[Kuirem]

What being a barbarian is about? Swinging a battle axe and crushing your enemies so that you can see them driven before you and then hear the lamentation of their women? Let's be real! Being a barbarian is first and foremost about rushing half-naked in the battle without fear of pain! Armored Vest? Jacket? Clothing? Not for me, thanks all the same, my mighty chest is to be exposed to the world with the wind flowing through my hair.

So you may have got it, that's a character build around the idea of NOT wearing armor. I think I managed to get a pretty good result but I wanted some feedback and if you can find anything to improve the character around the concept. In spoiler I will give the Augmented version but you can find in attachment a burnout adept version (burnout for that sweet, sweet Bone Lacing). The Augmented Barbarian was build in karmagen but the adept in Priority (A-Meta|B-Attributes|C-Skills|D-Adept|E-Resources) because of the ungodly karma cost of maxing Troll's STR and BOD.


Alias: The Barbarian
Race: Troll
Sex: Male
Nationality: UCAS
Lifestyle: Street

Attributes

Body	Agility	Reaction	Strength
9	5(6)	5(7)	5(6)
Charisma	Intuition	Logic	Willpower
1	4	1	5
Edge	Essence	Initiative
2	0,61	9(11) + 2d6

Positive Qualities
Changeling (Class III SURGE)
  Dermal Alteration (Granite Shell)
  Dermal Deposits
  Elongated Limbs
  Celerity
Biocompatability (Cyberware)
Redliner
Toughness

Negative Qualities
  Berserker
  Impaired Attribute (CHA)
  Impaired Attribute (LOG)
  Scent Glands
  Unusual Hair
Leeeeeeeroy Jenkins
In Debt V

Active Skills

Athletics Group	2
Outdoors Group	1
Blades (Axes)	5
Automatics (Assault Rifles)	4
Throwing Weapons	1
Perception (Scent)	4
Intimidation (Physical)	3

Cyberware and Bioware

• Bone Lacing (Titanium) (Used)
• Boosted Reflexes (Alphaware)
• Obvious Full Arm x2(AGI 7, STR 14, Physical 15) (Used)
  [Customized Agility 5; Customized Strenght 10; Armor 3; Enhanced Strength 3; Cyberarm Gyromount; Enhanced Agility 1
• Reaction Enhancers (Rating 2) (Alphaware)
• Smartlink (Alphaware)

Armor
Cheap Pants. Because loincloth ain't the fashion anymore.

Weapons
Combat Axe!
AK-97
    Gas-Vent 3 System; Shock Pad; Smartgun System, External; Stock
Ares Crusader II
    Gas-Vent 2 System; Smatgun System, Internal
3x Urban Tribe Tomahawk

Martial Arts
Knight Errant Tactical

• Broken Fang
• Called Shot (Break Weapon)
• Close Quarter Defense Against Firearms

[/spoiler]

Let me give some explanations about my choices :

Qualities
Dermal Alteration (Granite Shell)
The core of this build and the reason to go changeling, +4 Armor not cumulative with worn armor and an automatic 2 hits.

Celerity
To rush even faster into melee! 18/36 while walking/running is pretty good. Add a 3 meter per hits from a running test and your enemies won't know what is hitting them.

Elongated Limbs
Nothing said it is not compatible with Cyberlimbs nor it increase the cost so why not enjoy a 4 reach Combat Axe? Wait there is a downside : The character must buy special clothing and armor to accommodate this unusual physique at a ten percent cost increase. Ah, clothing and armor!

Redliner
I feel like +1 STR/AGI is well worth 10 karma and losing a Physical Condition Monitor box, especially since it allows to reach 14 STR!

Leeeeeeeroy Jenkins
Rushing brainlessly into the battle is a fairly common barbarian trait but I admit that in shadowrun you might want to switch this quality for something a bit less suicidal.

