[lurkeroutthere]

My bad, was still sleepy and forgot there is a drug called Kamikaze and K-10 isn't just slang for it.

[Twitchy D]

No problem. Chances are that every team finds a vial of that stuff every now and then. Besides, K-10's experimental name IS Kamakaze grade 10. Hell, I got it confused with KE VI!

And no fun was had that day...

I'll be back in about five hours. Work's coming up. Meanwhile, please! Discuss this amongst yourselves, and i'll check back when I return.

[UmaroVI]

Can you put your updated sheet up? It's a bit hard to cross-reference.

Quick Healer is just meh in general, with the exception of if your GM lets it work as written and give you +2 to first aid other people, or if you are have Regeneration. It's just not worth it compared to more body and willpower.

[Twitchy D]

I'm back!

Here's the current stats.

“Paul Meixner” (Commlink’s registration)

---Attributes---
Body      4 (5)
Agility      5 ( 8 )
Reaction      4 (5)
Strength      4 (7)
Charisma      2
Intuition      4
Logic      2
Willpower      3
Edge      4

Initiative      10
Passes      2
Condition (Stun)   10
Condition (Physical)   11

---Qualities---
<Positive>
•   Bioware Compatability
•   Erased II
•   High Pain Tolerance II
•   Restricted Gear

>Negative<
•   Hung Out to Dry
•   Amnesia
•   Flashbacks - Uncommon
•   Scorched
•   Sensitive Neural Structure

---Skills---
Groups
•   Athletics Group         2


Combat
•   Blades         6   =11
•   Dodge (Ranged)      1 (4)   =7 (9)
•   Longarms         3   =8
•   Pistols         4   =9
•   Throwing Weapons (Grenades)   4   =9 (11)

Physical
•   Climbing         2   =9
•   Gymnastics      2   =8
•   Infiltration         1   =9
•   Perception         4   =8
•   Running         2   =9
•   Survival    (Urban)      2 (4)   =5 (7)
•   Swimming         2   =9


Knowledge
•   Cooking (Grilling/BBQ)      2 (3)
•   Bars (Go-Ganger/Biker Bars)   3 (4)
•   Boltholes (Seattle)      3 (4)

Language
•   German         4
•   Russian         3
•   English (Natural)      NA

Cyberware
•   Two Auto-Injectors, Reusable, Alphaware
1.   Filled with Nitro, 3 doses
2.   Filled with Stimulant Patch rating 6, 6 doses
•   Biomonitor, Alphaware
•   2 Modular customized lower cyberlegs with skimmer disks, Armor +2



Bioware
•   Symbiotes II
•   Synaptic Booster I
•   Suprathyroid Gland
•   Muscle Augmentation II
•   Muscle Toner II

Weapons

Melee
•   Katar, personalized grip,  custom look (I)
•   Ceramic Knife

Firearms
•   Ruger Super Warhawk, custom grip, custom look (I), concealable Holster, speed loader, default smartgun
•   Franchi SPAS-22, Smartgun system, Folding stock, Foregrip, Sling
•   Mannlicher Wildhüter, top mounted imaging scope, shock pad, custom look (I), Sling

Thrown
•   5 Frag Grenades
•   2 Flashpaks
•   10 throwing knives

Gear
•   Urban Explorer Jumpsuit
•   Form-Fitting Body Armor Half-Body Suit
•   Helmet (Ballistic/Impact - +1/+2)
•   Light Stick (10)
•   Medkit (Rating 6)
•   Survival Kit
•   Stimulant Patch (Rating 6) X 6
•   Trauma Patch
•   Grapple Gun
•   Flashlight
•   Earbuds
•   + Audio Enhancement III
•   + Select Sound Filter III
•   + Spatial Recognizer
•   Gas Mask
•   Glasses
•   + Flare Compensation
•   + Vision Magnification
•   + Thermographic
•   + Low Light
•   + Smartlink
•   + Vision Enhancement III

[rasmusnicolaj]

Lower Athletics Group to 1 and get Synthacardium R3 if possible. Gives you total +2 on all Athletics for less (Synthacardium R3 cost 30.000 nuyen and that equals 6 BP). I would raise Longarms to 4 with 4 of those BP.
I don't know if it has been mentioned, but you also use 6 BP on 3 specialities and it would be more karma efficient just to get those with Karma.
I'm not sure your glasses are legal with that much in them. You could just spilt the enhancement between glasses and contact lenses though.
Am I missing it or don't you own a commlink?
More Reaction and more Intuition is good for your initiative. Can you spare som Reaction Enhancers?

