[Senko]

Ok I've been trying to redesign a mage (given up on mage face at char gen I can't make one I'd be happy to play)  for myself and here's what I have. Could this survive as a runner or do I need to go back to the drawing board?

PRIORITIES
B: Magic, Attributes, Skills.
D: Resources.
E: Human.

ATTRIBUTES
Body: 3
Agility: 3
Reaction: 3
Strength: 2
Willpower: 5
Logic: 3
Intuition: 3
Charisma: 6
Edge: 2
Magic: 5

QUALITIES
Positive
Focused Concentration: 3.
Mentor Spirit: Dragon Slayer.
Hawk eye.

Negative
Astral Beacon
Allergy: 10, common (Seafood)
Day Job: 10 hours.

SKILLS
Active
Group - Athletics: 3.
Group - Influence: 2.

Arcana: 1.
Assensing: 6.
Computer: 3.
Con: 1, specialized in fast talking.
Counterspelling: 6, specialized in combat spells.
Perception: 3, specialized in visual.
Pilot Ground Craft: 3.
Pistols: 3, specialized in semi-automatics.
Ritual Spellcasting: 3
Spellcasting: 6, specialized in illusion spells.
Summoning: 6.

Knowledge
Black Market: 1
Gray Market: 1
Magical Law: 1
Magical Theory: 4
Magical Threats: 2
Metaplanes: 2
Seattle: 3

English: Native
Japanese: 1

MAGIC
Tradition: Shinto
Mentor Spirit: Dragonslayer (Etiquette chosen for +2 dice).

Spells
1) Ball Lightning.
2) Chaotic World.
3) Heal.
4) Improved Invisibility.
5) Increase Reflexes.
6) Levitate.
7) Magic Fingers.
Physical Mask.
9) Stunbolt.
10) Trid Phantasm.

I know I have no rituals yet but that's because of the shortage of things I can choose than interest there's several I intend to buy as soon as the karma becomes available.

GEAR
Weapons
Savalette Guardian: Gas Vent 3, Personalized Grip, Smartgun system, Improved Range Finder, 5 spare clips. 60 APDS and Gel Rounds, 120 regular and stick and shock rounds.
Streetline Special: 30 regular ammo, 1 spare clip.
Defiance EX Shocker: Laser Sight, Personalized Grip.
Survival Knife.

Armour
Actioneer Business Clothes.
Armor Vest.
Bike Racing Armor: AR Gloves, Chemical Protection (3), Fire Resistance (2), Insulation (2).
Bike Racing Helmet: Image Link, Micro-Tranceiver, Smartlink, Trodes.
Gas Mask.
Lined Coat: Chemical Protection (2).
Respirator: Rating 4.

Comlinks
Nixdorf Sekretar: Sim Module, Program Carrier (Encryption), Receiver Dongle, Mapsoft (Seattle).
Sony Emperor: Sim Module.

General
AR Gloves.
Backpack (General carrying).
Camera: Electronic Vision Magnification.
Certified Credstick: Gold.
Certified Credstick: Silver with 1k on it for emergencies (In bug out  bag).
Contacts: Flare Compensation, Image Link, Low Light Vision.
Datachips: 10.
Dufflebag (Bug out bag).
Earbuds: Soundlink, Select Sound Filter.
Flashlight: Normal.
Flashlight: Lowlight.
Glasses: Imagelink.
Headphones: Soundlink.
Longhaul: 2 doses (in bug out bag).
Magical Lodge: Rating 6 (Shinto Shrine).
Medikit: Rating 3.
Metal Restraints.
50 regular reagents.
Security Tags: 10.
Rope (50m in bug out bag).
Subvoval Microphone.
Survival Kit (In bug out bag).
Tag Eraser.
Trodes.

Vehicles
Yamaha Growler.

Identities
Bug Out: R1 Sin, R1 Magic Licence.
Normal Use: R4 SIN, R4 Magic LIcence, R4 Combat Magic Licence, R4 Firearms Licence, 1 month lifestyle.
Running Sin: R3 SIN, R3 Magic Licence, R3 Combat Magic Licence, R3 Firearms Licence.

Contacts
Fixer: 5 connection, 3 Loyalty.
Parazoologist: 3 connection, 2 Loyalty.
Talismonger: 3 connection, 2 Loyalty.

Thoughts?

[ZeldaBravo]

Looks pretty solid. If you can find some spare cash you might want to buy a fetish for your Ball Lightning. F-3 drain is great.

[Senko]

Honestly its the SINs. To get a R4 SIN + magic/combat/firearms it burns so much cash I was forced to upgrade the priority of it, a lot of this gear was then picked to fill in the cost. The question is less can I rumage up the cash (unless we're talking a power focus) and can I rumage up the karma. I'll have a look at that.

