[funkytim]

Here is what I have so far.  Please feel free to make suggestions.  I chose to select Increased Reflexes and Combat sense to help support the heavies in the group until I can come across a sustaining focus (or I can use a spirit to sustain an occasional spell).  I hope the backround wasn't to far over the top but it's been awhile since I've done any roleplaying.

Street Name: Ghost
Name: Johnathan Drake
Alias: Adam Heathcott
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Nationality: USA
Lifestyle: Squatter
Karma Spent: 0/0
Physical Description: Brown hair and eyes, 6 feet tall, 200 lbs and an average build.
Personality/background Son of middle class parents living in Seattle.  His father was a rank and file engineer for one of the corporations in the city and his mom was able to stay home to take care of him and his younger sister.   Johnny went to study Geology after finishing school.   One of his proudest younger momemts was when he received the opportunity to take part in an internship with a mining company in the mountains of China.  It was on this trip that he discovered his awakened abilities.  After his internship ended he decided to stay with the Taoist priests and monks who discovered his abilities to learn the ways to manipulate mana and commune with spirits and the astral plane.  After six years of living in the mountains of China he finally returned home to Seattle to find both his parents one year deceased and his sister now where to be found.  His father passed in a "work accident" and mother two weeks later in a strangely professional looking act of street violence.  Johnny now lays low on in the more less civilized areas of the city trying to keep his true identity hidden hoping he may find some clue to the whereabouts of his sister to alleviate the guilt he feels for losing touch with his family.

Johnathan now goes by the name "Ghost" because that's what he had to become to survive in Seattle.  He can be found hanging around the abadoned industrial parks in Seattle trying to keep himself.  He sometimes uses his survival and Geology skills to help his talismonger friend to find reagents for his business.  In exchange he sometimes keeps belongs there that he can't carry on him.  He sleeps at night with a watcher spirit instructed to raise an alarm if anyone might get close to him or when is service time is about to end.  He is very quiet these days afraid to get to close to anyone, for survival reasons as well as the lingering guilt he feels.  He doesn't like the idea of the things he has to do on these runs but it's the shadows is the only place where he can stick around long enough to find out what really happened.  He doesn't care what other people think of him.  When you see him it's probably been a few days since he's showered or shaved.  The duster jacket he wears is worn from sleeping in it all the time.  It keeps him warm though and protects him in case of any scrapes.  He loves the life he had in the mountains of China studying the secrets of the awakened and yearns to good back there one day.  That's if the shadows don't consume him first.


Attributes220 bp

Body	Agility	Reaction	Strength
3	2	4	2
Charisma	Intuition	Logic	Willpower
3	4	3	5
Edge	Magic/Resonance	Essence	Initiative
2	5	6	8

Positive Qualities35 bp
Magician
Focused Concentration 2
Negative Qualities+30 bp
Sensitive Neural
Spirit Bane [fire]  While Johnathan was in China he assisted his mage mentor in destroying a free spirit that was a threat to village.  He did not understand at the time the long lasting effect it would have on his life.
Lost loved one

Active Skills148 bp

Close Combat Skill Group	2
Outdoors Skill Group	2
Spellcasting	6
Counterspelling	4
Assensing	3
Perception	4
Summoning	4
Binding	4
Astral Combat	2

Knowledge Skills ( [Logic + Intuition] x 3 free points)

Geology	4
Metalurgy	3
Magical Backround	3
Hong Kong Action Movies	2
Meditation Techniques	3
Magic Theory	2

Language Skills

English	N
Chinese	4

Spells24 bp

Mana Bolt

Heal

Analyze Truth

Powerbolt

Stunball

Improved Invisibility

Combat Sense

Increase Reflexes

Spirits6 bp

Type	School	Force	Services
x	x	x	x
x	x	x	x

Magic Tradition
Taoism

Combat	Detection	Health	Illusion	Manipulation	Drain Attribute
Guardian	Guidance	Plant	Air	Earth	Intuition

The Taoist tradition was derived from the ancient arts of meditation and gigong.  As some of the Taoists became awakened they started to recognize the flow of mana through their disciplined practices.  They also were able to commune with astral world and it's spirits.  Taoist spell formulae are series of movements or forms designed to feel the presence of mana for the desired effect.


