[KommissarK]

A friend of mine is about to be running a SR game here real soon, and has offered to one of the players a custom quality to make up for the player's personal distaste for the use of cyber/bioware (augmentation just really creeps the guy out).

For 10 BP, he's offering the "Ubermensch" quality, removing the 200BP limit on attributes, and boosting all attribute caps by 1. The cost though, is that any resonance, magic, or loss of essence, will result in all stats being decreased by 1 for each point of essence lost, or magic/resonance gained.

As its written, I personally feel its a trap quality, but given a friendly game table it should lead to good times. First issue is that it encourages players to burn BP on attributes they may not normally need, instead of buying active skills/gear. Second, is the nigh impossible way of getting IPs except for the use of drugs (which doesn't really fit the character concept).

The GM and I have tossed around ideas for how to house rule extra initiative passes, and have still come up with nothing good. About the best idea was a notion of having the amount of IPs shift each combat round, based on how well the character rolls on initiative. For every 1/3rd higher than their base imitative score was, they would get 1 IP. So a 10 initiative character rolling 14 total for initiative for a particular tun would have +1 IP, rolling a total of 17 on initiative would give them 2 IPs, etc.

For reference, the player taking this quality is intending to play with a straight 5 in every stat (edge included), and only 1 rank in a few active skills (blades, automatics, athletics group, perception). He's playing up the escaped clone angle (strong base attributes, but little to no knowledge of the world; heck, he has no knowledge skills, all his free points are in languages).

Ultimately, the other issue with this is that the character has very close "ceiling" of what they improve.

Any thoughts/suggestions on how to make this less of a trap? Does it seem like a "good" quality? Does it actually break the game and we don't realize it?

[UmaroVI]

You are correct that it's a trap quality. A huge trap. Imagine a pit, where the bottom of the pit is covered in spikes, and the spikes are covered in smaller spikes, and a block falls on you after you fall into the pit, and there are also spikes on the block.

[Mirikon]

This would be a honeypot. Lures some sucker in, and then WHAM! Blackhammered to the stone age.

[Critias]

Why not just play an adept, or someone with geneware and some low-key bioware?

Or, uhh, play a game where the default difficulty level and in-game assumptions aren't "Yeah, the players are somehow augmented?"  It's kind of like he's insisting on only playing a Commoner NPC class in D&D, or Jimmy Olsen in a Justice League campaign:  yeah, if the GM wants to tie the setting and campaign into knots so he can still be a useful part of the team, it's possible, but in the meantime he's kind of going against the grain.

[KommissarK]

At this point a course correction is pretty much impossible. The player and GM are getting pretty attached to the concept.

A few other ideas I've had are:
-Reduction of karma training multipliers by 1. Resistance here is that this could have serious long term ramifications, and is not something that should be tweaked lightly.
-Either straight up give them, or offer as purchasable qualities, a form of Mind Over Matter for all (or selected) attributes. Either allow it at character creation and just pretty much half BP/karma costs for attributes, or possibly allow something mid campaign as a form of pseudo-initiation (where instead of replacing body stat with willpower for example, just add body and willpower for any given test that uses either body or willpower).
-Remove attribute caps altogether, or just allow BP to be spent up to the augmented maximum.

Please recognize that this is a low power table, and the GM knows it and is planning accordingly. Dropping 6-12 dice on what you're "good" at is entirely reasonable. Also, this is a campaign with a distinct beginning and end. Long term karma efficiency is not an object.

@Critias
The main reason is that he has played an adept in every game prior to this one, and there's just a desire to mix things up a bit. And I think the player is really just creeped out by having essence < 6, so even geneware/bioware is a non-starter. He's still a bit unfamiliar with some of the rules (i.e. of the people in the group, I'm the one that owns the books), so there's a bit of hesitation to encourage him to make a bear shapeshifter shaman or something.

Part of the reason I'm asking for help on this is that I'm sort of the one who helped the GM form this idea, and jokingly told the player when he was looking for a different style than adept to go with to ask the GM about it. And now I'm trying to not let my Frankenstein creation of a quality ruin the game.

