[JmOz01]

You Don’t Know Jack

The Corps is mother, the corps is farther, as an old flatvid show would say.  For the man known as Jack this was true.  His parents were wageslaves of Shiawase.  Both worked as security for a small R&D facility, one as a Spider, the other as a guard.  They were good employees, and soon they started producing future wageslaves.

Then one day they did not return home, the reason why was never told to Jack.  What was known, and are his earliest memories, was that he was taken to a Corp ran orphanage. 

His childhood was fairly normal, for an orphan.  He went to Corp ran schools, learned how to be loyal, how to work hard, and basically be an idea wageslave.  He showed an aptitude early on for technology, especially the matrix, so the Corp seeing a future Spider started training him.  However stories of his father’s nobility has led him to have an interest in the Samurai as well.

Then a funny thing happened when he reached the age of 13, for he showed another aptitude, this one with magic.  That is when an exec named (NAME) became involved, his pet project was a new type of “security” force, one that would be more flexible than the current forces.  Seeing a possible candidate he took Jack under his wing, making him a member of his house hold. 

The next five years were spent in training, making his talents even better.  Unfortunately (NAME) had upset some, and it was decided to take him, and his pet project, out of the picture.  The attack was quick, professional, and successful.  Except for Jack all were dead.  Knowing his duty was to avenge the death of his master, and realizing that while an honorable man does not strike from the shadows, he may hide in them he left enough evidence that one of the dead shadow runners was him (Including his deck). 

He now seeks out the shadowrunner who took his swords as trophies, but he also searches for who arranged the hit, for he does not seek vengeance on the blade, but he that wielded it.

Currently Shiawase thinks him dead and he pursues his quest from the shadows of Seattle.

[JmOz01]

Jack
METATYPE: HUMAN
B 3, A 3, R 1/3, S 1, W 5, L 5, I 5, C 5, ESS 5.92, EDG 2, M 5
Condition Monitor (P/S): 10 / 11
Armor: 9
Limits: Physical 3, Mental 7, Social 7
Physical Initiative: 6/8+3D6
Active Skills: Arcana (Spell Design +2) 1, Assensing 3, Automatics (Submachine Guns +2) 4, Biotech Group 1, Close Combat Group 4, Computer 5, Counterspelling 5, Cracking Group 5, Etiquette 3, Hardware (Cyberdecks +2) 1, Perception 5, Pistols (Semi-Automatics +2) 2, Sneaking 4, Software (Data Bombs +2) 1, Spellcasting (Health Spells +2) 6
Knowledge Skills: Code of Bushido 3, Corp Culture (Shiawase +2) 1, Magical Theroy 3, Matrix Security 3, Myths & Legends (Samurai +2) 1, Poetry 1, Small Unit Tactics (Urban +2) 1, Sprawl Life 1
Languages: English 3, Japanese N
Qualities: Big Regret, Code of Honor: The Path of the Samurai (10dicepool vs. 4), Focused Concentration (3), Mentor Spirit: Magician Powers: Bear, Magician Powers, Overclocker, Poor Self Control - Compulsive (Personal) (1): Clear his name, Quick Healer, Records on File (1): corp, Shinto Mystic Adept
Spells: Clairvoyance, Heal, Increase Agility, Lightning Bolt, Stunball
Adept Powers: Astral Perception, Attribute Boost (2): Strength (7dicepool), Improved Reflexes (2), Memory Displacement, Natural Immunity (2), Nimble Fingers
Augmentations:
. . Datajack (Alphaware)
Gear:
. . Armor Vest
. . Backpack
. . Certified Credstick, Standard
. . Glasses (1) w/ Image Link
. . Identity: Specify Name w/ Fake License: Magic (1), Fake License: Weapon (1), Fake SIN (1), (1 month) Squatter Lifestyle
. . Kimono
. . Meta Link Commlink w/ Mapsoft: Campaign City
Weapons:
. . Fichetti Security 600 [Light Pistol, Acc 7, DV 7P, AP –, SA, RC (1), 30 (c)] w/ Folding Stock, Laser Sight, (30x) Regular Ammo
. . Bokken [Club, Reach 1, Acc 4, DV 4P, AP –]
. . Knife [Blade, Acc 5, DV 2P, AP -1]
Contacts:
Dan the Ghoul (Connection 2, Loyalty 2)
Sam Man (Connection 4, Loyalty 2)
Street Doc (Connection 4, Loyalty 1)
Starting ¥: 2D6 × 40¥

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[Whiskeyjack]

Honestly...lotta wasted skills.

I get that some of it is for backstory purposes, like arcana, if you were a wagemage.