Gear (15000¥)3 bp

Fake SIN R3	3000¥
Endoscope	250¥
Sunglasses w/Image link, lowlight and flare compensation	200¥
Survival Kit	100¥
2 Trauma Patches	1000¥
6 Stim Patches R6	900¥
Lined Coat	700¥
Survival Knife	50¥
Extendable Baton	50¥
Sap	30¥
Talislegger kit	100¥
Magical Lodge Material R6	3000¥
Spirit Binding Materials F4(Plant)	1500¥
Spirit Binding Materials F3(Guidance)	2000¥
Spirit Binding Materials F3(Plant)	1500¥

Commlink/OS
Renraku Sensei/Renraku Ichi

Response	Signal	Firewall	System	Cost
2	4	2	2	1600¥

Programs

Program	Rating	Cost
Analyze	2	100¥
Browse	2	100¥
Edit	2	100¥
Command	1	50¥

Contacts 30 tokens (chr 3 * 2) Contact C/L Fixer (Van Isherwood) 4/1 Talismonger(Sun lo "Sonny" Ming) 22 tokens Sonny was a talismonger in Hong before moving to Seattle.  He is familiar with many eastern magic traditions and still has some contacts from back home for any special requests. 4/3 Gang Member ("Slugger") 6 tokens Slugger was a dwarf kid growing up in the sprawl how eventually ran away from home to get away from parental abuse.  Joined the "Knocker" to keep himself safe on the streets and because he likes to take part the numerous "activities" with his new family. 2/2 Build Point totals:  XXXXX = XXXXX + XXXXX - XXXXX

[snowcrash]

Tim, the thing with his sister could be backed up with the 'Lost Loved One' qualty from Runners Comp.... And you'll get some BP for it!

[benhatt]

Tim - I dig your background; love characters with some mystery involved.  I totally agree with Snowcrash about the Lost Loved One.  If you were looking to ditch some incompetence you could take SINner (which would make sense since he was from a normal middle class family) and even (if you thought it was appropriate) take Wanted to suggest there are people out there actively paying money for Johnathan.  You might want to trade in a spell for some Gear money, I am only saying this because 10,000 (unless it was a typo and is 100,000) will only get you a very low Foci and then leave you with nothing else. Looking forward to running with you.

[funkytim]

Thanks for the input.  The last time I played Shadow run there was no such thing as sustaining foci and spell locks only cost on point of karma to bind.  I was debating the choice of sustaining foci at the start of the campaign but you can only get a rating 3 at start because of availibility.   It takes four hits to max out an Increased Reflexes spell.  I was hoping to hold out until I could get one in game.  I also saved 6 BP for spirit services so that should help with the lack of foci.

Great ideas on the qualities.  I was planning on asking the GM if my backround suggested using the SINer quality.  I didn't know about the wanted and lost loved one qualities.  I chose the incompetent qualities because I see him as reluctant hero who doesn't want to have much to do with guns.  Maybe I can replace the spirit bane quality.

[funkytim]

Benhatt - It was your detailed character description that inspired me to flesh out his backround as much as I did.

[benhatt]

Thanks.  A solid background just makes the character more fun to play, I think so at least.  One thing about on your character sheet, you don't have any programs on your commlink.  The basic suite is 300 nuyen (SR4 page 232) and comes with Analyze, Browse and Edit at 2 and Command at 1.  It would allow Ghost to do something with his commlink, like look for data in a pinch, etc.

[funkytim]

Thanks for the tip, again.  As I said before, last time I played Shadowrun the Hacker class was called a Decker, there was no such thing as a PAN and us mage, street sam, and rigger types didn't have to worry about our own data security.

I still have a small amout of money left.  Should I get a spoof or stealth program also?

[Paeniteo Azrael]

Please critique, as this is my first street sam. Also, Background is meh in my opinion, not my best, but I tried. Don't comment on the corny aliases (for those who might recognise those names) :p. If you feel like it, I would suggest checking my BP total and gear total, as I may have made a mistake (I calculated it like 7 times though.... I shouldn't have)


Name: Marlene Reitsch – Generally doesn’t tell people
Alias: Eva Junge  – (Rating 4) – This is the one on her lease/Car
                   Traudl Braun – (Rating 4)
Street Name: Bloody Mary
Race: Human
Sex: Female
Nationality: UCAS- German American
Birthday: 2/16/2047
Lifestyle: Middle – Described Below - 1200¥ rolled 1400¥ is average
Karma Spent: 0/0
Physical Description: At 5’ 6”, she isn’t particularly tall. She has a pretty face, and she kept her cybereyes the same color as her real eyes; blue. Covering most of her back and wrapping around her waist to her thighs is a tattoo of a Red Dragon. She is physically fit, and would be considered quite attractive, although she puts off a gruff, no-nonsense vibe.
Personality/background

Mary is the type of person who puts on a gruff exterior, while truly being a compassionate and nice person. Her compassion does have its limits, however, and although she will stop to help most people or make an effort not to kill needlessly, bigots (specifically everyone’s favorites, the Humanis Policlub) make her rather angry. Although she is compassionate, she hasa rather short temper, and is fairly impatient. Around most people, she is cynical and blunt. However, she is extremely determined when she sets her mind on something, and rarely admits defeat.

