[All4BigGuns]

Increase <Attribute> is chosen for a particular attribute when you learn the spell, so I'd probably  suggest finding some other spell to take that slot unless you wanna use it to buff up one of your drain stats (though you'd take a penalty to casting for a while doing so because of sustaining). Going with a Logic of 5 instead of 6 would save you 25 build points--natural maximum is rarely worth the cost. Though your Willpower is good given your metatype (though I'm not fond of Dwarves myself, but I have an aversion to playing "shorties".

Might be a good idea to drop Etiquette down to a 1 and put those points into making First Aid a 4 and the rest into Perception. With your Counterspelling and Spellcasting specializations, I'd probably drop those, but I have a personal preference for keeping dice pools on those simple (meaning not situational by spell type). This would allow Perception to go the rest of the way to 4.

If you take my advice and reduce Logic to 5 (only losing 1 die off of drain resist, big whoop), you could put those 25 BP into having PIstols (Semi-Automatics) 4(6) for "oh shyte" situations, and get Pilot Groundcraft (Wheeled) 1(3). This would leave 1 point floating which could be used for boosting the Loyalty or Connection on your contact.

[Caradoc]

In addition to All4BigGun's suggestions, you don't necessarily have to take any specializations yet. It costs you 2 BPs for each specialization and will cost you 2 Karma in-game anyway no matter what level the skill is. Collect those points and boost 1 or more of your skills a bit higher to take advantage of the 4 BPs per skill level at chargen.

You might have changed you mind about what specializations you want by then as well.

[ATraveller]

Increase <Attribute> is chosen for a particular attribute when you learn the spell, so I'd probably  suggest finding some other spell to take that slot unless you wanna use it to buff up one of your drain stats

My idea was to keep up a sustained int F:3, thereby buffing both init, perception and assension with+1-3, depending on the magical background. I have the focus for it.

As for pistol skill, then I have the money to buy a knowsoft - what's the deal with them btw, they seem way too cheap considering what I get out of them, and no one seems to use them? I'm missing something there.

"Going with a Logic of 5 instead of 6 would save you 25 build points--natural maximum is rarely worth the cost. Though your Willpower is good given your metatype (though I'm not fond of Dwarves myself, but I have an aversion to playing "shorties"."

I'll have to look into that

[Might be a good idea to drop Etiquette down to a 1 and put those points into making First Aid a 4 and the rest into Perception.

Those points come from a knowsoft. Wouldn 't that mean dumping what I already have in FA?

[UmaroVI]

Skillsoft prices got jacked up in SR4A from SR4. They're now 10k nuyen per rating.

[All4BigGuns]

Your Intuition is high enough that a Force 3 Sustaining Focus wouldn't be enough for a spell high enough Force to actually increase your Intuition (minimum Force equal to attribute value--Force 5 in this instance).

As to skill softs, you don't have skillwires, so you can't use them, plus they are far to expensive to be worth anything. See Umaro's notation in the post above.

[Unahim]

Can always get pirated skillsofts though, right?

[All4BigGuns]

Can always get pirated skillsofts though, right?

Then you still run into the problem of needing skillwires to run them.

[ATraveller]

Hmmm, as far as I can tell from the book, you just need a "direct neural link (either a sim module or datajack)" (p. 330), and the price for a knowsoft is "rating x 2000" table (p. 331). In other words, I can go from 1 to 6 etiquette dices for 1.6 built points (aka. I wont have to sit in the car every time the group goes in to talk with Mr. Johnson ... ).

Ah, I see my error now - must learn to read ALL the words, and not assume

On a different note, then I'm playing around with your suggestion reg. lowering my logic, but for some reason, I only get 19 pts back, and I can't figure out why. I'm getting a tad frusterated with Chummer, but there's probably something I'm overlooking. Nose, grindstone, here we go ...