But you have 5 ways to hit people (6 with spells) and that is just absurd and it may make for a decent story but it doesn't make for a good character.

Computer 5 for what? You're not a decker. You don't need anywhere near that much for a good Data Search legwork.

Biotech 1 is trash, you're limited to healing 1 box of damage on 6 dice and you don't even have a medkit, that is really pointless.

You have Hardware and Software and Cracking for some reason, though you're not a decker and pools of 8 are more likely to get you killed/something broken than to fix anything. Seriously, a pool of 10 in Cracking is not impressive. And you don't have a deck so it doesn't even matter.

Stop trying to be a 1-man team because that just does not work in this system. Drop or at least lower the stuff outside of your core concept because, guaranteed, someone on your team should be doing it better.

And, again, 5 ways to hurt someone in the meat isn't being prepared, it's a massive amount of redundancy that will never, ever make itself worthwhile.

[JmOz01]

Actually, by design, someone on the team should be doing EVERYTHING I do better.  The character is designed to be the "Fallback" guy, that guy who is able to assist the primary, and fill in when needed (but not the first choice).  I personally enjoy being the guy who can always help, but is not the best in the party.

As for the deck...first priority is kill a guy and get one

[anchoress]

Actually, by design, someone on the team should be doing EVERYTHING I do better.  The character is designed to be the "Fallback" guy, that guy who is able to assist the primary, and fill in when needed (but not the first choice).  I personally enjoy being the guy who can always help, but is not the best in the party.

As for the deck...first priority is kill a guy and get one

If you play in a classic Shadowrun setting my question as a GM would be: why would a Johnson hire Jack? If he is missing somebody in his runner team, he will hire a specialist to fill up the gap. If not - why hire somebody else? It would only mean that a) he picked bad runner (and this would mean that he has no money or is a douchebag) or b) that he has not enough information about the run's target (and this would also mean that he is a douchebag).

If your group is fine with it - go ahead But if not, the reason is exactly what WhiskeyJack pointed out: you're a generalist, not a specialist. I personally like it to play a Jack of all trades (which could be an interesting quality for this character btw, not only namewise), but Shadowrun is not the system for it.

[halflingmage]

I agree.  Its ok, even preferable to have some secondary skill areas.  The problem here is that you don't have a primary skill area.  Pick something and be much better at it, and then pick up another area or two that you are fair in.  Don't try to do everything, you end up being fair to crappy in everything going that way.  Your team will expect you to excel in your main focus, not be so-so in everything and likely be be outclassed by the first really nasty opponent you run into, be it matrix, magic, or physical.

Also, if I were your GM I would hand this character back to you an tell you to try again over the issue of not having a deck if you are going to be a decker.  Gear is a game balance thing in Shadowrun.  You have to invest priority in gear if you want to be the matrix guy (and not  technomancer).  If you honestly think you are just going to go find some schmuck with a piece of restricted electronics worth a couple of hundred thousand nuyen, "kill him" , and walk away with a free deck like its a easy and obvious thing, well, i will just say it would never, ever, fly at my table and leave it at that. 

[JmOz01]

The deck comment was a joke.  More likely it will be using the actual decker's if something happens to him (And saving up a crap load to get a crappy one).  FYI: Originally I had taken a 50k loan to get a deck, decided other complications were more inline with the character and had to cut it (It was a hard decision for me)

[JmOz01]

Let me explain my goals for the character (Besides the RPG clearing his name)

If we think of character generation as making a character with the 5 priorities being how we focus all of are resources instead of what categories they go into

A-Primary (Decker-Hot deck, high skills in cracking and computers, high Logic)
B-Support for Primary (Decker-High other computer skills, high Intuition, various gear)
C-Secondary skill set (Decker-Some combat skills, decent Agility & Willpower, weapons and armor)
D- Good Flavor (Decker-Has some negotiations, repair skills, all other characteristics)
E-Poor Favor

I am trying to make a character who instead of being A+B+C+D+E would be C+C+C+C+C

So my question is would this character be able to do his designated goal of being a back up and helpful with out stealing limelight.

I do need a deck and think I might take the in debt quality back to get a basic one,( or play with the other priorities to see if I can squeeze my wealth to D instead of E), that is a EXTREMLY good point.  However would everyone agree that 10 dice on the matrix is to low to be any help?  That is what I am actually asking about

Edit: He is very good at one very small but useful thing: Healing spell 17dice pool

[Whiskeyjack]

I'm replying on my phone but will try to either put up an edit to this post or make another more thorough post when I get home. But what it boils down to is there are a lot of things you can do secondary in this game but frankly decker isn't one of them. I'm not sure that the aid rules would apply for you helping the decker and you can't really do it alone. If you really want to be a decker I'd look at getting Improved Ability for Hacking. Adepts make incredible AR hackers though.

