[Seeker]

So, making a character for an upcoming game; and I've been relegated Face.  Currently, we're short on people so we're also trying to make sure we can cover different avenues.  Books allowed are Core/Runner's Companion/Street Magic/Arsenal/Augmentation.

I'd like to have a face who dabbles in magic.  Trying to be good as a mundane face, and not try to supplement Influence with spells.  Limited magic (Rating 3, maybe?) with a few low drain combat spells, detox, and heal.

Anyone have any recommendations, or reasons why this just will not work?  I'm leaning towards a Dog Shaman for tradition.

[gourry187]

Remember that you can ony have as many hits on a spell test as you have magic regardless of the number you actually roll.  In regard to that, your heal spell will only at most heal 3 boxes (with a Magic of 3).

[Ethan]

A low Magic rating is doable but gourry187 has already stated one big problem with low Force spells. You can overcast of course, but that would be quite strenuous.

Do you have a Magician as well in the group? I would suggest a Face/Mystic Adept (though with high Magic) if you want to dabble in spellcasting. It's quite a versatile (if BP/Karma heavy) choice.

Suggestions for a Face/Mage:

- Elf, if you can, with Charisma at 6
- A Tradition that uses Charisma
- Mentor Spirit with some Social skill bonuses
- Spell suggestions: Levitate, Physical Barrier.

[Seeker]

Currently it sounds like we only have three people playing.
A Combat Specialist
Drone Rigger
And me.

That's why I'm considering having the magical background, so we can at least have everything covered.  It doesn't sound as though it is absolute necessary to have every base covered (yet).

I suppose I wouldn't mind using magic to supplement Influence.

My Shadowrun characters tend to be mundane, and cybered.  I tend to stay away from Mages and Technos because I find them a little too confusing.

[Ethan]

I wouldn't recommend using Mental Influence spells as a Face. Get caught (or fail) and it'll give you a very bad rep.

My suggestion would be to embrace Mage-hood with Charisma as your Drain Stat (you can make an Elf Shaman for instance). You could split your points between Sorcery and Summoning as Spirits are quite kickass.

He'll be charming enough to act as a decent face, a dicepool of 10 if you buy CHA 6 and the Influence Skill Group at 4. Get First Impression to smooth your first encounters (and social infiltration situations) and you'll do fine.

You should also consider purchasing a Health Focus to sustain Improved Reflexes to get more IPs. And if you were to also get Improve Charisma (and sustain it with the Focus) you can get +2/+3 extra dice, provided the place you're in doesn't mind you casting that spell. (There's also Empathy Software and Emotitoys to make Face-ing even easier.)

And don't feel restricted to the Elf race, any race can do this effectively though Humans are arguably the best choice: less racism at least.

[Elizara Dane]

My party currently has an Elf face that forsakes spellcasting in general for summoning spirits. Took all the social skills at high ratings and then made his summoning/binding secondary. Then he took specializations in guardian spirits and a made a mentor spirit that gave him a bonus to summoning Guardians so he always has a team of 1-6 F5 spirits that can roll in combat.

So, he does his social stuff then in combat finds a nice corner to cower in while his spirits mop things for him and all the world bows to his whims. After this he's going to be spending karma on Arcana to start making his own binding materials so he can avoid living as a squatter.

[Charybdis]

Hints:
- I'd actually recommend a Shaman build, instead of a mage (as many Shamanic traditions use Charisma as the drain attribute).
- Race of Human. For a Face PC, Humans face less racism than other options (and those -3 dice can really suk
- Mystic Adept, to do the magic dabbling, and also allow for some excellent face-physad powers, the easist of which are Improved Skills at 0.25 per rank.
- Dabble in both Spellcasting and Summoning (maybe get both Skill groups Sorcery and Conjuring at rank 3?)
- Take a single ranged  weapon skill for something small but versatile (don't waste BP on a whole skill group here). Any choice is fine: Automatics (which covers machine pistols to Assault rifles), Longarms (includes Sawn-off Shotguns up to Sniper Rifles), or Pistols (everything from tiny hold-outs and tasers to Burst fire Heavy Pistols like the Savalette).
- Take a single melee weapon skill (don't waste BP on a whole skill group here). Any choice is fine: Blades (covers everything from a boot dagger to a katana), Clubs (nice for stun batons, or pistol-whipping), or Unarmed (can never be disarmed, and has some great Adept powers to make it very affective)

Note: An idea may be to take Blades as the melee weapon, and Thrown weapons as your ranged option. There are some good Adept powers to make thrown daggers incredibly effective (eg Power Throw and Missile Mastery)

Adept powers:
- As a face, disguise is a very powerful tool, so I'd recommend a decent Intuition attribute (R4) along with the powers of Melenanin Control, Facial Sculpting and Voice Control. Being able to disguise yourself virtually at-will is an amazingly effective tool at both impersonations and avoiding cultural racism modifiers
- Also highly recommend the Linguistics power, as it allows you to learn languages without needing Cyberware Linguasofts (which will decrease your magic rating).

Hope this info helps, and have fun

Cheers!

[Seeker]

Thanks a lot.  This was very helpful.