[AlexHaze]

Okay so I’m looking for some critiques on my new magician character. Any advice would be helpful since this is my first Awakened character.
GM Rules
1)   Only 350BP
2)   Only 170BP on attributes
3)   Only 25BP for gear
4)   No gear above an 8R
5)   No Infected, Blood Magic, or Insect Shamans
6)   And we have to start with that Dayjob and SINner quality and we do not gain the points for it.

Wiccan Magician

Attributes   170BP
Body  3
Agility 2
Reaction 3
Strength 2
Charisma 3
Intuition 4
Logic 3
Willpower 5

Magic  4     30BP

Qualities     -15BP 
Magician +15
Sensitive System - 15
Weak Immune System -5
Allergy (rare/moderate) -10

Active Skills    122BP
Sorcery 4
Conjuring 3
Blades 2
Perception 2
Astral Combat 3
Assensing 2
Arcana 2
Enchanting 2

Knowledge Skills (21 free)
Irish N
English 4
Magic History 3
Spirits 4
Parazoology 3
Runes  3

Spells   21BP
Stunbolt
Levitate
Control Thoughts
Increased Reflexes
Improved Invisibility
Mass Agony
Mana Static

Contacts               Connection     Loyalty   14BP
Talismonger             4                      3
Magician (teacher)   3                      4

Gear   8BP
Sustaining Focus F2   20,000
Weapon Focus F1      10,000
Magical Lodge  F3     1,500
Spirit Binding Material F3  1,500
Armor Jacket      900
Armor Clothing  500
Novatech Airway   1250
Iris Orb operating system 1000
Basic Common Use Programs  300
Sub-vocal Mic  50
Glasses R3      75
   Thermographics 100
   Vision Magnification 100
   Image Link    25
Lifestyle Low  1,000 (splitting with another character)

Total   38,300


Everything on here is subject to change mostly because I have no idea if this is right or not. I also know I still have more knowledge point but I'm not sure what she should have there, any suggestions?

[eshoup1]

A few things...

1) No lifestyle? I understand that living on the streets is an option, but I am not a fan of sleeping in gutters and carrying my life on my back. On second thought... Isn't there a rule somewhere that says your magical lodge is a squatter lifestyle? Or am I just making that up?

2) I would think long and hard about grabbing a 5 in sorcery.

3) a big thumbs up to packing mass agony, that is one of my favorite spells

4) this is strictly a min/max thing... but a 4 in logic or charisma (attributes that you use for drain) would be more beneficial to you than a 4 in intuition. I realize you'll lose some initiative but you took improved reflexes to help out with that.

5) having never played a character with either the arcana or enchanting skill... I have no idea how much you will actually use them. But since you have a day job and know a talismonger it could be you need those skills for role playing.

6) maybe pack a back-up blade?

[Chrona]

2) I would think long and hard about grabbing a 5 in sorcery.

Skill groups are capped at 4 at char gen

[eshoup1]

My bad. I forgot spellcasting is the skill and sorcery is the group. My apologies.

[AlexHaze]

You're right about the lifestyle, I totally forgot to add that in. And the Intuition is part of my drain which is why I have it up to a four. And I took Arcana and Enchanting more as a just in case thing.

[arvo]

You could always just up spellcasting to a 5 on its own. I modded the street magician from the rules for my first wiz and the 5 spell casting (the guy in the rules has taken 5 magic too) makes a massive difference in a crunch.

Also have you thought of a mentor spirit? I didn't take one at start up, but I'd totally take one now if I was rolling again. Don't know what implications that has on build points but might be worth a look.

[gourry187]

don't forget to spend the BP to bond the foci and at least for the weapon focus, you need to also buy the weapon . . . unless its like a pool cue or some other semi valueless item.

[Glyph]

Normally, I would recommend to specialize a bit more at character creation, and save some of the less-needed magical skills to pick up later.  But in this case, I think a non-min-maxed character with a wide variety of magical skills is actually a better idea - it fits the type of campaign that the GM seems to be going for.

However, I would still recommend dropping arcana and enchanting to get etiquette and dodge, both of which I consider essential skills, for nearly any shadowrunner.

[Onion Man]

Holy restrictions, Batman, are you bound to some tight cuffs!

Judging from the play at Origins and my most recent experiences, if you can get someone in your group to make a serious investment in first aid (specialized in drain damage or overscasting damage as they advance and spend karma), you might as well invest in sorcery 6 and overcast your spells to close to the highest force that you can without having a realistic chance of death (1 die ~ 33-51% chance of resisting drain depending on your edge level and willingness to spend it to resist).

Making the contact rolls to acquire new talismans/foci hasn't been much of a challenge to me, 7 points from a 375 point pool might be a bit of a beefy investment, especially considering that loyalty is subject to change based on your role playing while connection isn't so much (might be if you do some awesome run for your contact, at least I'd pitch it at a home GM).

Pretty sure that you have to pay +10% between 2 characters to split a lifestyle and that a custom lifestyle from runner's companion is worth every cent.  At least that's what I've been paying and if I'm wrong please, please someone correct me (I have a ton of spare nuyen and would like to correct any errors before I hit the halfway mark for prime runner, which should happen tomorrow if things go well).

With improved reaction a force 2 sustaining focus probably just isn't worth it.  I'd either drop it and just take the dice pool penalty or invest in restricted gear (I assume your GM allows it) and get a force 4 sustaining focus to keep +3 initiative +3 IP sustaind unless you run into some background.

Altogether a FUN character all comes down to your personal picture of the character and your GM's willingness to work with it.  A numerically sound character is another thing altogether.  The guys on this forum will probably try to convince you that a power focus is a must have... I haven't had any need for one and don't plan on spending any karm or nuyen to get and bind one any time soon, if at all (but I'm playing something of a possession sock/focus addict/ backup face at the moment).