[Nothrog]

Me and my friends have played all kinds of RPGs and SR since 1st but we are starting up a new SR and it will
be with 4th ( last time we kept 3rd even after 4th came out ). I have no need to crank out 30 dice its a rpg not hack
and shoot. I do however want to make my toon capable so I am looking for advice as I don't know all the little rules
and hidden cookies in all the books.

So the toon is going to be a mystic adept martial arts possession face guy ..... I am basing him on Derrick and Hansel from Zoolander ..... He is a male model who is under the delusion that he is a trained assassin. His
magical awakening is based on a belief in all kinds of spirits inhabiting rocks and trees and ect ... silly mysticism and general wackiness.

Possession: 
  I figured that as an elf with max 9 augmented stats a 4 ( 5 in agi ) + level 5 spirit possession = caped stats
  possession gives me astral perception
  I can use possession and task spirits to posses cars and drive them
  I can have a spirit posses my katana making it duel nature and can hit astral things also elemental aura to up   
  its dmg
  channeling and invoking are my first 2 meta magic abilities

Adept powers:
  commanding voice - very fun for RP
  Linguistics - combined with the positive quality linguistics = 3 in every lang .... also fun
  concentration - cheap sustaining foci with no max spell value
  attribute boost - incase I go where the spitit can not
  counter strike - um cause its good
  killing hands - maybe ?
  imp ability and combat sense - dice pool boost
  imp init - possible but looks like most go for bioware init
Spells:
  No combat spells
  Healing / increase willpower / Levitate / combat sense /

What do I need to make my Kung-Fu strong
Any advice on how to make use of the martial arts stuff ( friend has book I have not red it yet ) ?
Spells that would work well ?
pos qualities ?
Anything at all .....?

[Thrass]

possession gives you astral vision? need to note that down for my character... but yes it seems so...


Linguistics - combined with the positive quality linguistics = 3 in every lang .... also fun
- actually I think no it dosn't I used to think so too but you can only augment what you have... at skill rating 2 you get 3 at skill rating 4 you get 6 because you can only ever augment to 1.5 times (rounded down) your rating

No combat spells:
get stunbolt or Stunbal... seriously... if you ever need to fight Spirits at range (because they stunbolt you or smth like it) you want to fight back!
(if you go Voodoo and get spirit of man you need to consider spells to give him too, where again mana spells are best because he can't materialize)

killing hands... with a katana based character? go either melee or unnarmed (you can go unnarmed with densi plast gloves if you only want the katana for spirit bashing and otherwise want to go unnarmed)

imp init is imho okay if you go way of the ways or way of the warrior and geas it ... then you get 4 ini passes for 2 points... but if you want to be a mage for for the spell...

concentration: this does not work as you describe it I hope you meant smth that is true and just summarized really badly

if you want to go possession unnarmed combat look for the elemental Aura spell and weigh it against killing hands...

improve willpower needs to be cast at quite a high rank (if you want willpower 9 you need to cast it at rank 9) make sure you can compensate for physical drain!

look at the metamagic adept centering... you can ignore an amount of negative penalties on physical actions(unnarmed combat for example) of up to your initiation grade...
means every 2 initation grades you ignore 1 sustained spell of penalties, or visual modifiers, or damage box modifiers...

[Nothrog]

Posseson makes you duel natured, duel natured means you can see astral and interact with astral objects so you can see and touch and therefore fight astral beings.

Linguistics says " modifies the rating of any language skill the character possesses by + 2 " every other bio, cyber, adept power or quality says adds dice when using the skill. The 1.5 rule talks about bonus dice giving you your modified skill rating not direct increases to the skill so it dose not apply. The other thing this means is though you would get the 3 skill if you wanted to raise it you would raise it from 3 to 4 not 1 to 2 with a + 2 bonus. 

meant Heightened concentration adept power - I do need to look at it again as I don't remember how long it lasts.

Imp attribute spells need a force equal to the current augmented attribute not the final attribute value.

Weapons and unarmed is more for flavor and style then maximizing 1 ability

What geas would you suggest for Imp init ?

I am thinking about the mana spell but think I like the limitation, I can always pick that up later also.

[RythmnSylver]

Yanno I'm Not Entirely certain that would work.. The self Possession thing... Yes you become dual natured but that is only because when the spirit possesses you it bonds to your aura, thus your become target-able via astral sight and any damage to the spirit from the Astral (really the only way to truly damage spirits) is sent into you as well... I don't think when you get possessed you automatically get your spirit's eyes.... in the Book it says a Magician becomes dual-natured when they use their Astral perception, Not they are Dual Natured thus can see in the Astral..

Dual Natured Creatures Like the Naga and Pixies pretty much see the Astral world like Humans see AR it kinda, They also don't get the -2 dice only because they can't turn it off..

[UmaroVI]

Being dual-natured is what causes manifested or possessing spirits to have astral perception. See SR4A 294.

[RythmnSylver]

Yes the SPIRIT has astral perception.. but doesn't nessecaraly mean the Elf being Possessed has access to the sight now does it?

[UmaroVI]

Possession doesn't work like that. While possessed, the spirit and vessel are a single being. See Street Magic 102.

[JustADude]

get stunbolt or Stunbal... seriously... if you ever need to fight Spirits at range (because they stunbolt you or smth like it) you want to fight back!
(if you go Voodoo and get spirit of man you need to consider spells to give him too, where again mana spells are best because he can't materialize)

Actually, the Slay (Spirits) spell is even better for that particular usage. Who needs Banishing?

[RythmnSylver]

So let me get this straight.. Is he a Free Spirit Character who became a Flesh Form or a Elf with a Possession Tradition who uses himself as a Vessel?

[Nothrog]

Efl mystic adept with possesion tradition and chaneling

[Thrass]

I like meditate/prey 1 hour every day(24hours) as a geas.
- It is an example geas out of the books, so the mechanics are quite clear and you should easily be able to not break it.
- If you go for a Voodoo tradition you can easily incorporate it into your roleplaying concept and prey to your favourite Loah (Lwah, ... insert favorite spelling here)

Nothrig is probably right about linguistics, I rest my case there.

If I understand UmaroIV correctly the Astral Vision works.

I myself like the concept very much ut usualy go for physical stats of 3 and a spirit of force 6 so I get more Mental Attributes.
(or cap the physical attributes 6 below the augmented cap for the chosen metatype(elf,pixie))

[Unahim]

The problem with force 6 spirits is that, at magic 5, you'll be getting phys drain for summoning and binding. Lots of it. And most people prefer starting with mag 5, so...

[Thrass]

well, spelling mistakes aside I said: "I usually [...]"
so... he needs to make sure he plays the char like he wants to