[Triggvi]

1) rule of thumb I use for characters is always have a high edge 4-6. Edge keeps you alive and it allows you a more 4 color approach to play.

2) Cyber stacks with Cyber, Bio with bio, adept powers with adept powers. There are exeptions, but if follow this you will not problems.

3) Come up with a concept then plug in numbers and make it work. The character is person, not a archetype.

Does any one else have simple rules (rule of thumb) you go by for making characters?

[Walks Through Walls]

I usually come up with an idea or concept and then see how well I can make it work. Often having to go back and tweek and rethink the concept until I get something playable, fun, and with a good background/story that will allow me to have fun and a reasonable chance to succeed at what I am trying to do.

(for some reason I seem to be tending towards magically active in fourth edition where I was more a cyber guy in previous incarnations. Also I have for the first time ever been able to make a mystic adept that I felt was a viable character.)

[The Seven]

Does any one else have simple rules (rule of thumb) you go by for making characters?

Only one: make a character that you'll have fun playing. If you don't, get the hell away from my table.

[John Shull]

I think you make characters like you would tailor a suit.  It has to fit and if done right reflects taste and style of the owner.  So going with that you just give a PC the horn they will naturally want to play so to speak, a good story of how they came to be this way, and somewhat importantly a understanding of what they suck at.  If you are on target with the character it feels and plays like the PC plays the game or wishes to.  There is a history and you know what the character is fighting for now and what they mastered doing that fighting.  Lastly what they avoid and in some cases fear.  In a nutshell that is how I make characters.

[Triggvi]

I think you make characters like you would tailor a suit.  It has to fit and if done right reflects taste and style of the owner.  So going with that you just give a PC the horn they will naturally want to play so to speak, a good story of how they came to be this way, and somewhat importantly a understanding of what they suck at.  If you are on target with the character it feels and plays like the PC plays the game or wishes to.  There is a history and you know what the character is fighting for now and what they mastered doing that fighting.  Lastly what they avoid and in some cases fear.  In a nutshell that is how I make characters.

I agree with almost everything you said here.

[James McMurray]

Know what the campaign will be like before making a character. Or at the least make sure you're not making something that doesn't fit.

When I run I tend to make the games geared towards the PCs, but some people have specific stories in mind that they'd like to tell. If you're in the latter sort of campaign and you brought a race car driving hacker to a campaign in the deep jungle you've given yourself lots of unnecessary headaches.

[Glyph]

A good rule of thumb is to come up with a general concept, rough it out a bit, then fill in the sheet and the background together.  A lot of people seem to run into trouble because they flesh out this complete backstory, then find out that they can't translate it into a set of stats and numbers that matches their background.  Ground your character's background in hard numbers, so that what is on the sheet matches what is in the background.  Realize that not every character idea that you have is one that would be viable for this particular rule set.

Be aware of what the game itself encourages, and discourages.  Shadowrun is a game of magic and high tech, so those two things give characters cheap, powerful boosts in ability.  Shadowrunners are teams of hyper-specialists who do incredibly dangerous work, but they are also mavericks.  It is unsurprising that it is far easier to make a specialist than a generalist in the game, and points are also tight enough to encourage making flawed characters - dump stats, negative qualities, these are part of the game design.

I agree with James McMurray that above and beyond the game system, also keep the campaign in mind.  Don't bring your troubled runaway corporate kid who can do a bit of hacking, into a game of stony-faced cold professionals.  Don't bring your stony-faced cold professional, with his move-by-wire and Ares Alpha, into a game of street punks surviving in the Barrens.

Shadowrun is an open build system, which allows an incredible variety of characters.  The flaw, though, is that it is very easy to botch it up.  The system encourages specialization, but don't make a character who is only good at one thing.  You'll be bored the rest of the time, when you don't have anything you can do.  On the other hand, don't overgeneralize to the point of uselessness.  It can vary from campaign to campaign, but have a dice pool that you have a good chance to succeed with.  Taking some lower stats in a few areas, or some negative qualities, can help you flesh out your character, but be careful.  You want disadvantages that are fun to roleplay, not ones that are crippling.  Remember the point about magic and technology - if you don't take advantage of either, your character will likely be very weak compared to those of other players.

[Medicineman]

One of my Rules of Thumps is:
Don't fall for the Stormwind Fallacies
(and : Synergy is your friend)

He who Dances with aFriend
Medicineman

[Triggvi]

One of my Rules of Thumps is:
Don't fall for the Stormwind Fallacies
(and : Synergy is your friend)

He who Dances with aFriend
Medicineman

so you are saying use karmagen instead of BP to make better  more rounded character?

[Medicineman]

nohhh
That were General Rules ! Not only for SR but for any RPG

And @Karma vs BP
 I Like them both

with a general Dance
Medicineman

[John Shull]

Focus of the character comes up in creation.  I put it to them that you can be a katana, a survival knife, or a swiss army knife.  The first does one thing really well but tends not to find function elsewhere and is never really meant to.  So if your a katana character you are like the kensai and seek mastery of one thing and live life in that pursuit.  Survival knives have a group of related skills toward a specific purpose, like most characters.  The Swiss are so busy trying to do everything they barely do anything.  I use the comparison to illustrate proper character balance to any I am building characters with.

[Triggvi]

Focus of the character comes up in creation.  I put it to them that you can be a katana, a survival knife, or a swiss army knife.  The first does one thing really well but tends not to find function elsewhere and is never really meant to.  So if your a katana character you are like the kensai and seek mastery of one thing and live life in that pursuit.  Survival knives have a group of related skills toward a specific purpose, like most characters.  The Swiss are so busy trying to do everything they barely do anything.  I use the comparison to illustrate proper character balance to any I am building characters with.

Your posts are "right on" about character creation.  You sound like someone that would be fun to game with, you get it.

[Sichr]

I always come with some concept in mind, and when choosing Qualities and skills, I`m shaping this concept out. Standing on those numbers, I see what parts of mz concept is viable and what I should left out. I dont like the characters that have a story of beeing some seasoned profesional, and then generally lack skills and abilities to prove it. Last think I do is a background story.
As fo exact contrary to the first post, I never build characters with high Edge I always feel that like the last resort. Well, I should try it some time, it may be fun also

[Triggvi]

I always come with some concept in mind, and when choosing Qualities and skills, I`m shaping this concept out. Standing on those numbers, I see what parts of mz concept is viable and what I should left out. I dont like the characters that have a story of beeing some seasoned profesional, and then generally lack skills and abilities to prove it. Last think I do is a background story.
As fo exact contrary to the first post, I never build characters with high Edge I always feel that like the last resort. Well, I should try it some time, it may be fun also

When I started playing edge never really occurred to me to be of much use, until I started using it. Edge is a very powerful stat.
Edge of 5 can be used 5 times and adds 5 dice to the roll with the rule of 6.
Edge can also be used to go first in a round.
Get an extra IP for one turn.
Re-roll all the dice that failed and a lot of other things.

[Sichr]

Yup and there is a lot of posibilities for the GM and player to balance the game when ragaining edge...I mean, that using edge doesnt necessarily mean loosing it. That is quite nice motivation system.