[Poindexter]

Xem, the betrayer.
Elf mage.

Stats- A
Money- B
Elf- C
Aspected spellcaster- D
Skills- E

bod- 2
agi- 6/7
rea- 5/6
str- 3
wil- 6
log- 5/7
int- 5
cha- 3
edg- 1
ess- 5
mag- 4

-qualities
Mild addiction: Jazz
Bad rep (Betrayer)
Biased against mundanes
spirit bane (man)

-knowledges
sperethiel (native)
english 5
academic
 magic theory 3
 magic threats 3
 magic traditions 2
street
 shadow community 4
 small unit tactics 3
interest
 street drugs 3
 art 3
 religion 3
 motorcycles 1

-skills
Spellcasting/combat 6/8
counterspelling 6
blades 5
arcana 1
assensing 1
automatics 1
computer 1
gymnastics 1
heavy weapons 1
intimidate 1
palming 1
perception 1
pilot ground 1
running 1
sneaking 1
astral combat 1
outdoors group 1
 survival
 tracking
 navigation

-spells
Lightning bolt (Yup, that's it. Just one spell)

Lifestyle: squatter: cramped, dangerous 1 month In a broken down UPS van under an old overpass

-upgrades
cerebral booster 2
muscle toner 1
synaptic booster 1 (alphaware)

-weapons
combat knife weapon focus (3)
4 vintage Steyr TMPs
 laser sight
2 concealable quick draw holsters
vintage AK-97
 gas vent 3
 sling
 shock pad
 laser sight
 underbarrel vintage Ares Antioch-2 nade launcher

-armor
Armor jacket
 ynt softweave
 nonconduct 6
 fire resist 4
 chemical protection 3
 biomonitor
 trodes
 respirator 6
Ballistic mask
 flare comp
 vision mag
 audio enhance 1
 cyberware scanner rating 2

-gear
Hermes Ikon
 sim mod
 micro-transceiver
 tag eraser
 bug scanner 6
 white noise generator 6
5 doses of jazz
12 doses of zen
fake SIN 4 (Jeremy Sanders, Talismonger)
 fake talismonger lic 4
2 meta links
120 APDS machine pistol
50 APDS assault rifle.
100 stick n shock machine pistol
100 stick n shock assault rifle.
200 reg machine pistol
200 reg assault rifle
contacts 2
 image link
 vision enhance 1
5 std credsticks

-vehicles and drones
suzuki mirage
 camera 2
 motion sensor 2

i went D in magic for an aspected spellcaster, thus the only one spell.

He's eager to learn more, but for now, lightning will do.

suggestions?

[Rift_0f_Bladz]

Interesting concept, but way to many skills at rating 1. Tighten up your focus, drop some that you don't need/want. Also, what ratings are your augments? Cause if you Str 2 after augs, then melee is a bad option, not enough damage, way too low physical limit (easy to get knocked down). Why do you have heavy weapons? You are a mage, be the heavy weapon. Raise your automatic skill some, otherwise you will only be helpful when using way to much ammo (full auto/suppressing fire). Also, you low str lowers you RC as well, so big SS pistols might be more useful (again, need higher skill rank).  7 dice to attack with physical weapons is not impressive, especially for melee, wear competent fighter will beat your elf like a (insert bad joke here).

[Poindexter]

Interesting concept, but way to many skills at rating 1. Tighten up your focus, drop some that you don't need/want.

the focus is on combat magic, counterspelling, and astral combat. All the 1 skills are just shit that i feel like any halfway decent professional criminal ought to at least have a passing knowledge of.

Also, what ratings are your augments? Cause if you Str 2 after augs, then melee is a bad option, not enough damage, way too low physical limit (easy to get knocked down).

The knife aint for people, its for spirits. Using that weapon focus will gimme 3 more dice on astral combat, which brings me to a HUGE dicepool for a starting character. 13, i think.

Why do you have heavy weapons? You are a mage, be the heavy weapon. Raise your automatic skill some, otherwise you will only be helpful when using way to much ammo (full auto/suppressing fire). Also, you low str lowers you RC as well, so big SS pistols might be more useful (again, need higher skill rank).  7 dice to attack with physical weapons is not impressive, especially for melee, wear competent fighter will beat your elf like a (insert bad joke here).

I figure, you see a guy with an AK/nade launcher, and you don't think, "That must be the mage." Most of the time, if he's attacking with the intent to kill, he will be using that big nasty lightning bolt at a ridiculous force, as he's got 13 drain resist. The automatics are there to spray on full auto from behind cover to make people keep their heads down, not to actually shoot people with. The nade launcher is there cause A- it looks intimidating, and B- with 9 dice including augmentations and smartlink to fire it, i can probably get a hit on an easy target. a BIG easy target.

