[lord_salamander]

Hey guys, I'm going to be attending a con in a few weeks time with some friends to play some Shadowrun games (specifically SRM 04-00 to 04-02), and I'm looking to make a mage for the group. Thus far we have a Elven Adept Face (and decent with firearms), an Elven Ghost/Sniper, a Dwarf Street Samurai/Infiltrator, and a Human Hacker.

My idea was a Druidic Magician, focused more on combat (although he would require some utility should we come across something more magical I suppose), with my image of him being a large celtic man (or other race), flinging spells with one hand, and cutting things down with a sword in the other, with a summon beast spirit tearing things up beside him. However, this being my first magician, I'm not sure that's possible with the starting 400 BP. My initial thoughts were of a Troll (or Fomori), possibly with a cyberarm to get high attributes to use with his sword, along with health spells such as Improved Reflexes and Improved Attribute, and Combat spells like Stunball/bolt. I was also looking at the wolf mentor thematically, although Im not sure what to go with beyond there... I have tried some builds, but I seem to run out of points for skills. 

Any suggestions/tips?

[rasmusnicolaj]

Well try to post what you have here that would make it easier to comment on 

Magicians tend to be BP demanding so you should probably focus on that over being from an expensive race or spending to many BP on secondary skill. You sword skill cost you some and under normal circumstances you would be better off just stunbolting people in the face anyway.

Focus on your Drain stats and softcap those. Also softcap Magic as that last point is kind of expensive. It is worth to think over race and tradition together so they have a good synergy (like elves for charisma drain traditions for example).

Don’t take skill groups unless you really have to as they tend to be expensive in BP and often you don’t really need the full pack.
Spellcasting 6, Counterspelling 4, Binding 4, Summoning 1 (or 4 if you can afford it). Maybe Arcana 1 so you have it for when you want to join a group and initiate. Then some Infiltration, Perception and other essential runner skills but.

You should definitely spend 5 BP on a Mentor spirit. It is well worth the points.

You should also get Restricted Gear and a Power Foci R4. It is a huge bonus for any magician.
Get a Sustaining Foci R3 for an Improved Reflexes Spell.

A cyberarm can be great but remember it cost from your magic. It is probably better in a logic drain type mage where you can benefit from cerebral boosters and logic enhancing nanites to make up for your magic loss in increased drain dice pool. With ware and magic you should try to look into the things that enhances each other more than try to be good at different things I think.

If you go with a Troll or Fomori then remember to get anything from a Increase Attribute Spell you have to cast it on a Force equal to the Attribute you want to enhance. So if you already has a high strength it becomes quit demanding to boost it further with a spell.

Hope that helped you.

Rasmus

[lord_salamander]

So, this is what I have do far.... at the moment he's sitting at 418 points

Sean "Wolf" O'Conner (Fomori Magician)
B 6, A 2, R 2, S 5, C 3, I 5, L 3, W 5, E 1, Ess 4.3, M 4, Init 7/9, IP 1/3
Condition Monitor boxes (Physical/Stun): 12/11
Hidden Commlink Condition Monitor: 10
Public Commlink Condition Monitor: 9
Armor (Ballistic/Impact): 20/16
Skills: Assensing 1, Binding 2, Blades 4 (Swords +2), Counterspelling 2, Infiltration 2 (Urban +2), Perception 1, Spellcasting 6 (Health Spells +2), Summoning 2
Knowledge Skills: Classic Literature 3, Classical Music 3, English N, Gaelic 4, Magical Theory 5, Parazoology 3, Police Procedure 3, Seattle Area Knowledge 3
Metatype Abilities: Enhanced Senses: Thermographic Vision
Qualities: Arcane Arrester, Distinctive Style (1): Celtic Tattoos, Geas: Incantation, Magician, Mentor Spirit: Wolf, Restricted Gear: Raven's Eye (Power Focus), Sensitive System, SINner
Spells: Analyze Device, Cold Aura, Heal, Ice Wall (limited), Increase Reflexes, Lightning Bolt, Stunball, Stunbolt, Trid Phantasm
Cyberware:
. . Cyber Arm (Obvious) (Alphaware) (Main Hand) with Cyberlimb Agility (8 ), Cyberlimb Body (6), Cyberlimb Strength (3), Enhanced Agility (3), Enhanced Armor +1/+1 (1), Enhanced Body (1)
Gear:
. . Agent (4)
. . Armor Jacket with Ruthenium Polymer Coating
. . Contact Lenses (3) with Flare Compensation, Skinlink, Vision Magnification, Optical
. . Cram x10
. . Earbuds (3) with Audio Enhancement (2), Skinlink, Spatial Recognizer
. . Fetish: Ice Wall
. . Form-Fitting Full-Body Suit with Chemical Protection (6)
. . Glasses (3) with Image Link, Low Light Vision, Skinlink, Vision Enhancement (3)
. . Hidden Commlink with Analyze (4), Browse (4), Command (2), Edit (4), Encrypt (1), Novatech Navi Operating System, Pro User Suite, Skinlink
. . Medkit (6)
. . Psyche x5
. . Public Commlink with Vector Xim Operating System
. . Raven's Eye (Power Focus)
. . Samuel Craig with Fake License: Carry Foci, Fake License: Practice Magic, Fake License: Private Investigator, Fake SIN, Low Lifestyle
. . Sean O'Conner
. . SecureTech Forearm Guards
. . SecureTech Shin  Guards
. . Sustaining Focus: Health Spells (3)
. . Tool Kit, Forensic Thaumaturgy
Weapons:
. . Attack of Will (vs. Spirits) [DV 3P vs. I]
. . Monofilament Sword [Blades, DV 5P vs. I-1, Reach 2]
. . Unarmed Strike [Unarmed, DV 2S vs. I, Reach 1]

[Csjarrat]

I think the armour modification ruthenium polymer can only be applied to full body covering kit. So you'd need a jumpsuit and helmet least. Or you could just have it on your ffba and take off other armour layers when you need to go in quiet.

