[TheKT]

Okay, starting off, I thought this build would be a piece of cake.  Mage with a Cha drain stat + face = easy peasy.  Well not so much, IMO anyway.  I was originally going to make an elf, but I just couldn't get the priorities to work.  So I wound up with: Meta D (human), Attributes A, Magic B (Magician), Skills C, and Resources E, tried to balance the two archtypes as best I could, didn't turn out perfect but it is what it is.
* Oh and the GM gave us 10k nuyen worth of gear.  So that's why it's showing a balance of  -10,000 Y

== Info ==
Street Name:  Adonys
Name: Sean Powell
Movement: 8/16
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Human
Composure: 11
Judge Intentions: 11
Lift/Carry: 4 (15 kg/10 kg)
Memory: 7
Nuyen: -10000

== Priorities ==
Metatype: D - Human or Elf
Attributes: B - 20 Attributes
Special: B - Adept, Magician, or Technomancer
Skills: B - 36 Skills/5 Skill Groups
Resources: E - 6,000¥

== Attributes ==
BOD: 3
AGI: 4
REA: 3
STR: 1
CHA: 6
INT: 5
LOG: 2
WIL: 5
EDG: 3
MAG: 6

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   6
Initiative:                8 + 1d6
Rigger Initiative:         8 + 1d6
Astral Initiative:         10 + 2d6
Matrix AR Initiative:      8 + 1d6
Matrix Cold Initiative:    5 + DP + 3d6
Matrix Hot Initiative:     5 + DP + 4d6
Physical Damage Track:     10
Stun Damage Track:         11

== Limits ==
Physical:                  3
Mental:                    5
Social:                    8
Astral:                    8

== Active Skills ==
Alchemy                    : 3                      Pool: 9
Arcana                     : 1                      Pool: 3
Artificing                 : 3                      Pool: 9
Assensing                  : 3                      Pool: 8
Binding                    : 5                      Pool: 11
Con                        : 4 [Fast Talk]          Pool: 12 (14)
Counterspelling            : 4                      Pool: 10
Disenchanting              : 3                      Pool: 9
Disguise                   : 1                      Pool: 6
Etiquette                  : 3                      Pool: 9
Gymnastics                 : 1                      Pool: 5
Impersonation              : 1                      Pool: 7
Negotiation                : 4 [Contracts]          Pool: 10 (12)
Palming                    : 1                      Pool: 5
Perception                 : 3                      Pool: 9
Performance                : 1                      Pool: 7
Pistols                    : 4 [Semi-Automatics]    Pool: 8 (10)
Running                    : 1                      Pool: 2
Sneaking                   : 1                      Pool: 5
Spellcasting               : 5                      Pool: 11
Summoning                  : 6                      Pool: 12
Swimming                   : 1                      Pool: 2

== Knowledge Skills ==
Bars and Clubs             : 1                      Pool: 5
English                    : N                      Pool: 0
Fashion                    : 3                      Pool: 7
Japanese                   : 2                      Pool: 6
Magical Theory             : 1                      Pool: 4
Music                      : 2 [Electron Wave]      Pool: 6 (
Shadow Community           : 2                      Pool: 6
Underworld                 : 2                      Pool: 6

== Contacts ==
Cassie Jo; Magical Instructor/Band Promoter (4, 3)
Marz; Fixer (5, 1)
Tina Trix; Club Hopper (1, 4)

== Qualities ==
Creature of Comfort (Middle)
Did You Just Call Me Dumb?
First Impression
Hawk Eye
In Debt II
Magician
Mentor Spirit (Seducer)
Perceptive I
Poor Self Control (Attention-Seeking)
SINner (National) (UCAS)

== Spells ==
(Tradition: Black Magic, Resist Drain with WIL + CHA (11))
Ball Lightning             DV: F-1
Chaotic World              DV: F
Control Thoughts           DV: F-1
Heal                       DV: F-4
Improved Invisibility      DV: F-1
Opium Den                  DV: F-1
Stunbolt                   DV: F-3
Trid Phantasm              DV: F

== Lifestyles ==
Apartment  1 months Medium

== Armor ==
Armor Jacket                        12
   +Fire Resistance 3
   +Nonconductivity 3
   +AR Gloves
   +Biomonitor
   +Concealable Holster
Ballistic Mask                      2
   +Gas Mask
   +Image Link
   +Micro-Transceiver
   +Smartlink
   +Trodes
   +Vision Enhancement Rating 1
Hat                                 0
Mortimer of London: Crimson Sky Suit8
   +Concealability
   +Custom Fit
   +Concealable Holster
Mortimer of London: Greatcoat Coat  10
   +Concealability
   +Custom Fit (Stack)
Nice Watch                          0

