[Medicineman]

For the next two seasons, Missions will be in Chicago which means having to deal with a minimal Background Count of 2.  That in turn means needing a minimum of 3 levels of Improved ability to get +1d6 of advantage (1.5 PPs worth which would be 2 initiations),.....

Or get Adept Centering at Lvl 2 might cost a bit more Karma but is also more versatile  ( If it is Missions Legal )
and you can ignore the -2 from BGC
OR you just switch of the corresponding Power than you don't get a -2

with an alternative Dance
Medicineman

[kyoto kid]

...Adept Centering is the first thing on the list when she initiates. Though, as I mentioned, that will help mitigate penalties to dice pools, but still not help with foci or other powers that don't involve skill pools like Improved Attribute or Mystic Armour.  Fortunately she just picked up and bonded a Force 4 WF.

This is also why I had her burn out a point of magic so she could get a few things that wouldn't be affected by BCG like Orthoskin 2 and Technochromatic Vision (+3 to visual perception and effectively, low light vision).

[Hobbes]

...the issue with adepts and increasing skills through Improved ability is Background Count.  For the next two seasons, Missions will be in Chicago which means having to deal with a minimal Background Count of 2.  That in turn means needing a minimum of 3 levels of Improved ability to get +1d6 of advantage (1.5 PPs worth which would be 2 initiations), Much cheaper to just raise the base skill at that point. which will not be susceptible to the BCG. 

Qi foci would also be a waste as again they'd have to be a fairly high force (at least 3) to not be shut down. That too is a fairly hefty investment of both Karma as well as Nuyen. Adept Centering (requiring another grade of initiation) only offsets penalties only for skill tests, it will not keep a focus operating if the BCG exceeds its force..

2 point BGC is a 2 point penalty that you're going to get tagged with on anything that uses magic (for example attacking with a Weapon focus).  Doesn't matter where the dice come from.  If you're raising skills that don't use magic, than sure, you're coming out ahead by raising the skill directly.  But if you're raising anything that is already getting the BGC penalty, you're better off with initiation or foci.  And for Physical Adepts you're likely looking at Qi Foci and level 3 is a pretty small Qi Focus.  A rating 4 Qi Foci (+2 dice on any skill) is 8 Karma, 12K Nuyen, essentially 14 Karma if working for the man/working for the people, same cost as raising a skill from 6 to 7.

You should, of course, do what feels right by the character, I'm just pointing out the math for the readers at home. 

[kyoto kid]

...thank you. 

Just does not seem as "cost effective" to get a high force QI focus compared to just improving the raw skill considering the constant -2 penalty. Were we in another location where BGC was only encountered now and then, it wouldn't be as much of an issue.

With multiple foci, one also has to consider the greater chance of Focus Addiction as the total force of all foci used is subtracted from the base 11 weeks. For example, with just her WF, KK has 7 weeks before having to make a test, not much of an issue. However, if she also uses a force 4 Qi focus on the same mission, that period is reduced to only 3 weeks so the risk of addiction becomes much greater. Somehow the thought of being addicted to a focus in an area where the effects of magic are reduced and in some cases even nullified, just sounds like a bad combination.

[gradivus]

IMHO initiation and raising your magic is the way to go.

First initiation Adept Centering
Raise your magic for 1 PP of powers
second initiation Masking
Raise your magic for 1 PP of powers.
If you don't want any other metamagic, you can just do initiations (raising PP) until you reach the cap and then raise magic.


Qi Focus Addiction is only a problem if your active total Foci is greater than your MR.
So Qi Foci should be skills you use when not using your weapon foci....

 

[Rift_0f_Bladz]

My adept has one nearly always active Qi ffocus (Improved Attribute(Str)) and my weapon focus at F2, but we dont play mission, nor are we in that big of fans of this additions rules on background counts. I shut those off when doing most likely none combat things to have access to stuff like melanin control or linguistic power (for free rank 1 language learning) Qi foci. Will end up picking up more Qi Foci down the road. After raising magic at some point I will increase my weapon foci next.

[Hobbes]

Qi foci are often tattoos.  Personally I don't worry about becoming addicted to my own Skin.  *shrug*  YMMV. 

And, again, if you're already being tagged with a BGC penalty it costs less Karma for more dice with initiation or foci.  If you've got a skill of 5 or 6 that isn't getting tagged with a BGC, then raising that skill organically one or two points is less Karma.  Exactly where the break even point is depends on BGC and the skill level, but Foci/Initiation become cheaper for increases of more than a couple points even with the BGC penalty. 

Oh.  And of course specialization is probably a better choice if you haven't already.  Just to be complete. 

Side note: Magical Tattoos, anyone else play Planescape Torrment from Black Isle back in the day?  Fun character hook there with the used Qi foci skin grafts or dried and stitched on somehow.  May have to use that on an NPC sometime. 

[ZeldaBravo]

Qi foci are often tattoos.  Personally I don't worry about becoming addicted to my own Skin.  *shrug*  YMMV. 

If said skin triggers the Addiction rules I'd start worrying. 

[kyoto kid]

...the character has several of her primary skills specialised  (including a couple Knowledge ones).

Low powered Qi foci would be great were we not in a location with a persistent BGC. Not many jobs that the character's been on have been "out of town".

Yeah Missions does have more restrictions and does not allow houseruling, however the group I am in meets fairly close to where I live (don't drive) and pretty much offers the only opportunity to play on a regular basis.  It also gives me a good opportunity to familiarise myself with and come up to the speed on the new mechanics as the last version I played/GMd regularly, was 3rd ed.

[gradivus]

Remember the golden rule of character generation and advancement...

if option A is better but option B is more fun for you, go with option B...

an optimized character that's not what you want is not worth playing.

[kyoto kid]

My adept has one nearly always active Qi ffocus (Improved Attribute(Str)) and my weapon focus at F2, but we dont play mission, nor are we in that big of fans of this additions rules on background counts. I shut those off when doing most likely none combat things to have access to stuff like melanin control or linguistic power (for free rank 1 language learning) Qi foci. Will end up picking up more Qi Foci down the road. After raising magic at some point I will increase my weapon foci next.

...true, Qi foci are great for those types of powers, unless you are in a persistent BGC of 2 where you wouldn't be able to activate them at all. Then you are better off initiating and just paying the PPs for them.

Part of the reason my character just shelled out 28,000¥ for, and 12 Karma to bond a Force 4 WF after the last couple jobs.  Not so much the extra dice but the fact it ignores spirit armour.  Can't always count on your sniper friend with the Barrett 122 loaded with APDS or Shaman casting that force 6 Ball Lightning spell augmented by reagents.

I agree, the new Background count rules are really harsh, especially on Adepts as they don't have other ways to compensate like spellcasters do (Reagents, Spirits).  Adept Centring only reduces pool penalties for combat and physical skill tests. It doesn't let you activate foci that cannot be activated which are effectively shut down by BGC, reduce penalties for skills that are enhanced by Adept powers (like Perception), or using powers like Boosted Attribute.