[lord_salamander]

I've tweaked my idea a bit after reading about the Mind Over Matter Adept power, thus Ive changed my character into a mystic adept. Here is the result:

Sean "Bear" O'Conner (Fomori Mystic Adept)
B 6, A 1/8, R 3, S 5, C 2, I 4, L 5/8, W 4, E 1, Ess 5.1, M 5, M 2, M 3, Init 7/9, IP 1/3
Condition Monitor boxes (Physical/Stun): 11/10
Hidden Commlink Condition Monitor: 10
Public Commlink Condition Monitor: 9
Armor (Ballistic/Impact): 22/18
Skills: Blades 4 (Swords +2), Counterspelling 3, Infiltration 1, Perception 2, Spellcasting 5 (Combat Spells +2), Summoning 3, Unarmed Combat 2 (Martial Arts +2)
Knowledge Skills: Classic Literature 4, Classical Music 2, English N, Gaelic 5, Magical Theory 4, Parazoology 4, Police Procedure 4, Seattle Area Knowledge 4
Metatype Abilities: Enhanced Senses: Thermographic Vision
Qualities: Arcane Arrester, Distinctive Style (1): Celtic Tattoos, Geas: Ritual: Prayers, Mentor Spirit: Bear, Mystic Adept, Restricted Gear: Cerebral Booster, Restricted Gear: Earth's Heart (Power Focus), Sensitive System, SINner
Spells: Heal, Increase Reflexes, Lightning Bolt, Metal Aura, Metal Wall (limited), Stunball, Stunbolt
Adept Powers: Critical Strike (2), Mind Over Matter (Log -> Agi): Logic
Cyberware:
. . Datajack
Bioware:
. . Cerebral Booster (3)
Gear:
. . Agent (2)
. . Berwick Outfit with Blouse/Shirt, Chemical Protection (5), Skirt/Trousers, Suit Jacket
. . Camouflage Suit with Chemical Protection (5)
. . Contact Lenses (3) with Flare Compensation, Skinlink, Vision Magnification, Optical
. . Earbuds (3) with Audio Enhancement (2), Skinlink, Spatial Recognizer
. . Earth's Heart (Power Focus)
. . Form-Fitting Full-Body Suit with Nonconductivity (5)
. . Glasses (3) with Image Link, Low Light Vision, Skinlink, Vision Enhancement (3)
. . Hidden Commlink with Analyze (4), Browse (4), Command (2), Edit (4), Encrypt (1), Novatech Navi Operating System, Pro User Suite, Skinlink
. . Medkit (6)
. . Public Commlink with Vector Xim Operating System
. . Samuel Craig with Fake License: Carry Foci, Fake License: Practice Magic, Fake License: Private Investigator, Fake SIN, Low Lifestyle
. . Sean O'Conner
. . SecureTech Forearm Guards
. . SecureTech Shin  Guards
. . Sustaining Focus: Health Spells (3)
Weapons:
. . Ceramic Knife -- 12 Dice [Blades, DV 4P vs. I, Reach 1] with Ceramic/Plasteel Components (Level 1)
. . Claymore Weapon Focus (1) -- 16 Dice [Blades, DV 7P vs. I-1, Reach 3] with Personalized Grip, Weapon Focus (1)
. . Hardliner Gloves -- 13 Dice [Unarmed, DV 4P vs. I, Reach 1] with Personalized Grip
. . Unarmed Strike -- 12 Dice [Unarmed, DV 5S vs. I, Reach 1]

[rasmusnicolaj]

Body should be 7 for that extra condition track. Your Initiative isn’t great, but I guess sacrifices have to be made on your attributes somewhere. Willpower should be 5 both for the condition track and for your drain.

I would drop Unarmed Combat. Right now you are spending 10 BP on being worse at hitting people with your fist than you are with your sword. I would drop specializations and get them with karma as that is super cheap. Counterspelling 4. Lower Perception to 1 for karma efficiency’s sake. Spellcasting definitely 6 as that last point is really expensive in karma compared to BP now. Summoning 1 should be enough (it is easy to summon something but hard to resist drain from it). I would also get at least 1 Binding. With your high Logic you could benefit from taking logic linked skills and be good at them fairly easy.

Maybe you could benefit from a way if you have access to Way of the Adept.

Critical Strike is for Unarmed so drop that and get Combat Sense instead (or some other useful power).

A Datajack really isn’t that useful. It is a thing of the past. You can skinlink your equipment instead. There are several Genetic enchantments that also boost Logic. You could also go for Genetic Optimization (and for that matter you could be a Changeling for Metagenetic Improvement if you really want to boost your drain attributes. Neocortical Nanites also boosts Logic skills.

Rasmus

[lord_salamander]

I put some points into Unarmed so that if I was every without my sword (such as if we had to pass a checkpoint or the likes) I would still be armed. But I like your other suggestions.

[rasmusnicolaj]

You are never unarmed - you have spells 

Rasmus