[Slayyne]

What would you all suggest?

[Whiskeyjack]

What tradition appeals to you?

What metatype?

What spirits do you want to be able to summon?

It's easy to just give a pile of numbers but some of these choices will definitely affect play style and build.

[JackVII]

What whiskeyjack said...

Give us how you envision your character. Background, description, etc.

[ZeldaBravo]

Purest mage out there:
A magic
B attributes
C meta
D cash
E skills
You only have skills for magic stuff and enough money for a power focus. Now go build it champ!

[Whiskeyjack]

Purest mage out there:
A magic
B attributes
C meta
D cash
E skills
You only have skills for magic stuff and enough money for a power focus. Now go build it champ!

I'd swap skills for meta or cash. Skills E is suuuuuuuper painful. I don't know that it's even enough to cover everything a Mage would want. Spellcasting, Counterspelling, Summoning, Perception are required at high levels. Having a high rating gun skill is often a good idea too. Assensing is good at medium levels. You want at least some Sneaking. And probably Binding (though it's less useful with CHA 1 but still useful). Depending on your Drain stat you'll also want decent levels of other skills: Con for a CHA tradition for example.

Attribute wise you want to hard cap your Drain stat and get WIL and INT to 5. You don't want to totally skimp on AGI or REA, the latter espeixally if you're a not a mystic adept, because Increase Reflexes spell doesn't help with dodging. BOD 3 is a good place to be. Dump STR and either LOG or CHA depending on your tradition (or if you're an INT tradition, CHA is probably more useful than LOG for more Binding options and better active skills).

In Debt + karma to nuyen + Restricted Gear = chargen R5 Power Focus. May need some time before you can bind it but it's worthwhile. 50 reagents is probably good. More if your CHA is higher so you can get to binding spirits.

[Overbyte]

Assuming you don't mind being human.. I might build like this:

A - Stats - 24
B - Skills - 36 / 5
C - Magic - Magic 3, 5 spells
D - Race - Human (3)
E - Resources - 6000 ny

[Whiskeyjack]

You want to be Magic A. The bonus skills and especially spells make a huge difference. Mages are toolboxes in 5e; it's often hard to whittle down to a top 10 spell list you're satisfied with let alone top 5.

[Overbyte]

You want to be Magic A. The bonus skills and especially spells make a huge difference. Mages are toolboxes in 5e; it's often hard to whittle down to a top 10 spell list you're satisfied with let alone top 5.

Definitely depends what you want to do and the kind of game you run.
5 spells is plenty enough to be super effective if you are mage IMO.
You can always get more as time goes on. Every run you complete is essentially another spell. So after a five runs you will have "caught up" to where you would have been in terms of spells with starting A pick and you'll have much better skills.

[zarzak]

You want to be Magic A. The bonus skills and especially spells make a huge difference. Mages are toolboxes in 5e; it's often hard to whittle down to a top 10 spell list you're satisfied with let alone top 5.

Definitely depends what you want to do and the kind of game you run.
5 spells is plenty enough to be super effective if you are mage IMO.
You can always get more as time goes on. Every run you complete is essentially another spell. So after a five runs you will have "caught up" to where you would have been in terms of spells with starting A pick and you'll have much better skills.

Magic A nets you the most bang for your buck, karma-wise, for a starting mage.  I can't see any sort of 'optimal' mage character with less that Magic A.

Don't forget Magic A gives you attributes, spells, and skills.  With your layout you'd need to sacrifice a lot of edge (ouch) for things that are much less important to a mage:
Attributes A - mages honestly don't need that much to be effective
Skills B - Again, mages don't need that much to be effective

If you have Magic A your magic is done.  You can take Skills B if you want a lot of skills, or Attributes B if you want a lot of attributes.  You could even do Resources C if you want to load up there

[JmOz01]

I WOULD GO

Skills A
Attributes B
Magic C
Metatype D (Choose human, put all special into magic)
Resources E (you start with next to no gear)

---------
Spend Karma on
5 spells
Mentor Spirit
Focused Concentration 5

Assuming
Magic A
Skills B
Attributes C
Race D
Money E

You have given up 3 points of edge and 25 karma to gain 4 attribute points 5 group skill levels

[zarzak]

I WOULD GO

Skills A
Attributes B
Magic C
Metatype D (Choose human, put all special into magic)
Resources E (you start with next to no gear)

---------
Spend Karma on
5 spells
Mentor Spirit
Focused Concentration 5

Assuming
Magic A
Skills B
Attributes C
Race D
Money E

You have given up 3 points of edge and 25 karma to gain 4 attribute points 5 group skill levels

The thing is is that the 5 group skills are almost useless for a mage.  You don't want them in any magic skills (you want 6 points + specializations in your skills).  And ... yeah.  What would they go in?  If you're a social mage maybe you could put them in a social skill group, but thats the only thing I'm seeing.

Also, if you choose to go mystic adept, you need that karma you're spending on spells for powerpoints instead (a bit outside the scope of 'pure' mage, I suppose ... depending on the definition).

