[Tarnish]

I'm playing in a 3 or 4 person party (We're bickering over adding another member), and I've chosen to play an elf shaman-type character who moonlights as a face. We have another magician in the party, so ideally I would want to play a support role. Do you guys have any suggestions or tips to help a player out? I've the character concept sorted out and if all else fails I can pull up Umaro's template and toy with it.

[Dinendae]

If you are going support, might I suggest a caster who has the quality Mentor Spirit: Dark Goddess? That one gives you +2 dice to both combat and healing spells, but it does require Willpower + Charisma (3) tests to keep from escalating confrontations. Combine that with your Shamanic Tradition, which uses Willpower + Charisma for drain tests; since your Will and Char should already have a good amount of points in them, you should be able to resist the urge to escalate things fairly well. Add in a rating 2 sustaining focus, restricted gear, power focus 4, and you should do very well. Get manabolt, manaball, heal, detox, and perhaps antidote, then mix in your favorite physical damage type spell fireball/lightning bolt/flamethrower/acid stream/etc.

[JustADude]

I'm playing in a 3 or 4 person party (We're bickering over adding another member), and I've chosen to play an elf shaman-type character who moonlights as a face. We have another magician in the party, so ideally I would want to play a support role. Do you guys have any suggestions or tips to help a player out? I've the character concept sorted out and if all else fails I can pull up Umaro's template and toy with it.

First off... get the 4th. The ideal group is generally in the 4-5 range.

Secondly... Spirits. Lots and lots of Spirits. When you get the chance, bind the biggest spirits you think you can handle the Drain on, and bind a LOT of them... and by "a lot" I mean your entire capacity to control of Bound Spirits.

Third... Mob Mind, Mass Turn To Goo^*, [Element] Cloud, and [Element] Wall are all excellent options for Crowd Control and general support. Also, combine "Silence" with a "Mass" version of Greater Invisibility and you're all going to be ninjas.

Just be warned, many GMs feel that while using Mob Mind to force an entire enemy group to commit suicide is perfectly legal under the rules, it will get you Notoriety and a reputation as a monster.

^*Have to "make it" using the Street Magic rules for creating spells. Just add a +1 DV modifier to make it LoS(A).