[Tao]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Shadowrun and have been tasked with creating a character for our first game this Sunday. I've played my fair share of P&P so I feel like I've gotten my bearings for the most parts, buuut I've found it always helps to get feedback from the community before going live! So any help you can throw my way is greatly appreciated!

First off: The Concept

In a word (or three): Adept Assissin's Creed

Very original, I know. I do love playing assassin/dps type characters that get up close and personal though, so Adept Assassin's Creed it is!

What I want to achieve with the build below: have a runner that has the abilities to sneak his way into enemy territory, kill his target quickly and silently, then get out unseen. He should also be able to hold himself in an open fight using his high defensive skills to get into close combat.

So without any further ado:

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Priorities
A – Attributes (24)
B – Skills (36/5)
C – Magic: Adept
D – Metatype (Human)
E – Resources (6k)

Attributes BOD: 3 AGI: 6 REA: 5 STR: 3 CHA: 3 INT: 5 LOG: 3 WIL: 4 EDG: 2 MAG: 7

Active Skills Exotic Range Weapon (Monofil. Whip) 4 Pistols 2 Unarmed Combat 6 Disguise 3 Perception 3 Sneaking (Urban) 6 Tracking 1 Con 3 Etiquette 1 Intimidation 1 Computer 1 First Aid 1 Navigate 1 Skill Group Athletics 5

Knowledge Skills Streetwise 4 Security Procedures 3 Fashion 1 Music 2 Languages Local Lingo 1 Corp Lingo 2 Japanese 3

Powers: Combat Sense III Danger Sense I Improved Reflexes II Killing Hands Elemental Strike (Electricity) Elemental Body (Electricity) Wall Running Hang Time Qi Focus Tattoo: Astral Perception. (Is AP really necessary? From the posts I've read it's a must-have for Adepts... Haven't been able to understand why though) Qi Focus Tattoo: Traceless Walk Qi Focus Tattoo: Attribute Boost: Agility, Body, Reaction, Strength

Qualities:
Exceptional Attribute (Magic)
Corporate SIN (relevant to origin story)


Gear:
6'000 + 20'000 (10 Karma)

Monofilament Whip (10’000)      10000
Finger Compartment (3’000)      3000
      
Defiance Ex-Shocker (250)      250
      
Ares Predator V (725)      725
APDS Rounds (120)      120
Silencer (500)      500
2x Spare Clip (2x5)      10
      
Parashield Dart Pistol (600)      600
5x Narcoject (50)      250
      
5x Thermal Smoke Granade (5x60)      300
      
Concealable Holster (150)      150
      
Contacts, cap.3 (600)      600
Lowlight Vision (500)      500
Image Link (25)      25
Smartlink (2000)      2000
      
Fake SIN, rating 1 (2500)      2500.   

(these are waay too expensive with resources E! I'm really hoping for some leniency from my GM here  )

      
Electrochromic Lined-Coat (1400)      1400
Chemical Protection (250)      250
Non-Conductivity (250)      250
Insulation (250)      250
Fire-Resistance (250)      250
Thermal Damping (500)      500
      
Life Style Low      2000

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So, here is some of the things I'm not quite happy about yet:

Monofilament Whip: While very deadly and versatile (cutting through pretty much anything...) it doesn't quite feel right with my concept and is a drain on skill points and money. Then again there seems to be nothing else to get the job done as quickly and quietly.

Elemental Body: from what I've read the drain on this can kill you, but at the same time it's the only ability I could find that would allow me to kill an enemy quickly without the monofil., or incapacitate them if I don't want to kill them (I would have take the Assassin's Code quality, but the Corporate SIN just fit too well).

As I've never played the game before, I'm not sure how well my assassin would do in-game, but it feels like he isn't very sneaky yet as I don't know about all the tech/magic used in surveillance and security.

Anyway, don't hold back with any criticism and suggestions you may have!

And a big thank you for any help!

[Bushw4cker]

Will have a more detailed response later when I can get to computer...