Skills
Automatics (Assault Rifles)
There is 2 kinds of weapons that work well with high STR. Weapons that scale on STR such as Bow or Throwing and FA weapons to use the extra RC. Since FA are more reliable I decided to make it my main ranged choice and the character can go full Rambo style with an assault rifle! If the character somehow manage to survive I guess picking some Heavy Weapons could be fun.

Blades (Axes)
Do I really need to explain?

Perception (Scent)
Scientist are still wondering how someone with such a… strong scent can have such a good sense of smell but he does.

Intimidation (Physical)
Scare them with your pilosity!

Wares
Bone Lacing (Titanium)
Essential to survive without a worn armor. The total Body dice to resist are 13 or 14 in Berserker, coupled with the 15 armor you will be hard to take down.

Obvious Full Arm
I only thought about adding Cyberarm late into the chargen, it saves some nice Karma because you do not have to raise STR and it provides some welcome Armor. And let's not forget the extra RC from Gyromount, the character can easily soak a Full Burst Recoil.

Reaction Enhancers + Boosted Reflexes
This combination is a much cheaper version of Wired Reflexes (in both Essence and Nuyen). Of course it limits future initiative Wares but with 0,61 Essence left it should not matter too much. With 14 Dice to soak Addiction Test you can gobble Cram and Jazz like candies to get to the 5d6 Initiative Dice if needed.

Adept Powers
Mystic Armor
The Adept cannot afford Cyberarm so the armor is limited to 13 but that's still pretty good.

Adrenaline Boost
With 14 dice to soak Drain it is much more reliable and cheaper than Improved Reflexes.

Berserker's Rage
If your GM is generous he might allow it with your Changeling's Berserker which will free some PP for Combat Sense or anything else that fit.

[Hobbes]

So you may have got it, that's a character build around the idea of NOT wearing armor.

Chain mail and leather armor are a thing, just sayin.  Y'know if it's flavor you're after.

Dermal Alteration (Granite Shell)
The core of this build and the reason to go changeling, +4 Armor not cumulative with worn armor and an automatic 2 hits.

So, you've got the mechanical equivalent to a slightly more predictable Armored Jacket?

Wouldn't you be better off with a really high defense test?  Combat Sense 6 Adept with Agile Defender and carry on?  20-odd dice on a defense tests seems like a fair imitation of invulnerability. 

Cyber sorts can get there too if you want to build a dodge tank.  Wired+Reaction Enhancers, ReaKt, Cerebellum booster, and Agile Defender also pushes you well in to the 20+ dice range.

See also Second Skin Armor for Loin Cloths that provide armor (and stuff).  I'm not sayin' , I'm just sayin'.....

[Kuirem]

Nah the idea was really to build a (relatively) high armor without equipping any, see the flavor text about the wind rippling over his chest's hair. I guess a dodge tank might work better (though it is pretty easy to shred through defense dices with 4+ ganger for a cunning GM that want to punish a player building OP runners) but that would be more ninja that barbarian. In practice I would probably add some +armor like Helmet (As long as the Helmet is shaped as a skull it should be fine) and maybe Arms/Legs Kit.

The second skin is not a bad idea but I thought it was a body armor which goes against the idea again, you made me think of an other one though : A customized Vitals Kit to looks like a Loincloth. That's only +1 but it fits the concept. Yay Modern Armored Loincloths!

[Hobbes]

Nah the idea was really to build a (relatively) high armor without equipping any, see the flavor text about the wind rippling over his chest's hair. I guess a dodge tank might work better (though it is pretty easy to shred through defense dices with 4+ ganger for a cunning GM that want to punish a player building OP runners) but that would be more ninja that barbarian. In practice I would probably add some +armor like Helmet (As long as the Helmet is shaped as a skull it should be fine) and maybe Arms/Legs Kit.

The second skin is not a bad idea but I thought it was a body armor which goes against the idea again, you made me think of an other one though : A customized Vitals Kit to looks like a Loincloth. That's only +1 but it fits the concept. Yay Modern Armored Loincloths!

