I've been aching to make a Channeling focused magician for a while and wanted to share what I have started so far. The plan was to focus on combat magic, being able to have a Force 6 Air Spirit fight with a party while the magician handles combat magic, or joining together to make the magician a competent combatant him/herself and have access to spirit powers. So far, the action economy is a bit odd, as the character as written is also fit to be a generalist magician and handle all magical expertise for a party (Astral overwatch, counterspelling, magical healing, assensing, astral projection, spirit management, etc.) It wasn't my plan, but I couldn't get the stats to work out in other ways.
Allocating A priority to attributes and Magic, I had to pick between allocating more priority to Edge, Resources, or Skills, . I figured Edge was probably the most useful to focus on at character generation as it can make up for the other two a little while the character works to increase skills and make money in play. As Wakyambi elves start with 2 Edge anyway, it made sense to take advantage of that bonus too. This makes the character a bit skills light and lacking important items like a health sustaining focus (to sustain Increase Reflexes). Additionally, I had the character take a non-possession magical tradition for the spirit flexibility, but as the character won't learn channeling until he/she initiates, the character has to be able to get by basically as a regular magician for a time and hopefully can.
I originally was willing to give up Binding spirits all together, but I had a few skill points left after the major skills were chosen, and with high Edge, even with low skills in binding, the character can keep some lower level spirits around for spirit tasks if needed. I also originally did not have intentions for the character to be whip-focused, but it seemed like a good (albiet expensive) choice to take advantage of the Wakyambi racial trait of +1 to reach. I'm willing to switch to a stun focused melee weapon to not have to rely on the character's low strength (it will still only be effectively 4 when merged with a spirit), as the character still has spells to sling for damage. I'm also willing to just get a gun instead too. This may free up enough cash to get a health spell sustaining focus at character generation.
So please let me know if the character seems viable enough and/or have alternative build ideas. I'd love some ideas for picking Negative Qualities, Spells, Contacts, gear, and feedback on weapon choice. I usually wouldn't pick Exceptional Attribute for a positive quality on a character like this, but I had an extra attribute point to play with and more Intuition adds to the mage's drain pool, defense/surprise tests, and helps with assensing/perception. Also remember, when eventually channeling a Force 6 Air spirit, all physical stats will be +3.
Karma spent: 25 (12 metatype, 24 PQs, 4 Skills, 10 Nuyen, -25 NQs)
Sum to Ten:
Meta: C, Elf (Wakyambi - Agility: 2/7, Charisma: 1/6, Intuition: 1/7, Logic: 1/5, Edge: 2/7, w/ +1 Reach, x3/x6 walk/run rate, and +10% armor/clothes costs)
Attributes: A
Magic: A
Skills: E
Resources: E
Attributes
Body: 3
Agility: 6
Reaction: 5
Strength: 1
Charisma: 3
Intuition: 8
Logic: 2
Willpower: 5
Edge: 5
Magic: 6
Essence: 6
Drain Dice : 13
Ini: 13 + 1D6
Positive Qualities (24 Karma):
Exceptional Attribute (Intuition)
Jack of All Trades
Mentor Spirit (Eagle: +2 Perception, +2 Summon Air Spirits)
Quick Healer
Negative Qualities (-25 Karma):
Mild Allergy - Pollutants (Mentor Spirit)
Skills:
Spellcasting 6 (+2 Health)
Summoning 6 (+2 Air Spirits)
Counterspelling 6
Exotic Melee 6 - Mono Whip
Binding 1 (+2 Air Spirits)
Assensing 1 (1 Karma)
Con 1 (1 Karma)
Etiquette 1 (1 Karma)
Perception 1 (1 Karma)
Tradition: Wicca - Goddess
Spells: 10 TBD, to include Heal and Increase Reflexes as least.
Gear/Nuyen:
Monofilament Whip
16k Nuyen for basic gear.
