[JmOz01]

Ok, I have listened to you all, really I have. 

Still trying to be a bit of everything, but reduced the weapon skills to 2 (Blades and Auto's).  I also changed the spells a little to play up on my great casting of health based spells while being able to help myself with my other goals.  As seen he will normally have one of his increase spells up depending on what "mode" he is in.  Add +3 to Agility and logic when reviewing

I did talk to the GM, and he is allowing me to take in debt at 0 karma with a karma payback of 0 (Still on the hook for the 75k).  I know the deck ain't great but overclocker should help

I realize that I have my weapon specs for weapons I don't carry.  That is in part character story part, and part planning on fixing with money after game starts

Thinking of dropping the datajack to a standard instead of an alpha.  At which point I can reexamine some of the gear.

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
Matrix Initiative: 8+3D6
Active Skills: Arcana 2, Assensing 3, Automatics (Submachine Guns +2) 4, Biotech Group 1, Blades (Swords +2) 6, Clubs 2, Computer 4, Conjuring Group 3, Counterspelling 5, Cracking Group 4, Influence Group 2, Perception 5, Sneaking 4, Software 2, 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), In Debt (Borrowed 50,000¥, Owes 75,000¥) (10), Mentor Spirit: Magician Powers: Bear, Magician Powers, Overclocker, Poor Self Control - Compulsive (Personal) (1): Clear his name, Quick Healer, Records on File (1): Sin, Shinto Mystic Adept
Spells: Heal, Increase Agility, Increase Logic, Powerbolt, 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
. . Erika MCD-1 w/ Encryption, Sim Module, Modified for Hot Sim
. . Flashlight
. . Glasses (1) w/ Image Link
. . Identity: Specify Name w/ Fake License: Decker (1), Fake License: Magic (1), Fake License: Weapon (1), Fake SIN (1), (1 month) Squatter Lifestyle
. . Meta Link Commlink w/ Datasoft: The Art of War, The Book of Five Rings, The Tale of the Heike, and other assorted samurai , Mapsoft: Campaign City
. . Plastic Restraints x20
. . Respirator (1)
Weapons:
. . Ceska Black Scorpion [Machine Pistol, Acc 5, DV 6P, AP –, SA/BF, RC (1), 35 (c)] w/ Folding Stock, (100x) Regular Ammo, Spare Clips
. . 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)
Saw (Connection 4, Loyalty 1)
Starting ¥: 2D6 × 40¥

Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Shadowrun © 2005-2015 The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Shadowrun is a registered trademark of The Topps Company, Inc.

[zarzak]

I'm not as experienced as other posters, but a few things that stood out to me:

Limits:
Physical Limit of 3 - You can only get 3 hits on various physical tests (like dodging ...) so your character seems pretty squishy

Skills
Arcana 2 - Arcana isn't used for too much at the start, I'd drop that
Assessing 3 - Assessing is very useful, you'd probably want to raise that (even for a jack of all trades)
Automatics - Even with your specialization you're only rolling 9 dice ... this is pretty low.  I'd take 2 points something (Clubs, since its useless) to boost this up.
Blades - You pumped this a bit, but your physical limit is so low ...
Clubs 2 - You already have blades and automatics, whats the point of having clubs?
Conjuring Group 3 - This is pretty useless for you. You don't get enough dice for binding, really, and banishing is not worth it unless you're built for it.  So you're essentially taking the group for summoning, which seems a waste.  Why not use those points in the electronics group instead.  Then you also free up points you put in Computer and Software (heck, you could take summoning 6 with the points you free up).
Influence Group 2 - You'll have a dice pool of 7 for these tests, which is honestly a bit of a waste.  Instead you should put the points towards the cracking group

Augmentations:
Why start with a datajack?  You can always add it later.  It just makes you a lot weaker out of char-gen for almost no benefit

Gear:
You've taken blades with a proficiency in swords ... and you're not starting with a sword.

[JmOz01]

Note: Increased Agility and Focused concentration 3.  This makes the martial skills 12.  Also the limit on weapons is based on accuracy not physical

[anchoress]

Good thing to hear, you didn't take our comments personal Really looking forward to see your char, so let's start right away

1) Don't be angry, but: could you skip the 2 points in clubs? Actually Blades 6 (+Swords) should be WAY enough to act in CC. You would save 2 skillpoints/6 karma (forgot if you did Priorities or KarmaGen).
2) The Conjuring group on 3 won't help you very much - sadly :/ I would suggest to skip it (save 30 karma) and bring summoning up to 5 (spending 30 karma). Banishing and Binding are actually not very easy. You won't come very far with a DP of 9. Only if you plan ahead for the future (i.e. putting more karma in the skill group later on) it is okay to grab it like this. But keep in mind: you only save karma by grabbing a skill group, if you really use ALL THREE skills. If you only need two, you start to save karma just raising these two by themselves.
3) Would drop Arcana to 1 and save one skillpoint/4 karma. A DP of 6 or 7 - not much difference, and you will rarely use it. It is a nice-to-have-skill though.
4) Rather then Software i would pick up Hardware (fixing stuff is more common then creating programs).
5) Keep in mind that most social skills are opposed tests. This means, that your DP of 7 with all skills of the influence group are not worth as much as normal 7 dice would be. Keep in mind that a DP of 6 would be a normal pool of your target, you're trying to influence. If you really want to succed in some social tests, i would suggest to have at least a DP of 10.
6) The physical limit is way too low. Shooting/dodging/slicing/dicing - all with a limit of 3? You will need at least 5 to make it work. Half of your dice pool is a good amount, so perfect would be 7 actually (for swords with a DP of 14, if your AGI boost works as intended).

