[The Sach]

Hey guys,

I'm making my first character for my first game of Shadowrun. I have a group of 3 other players (with me makes 4) and our GM who have gamed together for some time, but this will be our first time using Shadowrun. I am very excited for this oppurtunity. Now, we've only been reading the material for about a month or so, but we're starting to come up with some basic characters. From what I've heard from the other three, I'm looking to be running with a street-sam type runner, a technomancer, and a shaman. We don't have a dedicated face yet (although the shaman showed interest) and I'd rather not play the face for once (I'm usually the social interaction character in all our other games).

Anyway, the idea I've come up with so far is an Ork runner specialising in athletics. Basically a crazy parkour character. We're using the 400BP system. Now... although I realise it is risky, due to my relationship with my GM, I will be taking the partial amnesia quality to provide a richer gaming experience. So... what I'll do is post what I have of the character so far... and eagerly await your replies for advice...

Name: , Age: (Approximately 20), Height: 1.78m, Weight: 81kg, Gender: Male, Metatype: Ork (20BP)

Positive Qualities: Exceptional Attribute (Agility), Human Looking (Only there to explain the small size) - (25BP)
Negative Qualities: Amnesia (Partial), (Rest to be decided by GM, and I'll get to swap one) - (-35BP)

Attributes - BOD: 4, AGI: 6 (, REA: 5, STR 4, INT: 5, LOG: 3, CHA: 2, WIL: 4, EDG: 1, INI: 10 (200BP)

Skill Groups: Athletics 4, Outdoors 1 (50BP)
Skills: Diving 1, Escape Artist 1, Etiquette 1, First Aid 1, Forgery 1, Hardware 1, Infiltration 4, Locksmith 1, Negotiation 1, Palming 1, Parachuting 1, Perception 4, Unarmed Combat 4 (88BP)
Knowledge Skills: To be determined with GM

Gear: None

Ware: Enhanced Articulation, Muscle Augmentation (2), Muscle Toner (2), Sleep Regulator, Synthacardium (3) - All Alphaware (44BP for the Nuyen)

Contacts: To be decided by the GM (8BP)

So... the main importance to me for the character was the athletics. I plan to specialise as soon as possible. With what little background I have for this character, I mainly saw them as being a courier... hence the focus on physical movement skills. Infiltration came as an idea for a secondary role that such a primary role would lead well into, and the unarmed combat was another secondary/tertiary role I could see the character getting into.

As for the gear... Well, so far the best idea for a story in terms of game start is for the character to have literally just regained consciousness (within the hour) and been left with no gear and no memories. Unbeknownst to him, he has been experimented on and had the bioware installed on him. He will be unaware of the bioware (if that is at all possible) that he has.

So... critiques? Have I overspent in areas? Have I neglected other things? Thoughts?

I thank you in advance for the help...

[UmaroVI]

I guess my main question is how you see Athletics working as a "role." Like, what do you plan on doing on a shadowrunning team, exactly?

[The Sach]

Well... initially it would be small I guess... very niche... I assume his main role would be to scout, find points of access, and points of escape as well. As a contingency he would be the distraction needed for the rest of the team (or vice versa, the team could distract whilst he obtains the objective and then escapes)

I would see him as potentially developing into more of a proper infiltration type of character, with some back up combat assistance (mainly unarmed, possibly demolitions, or some ranged ability)

[UmaroVI]

I'm not really sold on the concept, here. I think you'll wind up struggling to find something to do; you kind of have an Underwater Basket Weaving problem going on. Yes, you're good at it, I'm just not sure it's actually a sufficiently applicable schtick and you are focused very heavily on that. I would really suggest talking to your GM about this - if he's OK with the idea and is going to make sure you have baskets to weave underwater, go for it, but I can see this being a problem.

If you do want to go down the Athletics route, you should probably have Reflex Recorder (Athletics).

[All4BigGuns]

With how your character looks, I would drop the implants (and the Positive Qualities you chose) and go Adept focusing primarily on your infiltration and unarmed combat abilities (ignoring Improved Physical Attribute until you have some initiations under your belt) with the adept powers (your athletics should work out just fine with just skill and attribute.

[Tecumseh]

I'll echo the concern about your character not having enough to do. One possible remedy is to focus more on the B&E / Infiltration role. Of all my characters, my B&E specialist is my favorite.

Exception Attribute is expensive. You're spending 30 BP -- 20 from Exception Attribute and 10 for the extra point -- to move your base Agility from 5 to 6. You could save a ton of BP by dropping Agility back down to 5, picking up a level of Restricted Gear, and upgrading your Muscle Toner to rating 4. Restricted Gear and the additional nuyen for the Toner would cost about 8 BP, but that's a net savings of 22 BP and you'll end up with an augmented Agility of 9 instead of 8. Good deal!

You need those points for your skills, as you're currently not much in a fight. You don't have any ranged weapon skills, which is inconvenient for the times when your opponent would like to riddle you with bullets from a safe distance.

Work with your GM to figure out which skills will find some use in the game. Diving, Forgery, and Parachuting are all rare, as is the Outdoors skill group. If your GM wants someone on the team who has those skills then great, but otherwise consider reinvesting those points into the aforementioned weapons skill and/or Hardware. Similarly, your Charisma is so low that I would drop the point in Negotiation. But get Hardware up to 4 so that you can hack a maglock on-site in case the technomancer can't do it remotely.

You don't have any skills above a 4 right now. If you're at a combat-heavy table then maybe make one of your fighting skills a 6. If the table is more about stealth and RP, then maybe boost Infiltration.

If you still have some points left over, a second point of Edge would be great. An extra point of Strength would boost your unarmed DV by 1, plus give you an extra dice for most of your Athletic tests. Boosting Willpower up to 5 would get you an extra box of Stun damage before you fall over with your eyes rolling back in your head. You probably can't afford all of those but pick the one that you think fits best with your character concept. As much as I love Willpower (mostly out of fear of magicians and spirits), swapping a point out of Willpower to boost Strength would help you do pull-ups and punch dudes in the face.

[All4BigGuns]

Tecumseh gave some decent advice here. On his last paragraph though, I'd say go for Body 5 and Willpower 3--sure it's not as good against Stunbolt, but the extra Body will let you wear more armor before encumbrance and give you better soak for most damage, and Stunbolt will ream you anyway if you don't have a mage around to counterspell for you.

[The Sach]

Hmmm... I thank you all greatly for the advice... I guess I'll go back to the drawing board for now...

[JmOz01]

Also I know by concept you are thinking a high agility, but most athletic skills feed off of Strength.

I would echo the need for a ranged combat skill.  I would be afraid counting on unarmed combat without some kind of help, such as being an adept

I was told once that the normal shadowrun adventure is this:

Meet with Johnson (get screwed without knowing it)

Do legwork (figure out your about to be screwed)

Sneak in (Avoid getting screwed)

Things go wrong/combat (think you have been screwed)

Get out, hopefully acomplishing the mission

Meet with Johnson (realy get screwed)

Characters shouild be able to do one of the above really well, be passable in 2-3 of the others.