[frenchfrog]

This is my first attempt at a character. Intended role is a utility manipulation mage, with a side of infiltration. Also, when needed he can become a backup combatant with Shapechange and Unarmed Combat. Using Magic Fingers to pickpocket people with Palming seems quite fun and useful as well. With high Perception and Stealth skills, he could fill in as a sniper with Manabolt.

Character creation is Standard runner, but with 50 starting karma instead of 25, and 25,000 bonus nuyen. One Initiation level is allowed, but no foci at char gen. Any leftover nuyen can be carried out of character creation, so I don't have to spend it all right now.

===Priority===
A – Magician (chaos tradition)
B – Skills (36/5)
C – Orc
D – Attributes (14)
E – Nuyen (6000Y)

===Attributes===
Bod – 5
Agi – 2 (+1 with 10 karma)
Rea – 5
Str – 3
Cha – 2 (+1 with 10 karma)
Int – 6 (drain stat)
Log – 1 ---> might raise this with karma so it isn't a 1, but it has no important linked skills
Wil – 5 (drain stat)

Edge – 1
Magic – 6

===Skills===
Assensing – 6
Spellcasting – 6 (manipulation +2)
Counterspelling – 6 (combat +2)
Summoning – 6 (spirit of man +2)
Perception – 6
Con – 6 (fast talk +2)
Unarmed Combat – 6

Stealth Skill Group – 5
Athletics Skill Group – 1 (5 karma)
Pilot Ground Craft – 1 (2 karma)
Arcana – 1 (2 karma) ---> for initiation
Computer 1 (2 karma) ---> so I can roll simple matrix actions if needed

===Initiation===
Level 1 – Masking or Centering – not sure which is better (13 karma)

===Spells===
Manabolt ---> for spirits, or high dodge characters
Ball Lightning
Increase Reflexes
Heal
Improved Invisibility
Trid Phantasm
Levitate
Magic Fingers
Influence
Physical Barrier
Shapechange (5 karma)

===Qualities=== (+25, -25)
Focused Concentration 5 ---> might raise this to 6 if I get spare karma in game
Mentor Spirit – Raven (+2 con, +2 manipulation)

Allergy – mild and uncommon – Cram
Prejudiced – specific and biased - Aspected Magicians
Spirit Bane – Beast
Weak Immune System

===Gear===
Armored Jacket (1000Y)
Helmet (100Y)

Knucks (100Y)
Shock Gloves (550Y)
Flash Pack (125Y)

Rest of equipment is comlinks, fake sin/licenses, lifestyle, vision and audio enhancers, etc.
Fetishes? (2000Y per spell if used)

Still have quite a bit of nuyen left over for my character to start with. Might spend on Fetishes if they are worth it for my build, or just save it for a foci when the game starts.

*1 karma left over for character to start with



Shapechange and Magic Fingers seem like really fun spells, so I am trying to get some mileage out of them. Unarmed Combat and Palming seem to work well with both of them, but are there any other ways I could improve my effectiveness with these spells? Also, is there any specialization for Unarmed Combat that would be usable while shifted, or using Magic Fingers?

For the 5 levels of skill groups I have, would it be better to put them in Conjuring? If I did, I would switch Summoning 6 to Sneak 6(urban), but lose Palming and Disguise in exchange for Binding and Banishing. Only reason I didn't do this yet is because it seemed like Binding would be not that useful at game start as it requires a lot of nuyen in reagents, and Banishing seems like it could be replaced somewhat with combat spells. Disguise could be useful with a high Intuition as well, and Palming for Magic Fingers pickpocketing. Binding could be bought with karma later I guess.

For my spells, would there be any suggestions for which ones to give Fetishes? I am hesitant to use them as it means the spell is unusable if separated from the fetish (which could happen if I use the Shapeshift spell a lot), but the -2 drain seems really nice. And I have enough nuyen to spend anyways. Or would it just be better to get the Centering Metamagic and pick up a good Metamagic Foci in game for more drain dice?

Thanks chummers

[gradivus]

First thing, ask your GM about his thoughts on the Spirit world and disrupting spirits- if he plays it as written in SG, continuously disrupting spirits vs banishing is going to mean you'll start having trouble with the Spirit world.

Binding is very useful. Who would you rather fight: a magician with 5 bound spirits and 1 unbound one or a magician that can only summon one at a time?

