[Grey_Lady333]

Hi there!

As topic says, I'm making my 1st ever Shadowrun character, and it only took me until the 5th edition lol. I'm meeting the DM tonight to go over character creation,  though until then I'm trying to learn as much as I can so not to be a total idiot. We are using 'prime runner play' and 'sum to ten' rules.

My initial thoughts going in were for a human mage, my goals being A) face/charisma, B) Illusions, and C) Don't get caught. Talk my way out, fake it (with illusions) until I make it, don't get caught.

Reading up on things, I'm debating elf over human. My memory of the lore has elves being cold, with the whole 'I am SO much better than YOU' attitude. Seeing them being super charismatic was a bit surprising. It's given me an idea of an elf rejecting that attitude to slum it out in the shadows, but I still need to read up on them to see how viable this is. Simple put, I'm torn and open to suggestions. 

Magic wise, I'm not sure which path. I was initially drawn to mystic adept, having the most options... but apparently this is quite expensive to pull off? I'm still tweaking numbers, trying to see if I understand how it all works, where this super expense comes in. It's been suggested to go pure magician for better illusions, but there's a lot of adept to help get away if things go wrong. I worry I'm spreading myself too thin, and was hoping for feedback.


Priority. This kills me, as it seems like a numbers game trying to confuse those bad at numbers. I 'think' magic should be an A, and resources seems a bit TOO tempting to use as an E with sum to ten giving 100,000 thanks to 'prime runner' rules. The rest gets a bit murkier for me. Skills seem to give you more for the investment, but are also cheaper in the long run (as I understand things). I thought to prioritize skills over metatype/attributes to have lot of magic/face skills, but it's been suggested to me that having a high skill priority is a 'trap' so I'm second guessing myself. Again I say, I'd love to hear suggestions/advice/etc and get feedback from others before I make a fool of myself in front of my new DM.


Oy. So much to decide, and I haven't even touched spell/gear selection yet. I'm sure THAT will be simple, she said sarcastically. Any help the board could lend to get me up and 'running' at it were (I'm so punny) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time, and happy gaming out there

[fseperent]

With mystic adepts, you have to pay 5 karma for every PP.
If you want an adept for this route, they have plenty of passive powers to work a face build.
They also have a power combo that would let you slap a patch with your knockout drug or mind bender of choice on a target without drawing attention.
With a face mage, you have to be careful that your spells don't get detected.
Can't tell you more because I don't use mages.

As for the skill "trap", some builds require huge amounts of skills.
Riggers spring right to mind here.
With face you want high or maxed skills in the Influence and Acting skill groups.
You want at least one combat skill.

Attributes, you want Charisma, Intelligence, Willpower, and maybe Agility.

Prime runner rules benefit gear heavy builds.
By the sound of it, you are going to want to go light.
You might benefit from augmentations.
At the very least, have a bunch of fake SINs and licenses at high Ratings.
A selection of clothes for various situations preferred.

Once you get a few runs/characters under your belt, it will make sense.

[Kuirem]

First the BASICS should help you to understand better what shadowrun is about and what you need for chargen.

Now for your character you already have a concept, you have done half of the job. Let's see what you need for each :

• Mage : High Magic, good drain stats.
• Face : High charisma obviously and a generous amount of Skills
• Illusions : it goes with Mage, just pick the Specialization and maybe a mentor spirit that fit
• Don't get caught : honestly that's something that every shadowrunner should have, sneaking skill and a decent AGI

So as you need good skills and magic (with Shaman or other CHA tradition) but not so much attributes. This naturally lead to a A - Magic; B - Skills; C - Attributes; D - Metatype; E - Resources.

The thing to remember in Shadowrun is that everyone is people. Yes Humanis says that Ork are naturally more brutal but that's wrong, they are people. Some of them are brutal, some kind. It's the same for elf, because they look better it's only natural that they often feel superior but an elf born in the barrens will likely be as humble as the ork he shared the gutter with. It's extremely different than D&D where each race had thousands of years of history splitting them, in Shadowrun they are all (bare some exceptions) of the same background and only ~70 years ago they were all humans.