[Ryo]

Well, he's an escaped clone Ubermensch, right? So he's basically the result of some kind of science experiment to create the ultimate soldier without magic or augmentations. In which case, you could treat it as a Race.

For 40 BP, the same cost as a Troll, his physical stats are 3/9 (9) across the board, while his mental stats are 1/6 (6). Augmented cap equal to normal, because he can't take augmentations.

You then make IP a Special Attribute that's 1/4. Thus 2 IP costs him 10 BP, 3 IP costs him 20 BP, and 4 IP costs him 45 BP.

[All4BigGuns]

You then make IP a Special Attribute that's 1/4. Thus 2 IP costs him 10 BP, 3 IP costs him 20 BP, and 4 IP costs him 45 BP.

Normal character creation rules would put that 4th IP at 55 BP, but I'd probably up the costs of that one all around as detailed below.

2) 25 BP
3) 35 BP
4) 60 BP

[Ryo]

You then make IP a Special Attribute that's 1/4. Thus 2 IP costs him 10 BP, 3 IP costs him 20 BP, and 4 IP costs him 45 BP.

Normal character creation rules would put that 4th IP at 55 BP, but I'd probably up the costs of that one all around as detailed below.

2) 25 BP
3) 35 BP
4) 60 BP

Why would it be 55 BP? It's 10 per point, and 25 for the cap point, so 2, 3, 4 would be 10+10+25, for 45 BP. Unless you're suggesting he starts at 0 IP and has to pay 10 BP for 1.

As for the price increase, that is equally unnecessary. Consider that even if he were to buy Synaptic Boosters at Rating 3, the most expensive IP booster, it'd only cost him 48 BP worth of nuyen, and would come with +3 Reaction to boot. 45 BP for 4 IP, with no Reaction boost to go with it, is already more expensive than any other option in the game. Making it even higher is just punishing him.

[All4BigGuns]

It's 25 BP extra for the last point to max out an attribute on top of the 10 BP to get there from the previous level.

As for the rest, you're not supposed to be able to reach 4 IP (or even 2 or 3) without augmentation of some kind, be it magic or tech. It's part of the game and setting, so something that lets unaugmented mundanes reach that permanently, should cost more. Though, I don't think that the quality should exist at all.

[Ryo]

Physical/Mental Attributes
Improving a character’s Physical or Mental attributes costs 10 Build Points to increase an attribute by +1. The final increase spent to raise an attribute to its natural maximum (known as “maxing out”) costs 25 BP instead of the normal 10.

As for the second point, quite a few creatures have base IP higher than 1 without augmentation, especially among paracritters. And it's not something that lets unaugmented mundanes reach that, it's something specific to a specific race, which trades a complete inability to use magic, resonance or augmentation for that ability. Considering how much he has to spend on BP to equal the IP boosters augmentation provides, this method roughly balances out with normal build rules, which I believe is the intent here. Kommissar got this idea into the player and GM's head, and he needs something playable that won't ruin everybody's day as a result.

[UmaroVI]

Make Ubermensch be a quality that costs 80 bp (but only 5 bp towards quality caps), and grants the following:
+3 Reaction
+3 IPs
+4 to defense tests
+1 Body
+2 to a single Combat skill of choice, to a maximum of 1.5x base skill (round down).
Counts as the character's one hardcapped attribute (because of the attribute bonuses it gives).

That should be balanced in the short-term. Incompatible with magic, resonance, or augmentation.

[Reaver]

My only sugestion to you is go back to the GM, and ask him how much karma and capital he is expecting to hand out over the life of the campaign. It's ok if it's just a ballpark figure (250karma, 2.5mil capital over 30 sessions for example)

Now sit down and build all the characters at 25%, 50%, 75% gains of capital and karma... And look for power creep.

If the character is vastly outstripping everyone else, you got a problem.

