[Thawmus]

Hello, long time since I've been here, equally as long since the last campaign I played in.

In past campaigns I played an Elf Shaman (I know, I know), and then a Human Technomancer, and while I really liked those characters, I really never had an opportunity to do the thing that really attracted me to Shadowrun in the first place:  Cyberware.  And I really wanted to just play a Face who could hold his own in a firefight.

So, before I start, let me just kinda outline what I wanted in the character:

1. I wanted an Ork.  I know Ork Faces aren't impossible, but it makes the chargen more difficult.
2. I wanted the exact negative qualities I've chosen.  I really like the idea of a guy who's so into old videos of Dallas and old Westerns that he scorched himself on BTLs that override his personality from time to time.
3. I wanted him to be a negotiator and a bit of a con artist and intimidator, but not necessarily a social infiltrator or team leader.  He's the guy that will walk up to you and shake your hand so hard you think bones have broken, and put an arm around your shoulder while he talks to you with a cigar in his mouth.  You know, a bully.
4. I wanted cyberware.
5. I wanted a Bentley.

So keep these goals in mind as you give advice (though that doesn't mean alternate advice isn't welcome, just be aware of the above).  And under these constraints, this is what I came up with:

EDIT: Changed due to suggestions, see post #17

¥Texas



A- Resources - 450,000
B - Ork (4)
C - Skills - 28/2
D - Attributes - 14
E - Mundane

Attributes
=============
Body -5
Agi - 4 (6)
Rea - 3
Str - 3 (5)
Wil - 3
Log - 1
Int - 4
Cha - 4
Edge - 5
Ess - 2.0
Ini - 7+1d6

Physical Limit - 6
Mental Limit - 3
Social Limit - 7

Physical boxes - 11
Stun boxes - 10
Overflow - 5

P.Qualities - (17)
Human-Looking - 6
First Impression - 11

N.Qualities - (23)
Addiction - mild - Novacoke - 4
Addiction - moderate - BTLs - 9
Scorched - BTLs - Blackout - 10

Skills
==============
(Stealth) - 2
Con - 4
Running - 1 (2 karma)
Unarmed - 1 (2 karma)
Computer - 1 (2 karma)
Longarms - 6 +2 Shotguns
Etiquette - 4
Negotiation - 6 +2 Contracts
Perception - 1 (2 karma)
Intimidation - 4
PGC - 1 (2 karma)

Know Skills
=============
English - N
Fancy wining and dining - 3
Fancy cars - 2
Fancy music - 2
Criminal organizations - 3

Contacts
===========
Drug dealer - C3 L3
Cyberdoc - C3 L3

Augmentations:
=============
Tailored Pheremones - R3 - 0.6 Ess - 93,000
Muscle Replacement - R2 - 2 Ess - 50,000
Smartlink - 0.2 Ess  - 4,000
    Sim module - 100
    hot-sim - 250
Skilljack - R6 - 0.6 Ess - 120,000
Commlink - R6 - 0.2 Ess - 7,000
Flare Compensation - 0.1 Ess - 1,000
Image Link - 0.1 Ess - 1,000
Sound Link - 0.1 Ess - 1,000
Damper - 0.1 Ess - 2,250

Gear:
Shock Gloves - 550
Ares Desert Strike - 17,500
    -Smartgun (external, under barrel) - 200
    -silencer - 500
    -Vision magnification - 250
    -Thermographic - 500
Defiance T-250 (short barrel) - 450
    - Smartgun (internal)- 450
    - Flare comp - 250
Enfield AS-7 - 1,100
    - Smartgun (external, under barrel) - 200
    - Flare comp - 250

Clothing - 4,000
Actioneer Business Clothes - 1,500
    - Electrochromic - 500
Armor Jacket - 1,000