== Weapons ==
Knife
   Pool: 4   Accuracy: 5   DV: 2P   AP: -1   RC: 2
Savalette Guardian
   +Gas-Vent 2 System
   +Smartgun System, Internal
   Pool: 9 (11)   Accuracy: 7   DV: 8P   AP: -1   RC: 5
Unarmed Attack
   Pool: 4   Accuracy: 4   DV: 1S   AP: -   RC: 2

== Commlink ==
Meta Link (ATT: 0, SLZ: 0, DP: 1, FWL: 1) x2
Renraku Sensei (ATT: 0, SLZ: 0, DP: 3, FWL: 3)
   +Mapsoft (Seattle)

== Gear ==
Ammo: APDS (Heavy Pistols) x24
Ammo: Regular Ammo (Heavy Pistols) x60
Ammo: Stick-n-Shock (Heavy Pistols) x24
Back Pack
Certified Credstick, Silver
Datachip x20
Earbuds Rating 1
   +Sound Link
Fake SIN (Ali Score (UCAS)) Rating 4
   +Fake License (Mage License) Rating 4
   +Fake License (Concealed Carry Permit) Rating 4
   +Fake License (Talismonger License) Rating 4
Flashlight, Low-light
Grooming Suplies (Hair and Make-Up)
Magical Lodge Materials Rating 5
Micro-Transceiver
Musical Instrument (Nice)
Restraint, Plastic x10
Survival Kit

== Karma Expenses ==

== Nuyen Expenses ==

== Description ==
True to his namesake, he is a beautiful man with a silver tounge.

== Background ==
Sean Powell was born to a lower middle class family in the Des Moines IA area. His parents were hard working people who provided as best they could for their 3 children, his father was a truck driver and his mother worked three jobs to try and keep the children clothed and fed with all of the basic necessities. They even got him the guitar and PA system he wanted, but as hard as they tried, it was never enough for young Sean. He was ashamed of his family and the rags that they were forced to wear. He would look at the wealthy families just across the river and think that it should be him; wearing the latest styles, being dropped off at school in a Eurocar, not having to ride the drek smelling bus or, God forbid, his mom’s 20 year old Jackrabbit. It wasn’t fair!

Once Sean got to high school the divide between the haves and have-nots grew even larger. His brother and sister, along with his parents, seemed… happy. How the frag could they be happy living in this squalor. Well it definitely wasn’t for him, he gathered his guitar and the nicest set of clothes he had, and hit the road. He headed down to St. Louis were a burgeoning “Old Wave” scene was starting to pop up and joined up with a few different bands. He was the frontman for “Aztex Vigor”, before dumping them for the “Crystal Revolvers” who were really going places… until he found “Castrated Elegance of the Cosmic Fanny” who he stayed with for about 6 months. This went on for about two years, bouncing from band to band, until he met Cassie Jo. She was the one that told him he was awakened, he always knew that he was somehow better than those plebs that he had called family, now he had a reason. She taught him how to see things in a new light, she taught him how to use his gifts to get the crowd really into the show, and she taught him that there was a whole other world that lived in the shadows. She put him in contact with some really good musicians and they formed “The Flock of Theivgulls” a Old Wave band/shadowrunning group that worked southern UCAS and northern CAS. It was the best time of his life. He had more nuyen, drugs, and partners that he ever dreamed of, it was the rock and roll life that he wanted… no, that he deserved. He took the stage name of Adonys, because… Well just look at him, what else would you call him (and “y”’s are cool).

Sadly, as often happens in the sixth world, the good times didn’t last. The bassist and songwritter, Dave Growls, wanted a bigger cut of the earnings. Do you believe that? The fragging bassist, he was lucky to get the castoffs that Adonys didn’t have time for, Adonys was the lead singer and the guitarist, they would be nothing without him. The band decided to let him go, and Adonis had burned too many bridges, nobody would hire him. “Frag it!”, he was too good for this dump anyways, so he gathered up his gear and his wardrobe, got an advance from Cassie and hopped a flight to Seattle. There’s a new scene starting up in Renton and he heard about this club that was opening soon, he just hoped the people there would be more appreciative of his talents.

[Whiskeyjack]

Summoning 1 and Banishing 1 are pretty much useless. And you want to buy Arcana with karma not skill points.