Around people she knows, however, she shows more of her true self. She takes off the cynical and gruff exterior, and merely lets her compassion through. She is rather detached when it comes to people she cares about, even those she loves, because of the incident with her parents.

Mary was born to corporate parents in a rather nice life. Both her parents were human, although her mother’s sister was an elf. When Mary’s sister, Isis, was born, her parents stayed at Aunt Rebecca’s house. Unfortunately, while they were there, pro-human terrorists attacked the Elf district Rebecca was living in, and ended up killing Mary’s parents as they tried to protect Rebecca. This devastated Mary, who swore revenge against the people who destroyed her family, and became determined to excel in combat.

Her Aunt decided to take care of herself and Isis, and for the most part, the rest of her days were uneventful. At age 18, however, her sister was kidnapped, presumably by pro-human terrorists (the note was along the lines of: Rot in hell you dandelion eating slitch). Once again, Mary found herself swearing to find those responsible, and set off on a mission to track her sister down.

The trail eventually led her to Seattle, when all of a sudden all her leads dried up. With nowhere to go, and no more leads to follow, Mary took to smuggling drugs for the Yakuza. Her time smuggling resulted in making a few connections, while also getting hooked on Zen, a hallucinogenic drug which allowed Mary to escape her horrible fate. Eventually, Mary decided to end her stay with the Yakuza and begin shadowrunning, in a vain effort to find people who might help her hunt down her sister.

On her 22nd Birthday, she received a note informing her that her parents had left her a large amount of money, which she decided to spend on upgrading her implants and weaponry, and on pursuing clues about her sister. Again, after a few months, what leads she did have dried up in their entirety, although they mainly pointed to people in the Renton district of Seattle.

Lifestyle: Mary lives in Renton, when asked why considering her views, she says “The closer I am to my enemy, the better that I may know him.” Obviously, Renton is filled with people she’d have no urge to reside with, but the last few clues regarding her sister had pointed her in this direction. The home she lives in is rather nice, with quite a few comforts and the like. It does have the unfortunate quality of having a Rogue AI in control of the systems, although Mary and the AI are friendly with each other. (Eris, the AI, escaped from an Ares Research Lab that Mary went on a run in. In exchange for the escape and living arrangements, Eris does her best to erase unpleasant information from public records for her. Eris stands for Ethereal Research and Information Synthesizer.)


Attributes (210 BP)

Body	Agility	Reaction	Strength
5 (6)	3 (7)	5 (7)	4 (6)
Charisma	Intuition	Logic	Willpower
2	4	2	3
Edge	Magic/Resonance	Essence	Initiative
3	N/A	1.72 (-3.48 CW - .8 BW)	10

Positive Qualities
Toughness (10)
Restricted Gear(5) Muscle Toner 4
Erased (10) Helped an AI named ERIS escape from an ARES research base during a previous run
Negative Qualities
Lost Loved One (5) Her younger sister, age 17 now, went missing at 12
Addiction (Moderate, Zen) (10)
Scorched (5)
Vindictive (10)
Dependent (Johnathan Lopez) (5)



Active Skills (150 BP)

Athletics Skill Group	4
Climbing	-
Gymnastics	-
Running	-
Swimming	-
Pistols	3
Automatics	5
Exotic Melee Weapons	5
Throwing	2
Dodge	3
Perception	2
Pilot Groundcraft	2 (Bikes +2)
Con	2
Infliltrate	2
Unarmed Combat	1

Knowledge Skills ( [Logic + Intuition] x 3 free points)

Yakuza Politics (Street)	3
Seattle Street Gangs (Street)	3
Ares Macrotechnologies (Street)	1
Street Drugs (Interests)	2
Club Music (Interests)	1
Security Companies (Street)	2

Language Skills

English	N	German	2
Japanese	2	Spanish	2

Cyber/Bioware (126,750¥)

Cyberware	Essence	Cost	Notes
Olfactory Booster R3	.2	3,000¥
N/A
Taste Booster R3	.2	4,500¥	N/A
Cybereyes R4	.4	9,750¥	Flare Compensation, Thermographic Vision, R3 Vision Enhancer, Vision Magnifier, Smartlink, Alphaware
Plastic Bone Lacing	.4	20,000¥
Alphaware
Reaction Enhancers R2	.6	20,000¥	N/A
Wired Reflexes R1	1.8	22,000¥
Alphaware
Muscle Toner R4	.8	32,000¥	N/A
Fingertip Compartment	.1	1,500¥	Alphaware, has Monofilament Whip in it
Muscle Augmentation R2	.4	14,000¥	N/A

