[Bushw4cker]

Kuirem inspired me to make this character when we were discussing Direct vs Indirect Combat Spells.

I wanted to see if I could make character that could reliably one hit kill/stun someone with a Direct Combat Spell right out of character creation.

I would have gave him more Negative Qualities to better reflect his mean spirited vengeful nature, but was already at 25 points.. I probably would have given him Vindictive Quality.  When making this character I imagined a very short Human who often gets mistaken for a Dwarf, and definitely sufferers from a Napoleon Complex. 

With Power Focus and Revels in Murder Quality, using Edge, character can roll 27 dice for a Direct Combat Spell (Also gets to re-roll any 6's), and if character does Overflow Damage to Target, he gets his spent point of Edge back.  With Witness My Hate Quality, his Direct Damage Combat Spells do an extra 2 Damage.

With 27 Dice Pool (With Rule of 6 in Play), Character is going to average 10 successes.

Don't know if I would ever play this character, but might use as a NPC

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

The Attached Character Sheet Looks way better... would love to hear any feedback on my character sheets I've been working on for a while.


[spoiler]
POINT BUILD (800 KARMA)

SORCERER (CHAOS TRADITION)
Name: Günter Krause "Riese"
Metatype; Human
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Nationality: German
Sex: ♂
Age: 29     
Weight: 63kgs     
Height: 1.53m     
Eye Color: Blue     
Hair Color: Dark Blonde (Balding)

ATTRIBUTES
Body 3
Agility 3
Reaction 4
Strength 2
Willpower 5
Logic 3
Intuition 5
Charisma 2
Edge 7
Magic 6
Initiative 9 + 1D6

POSITIVE QUALITIES
Restricted Gear (Foci)
Revels in Murder
Witness My Hate

NEGATIVE QUALITIES
SINner (National, German)
Prejudiced (Bias, Ethnocentric)
In Debt

ACTIVE SKILLS
Etiquette 1
Intimidation 1
Perception 2
 (Visual +2)
Assensing 1
Spellcasting 6
 (Combat +2)
Counterspelling 4
Ritual Spellcasting 2
Unarmed Combat 2
Pistols 1
Computer 1
Pilot Ground Craft 1

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS
Magic Theory 3
 (Chaos Magic +2)
Magical Threats 1
Parazoology 1
History 1
 (German +2)
Trid Shows 1
 ("Reality" +2)
Music 1
 (Classical +2)

LANGUAGE SKILLS
German N
English 3
Japanese 1

ARMOR
YNT Lined Coat w/ Fire Resist-6, Nonconductivity-6, Insulation-2
YNT Armored Clothing w/ Concealed Pockets x 2, Faraday Pockets x 2, Biofiber Pockets x 2

FOCI
Power Focus (Force 6)
Metal Braclet with Hakenkreuz Symbol

SPELLS
Heal
Levitate
*Combat Sense
Death Touch
Manabolt
Powerbolt
Manaball
Improved Invisibility
*Physical Barrier
*Detect Life, Extended
*Fetish Required

RITUALS
Watcher
Homunculus

FETISHES
Detection
Dragon's Eye Gilded Ring
Manipulation
Valknut Gilded Ring

LIFESTYLE
High Lifestyle
Extra Secure
Magic Lodge (Force 6)

ID/LICENSES
Fake SIN (Rating 4)
Wolfgang von Wolfhausen
Fake License (Rating 4)
Possession of Foci
Fake License (Rating 4)
Licensed Magician

GEAR
Contacts (Capacity 3) w/ Flare Comp, Low-Light, Image Link
Ear Buds (Capacity 2) w/ Audio Enhancement-2
Defiance EX Shocker
Shock Gloves
4 Doses of Psyche
200 Drams of Reagents

VEHICLE
BMW 400GT

CONTACTS
Klaus (Fixer, Human) Connection 4, Loyalty 3
Gunnar (Talismonger, Dwarf) Connection 3, Loyalty 4


[/spoiler]

[Kuirem]

Kuriem

I suggest to get my alias right 

Revel in Murder is completely broken but that's probably the most powerful use I've seen with it. Good luck for your runners if you use that one against them.

Power Focus 6 must have sucked a lot of nuyen and Karma! Why not go for a Spellcasting Combat Focus 6 (or higher if you don't mind the addiction) instead to get that cheaper? It will only apply on Combat spells of course but I don't think it will be a problem. You could even drop Restricted Gear, get a Spellcasting Focus 4 and a Mentor Spirit that raise Combat Spells for the same dice pool and it free 5 karma for Positive Quality. Also it would reduce the crazy In Debt XV!