[All4BigGuns]

Hmmm, as far as I can tell from the book, you just need a "direct neural link (either a sim module or datajack)" (p. 330), and the price for a knowsoft is "rating x 2000" table (p. 331). In other words, I can go from 1 to 6 etiquette dices for 1.6 built points (aka. I wont have to sit in the car every time the group goes in to talk with Mr. Johnson ... ).

On a different note, then I'm playing around with your suggestion reg. lowering my logic, but for some reason, I only get 19 pts back, and I can't figure out why. I'm getting a tad frusterated with Chummer, but there's probably something I'm overlooking. Nose, grindstone, here we go ...

You do realize that a Knowsoft is for Knowledge skills right? It would be Active soft for the stuff you have.

As such:

Activesofts: Activesofts replicate skills that require physical activity,
including all Combat, Physical, Social, Technical, and Vehicle
skills (but not Magic or Resonance skills). Recording and programming
physical skills is more difficult, so Activesofts are limited in rating.
Activesofts must be accessed with a skillwire system (p. 342); the rating
of the activesoft is limited by the skillwire system’s rating.

Knowsoft: Knowsofts replicate Knowledge skills, actively overwriting
the user’s knowledge with their own data. Knowsofts must be
accessed with a direct neural link (either a sim module or datajack).

Linguasoft: Linguasofts replicate language skills, allowing the
user to speak a foreign language as fluently as her native language.
Linguasofts may also be used as real-time translation programs.
Linguasofts must be accessed with a direct neural link (either a sim
module or datajack).

Activesofts (Rating 1–4)  8 Rating x 10,000
Knowsofts (Ratings 1–5) 4 Rating x 2,000
Linguasofts (Rating 1–5) 2 Rating x 500

[Lotofsnow]

Hmmm, as far as I can tell from the book, you just need a "direct neural link (either a sim module or datajack)" (p. 330), and the price for a knowsoft is "rating x 2000" table (p. 331). In other words, I can go from 1 to 6 etiquette dices for 1.6 built points (aka. I wont have to sit in the car every time the group goes in to talk with Mr. Johnson ... ).

Ah, I see my error now - must learn to read ALL the words, and not assume

On a different note, then I'm playing around with your suggestion reg. lowering my logic, but for some reason, I only get 19 pts back, and I can't figure out why. I'm getting a tad frusterated with Chummer, but there's probably something I'm overlooking. Nose, grindstone, here we go ...

Check your knowledge skills. You get free points for knowledge from having a high logic/intuition. By lowering your Logic, it probably  isn't removing those points you spent.

[Redmercury]

always have a gun. Even if you're a mage and have tons of spells to blast your foes to oblivion you will run into situations where you would be better off capping your prey. Say you're on the move with your group making an escape, taking out corpsec as you go. You use your initiative pass to drop a couple of them unconscious, but since you don't have time to erase your astral signature you're leaving behind a nice "thumbprint". (well it's not really the same, but they can still track you with it if they want to.) This is just me, but I'm super paranoid about leaving my astral signature around.

Another thing is that if you're the only guy on the team without a gun, you may run into some corpsec that's been trained to identify a mage through things such as lack of guns. You've heard the term geek the caster?

[ATraveller]

Many cheers for all the input, I think you folks have kept me from looking like an utter fool at the table

Here's a hopefully final version - biggest changes is that a couple of specializations have been dropped, logic lowered and pistols added, as suggested.

Again - many, many thanks for the continued input and patience!

== Info ==
Street Name: Red Samuels
Name: Frank Samuels
Movement: 8/20, Swim: 4
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 2
Public Awareness: 0
Dwarf
Composure: 7
Judge Intentions: 6
Lift/Carry: 8 (45 kg/30 kg)
Memory: 11
Nuyen: 0

== Attributes ==
BOD: 5
AGI: 2
REA: 2
STR: 3
CHA: 1
INT: 5
LOG: 5
WIL: 6
EDG: 2
MAG: 5

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   6
Initiative:                7
IP:                        1
Astral Initiative:         10
Astral IP:                 3
Matrix Initiative:         9
Matrix IP:                 2
Physical Damage Track:     11
Stun Damage Track:         11