[Mestoph]

edit:  still having Magic skill without means to use it is a waste of skill points that should go into perception, but it depends on your GM because mine treats 6 perc+ 2visual spec as core to all runners. Typical goon in my game has at least 10-14 dice in sneaking  so without at least 12 dice we are screwed, and im not talking about Tir ghosts etc.

[JmOz01]

Consider dropping skills to c and magic up to a.  You will loose 4 skill points / 3 skill groups gain 1 magic 1 edge and 3 spells. 

[FST_Gemstar]

Character seems real enough and fun to play. I'm impressed with your investment in SINs, that really does take up a lot of cash at character generation! Would you be willing to part with one of the spares? Same with the armors. Perhaps you won't need such a full wardrobe at character generation, and you can use some of that cash for things that benefit you out of the gate?

As JmoZ01 said, switching some priorities might be advantageous. Do you really need skill groups in athletics,  and skills in driving and computer, etc?  If not going to 'ware up, having a magic 6 rating and more edge and more spells or rituals might be more useful, especially if you are the primary magic user in the party. (more powerful/diverse spells, more powerful/more services spirits, etc.).

Also, maybe go with an Intuition based tradition and flip your charisma and intuition? As you are not playing a face and don't have skills in binding, a high charisma isn't essential. Having a high intuition will help with initiative, defense, and assensing/perception (perhaps allowing you to reconfigure your skill points in these areas too).

If you want to stay with a high charisma, I would recommend investing in binding. Being able call on lots of spirits when needed is one of the most powerful and useful game actions.

[ZeldaBravo]

I think that that lower edge score is worth getting THAT much more money. And with the lodge and Ritual Spellcasting? Yeah, that's good. A thing to consider: to get a group commercical lifestyle. Your Etiquette is good and nothing says that teamwork rules can't help in rolling more hits to get a discount. You can build a shrine in a Private Room and your inventory is beneficial to having a (semi)legal front with a little backup plan.

[falar]

Edge > cash.

If you can cover your bases with the resources you have, remember that cash comes in easy-to-spend chunks to get most things you want. If something costs < 10k and you can do without it for your first 'run and you would need to lose something to go with it? Do without it.

Opinions vary, but character growth is one of the cool things about Shadowrun. You start with less and then build up.

[bdyer]

Also I don't think the Athletics skill group does much for you .

[ZeldaBravo]

Edge > cash.

Generally, yes. But we really should see the whole picture there.

Also I don't think the Athletics skill group does much for you .

I guess you're right. Levitate can do most of the athletic stuff.

[Hobbes]

Consider dropping skills to c and magic up to a.  You will loose 4 skill points / 3 skill groups gain 1 magic 1 edge and 3 spells.

Seconded.  Magic A, Skills C looks like you come out ahead overall. 

Overall solid, just minor suggestions:

I've never been a huge fan of multiple SINs on low resource characters.  Just giving up too much to get something that won't come up.  If you need them for Story reasons, why wouldn't Rating 1 work?   

Skills, Computer 3 isn't going to do you much, get a Commlink with an Agent and have about the same dice pool.  Pilot Ground Craft of 1 will likely be enough, you shouldn't be doing any stunt driving.  Dice Pool of 4 is enough for commuting.  Ritual 3 with no Rituals, if you're going to delay gratification, why not shuffle those 3 points into maxing out another skill and buying a couple points with Karma?  Raising a skill from 1 to 3 compared to raising a skill from 3 to 6.  (Presuming you didn't buy the 3 skill with Karma, if you did, then good job!)

And Focused Concentration 4 is a nice break point for Increased Reflexes, if you can get it.  FC 4, Mentor and Hawk Eye = 24 IIRC?  Just need to free up the Karma.

[Senko]

@Mestoph
I think if I were in that game I'd be asking the GM to give me extra skill points to get perception that high or let me use assensing in its place. If he's going to treat the generic minion as that good at sneaking he should be helping characters who aren't insanely observant get that. I'm a starting mage not a street sam or a private investigator.

@JM0z01
I had magic A originally dropped it to be for the extra point in resources, I agree I would prefer it though (well actually I'd prefer a life modules mage).

@FstGamestar
Good suggestion dropping that free's up over 2,000 yen and most of the gear lets me get magic back up to A and resources to E while still keeping a rating 4 SIN and magic or firearms licence. Of course I don't have much protection but I can buy that later.

