[Charasanya]

Yes, I have seen the Spook and he is rather close to what I am looking for, though from what I have seen, he isn't really able to cope with any intrusion detectors, i.e. through hacking, or magic. He practically always has to rely on others for his break-ins, unless there isn't any security worth speaking of. His combat abilities are really good, and he's a great face, but that is kinda over the top for what I had in mind.

I get it, that more specialized hackers or mages might be better suited to provide the needed backup for such a character, but not being able to do any of the stuff yourself, you are basically obligated to rely on others who might easily betray you...

[Netzgeist]

It may be that I'm just not paying enough attention, but why does the Spook has a 13-dice pool when shooting his Morrissey Élan/Ruger Thunderbolt and just a 11-dice pool when shooting his taser, if he has no specialization?

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Weapon customizations, perhaps.

And Charasanya, this is why you have a team.  It is nigh-impossible to create a starting character that can do everything.  If you do, then they will do none of it well.

[UmaroVI]

It may be that I'm just not paying enough attention, but why does the Spook has a 13-dice pool when shooting his Morrissey Élan/Ruger Thunderbolt and just a 11-dice pool when shooting his taser, if he has no specialization?

The Taser doesn't have a Smartgun System on it - this is because Smartlinks are Restricted, and the major reason to carry a taser is that it's legal, rather than restricted, so you can take it more places.

Charasanya: keep in mind that (mag)locks are actually Hardware, not hacking. However, there are certainly some security problems that you have to have Hacking to bypass.

Of the Archetypes, the closest characters are the Combat Hacker and the Generalist. The Combat Hacker has good infiltration (11), he can take care of locks (hardware 9, which is alright, although he will probably need to Edge anti-tamper systems much of the time), he's a very good hacker, his perception is at least not terrible (5, 8 on visual/hearing), he can Data Search up information, and while he has terrible social skills he's also a second-tier street samurai. The generalist is in many ways similar, but has worse infiltration and mildly worse hacking and combat, better hardware, and is also a good face.

Based on what you wanted, I would suggest taking the Generalist, switching Pistols and Infiltration (he'll be slightly less good at fighting, but still perfectly good, and that will get a more passable infiltration of , and see if you can scrape up the cash for an Attention Coprocessor 3, which will get him up to Perception 8 (visual/hearing 11) which is also OK. The only place I really see to cut the money from is going to be to drop a few less vital programs and buy them later. If your main goal is to support B&E, I would probably cut Disarm, Track, ECCM, and Defuse.

Now, he won't be amazing at any one thing, but he can at least cover everything passably and he does have 6 edge to fill in the gaps.

[Netzgeist]

It may be that I'm just not paying enough attention, but why does the Spook has a 13-dice pool when shooting his Morrissey Élan/Ruger Thunderbolt and just a 11-dice pool when shooting his taser, if he has no specialization?

The Taser doesn't have a Smartgun System on it - this is because Smartlinks are Restricted, and the major reason to carry a taser is that it's legal, rather than restricted, so you can take it more places.

I just can't believe I missed that...

[Henzington]

I was under the impression that an internal smartlink was obvious from a visual standpoint

[Crash_00]

Might not be obvious to the casual observer, but anyone paying close attention is going to notice the small camera on the weapon that is 90% of the time going to point toward it being smartlinked.

[UmaroVI]

My opinion is that Tasers are niche weapons, and their niche is being totally legal, so you really don't want any mods that compromise that niche. Most places that actually make you check all your guns probably are going to take a close look at your taser.

[Crash_00]

Keep in mind, just because it's legal to carry around doesn't mean private establishments will let you carry it in on you. Most states that allow carry/conceal still require permission on private property/private clubs.

[UmaroVI]

Right, but then you want a hide able gun or Unarmed, not a restricted taser.

[Exelotiron]

Being a total rookie, both when it comes to shadowrun, and therefore also posting at this forum, i hope i dont step on anyones toes when stating this.

I think this work is invalid. The characters are super nice, no doubt about it, but as a replacement for the sample characters, they should be made using the same tools, that is, only the one book. All the other books ofcourse add alot of nice stuff, but it should not be used if the challenge is to make replacement for the sample chars in the basic rulebook.

I really really wish i could just give it the thumbs up, since it is a really cool piece of work.
btw mainly im just bitchin' because my gm will only let me use the basic rulebook for my first char, which measn i now know of all kinds of awesome, that i can not use...

[UmaroVI]

That's actually not a bad idea, and core-only archetypes are on the list of things I would like to do. The original intent was to conform to the Missions ruleset, which is why they are not core-only.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

I think this work is invalid. The characters are super nice, no doubt about it, but as a replacement for the sample characters, they should be made using the same tools, that is, only the one book....

I really really wish i could just give it the thumbs up, since it is a really cool piece of work.

... I think you misunderstand the entire point of the characters made above, as well as the use of half the concepts in your own response.  If you like the characters, reward their creator with rep, no matter what your GM or his requirements and restrictions are.  The work is perfectly valid no matter what you think should have been done; what matters is the intent of their creator.  Umaro VI just stated his intent was not to restrict himself to making replacements for the book archetypes by only using the main book, but to make Missions-capable and -ruleset archetypes.  To boot, even then it isn't a question of whether or not 'the work' is valid, but whether a particular character is allowable in a Missions game.

[Glyph]

UmaroVI was pretty specific on what his design goals were - optimized missions-legal characters.  I think he did a great job with them.

If you want archetypes made only with the core book, then the Sample Character Archive on Dumpshock is what you are looking for.  The goal was different - to make decent but not fully optimized starting characters, using primarily the main book.  I know that mine were made with the core SR4 book only (the former Mr. Johnson, the enforcer, the elven hitman, the rocker, the break-in specialist, and the slick weasel).  But use the revised former Mr. Johnson from the last page - when I first did him, kinesics wasn't capped.

[RippeR]

It seems all the magic characters have Power Foci rating 4. That item has availability 20, which is clearly higher than 12 allowed usually. Is that some mission related thing (I don't play missions, just home games)?