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human investigator

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eshoup1

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« on: <07-20-11/1725:18> »
So here's a new character I've been working on. I was wondering if anyone had any feedback.

Title- Ariel (human, stealth, investigation, contacts) Total BP=400

Race (BP=0)
   -human female

Attributes (Total BP=200)
   Body- 3
   Agility- 4 (6)
   Reaction- 3 (6)
   Strength- 2
   
   Charisma- 5
   Intuition- 5
   Logic- 3(4)
   Willpower- 3

   Essence- 2.15
   Magic- 0
   Resonance- 0
   Initiative- 8(11)
   Initiative passes- 1(2)
   Edge- 2

Qualities (Total BP=+20)
   First Impression (5)
   Records on file (+10)
   Day job (+10)
   Weak Immune System (+5)

Skills (Total BP= 144)
   Infiltration- 4
   Shadowing- 4
   Electronics group- 3
   Unarmed combat- 2
   Etiquette- 5
   Con- 2
   Pistols- 3
   Gymnastics- 2
   Pilot ground craft- 1
   Perception- 5

Contacts (Total BP=30)
Ancients Gang Leader (2/1)
Maître-D (2/1)
Fixer (2/2)
Shark Lawyer (5/2)
Hacker (2/1)
Ms. Johnson (1/5)
Club-hopper (3/1)

Knowledge Skills (Total BP=0, 24 for free)
   Gang ID- 2
   Corp politics- 4
   Seattle night life- 4
   Psychology- 2
   Data Havens- 2
   Forensics- 1
   Law- 3
   Trendy Seattle Restaurants- 3
   English- N
   Sperethiel- 3

Gear Total BP=46
Cyberware
2- Wired reflexes lv.1
.6- Reaction enhances lv.2
.1- data jack
.5- cybereyes lv.4
   -eye recording unit
   -image link
   -Flare comp
   -Lowlight
   -smartlink
   -Vision enhancement lv.3
   -Vision magnification
   -thermographic
.4- Cyberears lv.3
   -Audio enhancement lv.3
   -Damper
   -Selective sound filter lv.4
   -Spatial recognizer
   -ear recording unit
   -sound link
.4- muscle toner lv.2
.2- cerebral booster lv.1
.1- Mnemonic enhancer lv.1
.4- Qualia

Weapons/Armor
Shock glove
Survival knife
Hammerli 620S
   -concealable holster
   -spare clip x2
   -EX ammo x20
   -Stick-n-Shock ammo x20
   -Tracker rounds (stealth tag) x10
   -Silencer
Ruger Super Warhawk
   -concealable holster
   -internal smartlink
   -speed loader x2
   -EX ammo x20
   -Gel ammo x20
Chameleon Suit
   -Thermal damping lv.6
   -Shock frills
   -Nonconductivity lv.6
   -Fire resistance lv.3
Actioneer Business Clothes
Forearm guards
Vitals protector
Shin guards
Zoe moonsilver line
   -Cocktail dress x2
   -Scarf x2
Mortimer of London Berwick line
   -suit jacket
   -skirt
   -blouse
High lifestyle clothing
Form fitting shirt

Equipment
AR gloves
Subvocal mic
Renraku Sensei
   -Renraku Ichi OS
   -Biometric reader
Transys Avalon
   -Novatech Navi OS
   -Firewall lv.6
   -Skinlink
   -Sim module
   -laserlink
Jammer, area lv.4
Micro-transciever lv.6
Tag eraser
White Noise generator lv.6
Fake SIN lv.4
Fake driver’s license lv.4
Fake cyberware/bioware license lv.4
Fake gun license lv.4
Fake equipment license lv.4
Operations clean-up kit
Tool Kit
Certified credstick x2
Glasses w/image link
Stealth RFID w/camera x5
Handheld scanner
   -cyberware scanner lv.6
   -MAD lv.3
   -Olfactory Sensor lv.6
Handheld laser microphone lv.6
Handheld scanner
   -Directional microphone
   -Camera w/low light and telephoto lens
Handheld radio signal scanner lv.6
Handheld non-linear junction detector lv.6
Stealth RFID tags w/ microphone x5
Plasteel restraints x2
Autopicker lv.6
Cellular glove molder lv.3
Keycard copier lv.6
Maglock passkey lv.4
Sequencer lv.4
Wire clippers
Fingernail data storage
Glasscutter
Hypersonic sound beam
Low life style x3 months
Endoscope
Voice mask
Smart Pack
Scent masking cigarette x10
Leas cigarette x4
Respirator lv.6
Medkit lv.6
Mounted camera neutralizer lv.6
Survival kit