== Active Skills ==
Assensing                  : 2                      Pool: 7
Counterspelling            : 4                      Pool: 9
First Aid                  : 4                      Pool: 9
Perception                 : 1                      Pool: 6
Pistols                    : 3                      Pool: 7
Spellcasting               : 6 [Combat]             Pool: 13 (15)

== Knowledge Skills ==
Cantonese                  : 3                      Pool: 8
Combat Tactics             : 5                      Pool: 10
English                    : N                      Pool: 0
Italian                    : 3                      Pool: 8
Japanese                   : 3                      Pool: 8
Magic Traditions           : 4                      Pool: 9
Magical Threats            : 5 [Toxic Magic]        Pool: 10 (12)
News                       : 2                      Pool: 7

== Contacts ==
Bluebird (6, 1)

== Qualities ==
Addiction (Mild) (Psyche)
Allergy (Uncommon, Mild) (Gold)
Focused Concentration (Rating 2)
Magician
Sensitive System
SINner (Criminal) (Frankie (Red) Samuels)
Thermographic Vision

== Spells ==
(Tradition: Hermetic, Resist Drain with WIL + LOG (13))
Armor                      DV: (F÷2)+3
Detect Enemies, Extended   DV: (F÷2)+3
Detox (Limited)            DV: (Toxin DV)-4
Flamethrower (Limited)     DV: (F÷2)+3
Heal (Limited)             DV: (Damage Value)-2
Increase Reflexes (Limited) DV: (F÷2)+2
Levitate                   DV: (F÷2)+1
Manabolt                   DV: (F÷2)
Stunball (Limited)         DV: (F÷2)+1
Stunbolt (Limited)         DV: (F÷2)-1

== Lifestyles ==
Middle  1 months

== Armor ==
Armor Clothing            4/0
Armor Jacket              8/6
Helmet                    1/2

== Weapons ==
Ares Predator IV
   +Quick-Draw Holster
   +Silencer
   +Spare Clips
   +Smartgun System
   DV: 5P   AP: -1   RC: 0
Unarmed Attack
   DV: 2S   AP: -   RC: 0

== Commlink ==
Hermes Ikon (4, 3, 6, 3)
   +Simrig
   +Sim Module (Cold)
   +Subvocal Microphone
   +Biomonitor
   +Custom Commlink OS [Firewall 6, System 3]

== Gear ==
Ammo: Regular Ammo (Heavy Pistols) x100
Certified Credstick, Ebony Rating 1
Combat Fetish
Cram x4
Earbuds Rating 3
   +Audio Enhancement Rating 3
   +Spatial Recognizer
   +Select Sound Filter Rating 3
Fake SIN (Logan Williams) Rating 4
   +Fake License (Combat Fetish) Rating 4
   +Fake License (Power Focus) Rating 4
   +Fake License (Sustaining Focus (Health)) Rating 4
   +Fake License (Sustaining Focus (Manipulation)) Rating 4
   +Fake License (Ares Predator IV) Rating 4
Goggles Rating 5
   +Flare Compensation
   +Image Link
   +Ultrasound
   +Vision Enhancement Rating 3
   +Smartlink
Healing Fetish
Kamikaze x3
Medkit Rating 6
Nitro x4
Novacoke x7
Power Focus (bonded) Rating 2
Psyche x10
Stimulant Patch Rating 4 x5
Sustaining Focus (Health) (bonded) Rating 3
Sustaining Focus (Manipulation) (bonded) Rating 3
Trauma Patch x2

[Redmercury]

Looking good. If there's another spell that you want to pick up you could drop stunball. Stunbolt has such low drain that you can use it to multicast already without much trouble, unless you expect to be running up against groups of 10 or more enemies. In that case you're better off sneaking around them with a spell like silence or invisibility anyway. Of course this is a combat mage by name, so if you'd rather be going full agro all the power to you.