Not much to say about the character sheet, it looks nice. Maybe a bit too packed for my taste because I like to leave notes here and there. The only thing I could see added is a Total Armor but maybe there is one for character using more than just the basic Vest/Clothing.

[Bushw4cker]

I suggest to get my alias right 

Apologies, I fixed it. 

Revel in Murder is completely broken but that's probably the most powerful use I've seen with it. Good luck for your runners if you use that one against them.

Thanks!  I shall try to use my min/maxing powers for good!

Yeah it definitely is broken, probably biggest reason I wouldn't play character myself.  Don't know how many GMs would approve anyways...

Power Focus 6 must have sucked a lot of nuyen and Karma! Why not go for a Spellcasting Combat Focus 6 (or higher if you don't mind the addiction) instead to get that cheaper? It will only apply on Combat spells of course but I don't think it will be a problem. You could even drop Restricted Gear, get a Spellcasting Focus 4 and a Mentor Spirit that raise Combat Spells for the same dice pool and it free 5 karma for Positive Quality. Also it would reduce the crazy In Debt XV!

That's originally what I did. I was going to take Violence (Shark) Mentor Spirit with a Combat Spell Focus (Force 4). Which was 16 Karma vs. 36 to Bind..

Once I get character concept in mind that I like, it's hard to do something different.

Character Idea I had was of a Sorcerer who overcompensates for his lack of abilities. He probably resents fact that he's not Full Magician and can't do things like Astral Projection, Summoning (That's why I gave him Watcher and Homunculus Rituals). He has Napoleon Complex, and an inflated sense of self worth. Lives High Lifestyle, Expensive Commlink, Drives nice Car...  I thought In Debt Fit character idea.

 "If I'm going to run the Shadows in Seattle I'm going to need secure place in Bellvue with all the Amenities... "

Not much to say about the character sheet, it looks nice. Maybe a bit too packed for my taste because I like to leave notes here and there. The only thing I could see added is a Total Armor but maybe there is one for character using more than just the basic Vest/Clothing.

I thought about doing Total Armor.  I purposely put the Armor info right next to Condition Monitor.  The little circles in front of listed gear/armor/weapons/programs, for example: o Lined Coat, indicate that the item is being worn/equipped or program is being used.

I Attached an Older Version of my Character Sheets.  What I've been trying to do with new ones is reduce Clutter and Unnecessary Information like what Attribute Skills are Linked to, Condition Monitor,

[deathwishjoe]

The in debt quality is indeed very powerful however I want to point out that high levels of it can make a character almost unplayable. Money for almost all character archetypes is a significant part of character growth and at high levels  this would significantly hamper this character. As a thought experiment this of course doesn't realm matter but its a good thing to keep in mind.

[cbsmith]

I would say you aren't properly exploiting the cheese of Witness My Hate.

WMH gives you a +2DV per attack, and with direct damage, the resist pool is built off a single attribute. For most characters, having even five dice in the defense pool to resist direct damage is a big deal (obviously with Trolls & Orcs, you're going to want to go with mana spells instead of physical, and with deckers & mages you'll probably want to go the other way). So each extra attack gets them 2-5 dice vs. +2DV, which is a net win for the caster of something approaching +1DV per extra attack. So, your strategy should be splitting your attack into as many smaller attacks as you can get away with and still do damage on almost all of them.

The side benefit here is that more attacks with fewer dice means you can lower the force of the spell without restricting your upside, thereby reducing drain.

With 27 in the dice pool, for a typical character I'd try to split that into 5 attacks at Force 3. That's two drain per attack *without* a fetish. Particularly if you make yourself an elf instead of a human and go with a Black Magic tradition (seems to fit the character description, and sets you up as a sociopathic-type face for more colour), you could have thirteen soak dice... so you have over a 95% chance of getting two hits with your soak pool (and that's without doing burning crazy amounts of karma or dosing on Red Mescaline, Zen, Deepweed, or Hecate's Blessing). That means 80% of the time, you get off scot free without taking a single hit.

