[Delmond]

All in the title and karma build btw

[All4BigGuns]

Is this for an NPC villain? As far as I am aware, Insect and Toxic Shamans are both entirely in that realm and unsuitable for PC usage.

[Delmond]

Nope dm is allowing me to do it.

[All4BigGuns]

Well, as far as I know you'd just build it like any other mage (spellcasting and conjuring as the high skills with drain stats as high stats) only with an Insect spirit mentor. Probably a good idea to have some Con so that you can keep people from knowing your tradition though. Far as I know, Bug Shamans are pretty much KoS.

[Delmond]

I've never played a Mage before so I have no ideas how to build one lol

[JustADude]

I've never played a Mage before so I have no ideas how to build one lol

Oh dear sweet mother of mercy... is your DM crazy? Your first Magician and he's letting you play an Insect Shaman?!

That's as bad as handing someone an AI who's never played a Hacker before.

[Medicineman]

That's as bad as handing someone an AI who's never played a Hacker before.
its worse, way worse
its more like handing a Cyberzombie to someone who's never played a Streetsam before and who doesn't want  & knows how to fight

Hough!
Medicineman

[DaveDaveDaave]

A nice big helmet so when you cast if you have any shamanic mask its not immediately visable and the party don`t shoot you in the face or sell you. Buy a summoning/ binding focus because any one of your little minions that can`t pass as human is dead weight the instant its seen. Any survivors/witnesses will bring down the wrath of Ares on you. Run a strip club/office temp agency/door security/bodyguard agency/nightclub so reasonably healthy bodies come to you instead of snatching them off the streets and most importantly when they are inhabited they have a reason to be seen together. If possible set up your Hive on an area of mid to high background count, someplace with a strong emotional overlay to make it harder to assense.

Here`s web chat about one of the main Ant Shamans in my campaign. Please note NPC  web chat is full of basically badly wrong info as characters dont get to read the rule book.

Rochester.

English accent. Dresses like a High Victorian Archmage from the Trids or perhaps how they would dress if they had an innate sense of style that makes most elves look like a cheap bunraku puppet. A perpetual sense of.. stillness. Nothing is hurried and nothing is worth raising his voice over. Steady eye contact and a smile for everyone. A feeling that he wants to cut a deal and all parties to be happy so that further dealing can be on an equally pleasant footing. Usually that smile is warm but sometimes, not often that smile looks more like a rictus grin if the deal goes south. Well heeled and professional , the few that have run with him have found his skills and attitude solid. There is only one problem. No one knows who the frag he is. Nobody, no rumours, no he looks like a person I saw in the distance while I was talking to yanno the tall guy, him with the knives, no tall tales, no rap sheet, no referrals from Fixernet. Nada. he appears on the scene some 3 or 4 months ago running magical support for Dead Black and since then has made himself right at home. Granted in our line of business people don’t talk about their past much but this guy look as if he’s stepped out of the screen of a Karl Kombatmage feature length episode and you just know Karls in for a Very Bad Season with a new recurring bad guy.

Halo Jones> Anyone know where he gets his magical supplies from? I’ve been trying to work out his tradition since I ran with him. Rochester when working usually wears Urban Explorer with full camo suite and clamshell helm linked to one of those very fancy Aztecha Magetech targeting gloves. I thought he was tech savvy but now I`m thinking he`s hiding a Shamanic Mask when he casts.

Sortilegius> Probably something Strange and European they have Totems like Oak, Drake and the Horned Man over there. Stuff people believed in Before magic was slapping them in the face. If he’s English he has many good reasons for leaving as the Old Country is a harsh place to Practise if you  don`t want to tow the party line.

Plan 9> Anyone seen him cut himself or others?

Halo Jones> No.

Plan 9> Frag there goes my easy plan for an early retirement.

Adversary> Sheesh, guys knock it off. He probably follows a left hand path and he’s just being discreet. A lot of dangerous ignorance is spread about such Traditions as the Aztec faith, The Old Ways and Spider. Hell I know a Sith, who once you understand where she’s casting from is more straightforward and honest than some Hermetics I’ve worked with.

Halo Jones>  Hold On a damn moment you say Insect Shamans are ok to work with?

Overwatch> Great Spirit but you are dumb. Spiders are NOT insects.

Halo Jones> Who invited the gun bunny to the mage forums?

Overwatch> I’ve worked with people like Lamplighter the Rigger and any number of military medics who because society doesn’t understand  their path end up healing people like me. Damn right I`m going to study up and make their jobs easier. I run overwatch on ritual teams as well these days as well as drooling hackers. Anyway why are you calling me out when Sortilegius isn`t even awakened?

Halo Jones>Hmm, thanks for putting me right. That makes sense but what the hell do you do when spirits come calling? Wait, Sortilegius isn’t a mage?

Sortilegius> Nope, I chaffer.

Halo Jones> Feck I have seen you with two Large Spirits of Man. Wow the 6th world just got stranger I`m going back to school. I thought you were a mystic adept attuned to a nexus.