Your issue with mono whip.. You can be quite deadly with Knife or Killing Hands and get Martial Art Quality, Finishing Move (Run and Gun.), you can get the Quality by taking One Trick Pony for 7 Karma or take a Martial Art that has that ability for same amount. Finishing Move gives you an immediate second attack test with a +2 dice modifier. It requires you to spend 1 Edge. If you take Revels in Murder (Chrome Flesh book), you've get get the Edge point you spent back if you successfully kill someone. Also in Run and Gun they have a monofilament Garrotte (Not sure on spelling..)

If your GM allows it, I would recommend Karma Gen for creating your character.. It takes a little longer, but you get a more balanced character imho.

I will post more later.

[Tao]

Awesome, thank you! Also great that you’re including the sources as that will help me read up on the details more quickly.

[Bushw4cker]

I would recommend dropping Improved Magic. Maybe switch Magic and Skill priorities. With your high Agility, Athletics skill group Rating 2 should be fine.  If you are dropping Improved Magic, might want consider a Mentor Spirit.

With an Adept, you could easily get a 16+ Dice Pool for your two most important skills.. Sneaking and Unarmed Combat (Or blades.)

Lets say you have an Unarmed Skill Dice Pool of 16. If you successfully sneak up to target attack and use Finishing Move. If the target fails a Surprise Roll, you get to roll 16 dice to attack, then 18 dice, and target can only roll dice to resist Damage. So even with your Strength of 3, target is going to be taking about 9P(Average) damage, Twice. (If you are Just Using Killing Hands.)

[Bushw4cker]

You might want to try to get your Strength up to at least 4. This will give you damage, and raise your Physical Limit, which you are going to want to have at least 7 or 8 for this character.

[Bushw4cker]

If your GM will allow it, take In Debt Negative Quality (Run Faster book) For each point you get 5K Nuyen, but have to pay back 7.5K for each point you take... And there is interest..

[Checkmate]

You have a ton of Qi foci. I'm not sure how you paid for them or their Karma cost, and I haven't done the math, but I'm pretty sure you're tripping focus addiction.

Assensing isn't strictly necessary for an adept (so long as there's a mage in the group) but it is useful.

Please note that while @Bushw4cker's in debt idea isn't a bad way to pick up Nuyen at Chargen, the quality is highly frowned upon at some tables, so check first.

I'd dump the monowhip personally, but that's just me. The nice thing is it'd free up 10K in your budget (and 4 skills.)

I'm not sure if you want to use unarmed or blades (per AC weapon standards.) If the former, I'd drop elemental strike and body and pick up improved ability (unarmed instead.)

If the latter, I'd drop elemental strike and body and pick up Critical Strike (Blades) Improved Ability (Blades) and a weapon foci (if you can afford it.)

[Bushw4cker]

You have a ton of Qi foci. I'm not sure how you paid for them or their Karma cost, and I haven't done the math, but I'm pretty sure you're tripping focus addiction.

Assensing isn't strictly necessary for an adept (so long as there's a mage in the group) but it is useful.

Please note that while @Bushw4cker's in debt idea isn't a bad way to pick up Nuyen at Chargen, the quality is highly frowned upon at some tables, so check first.

I'd dump the monowhip personally, but that's just me. The nice thing is it'd free up 10K in your budget (and 4 skills.)

I'm not sure if you want to use unarmed or blades (per AC weapon standards.) If the former, I'd drop elemental strike and body and pick up improved ability (unarmed instead.)

If the latter, I'd drop elemental strike and body and pick up Critical Strike (Blades) Improved Ability (Blades) and a weapon foci (if you can afford it.)

Pretty much agree with everything Checkmate said. 

I haven't had an issue with In Debt with any of my players yet, and honestly, I actually recommend most of my players take it, especially the new ones. One of the things that I find, is that new Players don't really know enough about the game after playing only a few times, that they don't always know what stuff they want to buy. The Nuyen is burning a hole in their Credstick, and they want to get something right away. They often get some gear or some ware and few games later, get buyers remorse. So unless a Player is using the Quality to help Min/Max a new character, I don't mind Players taking it. One last thing, Shadowrunners aren't resorting to Shadowrunning because most of them are so financially secure and have exhausted all other avenues of revenue, I think it more realistic for a lot of Shadowrunners to be in Debt.