Programs
Analyze program lv.3
Browse program lv.3
Command program lv.3
Edit program lv.3
Encrypt program lv.3
Scan program lv.3
Purge program lv.3
Empathy program lv.3
Facial recognition lv.3
Gait analysis lv.3
Lie Detection lv.3
Noise analysis lv.3
Visual spotter lv.3
Vehicle ID lv.3
Voice recognition lv.3

Vehicles
Rover 2068 (luxury SUV)
   -morphing license plate
   -Spoof chip
   -Run flat tires


Her back story is that she is a paralegal/secretary for an independent law firm that is contracted to Horizon.
She does some office stuff but she is also used as eye candy for important function.
The shark lawyer contact is pretty much her boss and he has a huge crush on her. That's part of the reason is able to work so few hours per week and still be employed.
The other reason is that she has become a go-to investigator for the firm. She has developed herself into a runner with a lot of tools for gathering intel.
She got started down this road when she happened to get some footage of a husband of a Horizon exec getting frisky with a club hopper.
She managed to sell the footage to the exec who grew to be Ariel's Ms. Johnson contact.
Ariel enjoys clubbing and going out with her friends. Her best friend is her club hopper contact.
The Ancients are the gang controllering her apartment complex but she's on pretty good terms with the local leader.
Her other contacts are the various denizens who have helped her out over the course of her career.
But she knows the host of one of the hottest new restaurants in Seattle so she always has an upscale place to meet clients.
Ms. Johnson also has great contacts within Horizon R&D. That is where she got the majority of her cyberware, bioware, and genetic modifications.
They were mostly prototypes, but everything is working good so far.

I added the records on file because she has strong Horizion ties. It makes sense that they would have at least a file on her.
I am assuming that wired reflexes and reaction enhancers stack. If they do not, please let me know and I'll adjust accordingly.
One of my decisions I am not totally sold on is Qualia versus Synch.
I wanted a boost to my perception but I couldn't decide how to go. I went with the broader, non-combat option. But I would be open to arguments for synch.

One of the big things I am wondering is how well she'll mesh into a team.
I'm almost a face and I have ok stealth skills for a mundane. But I can't hack and I can't fight that well. My goal is to grow into a face.
She has a ton of perception, and I am wondering how important that skill actually is.
My current game has hardly any perception rolls. But that is more my current GM dislikes rolling in general. Any thoughts on the diminishing returns of a high perception?

Thank you for any insight you provide.

UmaroVI

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« Reply #1 on: <07-20-11/1819:28> »
Before I start offering more specific suggestions, I have some questions.

First, let me see if I can correctly summarize what you would like to be able to do; let me know if any of this is wrong:

You want to be more dark-trenchcoat-and-mirror-shades, less pink mohawk style shadowrunner - so you don't want to do stuff like use giant unconcealable guns, wear blatantly obvious armor, or anything like that.
You want to be good at negotiating, fast-talking, making friends, and dealing with contacts.
You want to be effective in a fight but it's not your top priority.
You want to be an OK hacker but it's not your top priority.

Question about your race: do you actively want to be a human, or was it just a default choice? There's nothing wrong with being human, but right now you are not getting your money's worth out of the +1 edge.

eshoup1

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« Reply #2 on: <07-20-11/2009:50> »
Your summary is mostly correct. The group I play with has a hard time grasping the leg work concept of Shadowrun.
As a result I wanted to make a character that could do a large portion of the non-hacking leg work.
Yes, this character is not very pink mohawk. And no big guns or obvious armor right now.
I have no hacking skill right now. I gave it a lot of thought but decided that I'd rather be a non-hacker than a crappy hacker at start-up.
Originally, she was an elf but I felt like I wasn't getting enough out of her charisma. And I wanted more BP in skills.
I realize that Edge of 2 is really, really low of a human. But part of that is due to the fact that my current GM recharges edge SLOWLY.
As a result my current group hardly ever uses edge.

Going back to the big guns... I realize that I'll get more bang for my BP by taking either long arms or automatics. But I went with pistols for more RP reasons.
I am open to arguments for grabbing a different firearm skill.
I was also thinking of trading in the Hammerli for a Morrissey Elan. The DV is the same and the Elan can get by MAD scanners.
I'd lose some range and some ammo but it may be worth it.

