[Sliver]

I have the SR4a, Arsenal, and the Street Magic books, so feel free to make suggestions from either.

This is an idea that I've been entertaining, and I wanted some advice on how to pull this off. I want to make a magical character, but I find that magic can be combined with other abilities quite well, while still keeping all of my essence. I want to make a character that has a similar mind-set to that of a covert ops specialist. The whole "Get in, get the job done, get out" idea. No deaths, no alarms, just success.

And if this matters, I'm planning on making a very laid-back character. Would spend most of his time not specifically working playing AR games and just dicking around in general. A character that's never worried about a bad situation, and just takes on everything with a smirk. I have a few ideas for the backstory, but that doesn't pertain to the character-build at this point.

Any criticisms or interesting ideas for me are greatly appreciated.

CURRENT BUILD:   (Drain Resistance is Willpower+Intuition)

Attributes:
Body 3
Agility 4
Reaction 4
Strength 1
Charisma 3
Intuition 5
Logic 2
Willpower 3
Edge 2
Magic 5

Skills:
Pistols (Dartgun) 4
Locksmith 2
Influence 2
Stealth 4
Escape Artist 2
Perception 4
Computer 1
Spellcasting 6
Counterspelling (Combat spells) 2

Qualities:
Astral Chameleon
Blandness
Magician
Sensitive System
Allergy (Moderate, Silver)
Incompetent (Forgery)

Gear:
Parashield Dart Pistol (Injection darts with Gamma-Scopolamine and Narcojet; Silencer; Internal Smartgun; Concealable Holster)
Armor Jacket
Fake SIN (Rating 4)
Fake License (Dartgun, Rating 4)
Glasses (Rating 3; Ultrasound; image link; smartlink)
Plasteel Restraints
Autopicker (Rating 6)
Grapple Gun (With stealth rope and catalyst stick)
AR Gloves

Spells:
Stunbolt
Stunball
Detect Life
Detect Life, Extended
Mind Probe
Improved Invisibility
Stealth
Influence
Alter Memory
Foreboding

Contacts:
2/2 Fixer

[John Shull]

I have a few ideas that go with your concept.  The spell Alter Memory is a must.  Knockout, Detect Lies, and Read Thoughts also goes well.  Elves have a drug that erases memory if you wanted to work for the Tir intel services oor just a drug em kind of guy.  Narcojets work well in many situations. 

[Sliver]

Yeah, those spells sound like they'd be a great addition. However, I'll probably end up getting Compel Truth rather than detect lie.

I've been thinking about getting a mana spell to deal damage. I can cast spells with the left and shoot my machine-pistol from the right. Nothing too flashy, though.

[JoeNapalm]

In this build I might go for Mind Probe over either Compel Truth or Analyze Truth...then again, the Drain might be a bit meaty for a Mystic Adept, rather than a true Mage.

Hrm.

-Jn-
Ifriti Sophist

[farothel]

stunbolt is a must-have in this type of character.  It's non-lethal and it has almost no drain.  Another plus is that it can one-shot trolls, as it is resisted with willpower and not with body (and no armour either).

[baronspam]

stunbolt is a must-have in this type of character.  It's non-lethal and it has almost no drain.  Another plus is that it can one-shot trolls, as it is resisted with willpower and not with body (and no armour either).

Farothel beat me to it.  When I design a mage if I have one combat spell Stunbolt is it.  The drain is light enough you can throw it basically every single initiative pass, because it is resisted by willpower and not affect by armor its great for knocking down those tough-and-dumb tank characters, and its non-lethal.  Unless you are in a total pink mohawk campagin there are alot of times when you don't want to leave a trail of corpses on the floor.  Fantastic spell. 

[baronspam]

Another though- on being a mystic adept:  It depends on the campaign, and how many build points you get to start with, but in a standard 400 build point campaign mystical adepts often end up being a fairly crappy magician duct taped to a fairly crappy adept.  If you were going to go that route I would suggest resisting the urge to try to do an even split, you just end up mediocre at both.  Focus on one, and add a few specific applications of the other.  For instance, if you bit the build point bullet and paid up for 6 magic,  you might keep 4 for spellcasting and use the other two points on adept powers.  If you only did 5 magic I would stills say go 4/1.  You still have a reasonable pool for your spells and drain resistance, and you can add a few adept powers to enhance some skills or buff up a stat.  Or if Adpet is primary, you don't have a big casting pool and will likely suffer drain, but you could still have a few spells for certain situations and applications.  But if you try to be both a spell slinger and a gun-fu adept you end up fairly mediocre at both. 

