[OssumPawesome]

Hey all. Just started playing on Saturday and got my Core Rulebook (4th Ed) and decided to try my hand making a character. Tell me what you think.

Name: Joeseph Hader
Alias: Tracker
Metatype: Human
Age: 27

Body: 3
Agility: 2
Reaction: 2
Strength: 1
Charisma: 2
Intuition: 4
Logic: 5
Willpower: 5
Edge: 2
Magic: 5
Initiative (Astral): 8 (9)
Initiative Passes: 1 (3)

Active Skills
Assensing: 4
Conjuring Skill Group: 2
Perception: 4
Pistols: 3
Shadowing: 3
Sorcery Skill Group: 3

Knowledge Skills: 24 Free Points
Crime Scene Investigation Procedure: 5
Drug Trade Knowledge: 5
Organized Crime Knowledge: 5
Local Area Knowledge: 4
Security Procedure (Lone Star): 5

Qualities:
Magician
Blandness
Addiction (Mild, Alcohol)
SINer (Normal)


Spells:
Mind Probe
Improved Invisibility
Stun Bolt
Stun Ball
Influence

Contacts:
Talismonger (1/2)

Stockpile: Also known by his real name, Johnny Barile, it's no secret Stockpile has Mafia contacts, even if there's very little evidence. Tracker hung around his shop quite a bit during his Lone Star days, always trying to bust him when he had some spare time. Unfortunately, he could never make anything stick. Due to the tendency for Tracker to hang around, him and Johnny became...well, not friends but they do share a mutial (if grudging) respect for each other and Johnny's willing to fence just about anything.

Fixer (2/2)

(Who he/she is depends on how the GM wants to set it up).

Bartender (2/2)

Angel O'Neil: When Tracker entered into his battle with the bottle after the incident, Angel was there supplying him the drinks in Heaven's Cloud. Being a regular, Angel took a liking to him and the two would have friendly chats...up until the point Tracker started getting glitched. Still, Angel knows a lot about the rumor mill and she's a valuable source of information...provided Tracker's tab is payed off!


Street Doc (2/2)

Dr. Marko Hunter: Dr. Hunter is actually a contact for Lone Star, however his discretion also lead him to work for Shadowrunners. He came recommended by his Fixer, and thanks to the "good" doctor's avarice (the only reason he keeps quiet about treating runners is monetary gain) Tracker can go to him if he has any medical problem. Hunter's professionalism works both ways, though, and he absolutely will not disclose Lone Star information under any circumstances.

Gear and Lifestyle:
Colt Manhunter, Concealable Holster, 10 spare clips, Armor Jacket, Armor Vest, Sony Emporer Comlink, Fake SIN (Rating: 5) Camera, 4 Plasteel Restraints, Lockpick Set, Maglock Passkey (Rating: 5), Flashlight, Spellcasting Focus (Force: 2), Flash-Pak, 5 Explosive Rounds, Middle Lifestyle: 1 Month, Suzuki Mirage.

Backstory:
Joeseph Hader was born to Megacorp wageslaves in Ohio (both his parents worked for a subsidiary of Ares Macrotechnology). Even from a young age, Joe had the habit of turning up in places he wasn't supposed to be and learning things he wasn't supposed to know. This extended into his school career as a member of his school's newspaper, where he would learn fellow his student's secrets and blackmailing them. Anyone who crossed Joe Hader soon had a nice juicy story on the front page for the whole school to see, and Joe soon had a network of favors rolling in from all sides. He continued using his skills throughout high school as editor, treating his newspaper staff like a small spy network. There were soon no happenings around school that Joe didn't know about, and although his fellow students were terrified of him, his teachers thought of him as an intelligent, quiet young man. He graduated and joined up with Lone Star Security straight away, reasoning that blackmail and subversion was all well and good, but the real thrill came in the chase. This prompted a move to Seattle, and Joe began a promising career combining his natural talents and magic ones. He made a number of busts, even assisting in taking down a few Shadowrunner teams, but it was apparently too good to last and his luck soon took a turn for the worst. A runner team was holed up in an Ares subsidiary and their hacker had the whole building locked down. Ares security had cleared the area for Lone Star, and seeing no other recourse Joe ordered the building blown up. Unfortunately, seven Ares wageslaves were still inside, and everyone was killed in the blast. Ares gave Joe an ultimatum: he had 12 hours to leave the country or be hunted down. Joe elected to do neither, using his skills at blending in and a fake SIN under the name Sergei Zephyr to trick the Megacorp into thinking he comitted suicide. These days Joe sticks to the shadows, now known in certain circles as the Tracker. Although he's sarcastic and abrasive, when Tracker gives his word it's a binding contract and he'll back up his team until the bitter end. And speaking of bitterness, Tracker shockingly isn't bitter about his forced resignation. In his mind, he just traded one brand of excitement for another.

[All4BigGuns]

Looks good to me. I only have one problem. I've had experiences where the Bad Luck negative quality made the character a jinx. I lost two characters in two sessions because the other player's Bad Luck spilled over onto my character instead of affecting his.

[Makki]

2 second glimpse and I can already tell you two things:

-try to avoid attributes at 1. Makes your char a) unbelievable and b) hard to play
-have a look at some well done characters from either the sample chars in the core book (not so well done actually) or better, look in this thread: http://forums.shadowrun4.com/index.php?topic=4495.0

[Lethe]

Welcome to the forum!

