[evilgijoe]

The burned out mage was one of the first character archetypes i played. The whole mixing tech and weakening his magic made him seem damaged and interesting in a way. I figure some kind of survivors guilt where even with his magic he wasnt strong enough,fast enough whatever. just seemed like a good story there.So the question is anyone else a fan of them or am i the oldball out?


edited for typo sorry

[SichoPhiend]

You are not the only one, my primary missions character would be considered a burnout mage, though she didn't awaken until she already had lost a point and a half of essence.  I have enjoyed playing a character that's trying to fill a role she wasn't born to.  Probably my favorite quirk to develop so far is referring to her Ruger Superwarhawk as her favorite combat spell.

Oh yeah, it only took her 150 karma to initiate for her first time.

[cantrip]

I really like the idea of the burned out mage - the ultimate blending of magic and tech. Well, I suppose a mage, cyborg, drake chihuahua would be the ultimate blending, aka known as a Maborgakeahua, but that may be just a little too advanced, (or would that be horrifying?),  for 2075. 

Lack of sleep makes a person come up with weird ideas sometimes....

Anyhoo--- imo, a burned out mage could be really fun to play. I tend to play full magicians, but would enjoy the challenge with the right character development.

[Wakshaani]

Love love love the concept. REALLY hard to execute, but so beautiful.

[adzling]

I play a burned out physical adept/ face
Took Way of the Burnout during chargen and am about to increase my magic by a second point so will lose Way of the Burnout.
But then I will take Way of the Speaker to replace it ;-)

Works really well for my character as it allowed my Adept to get max cyber at normal cost and now that I am about to be forced to lose way of the burnout by increasing my magic by it's second point I am happy to change over to way of the speaker.

[Mirikon]

I've never cared much for the burnout mage/adepts. While from a certain storytelling point of view, they can be compelling characters, they've just never interested me that much. And they can be frustrating as well, like fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Closest I ever got to that was a mage with cybereyes/ears and some other minor tweaks that ended up being worth one point of Essence. I just couldn't bring myself to put more than that in him.

[Namikaze]

I think a burnout mage is interesting.  Playing one well is very hard to do as a PC, much easier to introduce one or two as NPCs.  Sort of a "cautionary tale" as it were.  If someone wanted to play one in my game, I'd obviously let them - but I'd probably make sure they knew the system before beginning an advanced character concept like this.

[Marcus]

Yeah I hate rain on the parade here, but in general burnout is very rarely a good idea. A point or two of magic isn't the end of the world, but your losing resources, at the hardest stage to loses at. Creation with magic and tech is prohibitive for a number of reasons, It was simpler in 4th when you had greater character design flexibility under a point buy, and when their were some larger exploits in possible in bioware. But under priority I would avoid it.

[Poindexter]

I loved the idea of the burnout mage; The guy who wanted power so bad, he went too far too fast, flew too close to the sun and it cost him some of his magic. Still desperate for the power, he began to replace himself with machines to make up for the lost edge he used to have. JUST LOVE the idea.

Mechanically, there's no real way to do that in 5th ed as it stands. One of the only things I dont like about 5th, to be honest.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

The key - and in part, the problem - with playing an actual burnt-out mage (or 'burning out' mage) is finding reasons in game to add more cyberware.

[MadBear]

I love the idea of a burned out mage. Or rather, a burning out. I don't need my characters to be statistically optimized(gasp! Blasphemy!). I much prefer interesting characters to a perfect pile of numbers. And burned out mages to me are very interesting. One of my favorite current characters is a Snake Street Shaman with one cyber-eye and a lower cyber-arm. With no statistical edge, no STR or AGL enhancements, no Wired I to give him a boost. He had to replace them after a traumatic injury. Lost the point of Magic, and is now on the path to burning out. And he's FUN to play! I know, right? Fun to play even if he's not the most powerful, perfectly built character possible! Sorry, I have issues.
On the other side of the spectrum, I absolutely loathe cybered adepts. Hate them to my very core. I guess it depends on why you add 'ware to magic. If you do it to get the most efficient statistical edge, then to me that's not fun, that's numbers gaming; but if you do it make an interesting internal character conflict, that IS fun. To each their own, I guess.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Hm.  The two characters that I have that have both cyberware and magic got the former before the latter, so I don't know how well that works. 

[adzling]

I went way of the burnout with my adept face because there are things you can do with cyber that you just can't with magic (via la difference!) such as tailored pheromones ;-)

[cantrip]

The unintentional burnout could be a way to go -- critical glitch takes an arm, you replace it for example. Though I think it would be best if the GM and player agree to it once it happens rather than it occurring just due to bad luck.

I played a lot of 1st/2nd, so the potential for magic loss was pretty high, especially once you initiated. Had to make a magic loss test any time you got stim-patched or took a deadly wound. Always loved the "the mage is unconscious!" hit him with a stim so he can heal us! 

[biotech66]

I'm making an adept/decker/rigger.  I don't jump much in the drone, but having a fleet of creatures that kill from 100+ meters is a fun.  Also, increasing your logic will help with the hacking, so that even more fun.  He's a burnout crazy homeless person who wears grubby military gear because he was part of some crazy government project the fried his mind.