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5th edition bat changeling sniper adept. What do you think?

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GunDrake

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« on: <09-24-16/2030:19> »
I have made her from the sum-2-12 and prime runner system. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4T1T7qomVjGQXZUSElxQlRzUUk/view?usp=sharing

B-Attributes
B-Magic Adept
B-Skills
C-Metatype Elf Changeling Surge Class III
D-Resources

GunDrake

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« Reply #1 on: <09-30-16/0003:01> »
Is anyone going to give me advice on both of my bat changelings?
« Last Edit: <09-30-16/0005:40> by GunDrake »

Dwagonzhan

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« Reply #2 on: <09-30-16/0157:51> »
Welp, took me like four tries to get a non-corrupted page for your PDF to load.

OK...So, Sniper.
Primary goal is settling into the background and eliminating priority targets. High concealment and Stealth is a must to maximize your shooting potential.

ATTRIBUTES
-Your currently have an AGI of 4. Why not push it to 7? You're an Elf Sniper, so make use of that sweet Racial AGI!
Since you'll have to move stats around, I'd suggest one of two things: Bump Race down to D (Edge is good for snipers though), and Attributes up to A.
Or pull from INT, LOG, and STR; given what you're trying to do here. (just make sure your total gear is less than 20kg; if your GM is keeping track)
Alternatively, if you bump up Improved Reflexes, take from REA instead of STR (but only if your gear weight is an issue; otherwise, REA is worth more than STR for you)

SKILLS
-Longarms [Sniper] and Perception should be MAXED, no questions asked. These two skills define a Sniper, and you want to be as good at them as you can.
-Assensing: Only take with Astral Perception (and it's not a bad power to take), otherwise it's obviously rather useless.
-Athletics Skill Group: 5 (Flight is included in the group IF you have it available BEFORE you take the Skill Group. And I assume you will since you have Flight at character creation. Otherwise, you have to buy Flight separately up to your Athletics Group rating, and then future investments into Athletics will automatically raise Flight with it)

ADEPT POWERS (this is longer)

ADEPT POWERS:
-Enhanced Accuracy and Nimble Fingers are good choices. Everything else is less useful for a dedicated sniper.

-Astral Perception is a toss-up. On one hand, it is always handy to have another Astral Spotter, and as a sniper you should be maxing the Perception skill by default.
With Assensing, you can identify magical/priority targets more easily (Geeking the Mage is YOUR #1 job!).
All That said: you can't do much to targets in Astral besides spotting them, and it imposes a -2 die pool penalty while you're perceiving. (I'm unsure if Optical Magnification works in Astral; IIRC,)

-Combat Sense: It adds to normal evasion tests, and gives you a chance to react on surprise rounds. Probably worth one rank.

-Improved Reflexes 3
You have Rating 1. You really want Rating 3 (You can potentially use Rating 2 and drugs to cover the rest...but Rating 3 is much better).
Snipers are combat characters, and for your job especially Initiative and turn economy are at a premium. Going first can turn a bad fight into an easy one by removing or crippling a priority target ASAP.
You can fill in cheap niche powers you want with Qi Foci later on (and much later, Initiation), but Rating 3 is something you REALLY want to have right from the start.

-Improved Ability (Longarms): This is what gives you a real edge over other Cybered up Snipers and Street Sams as an Adept.
-Improved Attribute [AGI]: Self-explanatory, and nice, but a long term investment at best.
 
-Enhanced Perception: It's pretty nice. But unnecessary if you get Vision Enhancement on your eyewear. (get contacts or glasses for the street)

-Traceless Walk
If you're an assassin sort of sniper, this can be either very useful or completely useless depending on how thorough your GM is.

-Light Body
Well..you can somehow fly (I haven't been able to find the rules for SURGE Winged Flight yet), but in a pinch this helps get you where you need to go and gives you an out against falling damage.

-Cloak
Niche use but when it works, it really works. Magical security is rare, true. But when it's present, well, even a low level Detect [X] spell can reveal most teams immediately.
If you do Paracritter or Toxic Mage hunting, this power becomes IMMENSELY more valuable.