If he is lagging way behind everyone else, you have a different problem.

Now you will know what you have got yourselves into and if the idea is workable. Yes, it is easy to 'gimp' character through poor creation methods... But it is entirely something else to know that not matter what,character 'X' is always outclassed by character 'y'.

[AngryCow]

Campaign GM Here. For those confused about the inspiration KommisarK and I had for this concept, we were considering how characters such as Adrian Veidt or Batman might exist in Shadowrun. These are people that represent the pinnacle of (meta)human physical and mental achievement without relying on any supernatural ability or mechanical augmentation. We tossed around some rules ideas, but largely left it a joke considering Shadowrun already provides a wealth of character choices.

Flash forward to a few months later, and one player hears about our little joke. He was so enamored with the idea, the quality was basically written on his character sheet before I even gave him actual rules for it. I drafted what KommisarK posted in the OP after a few minutes consideration, erring on the underpowered side. Its easier to boost a player mid-game than to take away. He really loves the idea despite its shortcomings, so we have been thinking of ways to bring it up to par.

I appreciate the additional ideas flowing here. Reaver makes a good suggestion, and I will crunch some numbers when I get a chance to look at the character sheets again.

[JustADude]

Make Ubermensch be a quality that costs 80 bp (but only 5 bp towards quality caps), and grants the following:
+3 Reaction
+3 IPs
+4 to defense tests
+1 Body
+2 to a single Combat skill of choice, to a maximum of 1.5x base skill (round down).
Counts as the character's one hardcapped attribute (because of the attribute bonuses it gives).

That should be balanced in the short-term. Incompatible with magic, resonance, or augmentation.

So, essentially, it's like an Infected Quality?

...

Since the guy's wanting to play an escaped clone type character, my personal recommendation would be to simply allow the character to buy the "effects" of Bioware for an amount of BP equal to the Nuyen it would cost him to make it happen (using Standard Grade prices only), but not counting against Essence or Nuyen cost since they're not actually Bioware, just him being a genetically perfect badass.

He'll also have to really pour BP into getting everything he wants now since, unlike Street Sams or Adepts, he'll never be able to buy more superhuman stuff later. That means his power-curve will be quite front-loaded, but the Street Sams will ca

Or, to just throw him the Super-Mega-Deluxe package, give him this package. It has a combination of a lot of the "common" Bioware goodies for various functions, so he can be a high-level generalist. Total cost: 119 BP... which will pretty well put him way behind the curve in skills and such, as a newly decanted clone should be.

Bone Density Augmentation 4
Cerebral Booster 3
Muscle Augmentation 4
Muscle Toner 4
Pain Editor
Platelet Factories
Suprathyroid Gland
Synaptic Booster 3
Synthacardium 3
Tailored Pheromones 3

this gives him

Unarmed attacks deal (Str/2)+3P
Ignore Wound Penalties (/w +1 Will -1 Int while wounded)
-1 DV to any attack dealing 2 DV or more
+5 Agility
+5 Strength
+4 Reaction
+4 to Damage Resistance
+3 Logic
+3 Initiative Passes
+3 to Athletics Group tests
+3 to Social rolls (Face-to-face only)
+1 Body

That's assuming you're planning on the campaign lasting to the "high power" stage. If not, just adjust downward as needed.

[Crash_00]

Honestly, mundanes can work just fine* in an SR campaign as long as the player builds them to fit into a role based on what they can do.

Mundanes can't stand up in a face to face shoot out with four to five cybered/magiced out guys.  Taking them out one at a time isn't that hard if you're good at the stealth angle (Batman anyone?). Most things are available in some fashion without physical augmentation. Drugs can give a boost to any attribute just about. Some skills have qualities that give a similar effect like reflex recorders(Catlike for infiltration for instance). There is a quality version of Genetic Opt.

I've made a mundane character for each edition since second, and they don't really need any work/quality to work well. It's just all about understanding your limitations,  neutralizing the opponents bonuses, and finding where to get your bonuses.