Rasmus

[Twitchy D]

I'm up...

Lower Athletics Group to 1 and get Synthacardium R3 if possible. Gives you total +2 on all Athletics for less (Synthacardium R3 cost 30.000 nuyen and that equals 6 BP). I would raise Longarms to 4 with 4 of those BP.

Can't. The Muscle Toner/Augmentation's wiped out the last bit of my nuyen.

I don't know if it has been mentioned, but you also use 6 BP on 3 specialities and it would be more karma efficient just to get those with Karma.

Keep forgetting that hint, sorry. I've removed ranged dodge and grenades thrown, and placed them in Longarms.

I'm not sure your glasses are legal with that much in them. You could just spilt the enhancement between glasses and contact lenses though.

Forgot the avalibility 12 limit. Again. Just fixed the problem

Am I missing it or don't you own a commlink?

I own a Sony Emperor with Redcap Nix OS. Forgot to put it down.

More Reaction and more Intuition is good for your initiative. Can you spare som Reaction Enhancers?

At this point, I'm tapped out money wise. I could barely afford a fake level 4 SIN!

[rasmusnicolaj]

Ah yes the money issue.
Well hard to do much about other than getting out there and run 

Rasmus

[Twitchy D]

Yeah, funny how fiction imitates real life, right?

Well, I think I'm set. I'm feeling satisfied about this character and his gear, so I'm gonna say that "Paul" is set to find out who he is and what's he doing in a alleyway with a trio of dead gangsters with no memories whatsoever. Here's the stats one last time.

“Paul Meixner” (Commlink’s registration)

---Attributes---
Body         4 (5)
Agility         5 (8 )
Reaction      4 (5)
Strength      4 (7)
Charisma      2
Intuition      4
Logic         2
Willpower      3
Edge         4

Initiative      10
Passes         2
Condition (Stun)   10
Condition (Physical)   11

---Qualities---
<Positive>
•   Bioware Compatability
•   Erased II
•   High Pain Tolerance II
•   Restricted Gear

>Negative<
•   Hung Out to Dry
•   Amnesia
•   Flashbacks - Uncommon
•   Scorched
•   Sensitive Neural Structure

---Skills---
Groups
•   Athletics Group         2


Combat
•   Blades            6   =11
•   Dodge (Ranged)         1 (4)   =7 (9)
•   Longarms         3   =8
•   Pistols            4   =9
•   Throwing Weapons (Grenades)   4   =9 (11)

Physical
•   Climbing         2   =9
•   Gymnastics         2   =8
•   Infiltration         1   =9
•   Perception         4   =8
•   Running         2   =9
•   Survival    (Urban)      2 (4)   =5 (7)
•   Swimming         2   =9


Knowledge
•   Cooking (Grilling/BBQ)      2 (3)
•   Bars (Go-Ganger/Biker Bars)   3 (4)
•   Boltholes (Seattle)      3 (4)

Language
•   German         4
•   Russian            3
•   English (Natural)      NA

Cyberware
•   Two Auto-Injectors, Reusable, Alphaware
1.   Filled with Nitro, 3 doses
2.   Filled with Stimulant Patch rating 6, 6 doses
•   Biomonitor, Alphaware
•   2 Modular customized lower cyberlegs with skimmer disks, Armor +2



Bioware
•   Symbiotes II
•   Synaptic Booster I
•   Suprathyroid Gland
•   Muscle Augmentation II
•   Muscle Toner II