I don't need them technically but I hate the max skill A for your profession and be incompetent elsewhere (I just can't accept the "You can default" argument). Sure they're not 6's but a 3/4 is competent for daily life in my opinion and if I drop all the skills I feel you should have to live instead of a character I wind up with just a bunch of statistics I couldn't care less about. I know mechanically it makes more sense to by skill A at 6 then purchase skill B later but when I make I character like that all I can think when I look at them is how did you survive this long you haven't a clue about driving or how to use a computer in an era when you have one on your wrist that is vital to day to day life. Its the difference between sadly retiring a dead character and just shrugging, tearing up the sheet and tossing it in the nearest bin for me. I've pushed it as far as I could to get 6 + spec in the mage specialities already.

Its the same with intuition it may make more sense mechanically but none of the intuition traditions appeal to me like Shinto or Hermetic. Honestly I'd actually prefer a lower charisma and higher logic but on the flip side Shinto appeals to me and I like their spirits better. Still I'll take another browse through the traditions see if there is an intuition one I missed.

Binding I considerd but I just didn't have the skills to fit it in after getting what I needed (spellcasting, counterspelling, summoning) and what I want (computer, driving) to make a living character. I did consider trading ritual across for that but since I prefer ritual spellcasting more and figured people would say binding 2 + spec wasn't worth it I went with the one I preferred.

@ZeldaBravo
Hadn't thought of that may be worth a try thanks.

@Falar
Hmmm worth considering.

@BDyer
Probably not since I'm a mage rather than a street sam. Still I live in an area where not knowing how to swim is equated with high risk and I'm always a fan of "only have to run faster than you not the lion". Still it was a toss up whether to have this at 1, 2 or 3 since the extra points go into social interactions.

@Hobbes
Computer 3 is less about the dice pool and more about the fact I personally can not see any competent adult in the shadowrun world who's not street scum (insulting term but all I can think of to describe the uneducated, SINless masses who may not know how to read, write or use a comlink) having any less than a 2 rating in this. I know all the arguments but I've just dealt with too many people in our world who haven't a clue about computers to emotionally accpet it. I see a no computer use and I don't think "use an agent or default", I think "You should be asking how to take that phonecall or send a text". I work currently with someone who when we're on site gets signed in by the boss because he can't figure out how to use the phone app to enter his name, password and hit log on, punch in and he's not the only one I know like that. If I had computers too low I'd be unable to play the character as being able to function in the sixth world I just  couldn't do it. I know there's the quality to go from zero to not applicable but to me all that does is take it from once you've typed out your document you get someone else to do all the editing and saving to "what is this strange rock you call a comlink." Different views for different folks but for me a shadowrun character with less than 2 computer use drives me up the wall. Mechanically sound or not I just can't look at a new character who's meant to be an established runner without certain basic skills and accept that as a valid concept unless they grow up as a hothouse flower and only ever came out to shoot things in which case you better play them like that, all amazed and confused by the big, wide world.

I have dropped a SIN.

Yes freeing up the karma will be tight especially if I modify priority.

@GENERAL
I've tried removing some stuff for a lower resources priority to move magic back up. If I make the following changes how does this look (bearing in mind I make more changes after I take a closer look at your suggestions)? Changes are shown in bolded Italics, removed items are well removed .

PRIORITIES
A: Magic
B: Attributes, Skills.
E: Human, Resources.

ATTRIBUTES
Body: 3
Agility: 3
Reaction: 3
Strength: 2
Willpower: 5
Logic: 3
Intuition: 3
Charisma: 6
Edge: 3
Magic: 6

QUALITIES
Positive
Focused Concentration: 4.
Mentor Spirit: Dragon Slayer.
Hawk eye.

Negative
Astral Beacon
Allergy: 10, mild, common (Seafood)
Day Job: 10 hours a week.

SKILLS
Active
Group - Athletics: 3.
Group - Influence: 2.

Arcana: 1.
Assensing: 6.
Computer: 3.
Con: 2, specialized in fast talking.
Counterspelling: 6, specialized in combat spells.
Perception: 3, specialized in visual.
Pilot Ground Craft: 3.
Pistols: 3, specialized in semi-automatics.
Ritual Spellcasting: 3
Spellcasting: 6, specialized in illusion spells.
Summoning: 6.

Knowledge
Black Market: 1
Gray Market: 1
Magical Law: 1
Magical Theory: 4
Magical Threats: 2
Metaplanes: 2
Seattle: 3

English: Native
Japanese: 1

MAGIC
Tradition: Shinto
Mentor Spirit: Dragonslayer (Etiquette chosen for +2 dice).