AR gloves - 150
Subvocal mic - 50
Bug Scanner - R6 - 600
Jammer, area - R4 - 800
Tag eraser - 450
White Noise Generator - R6 - 300
Shopsoft - Languasofts - 150
Shopsoft - Knowsofts - 150
Mapsoft - 100
Datasoft - Security do's and don'ts - 120
Linguasoft - Japanese R6 - 6,000
Knowsoft - Accounting R6 - 12,000
Credsticks, 1 standard, 1 silver, 1 platinum - 525

SK-Bentley Concordat - 65,000
    - Rigger Interface - 1,000

Autopicker - R6 - 3,000
Cellular glove molder - R4 - 2,000
Keycard copier - R6 - 3,600
Maglock passkey - R4 - 8,000
Mono chainsaw - 500
Sequencer - R4 - 1,000
Climbing gear - 200
Gas mask - 200
Grapple gun - 500
Catalyst stick - 120
Stealth rope - 500M - 425
Medkit - R6 - 1500
    - supplies(x5) - 500

Fake SIN - R4 - 10,000
    Fake license - concealed carry - R4 - 800
    Fake license - firearms - R4 - 800
    Fake license - locksmith - R4 - 800
    Fake license - surveillance devices - R4 - 800
    Fake license - smartgun system - R4 - 800
    Fake license - PGC - R4 - 800
   
Fake SIN - R2 - 5,000

2 months Medium lifestyle - 10,000

Jazz(x4) - 300
Cram(x10) - 100
Novacoke (x10) - 100
Psyche - 200
Kamikaze - 100

BTL - Personafix
    - William Munney (x3) - 600
    - Doc Holliday - 200
    - Little Bill - 200
    - Wyatt Earp - 200
    - George W. Bush - 200
    - J.R. Ewing (x3) - 600

DocWagon Basic - 5,000



Note that at this point I've spent 4 karma on resources, so I have:

17 karma left

3660 nuyen left

Unless I've miscalculated something somewhere.  Not sure where to spend the rest, or what I should change at this point.  One thought is to up my Logic, but that won't bump my mental limit at all.  Another is to lower my Reaction, increase my Charisma and Intuition, and then use 10 karma to bump the Reaction back up to 2.  That would bump my Social limit up to 8 (9 when coked up).


EDIT: Quick note, I have a rigger interface for the Bentley because we have a Rigger on our team who requested I do so


EDIT EDIT:  I only have SR5.  I can get access to other books but cannot browse them at my leisure.  If you suggest anything outside of SR5, please note which book they're in so I can hunt them down, thanks!

[ShadowcatX]

You're spending over a quarter of your priority A on a skilljack but don't have skillwires to back it up, I would probably drop those.

Logic of 1 is indicative of someone who is very slow. That's probably not what you want in a face.

Con 4 with no specialization if problematic IMO. You're missing out on a hit and a third every time you roll.

You have a lot invested into combat for someone who is not guaranteed even a second initiative pass (and only has a 50% chance of having one).

I would probably redo him with Ork at C and skills at B and buy a second point of edge (and maybe even a third). I would redo the cyberware to be more typical of a street samurai but with a cyber arm and tailered pheromones.

[Thawmus]

You're spending over a quarter of your priority A on a skilljack but don't have skillwires to back it up, I would probably drop those.

Logic of 1 is indicative of someone who is very slow. That's probably not what you want in a face.

Con 4 with no specialization if problematic IMO. You're missing out on a hit and a third every time you roll.

You have a lot invested into combat for someone who is not guaranteed even a second initiative pass (and only has a 50% chance of having one).

I would probably redo him with Ork at C and skills at B and buy a second point of edge (and maybe even a third). I would redo the cyberware to be more typical of a street samurai but with a cyber arm and tailered pheromones.

Solid suggestions. Thank you.  I'll work on a redo based on the above and see how it shakes out.

Re: Initiative: I kept buying Wired Reflexes and removing them due to the heavy costs in essence and Nuyen. I was going to handle it with spending edge and using drugs (was what I did with my Technomancer). Do you consider Wired Reflexes a must?

