[AJBuwalda]

Name    : Eric Masterson
Nickname: Smooth E.
Age     : 26

Attributes (190 BP)
-------------------
BOD: 3
AGI: 4
REA: 3(5)
STR: 3
CHA: 5
INT: 3
LOG: 4
WIL: 2

Edge       : 2
Magic      : 0
Essence    : 3.6
Initiative : 6( 8 )
Init. Pass : 1(3)

Qualities (-10 BP)
----------------
Martial Arts - Muay Thai (10)
+2 DV unarmed combat attacks
Amnesia (-10)
Spirit Bane - Spirit of Fire (-10)

Skills (190 BP)
---------------
Automatics              : 3
Dodge                   : 3
Specialization          : Ranged Combat
Electronics Skill Group : 4
Influence Skill Group   : 4
Locksmith               : 3
Perception              : 2
Pistols                 : 3
Pilot Ground Craft      : 1
Stealth  Skill Group    : 3
Unarmed Combat          : 4
Specialization          : Muay Thai

Knowledge Skills
----------------
Martial Arts      : 3
Philosophy        : 3
Modern History    : 3
Goblin Death Metal: 4

Language Skills
---------------
English : 4
Japanese: 3
Chinese : 3
German  : 3
Arabic  : 3
Spanish : 3

Gear (21 BP)
------------
Colt M23 (750)
w. Ammo Drum (1.000), Gas Vent 3 (400), Shock Pad (50), Foregrip (50)
two Drums of Regular rounds (400)
Colt Government 2066 (500)
10 clips of regular rounds (240)
w. Easy Breakdown (500), Laser Sight (100), Sound Surpressor (100)
Hyundai Shin-Hyung (17.000)
Mortimer of London Greatcoat (3.000)
Auctioneer Business Suit (1.500)
Fake SIN R3 (3.000)
CMT Clip (300)
w. Redcap Nix (400)
Autopicker R4 (800)
Maglock Passkey R4 (8.000)
Sequencer R4 (800)
Alphaware Wire Reflexes (64.000)
Month of Low Livestyle (2.000)

Y 103.790

Contacts (13)
-------------
Arms Dealer (2/2)
Fixer (3/2)
Mr. Johnson (2/2)

[Doc Chaos]

No Dodge skill?
APDS ammo has Availability 16.
Deltaware Wired Reflexes II would cost 320.000 Nuyen

[AJBuwalda]

Crap, two mistakes. Thanks mate!

[Critias]

As far as a "will this character work" thing, well, really it comes down to how lethal, nasty, and min/maxed a game table your GM is operating.  In some games, folks would have you believe nothing but the most monstrously rules abusive, loophole humping, 20+ combat die pool wielding, 25+ damage soaking, 3 initiative pass having, blah blah blah super pimped out monstrosity can possibly survive for long.

In some games, a guy with a die pool of 10-14 is doing just fine, and be better than the vast majority of NPC combatants out there.  So that "will this character work" thing really does come down to a game by game call.

Personally, I'd be concerned about your guy being really, really, low on defense.  He hasn't got much of a soak to work with, but his Reaction (especially without a Dodge or Gymnastics skill for ranged combat) leaves a lot to be desired, too.  I'm a big fan of "generalist" characters that are good at more than one thing, but that's gonna be a problem as soon as the lead starts flying.  I don't see any other really glaring holes, creation-wise.  You've got a little social stuff, a little combat stuff, a little stealth stuff, a little whatever, and, hey, I bet he'd be fun to play as long as he doesn't get shot in the face right off the bat.

Some GMs cringe at Amnesia, because some players abuse it as a way to get out of making a background and to get points for it.  Personally, my favorite character ever had Amnesia and it turned into a series of awesome stories that I dragged whole teams of other players along for, everything was awesome, and it turned out great in the end -- because I knew what I was signing up for, I didn't complain when it looked like the GM was "screwing" me with it, and I had great GMs that made the whole thing fun.  Just be aware that some GMs hate it.  It might get ignored (which leaves your character feeling shallow and unfulfilling) or it might get ramped up by a mean GM who makes you an escaped STD-riddled gay Yakuza sex doll, or something (which isn't exactly the Jason Bourne awesomeness you had in mind, or whatever).  Be aware.

[AJBuwalda]

Good points, mate. How the hell do you get 20+ D6s on a skill anyway? I wanted to make a corporate spy kind of character. Since, heavy body armor is out of the question (con your way into a meeting wearing SWAT gear... Ain't going to happen) so I have to fiddle with dodge and reaction. Amnesia I chose because I like the GM to throw crazy situations at me and if I do end up being a escaped STD-riddled gay Yakuza sex doll than that is a good reason to get some revenge!

[Nomad Zophiel]

Good points, mate. How the hell do you get 20+ D6s on a skill anyway?

Depends on what you want 20+ d6 on. Short answer is high attribute, high skill, max out your technological (non-implanted) bonuses, Qualities, metatype, SURGE then add 'ware or magic to taste.

[John Schmidt]

From my point of view (and this is just me)...if you look at a character as nothing more than numbers...they won't work. I will take a creative player with an average (or even below average) character over a maxed out character every single time.

I love it as a GM when that quiet player sitting at the end of the table smiles and interjects, "I take the syringe with the Lectron II Gel (electrically conductive gel) squirt it into the lock of the doorknob, put on my electrician gloves, pull out the insulated and waterproof box with the charged industrial capacitor and as Dr. Jorgensen is turning the doorknob apply said capacitor to the doorknob." That is a character that is going to survive and thrive in my games. Just because the game doesn't have stats for this stuff...doesn't mean that you should limit yourself to what the game presents to you.