There are lots of ways for a GM to shred either a high defense test or high soak character, or even both.  Neurostun and Manabolt come to mind.  Potentially, APDS Sniper Rifle Ambush.  So does Chunky Salsa AoEs from a 3 round burst of HE grenades.  *shrug*

I guess it depends on what you're going for here, are you trying to achieve a certain look while maintaining mechanical effectiveness?  or are you Theory crafting a high soak build without armor just because you can?  Because Granite Shell is basically 1 Karma worth of gear.  Plus you're all bumpy and are hard on the furniture. 

[Kuirem]

There are lots of ways for a GM to shred either a high defense test or high soak character, or even both.  Neurostun and Manabolt come to mind.  Potentially, APDS Sniper Rifle Ambush.  So does Chunky Salsa AoEs from a 3 round burst of HE grenades.  *shrug*

Yeah but shreding a high defense test can be done without starting to throw magician or sniper on low level runners. 3 gangers with Semi-Auto Burst will hit you hard. For soaking? Not so much without going all out and throwing Rating 2-3+ enemies.

I guess it depends on what you're going for here, are you trying to achieve a certain look while maintaining mechanical effectiveness?  or are you Theory crafting a high soak build without armor just because you can?

A bit of both but probably more of the second. Basically having fun theorycrafting goofy build. 

Plus you're all bumpy and are hard on the furniture.

Just an other bonus of Granite Shell, makes you much better at the good ol' barbarian tavern wrecking.

[kyoto kid]

...are Reaction enhancers stackable with Boosted Reflexes?  In the core rules it mentions they only stack with Wired Reflexes if wireless is activated.

Also I don't see how the Adept powers would come into play with only 0.61 Essence unless he dumps all the 'ware.

Taking Cram And Jazz together would cause an overdose reaction (Core Book P 415) as they both modify the same attribute (Reaction) and same effect (Initiative Dice).  The character would have to fend off a total of 12S on 14 dice once he took the second drug. Unless you get a phenomenal roll, He's going to take some negative modifiers.

 A better route to go would be Kamikaze as being a Troll with a 9 body/5 Willpower, even buying hits would be enough to overcome the addiction threshold. It would also buff his attributes more. (BOD +1 AGI +1 STR +2 and WIL +1 as well as both increase his Physical Limit by 2, adds + 2 D6 to initiative and has the effect of 3 levels of High Pain Tolerance.  Pay twice the cost for Pharmaceutical Grade and the addiction threshold is reduced by 1.   If he could swing the Narco Genemod, add +1 to all attribute buffs reduces any damage from crashing by 2 and reduces the crash effect duration by 1/2 (cumulative with other reductions like from Pharma Grade drugs)

Another drug to consider is Psyche as it increases Intuition (which affects his Perception, Defence, and Initiative) and with this character will last for 3 hours.
 
A good quality for this character would be Adrenaline Surge as it would allow him to act first in a combat turn.which makes sense with the concept. 

One of the downsides of an unarmed combatant is armour penetration. Only Adepts can mitigate this through the adept power Penetrating Strike (there is also a nano mod as well but it does stack with Dermal plating/Granite Shell).  Change to Blades (Axes or Sword specialisation) and suddenly his DV goes up as well as he gets AP.  This character juiced up on Kamikaze with a Highland Forge Claymore would be frightening as he would be hitting with an additional 5P at -5 AP with an extra +1 (in addition to the +1 a Troll gets) to reach. If he had a base STR of 9 (11 on Kamikaze), it would give him the base DV of 16 (basically Assault cannon damage). 

If going for a true "barbarian"  f feel firearms is a bit out of character. Thrown weapons and/or Bows fits the type more.  Unfortunately bow damage in 5th is capped by rating (you cannot get more than 12P unless you use specialised arrowheads).

[Kuirem]

...are Reaction enhancers stackable with Boosted Reflexes?  In the core rules it mentions they only stack with Wired Reflexes if wireless is activated.