Rest of the skills look good. Maxing out stuff is (almost) always good
And just for clarification: I'm as well the flavour kind of guy, who needs a kick in the ass to make his characters straight forward and not too much JoaT. So, this is really no offense, i'm just writing down, what i see so far!

Hm... taking the Erika Cyberdeck, hm? Okay. Then try at least to pick up the Transys Avalon Commlink (5 grants). You can use it as the master of your pan. The best firewall you can get out of your deck is 4 (3 + 1 out of Overclock). The Avalon has a Device Rating of 6, which is easily 1 or even 5 points better. For only 5.000, a price boost of only 10% of the deck's cost. Maybe this will help you out a bit (and your group, if they rely on you as a decker).
Edit: Was mistaken, as you can re-read here:
http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/rules-and-such/matrix-defenses-commlink-and-deck-interactions-datajack-to-deck/msg366908/#msg366908

But honestly: with attributes of 5-3-2-1(which you can switch to 6 slaving it to the commlink), it won't be easy. And also you can only run 1(!) program at the time. That means, you have to constantly switch programs. Don't know, if this is a good idea actually. But give it a try. We will see, how your GM will handle it.

One thing to the Glasses w/ smartlink: Keep in mind that you can only use vision enhancements with spellcasting, if you have paid Essence for it. But you can use it for shooting, no problem.

Pretty weird weapons... like i said, no need for the club. A knife is... okay (but a BIG knife is no big investment, right?). And the MP is maybe the worst i've seen so far Keep in mind that the FA mode allows you to shoot suppressing fire, which is very useful. And a damage value of 6 is very low. A SMG is not really expensive, maybe you can switch it up for the Ares SIGMA 3 or the Ingram Smartgun.

[anchoress]

Note: Increased Agility and Focused concentration 3.  This makes the martial skills 12.  Also the limit on weapons is based on accuracy not physical

As far as i know, you pick the lower limit. A high accuracy won't help anybody, who has shaking hands like the target shivering in fear in front of your gun's barrel ^^

[JmOz01]

Read example on pg 47.  Clearly defines that ACC not Phys lim

[zarzak]

Read example on pg 47.  Clearly defines that ACC not Phys lim

This is true (as far as I know), however specific defense actions still use your physical limit.  Those would be relevant if you are investing heavily in melee weaponry

*EDIT* Also, I've seen mentioned elsewhere on this forum that your primary attack should use 14-16 dice, while your secondary can be around 10-12.  You do need some attack you know will be fairly reliable in downing enemies.

[anchoress]

Read example on pg 47.  Clearly defines that ACC not Phys lim

Wow. Really? Don't have the book here right now. If this is right, it would be more then... okay, whatsoever. Next question actually is, what do you do when you hit a target in CC. Because you won't do damage with STR 1 :/ So maybe grab Clubs instead and go for a Stun Baton? Or Exotic Melee (Chainsaw) and take the free 12P/-8 Ash Arms Monofilament Chainsaw

[Whiskeyjack]

Biotech Group 1 and no medkit: still just a huge waste, oh you healed someone of 1 box....terrible.
Attribute Boost: STR doesn't add to melee damage. Read the power. It's worthless.
Conjuring Group 3: as others said you won't be able to summon anything of high enough Force to be good, let alone Bind it
Clubs 2: still bad
Software 2: still pretty pointless
Arcana 2: in practice, only important to initiate, i.e. something you buy with karma not something that gives you any benefit at start

Powerbolt is a much worse spell than Lightning Bolt. By far.

The only real way to build a decker/mage is to make a decker primary whose decking is boosted by magic, i.e. sustained spells and often adept powers. Your build doesn't work because the decking and magic are trying to do two different things but you still only get so many actions a pass. If you have 8 options and can only use 1 per pass, you're being very wasteful. It's better to cut that down to 3-4 options, of which you select 1. Take for example Clubs. You're better off running than fighting with a club with that dice pool, or I dunno, CASTING A SPELL as you are heavily invested in.

You've built a character who is trying to be a street sam, a mage, AND a decker. It doesn't really work and it shows.

[anchoress]

I think the TO suffers from the same addiction as myself, trying to build high diversified characters (skillwise). A lot in this thread reminds me of the stuff i actually do in my own...