Spells
1) Ball Lightning.
2) Chaotic World.
3) Heal.
4) Improved Invisibility.
5) Increase Reflexes.
6) Levitate.
7) Magic Fingers.
Physical Mask.
9) Stunbolt.
10) Trid Phantasm.

RITUALS
1) Ward.
2) Watcher.

GEAR
Weapons
Savalette Guardian: Gas Vent 2, Personalized Grip, Smartgun system, 3 spare clips. 60 regular bullets, 48 stick and shock rounds.

Armour
Armored Clothing
Ballistic Mask: Imagelink, Smartlink, Trodes.
Respirator: Rating 4.

Comlinks
Sony Emperor: Sim Module, mapsoft (Seattle).

General
AR Gloves.
Backpack (General carrying).
Certified Credstick: Gold.
Contacts: Flare Compensation, Image Link, Low Light Vision.
Earbuds: Soundlink, Select Sound Filter.
Magical Lodge: Rating 6 (Shinto Shrine).
50 regular reagents.
Trodes.

Identities
R4 SIN, R4 Magic LIcence, R3 Combat Magic Licence, R3 Firearms Licence, 1 month low lifestyle.

Contacts
Fixer: 5 connection, 2 Loyalty.
Parazoologist: 3 connection, 2 Loyalty.
Talismonger: 3 connection, 3 Loyalty.

EDIT
Hmmm maybe druidic as a tradition although I think I'll still prefer Shinto. I'll need to look more into it.

[Hobbes]

Athletics 3 isn't doing you much, especially with Levitate.  Shuffled into Influence gets you pretty good dice pools in that group, especially if you pick up increased charisma down the road.  Or use the 3 group points to cover one of your lower ranked skills to free up the skill points.  Minor tweaks for the long run.

Quick speech on "Everyman skills" and then I'm off my soap box.  From a meta standpoint Shadowrun has a fairly steep skill tax already.  Stealth, Perception, Damage dealing skill of somekind, are all opposed tests that most runners will test on about every run.  You've essentially got an 18 point skill tax built in, adding to that is brutal at chargen.  For example your Computer skill of dice pool 6, while likely would never come up on a run, is actually enough dice to give you a little better than 50/50 chance of hacking a low rating commlink carried by an average person.  I don't think being able to hack a commlink is "typical" level of skill that everyone would have.  Your RL co-worker would be an example of the uneducated or incompetence negative quality, not skill 0.  Ditto driving, in a world where cars drive themselves a dice pool of 4 is more than enough to get you from point A to point B.  Obviously YMMV.

Again, relatively minor tweaks mostly suggested for the long run because of the exponential cost of skills and the low likely hood of a Mage having significant free Karma to throw at skills.  I tend to view a mage's skill list as all but set in stone at chargen.  Couple 1 or 2 skills picked up after a run or two, but after that their are just so many other places to spend Karma. 

[All4BigGuns]

For a non-Decker, Computers would be fine with only rating 1, as that's plenty to know the basics (though a skill 0 would be like the typical internet surfer today). For driving, just pick up rating 1 in the skill with a specialty in Wheeled, that would save you a skill point and give you the same amount for any wheeled ground vehicle. Putting Assensing down to about the level of where your Perception is probably wouldn't hurt too bad either.

Considering your physical attributes and Charisma, swapping Athletics out with Acting and putting those points you have in Con into Gymnastics would probably work too.

[FST_Gemstar]

Looking at p131 of the core, Rating 0 means untrained, the default level of knowledge obtained through interaction with society and the Matrix. This would be most people in the shadowrun universe for things like Computer and Driving. Most people don't have driver's licences as cars drive themselves. Computers/Matrix are designed for accessibility and easy use (so that you can click on more ads and buy more things).  0 Rating still has an awareness of the skill and can still take actions that use the skill. Rating 4 is proficient, and noted as corporate/professional for most jobs. So scaling between 0-4, a rating three is much closer to being a professional at the skill than just basically functional. When you get to 5-7, you get to a level of open market level skills, meaning that people will pay extra for your particular skills  or seek you out- this is how shadowrunners make a living and make them a cut above other sinless. If you are not skillful at this level for your primary foci, why would a johnson higher you? 8+ becomes extraction worthy and super talented, with being so skillful you are more likely a target of a run than conducting it. Of course shadowrun is a game of dicepools so you can't see skills by themselves, but I don't believe the system is intended to consider a character incompetent on defaultable skills if they have a skill rating of 0. Skills that require skill points to even attempt are noted, and those are the ones that everymen can't just do without some training. Everything else though, at least an awareness of basic tasks/functionality  is assumed. As Hobbes said, Uneducated/Incompetent are negative qualities, not baselines.