[DireSickFish]

I'm making a Troll Shaman using only the base book as this is our first game and we don't want to overload the GM with information. Got his chummer sheet here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7LMM--nlR65d0N1XzlwOUplWFU

Priorities: Magic A; Metatype B; Skills C; Attributes D: Nuyen E

The idea is that with Focused Concentration 4 I can cast Improve Charisma on myself every morning to have 8 Cha all the time. Our Troll street sam is going no augments so I will be using the Health Sustaining Foci 4 to keep a Force 4 Improved Reflexes going on him at all times. My first action of a fight will most likely to Improve Agility the Sam and plink away with my Pistol.

He is a former member of the Vikings a Norse themed Biker Gang that is nomadic. Being shit at driving and in a Biker Gang don't go well together however so after trashing another members Bike for one time to many he decided to try going legit with some corp work. Our GM is having the Corp we worked for dissolving our division and disposing of all assets, as in our group.

Using the Bear totem as a stand in for Odin, wearing furs, a Viking helmet , and having the Foci be an eyepatch give me my Distinctive Style.

Any advice on the character? Buying the Foci left me with no real funds so the first goal Nuyen wise is 12k for a Rating 4 SIN with licenses. First 10 Karma is going to bump Edge to 2. I'll be facing most likely so tried to be ok at that and am leaning heavy on the 8 Cha.

Edit: Made some updates by adding specializations per some recommendations. Also bought more gear.

[Tecumseh]

Anytime you're both Awakened and a metahuman (especially a troll), you're going to be spread thin. This isn't half bad, considering the constraints.

First, tell your street sam to find a street dealer and buy some Cram and Jazz and form a drug addiction so that he can take care of his own damn initiative passes. You have enough to do without sustaining Increase Reflexes on him.

I would move points away from Pistol and Unarmed Combat - which are areas that the rest of your team can help cover - and move them toward Assensing and things that they can't duplicate. I would consider specializations for Assensing (Aura Reading), Counterspelling (Combat Spells), and Summoning (your choice). Let combat spells be your go-to weapons, although you're free to carry a pistol and occasionally plink off a few rounds if you're trying to not look like a mage (although the bear skins might be a giveaway).

On that note, I'd probably borrow a point from Agility and put it in Reaction instead. That will give your Initiative a small boost and give you an extra die for dodging.

What's the story/goal for Decrease Agility?

[DireSickFish]

I wanted to grab one of the Decrease spells because they seemed like a good way to leverage my focus on Health spells into offense. If I don't incapacitate then at least I've reduced there die pool to shoot/stab me. If there's a better Decrease spell I'm open to ideas, but it would be nice to debuff someone.

My soak pool isn't going to be amazing if I don't have Improve Cha up so I don't want to be throwing around combat spells (especially without the specialization) like popcorn. Every guide I've see advised to pump a shooting skill like Assaults just to have something to do on a turn by turn basis so you don't burn yourself out casting high force spells. Should I not be worried about that?

Can you add points to skills that you got from picking Magic A? I was unsure how that worked.

[Tecumseh]

Yes, you can add points and specializations to skills you got from Magic A. Chummer will let you do that.

If you're rolling around with Willpower 5 + Charisma 8 then you'll have 13 dice to soak drain. That will generate 3 hits around 86% of the time, which is enough for F6 stunbolts or F4 ball lightning. A box or two of drain for every six castings or so isn't too onerous, especially since most encounters won't last much longer than that anyway.

It's good to have a weapon available in case you start racking up Drain and need to take a breather to avoid passing out, but you don't necessarily need it at skill rating 6. Many magicians favor assault rifles or SMGs because suppressive fire can be a valuable debuff even with a limited dice pool. Go for something with good ammo capacity.


 

[BrysenBlue]

Good thinking with the Decrease Health spell, I find most people who play magic users focus on offensive elemental spells. Which of course show up to assessing and often leaves behind collateral damage. Collateral damage which could bring on anti-mage specialists into an investigation. If a body is found or they encounter a crime scene with obviously unnatural burns or singes Corps or the Government will not hesitate bringing in specialists.

Your way however, has no visual signs, weakens the foe significantly (reducing their Max Health Track and Soak) but it also makes them vulnerable to poison and knockout gas, which means it is easy to disable your target and relocate them. Very handy. Very clever. Very original. So I praise you for that.

Shadowrun has such an awesome magic system, its nice seeing someone putting so much thought into what they do instead of relying on raw power. You will be a valuable Shadowrunner to your companions. Stay strong in the shadows. Don't be a casualty.

[Glyph]

The decrease spells are single target, touch range, resisted with 2 Attributes, and have to be sustained.  Illusion spells are a lot better if you want a sustained debuff.

[DireSickFish]

Yeah the Decrease Attribute looks worse and worse every time I go over my character. I might even swap it out for the armor spell and just have all kinds of buffs. Need to read over the spells more to see what I want to replace it with. Have to give the illusion spells a read. Any spell in specific you'd recommend?

[FancyDerek]

I'd switch Magic to B and Meta to A...

You gain 5 special points by sacrificing 2 Magic, 2 skill points and 3 spells....
Bringing up the Magic back to 6 let's you bring up Edge to 4.

Just a thought.

[DireSickFish]

Edge 4 actually makes a lot of sense, then I'm not hiding in fear out of character creation and I can throw some edge around when drek hits the fan. Got the new character sheet up as Troll Shaman 3.

I had to drop Improved Invisibility and Levitate for it but that should be spells should be fairly easy to get after our first run compared the the Karma needed for edge. Same thing with skills. I think my start gives me some diverse buffing and damage options. I'm a bit squishy but that's par for the course even for a Troll mage, and with D priority stats I can't really afford to up my Body or Reaction any more than it is.

I'll try and grow into my Mage and Face rolls during play.