Re: skilljack and Logic score: I wasn't terribly happy with either. But I'm still not sure what to do about it at Attributes D. Or should I up my Logic a couple points, down my Reaction, and buy up Reaction?  Maybe best to ask this after a redo.

[Jackleg Rooster]

I wanted him to be a negotiator and a bit of a con artist and intimidator, but not necessarily a social infiltrator or team leader.  He's the guy that will walk up to you and shake your hand so hard you think bones have broken, and put an arm around your shoulder while he talks to you with a cigar in his mouth.  You know, a bully

I really like this concept. I quoted the part above because it's the part a GM needs to know. Dumping logic on a face is very uncommon but if he's a tough guy then I think it works. Dumb as a rock but big personality. Know how to throw his weight around to get what he wants. Good stuff.

If he uses the skilljack to fill in the gaps in his knowledge with knowsofts then that's actually pretty clever.

10/10 would run with

[Ogrepot]

I would not run with this guy...
1 in LOG means (as previously written) Dumb as a Rock, you can even take the Illiterate quality, it would fit. You need at least 2 in LOG.
For a Face, having Wired Refexes is not an obligation, you can get 1D6+1 with the Geneware for 0.3 essence and bump it with reaction enhancers and Cerebellium boosters, that should do it, get you a second pass or an interrupt action.
Instead of buying all the mods for eyes, just buy cyber eyes...
There is a cyber implant that gives a +2 to intimidation, i guess he would have picked it (fits the character) and he could have taken a spec in Con and Intimidation (Physical maybe).
I might have taken a hardwire skill for unarmed combat (for a guy that doesn't know how to fight, but wanted to make the boxing look good)... but that is accessory.
Dump the skilljack, useless with your comp (though having 1 at rank 6 without skillwires really shows this guy has LOG 1).

[Thawmus]

Ugh, OP fail.

Didn't mention I only have SR5.  Definitely should be in the OP, fixing now.

I can borrow some other books from my GM but since I don't own them they're difficult to browse.  If you're talking about stuff outside of SR5, please let me know at least which book they're in so I can hunt them down.

[Ogrepot]

Basics:
Cyberware, Bioware and Geneware in Chrome and Flesh
Face in Cuting Aces
Orks in complete Trog (the Nasty Trog quality increases intimidation ...)
Bonuses:
Run Faster for extra qualities

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Ugh, OP fail.

Didn't mention I only have SR5.  Definitely should be in the OP, fixing now.

I can borrow some other books from my GM but since I don't own them they're difficult to browse.  If you're talking about stuff outside of SR5, please let me know at least which book they're in so I can hunt them down.

In Run Faster (see pg 104) there's the variant metahuman types.. Oni is a subtype of Ork that'd possibly interest you.  Upside: they get a BONUS to charisma and their racial limit is 7!  Downside: their physical stats aren't as beefy as regular Orks, plus they have a bizarre appearance (even for the Sixth World) that may hinder your face-work in certain cases.

[Thawmus]

EDIT: See post #17 for current sheet



Okay, here's round 2 of this character.  I've kept most of the gear from the original, but had access to Run & Gun last night, so grabbed some nicer armored suits and an auto-injector for my drugs.  Dropped a lot of my augs and got a sweet cyberarm.  Grabbed R1 Wireless Reflexes and R2 Reaction Enhancers, so my minimum Initiative roll is 11, and have 9 dice for defense.  R2 Wireless Reflexes dug too hard into my resources and essence.

Grabbed cybereyes and cyberears, got enhancements for both to improve perception tests.
And most importantly, not Logic 1, has more skills, still kept the Bentley, and now have a 13P melee option.


Take a look, tell me what you would still change.  You'll note at the bottom I still have slightly more money than I can start with, and extra capacity in my cybereyes.  I can't take anymore essence hits without seeing my Social Limit drop, though.