Weapons

Melee
•   Katar, personalized grip,  custom look (I), Gecko Grip.
o   Matte black, with silver ivy engravings, bearing ‘XIII’ on both sides.
•   Ceramic Knife

Firearms
•   Ruger Super Warhawk, custom grip, custom look (I), concealable Holster, speed loader, default smartgun, Firing Selection small (semi-auto).
o   Matte black, with silver ivy engravings, bearing the words ‘Paranoia is a Survival Trait’ on the barrel. Handle is of dark wood.
•   Franchi SPAS-22, Smartgun system, Folding stock, Foregrip, Sling
•   Mannlicher Wildhüter, top mounted imaging scope, shock pad, custom look (I), Sling, Firing Selection small (semi-auto).
o   Scrimshaw of Peter Nicolai Arbo’s Åsgårdsreien (1872) in micarta on the stock.

Thrown
•   5 Frag Grenades
•   2 Flashpaks
•   10 throwing knives

Gear
•   Urban Explorer Jumpsuit
•   Form-Fitting Body Armor Half-Body Suit
•   Helmet (Ballistic/Impact - +1/+2)
•   Light Stick (10)
•   Medkit (Rating 6)
•   Survival Kit
•   Stimulant Patch (Rating 6) X 6
•   Trauma Patch
•   Grapple Gun
•   Flashlight
•   Earbuds
•   + Audio Enhancement III
•   + Select Sound Filter III
•   Gas Mask
•   Glasses
•   + Flare Compensation
•   + Vision Magnification
•   + Low Light
•   + Vision Enhancement III
•   Contacts
•   + Smartlink
 
Comm
Sony Emperor with Redcap Nix OS

Fake SIN's
"Paul Meixner", UCAS Citizen. Bodyguard. Rating 4 Fake.
240 nuyen left.

Heading out for a while. Chores and similar. Back in two, three hours. Cya!

[UmaroVI]

High Pain Tolerance is another very bad quality. A lot of SR qualities sound cool, but are actually really bad.


Combat
•   Blades            6   =11
•   Dodge (Ranged)         1 (4)   =7 (9)
•   Longarms         3   =8
•   Pistols            4   =9
•   Throwing Weapons (Grenades)   4   =9 (11)

Physical
•   Gymnastics         2   =8


Here's where the redundancy is.

You have a melee skill (blades) and you have Gymnastics, so you don't need Dodge and can drop it.

Longarms, Pistols, and Throwing Weapons is two ways of rolling Agility+Skill to inflict damage at range too many. Throwing Weapons is just a bad skill except for particular adept builds (thrown grenades are actually pretty useless, because they take long enough to go off that a lot of people can simply walk away. Grenades in general aren't very good, but airbursted grenades are at least a niche weapon).

Since you already have Blades for concealable close-quarters weapons, I would suggest losing Pistols and Throwing Weapons, then shoring up the rest of your skills to better support what you can do. Up Longarms to 4, bump up your Infiltration, and get Palming (there's no point having concealable blades if you don't actually have the skill to conceal them), or possibly get the Stealth group.

I hate to bring it up because it's stupid, but in Shadowrun, cooking is not a Knowledge Skill: it's Artisan, which is quite unfortunate. That knowledge skill means you know about barbecues, but actually cooking is still Artisan (did I mention I hate how being a great pianist automatically makes you a great chef and a great painter too?) Your GM may be willing to ignore this because it is terrible.

Symbiotes are not very good. Synthacardium is a much better investment, but you would want Rating 3, not 2.

Gear-wise, assuming you do take my advice about skills:
Custom grip all melee weapons, always. It's a tiny price for +1 to hit.
Attach bayonets of some type to your ranged weapons. This sounds (and really, is) a little dorky, but it lets you use Blades to defend yourself if people melee you when you try to shoot them.
There are four good longarms. The T-250 is the only concealable longarm so it wins that by default and you should own one. The Auto-Assault 16 is the only shotgun that doesn't suck eggs, but you can't start with it. The Barrett is the best sniper rifle and as such is the main reason you would ever consider Longarms over Automatics, again you can't start with it. The Terracotta Arms Caravan (Gun Heaven 2) is the best sport rifle and as such is handy to own, since it is R rather than F but still an alright weapon.