How many BP did you spent on this build, i am counting around 300? Why so little?
According to the journalist background, you should give him some social skills.
Equipment at character creation is only allowed up to an Availability value of 12. Fake SIN 6 is Availability 18.
Spellcasting focus needs a spell category.

[UmaroVI]

First, I'd suggest checking out the mages in my sig for ideas of how to make an effective magician. A few of the more major things you should look at:

That's a whole lot of dumpstats. Some GMs will arbitrarily screw with you for that. 1 Body is a bad idea regardless and will get you killed. You don't need Agility as much as you need some of the other stats you skimped on. Also, you should softcap (5) both Logic and Willpower.

Astral Combat is a low-priority skill because of Stunbolt being a much better form of Astral offense. It's really only good for defense and that is rarely relevant, because most Astral opponents also have better options like Fear.

Never take the Conjuring skill group. Summoning and Binding are useful. Banishing is a way to melt your own eyeballs.

You should have a 6 in some skill - generally Spellcasting - and because of that you should probably split the Sorcery group. Ritual spellcasting is kind of a gimmicky widget skill but if you want 1 in it, that's not a waste. I don't think it's worth having much in it, though. Generally if you can Ritual Magic somebody, having a few less dice doesn't matter.

Analyze Truth is a less good form of Mind Probe. Ignite is just bad because it doesn't do much, and what it does do is too slow to matter. I suggest Stunbolt and Mind Probe instead.

[OssumPawesome]

I must have done the math wrong for BP. I'll review it and double check.

And thanks thus far for the advice. I'll start editing when I get home from work.

[All4BigGuns]

I think people are forgetting one thing, maybe the character is supposed to be bad at those stats that are at 1 (though with Charisma, probably best to ditch any sort of summoning altogether since that's a maximum of 1 spirit bound).

[Mirikon]

Having one stat at 1 is fine. My technomancer has a 1 STR, and the rest of the physical stats in the 2-3 range, because she's a hacker who spends most of her time in full VR. Her 'exercise' consists of yoga, which is good for physical conditioning and flexibility, but doesn't do much in the way of strength training.

Having multiple stats at 1 is asking for MAJOR trouble.

[All4BigGuns]

Having one stat at 1 is fine. My technomancer has a 1 STR, and the rest of the physical stats in the 2-3 range, because she's a hacker who spends most of her time in full VR. Her 'exercise' consists of yoga, which is good for physical conditioning and flexibility, but doesn't do much in the way of strength training.

Having multiple stats at 1 is asking for MAJOR trouble.

It can, and personally, I'd never have a Body of 1, but I don't know the character. Though there is that GM aggro issue, but maybe his GM is a REALLY good one that won't focus fire those weaknesses on a constant basis while ignoring his strengths.

[OssumPawesome]

Actually, my real character was selected from an archetype. I wanted to practice making characters so I started with this one. That way when a make new ones i can either just take one I already made or be able to build rather quickly. 

And I wouldn't say my GM is good as he's inexperienced at the moment. But the playgroup overall are decent guys. I DID think the number of dump stats I have was a bad idea though, and I'm glad to get confimation on this.

Update: Shifted around some stats. Will do more later.

[rasmusnicolaj]

Active Skills
Assensing: 4
Conjuring Skill Group: 2
Perception: 4
Pistols: 3
Shadowing: 3
Sorcery Skill Group: 3[quote/]
That is 10 BP for at not so great group of skills.
Conjuring skill group wont do you that much good. Drop it and get Summoning 1 and Binding 1 (or maybe binding 4 if you are set on having bound spirits).
Pistols 3 isn't karma efficient and either way why should people when you can magic then instead? You have 7 dices to shoot with a pistols is not good anyway (I'm asuming a smartlink). Drop it.
If you are set on shooting people learn automatic. Even with low dicepools full automatic or supresive fire can work. Just make sure to get a modified weapon. Or you could go for a grenade launcer and use stun gas grenades and stuff like that.
Shadowing 3 isn't karma efficient. Get it at 4 if you can find the points.
Sorcery skill group should be split up. You really, really need spellcasting 6 and then get Ritual Spellcasting 1 and Counterspelling 4.
Infiltration is a nice skill for all runners so try to find som point for it. And Arcane could be a nice skill at 1 for a mage - you will need it for initiation later on.
If you want an extra spell Increased Reflexes are well worth it. Extra IP's are good for you 

I think that by the rules addiction to alcohol isn't allowed.

Remember to get some gear. Armor is important for everyone. Also a Power Foci R4 with the restricted gear quality is really good.
And a sustaining foci for the increase reflexes spell.

Rasmus

[Triggvi]

I am not a fan of  "dump stats" they tend to give characters that min/max feel. There are stats you don't need as much as others but dropping them to 1 is a bit extreme.

As a tracker you do need to talk to people so some social skills would be more helpful than you think.

As said before I would take 2 of the skills out of the conjuration skill group and drop banishment. It will save you BP.

The neg quality Addiction can't be alcohol.

I would think about your character as a whole. Who he is and what he is there to do. He needs to be a functioning member of society even as a shadowrunner. When you do that positive changes will start popping out at you.