[drakir]

Pretty happy with this one but input always welcome
A beautiful vain woman who can't stand a boring moment (pinching butts with magic fingers etc).
She discovered early that she was talented at making pranks and shift the blame to someone else. Figured illusions is pretty handy for a shadowrunner and they never have a boring moment (in the trideos anyway) so that's why she's running.
Drain stat Charisma and starts most days casting F5 inc Charisma which should raise Charisma to about 9.

Priorities: Magic A, Attributes B, Skills B, Race E, Resources E  (Sum2ten)
Attributes: Bod 3, Agi 2, Rea 4, Str 1, Cha 5, Int 6, Log 3, Wil 5, Edge 3, Magic 6, Init 10+d6,
Qualities: Focused Concentration rat 5, Mentor Spirit (Cat),
Skills:
12(14) Assensing (Signatures) 6+2
12(16) Spellcasting (Illusions) 6+2+2  mentor bonus
12        Counterspelling 6
12(14) Summoning (Spirits of Man) 6+2
12(14) Binding (Spirits of Man)
5          Sneaking 1 (karma+mentor bonus)
11       Con 6
10       Negotiation 5  (Influence group)
10       Etiquette 5  (Influence group)
10       Leadership 5  (Influence group)
Spells: Stunbolt, Clairvoyance, Combat Sense, Heal, Increase Charisma, Chaotic World, Imp Invisibility, Physical Mask, Trid Phantasm, Magic Fingers
Gear: Medium Lifestyle, Fake SIN rat 4, Fake License (mage) rat 4, 2xFetish (Cha World+Trid Phantasm), Magical Lodge rat 6, Armor Jacket, Renraku Sensei Commlink, Some Reagents
Karma spending so far: 10 Agility, 25 Pos Qualities, 2 Sneaking, 10 Money, 2 Contacts.  At -24 before neg Qualities.

Edit: Bought a commlink (Stupid miss). Changed to Cat mentor. Changed Lightning to Stunbolt. I'm not a fan of Inc Reflexes with "only" 12 dice. If I don't roll 4 hits I'm not even getting an extra action (statistically). That's a lot of Drain for maybe an extra action and no extra "Dodge Dice" (Raises Init not Rea). Maybe if I change spec to Health spells.
I'm not getting a shooting skill with Agility 2. That's just dumb.
My thoughts about Conjuring vs Influence: I think Binding is a skill that either should be really high or not at all. And I like Leadership a lot better than Banishing.

Thanks for all input.

[Rift_0f_Bladz]

Cha not highest stat for shaman/face is odd. Need stunbolt. And Cat might flow better with your idea of toying with prey/opponents.

[drakir]

Charisma at 5 so she can cast Increase Charisma force 5 and sustain it with Focused Concentration.
Should have Charisma 9 if dice always followed statistics....
Then it's 14 dice for drain and 14 in all Influence skills.
Pease explain why Stunbolt is needed. A useful spell sure but mandatory?

[falar]

Strength 1, bra, that's no good. Strength 1 has trouble standing up for long periods of time. Bump a point of Reaction into Strength.

Also, you might want a license for Lightning Bolt. Each combat spell is a separate license.

Small list of things you probably want: Commlink, Trodes, Helmet, Credsticks, Tags, Data Chips, Contact Lenses w/ some improvements, Trauma Patch, Stim Patches, Medkits, Gas Mask, Knife, Lifestyle, vehicle.

Some other things you should think about: A gun and the skill to use it, Survival Kit, Rope, Restraints, Bug Scanner, Tag Eraser, Crowbar, Micro Camera, Micro Transceiver, Burner Commlinks

[Whiskeyjack]

The Influence group isn't really worth it. Etiquette 5 is incredible overkill, while Negotiation without a spec can be dangerously ineffective. Leadership is, frankly, niche, and spell casters have better things to do with their actions than buff friends' initiatives, unless you're a Mystic Adept with Commanding Voice.

Focused Concentration 5 is almost certainly a waste. Get First Impression. Get Too Pretty to Hit. I'd hardcap CHA and not INT, because CHA is more important to so many pools.

Increase Charisma ain't really worth it when you HAVE to cast it at Force 5. You need Increase Reflexes tho.

Strength 1, bra, that's no good. Strength 1 has trouble standing up for long periods of time. Bump a point of Reaction into Strength.

Do it with karma, not attribute points.

Each combat spell is a separate license.

Nope.

[falar]

Each combat spell is a separate license.

Nope.