Your opponent on, the other hand, won't fare so well. They are likely rolling three defense dice, give or take, on every test against your pool of five or six. Odds are good you hit with at least four of the attacks, if not all five. If they actually have five in their dice pool, you're going to hit them for 7 DV, maybe only 6 DV (if you have a fetish or are willing to take some hits and bump it to Force 4, it's going to be 8 DV). If they have 4 dice pool, it's either 8 or 9 DV most of the time. The real fun is if they are weaker than that. At 3 dice pool, you're going to get between 10 and 11 DV, and if they can only muster 2 dice pool, we're looking at 13 DV! Even without burning any edge, you could take down an average opponent in one action phase!

The cool thing is that with multi-attack and LOS attacks, you have the option of spreading the attack across a couple of targets for more flexibility, though at some point you split yourself too thin and are better off with an AoE attack.

[Bushw4cker]

I would say you aren't properly exploiting the cheese of Witness My Hate.

WMH gives you a +2DV per attack, and with direct damage, the resist pool is built off a single attribute. For most characters, having even five dice in the defense pool to resist direct damage is a big deal (obviously with Trolls & Orcs, you're going to want to go with mana spells instead of physical, and with deckers & mages you'll probably want to go the other way). So each extra attack gets them 2-5 dice vs. +2DV, which is a net win for the caster of something approaching +1DV per extra attack. So, your strategy should be splitting your attack into as many smaller attacks as you can get away with and still do damage on almost all of them.

The side benefit here is that more attacks with fewer dice means you can lower the force of the spell without restricting your upside, thereby reducing drain.

With 27 in the dice pool, for a typical character I'd try to split that into 5 attacks at Force 3. That's two drain per attack *without* a fetish. Particularly if you make yourself an elf instead of a human and go with a Black Magic tradition (seems to fit the character description, and sets you up as a sociopathic-type face for more colour), you could have thirteen soak dice... so you have over a 95% chance of getting two hits with your soak pool (and that's without doing burning crazy amounts of karma or dosing on Red Mescaline, Zen, Deepweed, or Hecate's Blessing). That means 80% of the time, you get off scot free without taking a single hit.

Your opponent on, the other hand, won't fare so well. They are likely rolling three defense dice, give or take, on every test against your pool of five or six. Odds are good you hit with at least four of the attacks, if not all five. If they actually have five in their dice pool, you're going to hit them for 7 DV, maybe only 6 DV (if you have a fetish or are willing to take some hits and bump it to Force 4, it's going to be 8 DV). If they have 4 dice pool, it's either 8 or 9 DV most of the time. The real fun is if they are weaker than that. At 3 dice pool, you're going to get between 10 and 11 DV, and if they can only muster 2 dice pool, we're looking at 13 DV! Even without burning any edge, you could take down an average opponent in one action phase!

The cool thing is that with multi-attack and LOS attacks, you have the option of spreading the attack across a couple of targets for more flexibility, though at some point you split yourself too thin and are better off with an AoE attack.

Thanks for you detailed response on character.

I was all prepared to shoot down your argument, but I wanted to double check rules just to make sure..

You're right about splitting dice pools, I would have assumed it would mean extra drain, but I couldn't find anything in book saying otherwise.. 

To get the 27 dice pool, character spends Edge and then if he incapacitates target, he gets spent Edge Point Back. (Revels in Murder Quality.)  By spending Edge to cast spell, he only has to cast Spell at Force 1, so drain isn't an issue. 

The only thing that I see being problem is that I'm pretty sure you need at least one net Success for a Direct Damaging spell to be successful.  I don't see it anywhere in the rules where it says that, but that's how I personally would rule it as a GM.

This is what book says in regards to Direct Damaging spells.

Direct: When your direct combat spell is successfully
cast, it inflicts a number of boxes of damage equal
to your net hits on the opposed test. The opposed test
generally pits your Spellcasting + Magic [Force] against
either Body (for physical spells) or Willpower (for mana
spells). The target does not get to resist the damage,
only the Spellcasting test.

Lets say we split spell 3 times, that would give us a dice pool of 9, so average number of successes is 3, average target is going to probably get 1 or 2 successes, so 3 to 4 damage per spell cast, but there is good chance at least one spell might fail. If you are splitting the dice pool even further, makes it even more likely spells are going to fail, assuming that you need at least 1 net success on Spellcasting Test, which I think most GMs would rule that would be the case.

[cbsmith]

The only thing that I see being problem is that I'm pretty sure you need at least one net Success for a Direct Damaging spell to be successful.  I don't see it anywhere in the rules where it says that, but that's how I personally would rule it as a GM.