UmaroIV, your summary was spot on. I am very interested in any ideas you may have.

UmaroVI

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« Reply #3 on: <07-20-11/2227:48> »
When you're trying to cover a lot of bases in SR - in this case you're trying to be a primary face and a secondary fighter and hacker - the trick is to not try to cover your secondary schticks either perfectly or broadly, but instead be 80% good in 80% of your secondary schticks.

On the guns topic: I think either Pistols or Automatics is a perfectly sensible choice. I'm assuming you play with some variant of "Everyone Pretends Stick and Shock Doesn't Exist," if not that does somewhat change things.

Automatics is the most balanced of the skills. There are pretty concealable automatics, but not as concealable as pistols. You can get automatics that can pass MAD scanners, but not at chargen and definitely not for cheap. You can get pretty decently long-range weapons (but not as long as Heavy Weapons). You do have trouble hurting things with a lot of hardened armor like high-force spirits, drones, and vehicles, but are still better than pistols. Also, you can get a briefcase that shoots people; truly this is the Dark Eighties Future.

Pistols are more specialized in concealability. You give up the medium-range options that Automatics have and you give up stopping power, in return you get better Concealment and cheaper and easier ways to get past MAD.

Personally, I like Automatics, and I'm going to assume Automatics below. Not a whole lot changes if you go Pistols but you will want different guns and a slightly different cyberarm.

I'm going to quickly sketch an outline.

Elf (30 BP)
B 3
A 2[10 with right arm]
R 5(9)
S 1[6 with right arm]
C 7
I 5
L 2
W 3
Edg 1
(170 on Attributes)
Note: More body and/or willpower would be nice; they are stats where more is always better. I left them where you had them but if I had 40 spare points they would both be 5.

I would really suggest another 10 points of negative qualities. Mild Addiction (Betel) might be sensible - Betel is basically super-addictive nicotine gum, and it's pretty commonly used (also legal, Availability -, and cheap), it's a stimulant that perks you up and gives you +1 Perception. It can't go past Mild addiction. Also, now that I look, you have Records on File and Day Job but not SINner, which seems odd since based on your background; you should probably take SINner for the other 5.

Also, since you are going to be a hacker, you can always take stuff like Codeblock (Repair Icon).

That will leave you at +35 negative qualities.

First Impression 5 points

Skills
OK, here's where things get painful because you cannot afford every skill you want. I'm going to try to explain my reasoning for what got cut and why.
16 bp Hacking 4
4 bp Electronic Warfare 1
24 bp Automatics 6
OR
Pistols 6

40bp Influence 4

40bp Stealth 4

10 Electronics 1

16 bp Perception 4

150 bp on skills. Unarmed Combat and Gymnastics are things it would be nice to have a little skill in; I would suggest buying them (and specializations!) with karma as some fairly early purchases. Unfortunately some cuts had to be made here. Note that you do have a kind of low data search skill, but your final Data Search + Browse will end up being 13, which should be plenty.

That's 320 bp so far. The last 80 bp is going to be split between contacts and gear. I am going to recommend 50 gear/30contacts which leaves you with the same contacts you have now.

Gear is tricky. I'm not going to go widget-hunting, instead I'm going to hit the highlights.

Ware: [5.62 essence]
Wired Reflexes 2: 3 essence, 32000 nuyen
Cyber Full Arm, customized for +4 agility, +3 strength. Enhancements Armor 2 [note: immediately go buy Armor 3, it's only 600 nuyen, but Availability 15], Agility 3, Cyberarm Gyromount, Rating 1 Nanohive. 1 essence, 44,850 nuyen.
Secondhand Reaction Enhancers 2: .72 Essence, 10,000 nuyen
Secondhand Encephalon 1: .9 Essence, 15000 nuyen
Bio: [.7 essence, halved to .35]
Tailored Pheremones 3: .6 Essence, 45000 nuyen
PuSHeD .1 essence, 15000 nuyen
Nano:
Neocortical Nanites, Rating 3 (30,000 nuyen)

[total cost: most of your soul and 191850

This setup will give you the most bang for your buck at talking, shooting, and hacking; it involves some cheap secondhand ware and you probably want to start replacing most of your cyberware with alphaware as you get more money, and getting more bioware. For now, though, it's quite good.