Gear (40BP = 200,000¥) (17,890¥)

R4 Fake Sin – Eva Junge	4000¥
R4 Fake Sin – Traudl Braun	4000¥
R4 x2 Fake Firearms Licenses (Junge, both firearms)	800¥
R4 x2 Driving Licenses (Braun and Junge)	800¥
x10 Fragmentation Grenades	350¥
Grapple Gun	500¥
R6 Respirator	600¥
R6 x10 Stimulant Patches	1,500¥
R4 x 2 Antidote (Zen) Patches	400¥
x7 Trauma Patches	3,500¥
x170 Stick’n’Shock Heavy Pistol Rounds	1,360¥
x200 Explosive Assault Rifle Rounds	1,000¥
x220 Standard Assault Rifle Rounds	440¥
However much Zen 110¥ buys	110¥

Vehicles (11,750¥)
Suzuki Mirage

Handling	Accel	Speed	Pilot	Body	Armor	Sensor	Availability	Cost	Notes
+1	20/50	200	1	6	4	1	-	11,850¥	Run Flat Tyres, Anti-Theft System, Gridlink, Gridlink Override, Standard Sensor Suite

Armor (10,100¥) Name          Ballistic    Impact        Availability Modifications Cost          Notes        Chameleon Suit 6 4 10R R3 Nonconductive 8,600¥ -4 Modifier to see wearer Armored Jacket 8 6 2 R3 Nonconductive 1,500¥ N/A Weapons (4,700¥) Name          Type          Damage Value AP            Modes        RC            Ammo          Availability Cost          Modifications Monofilament Whip Exotic Melee Weapon 8P -4 N/A N/A N/A 12F 3,000¥ N/A Fist-no-Jutsu Unarmed (Str/2+1)S - N/A N/A N/A - - N/A Ares Predator IV Heavy Pistol 5P -1 SA - 15(c) 4R 750¥ Internal Smartgun System, 10 Spare Clips AK - 97 Assault Rifle 6P -1 SA/BF/FA - 38(c) 4R 1,050¥ Internal Smartgun System. 10 Spare Clips Commlinks (4,900¥) Name    Response Signal  System  Firewall Programs Cost    Hermes Ikon Running Novatech Navi 4 3 4 3 Analyze 2 Browse 2 Edit 2 Command 2 4,900¥ Lifestyle (3,800¥/Month) 6 Months Purchased Comforts        Entertainment  Security        Neighborhood    The Necessities Qualities      Point Total    4 3 3 3 3 AI In Residence (Eris, -3) 13

Contacts (10 BP)
Van Isherwood – Fixer/Retired Street Sam (Con: 4/Loy: 2)
Lives: High lifestyle in Renton near the Redmond border
Likes: Cabana hats, cigars, his lawn
Dislikes: Neighborhood kids, the quality of most runners these days, acid rain
Basic History:  Looking at the balding, slightly potbellied man with outdated cyber-enhancements, no one would expect that he was once an AAA street sam and that is the way Van Isherwood likes it.  He made enough money to afford a very nice house in an o.k. neighborhood and quit getting shot at.  Still it was hard to leave the life completely, so Van Isherwood became a fixer.  While some of his contacts may be getting on for runners, they all are people in the know.

Yukiko Kaneda – Yakuza Drug Dealer (Con: 3/Loy: 2)
Lives: Medium Lifestyle
Likes: Kimonos, Tattoos, Making Money
Dislikes: Most Yakuza Men, most men in general, getting shot at
Basic history: Yukiko was born to a peaceful Japanese corporate family in Chiba. Peaceful until her father’s debt got her mother killed and Yukiko sold into the Yakuza “family.” Fortunately for her, a boss took her in and treated her as her own child. The beautiful Japanese Doll has since moved to Seattle, and has started to make quite the name for herself amongst Yakuza. She is, however, constantly hit on by upstarts who don’t know her name, which she despises (it is a mostly male organization, after all).