That's exactly as I understand it as well, so that is factored in to what I said.

average target is going to probably get 1 or 2 successes, so 3 to 4 damage per spell cast, but there is good chance at least one spell might fail

The average target is going to be getting about 1 hit, particularly if you are being smart and using a physical direct damage spell on the mage/decker types, and going with a mana direct damage spell on the sammi types. Sure, if someone has 5 dice, they have a good shot at getting 2 hits, but your *average* opponent should really be working with 3 dice. That makes two hits highly unlikely. Less likely than you getting two hits with 5 or 6 dice. Either way, this is why you'd want to go at least Force 3 for your attacks, because that way you have a decent shot at getting three hits, which makes even two hits pointless.

The right way to think about this is that in exchange for an increased risk of missing, you get the damage equivalent of bonus 6 dice in your dice pool (+2DV from Witness My Hate) every time you split your attacks. So, if you split 5 ways, while your risk of missing is much higher, it is like having double your dice pool for damage purposes. That works out as a net win as long as you hit a decent amount of the time.

I ran a simulation breakdown:

Attack Dice	Force	Defence Dice	Outcome distribution
6	4	5	1.3%: 6, 6.2%: 5, 14.9%: 4, 23%: 3, 54.56%: miss
6	3	5	4.2%: 5, 14.6%: 4, 25.2%: 3, 56%: miss
5	4	5	0.6%: 6, 3.66%: 5, 11.3%: 4, 21.3%: 3, 63.1%: miss
5	3	5	2.8%: 5, 11.1%: 4, 22%: 3, 64%: miss
6	4	4	1.8%: 6, 8.3%: 5, 18.2%: 4, 25.3%: 3, 46.1%: miss
6	3	4	6.4%: 5, 19.3%: 4, 27.6%: 3, 46%: miss
5	4	4	0.9%: 6, 5%: 5, 14.4%: 4, 24.8%: 3, 54.9%: miss
5	3	4	4%: 5, 14.7%: 4, 25.8%: 3, 55.4%: miss
6	4	3	3%: 6, 11%: 5, 21.8%: 4, 27.4%: 3, 36.7%: miss
6	3	3	9.5%: 5, 24%: 4, 29.5%: 3, 37%: miss
5	4	3	1.3%: 6, 6.9%: 5, 17.8%: 4, 28.4%: 3, 45.6%: miss
5	3	3	6.3%: 5, 19%: 4, 29%: 3, 45.7%: miss

So yeah, against a 5 defense pool target, I'd probably only split it into four attacks. That shouldn't be your normal scenario though (how many opponents will have 5+ body *and* 5+ willpower?).

As you can imagine, it just gets more overwhelming if their defense dice pool is lower than 3. WIth 27 dice split 5 ways, you'd have two shots with 6 dice, and three with 5 dice. That means, on average, you'll miss 51.3% of the time and do 8.92 DV against 4 defense pool. With a single attack, you will hit 99.8% of the time, and you could do more damage against them... if you cast a Force 10 spell: averaging 9.11 DV, and it would only do 12 physical 8.2% of the time. A Force 9 spell would do 8.69 DV on average, and only do 11 physical 11.12% of the time. That's a lot of drain (and physical drain at that).

At a 3 defense pool opponent, you're only going to miss 36.9% of the attacks with 6 dice pool and average 1.99DV, and 45.7% of the attacks and average 2.42DV with 5 dice pool. Going with that is going to do oodles more than even that Force 10 spell's average of 9.44 DV.

[Overbyte]

If I allowed a char to do this (which I wouldn't) I would allow the NPC's to do it too. 

[Bushw4cker]

The only thing that I see being problem is that I'm pretty sure you need at least one net Success for a Direct Damaging spell to be successful.  I don't see it anywhere in the rules where it says that, but that's how I personally would rule it as a GM.

That's exactly as I understand it as well, so that is factored in to what I said.

average target is going to probably get 1 or 2 successes, so 3 to 4 damage per spell cast, but there is good chance at least one spell might fail

The average target is going to be getting about 1 hit, particularly if you are being smart and using a physical direct damage spell on the mage/decker types, and going with a mana direct damage spell on the sammi types. Sure, if someone has 5 dice, they have a good shot at getting 2 hits, but your *average* opponent should really be working with 3 dice. That makes two hits highly unlikely. Less likely than you getting two hits with 5 or 6 dice. Either way, this is why you'd want to go at least Force 3 for your attacks, because that way you have a decent shot at getting three hits, which makes even two hits pointless.

