[JustADude]

Good point. Got one character I built that I SURGEd and Restricted Gear'ed up to an effective 12 Agility.

Meh, 12 is easy. Elf = 2-7(10), MI = 3-8(12), pump to 7, Muscle Toner 4, Suprathyroid gland.

[All4BigGuns]

Good point. Got one character I built that I SURGEd and Restricted Gear'ed up to an effective 12 Agility.

Meh, 12 is easy. Elf = 2-7(10), MI = 3-8(12), pump to 7, Muscle Toner 4, Suprathyroid gland.

Did calculations last night, and discovered that adding Exceptional Attribute and the genetech that increases maximum would take augmented maximum to 15.

[Crash_00]

Yep.

Capped Elf 7
Metagenic Improvement (Agi) 8
Exceptional Attribute 9
Genetic Optimization 10
Suprathyroid 11
Muscle Toner R.4 15

With a Longarms of 6(7) (Sniper Rifles +2), using Reflex Recorder for the skill augmentation obviously, Smartlink +2, and aiming three times you can get a total of 29 dice to your attack DP. If you've got a team with you, or the money to set up a drone network, a rating 4 TacNet will net you a total of 33 dice. Mmmm...11 hits on average is nice. With a Barret that's an average of 20 DV with a -4 (or -8 if you use APDS) AP. There isn't a whole lot that can stand up to that. It'd actually take the 25 CM monster I built down in three shots on average (that build has a ridiculous amount of armor).

These are the things you run into when you piss off megacorps.

[All4BigGuns]

Yep.

Capped Elf 7
Metagenic Improvement (Agi) 8
Exceptional Attribute 9
Genetic Optimization 10
Suprathyroid 11
Muscle Toner R.4 15

With a Longarms of 6(7) (Sniper Rifles +2), using Reflex Recorder for the skill augmentation obviously, Smartlink +2, and aiming three times you can get a total of 29 dice to your attack DP. If you've got a team with you, or the money to set up a drone network, a rating 4 TacNet will net you a total of 33 dice. Mmmm...11 hits on average is nice. With a Barret that's an average of 20 DV with a -4 (or -8 if you use APDS) AP. There isn't a whole lot that can stand up to that. It'd actually take the 25 CM monster I built down in three shots on average (that build has a ridiculous amount of armor).

These are the things you run into when you piss off megacorps.

I would save the Exceptional Attribute and Genetic Optimization until after game play starts, personally, though. Sure it's more in karma to get the quality and to buy up the attribute, but it leaves you a bit more rounded in creation.

[SeriousOne338]

Thats just wrong. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wrong, I want two.

[zarzak]

So, going with the idea of being an adept street samurai who is good at flying ... would it be worth it to pick up Mind Over Matter (the adept power from War!)?

I could replace my agility rolls with logic rolls (and thus combine things like electronics/mechanics/guns/some stealth stuff).  There is also the adept power "Keen Wits" available for artisan way adepts, which lets me boost my logic.  That would make the character mostly focused on reaction, logic, and magic (which I think is a pretty cool combination).

[UmaroVI]

Yes, that's an effective way to go. Make sure you pick up Cerebral Boosters if you do.

[JustADude]

Yes, that's an effective way to go. Make sure you pick up Cerebral Boosters if you do.

It's gimped the same way IPA is (1.5 per point for over natural), unfortunately

[UmaroVI]

Right, but there's a slick way to use it properly. You get Logic 5 with BP, then Logic 6 with Keen Wits - so you pay .75 PP rather than 25 BP to hardcap logic. Then you take Cerebral Boosters 3 (probably better to start with 2 at chargen and upgrade to 3 with nuyen later) to get to 9, which is your augmented max.

[JustADude]

Right, but there's a slick way to use it properly. You get Logic 5 with BP, then Logic 6 with Keen Wits - so you pay .75 PP rather than 25 BP to hardcap logic. Then you take Cerebral Boosters 3 (probably better to start with 2 at chargen and upgrade to 3 with nuyen later) to get to 9, which is your augmented max.

Ah, gotcha. All down to a trick in what order you take stuff.

Personally, though, I'd just go without the Booster at the start and buy a 3 from scratch, later. If it's your only 'ware it'll let you take 5 Magic at CGen for 40 BP, drop down to 4 with 'ware, then buy back up to 5. Just be sure to save up the 25 Karma so you can do it immediately.

[zarzak]

Right, but there's a slick way to use it properly. You get Logic 5 with BP, then Logic 6 with Keen Wits - so you pay .75 PP rather than 25 BP to hardcap logic. Then you take Cerebral Boosters 3 (probably better to start with 2 at chargen and upgrade to 3 with nuyen later) to get to 9, which is your augmented max.