The cyberarm is a huge boost to your ability to fight (so long as you stick to one handed weapons - so no assault rifles for you). The Encephalon and PuSHeD help your logic-linked skills - including Hacking, Data Search, and Computer - and Neocortical Nanites gives you another +3 if you're not stressed (which, during legwork Data Searching, you probably aren't). Tailored Pheremones are amazingly useful.

Commlink-wise, you are not going to be a great hacker to start (not enough money), but you can manage a passable hacker with room to grow.
Novatech Airware (1250)
upgrade Response to 5 (4000)
Optimize your commlink for Browse (500)
Iris Orb OS (1000)
Upgrade System to 5 (2500)
Get Analyze and Browse 6 with Optimization 1 (1400), Edit 3 (150), Exploit 5 with the Mute option (5750), Spoof 5 (5000), Stealth 5 (5000).

This costs 26550. You will be quite awesome at Data Search. A character more focused on hacking would have a lot more options, but for information-gathering you're in pretty decent shape - against nodes that aren't super-secure you have good odds of sneaking in, grabbing the data you want, and leaving. A note: don't hot-sim; you have 3 meat IPs so you should hack from AR. I suggest you get yourself some pirated programs to round out your hacking when you have time to hunt them down (luckily, finding Neo-Pirate Bay is Data Search).

That leaves guns, armor, and gadgets; you may have to hold off on getting the best in some of these areas too. Gun-wise, I would recommend the Ares Executive Protector, on account of it being a briefcase that shoots people.

1,000     Ares Executive Predator: 5P, 0 AP, SA/BF/FA, (1) RC, 30(c) (9F) [Submachine Gun]
            0            Folding Stock (1 RC when unfolded, factored in)
            0            Briefcase (Double uncompisated recoil), simple action to remove
            0            Integral Sound Suppressor
            100         Foregrip: +1 RC for full bursts (under barrel)
            500         Smartlink
            1,000      Electronic Firing (1 RC, -1 to sound perception to locate) (10R) [2]
            600         Gas Vent 3 (3 RC) (6R) [2]

When folded, you can get 8 RC (9 for full bursts), allowing you to either long/short with a -2 on the short (remembering to double uncompensated recoil) or full burst with no penalty. Unfold it to long/short with no penalty. This gun is in my opinion totally awesome. It is a briefcase that kills people. What more do you want?

 Also:

800        B&P MP9: 4P SA/BF/FA, RC 1(2). 25(c) (6F) [Machine Pistol]
            0        Foregrip: 1 RC, +1 to concealment
            0        Remove the Foregrip
           400     External Smartgun System (Top mount) (4R)
           200     Gas-Vent 2 system: 2 RC (barrel mount) (4R)
           150     Rigid Stock: 1 RC
            1,000  Chameleon Coating: -4 to Concealment (10R) [2]
           100     Personalized Grip: 1 Recoil Compensation [1] 

With your cyberarm gyromount and 6 STR (on the arm you're firing with), that's 9 RC - enough to full burst, or to long/short with no recoil. This gun is useful because it is quite concealable (-2 concealment); combined with your good Palming check, you should be able to sneak it into a lot of places.

975        Ingram SuperMach 100: 4P, SA/FA, 3 (4) RC, 40 or 60 (c) [9f]
               0        High Velocity
             0        Recoil Reducing Design: 3 RC (factored in)
             0        Folding Stock: 1 RC (factored in)
             0        Cannot mount barrel or underbarrel accessories
            400     External Smartgun System (Top mount) (4R)
            200     Gas Vent 2: 2 RC (4R) [1]
            100     Personalized Grip: 1 Recoil Compensation [1]   
            1,000  Chameleon Coating (10R) [2]
 
Again with the high STR and gyromount, this has 11 recoil compensation - enough to do a HV full burst, or a long/long with no penalty. This gun is not particularly concealable but is quite good at killing dudes.

Armor: obviously, you're going to want clothing that covers your right arm; there should be plenty of that. I see you already found Form Fitting Body Armor and PPP for subtle armor.

Widgets: note I removed the cybereyes and cyberears. Wear glasses, contacts, and earbuds for that.

Some people consider Empathy Software horrible cheese, but if you and your GM are cool with it, you should be running Empathy Software too.





« Last Edit: <07-20-11/2301:40> by UmaroVI »

eshoup1

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« Reply #4 on: <07-21-11/1707:41> »
Wow, that is a pretty involved assessment. +1 for throughness.