[JmOz01]

Just read attribute boost: nothing about it not adding to damage.  It does not add to limits or initiative, but says nothing about damage.  Which also answers the 1 Str question

[Whiskeyjack]

Just read attribute boost: nothing about it not adding to damage.  It does not add to limits or initiative, but says nothing about damage.  Which also answers the 1 Str question

"This only affects your dice pools; your Physical limit and Initiative ratings don’t change with Attribute Boost."

Damage is not a dice pool. It's a static value, like Initiative or a Limit.

As it is, the only real worthwhile boosts are AGI, for to-hit, and REA, to boost dodge rolls (but not initiative). BOD isn't worth it because soak is such a cheaply-obtained resource.

[JmOz01]

Yup, your right.  Need to rethink this some...maybe replace the attribute boost with Criticals...that would be +1 (I also plan on karma to raise strength)

[zarzak]

Yup, your right.  Need to rethink this some...maybe replace the attribute boost with Criticals...that would be +1 (I also plan on karma to raise strength)

I know you're going for jack of all trades, but I think you need to cut back some of that in order to enable you to be passable at multiple roles

Completely drop blades and forget about engaging in melee.  Just use automatics and spells for combat.

Like Whiskeyjack suggested, focus on decking with spells as a backup.  That already gives you a wide range of skills; magical, hacking, maybe even some hardware as well.  You'll have spell attacks, you'll have weapon attacks.  You won't be as strong in magical combat as a focused mage, you won't be anywhere near a street sam in physical combat, and you'll hopefully be passable in matrix combat.

[JmOz01]

To much of the background of the character for me to completely drop the sword fighting, would be more likely to drop Automatics first (after all range is covered with spells).  However here is the current version.  I dropped agility by one to add one to strength.  Also got rid of the attribute push for crit strike.  Some other shifting around to have him have swords

Jack "Ultra" Lee
METATYPE: HUMAN
B 2, A 2, R 1/3, S 2, W 5, L 5, I 6, C 5, ESS 5.9, EDG 2, M 5
Condition Monitor (P/S): 9 / 11
Armor: 11
Limits: Physical 4, Mental 7, Social 7
Physical Initiative: 7/9+3D6
Matrix Initiative: 9+3D6
Active Skills: Arcana 2, Assensing 4, Automatics (Submachine Guns +2) 4, Blades (Swords +2) 6, Counterspelling 5, Cracking Group 4, Electronics Group 4, Influence Group 2, Perception 6, Sneaking (Urban +2) 4, Spellcasting (Health Spells +2) 6, Summoning 5
Knowledge Skills: Code of Bushido 3, Corp Culture (Shiawase +2) 2, Magical Theroy 3, Matrix Security 3, Myths & Legends (Samurai +2) 1, Poetry 1, Small Unit Tactics (Urban +2) 1, Sprawl Life 1
Languages: English 4, Japanese N
Qualities: Big Regret, Code of Honor: The Path of the Samurai (10dicepool vs. 4), Focused Concentration (3), In Debt (Borrowed 50,000¥, Owes 75,000¥) (10), Mentor Spirit: Magician Powers: Bear, Magician Powers, Overclocker, Poor Self Control - Compulsive (Personal) (1): Clear his name, Quick Healer, Records on File (1): Sin, Shinto Mystic Adept
Spells: Heal, Increase Agility, Increase Logic, Powerbolt, Stunball
Adept Powers: Astral Perception, Attribute Boost (2): Strength (7dicepool), Critical Strike: Blades, Improved Potential: Physical Limit, Improved Reflexes (2)
Augmentations:
. . Datajack
Gear:
. . Armor Vest
. . Backpack
. . Certified Credstick, Standard
. . Erika MCD-1 w/ Encryption, Sim Module, Modified for Hot Sim
. . Flashlight
. . Glasses (1) w/ Image Link
. . Helmet
. . Jonah Rim w/ Fake License: Decker (1), Fake License: Magic (1), Fake License: Weapon (1), Fake SIN (1), (1 month) Squatter Lifestyle
. . Kimono
. . Meta Link Commlink w/ Datasoft: The Art of War, The Book of Five Rings, The Tale of the Heike, and other assorted samurai , Mapsoft: Campaign City
. . Plastic Restraints x20
. . Respirator (1)
Weapons:
. . Bokken [Club, Reach 1, Acc 4, DV 5P, AP –]
. . Knife [Blade, Acc 5, DV 4P, AP -1]
. . Wakizashi [Blade,Blade, Reach 1, Acc 6, DV 6P, AP -2]
Contacts:
Dan the Ghoul (Connection 2, Loyalty 2)
Sam Man (Connection 4, Loyalty 2)
Saw (Connection 4, Loyalty 1)
Starting ¥: 25 + (2D6 × 40)¥

Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Shadowrun © 2005-2015 The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Shadowrun is a registered trademark of The Topps Company, Inc.

Did Change out for Lightning Bolt