Johnathan Lopez – Sometimes Lover/Surgeon (Con: 3/ Loy: 5)
Lives: Medium Lifestyle
Likes: Marlene (He knows her as Eva), helping people, open-mindedness
Dislikes: Eva using him, drugs, Humanis Policlub
Basic History: Johnathan lived a nice, middle-class lifestyle for the entirety of his life. He went to good schools, got into a good Med school, and became a good surgeon. He met Eva when she came out of a building bleeding, and took her home and treated her (after much pleading regarding not going to a hospital). He has had bad experiences with the Policlub, and had a friend die of an overdose. He doesn’t know Eva’s true identity, nor does he understand why she’s so distant. He is a physically fit, attractive, young, hispanic elven male.

Maria Ivanovich – Sometimes Lover/Surgeon (Con: 4/ Loy: 4)
Lives: Medium Lifestyle in
Likes: Justice, Doing the Right thing, equality
Dislikes: Megacorps, gangs, injustice, bananas
Basic History: Maria is a young ork. She was part of the last lucky group to Goblinize when Haley's Comet passed by. Fortunately for her, there wasn't as much discrimination in her job against Orks as perhaps in other jobs. Since then, Maria has worked her way up from a beat cop to a Lieutenant of the Seattle Police. She met Marlene through one of Marlene's contacts. They instantly became good friends, especially once Maria found out about Marlene's missing sister. Every now and then they talk, and occasionally Maria will investigate a lead in Marlene's sister's disappearance. Maria doesn't know of Marlene's past, however, and doesn't realize that she is a shadowrunner. There is little telling what would happen if Maria ever found out about Marlene's secret.
Build Point totals:  400 = 210 + 150 + 40 + 25 - 35 + 10

[benhatt]

Hey Paeniteo Azrael -

I actually think the character history is pretty good.  I like the irony in the names (hating people who hate people but taking aliases that are linked to a person involved in hating people.  Did that make sense?) I would take it even higher and replace the silver allergy with Prejudiced against Humanis Policlub people.  Hater the haters. My only suggestion is taking some level of unarmed combat.  She can cut someone in half with her whip Johnny Mnemonic style but has to default on throwing a punch.

[Paeniteo Azrael]

Hey Paeniteo Azrael -

I actually think the character history is pretty good.  I like the irony in the names (hating people who hate people but taking aliases that are linked to a person involved in hating people.  Did that make sense?) I would take it even higher and replace the silver allergy with Prejudiced against Humanis Policlub people.  Hater the haters. My only suggestion is taking some level of unarmed combat.  She can cut someone in half with her whip Johnny Mnemonic style but has to default on throwing a punch.

Good point.... I hadn't taken prejudiced because by eyes glanced over it, and I wanted 15BP of negative qualities that weren't going to get me ultra-dead. And I guess I don't need to be able to throw grenades QUITE as well as I previously could    Also, Plastic bone lacing = whoo! stronger melee attack!

[Frankie the Fomori]

Hello I have a couple things to say on the Street Sam bloody Mary. First there is no Specialization for Exotic weapons skill. Further a suggestion, try removing the Bilingual quality as it does not add anything to your PC (you have one social skill at rating 2, with the rule of Lang skill limiting dice from social skill entering the Dice pool you only need Language skills of 2, so reduce the two 3 to 2 add German to 2) instead of Bilingual I would suggest taking restricted gear and getting muscle toner 4 or supra thyroid gland.

Hope this makes sense, and have a great day
cheers Frankie.

EDit: also think about a finger tip compartment for the Whip....maybe at Alpha grade.

[funkytim]

Nice, can't wait to see the last two characters.

[Paeniteo Azrael]

Hello I have a couple things to say on the Street Sam bloody Mary. First there is no Specialization for Exotic weapons skill. Further a suggestion, try removing the Bilingual quality as it does not add anything to your PC (you have one social skill at rating 2, with the rule of Lang skill limiting dice from social skill entering the Dice pool you only need Language skills of 2, so reduce the two 3 to 2 add German to 2) instead of Bilingual I would suggest taking restricted gear and getting muscle toner 4 or supra thyroid gland.

Hope this makes sense, and have a great day
cheers Frankie.

EDit: also think about a finger tip compartment for the Whip....maybe at Alpha grade.

Thank you, took you're suggestions into consideration, as you can see.

[funkytim]

Hey Paeniteo, what did you do with the two bp you saved removing the "whip specialization?"  If you didn't use it else where you could specialize in lob style thrown weapons.  That would give you +2 dice to your grenade tosses.

[Paeniteo Azrael]

Hey Paeniteo, what did you do with the two bp you saved removing the "whip specialization?"  If you didn't use it else where you could specialize in lob style thrown weapons.  That would give you +2 dice to your grenade tosses.

Heh, to afford Muscle Toner 4 I had to put it gear, which actually is more sensible, because that gives me a +2 to my grenade, whip, and auto rolls (amongst other stuffs)....