[Daxian]

Hey guys, sorta new to the whole shebang so I was hoping to get help with a Mage build. What I had in mind entailed someone who is pretty good in a fight -- both magically and physically. Is that possible? I was looking at taking a martial art like Aikido, using an opponent's momentum against them more or less. And of course having some pretty decent gun skills, mostly pistols. Any suggestions?

[bmoham]

Hopefully someone who knows the system better will answer as well, but here's my two cents.

It's very doable. There are at least 3 ways I can think of. Listed in what I think is order of effectiveness.

The most obvious (to me) would be to make what's called a mystic adept. This is someone who uses magic both to cast spells and to enhance their physical abilities.  This will require you to use 2 different shadowrun subsystems  - spell casting and adepts. I think it's kind of designed for what you have in mind.

Second, you can make a magic user who has a lot of self-buffing spells. I think this only works well if you have sustaining foci (which let you keep a spell going indefinitely). Those are expensive, but I think you could probably build a character that has sustained bonuses to agility and initiative (which are probably the two biggest pieces of combat effectiveness with a gun).

Finally, you can cut off your arm. No, seriously. Typically magic users avoid cyberware, because it makes them less effective as mages. But if you lower your magic by 1 you can have a cyberarm with nearly max dexterity (and strength, if you care). I've seen a number of people do it for characters that are mostly focused on something else, but also need to be able to shoot well (typically the face character or the decker/hacker character). Honestly, I doubt this would be as effective as either of the first 2 builds (since you aren't going to have sustained bonuses to initiative, even though you will have 16+ dice to hit, and you are actually less effective as a mage), but it's an option.

Anyway, I've only been playing with 5e for a couple months, so one of the veterans will hopefully weigh in with better advice. But it should get you started.

[Plastic-Man]

It's possible but Shadowrun character building is an issue of resources allocated to an area so you will be noticeably weaker in both areas compared to a specialist.

There can be overlap in stats for some roles, for example a guy whose good in melee will need agility, agility also helps towards sneaking.

A shaman caster will need high charisma, charisma is also good for being a social character.

The problem with melee and casting is there is little overlap, no casting for strength or agility. Even the example from the other poster, getting a cyberlimp will lower your magic rating, making you a weaker caster. A quality you take for casting is one that doesn't help with melee and vice verse. Even the suggestion of taking a foci to sustain spells that enhance your agility or strength is a foci you won't be using to say keep you alive or boost your initiative.

You're are going to need to cut corners in both roles if you want to do both.

[drakir]

As said earlier, you will have to sacrifice some stuff but it's possible. Mystic Adept is the way to go. Either cyberarm or bioware (muscle toner+muscle augmentation). Big negative with this build is that he/she can't really do a major part of a magicians job, which is keep astral watch. No astral perception and no assensing. You will have to use summoned spirits for that.

Here's a version with cyberarm. Priorities: Attr A, Magic B, Money C, Meta D, Skills E

Attributes: Bod 3, Agi 4(arm 9), Rea 5(7), Str 2(arm 7), Cha 6, Int 5, Log 2, Wil 5, Magic 5, Edge 3
Qualities: Mentor Spirit(Stag), Focused Concentration 4,
Adept abilities: Imp reflexes 2, Combat Sense 2, Critical strike, Imp ability (blades), Rapid draw
Skills
Blades(swords) 6+2 (20 with arm, more when you can bound a weapon focus)
Automatics 6 (15 with arm)
Spellcasting 6 (11)
Summoning 6 (11)
Perception 1 (6)
Etiquette 1 (karma) (7)

Augmentations: Smartlink, Alphaware obvious arm. customed to Str+Agi 6 and enhanced to Agi 9, Str 7. Custom SMG (Ingram smartgun) implanted.

Spells: 7 of choice. Suggestions are Influence, Imp Invisibility, Levitate, Trid Phantasm, Fashion, Physical Mask.

Money left for SIN, lifestyle, Bike and some standard equipment.

20 dice with a sword that does 11P AP-2 is respectable.

Mechanically optimized for combat and pretty much nothing else whic may be boring. Choose spells for non-combat purposes to have something to do outside of combat. Be inventive with spirits, they have many uses outside of combat.

[gilga]

A mystic adept troll may do the trick.

In brief - go unarmed. Shark mentor +2 unarmed +2 combat spells!  Only 4 magic - seriously it is enough to start with F8 combat spells is not bad.
You get 14 dice for combat spells and 15 dice for unarmed (+1 from weapon focus).
You roll 15 dice to dodge hits on you and can go full defense for 20 dice...
Your initiative is very high due to improve reflex 3 adept power.
If you are hit - a body of 9(!) and massive armor should do the trick.

So to sum it up, you have good offense ranged with magic, and unarmed otherwise. (again you can pick a different weapon skill - but I like this combination because you cannot be disarmed).   

