[emsquared]

... how would you go about it?

So, I started this concept character, basically just to see how high I could get a Defense Pool out of the gate.

Once I did all that I could think of to accomplish that - and ended up with REA 8(12), Dodge 7(8.) for a defense pool of 22 (w/ Reakt) - it seemed like this, along with the ability to soak damage and chop things up would be a good way to go about taking a sword to a gun-fight.

So then I decided to try and make that concept character into a viable, playable character. Here's what I ended up with:

A native of Japan, Ishimaru was abandoned by his parents when he underwent goblinization at puberty. After living on the streets for a year or more,  he found his way to a dojo - they disregarded him, but he refused to leave (where else did he have to go) and eventually he was excepted as a custodian, after toiling for day-in and day-out for months, maybe years, doing lowly labor - all the while studying as best he could as an observer - one day he made his move, challenging the master. Though he was thoroughly trounced in combat, the master saw potential in his body and spirit. From that day forth he was raised and trained in the martial arts. What he didn't know was his master also had a gambling problem. After nearly a decade of living, learning, and being shaped into a deadly warrior by the dojo, the master's debt came due and he could not pay. One evening his master was there, making tea, the next morning he was gone, Ishimaru had stood by and watched from his closet-like room, many times before as his master was hassled over his debt. He fled, unable to face the dishonor of not coming to his master's aid when he had the chance. He gathered his few worldly possessions and sought out a human-trafficker to transport him to Seattle. He began working as hired muscle assembling a new life. Though he vowed to find some way to avenge his master, and to never back down from his enemies again...

Originally he was an Oni, but then I kind of figured that it's stupid to pay 5 BP more for a couple of Negative Qualities... I would have went troll, but, well ... I just don't like RPing trolls much >.<

NAME/ALIAS: Ishimaru Mayasu / "Dawkins" (ever read Oliver Twist?)
MOVEMENT: 10/25, Swim: 5
METATYPE: Ork
NOTORIETY: 1
COMPOSURE: 4 JUDGE INTENTIONS: 4
LIFT/CARRY: 15 LIFT/CARRY WEIGHT: 120 kg/80 kg  MEMORY: 5

POSITIVE QUALITIES
Changeling Class III (SURGE)
Exceptional Attribute (REA)
Low-Light Vision
Metagenetic Improvement (REA)
Satyr Legs

NEGATIVE QUALITIES
Critter Spook
Distinctive Style
Extravagant Eyes
Impaired Attribute (CHA)
In Debt (10,000¥)
Lost Loved One (Sensei)
Big Regret
Vendetta
Poor Self Control (Vindictive)

BOD: 7
STR: 5 (7)
AGI: 5 (7)
REA: 8 (12)
WIL: 3
CHA: 1
INT: 4
LOG: 1
EDG: 2   

ESSENCE: 0.90

INITIATIVE: 12 (16)
INIT PASSES: 1 (3)

SKILL Pool/Rank/Att/Mod (only listing those I took ranks in)
Automatics 11/4/7
Blades(Swords) 14(16)/6/7
Gymnastics 16/4/7
Infiltration 11/4/7
Perception 8/4/4 (11 w/ contacts)
Pilot Ground Craft 13/1/12
Running 14/4/7

KNOWLEDGE Pool/Rank/Att
Language: English 8/4/4
Language: Japanese N 
Combat Tactics 8/4/4
History 4/3/1
Philosophy 6/2/4

IMPLANT GRADE  - ESSENCE COST
Synthcardium Rating 3 - 0.3
Enhanced Protein Exchange, Reakt - 0.4
Genetic Optimization (REA) - 0.2
Muscle Augmentation Rating 2 - 0.4
Muscle Toner Rating 2 - 0.4
Reaction Enhancers Rating 2 - 0.6
Reflex Recorder (Skill) (Blades) - 0.1
Wired Reflexes Rating 2 - 3
Spur x 2

LIFESTYLE
"Industrial Loft"
Comforts: Low, Entertainment: Street, Necessities: Middle, Neighborhood: Low, Security: Low
Qualities: Green Plan [-1LP]

Not gonna list all of his gear though I bought a lot of grenades (smoke, flash-bang, etc.) to help with closing, his armor ended up B/I 17/14 with Ruthenium... wields a nodaichi... think that's the most important stuff.