[Tao]

Wow, thank you very much everyone for the great feedback!

Let me try to address some of the details and ask a few questions:

If you are dropping Improved Magic, might want consider a Mentor Spirit.

What does a mentor spirit get me? From what I read it'll just allow me to improve more quickly with the karma I get from runs?

With an Adept, you could easily get a 16+ Dice Pool for your two most important skills.. Sneaking and Unarmed Combat (Or blades.)

How? What would you skill differently/which adept powers would help here?

(...) use Finishing Move.

Where can I read up on this? EDIT: Found it!

You have a ton of Qi foci. I'm not sure how you paid for them or their Karma cost, and I haven't done the math, but I'm pretty sure you're tripping focus addiction.

Qi Foci cost 8 Karma for 1pp, so I should be fine here. Also the focus addiction shouldn't be an issue as I'll never have more than one 1pp and 1-2 0.25pp active (that's below the threshold for an addiction test if my math is right)

Assensing isn't strictly necessary for an adept (so long as there's a mage in the group) but it is useful.

I'll check if we have a Mage then, but is there any other reason I would need it? Are there targets I could only attack using Assensing? Will it help me evade traps? I really haven't been able to read up on all the magical options...

I'm not sure if you want to use unarmed or blades (per AC weapon standards.) If the former, I'd drop elemental strike and body and pick up improved ability (unarmed instead.)

Hmm... The improved ability power costs 0.5pp, so 1.5pp from elemental strike/body would give me +3 dice on unarmed... Is that worth it? Wouldn't I be better off with another level of Improved Reflexes or a few levels of critical strike?

If the latter, I'd drop elemental strike and body and pick up Critical Strike (Blades) Improved Ability (Blades) and a weapon foci (if you can afford it.)

I would love to try to be deadly with just my adept powers and fists. I feel like that way I could be of more use to the team when we aren't allowed to carry weapons for whatever reason...


As for Dept: I'll ask my GM about it, but unless you can give me some good ideas on where to invest the Nuyen and why it's essential to have it at creation I'll try to refrain...

[Tao]

Soo, after some soul-searching and tweaking based on your inputs I've revised my character as follows:

• Changed his Attributes to:
  

  BOD: 2 AGI: 6 REA: 5 STR: 5 CHA: 2

  INT: 5 LOG: 3 WIL: 4 EDG: 2 MAG: 7

  This gives him more unarmed damage with Str 5 and a phys. threshold of 6
   
  
• Used his skill points from the Exotic Weapon to increase Pistols to 6 and add a Specialization (Visual) to his Perception
• Removed his Monofilament Whip
• Added the Adept Power "Nerve Strike"
• Instead moved his Elemental Body to a Qi Focus and dropped the Astral Perception for now

The reasoning is this:
In case of straightforward unarmed combat vs. no Armor or very light armor he can use the Nerve Strike to paralyze most low Agi/Rea opponents with a single attack.

His dice pool as is: Agi(6)+Unar.(6)+MartialA.(2) = 14 with Str(5) which I feel is decent in most fights (correct me if I'm wrong or can further optimize)

If he is up against heavily armored opponents he can use the maneuver "Clinch" (Run&Gun, pg. 119) to get a physical hold, then activate his Qi Focus: Elemental Body (Simple Action as QiF.) to deal 14/-3 electrical damage and either stun or kill almost all opponents in a single initiative pass or at most 2 for 4-5 Drain (2-3 after avg. Soak). The advantage here is that he doesn't have to activate his EB unless he has a hold, thus not wasting the Drain for nothing.

To me this feels a lot more versatile and natural than the monofilament build earlier.

What do you guys think?

[ShadowcatX]

One quick change drop willpower to 3 and raise body to 3.

[Tao]

One quick change drop willpower to 3 and raise body to 3.

Done. Any particular reason?

