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Hobgoblin Shark Shaman

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Breten

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« on: <01-10-12/1554:19> »
So I've been toying with this build since I got backinto Shadowrun and now that I am playing/gamemastering I thought I'd build him.  Here's what I have so far, with 10BP left.  aven't bought gear yet either.  Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.  He's basically a Combat Mage with a vicious streak.

== Info ==
Street Name: Dakuwaqa
Movement: 10/25, Swim: 5

Ork (Hobgoblin) Shark Shaman
Composure: 8
Judge Intentions: 6
Lift/Carry: 11 (60 kg/40 kg)
Memory: 7
Nuyen: 15,000

== Attributes ==
BOD: 7
AGI: 5
REA: 4
STR: 4
CHA: 3
INT: 3
LOG: 2
WIL: 5
EDG: 2
MAG: 5

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   6
Initiative:                7
IP:                        1
Astral Initiative:         6
Astral IP:                 3
Matrix Initiative:         3
Matrix IP:                 1
Physical Damage Track:     12
Stun Damage Track:         11

== Active Skills ==
Astral Combat              : 2                      Pool: 7
Blades                     : 2                      Pool: 7
Counterspelling            : 3                      Pool: 8
Dodge                      : 3                      Pool: 7
Perception                 : 3                      Pool: 6
Pistols                    : 2                      Pool: 7
Spellcasting               : 4                      Pool: 9

== Qualities ==
Distinctive Style
Fangs
Low-Light Vision
Magician
Mentor Spirit (Shark)
Poor Self Control (Vindictive)

== Spells ==
(Tradition: Shamanic, Resist Drain with WIL + CHA (8))
Agony (Illusion)           DV: (F÷2)-2
Slay [Spirit] (Combat) DV: (F÷2)-1
Stunbolt (Combat)          DV: (F÷2)-1

== Weapons ==
Unarmed Attack
   DV: 2S   AP: -   RC: 0

CitizenJoe

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« Reply #1 on: <01-10-12/1630:41> »
CalFree surfer.  Aggressively protects his curls.  Came over from Japan to the protectorate when he goblinized, wrecking his promising career over in Japan.

Tsuzua

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« Reply #2 on: <01-10-12/1650:46> »
There's a couple of changes I'll recommend to make to the character.  They're all set to make the character more powerful, but depending on the concept you have for the character you are free to ignore them.  I also suggest looking at Umaro's Archetypes.  I discuss his mage archetypes here.  I suggest looking at their spell lists and general builds.   

How do you feel about being a shaman?  If you can be a Intuition tradition such as Wiccan, Druidic, or Buddhist, you can avoid the charisma and logic penalties orks get.  If you want to stay a shaman, I'll go Elf. 

First off, I would sell back Strength to 3.  3 is an acceptable Str value and you are a mage who really doesn't need Strength.  Since you're be casting spells in fights rather than pistols or knives*, I'll sell back agility to 2.  That frees up 40 BP.  I would soft-cap your non-Willpower casting attribute with the saved points.  That should be 4 for charisma or 5 for Intuition. 

Now for your skills.  You don't need Astral Combat.  Your astral move is stunbolt.  Your meat combat move is a spell so I'll drop Blades and Pistols.  That saves you 24 more BP.  I'll buy Spellcasting up to 6.  I'll also buy Summoning so you can summon Water spirits.  You'll want to be able to roll 10 or so dice there.  You may want to specialize in Combat Spells and Water Spirits as well if you have plans for your karma.  I'll also buy counterspelling to 4. 

I don't like dodge and recommend dropping it.  It only really helps in melee.  Perception should be increased to 4 or dropped to 1 to avoid the default penalty.  If you're Intuition, I would err on the Perception 4 side.  You'll be the party spotter.

Do you need to be a hobgoblin?  You're getting fangs for Poor Self Control and a distinctive feature.  That's a bad trade.  I would be a normal Ork with poor self control or be a SURGEd Ork instead.     

How do you feel about Shark as a mentor?  Shark's berserk will likely come back and bite you big.  There are other +combat mentors such as Sun.

If you can afford it, I would recommend a Force 4 Power Focus.  It's a quite decent deal at creation (even with the Restricted Gear Quality) and is a huge boost to magical power.

*-If you want to a agility superstar, you might want to look into a Heightened Concentration Mystic Adept build. 

Breten

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« Reply #3 on: <01-10-12/1700:00> »
Some great suggestions.  As far as the Hobgoblin metatype, and Shark mentor, it was based off a conversation a friend and I had about how vicious that personality would be.  The "fluff" I was thinking about did indeed mean that being Shark and a Hobbo would bite him in the ass occasionally.  I am trying to find a different Tradition that'll fit.  I'm building him as a character for myself, but he's going to be an NPC showing up in my Campaigns.

He doesn't need to be MIN/MAXED but I want him to have some flavour and be decent.  I'll post the next iteration shortly.

Breten

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« Reply #4 on: <01-10-12/1810:25> »
Here's the currently tweaked guy.  Still 8BP to spend and buy him some common gear, but he's definitely a lot more optimized.