I know I've seen people say that Dodge is not a good skill, and that it seems like a lot of people take Gymnastics for Melee character's "defense skill", but I guess I assume this is because Gymnastics is AGI linked (which is generally higher than REA for most street-sams) and they're generally more worried about defending in Melee than Ranged... I guess this approach doesn't make much sense to me though, unless you're just going to focus heavily on soaking Damage, because you're still gonna get shot while closing (and maybe this is the most viable way to go?). I guess it's not like 11 REA is enough to avoid a skilled shooter, but for the mooks, it seems like the best tactic is to not take damage in the first place.

But that's why I made this post... tell me why I'm wrong, tell me what you'd do differently to take a sword to a gun fight.

[Shadowjack]

Even if you don't fully dodge a skilled shooter, you can still downgrade their damage considerably with an 11 Reaction. In this character's case, I think Dodge is a good choice.

[UmaroVI]

Gymnastics doesn't work like that. When using it to defend, you add the skill rating - same as dodge. The reason not to take it is that it doesn't add to your base defense - which doesn't matter because you have blades. The reasons to take it are that it does more stuff than just defense, and that it's easy to boost.

Passive defense (high Reaction) is good and worth it. Active defense is alright, but not worth specializing in to the extent you have. It's helpful in some very specific circumstances, but mostly just a way to lose fights and die last.

Instead of paying 46 points and 10kny for Dodge 8 and Gymnastics 1 (seriously, that is a LOT of points for something so narrowly useful), you could pay 16 bp and 40000 ny for just as good Gymnastics (Gymnastics 4 + Ref. Rec. Gymnastics + Synthacardium), and instead spend the points on more useful things.

Melee damage rounds up from Str/2. You want an odd Strength.

Bone Density Augmentation is overpriced crap unless you are an unarmed combat melee adept. You aren't. Get rid of it.

Throwing weapons is for throwing weapon adepts. You aren't. Get rid of it, use a gun.

Unarmed Combat and Blades is redundant. If you're worried about being disarmed, use Spurs.

What martial arts quality bonuses and manuevers do you have, exactly?

[Glyph]

For a dodge-oriented character, move-by-wire: 2 (bought with the restricted gear quality) is a good buy, not only adding to your Reaction but also adding to your dodge skill.

I'm not sure which advantages and/or maneuvers you got with Arnis De Mano, but two-weapon style and doing damage on a disarm both depend more on your weapon skill than your high dodge skill.  Your high Reaction and the Reakt will both be helpful, though.

A fluff note: I think Arnis De Mano was a Filipino martial art whose practice was forbidden when the Japanese occupied the Philippines.  So you would need a good backstory reason for why a pureblood Japanese would learn that particular martial art.  I'm not saying nix it - but address why he knows it.  Maybe his sensei was an expatriate Filipino who had trouble getting students to learn his disreputable style, and that was part of why the Yaks went out of their way to antagonize him.

Most melee builds go for gymnastics over dodge because of how the rules work.  For melee combat, you can use your melee skill to block, while for ranged full defense, gymnastics is just as good as dodge.  The only advantage of dodge is for passive (not full defense) melee defense, so if you have a weapon skill to block with, you don't really need dodge.  Add in the fact that melee builds typically take athletic skills anyways, and you can see why dodge is not taken as much.

For builds that do take advantage of dodge, they usually get move-by-wire for the skill bonus, and take a specialization (one of the weaknesses of gymnastics is that it has no listed specialization for ranged or melee defense).

[JustADude]

Also, seriously consider taking the "Changeling" quality. Metagenetic Improvement is obviously awesome, yeah, but there's also Celerity + Satyr Legs. Or just Satyr Legs if you're shaving points.

Combined, those two qualities give you a +100% bonus (+50% Celerity, +50% Satyr Legs) to your Movement Speed, and Satyr legs also gives you a +2 DP Bonus to Gymnastics tests, which helps your defense even more.

