You think you had it hard growing up in the gutter and having to eat from trash bins? Think again chumps, those guys has living through some of the most extreme environment and they often wished they had bins to eat from. Will it be enough to survive in the shadows?While shifting through Chrome Flesh I have realised that a lot of stuff is rarely seen on players because they are quite niche. So I decided to build some characters that wouldn't come from the usual Seattle street gutter background but from other part of the world where there are reasons for them to be equipped with this stuff but I tried to build them to still be efficient as runners.
Any comments or suggestions is welcome. The full sheet, and chummer files, are available
HERE.
Check the full sheets for gears.
Bucky Aquilo, the Winter SoldierKenneth Kendrick did come from the gutter in Seattle but at 16 years old he got into the UCAS army (it wasn't hard for an ork to fake his age at that time), there he had food and shelter at least. He was send in Siberia, some officer probably though he looked slavic enough with his blond hair and blue eyes. There was always a war to be fought over there, against natives, against some rebels, against rogue mages… Until one day, 22 years later, war was over. A large sum of Nuyen has changed hand and the U.C.A.S. would leave the place for some other mercenaries army.
Back in Seattle, Kenneth was thanked, medaled and put back to the civil life with a fund for his services on account on being too old to be redeployed. But Kenneth wasn't ready for the civil life, he still wanted to fight.
He joined the Lone Star fro a while but it wasn't the same, just patrols and controlling civilians. One of his old contacts from the military took contact with him during this period. He had a job where they needed some muscle and he thought of him. It was his first shadowrun and he immediatly knew it was what he longed for.ConceptSomething simple to start, a Gunner with some skills/wares to survive the cold. While building the character I realized that I had picked only Ares guns so I decided I might as well give him the Brand Loyalty
Character Summary
Metatype: Ork
Name: Kenneth Kendrick
Alias: Aquilo
Sex: Male
Age: 38
Attributes
| BOD | AGI | REA | STR | CHA | INT | LOG | WIL | EDG |
| 5 | 6 (9) | 3 (5) | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
Qualities- Brand Loyalty (Ares)
- Guts
- High Pain Tolerance (Rating 1)
- Trust Fund I
- Flashbacks I
- Insomnia (Basic)
- Sinner (National) (U.C.A.S.)
Active Skills- Firearms: 5
- Blades: 4
- Heavy Weapon: 1
- Perception (Visual): 5
- Sneaking (Polar): 4
- Survival (Polar): 6
- Tracking (Polar): 5
- Etiquette (Military): 5
- Pilot Ground Craft: 2
Knowledge Skills- English: N
- Russian: 2
- Small Unit Tactics (Polar): 5
- Military (Army): 2
- Alcohol: 1
Cyberware/Bioware- Biowaste Storage (Rating 6)
- Bone Lacing (Aluminum)
- Datajack
- Nutrition Storage System (Rating 6)
- Smartlink
- Cold Adaptation
- Muscle Toner (Rating 3)
- Neo-EPO
- Orthoskin (Rating 2)
- Penguin Blubber
- Synaptic Booster (Rating 2)
[/spoiler]
Cambium, the Tree ChangelingCambium itself has forgot his exact origin. He was part of a small group of metahumans that decided to go back to nature because technology was corrupting humanity (or something like that). They traveled to the jungles in south america and tried to survive there by themselves. Some of them did manage to survive the disease, fauna and flora that were trying to kill them. In 2061, after the passing of the Haley's Comet, Cambium body started to change. Its skin took a bark-like appearance, its hair almost looked like leaves and his body grew to spectacular proportions. Its companions freaked out, thinking it was some kind of curse from God/Mother Nature/Whatever because he had use technology and banned him from the camp.
With its new appearance and physical attributes, Cambium had no problem surviving alone in the jungle, growing closer to nature. Most natives who spotted him thought he was some kind of forest spirit. It lived in peace like that for a while but one day a group of explorer heard of it and decided to capture it. Cambium's strength wasn't enough to fight the technology of the explorers and it was captured and sold to a circus for a freak show. He was prisoner and traveled through north america with the circus and they modified his body to make it looks like even more freaky. After five years, it finally managed to escape and hide in Seattle.
