[ngfanatic]

Hello everybody,

<-- as you can probably see here i am quite new to this forum, although i have been lurking around without a login for a few weeks. I know it doesn't seem to be polite to barge in here and make my first post a cry for help but i really need i and i feel not competent enough to answer questions in the rules section 
My problem right now is, that i haven't played shadowrun in almost 10 years and although i read alot of rulebooks lately i have no feel for the new edition. So i hope you could help me with my char for an upcoming game/campaign (if enough of the group like it, we will take a break from fantasy rpgs and start a campaign).

A few pointers:
We all build chars from our gms books, so i am still paying 3x value for attributes.
I want to be a backup fighter, mage support (counterspelling, heal, attrib boost) at first with the option to develop into a full fledged mage (so no adept for me). I know i am missing them badly now but i think creating/binding foci on my own later on should  save me alot.

So have at it and tell me what you woul/i should change. Thx in advance Jay

Name: Jay (Jan in native Germany but changed in America)
Alias: Kid
Race: Gnome
Sex: male
Nationality: German
Lifestyle:
Comfort      2
Entertainment   1
Necessities   3
Neighborhood   2
Seurity      3
total      11 = 2600 / month
Karma Spent: 750 (Karma Gen)
Physical Description: little bit bulky 12yr old with blue eyes and short dark blond hair
Personality/background still working on this one

Attributes

Body	Agility	Reaction	Strength
5	5	4	3
Charisma	Intuition	Logic	Willpower
5	4	5	6
Edge	Magic	Essence	Initiative
4	6	5	8

Positive Qualities
Magician (Hermetic??)   
Mentor Spirit Bear??
Ambidextrous   
Arcane Arrester
Thermographic Vision

Negative Qualities
Day Job 20hrs   
Neoteny   
In Debt 10k ¥

Active Skills

Arcana	4
Conjuring Skill Group	4
Enchanting (Artificing)	4
Spellcasting (Health Spells)	5
Counterspelling (Combat Spells)	4
Pistols (Semis)	4
Automatics (Assaults)	2
Gymnastics	4
Assensing (Metas)	3
Astral Combat	3
Perception (Visuell)	3
Etiquette	2
Pilot Ground Craft (Bike)	3
First Aid	1

Knowledge Skills

Magic Background	4
Combat Biking Leagues	3
Safe Houses	4
Magic Theory	4

Language Skills

German	N
English	6
Italian	3

Spells

Increased Reflexes

Armor

Heal

Control Pack

Analyze Magic

Manaball

Powerball

Physical Camouflage

Improved Invisibility

Stabilize

Physical Mask

Mob Mind

Gear (22260¥)

Magical Lodge Materials 6	3000¥
2x Trauma Patch	1000¥
5x Stimulant Patch 6	750¥
Fake License Firearms 4	400¥
Fake SIN 3	3000¥
1x Certified Credstick	25¥
MetaLink (Fake)	100¥
Vector Xim (Fake)	200¥
AR Gloves	250¥
Lined Coat	700¥
2x Ares Predator IV	6360¥
Damage 5P AP -1 Mode SA RC 1 Ammo 15(c)
Ceramic/Plasteel Components L2, Gecko Grip, Metahuman Customization, Personalized Grip, Skinlink, Trigger Removal, Lanyard
12x Spare Clips	60¥
30x APDS	540¥
150x Ammo	560¥
2x Quick Draw Holster	200¥
Ingram Smartgun X	1610¥
Damage 5P AP -- Mode BF/FA RC 4(5) Ammo 32(c)+32(c)
Additional Clip, Foregrip, Personalized Grip, Metahuman Customization, Skinlink, Trigger Removal, Lanyard
Concealable Holster	75¥
6x Spare Clips	30¥
160x Ammo	560¥
32x APDS	540¥
1 Months missing Lifestyle Cost from Dayjob	100¥
Fairlight Caliban	8000¥
Novatech Navi	1500¥
Glasses with	1000¥
Flare Compensation, Image Link, Smartlink, Vision Enhancement 3, Vision Magnifcation
Earbuds with	410¥
Audio Enhancement 3, Spatial Recognizer

Vehicles
Suzuki Mirage (Engine Customization Accel +20%, Metahuman Adjust, Motorcycle Gyro, Oil Slick Sprayer, Morphing License Plate, Spoofing Chip, Run Flat Tires)

Handling	Accel	Speed	Pilot	Body	Armor	Sensor	Availability	Cost
+2	24/60	200	1	6	4	1	-	12300¥

Contacts Contact C/L Supply Sergeant 3/1 Talislegger 3/1 Mafia Leutnant 4/3

Starting Nuyen: 1800¥

[Glyph]

Your monofilament whip cannot be used astrally, nor can you have an astral combat specialization for it, unless it is a bound weapon focus.

The increase Attribute spells won't be that useful until you get some high-rated sustaining foci for them - you get a bonus, but then the sustaining penalties cut into it.  Also - remember that his arcane arrester quality works against beneficial spells, too!

Cyberware doesn't just lower your maximum for Magic, it lowers the Magic Attribute itself.  So he shouldn't have a Magic of 5 unless it started out as a Magic of 6.

A complete skill set and decent stats (I would expect nothing less from pre-errata karmagen), but the big, glaring omission is the lack of any skills dealing with summoning or spirits.  And with no banishing or combat spells, this mage doesn't have many options for dealing with hostile ones, either.

[ngfanatic]

Your monofilament whip cannot be used astrally, nor can you have an astral combat specialization for it, unless it is a bound weapon focus.

Ok, i know i can't use it until it is a weapon focus (which i want it to be later on) but why can't i have a spezialisation on it?