[Medicineman]

or Raptor legs
Same bonus as the Satyr Legs
Plus
Hydraulic Jacks
Plus
Skimmer Disc
Plus
Cyberarmor

HeyaHeyaHeyaJa
Medicineman

[JustADude]

or Raptor legs
Same bonus as the Satyr Legs
Plus
Hydraulic Jacks
Plus
Skimmer Disc
Plus
Cyberarmor

HeyaHeyaHeyaJa
Medicineman

Except that if you just take Cyberfeet (Cyber-Hooves?) you can tuck Celerity in there as well.

Satyr Legs + Celerity + Skimmer Disks = 300% base movement speed.

[Katrex]

or just make a custom oni, surge 3 striking skin pigmentation metagen reaction

As for dodge one reason to get it over gymnastics is " Melee defenders can also choose to go on full defense (p. 160),
and add Dodge skill dice to their defense roll"

Which means you can get a stupidly high parry and then combine that with Riposte and disarm and/or 2 weapon style


En regards to stats, going for genetic optimisation is so much better than exceptional atribute. The only time you should go exceptional atribute IMO is when you go Exceptional atribute + surge + genetic optimisation for +3 That caps you at 9/13 then reaction boosters + wired reflexes 2  to cap at 13.

[UmaroVI]

That's not an advantage of dodge over gymnastics, Katrex.. Also, neither works with Two Weapon Style, that's with full parry. The reason for this guy to know Gymnastics is to full defense against ranged attacks. The reason for him to know dodge over gymnastics is nil. The reason for someone else to know dodge over gymnastics is if they don't have a melee skill to use for passive melee defense.

[Katrex]

Ah yes thats right dodge just lets you dodge melee and ranged at the same time of course

[Glyph]

Dodge is good if you either pimp the hell out of it and make it your primary defense, or if you are a support (rather than combat-oriented) character with no close combat skills.

The character presented is tweaked for high Reaction, but the dodge is not really needed, except for ranged defense, since this is a blade-wielding build with Arnis De Mano.  Gymnastics would be a better skill for this character, because it can be pumped sky-high much easier.  The natural athlete quality, while perhaps still overpriced, is much better than aptitude, because it gives you a flat out skill bonus to gymnastics and running.  Synthcardium gives a relatively cheap athletics boost, with Neo-EPO and enhanced articulation stacking with it.

I would recommend dropping the bone density augmentation, and spending the 40,000 on synthcardium: 3 and an extra reflex recorder, this one for blades.  I would also think about swapping aptitude for the natural athlete quality, and taking only a base 4 skill for gymnastics, putting the 6 in blades instead.  Your gymnastics would be 4(6), with an additional +3 dice from the synthcardium, so ranged full defense would actually be better than your current setup.  Your melee defense would also be better, since using full defense would double the modified skill of 7.  You wouldn't have to spend those 8 BP raising a skill from 6 to 7, so you could shore up other skills.  Actually, I would probably contemplate ditching natural athlete in favor of ambidexterity and another level of Arnis De Mano - 8 dice to add to your dice pool for full defense is plenty.

[emsquared]

Thanks for the input, guys!

Good explanations and good advice, the Gymnastics defense thing had confused me for awhile now.  If I went with a SURGEd character (which I missed in my original concept build), 12 REA sounds pretty groovy (not to mention the increased speed)... but is it really worth all the resource investment for an attribute that doesn't have any of my skills linked to it?

It doesn't seem like I've seen or heard of that many characters who focus so heavily on reaction which makes me think it doesn't play out that well...

[Exodus]

I would find something other than lost loved one. Lost Loved One is for characters haunted by the unexplained disappearance of someone dear to them. If the character saw their Sensei killed right in front of them I'd veto Lost Loved. A small nitpick, but I felt the need to bring it up.

[emsquared]

I would find something other than lost loved one. Lost Loved One is for characters haunted by the unexplained disappearance of someone dear to them. If the character saw their Sensei killed right in front of them I'd veto Lost Loved. A small nitpick, but I felt the need to bring it up.

That's true, it does say disappearance, however he doesn't know why his sensei was killed, or the story could work the same if they just came and took his sensei for that matter (maybe even better if he came to Seattle on a lead trying to find him...) ... at any rate I think the mechanical detriment of the quality could still apply, dead or not, especially as it's meant to tie in with the Vendetta.

[UmaroVI]

Reaction is worth it because Initiative is so good. SR combat is very weighted towards the attacker, so whoever shoots first has a huge advantage.