In Seattle its looks got it the sympathy of a group of political activists that hide it for a while. With some clothes Cambium realized that it could pass for a Troll and live a "normal" life in the shadows. It was still hard to find a job but its exceptional constitution made it ideal to be a Shadowrunner.ConceptCambium is a mix of a lot of things I wanted to try: A giant tree-like changeling (at first it was an elf but they can't take Metahuman Trait for Gigantism), a user of Bone Spike, a mix of face and sammy, and an archer. I build it before the idea of survivalist but I thought it fitted just right for the Jungle one.
Character Summary
Metatype: Human
Name: Unknown
Alias: Cambium
Sex: Male?
Age: 40?
Attributes
| BOD | AGI | REA | STR | CHA | INT | LOG | WIL | EDG |
| 5 | 5 (8 ) | 2 (3) | 7 (10) | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Qualities- Changeling (Class III SURGE)
- Dermal Alteration (Bark Skin)
- Elongated Limbs
- Metagenetic Improvement (STR)
- Metahuman Traits (Gigantism)
- Bioluminescence
- Cold-Blooded
- Impaired Attribute (LOG)
- Symbiosis
- Unusual Hair
- Restricted Gear (Bone Spike)
- Toughness
- Allergy (Common, Mild) (Fire)
- Phobia (Common, Moderate) (Fire)
- Uneducated
Active Skills- Influence: 2
- Archery (Bow): 5
- Unarmed Combat (Bio-Weapons): 3
- Perception (Visual): 3
- Sneaking (Jungle): 5
- Survival (Jungle): 1
- Performance: 2
- Intimidation: 4
Knowledge Skills- English: N
- Circus (Freak Show): 3
- Botany (Jungle Flora): 4
- Parazoology (South America): 2
Cyberware/Bioware- Reaction Enhancers (Rating 1)
- Wired Reflexes (Rating 1)
- Bone Density Augmentation (Rating 2)
- Bone Spike
- Muscle Augmentation (Rating 3)
- Muscle Toner (Rating 3)
- Solus
- Spur Pocket
[/spoiler]
Febreze, the Anti-Toxic AdeptFebreze was a slave in a camp situated somewhere in North America. The camp was used as a breeding ground to test, grow and develop Bioware. They would fit their body with Bioware and send them in highly toxic area to test them. They also had to scavenge whatever they could find because these areas where so toxic that drones would lose connections. If a group died a new one would be send to quickly retrieve them, even Chem Suit weren't much use against the toxicity of the area. Of course from time to time a slave would tried to escape but the lucky one would quickly be killed by guards or drones patrolling the area.
Febreze proved to be quite tough and survived an impressive number of expeditions. After a particularly nasty one he started to get sicker than ever, sicker than everyone has ever been in the camp in fact. His scream of pain scared all the other slaves and guards and they wouldn't dare to get into his shack. After a full day the screaming stopped and shortly after Febreze got out, bloody but surprisingly fine. The doctor of the camp examined him but most of his injuries were self-inflicted during the painful episode, no trace of toxins or radiations. He took some samples and send them to a bigger lab for more in-depths analysis and Febreze was send back with the others.
What the doctor of the camp didn't realize was that Febreze had awakened. The camp didn't have a mage because they were never the target of magical threat (at least not one that couldn't be solved with bullets), the reason is that they were feeding the toxic spirits of the area by sending them slave after slave. When Febreze got sick it wasn't just his body that was fighting the poison but his soul as well, assailled by Toxic spirits that were trying to make him their thrall. But Febreze resisted and he found the strength to do so in a mentor spirit that is everywhere, even here in this polluted area: Moutain was drawn by his Willpower and lend him his strength to fight back the spirits.