This also highlights the main selling point of RPG's over video games, a player is not limited by the imagination of the game designer. That may not seem like a huge deal but to me it is more often than not the difference between watching curling on tv and playing a game of woodsball (paintball).  

[AJBuwalda]

Good points, mate. How the hell do you get 20+ D6s on a skill anyway?

Depends on what you want 20+ d6 on. Short answer is high attribute, high skill, max out your technological (non-implanted) bonuses, Qualities, metatype, SURGE then add 'ware or magic to taste.

Are you kidding me? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of RP? In my mind RPing is about finding solutions for problems with the limited resources at hand.

From my point of view (and this is just me)...if you look at a character as nothing more than numbers...they won't work. I will take a creative player with an average (or even below average) character over a maxed out character every single time.

I love it as a GM when that quiet player sitting at the end of the table smiles and interjects, "I take the syringe with the Lectron II Gel (electrically conductive gel) squirt it into the lock of the doorknob, put on my electrician gloves, pull out the insulated and waterproof box with the charged industrial capacitor and as Dr. Jorgensen is turning the doorknob apply said capacitor to the doorknob." That is a character that is going to survive and thrive in my games. Just because the game doesn't have stats for this stuff...doesn't mean that you should limit yourself to what the game presents to you.

This also highlights the main selling point of RPG's over video games, a player is not limited by the imagination of the game designer. That may not seem like a huge deal but to me it is more often than not the difference between watching curling on tv and playing a game of woodsball (paintball).  

Perfect example!

[John Schmidt]

Everyone has different play styles and I do not begrudge anyone their personal approach. My opinion is matching players and GM's in terms of their play styles is absolutely the crucial first step in achieving great game sessions. There are a fair number of players out there that truly enjoy figuring out the math and rules to min/max a character, I think it is something of a puzzle for them to solve.

My point is...that I believe a player can make a character work if they look at the character sheet as the starting point not the end. My personal preference is that a player comes up with a character concept and figures out why that character is the way that they are. I don't always agree with the conclusions that the players draw but that they actually thought it through is very important to me. It hopefully represents an emotional investment in that character...and if they care about that character that (hopefully) transfers to the game session.

[Usda Beph]

I have gamed for over 30 years. I have had the god characters, the Min/Max characters. I have played them all. One of the funnest characters I ever played was at a world wide D&D Underdark event. I arrived late so I got the Gnome cleric nobody wanted. He had average at best stats a light pick for a weapon (and -2 damage for strength). NOT my kind of character

Well as the adventure began I saw he had Chalk in his inventory. So I started to mark the walls so we knew where we where. Then I started marking the walls with Your mama jokes in Goblin. Then we found the temple. On the alter to Lolth I wrote "Eat At Joe's!" In Elven and I urinated in the unholy water basin!When I got webbed to the floor by the trap on the basin and my party was fighting the Drow, every time it was my turn I just giggled. I was webbed to the floor with my maleness in hand! I was definitely the most memerable "Bland" character those player will ever remember.

[Mystic]

One of the best characters I ran was a half-orc "bard" (actually a fighter trying to be a bard) named Throg. Unfortunately, for Throg, he had a 8 Charisma (and 20 strength) with no real perfomance skills and was constantly looking for "his mooze" (muse) which changed daily.  Only played him for one session, but the fact he took out three bar patrons with a wooden lute a la El Kabong from the old Quckdraw McGraw cartoons after they started heckling him (and a failed will save). 

I even remember his last words:

*Fellow party member* "So Throg, the lute and singing are out, what's next?"

*Pondering* "Throg tink....Throg try spoken wurd."

But...back on topic. 

[AJBuwalda]

And here I was thinking I was the only one with crazy antics! I had a Half-Orc Paladin with Bane. He always took skulls as trophies and attached them to his armor. Needless to say, Lawful Goodies take offense to that.

[Nomad Zophiel]

Good points, mate. How the hell do you get 20+ D6s on a skill anyway?

Depends on what you want 20+ d6 on. Short answer is high attribute, high skill, max out your technological (non-implanted) bonuses, Qualities, metatype, SURGE then add 'ware or magic to taste.

Are you kidding me? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of RP? In my mind RPing is about finding solutions for problems with the limited resources at hand.

You asked, I answered. Honestly, it depends on the game. If all of the players are making super-specialist characters and the GM plans for it, then only a super-specialist can succeed. Also keep in mind that if you sink a bunch of BP into making a character amazing at one thing, you're not going to be good at many other things.

I agree that creative play and depth of character are worth more than any stats because I enjoy playing a character more than I enjoy beating a target number of hits. However, the stats are there to back up that creativity. A low Logic ork with no scientific/technical skills should probably not be pulling the capacitor trick above. Yes its creative, but its not true to the character you've defined. On the other hand, someone who's not a hacker in real life but is playing a hacker character should be rewarded for clever use of technological double-speak even if its not necessarily accurate. He's doing his best to portray something the character would know that he doesn't. Otherwise you wind up with two sets of mental stats: one for the character that are used mostly for spot checks, spell resistance and calculating derived stats like Initiative and Knowledge Skills and another set based on the player coming up with clever ideas that may bear no relationship to the ones on the sheet.

[etherial]

Are you kidding me? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of RP? In my mind RPing is about finding solutions for problems with the limited resources at hand.

Yeah, it depends. My wife RPs to roll dice and kill Monsters. Finding solutions for problems is fine and dandy, as long as the Monster explodes into tiny bits.

[Codac]

The character seems fine to me and sounds fun to play. Just like everyone said its all about personal prefrence. For me allot of the fun in RPing isn't even the sitting down and rolling its creating characters. Not trying to make the best hyper-specilaized min/MAXed character possible just writing different characters coming up with fun concepts and making them or starting out with no concept at all and playing it by ear. I have teams of runners written, partly written, or just in my head. It all depends on what you like.