[Sliver]

Okay, so the current build is in the main post

[Walks Through Walls]

Baronspam I completely disagree with your statement that a 400 BP mystic adept is a crappy magician duct taped to a crappy adept. You have to decide what you want to do and be good at that. You cannot make an all around mage and/or adept true, but you can make a very strong character. You won't be able to use your spells to bull over people, but by using it to accent your strengths you can excel at an area or two.

She Who Walks Through Walls in the Road to Redmond PbP posts is a stealthy mystic adept. She is good at sneaking and infiltration. Doesn't have a single combat spell, but uses a taser which allows her to take down trolls. It may be two or three stress filled combat turns, but she did it on two different occasions.

Enough on my soap box. A good spell to think of adding is area thought recognition. It is good for skimming surface thoughts. Use your skills and/or spells to hide near an entrance with a keypad use area thought recognition looking for the keycode and wait for someone to use the door.

Illusion spells are also good for an infiltration mage. Sound barrier can be nice to prevent the guard from hearing you. Improved invisibility to sneak past the cameras. Improved physical mask to look like the person who you just lifted the keycode from their thoughts. The list goes on.

Hope this helps you.

[baronspam]

Baronspam I completely disagree with your statement that a 400 BP mystic adept is a crappy magician duct taped to a crappy adept. You have to decide what you want to do and be good at that. You cannot make an all around mage and/or adept true, but you can make a very strong character. You won't be able to use your spells to bull over people, but by using it to accent your strengths you can excel at an area or two.

She Who Walks Through Walls in the Road to Redmond PbP posts is a stealthy mystic adept. She is good at sneaking and infiltration. Doesn't have a single combat spell, but uses a taser which allows her to take down trolls. It may be two or three stress filled combat turns, but she did it on two different occasions.

Enough on my soap box. A good spell to think of adding is area thought recognition. It is good for skimming surface thoughts. Use your skills and/or spells to hide near an entrance with a keypad use area thought recognition looking for the keycode and wait for someone to use the door.

Illusion spells are also good for an infiltration mage. Sound barrier can be nice to prevent the guard from hearing you. Improved invisibility to sneak past the cameras. Improved physical mask to look like the person who you just lifted the keycode from their thoughts. The list goes on.

Hope this helps you.

If you character works then you get what I was talking about in my post.  Some people try to build half a mage and half a phyiscal adept and stick them together.  You don't have enough magic and enough skill resources to fully support both.  They can be combined, but they need to be combined with intelligence and some forethought.  You have to pick your adept powers very carefully, and pick spells that you can made effective with a smaller dicepool.  You need to have a specific outcome in mind and work toward that and not just build a generalist.   I never said it was impossible, I just said it was often done badly.

[JohnQ]

Keep in mind that each spell you cast and sustain leaves you with a -2 Dice Pool thereafter. One or two Sustaining Foci might help you with that. Casting Stealth and locking it on with the Focus, then casting Imp. Invis. and taking the -2 hit from that one while you maintain it.

[Sliver]

Keep in mind that each spell you cast and sustain leaves you with a -2 Dice Pool thereafter. One or two Sustaining Foci might help you with that. Casting Stealth and locking it on with the Focus, then casting Imp. Invis. and taking the -2 hit from that one while you maintain it.

Yes, but don't I then stare addiction in the face?

If I decide to get it, it would cost me 50,000 nuyen, 10 karma, and have an availability of 20. I can afford it after 2-3 first runs.

[baronspam]

I don't think you are facing addiction just becuase you own and use a focus.  I wouldn't push a character there as a GM unless he wanted the build points for taking the quality at chargen, and I would be very annoyed with a GM who declared my mage "addicted" because I had a sustaining focus.  A strategy I have seen/used on combat mages it to use a sustaining foucs for Increased reflexes to get my number of initiative passes up to a decent level without having to give up two dice on all my attacks.  No one ever told me my character was a focus addict as a result.

[Sliver]

The book mentions that characters that rely on a focus too much should have to roll an addiction test.  It leaves what is considered "too much" up to the GM, which makes it vary quite a bit. Using a weapon focus every single combat turn on every single run would definitely justify an addiction test, but perhaps using a sustaining focus once or twice a run wouldn't.

[baronspam]

The book mentions that characters that rely on a focus too much should have to roll an addiction test.  It leaves what is considered "too much" up to the GM, which makes it vary quite a bit. Using a weapon focus every single combat turn on every single run would definitely justify an addiction test, but perhaps using a sustaining focus once or twice a run wouldn't.

I know, but unless the GM is also making all the augmented characters role play their cyberpsychosis(for no build points) for being low essence and the hacker become a BTL addict(for no build points) for using VR, he is being a schmuck about it.  As your GM to declare his intentions.  Unless he plans a very dark, serious, and "realistic" game where just being a runner tends to eat you up and eveyone is just kind  of doomed, I don't think you have to worry.  The people that I played with in previous editions didn't gravitate toward that kind of game.