The right way to think about this is that in exchange for an increased risk of missing, you get the damage equivalent of bonus 6 dice in your dice pool (+2DV from Witness My Hate) every time you split your attacks. So, if you split 5 ways, while your risk of missing is much higher, it is like having double your dice pool for damage purposes. That works out as a net win as long as you hit a decent amount of the time.

I ran a simulation breakdown:

Attack Dice	Force	Defence Dice	Outcome distribution
6	4	5	1.3%: 6, 6.2%: 5, 14.9%: 4, 23%: 3, 54.56%: miss
6	3	5	4.2%: 5, 14.6%: 4, 25.2%: 3, 56%: miss
5	4	5	0.6%: 6, 3.66%: 5, 11.3%: 4, 21.3%: 3, 63.1%: miss
5	3	5	2.8%: 5, 11.1%: 4, 22%: 3, 64%: miss
6	4	4	1.8%: 6, 8.3%: 5, 18.2%: 4, 25.3%: 3, 46.1%: miss
6	3	4	6.4%: 5, 19.3%: 4, 27.6%: 3, 46%: miss
5	4	4	0.9%: 6, 5%: 5, 14.4%: 4, 24.8%: 3, 54.9%: miss
5	3	4	4%: 5, 14.7%: 4, 25.8%: 3, 55.4%: miss
6	4	3	3%: 6, 11%: 5, 21.8%: 4, 27.4%: 3, 36.7%: miss
6	3	3	9.5%: 5, 24%: 4, 29.5%: 3, 37%: miss
5	4	3	1.3%: 6, 6.9%: 5, 17.8%: 4, 28.4%: 3, 45.6%: miss
5	3	3	6.3%: 5, 19%: 4, 29%: 3, 45.7%: miss

So yeah, against a 5 defense pool target, I'd probably only split it into four attacks. That shouldn't be your normal scenario though (how many opponents will have 5+ body *and* 5+ willpower?).

As you can imagine, it just gets more overwhelming if their defense dice pool is lower than 3. WIth 27 dice split 5 ways, you'd have two shots with 6 dice, and three with 5 dice. That means, on average, you'll miss 51.3% of the time and do 8.92 DV against 4 defense pool. With a single attack, you will hit 99.8% of the time, and you could do more damage against them... if you cast a Force 10 spell: averaging 9.11 DV, and it would only do 12 physical 8.2% of the time. A Force 9 spell would do 8.69 DV on average, and only do 11 physical 11.12% of the time. That's a lot of drain (and physical drain at that).

At a 3 defense pool opponent, you're only going to miss 36.9% of the attacks with 6 dice pool and average 1.99DV, and 45.7% of the attacks and average 2.42DV with 5 dice pool. Going with that is going to do oodles more than even that Force 10 spell's average of 9.44 DV.

To get the 27 dice pool, character spends Edge and then if he incapacitates target, he gets spent Edge Point Back. (Revels in Murder Quality.)  By spending Edge to cast spell, he only has to cast Spell at Force 1, so drain isn't an issue.

so a Force 1 Spell cast using Edge, you're going to average 10 to 11 Hits, that is 12 to 13 damage.

[tehtrain]

Can you really just split one spell into multiple attacks? Coldn't find anything about it, can you give me the page number for that?

The only thing I can find is that you can cast multiple spells in one action, but  that would make the whole split-thing unusable.

[ikarinokami]

yes you can do this, people have been doing it this 4A.  it's page 281.  you can cast the same spell split this way up to your magic attribute. you he could split his dice pool 6 times and cast 6 spells at the same or different targets.

[drakir]

Disclaimer: Haven't looked up the rules for edge when casting multiple spells. Casting multiple spells is page 281.

If the rules are not on your side the edge dice just get added to one of the spells you're casting. (And therefore only rule of six on on of the spells.

On the other hand, modifiers (from foci and mentor) to the spell *might* be applied after splitting dicepool (at least they do if the modifiers are different). The mage may benefit from this hugely if that is the case. (And I'm not sure it is. Maybe errata exist)

PS:  Still believe my priority build is "better", although not necessarily more playable/interesting.
Could not find it in the rules, but if I was GM I would make a mage casting multiple spells sum up the drain and take it all at once. Otherwise there is no downside.

[cbsmith]

To get the 27 dice pool, character spends Edge and then if he incapacitates target, he gets spent Edge Point Back. (Revels in Murder Quality.)  By spending Edge to cast spell, he only has to cast Spell at Force 1, so drain isn't an issue.

