[Dal Thrax]

Concept: A corporate born magician.  Her entire family was purged as a result of corporate infighting.  The kill order was lifted after she tracked the VP who ordered the purge to an oil platform off the coast of Newfoundland and exposed him as an insect shaman.  The resulting fight saw the platform blow up with large loss of life.  After that the Corp decided that they didn't want her dead on the other hand they didn't put her back on the company health insurance plan.  They blacklisted her as having been involved in an incident with an insect shaman.  Not good for the career of a shaman in a hermetic world.  They also froze her account, not that a young elf just out of university had much money-yet.  The thing about the shadows though, if you look hard enough their are people who can create a whole new identity for you (Fake SIN Rating 6), for  a price of course.  A call to a friend from college, now starting in the family business (i.e. the mafia) produced limited help, thought at a price.  Now she is running the shadows, desperately trying to raise money and making connections before somebody decides to put a bullet in the back of her head. 

Priorities
A: Magic
B: Skill
C: Attributes
D: Elf(0)
E: Resources

Attributes 16+2
B: 2 (+10 Karma)
A: 2
R: 2 (+10 Karma)
S: 1
W: 5 (4)
L: 4 (3)
I: 5 (4)
C: 8 (5)
Edge: 1
Magic: 6

Limits
Physical:   2
Social:  9
Mental:  6

Astral:  9
Initiative:  7+1d6
Astral Initiative: 10+2d6


Skills
Sorcery Group: 5
Conjure    6   (5 Free  +1)
Binding   6   (5 Free +1)
Astral Combat 6 (6)
Assensing  4  (4)
Etiquette  3  (3)
Negotiations   8 (6+2 from mentor spirit)
Con 4 (4)
First Aid (4) 4
Stealth   4 (4)
Pistols   2+2 (semi-automatics)  (3)

Knowledge Skills
English N
Sperethiel  2
Corp Politics  6 (+2 Ares)
Magic Theory 4
Organized Crime    4 (+2 Mafia)

Qualities:
Mentor Spirit (Dragonslayer) (5)
Spirit Affinity (Man) (7)
Focused Concentration 2 (
Corporate SIN (-25)

Other Starting Karma Spends
Bound Spirit   (2)
+1 Reaction   (10)
Extra Resources   (3)
+1 Body    (10)
Extra Spell (5)

Contacts:
Mob Don (see the Godfather) 6/1
Mob Member 3/4
Mr. Johnson 4/3 (walked away from Newfoundland because she caught his team in a blast spell on the dock in St. John's.  Probably only survived because of that).
Talislegger 2/1

Spells
Spells
Clout
Blast
Manabolt
Heal
Increase Reflexes
Improved Invisibility
Levitate
Read Thoughts
Control Thoughts
Mass Chaos
Mask (+1 Extra)

Gear
Low Lifestyle    2000   
Lodge (Force 6)   3000   
Armor Jacket    1000   
Fake SIN 2500   
Meta Link(Comlink Level 1) 100   
Medkit 6    1500   
Helmet 100   
Trode Net 70 (headband)   
Ocular Binoculars 50   
Browning Ultra Power    640   
ADPS Rounds 120   
Stick and Shock 80   
3 Spare Clips 15   
Regular Ammo (20 rounds) 40   
Concealable Holster 150      
Fake Concealed Carry Permit 2 400   
Reagents 10    (200)   
Silver Certified Credstick (20)
Carry Over 15
Total: 12,000

Mentor Spirit Dragonslayer
+2 Negotiations
+2 Combat Spells

Concerns:

It might be possible to drop this character to Race E, drop focused concentration, the bound spirit, and the +1 body in order to start with Magic 7 and Magic Focus 3.  The level of dump stating involved is a bit cheesy though, even if you try to sell the character as an astral specialist.  Would also cost +2 Cha and +1 agil (but gain +1 edge).  Also, there is a mystic adept version of this character that I've been playing around with but don't want to post because a. it isn't done and b. +4d6 initiative on a starting character seems cheesy.

Did I dump the physical stats to hard?

Character already has two more negotiation dice than Mr. Johnson.  Should I maybe drop assensing to 3 to buy negotiations(bargaining) +2?  Would insure just a crazy amount of dice.

Should I replace the talislegger with a lawyer or something?  She has a higher Cha+Negotiation total than most Talisleggers (or fixers!).

I'm not sure about Spirit Affinity (Man).  Spirit Affinity Beast might have some roll playing potential with using doggy door to let the cat spirit out at night (end of dawn to dusk summoning) and the dog spirit (dusk to dawn summoning) in.  On the other hand Beast spirits look like they might suck.  Air spirits look very good, and can bonus illusions if bound.  That might also make sense for a face.

Should I drop the starting bound spirit for a level 2 fake SIN?  Being desperate for money makes for a nice back story but I worry I might have dumped it too low.

What about the spell selection?  Should I have taken barrier, or some other spell, as the bonus spell?

[Slippery_Chicken]

Did I dump the physical stats to hard?

Physical limit 2 (I can't tell whether that's before or after the karma bumps. If it's before karma, then the limit should be 3) means that you're getting knocked flat on your bum (pg 194, Knockdown) every time you take 2 or more damage. By RAW, someone using gel rounds would treat your physical limit as zero for knockdown, which is kind of wacky IMO. So yeah, you're a squishy wizard, in a game where "geek the mage" is a common saying among fighters of all types.

Just don't get hit 

[Novocrane]

I'd consider taking a survival knife instead of a commlink, just in case.

[Dal Thrax]

Physical limit woukd be 3 if Str was two.  Maybe replace Mask with increase body (greater resists) or increase reaction (better able to dodge rounds) ans possibly carry a fake cyberdeck?

[Crunch]

I tend to think a Bound Spirit is a really bad investment at chargen (It's just too limited for the cost, and too easy to aquire in play).

I tend to cringe at attributes at 1. If it was a character in my campaign I'd strongly recommend dropping one of the mental stats to raise Str to 2.

I've always questioned the value of Focused Concentration, especially if you're playing a character who is ok with bindiing spirits.

[Dal Thrax]

Hum, I could drop the current extra karma spends for ten points then drop focused concentration to 1 to free up 4 karma for resources.  That would make focused concentration only useful if paired with a spell cast with reagents.  I like it because its basically a sustaining focus that works with any type of spell (but a 1 won't work with improved physical attributes spells).

I kinda of liked the idea of an attribute at 1 to simulate a physical disadvantage,  especially with a char that might spend a lot of time in astral space.  On the other hand min/maxed cheese tends to die quickly.