[Twitchy D]

High Pain Tolerance is another very bad quality. A lot of SR qualities sound cool, but are actually really bad.

Dammit again! Aptitude Blades it is, then!

Here's where the redundancy is.

You have a melee skill (blades) and you have Gymnastics, so you don't need Dodge and can drop it.

Here's the thing: My impression of Gymnastics is of what you know is there, for example, jumping from the window to the fire excape across the alley, then dropping from there onto a parked delivery truck, then jumping off of that to the ground. Dodge, however, is used when the fully electric sedan stuffed to the brim with gangbangers with it's headlights turned off and running silent decides to run your @$$ over when you dropped off that delivery truck. As for Blades, that's for parrying melee attacks, not dodging bullets.

What my assumptions were: Gymnastics is for calculated manuvers, dodge is purely instinctual.

Longarms, Pistols, and Throwing Weapons is two ways of rolling Agility+Skill to inflict damage at range too many. Throwing Weapons is just a bad skill except for particular adept builds (thrown grenades are actually pretty useless, because they take long enough to go off that a lot of people can simply walk away. Grenades in general aren't very good, but airbursted grenades are at least a niche weapon).

Since you already have Blades for concealable close-quarters weapons, I would suggest losing Pistols and Throwing Weapons, then shoring up the rest of your skills to better support what you can do. Up Longarms to 4, bump up your Infiltration, and get Palming (there's no point having concealable blades if you don't actually have the skill to conceal them), or possibly get the Stealth group.

(sigh...) OK, I'm trading Thrown weapons for palming 1, a 1 die boost in infitration, and 2 in armorer. Oh, I forgot to mention, the Grenades Subcatagory and the ranged dodge Subcatagory was dumped for a boost in longarms.

I hate to bring it up because it's stupid, but in Shadowrun, cooking is not a Knowledge Skill: it's Artisan, which is quite unfortunate. That knowledge skill means you know about barbecues, but actually cooking is still Artisan (did I mention I hate how being a great pianist automatically makes you a great chef and a great painter too?) Your GM may be willing to ignore this because it is terrible.

...
No, that's not stupid at all.
THAT, MY FRIEND, IS EXEEDINGLY STUPID!
Sorry, but that's... dumb. I'm not cooking on Top Chef or Iron Chef (the frigging awesome japanese one, FYI), I just want an interesting Character trait! I'd thought it'd be nice to have some real down home cooking rather then the typical Soy(place random food product here)...

Symbiotes are not very good. Synthacardium is a much better investment, but you would want Rating 3, not 2.

Changed it, but cannot afford rating 3.

Gear-wise, assuming you do take my advice about skills:
Custom grip all melee weapons, always. It's a tiny price for +1 to hit.

Agreed.

Attach bayonets of some type to your ranged weapons. This sounds (and really, is) a little dorky, but it lets you use Blades to defend yourself if people melee you when you try to shoot them.

Again, agreed.

There are four good longarms. The T-250 is the only concealable longarm so it wins that by default and you should own one. The Auto-Assault 16 is the only shotgun that doesn't suck eggs, but you can't start with it. The Barrett is the best sniper rifle and as such is the main reason you would ever consider Longarms over Automatics, again you can't start with it. The Terracotta Arms Caravan (Gun Heaven 2) is the best sport rifle and as such is handy to own, since it is R rather than F but still an alright weapon.

Here's the problem with the last one. I don't have Gun Heaven 2. Or Gun Heaven 1. Or Unwired, Companion, or Street Magic, or any of the PDF's. Frankly, It'll be a bit before I can afford them. So I'm just running with what I have.