I was thinking about the "why would you get hired" question and forgot to include that in my last post; glad others brought it up.

And seriously you have way too many combat skills. There's no point in them if you're also wanting to deck AND cast.

[anchoress]

I do need a deck and think I might take the in debt quality back to get a basic one,( or play with the other priorities to see if I can squeeze my wealth to D instead of E), that is a EXTREMLY good point.  However would everyone agree that 10 dice on the matrix is to low to be any help?  That is what I am actually asking about

Edit: He is very good at one very small but useful thing: Healing spell 17dice pool

This. You need a deck. You can't just say you are a secondary decker and will pick up your main's deck, if his brain gets fried. I see a problem with this - but let me answer you first. No, 10 dice won't be enough. Sadly :/ If you working your way through the barrens or a low zone - it may be okay. But as soon as you're trying to get into a normal to high class building or even fighting another decker, you are screwed. And a 50.000 Nuyen deck won't help you. The problem is, you are reliant so heavily on the ratings of the deck, that there is no reason to start below the hermes charriot. If you can pick up the Renraku it's even better.

Yeah, healing is cool. If you like it, maybe think about a doc? And this is no offense, this is a serious suggestion. Let me explain why (and what i ment with the problem above):

You said you like to be a supporter. Helping out the guys in your group. That's cool (honestly!). I like it. The problem is: if you play a "jack of all trades, master of none" you will face the problem that being worse then your opponent gets you killed quickly. Can't cast a magician to death? He will fry your body. Can't shoot the Sam down? He will crush you. Can't defeat the enemy decker? He will fry your brain. In Shadowrun surviving is really to be BETTER then your enemies.
And the second problem with this is: You don't have a lot to do on the table. If you don't have a lot of initiative, you are very much limited in fights. So you - as a player - will have long downtimes, watching your buddies (re)act. The same as a secondary decker: it's not really fun to watch your main decker doing the stuff, just waiting for him to get his head down - or too much overwatch score.

In this case: Maybe think about changing the characters concept a bit and stay closer to your own preferation of supporting the party! Ever thought about an hermetig support mage/doctor? You can pick a high Logic + Will, combine it with high Biotech-Skillgroup and spellcasting/summoning. Adding a few support spells like heal, increased reaction and maybe the concentrate quality and you will be a GREAT help for your group - not retaking somebodies place, but instead pushing the limits of your buddies into the skies. You have a lot more to do and everybody will happily rely on Jack - Master of Support

I was thinking about the "why would you get hired" question and forgot to include that in my last post; glad others brought it up.

And seriously you have way too many combat skills. There's no point in them if you're also wanting to deck AND cast.

You're welcome
No, seriously, this is a big problem with this character. It would feel a bit odd to hire him. Maybe he will fit well in a street level grey coat group, with a more "story-driven&character-centered" story line (without a lot of Johnsons), but not in a "classic" Shadowrun concept, sorry.

And what WhiskeyJack said! Forgot about pointing out the weapon skills. But like I said above, i would suggest to rethink the whole concept of the character.

[JmOz01]

I want everyone to know that I am taking your comments seriously, while I do have some definite ideas that go against the grain for the character, I have found your comments useful.  I guess what I am trying to say is that I really appreciate the advise and thank you.  I am going to go back to revising the character some to incorporate your suggestions to make it match my wants as much as possible while being as effective as the limited concept will allow.

[Marcus]

Trodes!!! For the sweet love of Karma. Your losing a whole point of magic for a datajack. Do you know what the 6th point of magic is worth in terms of Karma?
Forget having a hole drilled, trodes work just fine.

[JmOz01]

Long term plan is a whole point of essence lost to Cyberware before he is done (Datajack, Eyes, Orthoskin, etc...) I kind of did the datajack as a "Don't get use to it before it's gone" type of thing...

[Whiskeyjack]

Orthoskin isn't worth it. Soak is super cheap to come by in this game. Better things to fill the rest of that -1 Essence: low-rating cybereyes (smartlink mostly - vision mag etc aren't bad but really a smartlink retinal implant might be sufficient); Muscle Toner; Tailored Pheromones (only if you want to be a face sometimes); Cerebral Boosters (if your build is LOG-dependent or you're in a LOG-based magic tradition).

[JmOz01]

Well I have a lot of time to decide on all the cyberware.  The main thing I want is a good pair of eyes with Flare comp and smartlink, probably a vision (Thermo or low light) and maybe vis mag or the other vision.  As for the boost in logic, took care of that on the rewrite which I will be posting in the next post.