== Info ==
Street Name: Dakuwaqa
Ork (Hobgoblin) Shark Shaman

== Attributes ==
BOD: 7
AGI: 3
REA: 4
STR: 3
CHA: 2
INT: 5
LOG: 2
WIL: 5
EDG: 2
MAG: 5

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   6
Initiative:                9
IP:                        1
Astral Initiative:         10
Astral IP:                 3
Matrix Initiative:         5
Matrix IP:                 1
Physical Damage Track:     12
Stun Damage Track:         11

== Active Skills ==
Banishing                  : 3                      Pool: 16
Counterspelling            : 4                      Pool: 9
Intimidation               : 3                      Pool: 5
Perception                 : 4                      Pool: 9
Spellcasting               : 5 [Combat Spells]      Pool: 18 (20)
Summoning                  : 5 [Water Spirits]      Pool: 18 (20)

== Qualities ==
Addiction (Moderate) (Stims)
Bi-Polar
Distinctive Style
Fangs
Low-Light Vision
Magician
Mentor Spirit (Shark)
Poor Self Control (Combat Monster)
Poor Self Control (Vindictive)
Restricted Gear (Rating 1)

== Spells ==
(Tradition: Egyptian, Resist Drain with WIL + INT (10))
Agony (Illusion)           DV: (F÷2)-2
Flamethrower (Combat)      DV: (F÷2)+3
Heal (Health)              DV: (Damage Value)-2
Increase Reflexes (Health) DV: (F÷2)+2
Slay [Metatype/Species] (Combat) DV: (F÷2)-1
Stunball (Combat)          DV: (F÷2)+1
Stunbolt (Combat)          DV: (F÷2)-1

== Lifestyles ==
Low  1 months

== Armor ==
Armor Jacket              8/6

== Weapons ==
Unarmed Attack
   DV: 2S   AP: -   RC: 0

== Gear ==
Power Focus (bonded) Rating 4

Gotta tweak the Qualities a little.  I like the Combat Monster one as it fits with my image of him, Angry and stubborn with that mean streak. 

CitizenJoe

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« Reply #5 on: <01-10-12/1918:43> »
Oh wait.  I was getting my metatypes mixed up.  The Oni are the ones from Japan, Hobgoblins are middle east...

I'm gonna suggest crocodile instead of shark if you're going Egyptian tradition.  That's either Sobek or Ammit which more in keeping with your concept of a combat monster.  Sobek was a creation god while Ammit was the demon that ate the hearts of the unworthy.

Lysanderz

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« Reply #6 on: <01-10-12/2026:24> »
Ammit definitely. Croc shaman's for life!

rasmusnicolaj

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« Reply #7 on: <01-11-12/0211:03> »
Dont take Banish it is a bad skill. You wil want to use your stunbolt vs. spirits.
Maybe get Binding as a skill.
I would get powerbolt as a spell so you have more options than just stunning your opponents. That would be in keeping with your bacgground story of an aggressive type I think.
You need to specify what type of creature you can Slay.
I would suggest getting more and better armor. Form Fitting Body Armor, some SecureTech PPP stuff and then an armor on top of that.

Rasmus
Deplore killings made in the name of religion. Can't it just be for fun?

Lethe

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« Reply #8 on: <01-11-12/0351:36> »
Looks much better already, how about creating a nice background now ;-)
Pools are a little messed up?

Quote
Banishing                  : 3                      Pool: 16
Pool is 8, with focus 12, with focus against water spirits 14. But better to drop it totally and use mostly more effective stunbolt vs. spirits.

Quote
Spellcasting               : 5 [Combat Spells]      Pool: 18 (20)
Pool is 10, with focus 14, with focus for combat spells 18.

Quote
Summoning                  : 5 [Water Spirits]      Pool: 18 (20)
Pool is 10, with focus 14, with focus for water spirits 18.

Quote
Flamethrower (Combat)      DV: (F÷2)+3
For a shark shaman, really? How about changing it to water thrower or ice thrower, just change elemental effect.

CitizenJoe

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« Reply #9 on: <01-11-12/0408:08> »
Quote
Flamethrower (Combat)      DV: (F÷2)+3
For a shark shaman, really? How about changing it to water thrower or ice thrower, just change elemental effect.
If he goes Croc, Ammit was sometimes pictured on a lake of fire.

Breten

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« Reply #10 on: <01-11-12/1054:19> »
Yeah seems the Chummer list was leaving things out when I cut and pasted. 

Love some of the suggestions.  It's actually helping with some of my understanding of the game mechanics too. I'm gonna take a look at Croc/Sobek.  It probably works better for me personally too as I have a heavy interest in Egyptology.

I had Slay set to Spirits, but if Stunbolt works better than using Banishing, it'd probably be better use than Slay/Slaughter as well.  So I've swapped out the 3 Banish to 3 Binding for apool of 17 dice in Binding.  I've also swapped out Flamethrower for Tsunami as it's more fluffy.  Big DV though.

I'm working on fleshing him out a bit.  Once I finish him off I'll post his background and latest build.