-Stillness
You like stakeouts? What sniper-killer doesn't!
This power helps you blend in until you MOVE (specifically, move, not act, MOVE). If you manage to get dug in, or need to hide out for a while (like say, hanging upside down...) it's another cheap investment for effect.

-Magic Sense
Magic X 10 Meters to find awakened stuff fairly easily. Improves as you Initiate (don't forget to buy the Magic Attribute!) It's handy for an Adept, but hardly a must-have. Astral Perception does more or less the same job, but this works without astral forms being able to spot you back. (you become dual-natured while astrally perceiving.)


I may have more to comment on gear later, but right now I'll say this: GET A SILENCER, USE APDS AMMO, AND GET STEALTHY ARMOR/CLOTHING.
Try to travel as light as you can beyond that; sniper rifles tend to be quite heavy.
« Last Edit: <09-30-16/0356:03> by Dwagonzhan »
"You haven't truly lived until you've had a Cortex bomb!" ~Former GM

GunDrake

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« Reply #3 on: <09-30-16/1338:40> »
This is my updated character. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4T1T7qomVjGenFLaHN4UVlGT1E/view?usp=sharing
I created my character through Herolab. I have used the Drake flight power for creating metagenic wings and I cannot figure out how to make herolab combine the flight skill to the athletics group. How will I do that?

Dwagonzhan

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« Reply #4 on: <09-30-16/1558:22> »
Well, if your GM allows the Drake flight ability in their game, that's their call. Otherwise, by RAW, I'm pretty sure that Flight power is restricted to Drakes.

As for merging Flight into the Athletics Group in Hero Lab; I have no idea because I don't use Hero Lab for Shadowrun (I have it for Pathfinder, but not SR; I'm using Chummer 5 for SR5).
If you have GM permission to allow SURGE III to possess that power and thus the Flight skill, I'd just print the sheet out or make an annotation somewhere about having Flight 5 via Athletics 5.

On the Adept Powers: Well, you did take my suggestions, but apart from Improved Reflexes 3, I didn't really mean to offer those as a "must-have" list so much as an "ala-carte, pick which ones you like" list.
Many of the powers I suggested are tiered, and only really effective with 3 ranks (or more, where available) invested in them.

Stillness for example applies a penalty equal to its rating on search checks using Thermographic Vision (which is incredibly common for drones, and properly equipped corpsec); -3 to enemy searches is much better than -1.
Same deal with Cloak. -3 or -4 on enemy detection spells is much more useful than -1.

The only big exception to this is Combat Sense. While it does get better with more ranks (and the effect is GOOD; more evasion is always welcome) that first rank buys you the essential ability to POTENTIALLY react on Surprise rounds. Normally, if you get ambushed, you're burning Edge or dying.

So, sorry if I was unclear there.

One possible solution down the line (after a run or two) is to invest in a Qi Foci.
-1 Force = 0.25 Power Points
-Remember that a single Qi Foci can only provide ONE ADEPT POWER, even if it had enough power points for multiple powers otherwise. Say you wanted Mystic Armor 3; that would require a Force 6 Qi Foci. Even if you had a Force 7 Qi Foci, it would only provide Mystic Armor 3 and the last Force would go to waste.
-You can get Qi Foci as a Tattoo if you prefer. I like it, since it adds flavor and is kinda hard to misplace or have confiscated.  ;)

-Remember that you can SAFELY bond a total amount of Force in Foci up to your Magic rating. After that, you risk becoming addicted to Foci. (which is an EXPENSIVE AS HELL HABIT)
So starting out Force 6 is your safe maximum, giving you 1.5 PP of stuff in Qi Foci.

-You can bond multiple smaller Qi Foci for for splashing into different powers, or improving existing powers. This is what I'd use for minor bonuses like Cloak or Magic Sense. It gives you the opportunity to adapt as necessary, while keeping your more expensive core powers, well, on your core build.

GEAR
I've looked your Gear over now, and it looks pretty solid.
"You haven't truly lived until you've had a Cortex bomb!" ~Former GM