I'm sorry, I totally forgot that.

In that context, you will definitely do more damage on average against someone with 5 or more dice pool with a single edged attack than if you split it. If they have 4 dice pool, you should split it into 2 attacks, with 3 dice pool, you should probably go with 3 attacks, and below that 5 attacks is the safe play.

At the five dice pool level, you're still going to have a problem getting that revels in murder advantage to kick in. You're going to have a heck of a time getting them in to overflow from an undamaged state, particularly if that five dice pool is because they have five body, and therefore 11 physical damage boxes (assuming no modifiers). That's a comparatively low chance of doing over 11 physical (even with the rule of 6 helping you out). Your odds, however bad, of getting overflow actually improve by splitting the attack up into 2 attacks (+2.4%).

Revels in murder is really only helpful if your opponent is weak or has already been softened up a bit. Thank God, because it's some great cheese.

[cbsmith]

If the rules are not on your side the edge dice just get added to one of the spells you're casting. (And therefore only rule of six on on of the spells.

P. 196 of the core rulebook seem to make it pretty clear that the edge dice get added to the entire dice pool. It makes a lot more sense for it to work that way too.

Could not find it in the rules, but if I was GM I would make a mage casting multiple spells sum up the drain and take it all at once. Otherwise there is no downside.

There's plenty of downside, because your opponent gets to defend against each attack with their defense. So, logically, you get to resist the drain of each attack with your drain defense. Basically, the splitting trick against one opponent is really only useful if a) their defense pool is comparatively low, so you still have a decent chance of hitting after the split and b) you have witness my hate, which gives you that +2DV on each attack.

[cbsmith]

Revel in Murder is completely broken but that's probably the most powerful use I've seen with it. Good luck for your runners if you use that one against them.

I was trying to think of bigger abuses of Revel In Murder that might be possible.

The obvious use is a shooting adept. An Ares Desert Strike, a Krime Boss, or the truly unsubtle choices like an Ares Antioch-2 or Vigorous Assault Cannon... all tricked out with Take Aim modifiers, max lethal ammo, and smartlink modifiers. You have to cut through armor, but with edge adding to your dice pool, you've got a decent shot at it.

One thought is that it would be indirect elemental spells, particularly with LoS(A) spells where the test limit is fixed at three. They aren't very subtle and can't be used in a lot of situations, but when the moment is right, they'd be devastating. If you are willing to suffer the drain (you'd likely want a fetish to keep it from being outright deadly to the caster), you could bump up the force to a nasty level, and your net hits would likely offset a lot of the armor soak of the defenders. Edged at Force 12, with say 7 net hits you're talking 19Pv-12 to a 12m radius... with that high AP, even a pretty well armoured opponent is not going to soaking up enough damage to survive that hit, and of course you only need one person in the radius to die to get your edge back. If your opponents aren't too heavily armored, you could even cast two spells... Say, 2x Force 8, would get you some nasty stun damage (daredrenaline never looked so good), but would opponents would have to suck up ~11Pv-8 *twice*. I think that might be even more effective than with a WMH loaded direct damage spell, though those spells would be great for picking off the survivors.

Certainly with high strength melee/throw adepts I could see some abuse. A cyclops with maxed out strength, missile mastery, improved throwing ability, agility boost, and precision throwing could spear people for 19Pv-1 (20P if they use SURGE/Genetic Optimization/Exceptional Attribute to boost their base strength to 12). It'd be particularly fun with improvised throwing weapons where you normally have a low accuracy limit impeding your effectiveness. Being able to toss a credstick through the head of someone 50m away and getting your edge back seems pretty insane. While you don't have the range advantage, swinging a combat axe for 21Pv-4 or 22Pv-4 is going to leave a mark (on someone's grave), particularly with some edge dice added to the pool.

Some exotic melee weapons could work, a melee adept with a garrote (particularly a monofilament one) could wreak some pretty terrible havoc. A monofilament whip might do okay, though against tough you'd probably save your edge/finishing move for the second attack.

Probably the craziest and least subtle one I came up with though would be using a Blast Shield. With a 20Pv-4, someone is going to die even without net hits to pile on. The only problem it is ridiculously unsubtle carrying around one blast shield, let alone a bundle of them.

In the end though, I don't think Revels in Murder is going to be quite such an advantage for runners, as dropping bodies everywhere you go just isn't that practical. If you start leaving dead bodies everywhere, you're going to face a HTR team on a regular basis. That can really cut into a runner's life span.