First, I'm trying to be a human sensor first and a face with a little combat thrown in second.
And one of the question I wanted some feedback on was... are there diminshing returns to the perception skill?

Now on to the discussion of your really good analysis.

That is a wicked cool combo on the cyberarm. I would have not thought about that.
At first I was wondering how you got to 10 on the cyber arm but then I realized that you went back to being an elf.
I am a little hesitant to be packing a strength of 1.
I realize that I have no skills the relate to strength. But an attribute that low means no defaulting ever.

I concur with the idea to grab a mild addicition. A early version of Ariel used Cram instead of wired reflexes to grab and extra IP.
I was unsure if SINner stacked with records on file.
By RAW I see no real reason why they wouldn't but that just seems to be too easy to grab a few extra BPs.

You did a crazy good job of bumping up the data search skill.

Really, the only thing I can see that I have any real hesitancy with is the cyberarm.
While I realize that you did a really good job of bumping the character up to a combat force,
I have a hard time seeing Ariel in a cocktail dress interacting with her corp contacts with a fully chromed out cyberarm.
It is strictly a role issue and I thank you again for pointing out some good options for increasing her combat effectiveness.

So yeah, this is a great start to developing this character, if you see anything else please jump in.

UmaroVI

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« Reply #5 on: <07-21-11/1736:28> »
There kind of are - Perception is very useful and it's worth being good at, but I don't think it's worth going totally overboard. The version I suggested has 12 dice (5 intuition + 4 perception + 3 for Vision Enhancement on glasses) and can specialize for 2 more; past that I think you're hitting some diminishing returns. If you feel you need a bit more, an Attention Coprocessor is .3 essence and 9000 nuyen for +3 to all PER rolls; after you upgrade some of the cruddy cyberware you start with, you could probably slip in an Alphaware attention coprocessor.

Keep in mind you do have a STR of 6 with the cyberarm - it wouldn't be bad to spend 10 karma bumping base STR up to 2, maybe, but I would do that after buying a skill or so relating to STR. It seems pretty conceivable that this character would have low STR.

Day Job actually specifies that you must have either a fake SIN or SINner; if you had a fake SIN with it, then it would mean your fake ID had the day job.

With the cyberarm - one option would be to get a Synthetic cyberarm. If you do this, though, you should probably switch to Pistols - you're not going to have space for a cyberarm gyromount (and having an illegal mod in your arm kind of defeats the point of getting a synthetic one). Synthetic cyberlimbs are pretty hard to spot and are likely to cause much less of a reaction (also, you have a pretty solid Disguise skill if you need it); my understanding is that they are pretty socially acceptable.

If you go this route, I would suggest replacing the mods in it with 1 armor [2 slots], 3 agility [3 slots], Nanohive 1 [2 slots], Fingertip Compartment [1 slot]. You won't be able to get enough recoil compensation to really get your money's worth out of semiautomatics, so I'd go pistols instead - especially since you were already considering it. You actually have enough dice to be pretty effective even with just pistols. I recommend:

Yamaha Sakura Fubuki (2000) with External Smartgun System (400), Chameleon Coating (1000), Silencer (200), Improved Rangefinder (1000)
   
Ruger Thunderbolt (750) with Internal Smartgun System Option (400), Personalized Grip (100), Chameleon Coating (1000), Underbarrel Weight (25), Powered Folding Stock (100)
   
Morissey Elan (450) with Internal Smartgun System (450), Underbarrel Weight (25), Chameleon Coating (1000)
   
Yamaha Pulsar (150) with Custom Look 2 (1000)

The Yamaha Pulsar is legal. It has Custom Look 2 so you can threaten people with a very scary looking taser for +2 intimidate.

The Morissey Elan has a whopping -8 concealment, so it's really easy to hide; it also bypasses MAD.

The Yamaha Sakura Fubuki is a lot more effective than the Morissey Elan but only -6 concealment; it doesn't bypass MAD though.

The Ruger Thunderbolt is another level of effectiveness up and another level of concealment down.

An alternative option would be to leave the cyberarm obvious and go for the stylish chrome look with a classy Cyberlimb Casemod (Augmentation).

eshoup1

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« Reply #6 on: <07-21-11/1816:55> »
I am totally going down the synthetic arm route. I'm already drawing it up. And I concur on the pistols route. My GM hasn't outlawed stick-n-shock yet. So my Elan will still be doing 6S(e).

Again, thanks for your help, UmaroVI. Your insight has been really great for this character.

 

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