You have a bunch of skills that require opposed tests with meager dice pools. And like I get that Performance is fluffy and can actually be useful but you have some skill deficiencies you may want to cover before grabbing fluffy skills.

Summoning is so core to what makes mages amazing that you will regret having it at 1. Ditto being a CHA Mage without Binding.

You'd be better off going MAG A and cutting attributes, mostly from LOG with a little AGI and REA. This nets you more Edge, more magic skills, and more spells.

Find a way to afford some reagents.

Manabolt < Stunbolt. MAG A would also let you get Levitate and Ball Lightning.

[TheKT]

Okay, took some of Whiskeyjack's advice, let me know what you think of the redo.  Thanks.

[Whiskeyjack]

What did you spend karma on?

Astral Combat is a bad skill and also useless at level 1. Banishing is a bad skill no matter what level. Both skills are obviated by one spell: Stunbolt. Yeah it sucks but that's how it is. You want Binding and Summoning at 6 if you want to get Force 5+ spirits because they're opposed tests against probably comparable dice pools and you need every die you can get.

Otherwise I think it looks good.

[TheKT]

Spent karma on 2 logic and a few different skills.  I realize that my rank 1 skills aren't the most optimized, but most of the one's I bought are one's that you can't default on, so I thought that if I really needed to use them I could spend some edge and at least have a chance of succeeding.  I'm really bad at optimizing, I always want to spread myself too thin.  I'll take another crack at it in a bit.  Thanks for your help.

[Whiskeyjack]

No worries. My point with a couple of the 1s specifically is that you don't need Arcana til you actually want to initiate, and Astral Combat is both an opposed roll and a really bad skill that you would never want to use instead of Stunbolt anyway.

[Pap Renvela]

If your GM plays Spirit disruption as being a big no-no as in Street Grimoire- Banishing has a use. But most GM's have ignored it(along with a lot of other questionable things in SG).
If disruption doesn't cause negative effects-yeah, stunbolt.

Melee and it's astral equivalence(astral combat) really aren't all that great this edition. So yeah, stunbolt.

And I'd wish people would delete the lines of skills they have no points in so its easier on the eyes.

[TheKT]

And I'd wish people would delete the lines of skills they have no points in so its easier on the eyes.

I will definitely do that in the future. It is a bit wall-o-texty.

[TheKT]

Okay, I've changed some more stuff around.  I had to drop back to the Magic B and just raise it to 6 with the Special Attribute points.  It was really hard to leave so many 0's in the skills, but both mages and faces are a huge skill point sink, so it had to be done.  I know I lost some spell utility, but I can't figure out a way to do it with out limiting myself too much in another area. 

This was a really tough build for me, I went in expecting to knock it out in about 15 minutes, it's now 12 hours later and I'm still banging my head into a wall.  I really appreciate all of the help guys. 

[Pap Renvela]

Here's a version of your concept but as a mystic adept to increase Face mod and Def Mod.

The Faceless Face
Metatype: E - Human(1)               
Attributes: B - 20 Attributes               
Special: A - Mystic Adept 10 Spells 2 Rating 5 Magic Skills               
Skills: B - 36\5               
Resources: E - 6,000¥               
               
BOD: 3               
AGI: 4               
REA: 3               
STR: 1               
CHA: 6               
INT: 5               
LOG: 2               
WIL: 5               
EDG: 3               
MAG: 6               
               
Qualities               25
Creature of Comfort(Middle)               10
Did You Just Call me Dumb?               3
Faceless               6
Focused Concentration [1]               -4
JOAT               -2
Mentor Spirit(Seducer)               -5
Mystic Adept (Black Magic)               
Power Points               -30
Sinner National (UCAS)               5
               8
               
Spells               
Any 7 you want, plus:               
Heal               
Increase Reflexes               
Stunbolt               
               
               
Adept Powers               
Authoratative Tone [3]         1.5PP      
Combat Sense[6]         3PP      
Commanding Voice          1PP      
Facial Sculpt         .25PP      
Improved Sense(Ultrasound)         .25Pp      
               
Skills               
Con[Fast Talk] 6[+2]               
Spellcasting 6               
Counterspelling 6               
Summoning 6               
Binding 6               
Perception [Visual] 6[+2]
Pistols[Semi-automatics] 6[+2]               
Influence SG 1               
Stealth SG 4
There's 1 more skill point-I'd use it for a specialization in Spellcasting.               

Use JOAT post chargen to buy up all the low rating skills that are missing such as    Arcana, Assensing, Impersonation, Intimidation etc.   