Overwatch> In answer to your question. When spirits come calling the mage I’m with would try to banish it or bolt it. Failing that fully auto shotgun fire and putting myself between it and the person I’m running Overwatch for. Don`t for the love of Oprah try stick n shock. It’s expensive they carry Rfids and spirits don`t have a central nervous system. Now if its possessing someone that’s different. I`m tempted to try beanbags. I don`t have to kill it or disrupt it I just need to get the person I`m watching out of harms way.

Argh I can`t find where I`d saved his hive... damn.

[DaveDaveDaave]

Got it, the Hive

On a small wooden plaque almost unnoticed next to the specials chalk board and magnetic letters menu board is;

Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree

The Chestnut Tree cafe

It wasn`t there last week. it was the empty burnt out shell of a mchughs on the corner.
full of used needles, condoms, derms and btl cases. Now people stop and look as they pass the window as inside is decor and
furniture salvaged from gods knows where to recreate an american diner from some idealised america that never was. lots of chromium
and sweeping countertops. a bubbling milk steamer and coffee machine. glass jars full of candy. racks where people have formatted
the screamsheets and printed them as newspapers. A credstick reader is the only nod to modern convenience and even that needs to be
slotted, No proximity readers. You would think the local gangers would have ripped this place apart for kicks but someone firebombed
their warehouse last week and the survivors are looking ...haunted.. and running scared. armoured delivery trucks roll up daily with
produce and drums of oil for the generator in the basement. it's clean and welcoming and by its very nature, alien to modern peoples
sensibilities. At least to the sensibilities of this rapidly declining blue collar neighborhood. Still tho the smells and the sizes
of the portions and the cheap prices of the muffins  drew in the local orcs and trolls who appreciate the novelty of being treated as
welcome and valued clientelle. the 1950s style open booths are just the right proportions for a troll to sprawl in. the staff are perky
looking late teens with aprons and name badges. since one local btl dealer tried dealing in the toilets and his remains, chopped into
sections were found in the bins behind the cafe it's been a quiet restful place to grab a light snack or a muffin the size of a dwarfs
head. Go gangers have tried drive bys but after the 3rd or 4th time yahoos emptied a clip of ammo into the main picture window the diners
rarely raise their heads to check. it would appear from the metal richochet noises that the front of the cafe is made of something sturdy.
certainly something sturdy enough to have stopped the stolen car dead that tried to ram through it last week. A local wizkid gang the
Deathstars have adopted the place as a hangout despite the unpleasant background count that impedes magic. rochester is usually found
here often with deadblack either talking grandiouse schemes for the future or with a club sandwich. Gamblers from sals or the local
streetpeople pop in for a bite if they have the money. Credit or scrip, even sometimes barter it's all good here.

Welcome to the chestnut tree cafe, can i take your order? Interested in todays special? Got a craving for something not on the menu then
just ask us and we will see if we can get it in for you real soon. Our regulars are like family here.

[Kot]

One suggestion: Don't.

[Caradoc]

You won't be able to summon Insect spirits to Inhabit opponents during combat. You can only summon non-materialized Insect spirits and I don't think they can take material form without a host so they can't do anything in the physical plane. Any opposing mage who assenses it will almostly certainly realize what you are and you (and any of your team that stupidly decides to stay with you) will become a target from that day on unless you intend to kill each and every witness that finds out what you are.

Preparing a host (living vessel) will require several days, a secure place and some money. Even then the Inhabitation may only be partly successful and you don't want a hybrid insect spirit following you around.

[JustADude]

A Toxic or other Twisted might just be a better option, if you want something from the "darker" end of the spectrum. There's not nearly as much heat out on them, and you can still play a "Special Evil Snowflake" type without being turned into a thin red smear the first time someone figures out what you are.

If your GM is already cool with Insect Shamans, I'd recommend a Toxic of the Havoc school. They're described as working within society to bring down specific targets, with an overarching goal of bringing down the social pyramid and giving everyone a "new start" in the chaos that follows. Given the overall attitudes of some "normal" Shadowrunners, they might very well fit right in in the right table... you know, given that this is a social stratum that isn't in love with the social order to begin with and sees shooting people in the face for money, then feeding corpses to cannibalistic humanoids, as acceptable.

I, personally, could easily see a PC playing one whose particular brand of insanity is compatible with them "playing nice" with a crew of outlaws and criminals. You'd just want to take a bunch of Negative Qualities to account for everything... something like a Common Radical Prejudice against "The Man," Bad Rep and Distinctive Style.

There's more I'd throw in, but you can only have 35 BP of Neg.Qualities.

[Tsuzua]

Playing a regular mage might be cool enough if you're never played a mage before.  However, I'm working on a guide on being an insect shaman.  Quick question, how much karma are you using to build your character?  750 or 1000?

For some basics of magery, I suggest checking out Umaro's archetypes at the top of this forum.  They're for regular mages, but when it comes to casting, insect shamans and mages work the same.