[ShadowcatX]

The extra point of body will get you an extra health point while losing the willpower won't cost you anything. (Both scores are optimal on odd numbers.)

And you asked why a totem earlier. A totem can provide +2 dice to a roll and give you .5 PP for 5 karma. Seriously, read through the totems.

[Tao]

Seriously, read through the totems.

Done and done. Raven Totem is insanely good and fits my character like a glove! Thanks!

[Bushw4cker]

What does a mentor spirit get me? From what I read it'll just allow me to improve more quickly with the karma I get from runs?

Think Shadowcat answered that for you.

With an Adept, you could easily get a 16+ Dice Pool for your two most important skills.. Sneaking and Unarmed Combat (Or blades.)
How? What would you skill differently/which adept powers would help here?

Specialize in a Martial Art (Kung Fu +2) with Unarmed Combat 6 Agility 6, then if you take Improved Ability +2 or take Mentor Spirit that gives you bonus to Unarmed (like Shark), you have a 16 dice pool for Unarmed Attacks. Sneaking (Specialize in Urban +2) with Catlike Quality you hit 16 dice pool.

I'm not sure if you want to use unarmed or blades (per AC weapon standards.) If the former, I'd drop elemental strike and body and pick up improved ability (unarmed instead.)[/quote]
Hmm... The improved ability power costs 0.5pp, so 1.5pp from elemental strike/body would give me +3 dice on unarmed... Is that worth it? Wouldn't I be better off with another level of Improved Reflexes or a few levels of critical strike?

You want at least 1 level of Improved Reflexes..

If the latter, I'd drop elemental strike and body and pick up Critical Strike (Blades) Improved Ability (Blades) and a weapon foci (if you can afford it.)[/quote]
I would love to try to be deadly with just my adept powers and fists. I feel like that way I could be of more use to the team when we aren't allowed to carry weapons for whatever reason...

I would go with Sapphire or a Plasteel/Ceramic Knife Weapon Foci. (Hard Targets)

SAPPHIRE KNIFE
This knife is made from a single large synthetic sapphire.
While it is nearly as hard as diamond and sharper
than a razor, on a critical glitch the blade can shatter.
Due to the material of this blade, it is undetectable by
MAD scanners. Available in a variety of colors determined
by the trace elements included in the crystal matrix
including blue, yellow, purple, orange or red. (Did
you know rubies are actually just red sapphires? Nothing
says style like killing someone with a ruby.)

CERAMIC/PLASTEEL KNIFE
Ceramic knives are lightweight and nonmetallic that are
primarily sold as specialty tools. Divers use them because
they are resistant to salt water corrosion, and explosive
defusing experts use them because they are nonmetallic
and will not trigger bombs with magnetic anomaly detectors.
Plasteel knives share most characteristics with
ceramic knives, including being undetectable to MAD
scanners. They are most commonly handmade from
scraps taken from machinery or vehicles. A few designs
are mass manufactured, but generally ceramic is the preferred
medium due to superior edge retention under
heavy use. Both are equally useful to a shadowrunner
who wants to sneak a blade into a secure area.

Then you can hide your Weapon Foci in a Biofiber Pocket. (Hard Targets)

SAPPHIRE KNIFE
ACC DV AP REACH AVAIL COST
5 (STR+2)P –3 — 6R 900¥
CERAMIC/PLASTEEL KNIFE
ACC DV AP REACH AVAIL COST
5 (STR+1)P –1 — 4 75¥

BIOFIBER POCKET
This pocket is lined with biofiber, a bioengineered form
of dual-natured plant life, which blocks Astral Perception
of objects contained within the pocket. It is the
best way to hide small foci or alchemical preparations
from detection by security mages. Active foci cannot
be used if they are stored within the pocket. The biofiber
is alive and requires a special nutrient solution costing
20¥ a month.

ARMOR MODIFICATIONS
MOD CAPACITY AVAIL COST
Biofiber pocket [2] 10F 700F

As for Dept: I'll ask my GM about it, but unless you can give me some good ideas on where to invest the Nuyen and why it's essential to have it at creation I'll try to refrain...