Breten

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« Reply #11 on: <01-11-12/1147:57> »
Here's the latest build:

Street Name: Ammut
Ork (Hobgoblin) Shark Shaman
Nuyen: 1750

== Attributes ==
BOD: 7
AGI: 3
REA: 4
STR: 3
CHA: 2
INT: 5
LOG: 2
WIL: 5
EDG: 2
MAG: 5

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   6
Initiative:                9
IP:                        1
Astral Initiative:         10
Astral IP:                 3
Matrix Initiative:         9
Matrix IP:                 1
Physical Damage Track:     12
Stun Damage Track:         11

== Active Skills ==
Binding                    : 2                      Pool: 15
Counterspelling            : 4                      Pool: 9
Intimidation               : 3                      Pool: 5
Perception                 : 4                      Pool: 9
Spellcasting               : 5 [Combat Spells]      Pool: 18 (20)
Summoning                  : 5 [Water Spirits]      Pool: 18 (20)

== Qualities ==
Addiction (Moderate) (Stims)
Bi-Polar
Distinctive Style
Fangs
Low-Light Vision
Magician
Mentor Spirit (Shark)
Poor Self Control (Combat Monster)
Poor Self Control (Vindictive)
Restricted Gear (Rating 1)
Restricted Gear (Rating 2)

== Spells ==
(Tradition: Egyptian, Resist Drain with WIL + INT (10))
Agony (Illusion)           DV: (F÷2)-2
Heal (Health)              DV: (Damage Value)-2
Increase Reflexes (Health) DV: (F÷2)+2
Powerbolt (Combat)         DV: (F÷2)+1
Sandstorm (Combat)         DV: (F÷2)+5
Stunball (Combat)          DV: (F÷2)+1
Stunbolt (Combat)          DV: (F÷2)-1

== Lifestyles ==
Low  1 months

== Armor ==
Full Body Armor           10/8
SecureTech Forearm Guards 0/1
SecureTech Leg and Arm Casings1/1
SecureTech Shin Guards    0/1
SecureTech Vitals Protector1/1

== Weapons ==
Unarmed Attack
   DV: 2S   AP: -   RC: 0

== Commlink ==
Fairlight Caliban (4, 3, 3, 5)
   +Iris Orb
   +Subvocal Microphone

== Gear ==
Fake SIN (123 546 789) Rating 1
Power Focus (bonded) Rating 4
   +Fake License (123 456 789) Rating 4

So I still have to flesh out his Knowledge Skills and his background, but he's looking like I was imagining.  I've kept Shark, as Crocodile doesn't seem to fit with Ammit as much as Sobek.  Shark seems to tie into the mythology of Ammit though, so I'm gonna keep that and just call the Mentor Spirit Ammit.  The only thing in there now that doesn't appear too optimized is the Intimidation skill as I am only gonna be rolling 5 dice.  So that might get completely dropped.  But I'd like to have him wih something other than just straight Magic skills as that seems a little one dimensional.

Tsuzua

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« Reply #12 on: <01-11-12/1154:21> »
There's also Dark Goddess the mentor spirit.

You might want to invest in a force 3 sustaining focus.  It's role in life is primarily to sustain a force 3 Increase Reflexes on yourself.  That's +2 Initiative and equally important +2 IPs.  You'll have to turn it off from time to time due to wards and the like, but it beats having to keep the spell up with a -2 penalty. 

I don't like how hard it is for someone to be tough and scary in SR.  I'll see if I can think of a more synergistic skill for you to use though.

At some point, I'll try to figure out your armor.  Body 7 is about when stacking armor becomes hard without looking silly and/or using restricted legality gear.  However, it can be done and it'll save you some points from having to grab Full Body Armor.

Edit- New Stats posted
« Last Edit: <01-11-12/1156:46> by Tsuzua »

CitizenJoe

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« Reply #13 on: <01-11-12/1208:28> »
Note that Ammit doesn't judge, that's someone else's job (Anubis/Mr. Johnson/Mr. Anwar?).  You might consider having trained dangerous animals as pets.  And if you can swing it, get access to a hog farm (hogs will eat anything, great way to get rid of the bodies).

Tsuzua

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« Reply #14 on: <01-11-12/1212:44> »
Huh, the armor was easier than I thought.  This is assuming no softweave.

I suggest the following armor loadout:
Delta-Ampyoid* Industrious Line Coverall 8/5 1300Y
Complete PPP Set 2/6 1000Y
Full Suit FFBA 6/2 1600Y
Helmet 1/2 100Y

That'll get you 17/15 armor, 14/14 for encumbrance.  You can then mod to taste.  You save 2000Y, 5BP from a restricted gear, and you can wear this without legal questions.  You likely can't go to a party in it, but you weren't doing that in a Full Body Armor anyways.

*- This is from Attitude.  JM Hardy has mentioned that it works on the armor clothing from Arsenal so I'm going with that here.   Basically it's +3/+1 armor for 400Y. 
« Last Edit: <01-11-12/1215:05> by Tsuzua »