I suppose it depends on your GM, but the table on the core rulebook page 363 definitely says that:

LICENSE EXAMPLES

License	Situation
Spell Weapon	Knowledge and use of a single Combat Spell

[Halinn]

Just an option to consider when you're making a sum to 10 shaman face: Attributes B, Skills B, Magic C, Race C (elf+3). That'll get you 6 magic, while having elven charisma and good skills.

[Whiskeyjack]

I suppose it depends on your GM, but the table on the core rulebook page 363 definitely says that:

That's also really weird. A gun can be confiscated from you or ware can be found in a scanner; nobody knows what spells you know until you use them.

I'll note that however inaccurate some of the sig characters might be, they all use "group licenses," (i.e., ware, guns, etc) not individual item licenses, which makes a lot more sense.

[Facemage]

If you are playing mage/face, there are practically 3 skill groups to put those 5 Group Points: Conjuring, influence and stealth.

Conjuring gives you 2 useful skills and one useless (banishing).
Stealth gives you 2 useful skills and 1 Waste (disguise). Because you need more skills than you have points to cover both your roles, you don't have room for palming. It is useful but then you might loose something still more important.
Influence gives you 2 useful skills and 1 mildly useful (leadership). The best use for leadership (if you don't have commanding voice) is maybe to combine it with small unit tactics.
If you want to cover both roles well, you need A in skills, but then the attributes are weak. With B in skills I should select the next skills:. Ymmw.

Conjuring skill group 5
Spellcasting 6 (+2 illusions)
Counterspelling 6 (+2 combat)
Pistols/automatics 6  (spec)
Con 6 (+2 fast talk)
Negotiation 6 (+2 bargaining)
Perception 6
Sneaking 5
Etiquette (with karma)

Spirit summoning is weakest in this setup, but the spec cost only 7 karma, you can bought it later. Both specs, if needed.
Assensing is not mandatory.

Stun bolt is one of the best spells, it is direct (make always at least some damages), stun (you can later kill the unconscious, if you want to, probably not), difficult to resist (willpower), small drain.

[ZeldaBravo]

Disguise is not a waste, omae.

[Whiskeyjack]

Disguise is not a waste, omae.

When you have access to Physical Mask, it definitely isn't at the top of he priority list.

[Rift_0f_Bladz]

For non casters disguise is great. With physical mask, it sucks. Forgot about improved initiative (I assume it is on everyone's list), much better to sustain imp initiative at force 5 (super excessive) because it adds +5+2d6 to initiative. If you don't want pistols, go with automatics (spec machine pistol) for full auto suppressing fire, and they are just as concealable as a heavy pistol.

As for stunbolt reliable non lethal damage is a must, and it is always available, unlike physical weapons.

[falar]

That's also really weird. A gun can be confiscated from you or ware can be found in a scanner; nobody knows what spells you know until you use them.

I'll note that however inaccurate some of the sig characters might be, they all use "group licenses," (i.e., ware, guns, etc) not individual item licenses, which makes a lot more sense.

Very true. This is where it's best to consult your GM rather than the random morass of internet strangers. They know what their expectation for licenses is (or will have to come up with one if they don't know it).

THAT SAID, I could also see leaving off any combat spell licenses because having a license means they know you have it. And better to just use it when you need to and keep it on the DL.

[Marcus]

It's playable as is. I agree on swap physical mask for Improve reflexes.
Str 1 is fine. I don't really have an issue with running int over cha, I think your plan should work fine.
Consider swapping Influence to summoning, and grab neg 6 with spec, and Et 3 and leadership 3.
Forget guns ya don't need them. Stunbolt isn't bad and I'd consider getting it in play, it useful b/c you can put damage on very resistant/armored targets.
InDirect spells are well and good but if the oppo is tough enough they can shrug it off just like bullets.

[Hobbes]

Strength 1, bra, that's no good. Strength 1 has trouble standing up for long periods of time. Bump a point of Reaction into Strength.

With Magic Fingers and Summoning I'm not sure what activity that a Mage is going to be needing Str.  He's got less gear than a typical elementary school kid dressed for a Minnesota winter, and can literally snap his fingers to carry in groceries.  Raising Agility is a higher priority so he can at least keep up with the team, a run speed of 8 Meters per turn is slower than some Samurai's walk speed. 

You've got 9 sustaining spells out of 10.  Just sayin.  Combats of Roll initiative, Stunbolt, Stunbolt, repeat may get a little old.  Chaotic World is a good spell, but it's not a party friendly AoE, and not always going to be a good call vs every kind of target.  Again, just sayin. 

And if you blow your "Cat check" you may not be able to Stunbolt because you may incapacitate your enemy.  Depending on how your GM rules that anyway.