[dman971]

Hello All,

I am a brand new Shadowrun 5e player and am going to be playing in a campaign very soon.  I have the Core Rule Book, however I'm sure as most of you know, there's A LOT of stuff to read through.  A lot of the character creation factors are pretty confusing. 
I was wondering if anyone could help me create a character. 

I'm looking to create a Decker. Primarily technology based, no magic necessary.  I'm thinking someone like the "operator" in The Matrix.  Computers, decks, and all those gadgets at their disposal in order to help their team members. 



For race, I was thinking of going Elf.  Also, as I understand it, technology is really key for a Decker, so the $450,000 is a good starting point. Yes? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[Jack_Spade]

Puh, that is a pretty ambitious undertaking for a new player. Especially with a purely core rules build.

Here's my suggestion

Consider first, that you might want to be able to contribute outside the matrix too. Going priority A Resources will hamper the other parts of your build somewhat outside the matrix.
But step by step:

E Priority is Magic
D is the lowest you can go for race
B for skills is practically essential, as there are a lot of matrix skills you need.

I'd recommend going Resources C. That way you can have up to 160 000 Nuyen
A is for your Attributes - those are the most expensive part and you need maxed WIL, INT, LOG and ideally BOD too, with LOG at 6 and the rest at 5.

Hacking and Computer skill at 6 + Spec. Those are your bread and butter skills. Hardware, Cybercombat and Electronic Warfare should be also considered important, but they are used slightly less often (unless you want to dataspike, than Cybercombat becomes quite important). Software can be picked up with one or two points.

Use the skillgroup for the stealth group - it's universally useful if you need to accompany your chummers into dangerous territory.

For resources I'd suggest getting a Microtrónica Azteca 200 for 110.250 Nuyen. Add at least one datajack for noise reduction, all available cyberprogramms. Also a Transsys Avalon Commlink as your main means of protecting your slaved gear.
Finally also get an R4 Agent for 8000 - it can use teamwork checks to boost your skill checks.

Spend the rest of the money on a good fake SIN, a weapon, some body armor. and a lifestyle.

Qualities of note are  CODESLINGER for Hack on the Fly actions. Exceptional Attribute LOG or INT can also be worth it.

Add a few more datajacks with the remaining money + a Yamaha bike for basic transportation.

[JmOz01]

Another option for you is to go with the Resources A and love your bioware.

I would do the following: Attributes C, Skills B, Resources A, Race D, Magic E

Attributes +5 Intuition, +4 Logic, +2 Charisma, +2 Willpower, +2 Agility, +2 Body, +1 Strength, +1 Reaction (35 from Karma)

Pick up used Muscle Toner (3)-72k, Cerebral Booster (2)-63k, maybe a Synaptic Booster (1)-95k if you can afford it...grand total of 230K...For a Logic of 7, Agility 7, Reaction 3...putting you net about 80k above Wealth C and down 2 attributes...

Weapon skill
2 Baseline Agility for elf
+2 Attribute points
+3 Muscle Toner Used
6 Weapon Skill of choice
+2 Specialization
+2 Smart-link
+1 for Muscle Recorder
----
20 dice...your decker can shoot

[Marcus]

A single Cyberarm is also a good option so long as you plan to use Pistols. You can get a lot of effect out of one not  a lot resources
As to actual decking, there's fairly considerable amount of discussion in the forum. The Two accepted method is by a fairly expensive deck (200k+ish)
or a very cheap deck and then use a LOT of qualities to juggle one two good stats into the slots you need at any given moment.

[drakir]

Are you set on elf? I would recommend human (Edge is important for deckers). Maybe dwarf.

[FST_Gemstar]

I would also go the Resources A route, not for a top of the line deck, but for the 'ware.

An Attributes A elf is going to have lots of high stats across the board and get a nice baseline, and lets you funnel new income into 'ware down the road..... but sometimes it just fun to start with some bang/ware.

My preferred elf decker starter build: 
C/D Elf
D/C Attributes
E Mundane
B Skills
A Resources

I find that a bad matrix rolls can be generally more devastating than other kinds of rolls, so I prefer having a higher Edge decker if you can manage it. I prefer an Elf C over an Elf D for that reason, and for decking purposes going from Atts C to D on an elf isn't a huge issue. 

Here is a little example of a not really optimized but playable character. Only gear bought is a deck, karma spent: 10 on strength, nuyen left: 73k.   

[spoiler]
== Personal Data ==


== Priorities ==
Metatype: C,2
Attributes: D,1
Special: E,0
Skills: B,3
Resources: A,4

== Attributes ==
BOD: 3
AGI: 2 (5)
REA: 3 (4)
STR: 2
CHA: 3
INT: 5
LOG: 5 (7)
WIL: 3
EDG: 4

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   0.87
Initiative:                8 +2d6
Rigger Initiative:         8 +2d6
Astral Initiative:         
Matrix AR:                 8 +2d6
Matrix Cold:               4 + DP +3d6
Matrix Hot:                4 + DP +4d6
Physical Damage Track:     11
Stun Damage Track:         10

== Limits ==
Physical:                  4
Mental:                    10
Social:                    4
Astral:                    10

== Active Skills ==
Computer                 Base:  5          Pool: 13
Con (Fast Talk)          Base:  1          Pool:  4 (6)
Electronic Warfare       Base:  4          Pool: 12
Etiquette (Street)       Base:  1          Pool:  4 (6)
Hacking (Devices)        Base:  6          Pool: 14 (16)
Hardware                 Base:  5          Pool: 13
Perception (Visual)      Base:  6          Pool: 10 (12)
Pistols (Semi-Automatics) Base:  6          Pool: 11 (13)
Sneaking (Urban)         Base:  6          Pool: 11 (13)
Software                 Base:  5          Pool: 13

== Qualities ==
Low-Light Vision

== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Cerebral BoosterRating 2
Datajack
Mnemonic EnhancerRating 2
Muscle TonerRating 3
Obvious Full Arm (AGI 10, STR 3, Physical 5) (Left)
   + ArmorRating 2
   + Customized AgilityRating 7
   + Enhanced AgilityRating 3
Sleep Regulator
Smartlink
Wired ReflexesRating 1


== Commlink ==
Microtrónica Azteca 200 (ATT: 5, SLZ: 4, DP: 3, FWL: 2)
[/spoiler]

Character can be a good enough VR decker, with edge to spare to help succeed when it counts, and can still pull a sidearm/sneak around/get a social hit when they are not limp in VR.

Lots of karma left for Positive/Negative Qualities, extra knowledge/contacts,  some one rank skills, and/or some more nuyen.

Plenty of Nuyen left for nice starter gear, a car, deck programs (including an agent) and some more cheap 'ware if you like.

[JmOz01]

Looks ok.  If you want take a look at this one I did, it's a dwarf but might give you a different outlook

http://jawedel01.wixsite.com/kountry-gaming/copy-of-shadowrun-combat-mage

[Glyph]

If you go Resources: A, I did a PACK that gives you some comprehensive decker gear using the core book only.  And it would leave you 100,000 Nuyen remaining for other expenditures such as fake ID, lifestyles, etc.

[FancyDerek]

No Data Trails- your making tough on yourself.
You seem to want the Resource A...

Cyberdeck: Microtrónica Azteca 200 110.25k

Cerebral Booster: 2 Standard 63k
Mnemonic Enhancer: 2 Standard 18k
Muscle Toner [3] Used  72k
Wired Reflexes [1] Used 29.25k
Reaction Enhancers [3] Used 29.25k
Datajack Alpha 1250

That's 323k, leaving you a boatload for other things on Glyph's list.