The increase Attribute spells won't be that useful until you get some high-rated sustaining foci for them - you get a bonus, but then the sustaining penalties cut into it.  Also - remember that his arcane arrester quality works against beneficial spells, too!

Yes i know, but i think using thge increased reflexes for more ips should be worth a -2 dp modifier. Or am i wrong with that?
And the arcane arrester should only work against force based spells. Maybe i am understanding that wrong, but i thought these were only spells where the force changes the effect of the spell. My boost spells use force only to cap max hits. Or is that another misinterpretation?
And i really like having all these boost spells, because i think they tie in nicely with the character background of support/counterspelling support for mafia operations.

Cyberware doesn't just lower your maximum for Magic, it lowers the Magic Attribute itself.  So he shouldn't have a Magic of 5 unless it started out as a Magic of 6.

Yes i raised it to 6, thats why willpower isn't hard maxed.

A complete skill set and decent stats (I would expect nothing less from pre-errata karmagen), but the big, glaring omission is the lack of any skills dealing with summoning or spirits.  And with no banishing or combat spells, this mage doesn't have many options for dealing with hostile ones, either.

I planned on using the weapon focus against em once i have it. Do you really think spirits will be so common for a beginning character or so helkpful?

If so i could drop Spellcasting from 6 to 5, load up on negative qualities (and i was so proud not to max out these for once )
and get the Conjuring skill group at 4, pay my mentor spirit (i forgot that on the first edit) and have 3 Karma left.
Should i change the mentor spirit or possession too if i do that?

Thanks again for the criticism.

[Triggvi]

The cyberware you got is not worth the sacrifice you paid to get it. You took away your natural thermographic vision and bought cybereyes which do the same thing. Glasses could be made to do everything your cyberyes can do (including smartlink). Unless you are getting cerebral boosters for logic I would get rid of the cyberware.

You only use astral combat when you are projecting. The whip would not go with you when you project. You are specializing in a weapon you can't use in astral combat. If you can't use it how can you specialize in it?

[Glyph]

For the increase Attribute spells, the Force of the spell must equal or exceed the value of the Attribute you're trying to raise.  And they're relatively high to start with.  And the arcane arrester quality makes the Force of the spell halved when you cast it on yourself.  In other words, you will have to overcast those spells to affect yourself at all.  The increase reflexes spell will be less useful (since the halved Force means the hits will be capped lower, and the hits determine how many extra IPs you get), but it is at least usable.

If your character concept relies extensively on sustained spells, think about changing your metatype from gnome to dwarf.  The arcane arrester quality is hurting, more than helping, you.

[ngfanatic]

Ok ok i yield

here is what i changed: (i will edit the first post accordingly)
- In Debt
- Complete Spell Overhaul
- Conjuring Group up to 4
- Spellcasting down to 5
- dropped Whip & Whip Skill
- dropped Astral Whip spezialisation
- added First Aid 1
- dropped Group Contact Mafia
- added Mafia Leutnant Contact
- dropped all cyberwear
- added glasses & earbuds
- minor gear changes
- calculated starting nuyen

I will need to reevaluate background story/playing concept but that´s ok.
I want to keep the gnome, because i just love the image. Kid, possible even with some school stuff suddenly pulling two weapons and wreaking havoc (well, hopefully). And i hope that the arcane arrester will not be crippling with my new spell selection.

What i still need help with though is the magical tradition and the mentor spirit.
As far as tradition goes, i would like to keep a logic based one, but i have no experience with spirits, so i don't know what would be good. Secondly i would like a tradition that is practiced in germany.

And with the mentor spirits i am choosing between these three:
Bear - health, resist physical
Adversary - counter, manipulation
Dark Goddess - combat, health
I would change the name according to Street Magic p.183
Normally i would choose the dark goddess, but her disadvantage is the one i am most uncomfortable roleplaying.

Oh, and could someone point me to a rule, that i need a weapon focus bonded, so that i can have a weapon specialisation in it? I mean i also have a specialisation in Automatics without currently owning one. Is that forbidden too?

[Walks Through Walls]

The idea behind any specialization is that you have practiced it a lot to get better at it and hence the bonus. So because of that if you don't have a monowhip weapon focus it wouldn't be possible to take it into astral space to get the practice to be reflected by specialization. At least that would be my ruling as a GM, and I believe this is what Glyph is basing it on also.

The automatics could stay since you could have had lots of training with the automatic, but then lost, sold or somehow come to be without one. However, the same wouldn't be true of a weapon focus. Once bonded you aren't going to let go of it (it can be used for astral tracking among other things).

At least that's my two nuyen for what it's worth

[ngfanatic]

Ah ok, thx.

I had planned to incorporate the "lost" weapon focus in the backstory but i guess mages hold on tighter to these things as my old streetsams would have to any of his belongings.

Guess i still have alot to learn roleplaying wise before my char feels like a real magic user.

[Mäx]

Oh, and could someone point me to a rule, that i need a weapon focus bonded, so that i can have a weapon specialisation in it? I mean i also have a specialisation in Automatics without currently owning one. Is that forbidden too?

There's no such rule, but monofilament whip requires you to have an exotic melee weapon skill to use it and you can't have specialization for any exotic weapon skill.

[Glyph]

Your monofilament whip cannot be used astrally, nor can you have an astral combat specialization for it, unless it is a bound weapon focus.

To clarify: for astral combat, you can specialize in a specific type of weapon foci, so you could have a monofilament whip weapon focus specialization.  It simply wouldn't do you any good until you get a monofilament whip that is a weapon focus.