[jim1701]

If you want to be somewhat effective at astral combat you may want to consider switching lightning bolt to a mana spell of some kind.  Without a ranged mana spell you are limited to melee range to deal with any wholly astral entities and since you are unable to astrally project yourself that could leave you at a disadvantage.  Alternatively, you could sway your blades and astral combat skill ranks and concentrate more on dealing with manifested entities. 

[Poindexter]

If you want to be somewhat effective at astral combat you may want to consider switching lightning bolt to a mana spell of some kind.  Without a ranged mana spell you are limited to melee range to deal with any wholly astral entities and since you are unable to astrally project yourself that could leave you at a disadvantage.  Alternatively, you could sway your blades and astral combat skill ranks and concentrate more on dealing with manifested entities.

That's a damn good point.
Lemme do some math on that real quick.
Switching the blades with astral combat gives him 15 dice on attack physical and 10 astral, which is way better than the 8 physical and 14 astral he's rocking now. I think I'm gonna do that. I'm just afraid the low str will stop him from doing much dmg to said manifested entities.
I need to get that "Strength Boost" spell PRONTO.

[8-bit]

I would switch Logic and Willpower. Willpower 6 doesn't give you much, whereas every point of Logic is useful. I too am concerned with all the skills at 1. While I do understand the point of it, a lot of them are extremely cheap to buy with karma either at chargen or afterwards. It seems to me that you would be better off upping Assensing, Perception, or Con as well as maybe picking up a specialty.

I also want to ask how set you are on being an Elf? Human would provide a lot of Edge at the same Priority level, and you don't give up too much in the way of Attributes.

[jim1701]

If I am reading it right most of those 1 ranked skills are from karma so there isn't a lot of concentrating that can be done unless he wants to start swapping his priorities around to get more skill points. 

[8-bit]

Yeah, I didn't do a specific count. So, it might not be possible to focus the points because they already are.

[Shrazkil]

As stated earlier, will better at 5 , and if you can find a way to get body to 3 , I would do that as well for the extra box.

[Poindexter]

I would switch Logic and Willpower. Willpower 6 doesn't give you much, whereas every point of Logic is useful. I too am concerned with all the skills at 1. While I do understand the point of it, a lot of them are extremely cheap to buy with karma either at chargen or afterwards. It seems to me that you would be better off upping Assensing, Perception, or Con as well as maybe picking up a specialty.

I also want to ask how set you are on being an Elf? Human would provide a lot of Edge at the same Priority level, and you don't give up too much in the way of Attributes.

The Elf thing AND the willpower thing are part of his deal. His defining characteristic is his unbreakable will. But, i dunno. If i swapped em, that'd be giving him 9 dice in astral combat instead of 10, which is still a decent backup, i spose. But it will increase his arcana, armorer, and computer to 9 dice each instead of 8, so it might be worth it. I REALLY like the six willpower though!

 

If I am reading it right most of those 1 ranked skills are from karma so there isn't a lot of concentrating that can be done unless he wants to start swapping his priorities around to get more skill points.

All of em, actually. skills E is rough

[8-bit]

Well, just my opinions. Maybe fit in some Damage Compensators to handle wounds and any overcast drain? Platelet Factories are also something to look at. It's all about how much money you have left.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

I love him.  Except for in straight-out heavy combat, he's totally useless, but probably thinks he's hot shit.  No capacity for subtlety ... probably a rich kid from the Tir who ran around with a gang (or in Rinelle) who got kicked or fled when the hammer came down on his little group.  Fled to Seattle, thinks he's hot shit.  Join him up with ... I dunno.  The Ancients might have him just as firepower, but even though he's got a good agility, he can't really ride a bike worth crap.  Might be better off with Laesa, if he has Rinelle ties.

[Poindexter]

i think the only other ware i wanna get him is a datajack and a smartlink. I dont wanna go below 5 essense though, so its gonna be a WHILE before he can afford the deltaware and betaware crap he'll need to keep the essence cost the same.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Trodes and goggles/glasses/contacts.

[Top Dog]

Trodes and goggles/glasses/contacts.

Not quite the same as a datajack with internal smartlink (you get a +2 if you pay essence), but presumably the guns are the backup - not really worth it to pay the essence just to get an extra +1 in wireless mode. Trodes do everything else you might want from a datajack.

Speaking of, I'd put smartlink on contacts or such. Ballistic masks are nice, but they're rather obvious. It's better to walk around with your smartlink at the ready without looking like a murderer on a rampage. Also, Ballistic Mask is +2 and PPP is +1 (IIRC) so that'd put you into encumberance.

Anyway, more serious problem - Aspected Magicians can't astrally project. So er, Astral Combat isn't going to do much.

Also, I can't believe you spend all that karma in skills but don't pick up negotiation. Negotiation will determine how much you get paid.