gunmen and just lay waste to them in melee, but the materialization mage can have both spirit and mage acting, either in concert or against multiple foes. While the possession mage has more raw power, the materialization mage has more utility, and better adaptability. When a possession mage initiates and takes Channeling, they start being able to use their skills along with the enhanced physical abilities. Also, in my experience, normal mages are more effective at ranged attacks, while possession mages are more effective in melee.
Personally, I find that the best way to deal with the possession mage is to treat him like the troll tank. In other words, SnS, APDS, drugs/toxins, anything that does stun damage, etc. Another problem is that people get too focused on raw damage, and forget about tactics and battlefield control. If a possession mage is most dangerous in melee, then keep out of melee range. One thing I've noticed is that there are plenty of people who neglect melee skills, often believing melee to be useless in a gunfight. This is why, of course, a possession mage getting into melee seems even stronger than it actually is, because they are kitted out to do something no one else can. Likewise, a sniper with APDS dealing instant death on that first shot (since unaware characters get no defense) seems disproportionately strong, but that is due to them being able to do a role that no one else covers. You are seeing someone at their very best, so it is natural for them to look good.
Having re-read Mirikon's original post and rebuttal, I could have misinterpreted what he was saying in the first place. Maybe he was putting more emphasis on the "character" part, and less on his assumed methods and motives surrounding the word "build". I am sorry for any misinterpretation, Mirikon. I hope you can see that I wasn't accusing you of anything, it just seemed inconsistent to essentially say "I don't put together a char. for the numbers, but my favorite char. is a huge numbers char."
When putting the numbers together, I certainly do pay attention to making my character effective at what they're supposed to do. But yes, the character and the concept are always put together before I begin dealing with the numbers. No offense taken.
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I can't help but through Parkour into every character I make, but hackers seem to be my main draw, and all but a few of my characters are changelings.
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I can't help but through Parkour into every character I make, but hackers seem to be my main draw, and all but a few of my characters are changelings.
IMNSHO, every hacker should have running if they aren't a paraplegic or worse. Because if-and-when you're screwed, you want to get away - fast. Parkour is not a bad add-on. ;)
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I wish I knew what that alphabet soup stood for... Memory engaged!*
My favorite movies are like District: 13 and Ultraviolet, my favourite game of all time is Mirror's edge, I really can't help it, and who doesn't want to be Radical Edward?