[Overbyte]

You want to be Magic A. The bonus skills and especially spells make a huge difference. Mages are toolboxes in 5e; it's often hard to whittle down to a top 10 spell list you're satisfied with let alone top 5.

Definitely depends what you want to do and the kind of game you run.
5 spells is plenty enough to be super effective if you are mage IMO.
You can always get more as time goes on. Every run you complete is essentially another spell. So after a five runs you will have "caught up" to where you would have been in terms of spells with starting A pick and you'll have much better skills.

Magic A nets you the most bang for your buck, karma-wise, for a starting mage.  I can't see any sort of 'optimal' mage character with less that Magic A.

Don't forget Magic A gives you attributes, spells, and skills.  With your layout you'd need to sacrifice a lot of edge (ouch) for things that are much less important to a mage:
Attributes A - mages honestly don't need that much to be effective
Skills B - Again, mages don't need that much to be effective

If you have Magic A your magic is done.  You can take Skills B if you want a lot of skills, or Attributes B if you want a lot of attributes.  You could even do Resources C if you want to load up there

I simply don't agree.. If you swapped Magic A and Skills C without doing anything else to priorities you'd gain 8 group skill points and 8 other skill points.. and lose 5 spells.. then the only further difference is your edge. Yes.. if you were to buy all those edge points it might cost you a lot of Karma, theoretically..  but If you'd rather have WAY more skills and less edge it is much better to not take Magic A. Which leads me to...
I also don't agree with your assessment that mages don't need many skills.. IMO they need MORE skills than most since they have 11 magic skills to buy.. granted the 3 alchemy ones might be not be very useful, but that still leaves 8 skills of real interest, just for being "magely". So 10 group skill points could go a long way to making you a great Mage out of the box.
On top of that.. I think Attributes are the best thing to have high at char gen since they are very expensive to raise later plus they add to many skills at once and help you survive. So I always prefer having A - Attributes whenever possible.

I don't think that every mage char has to have Magic A.. and I prefer not to for most writeups..
One thing I think makes a big difference is that we don't throw around Edge as much as others seem to, so I probably don't value it nearly as high as you do.
I also almost never try to write up an "optimal" character.

OTOH.. we really shouldn't be derailing this thread.. instead let's just say there is more than one way to write up a mage, depending on what you are trying to achieve..

Given that..
My suggestion to the OP.. is try to get an image in your mind of what KIND of mage you want to be. Are you a blow drek up type.. that likes to drop people when they look at you funny? Are you the subtle type that weaves magic to cover his teams sneaky doings? Are you a healer and support type? One easy way to get some ideas is look at the mentor spirits.. Pick something with a style that appeals to you.. Will you be a sneaky Rat? Or a bold Dragon? A healing Bear? Or a blood-thirsty Shark?
Are you a once-corporate mage.. or did you come up on the streets?
Another way I write-up chars very often is to start out with a name.. like.. Firefly.. has Levitation and Fire related spells.. specializes in Fire Spirits
Once you have a concept.. it's easier to figure out what character creation choices to make.

[ZeldaBravo]

Mages DON'T need too many magic skills. Spellcasting, summoning, counterspelling, a bit of assensing, a point of arcana and you're done.
Skills A is a waste of resources and opportunities general and it is a double waste for a mage because spells and spirits can do a lot.

[Whiskeyjack]

So the Magic C mage has 5 spells and a new spell after each run. The Magic A mage has 10 spells and a new spell after each run. With these assumptions:

1. MAG C will never catch up in terms of total spells. Of course there are diminishing returns to this point.
2. MAG C needs to spend karma on spells rounding out spell competency. MAG A provides a rounded enough spell list that one can safely beeline for initiation.
3. MAG C will be at a disadvantage, possibly a major disadvantage, all those runs in terms of versatility.

You will not convince me that 5 spells is enough. Especially if you're a pure magician and not a MysAd. On top of free skill points for skills you needed anyway.

Mages WANT to have a bunch of skills like everyone but only truly NEED so many. Assensing can be minimal as it's threshold, not opposed. Low Spellcasting and you're useless. Low Counterspelling and your team gets fragged. Low Summoning and you have piddly spirits. Binding is optional but with a CHA Mage you are giving up the best force multiplier in the game. Perception and the ability to shoot ok are good for everybody, and are opposed. This list includes needs and wants.

Arcana is more than safe to buy a point with karma. More than 1 isn't really necessary til you initiate a few times and you have plenty of runs to build up XP for that.

As to the group points...I'd put them in Stealth or perhaps Athletics. Stealth would be my first pick though.

[Kincaid]

The most important thing to consider when it comes to picking a tradition is your character concept.

Second-tier considerations include the second drain stat (Int, Log, Cha) and the types of spirits available to you.  Generally speaking, Int>Cha>>Log, so traditions like Druidism can be quite strong.  Certain spirits are just really really good.  Guardian, Man, Guidance, and Task all have a ton of potential.  Other spirits can be really good, don't get me wrong, but these are usually my starting point when I think about a mage build.  So a Vodou mage can be very strong (Cha, Guardian, Guidance, and Task) if you're comfortable with a possession tradition.