+ You can select a tradition from forbidden Arcana that grants +2 to combat spells and have a 16 for combat spells /16 for unarmed with magical knucks.
I decided to go with counterspelling - to keep you protected from magic and becasue spell defense is not affected from low magic.

The weakness your spells have is a maximum of F8 - but I think that it is enough 8P -8AP for a lighting bolt or a ball of lighting seems good to me. So the point is, yes it can be done.




== Personal Data ==
Name: Unnamed Character         Alias:
Troll                           
Movement: 10/20 (1m/hit)                 
Swim: 7 (1m/hit)                     
                                Composure: 7
Street Cred: 0                  Judge Intentions: 6
Notoriety: 0                    Lift/Carry: 18 (135 kg/90 kg)
Public Awareness: 0             Memory: 6
Karma: 0                        Nuyen: 14,600¥
Age:                            Skin:
Eyes:                           Hair:
Primary Arm: Right             

== Priorities ==
Metatype: B,3
Attributes: A,4
Special: B,3
Skills: E,0
Resources: E,0

== Attributes ==
BOD: 9                          CHA: 2
AGI: 5                          INT: 4
REA: 5 ( LOG: 1
STR: 9                          WIL: 5
EDG: 2                          MAG: 4

== Derived Attributes
Essence: 6.00                   Initiative:          12 +4d6
Physical Damage Track: 13       Rigger Initiative:   12 +4d6
Stun Damage Track:              11Astral Initiative:   8 +3d6
Physical: 12                    Matrix AR:           12 +4d6
Mental: 4                       Matrix Cold:         4 + DP +3d6
Social: 5                       Matrix Hot:          4 + DP +4d6
Astral: 5

 == Active Skills ==
Counterspelling                 Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 10
Etiquette                       Base: 0  + Karma: 1  = 1   Pool: 3
Perception                      Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 10
Spellcasting (Combat)           Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 10 (12)
Unarmed Combat (Knucks)         Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 13 (15)

 == Knowledge Skills ==

 == Qualities ==
Allergy (Common, Mild) (Soy)
Code of Honor (Never Kill Trolls)
Mentor Spirit (Shark)
Mystic Adept
Thermographic Vision

 == Tradition ==
Buddhism, Resist Drain with  9

 == Spells ==
Ball Lightning (Limited) DV: F-3
Levitate                 DV: F-2
Lightning Bolt (Limited) DV: F-5
Stunbolt (Limited)       DV: F-5
(3 more)
 == Powers ==
Combat SenseRating: 3
Improved ReflexesRating: 3

 == Weapons ==
Combat Axe
   Pool: 4      Accuracy: 4     DV: 14P      AP: -4    RC: 4
Combat Knife
   Pool: 4      Accuracy: 6     DV: 11P      AP: -3    RC: 4
Knucks
   Pool: 13 (15)Accuracy: 12    DV: 10P      AP: -     RC: 4
Unarmed Attack
   Pool: 13     Accuracy: 12    DV: 9S       AP: -     RC: 4

== Gear: Equipped ==
Weapon Focus (Bonded Foci) (Knucks) Rating 1


Edit: I saw you wanted a mage, in that case, you can skip the whole mystic adept stuff and lose a bit of initiative and defense. I'd use the karma to boost magic to 5 - as you only have spells at your aid.

[Daxian]

Wow thanks a lot you guys. I may just have to go with mystic adept, since this game in particular looks like it'll shape up to be a bit more on the combat/high action side of things. 

[SunRunner]

Its worth noting that Mystic adepts can get astral perception. Like adepts they have to buy the power and it does cost 1 full PP to get it but with it they do have astral perception when they want it. Its something to think about down the road once you initiate and or raise your magic rating and get more Power Points. Or you can go with Oracle mentor spirit and pick it up for free as your mentor bonus power.

Also as a VERY VERY important note Mystic adepts Want/Need astral perception VERY badly. Why because as a mystic adept your slinging spells. Spells leave behind spell signatures. Spell signatures are how Forensic magicians start tracking you. Spell signatures can be erased but you must be able to astrally perceive to erase a spell signature. This means until you have that ability you cant erase any of your spell signatures and are relying on no one with astral tracking to show up and start trying to pin down your spell signature, which is unlikely anytime the corps or KE identify active magic use in a crime or if your team has a full mage around him/her taking the time to erase your spell signatures in addition to cleaning up their own mess.   

[Michael Chandra]

And if you ever get Quickening, or sustain any buffspells, you need it to not accidentally walk into wards and poof.

[gilga]

As per forbidden Arcana, Mystics have the astral perception capability (but cannot enchant stuff for some strange reason).

[Jack_Spade]

Instead of buying Astral Perception you can also Initiate into the Channeling Metamagic: As soon as you have channeled a spirit you are Dual Natured and can perceive the Astral and the mundane at the same time without penalty.

[Daxian]

Yeah... I'm leaning towards a human Mystic Adept. Would it be possible to focus on guns rather than melee?

[gilga]

Much easier actually, as you do not need to be very strong to pull the trigger.