[theKernel]

What do you guys think about being one? I've never played as anything outside of the core rules for metas. Any tips on making one?

[All4BigGuns]

What do you guys think about being one? I've never played as anything outside of the core rules for metas. Any tips on making one?

Weren't you in cabo_setek's On the Run game? Wyrmtongue was one, so ask Mirikon.

[theKernel]

OH YEA!

[rasmusnicolaj]

Well no arms so learn magic fingers 

Rasmus

[Unahim]

Can they wear armour by the way?

[Tsuzua]

Oddly enough, I've been helping a friend with a Naga mage lately so I've been giving this topic a lot of thought.

Naga's aren't that bad of a mage choice as sapient critters go.  They're no pixies, but they aren't centaurs either.  They get a decent amount of attribute boosts, and have above average charisma/willpower/reaction.  Thus you can grab Charisma 6 and Willpower 6 and get +2 dice to resist drain than a human mage.  You also get +2 body and enough strength.  You only have a 4(6) agility so you're never going to be that sneaky.  That combined with no hands, means you really want to rely on your spells.  You can grab Influence 1 (or intimidate) and roll 7 dice base which makes you a reasonably friendly/scary talking snake.

You should keep in mind that nagas are big, not Titanoboa big, but big.  As a 10 meter long snake, you've got 2 meters on this guy.  You could very well look like this drawing of a 10m Gigantophis.  Nagas are venomous so they might be thinner than the above snakes due to lack of muscles needed for constriction.

You can milk yourself once an hour and make a 800Y toxin.  That means you could easily make 80-240Y an hour which is pretty sweet for downtime work.  However, I expect most GMs won't let you do this so I wouldn't count on it.

Can they wear armour by the way?

As for naga armor, there's two ways to look at it.  One way is to follow the shadowtalk in Running Wild page 45 that says nagas can't wear armor.  The other is "I paid extra for this armor so it works somehow" which is the approach implied in Runner's Companion.  Personally I'm in the latter camp.

Large snakes move pretty smoothly (seen here and here) so you likely could armor the backs pretty easily or with a thin enough armor.  Armor plates with gecko tape along the back should be work.  Heck, you likely could make a little "cape" of ballistic fibers tied at the head and tail and that'll cover a large area.  So I could see modified armor vests or armor jackets working.  Second Skin or FFBA might be thin enough to protect the undersides without too much trouble.  Modified helmets should also work.  I wouldn't allow SecureTech PPP Shin Guards though.

[Unahim]

Yeah, just can't see them be viable without any kind of armour working for them.

[All4BigGuns]

Yeah, just can't see them be viable without any kind of armour working for them.

Armor spell.

[Unahim]

Eh, not entirely convinced, you'd need like 9 (or is it 7? Thay have an innate 2 armour, right?)hits on that spell to get up to the ballistic armour even a mage with body 3 and FFA has. Starting the day with physicald rain damage and a sustaining modifier doesn't seem very viable to me, especially since the Naga doesn't seem to have much making up for it.

[Orvich]

Keep in mind that you can also sell your emerald. It forms there magically but explicitly (IIRC) doesn't read as a 'magic gem', so people will buy them off you. I played a naga mage in a campaign, and my gm and I agreed that I wouldn't make NY off my venom or emerald, in exchange for the costs for getting things naga-adapted being negated.

That GM also allowed basic armor, but nothing like PPTech, which just wouldn't make sense. So I had a giant snakesock active explorer (or whatever) jumpsuit made for me, and outfitted it with anti-cold mods.

[Kat9]

D'awwww, a snake in a sock....so cuuuute.

[Caradoc]

Your GM is likely to restrict the amount of armour you wear especially if he rules that it will lower your movement rate. I doubt you'd be allowed to wear armor with a Chemical Seal which would make you effectively unprotected against most grenade gas attacks.

A Mage that can't wear much armor is likely to get slaughtered in a firefight. Any opponents that sees a Naga with a group of Shadowrunners will immediately think 'Mage!' and then follows the usual line...'Geek the mage!'

You might consider checking whether you can start with a designed manipulation spell similar to Critter Form namely Metahuman Form [Metahuman] so that you physically take on the characteristics of the chosen metahuman species and therefore can wear normal armor and have the use of hands, etc. With a sustaining focus you can keep that spell up without the -2 modifier as required. You will have to worry about any background count forcing you to drop the spell. You'd also have to choose a metahuman form that has a maximum difference of 2 Body from your Naga Body attribute.

[Unahim]

I think most people play the Naga because they want to be a fraggin huge sentient snake. Critter Form (human) somewhat makes it pointless.

[Caradoc]

Naga is fun in concept, but I keep thinking how much a target it is, and not just because of it's size!

Does Naga tastes like... chicken?

[Gothan]

It states under SoftWeave armor (War pg 160) that it was designed for nonstandard metasapients and metavariants. I would take this to mean you can upgrade standard armors to suit a naga.