Ah, gotcha. All down to a trick in what order you take stuff.

Personally, though, I'd just go without the Booster at the start and buy a 3 from scratch, later. If it's your only 'ware it'll let you take 5 Magic at CGen for 40 BP, drop down to 4 with 'ware, then buy back up to 5. Just be sure to save up the 25 Karma so you can do it immediately.

I'm leaning more toward this, just because it lets me grab Improved Reflexes II to start.

Mind over Matter costs 1.5, Keen Wits cost .75, and Improved Reflexes II is discounted to 1.875.  Thats 4.125 total.  If I took cerebral boosters to start I couldn't do that with a starting magic of 5 ... I'd have to drop Improved Reflexes down a little.  The extra initiative pass is probably worth it?

Umaro -
Looking at your ghost archetype I notice you don't have any matrix programs, common use or otherwise.  For my character, since he'll have a helicopter (but be manually flying it) should I be investing in things (even in a limited sense) like the electronics skill group, electronics warfare, autosofts (targeting, clearsight, etc), and common use programs?  If I want to have the ability to have my helicopter fly over to me remotely (if I need it to pick me up or some such) I probably need the programs?

[UmaroVI]

So, the Ghost is not at all a rigger or pilot, and is a pure street samurai, which is why the lack of matrix stuff.

In your case: I think there are four reasonable ways to go. Keep in mind that your helicopter doesn't need to be very good at flying in order to handle basic stuff.

a) Be a decent-ish hacker on the side. This actually isn't too hard but might stretch you too thin. The more things you want to cover the more harsh and merciless you have to be about trimming the fluff. See the Generalist and the Mercenary Rigger for examples of triple-role characters. Once you have the stuff you need to be a hacker, you can also be a meh OK command rigger for no real investment and that lets you do stuff like Command-rig your copter to pick you up and the like.

b) Make your helicopter good at doing things on its own. This means upgrading its pilot, firewall, response, getting autosofts, getting an Agent to protect it from hackers, etc. This is going to be expensive and might again be more than you can afford. You cannot do this halfway - if you upgrade it so it's good at flying itself but lacks matrix defenses, it will get WTFPwnt by enemy hackers.

c) Just say no to wireless. Turn it off and fly manually. You can always turn on the wireless again if you absolutely have to for some reason. The pilot it comes with is going to be good enough to do stuff like pick you up, but not good enough to do stuff like fight on its own, and it will be wtfpwnt by anyone who knows how to hack.

d) Is there a hacker in your group? Turn the wireless off when you are in the chopper, and if you aren't in the chopper, slave it to the hacker's commlink.

Being half a hacker is worthless. You can either deal with matrix stuff or not deal with it; there's no real point in being able to suck at it.

Re: Powers, I would suggest getting a Geas on one of your powers to shave off that last little bit. Cerebral Boosters 2 is +2 logic, Keen Wits is +1. Choosing Keen Wits over Cerebral Boosters is pretty silly. My suggestion would be to either Geas your Improved Reflexes (which would knock it down to 1.25, leaving you .5 PP for other stuff), or Geas your Keen Wits (which would knock it down to .625, leaving you at exactly 4). The draw of the latter option is that if your Geas does get violated, you only lose 1 logic until you fix it, which is not as critical as your IPs.

[All4BigGuns]

Right, but there's a slick way to use it properly. You get Logic 5 with BP, then Logic 6 with Keen Wits - so you pay .75 PP rather than 25 BP to hardcap logic. Then you take Cerebral Boosters 3 (probably better to start with 2 at chargen and upgrade to 3 with nuyen later) to get to 9, which is your augmented max.

Ah, gotcha. All down to a trick in what order you take stuff.

Personally, though, I'd just go without the Booster at the start and buy a 3 from scratch, later. If it's your only 'ware it'll let you take 5 Magic at CGen for 40 BP, drop down to 4 with 'ware, then buy back up to 5. Just be sure to save up the 25 Karma so you can do it immediately.

Sorry, no go. Start at 5 and drop to 4 with implants and you'll have to pay 30 karma to get that 5 back. Yet more proof that implants aren't worth it, at least not to Awakened.

[Crash_00]

Where did you get that from? I was under the impression that the magic attribute and max was always actually reduced (not just used at a lower level).

[All4BigGuns]

You buy the magic rating, and reduce it from implants you're still at that rating (in this case rating 5). So to improve it back to the level it was previously, you'd have to buy the rating you would have before losing the point because of the implant, and thus have to pay 30 karma for the 6 rating you'd have been getting before.