For some weeks Febreze kept going into expedition without showing any sign of weaknesses against the pollution and bringing back his whole team every time. Of course it was because he was there to fight back the spirits. Meanwhile he joined a small group of slaves that were planning a big escape by blowing up the guard camp as a distraction. The plan worked, too well, with all the pollutant around almost the whole camp exploded, killing a lot of guards and slaves. But the group didn't have time to look for survivor, it was their only chance to escape.
Febreze walked through North America for a while, tracking and killing Toxic Spirits everywhere he found them until his steps got him to Seattle. Here he started working in the shadows while keeping his never-ending duty.ConceptBuilding a character with only 18 Skill points is tricky but not impossible, and Febreze is the proof. He has all the basic skills to survive in the shadows.
It's a Drain Adept with 14 drain dice and relying on Adrenaline Boost rather than Improved Reflexes for initiative. I really like the Spirit Claw adept power and was planning to build a character with that for a while so here it is.
Character Summary
Metatype: Dwarf
Name: Luan Goncalves Dias
Alias: Febreze
Sex: Male
Age: 24
Attributes
| BOD | AGI | REA | STR | CHA | INT | LOG | WIL | EDG | MAG |
| 7 | 5 | 3 | 7 (8 ) | 2 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 5 |
Qualities- Adept
- Mentor Spirit (Moutain)
- Prototype Transhuman
- Quick Healer
- Rad-Tolerant
- Resistance to Toxins
- Asthma
- Astral Beacon
- Big Regret (blowing up the slave camp)
- Driven
Active Skills- Etiquette (Street): 3
- Perception (Visual): 5
- Sneaking: 2
- Survival: 2
- Throwing Weapons (Blades): 5
- Unarmed Combat: 6
Knowledge Skills- Magical Threats (Toxic Magic): 5
- English: N
- Parazoology (N. America): 3
- Music (Powernoize): 1
Cyberware/Bioware- Internal Air Tank (Rating 2)
- Orthoskin (Rating 2)
- Chemical Repulsion
- Muscle Augmentation (Rating 1)
- Toxin Extractor (Rating 2)
Adept Powers- Adrenaline Boost (Rating 4)
- Astral Perception
- Attribute Boost (AGI) (Rating 3)
- Combat Sense (Rating 1)
- Elemental Strike (Fire)
- Killing Hands
- Mystic Armor (Rating 1)
- Natural Immunity (Rating 2)
- Spirit Claw
[/spoiler]
Hyena, the Desert MageHyena is a mercenary and a bounty hunter that use to operate in the north of Africa, mostly in desertic area. Life was hard but the pay was good, especially for a mage like her, Desert might not host a lot of physical life but from the astral there is a lot of threats between awakened critters and insect spirits.
Her last mission was to clean a nest of Insect Spirits hidden in a small oasis in the middle of the sahara. The job was hard and they lost people in there but they found a treasure. The insect shamans were gathering a fortune here: Foci, Diamonds, Petrols… everything of value they could raid from around. The mercenary took all they could as payment (since they weren't planning to go back to their employer after that) and got away. It was enough for all of them to retire but it wasn't enough for one of her teammate, an Ork nicknamed Sandstorm. During the night and taking advantage of the weakened mage from the fight he put a bullet in everyone head, left them to rot in the middle of the desert and got away with the treasure.
By sheer luck Hyena survived, in the night Sandstorm had missed her brain but caused enough damage to kill her if it wasn't for her magic. She crossed the desert for countless days with the help of her magic and her spirits, determined to survive and track down Sandstorm. Once she finally got through the desert and after resting from her strenuous trip she kept following the trail of money Sandstorm left behind him to get away from the country.
During one year she traveled through the world behind him, she didn't have the nuyen to move as quickly as he did but she finally catch up with him in Seattle where it seems he plan to settle down. But Seattle is big and Hyena needs money until she can find his exact location, so for now it's shadow work.ConceptWhen you think about it Personal Warmth and Hydrate are absolutely awesome spells to survive everywhere but they are rarely taken by runners because these situation rarely arise in the game.