Personally, I'd go with dwarf instead of ork: the 1 special point can raise your magic from 6 to 7 (otherwise you'll be spending 35 karma to raise it down the road).And you can then go WIL 7 INT 5.

You don't need multiple fetishes- one can do for all the spells. Upside to just one- only 2000. Downside- if you lose it, all the spells linked to it are uncastable until you replace it.

Masking and Centering are the first two I always want to take- usually do masking first but that's just me. YMMV

You should think long and hard about just 1 Edge.

With an extra 25 karma, I'd be tempted to go with MysAd instead of full magician.
But that might not be your thing.


Unless you are planning on purposely taking Cram, the likelihood of you being subjected to it is too low for it to be an actual valid use of allergy.

[frenchfrog]

First thing, ask your GM about his thoughts on the Spirit world and disrupting spirits- if he plays it as written in SG, continuously disrupting spirits vs banishing is going to mean you'll start having trouble with the Spirit world.

I just found that section on reputation in the spirit world. Didn't know disruption is considered such a heinous action to take against a spirit; I always figured that if one is attacking you or your fellow runners, the gloves are off and anything goes.

However, my original intention was to treat my summoned spirits like equals, asking them to perform services and not commanding them. If one is hurt in service to me, I would likely let it go back to the spirit world regardless of services remaining. Give them gifts, like a pile of dry timber for a fire elemental to consume, and ask their opinion on matters, rarely forcing them to do something they don't want to do.

Also, it might just be me, but it seems like banishing is rather risky - a bound spirit uses force + binder's magic = drain x 2, so that seems dangerous when there is no way to tell if a spirit is bound or not. Or even what force it is.

Binding is very useful. Who would you rather fight: a magician with 5 bound spirits and 1 unbound one or a magician that can only summon one at a time?

I can see how binding would be a major advantage; the main reason why I didn't take it was my limiting Cha of 2 (2 spirits bound max), and the way the book describes binding a spirit similar to forcing it into servitude. RP wise, I could see my character binding if the spirit was willing to stick around longer than sunrise/sunset.

Would this be a good skill to pick up with karma later? 3 ranks would cost 12 karma so not that expensive of an investment. Or do you think buying the Conjuring group up to 5 now would be a better investment than Stealth 5? Would trading palming + disguise for binding + banishing be worth it?

Personally, I'd go with dwarf instead of ork: the 1 special point can raise your magic from 6 to 7 (otherwise you'll be spending 35 karma to raise it down the road).And you can then go WIL 7 INT 5.

Thanks for the suggestion, but ork is what I see this character as being, so I'm going to stick with it. Plus I have a feeling my GM would not be happy with magic being raised after initiation at char gen, so I'll just grab it with karma when I can afford it later.

You don't need multiple fetishes- one can do for all the spells. Upside to just one- only 2000. Downside- if you lose it, all the spells linked to it are uncastable until you replace it.

Would there be a way to believably keep the fetish usable when shapeshifted? I like the idea of a fetish, just don't want to lose some spells when doing what my character is built around. Some spells like Trid Phantasm and Increase Reflexes have a painful drain, so a fetish would really help there.

Which spells would you suggest fetishing? Almost seems worth it to fetish everything except Manabolt, Heal, Improved Invisibility, and Levitate, as those spells would be useful if in a situation where the fetish is lost. But any suggestions would be great, as I am just guessing here.

Masking and Centering are the first two I always want to take- usually do masking first but that's just me. YMMV

Alright thanks, I think Masking will be a good first one; should help when shapeshifted into a dog, making casual astral observers think it is a real dog.

You should think long and hard about just 1 Edge.

Yes, 1 edge is painful, but I wanted to round out the character before putting more points there. Plus, the book says raising edge takes no time, so I imagine I could just spend my first 10 karma anytime on rank 2 edge, if it feels like my character is running too great of a chance with 1.

With an extra 25 karma, I'd be tempted to go with MysAd instead of full magician.
But that might not be your thing.

I really want to play a normal magician first, before attempting a Mystic Adept. Plus I like the idea of astral projection.

Unless you are planning on purposely taking Cram, the likelihood of you being subjected to it is too low for it to be an actual valid use of allergy.

That was a placeholder of sorts, I will definitely change it to something that will come up in RP situations based on GM suggestion.