There's 8 Karma avalable (and there's room for 6 more with a negative quality)   

[Tarislar]

Okay, I've changed some more stuff around.  I had to drop back to the Magic B and just raise it to 6 with the Special Attribute points.  It was really hard to leave so many 0's in the skills, but both mages and faces are a huge skill point sink, so it had to be done.  I know I lost some spell utility, but I can't figure out a way to do it with out limiting myself too much in another area. 

This was a really tough build for me, I went in expecting to knock it out in about 15 minutes, it's now 12 hours later and I'm still banging my head into a wall.  I really appreciate all of the help guys. 

Go back to Magic-A + Human-E
You'll have the same Magic/Edge but 3 more spells & 2 more skill points.


To really do this combo right you end up being very weak physically.

My suggestion would be.
A-Magic
B-Skills
B-Attributes
E-Meta
E-Cash


Group-Influence-5
Assensing-6
Con-6S-FastTalk
Binding-6S-Pickone
Counterspelling-6S-Manipulation
Perception-6
Spellcasting-6S-Manipulation
Summoning-6


OR
You could also drop 4 more Attributes down to C and then have Skills-A.
This gives you more Influence + 4 Ranks of Group-Stealth
Finally you get a Gun skill & add specializations to everything that doesn't already have one.

[Facemage]

In Shadowrun you can easily create a single role character. Two role characters are always somehow weak, your character has typically several holes. One of the most popular two role character is face/mage, which is still difficult to build. However, below is a straight copy from my old comment in this forum. Feel free to use it if you want to build an elf face/mage. The weaknesses of this build are: no money, low edge, two 1 in attributes, low physical stats.

Here is "the classic optimized face/mysad" build. I put here only ideas, e.g. final selection of the options depends on your gm, team and  campaign.
I put it here, if you want to take some ideas from it to your build:

A: Magic
B: Skills
C: Attributes
D: Metatype (elf)
E: Resources

Bod: 3
Agi: 2
Rea: 2 (5)
Str: 1
Wil: 5
Log: 1
Int: 5
Cha: 8
Edge: 1
Dodge pool: 11
Drain pool: 13
Inititative: 10+4d6

Skills:
Conjuring skill group 5
Counterspelling 6 (+2 combat)
Spellcasting 6 (+2 specialization)
Con 6 (+2 fast talk)
Negotiation 6 (+2 bargaining)
Perception 6
Sneaking 6
Pistols/Automatics 6 (this is optional)
Buy couple levels etiquette, intimidation, arcana and assensing after char gen (after jack of all trades).

Positive qualities:
Select from the following qualities (20 karma total):
Mentor spirit 5
Focused concentration 1-5 4-20
Too pretty to hit 2
Witness my hate 7
Quick healer 3
Jack of all trades 3

Adept powers:
Improved reflexes 3 (2 is not enough, your physical limit is only 3 in that case).
Combat sense 1
2 points remaining to put somewhere depending on your preferences.
Good choices:
Attribute boost agility 1-2,
Improved physical attribute (if you want to take spiritual way later, and your gm rules it such that you can initiate to arts without magician's way. In this case you don't need mentor spirit in the beginning)
Heightened concern
More combat sense
Astral perception (if you need it just after char gen and do not have time (i.e. couple runs) to get the qi focus)

Spells:
Physical mask
Influence
Stun bolt
Heal
Levitate
Chaotic world/ Hot potato/Stench
Improved invisibility

3 spell remaining.
Good choices:
Lightning ball
Mana barrier
Magic fingers
Blast
Clout
More area illusion spells (look at the options above)
Increase willpower (use before spirit summoning)

Karma after char gen:
Edge, rise str and log to 2 (10 karma each)
Skills mentioned above
Missing positive qualities
Foci, inititations.

[Pap Renvela]

Facemage
I'm pretty certain he wants a human,,,but your elf looks good.

[Facemage]

Thanks! He said that he tried first to build an elf. The elf is still possible if you know what you are doing. Moreover, it's easy to change the race in this build to human.

[TheKT]

Thanks for all the assistance guys. Like I said, it's really hard for me to dump so many skills and attributes, I feel so dirty doing it, but I guess you kind of have to with this build. The game starts today, so I'll take one more crack at it in a bit.  I know that a mystic adept would probably work out better for this character, but I'm the only magic user, so I thought that a pure Mage would be better as it would allow me to do some astral recon.  is that enough of a reason in your guys opinion, or is it not worth it?  Again, I really appreciate the advice you guys have given me.