[Shadownoob]

So I've recently read a bunch of shadowrun stories and become interested in the system and the world. I looked it up, got a hold of the core book and many of the supplements. It sounds fantastic and if at all possible I'd love to start playing one day. I decided, for the time being to attempt to create a Street Sammy. The idea was inspired by a character from one of the stories I've read. Anyway if I could get some feedback, errors pointed out, suggestions and just tell me if it plain wrong/bad/whatever that would be great.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jnfTIk7buOW-D7ivwq0YxvBWNrjGmqv7OvXo1D3m6lw/edit

EDIT: I just remembered. I haven't changed the attributes (strength, agility etc) to take into account the cyberlimbs themselves as that is yet another thing I was unsure about how to do.

[Crash_00]

I've seen worse. Just wanted to start with that.

It looks like you've got a few things off. For instance, you IP should be 2, not 7, the base is 1 and Wired Reflexes adds another 1. You base Initiative should be Intuition + Reaction. The only reaction modifier I can find is wired reflexes which increase reaction by 1 rather than 3.

You should probably look at some more active skills. You are absolutely useless if not in a fight, and are not good at going anywhere without a fight (no social or infiltration).

I recommend starting from the ground up again. It would probably help to look at a few characters on here (Umaro's archetypes are a really good place to look and see for good builds).

[Shadownoob]

Ok thanks for the tips. It was basically a learning excersie and it achieved it's goal, I just wanted to see how viable it was.  Anyway with that in mind I probably will start again building from the ground up as you suggested.

[UmaroVI]

Yeah, SR is kind of hard to figure out and chargen has a lot of weird nuances. In particular, take a look at the Bad Enough Trog from my sig; it looks like you're trying to make that sort of character.

[Crash_00]

And remember, if you have questions ask them in here. No one minds offering advice or answering simple questions, we were all new to the system at one time. We can help you step by step if it's needed.

[Shadownoob]

Thanks for the help guys. UmaroVI, your list of archtypes is pretty useful. I think where I messed up mostly was worrying about minmaxing the character too much, basically thinking "If I'm all cybered' up and good at killing things I probably shouldn't also be really good at socializing and other specialized skills...thats what a face and an infiltrator are for" but obviously to get anywhere you are going to need a bit of skill spread out over a few groups.

Actually I do have one question. In the character sheet in the skills section are three coloumns named "A.A.", "Rank", and "DP". I have never been able to figure out what A.A. and DP are for. Could you clue me in on that?

[UmaroVI]

AA is Augmented Attribute. It means your modified stat, ie, if you have base Agility 3, and Muscle Toner 2, you have 3(5) agility so your Augmented Attribute is 5.

Rank is the number of skill points you have in the skill. So if you have Automatics 3, that's 3.

DP is Dice Pool and it's the total dice you roll. So in this example, suppose the character also has a Smartlink that adds +2. Then their DP is 10 (5+3+2).

[Shadownoob]

AA is Augmented Attribute. It means your modified stat, ie, if you have base Agility 3, and Muscle Toner 2, you have 3(5) agility so your Augmented Attribute is 5.

Rank is the number of skill points you have in the skill. So if you have Automatics 3, that's 3.

DP is Dice Pool and it's the total dice you roll. So in this example, suppose the character also has a Smartlink that adds +2. Then their DP is 10 (5+3+2).

Ahhh, now that makes a lot more sense. Thanks for that.

[Crash_00]

Wow, i just learned something. For some reason I had always thought it meant associated attribute. Now I feel like the class dunce.

One thing to keep in mind with social skills, is that you can never have more positive bonuses than your natural attribute + skill rating. There is an optional rule that applies this to everything, but it is the default for social skills. So if you have no intimidation and a charisma of one (just using it as an example) you can't have more than a +1 bonus for being super scary to your intimidation.

Charisma isn't just appearance, it's your general ability to manipulate and deal with people. Ugly people can have high charisma.\

Also, social skills are used to resist social skills, so having some ranks in them is a good thing. Some GM's may let you use composure/judge intentions to get out of conning and intimidation, but it's an individual thing.

[Shadownoob]

Wow, i just learned something. For some reason I had always thought it meant associated attribute. Now I feel like the class dunce.

One thing to keep in mind with social skills, is that you can never have more positive bonuses than your natural attribute + skill rating. There is an optional rule that applies this to everything, but it is the default for social skills. So if you have no intimidation and a charisma of one (just using it as an example) you can't have more than a +1 bonus for being super scary to your intimidation.

Charisma isn't just appearance, it's your general ability to manipulate and deal with people. Ugly people can have high charisma.\

Also, social skills are used to resist social skills, so having some ranks in them is a good thing. Some GM's may let you use composure/judge intentions to get out of conning and intimidation, but it's an individual thing.

Good to know cheers. I guess it would be pretty silly to be this huge cyberd' up ork with electrified armor and hand blades yet be as scary as the teller at a Stuffer Shack. I also didn't really consider the aspect of resisting others social skills, again it would be stupid to be the character I was trying to play and yet answer with "Yes sir!" to anyone with a charisma higher than 1 (and good rolls but yeah). Anyway great info. I am learning a lot from all this.

[Crash_00]

The biggest issue with Charisma 1 that is almost always overlooked is pretty much just that. Since you default, if you don't have the skill your roll 1-1 dice or 0 dice for resistance unless you spend edge. Zero dice is an auto-fail. Intimidation resistance goes off of Willpower, as does Leadership, so it's a little better (you want decent willpower because it's the base for your stun track). Negotiation, Con, and and Etiquette all resist with Charisma though (although etiquette is resisted with Perception + Charisma rather than Eitiquette + Charisma).

[Shadownoob]

The biggest issue with Charisma 1 that is almost always overlooked is pretty much just that. Since you default, if you don't have the skill your roll 1-1 dice or 0 dice for resistance unless you spend edge. Zero dice is an auto-fail. Intimidation resistance goes off of Willpower, as does Leadership, so it's a little better (you want decent willpower because it's the base for your stun track). Negotiation, Con, and and Etiquette all resist with Charisma though (although etiquette is resisted with Perception + Charisma rather than Eitiquette + Charisma).

Indeed, I was looking at the Ronin Archtype as well and I noticed the stealth and infiltrations skills with some social skills thrown in to intergate with the group which obviously improve the character greatly beyond "Walking death-machine with a face".  I suppose looking at my character now it wasn't really much more than a living combat drone.

[Crash_00]

It's what a lot of people end up with after their first characters. I just like to point out to new players, that a perfect run never has a combat, and that usually makes them rethink and take a route that will be useful in a perfect run and one where things go south.

[Shadownoob]

Yeah thats great advice, when creating my character the idea of avoiding into combat didn't even occur to me, even though the whole time I knew how deadly shadowrun can be for a character.

Anyway thanks for the advice everyone. I shall attempt something a little more constructive.