Elf Face/Shaman are really strong with their high social pool and drain resist. Human Face/Shaman don't have all this charisma but they have much more Edge to start with and are expert in Impersonation. So both are completely viable just pick which you prefer.

As fseperent said MysAd have to pay for PP. However Prime Runner is extremely favorable to them because of the extra Karma you start with, you can get all your PP with Magic 6/7 without sacrificing any Positive Quality. Don't forget to pick the Astral Perception adept power if you want to be able to see in the Astral, MysAd don't have access to that right away like Magicians. MysAd will be stronger and you don't really need to spread.

For priority as you noticed Prime Runner smooth the nuyen curve a lot. Priority E is often what Mages take in standard and it is so much more with Prime Runner. If you are going for a Human it could be worth to go A - Magic; A - Skills; C - Attributes; E - Human; E - Resources. You will lose 2 Edge but I think it's worth the extra skills.

[Medicineman]

 
Elves don't need to be
>>>> with the whole 'I am SO much better than YOU' attitude.

They can be as caring and loving as any Human (or Ork or Troll) ! It totally depends upon how You want to play him/her.
Some (lots) of the Elves from Tir Taingire or Tir Na Nog or Pomorya ( The ....Elvish Kingdoms ) have a Tendency for racial Supremacy, but certainly not all of them.

ok, back to your Char

Hmmm,What about an Atztec Tradition Elfish Mage. (you should get the Street Grimoire and read about the different Traditions most of them are more interesting than the ...Vanilla ( ? ) Hermetic and Shaman)
This will surely give your char a distinct Flavor ( especially from  many of those 08/15 Elvish Shamans)
not only in Tradition but also in a cultural aspect.
AND (  ) you have quite some good and Interesting Spirits at your disposal
AND it gives your Char a Synergy Bonus ( it uses WIL & CHA as Drain Attributes and you can optimise CHA to "shine" with your Char )

I'd advise you  to play a Full mage ( astral Projection is a big Boon, thats something no other Awakened can do) and a mystical Adept ....his Path to awesomeness is riddled with Pitfalls. If you're new at Shadowrun you can make lots of mistakes ruleswise

He who dances with Quetzalcoatl
Medicineman

[deathwishjoe]

Most every one covered a lot of the basics with regards to your specific questions.  I have a few tips for people playing mages you might want to consider. 

Focii are great especially if your going to focus on a singular type of magic like illusion.  These can be combined with skill specialization and mentor spirits if you want. 

You can also use sustaining focii to maintain spells for you but try not to get too crazy as they use the addiction rules if you have too many.

Spirits are particularly powerful. Especially spirits of man as they can access spells you have and use them to buff yourself. A summoned spirit of man with armor and improved reflexes is great. Even a highish power spirit of fire or whatever can really turn the tide of combat as long as it doesn't get banished. 

Previous it was recommended that you learn a combat skill.  Mages don't necessarily needs this as much as other characters with there spell casting helping compensate with this.  Having a way of attacking with out needing to take drain though is always nice. 

As an illusionist your pegging yourself as a stealth expert and debuff king.  Don't forget utility spells from other schools though like suggestion for face work or levitate. 

I was tinkering with the idea of an illusionist a few months ago and there's a drug that makes sustaining spells only provide a -1 modifier called psyche I believe which means you could potentially stack two different area debuffs at a time providing a ridiculous amount of negative modifiers to the enemies actions. 

another bit of gear to consider is fetishes from street grimoire.  you lower the drain damage by two for the spell but can't cast the spell with out having them on your person. 

Magical lodges are usefull for ritual work and binding spirits for long term use but I never liked doing this due to the high cost of binding a spirit.