They are : Reaction enhancers are incompatible with all other enhancements to Reaction. Boosted Reflexes only gives 1D6 initiative, nothing on Reaction.

Also I don't see how the Adept powers would come into play with only 0.61 Essence unless he dumps all the 'ware.

It's an other character on the same concept but with much less ware and adept power, the character sheet is in attachment of the first post.

Taking Cram And Jazz together would cause an overdose reaction (Core Book P 415) as they both modify the same attribute (Reaction) and same effect (Initiative Dice).  The character would have to fend off a total of 12S on 14 dice once he took the second drug. Unless you get a phenomenal roll, He's going to take some negative modifiers.

Good point forgot about overdose. Well you can still limit yourself to Cram for 3D6 or Jazz for 4D6 depending on how tought the fight is. Kamikaze would probably be for a really really tough fight but the +2 STR is a bit limited by the cyberarms (still useful to sprint though). You have good point on Drugs in general, with his soaking dice there is a lot to do here.

A good quality for this character would be Adrenaline Surge as it would allow him to act first in a combat turn.which makes sense with the concept.

Good idea. I would be a little sad to remove Biocompatibility and Toughness but well, he is already so low on essence anyway.

One of the downsides of an unarmed combatant is armour penetration.

?? The character is using an Combat Axe he is not unarmed.

If going for a true "barbarian"  f feel firearms is a bit out of character. Thrown weapons and/or Bows fits the type more.  Unfortunately bow damage in 5th is capped by rating (you cannot get more than 12P unless you use specialised arrowheads).

Well call him Street Barbarian if you want. No reason not to go with the big gun of the time period. Or maybe he wants to imitate John Rambo, I'm not sure.

[Hobbes]

There are lots of ways for a GM to shred either a high defense test or high soak character, or even both.  Neurostun and Manabolt come to mind.  Potentially, APDS Sniper Rifle Ambush.  So does Chunky Salsa AoEs from a 3 round burst of HE grenades.  *shrug*

Yeah but shreding a high defense test can be done without starting to throw magician or sniper on low level runners. 3 gangers with Semi-Auto Burst will hit you hard. For soaking? Not so much without going all out and throwing Rating 2-3+ enemies.

If the Gangers have 18 dice or so of shooting sure, but Rating 2 or 3 are throwing 12 dice with a Smart link.  The 4rth attacker firing a 3 round burst is going to give a net -7 to your defense test.  The Adept is the easy math, 5 Reaction/Int, 6 Combat sense, 6 Agility with the - 7 is still 15 dice vs 12.  Not much better than a coin toss admittedly but it's not like an Adept can't have 25 dice to soak too.  And 4 v 1 in a machine gun dual is actually a pretty tough encounter, it would take out most starting runners. 

[Bushw4cker]

Couple things I could think of adding, especially if you're not wearing Armor... or just an Armored Loincloth

Adrenaline Surge,

Multiple Opponent Combat. 

With a Reach of 4, your Average Guy is only going to have 2 Dice for his Defense, and pretty much anything you hit, is not getting up. If attack doesn't kill them, almost certainly a hit will knock them down.

I wonder if Reach rating should also be the radius in Meters that a character can attack targets.

 Example:  Your Troll has group of Gangers attacking him. One ganger is 4 meters to his Right, One is 4 Meters to his Left, One is 4 meters in front of him, and last one is 5 meters behind him. So with Reach 4, he could attack with one giant swing, all but the Ganger behind him.

I posted Half-Ork (Human Looking)  Barbarian a while ago. (Attached to Post)

[Reaver]

My table has houseruled something like that.

You can 'trade in' reach modifiers for a range bonus at 1:1.

So if you have a 4 reach, and an opponet is 2 meters away, you can give up 2 points of modifers to hit the target....

It works ok for the troll in the group.... but has been known to bite us in the ass too. (As NPCs can do the same thing! Nothing says 'ouch' like a mage that catches a troll's combat axe to the face at 3 meters out when he thought he was safe....)