I also wanted to build a mage that use Shape [Material] to create golems with spirits in them. I assume that once the spirit is in the golem it should keep its shape even if the spell end as long as the spirit is in there.
Character Summary
Metatype: Elf
Name: Nitetis Halim
Alias: Hyena
Sex: Female
Age: 32
Attributes
| BOD | AGI | REA | STR | CHA | INT | LOG | WIL | EDG | MAG |
| 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
Qualities- Magician
- Mentor Spirit (Wolf)
- Focused Concentration (Rating 4)
- Group Contacts : Bounty Hunter (Connection 3)
- Astral Beacon
- Did You Just Call Me Dumb?
- Spirit Bane (Insect)
- Vendetta (Sandstorm)
Active Skills- Influence: 5
- Assensing: 3
- Counterspelling: 1
- Navigation: 3
- Perception (Hearing): 5
- Sneaking (Desert): 3
- Spellcasting (Combat): 5
- Summoning: 5
- Survival (Desert): 2
- Tracking (Desert): 3
Knowledge Skills- Arabic: N
- English: 4
- Mercenary Groups: 4
- Magical Threats (Insect Spirits): 3
- Religion (Islam): 3
SpellsTradition: Egyptian; WIL + INT = 11 Drain
- Acid Stream
- Blast
- Stunbolt
- Detect Magic, Extended
- Heal
- Hydrate
- Increase Reflexes
- Personal Warmth
- Improved Invisibility
- Physical Barrier
- Shape [Material] (Sand)
[/spoiler]
Jojo, the Computer Illiterate TechnomancerDuring the night of rage, Joanna's father ran away from Seattle after his wife was murdered to try to save their baby. He hid in the mountain in the north of Seattle and managed to survive there, hunting for his food and maintaining minimal contact with the villages around the mountain.
It's not unusual for a child to have imaginary friends but Joanna's friends seemed to be more than just imagination, sometime the radio would start to make strange noise or glitches would appear on her father old goggles. Joanna herself would pick up strange noise, in particular when planes flew their shack. Away from all civilization the father and daughter never heard about technomancers so they kept living their life ignoring the true nature of her strange powers.
When her father died, Joanna couldn't bear staying alone in the moutain and decided that it was high time for her to join the civilization. Taking the nickname of one of her favorite heroes from the old mangas her father had in the shack she made the long trip back to Seattle carrying the old hunting rifle of her father.ConceptA troll technomancer is already a rare sight, but a troll technomancer computer illiterate? This is madness! And yet here it is. Of course the character as a lot of growth potential, assuming she survives long enough.
Lightning Reflexes is a somewhat weird quality, expensive and easily replaced by Cram but for a character that lived in the wild for so long I think it fitted well and it give her a edge in meat fights. Along with Machine Sprites she should be able to hold her own.
I know that she didn't have any social skills but given that she lived all her life alone with her dad in the moutain, let's just say that Mountain Goats don't have much conversation.
Character Summary
Metatype: Troll
Name: Joanna Goudy
Alias: Jojo
Sex: Female
Age: 34
Attributes
| BOD | AGI | REA | STR | CHA | INT | LOG | WIL | EDG | RES |
| 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
Qualities- Technomancer
- Lightning Reflexes
- Outdoorsman
- Bad Luck
- Computer Illiterate
- Motion Sickness
Active Skills- Outdoors: 2
- Animal Handling: 4
- Blades (Knives): 4
- Gymnastics (Climbing): 2
- Longarms (Shotguns): 5
- Perception (Visual): 5
- Sneaking (Mountain): 4
- Software: 2
- Compiling: 5
- Registering: 6
Knowledge Skills- English: N
- French: 1
- Hunting (Moutain): 5
- Literature (Manga): 2
- Firearms (Longarms): 3
Complex FormsRES + WIL = 11 Drain
- Puppeteer
- Resonance Veil
- Static Veil
- Stitches
- Transcendent Grid