Also, slings on a longarm confer a concealability modifier of -2 for unreadied, -1 readied. Plus the +2 for holding onto the weapon. For 10 Nuyen.

[lurkeroutthere]

I'm going to buck Umaro on this, there is going to come a time, sooner then you'd like, where you really "wish you had some grenades right now". Because even with their inherant weakness under the rules currently they are still hard to beat for clearying areas out or denying them to the enemy. I would say it is likely more useful to your position then palming.

Also invest in smart linked grenades (Warning: GM's discretion territory here) and then sell your GM on the conept of using the issue command simple action to detonate the grenade. It's not strictly supported by the rules but to me it's always made sense by the tech level, and it's not to the best of my knowledge specifically disallowed either. Gives grenades a lot more utility at marginal increase in cost and gets them back to about where i see them being used by high tech opponents.

[Twitchy D]

That's kind of what I was thinking. Whirring shards of metal tend to have some detrimental effect to anyone standing near them, including the thrower and his pals, but if you use them wisely, like bouncing one at an angle into a room or hallway, or rigging a grenade trap ala Fallout 3 with demolitions or survival skill...

[UmaroVI]

Here's the thing: My impression of Gymnastics is of what you know is there, for example, jumping from the window to the fire excape across the alley, then dropping from there onto a parked delivery truck, then jumping off of that to the ground. Dodge, however, is used when the fully electric sedan stuffed to the brim with gangbangers with it's headlights turned off and running silent decides to run your @$$ over when you dropped off that delivery truck. As for Blades, that's for parrying melee attacks, not dodging bullets.

What my assumptions were: Gymnastics is for calculated manuvers, dodge is purely instinctual.

This isn't correct in SR. Gymnastics lets you Full Defense against either ranged or melee, as does Dodge. Dodge also lets you add it to your regular defense against melee without spending actions...but so does Blades. So you want either Gymnastics+Melee Skill, or Dodge. You don't want all three, and you should drop Dodge because it is doing nothing for you.

With only Arsenal and SR4A the Mannlicher Wildsomethinggermanwhatever is indeed a good choice, then.

Slings are indeed useful, but the T-250 is still the only longarm small enough to conceal. Everything else has a base of either +6 or "no," depending on your GM, so even with a sling that's +4 or "no." The T-250 with a sling and chameleon coating is reasonable to conceal.

[UmaroVI]

I'm going to buck Umaro on this, there is going to come a time, sooner then you'd like, where you really "wish you had some grenades right now". Because even with their inherant weakness under the rules currently they are still hard to beat for clearying areas out or denying them to the enemy. I would say it is likely more useful to your position then palming.

Also invest in smart linked grenades (Warning: GM's discretion territory here) and then sell your GM on the conept of using the issue command simple action to detonate the grenade. It's not strictly supported by the rules but to me it's always made sense by the tech level, and it's not to the best of my knowledge specifically disallowed either. Gives grenades a lot more utility at marginal increase in cost and gets them back to about where i see them being used by high tech opponents.

There's going to come a time when you wish you had some things that work like RL grenades right now, but SR thrown grenades are just awful. If you want grenades that aren't useless, get Heavy Weapons instead of Throwing Weapons and get an ArmTech MGL-6 with Airburst. Grenades that do damage directly still suck, but smoke and chemical type grenades are useful. The MGL-6 also has really REALLY long range for its size.

[Twitchy D]

The Auto-Assault 16 is the only shotgun that doesn't suck eggs, but you can't start with it.

I just thought of something!
How about I replace the SPAS-22 with an AS-7 with ammo drums, buy the firing selection small mod for full auto at 300 nuyen, add gas vent 2, and go from there?
BAM! A full auto shotgun that's six shells shy from the AA16, but is only 20% of the cost at 1600 nuyen!
Hell, if your GM won't let you have the gas vent 2, just add Personalized Grip and Foregrip for 150 nuyen, or Foregrip and Underbarrel Weight I for 125, or even a Folding Stock and an Underbarrel Weight I for only 55 nuyen!