¥Texas

A - Resources - 450,000
B - Skills - 36/5
C - Ork (0)
D - Attributes - 14
E - Mundane

Body - 5
Agi - 3
Rea - 1 (4)
Str - 3
Wil - 3
Log - 3
Int - 5
Cha - 4
Edge - 3 (25 karma)
Essence - 1
Initiative - 9 + 2d6

Physical - 4 (5)
Mental - 4
Social - 4 (

Physical boxes - 12
Stun boxes - 10
Overflow - 5

Street Cred - 0
Notoriety - -2
Public Awareness - 0

Drug dealer - C3 L3
Cyberdoc - C3 L3

P.Qualities - (17)
Human-Looking - 6
First Impression - 11

N.Qualities - (23)
Addiction - mild - Novacoke - 4
Addiction - moderate - BTLs - 9
Scorched - BTLs - Blackout - 10

(Stealth) - 2
(Athletics) - 3
Negotiation - 6 (+2 Contracts)
Con - 6 (+2 Fast-talk)
Longarms - 6 (+2 Shotguns)
Intimidation - 4
Perception - 1 (2 karma)
PGC - 1 (2 karma)
Etiquette - 4
Unarmed - 6 (+2 cyber-implants)
Computer -1 (2 karma)

English - N
Fancy wining and dining - 3
Fancy cars - 2
Fancy music - 2
Criminal organizations - 3
Military Service - 4
Fixers - 2

Augmentations:
Tailored Pheremones - R3 - 0.6 Ess - 93,000
Cyberlimb - Full Arm - Agi 6, Str 8 - Synthetic - Spurs - Ag +2 Str +2 - 1 Ess - 86,000
    Agi - 8, Str - 10, 13P damage spurs
Commlink - R6 - 0.2 Ess - 7,000
Sim module - 100
hot-sim - 250
Wired Reflexes - R1 - Ess 2 - 39,000
Reaction Enhancers R2 - Ess 0.6 - 26,000
Cybereyes - R3 - 0.4 Ess - 10,000 - Capacity 12
    -Flare Comp - [1] - 1,000
    - Low-light - [2] - 1,500
    - Smartlink - [3] - 4,000
    - Vision Enhancement - R3 - [3] - 12,000
Cyberears - R1 - 0.2 Ess - 3,000
    -Damper - [1] - 2,250
    -Audio Enhancement - R3 - [3] - 12,000


Gear:
Ares Desert Strike - 17,500
    -Smartgun (external, under barrel) - 200
    -silencer - 500
    -Vision magnification - 250
    -Thermographic - 500
    - Spare clip - 5
    - APDS ammo - 20 - 240
    - Regular Ammo - 20 - 40
    - Stick-n-Shock - 20 - 160
Defiance T-250 (short barrel) - 450
    - Smartgun (internal)- 450
    - Flare comp - 250
    - Spare Clip - 5
Enfield AS-7 - 1,100
    - Smartgun (external, under barrel) - 200
    - Flare comp - 250
    - Spare Drum x2 - 10
    - Flechette Rounds - 40 - 260
    - APDS Slugs - 20 - 240
    - Stick-n-Shock Slugs - 20 - 160
Clothing - 4,000
Mortimer of London - Berwick Suit - 2,600
Argentum Coat - 3,600
Armor Jacket - 1,000


AR gloves - 150
Subvocal mic - 50
Bug Scanner - R6 - 600
Jammer, area - R4 - 800
Tag eraser - 450
White Noise Generator - R6 - 300
Shopsoft - Languasofts - 150
Shopsoft - Knowsofts - 150
Mapsoft - 100
Datasoft - Security do's and don'ts - 120
Linguasoft - Japanese R6 - 6,000
Knowsoft - Accounting R6 - 12,000
Credsticks, 1 standard, 1 silver, 1 platinum - 525

SK-Bentley Concordat - 65,000
    - Rigger Interface - 1,000

Autopicker - R6 - 3,000
Cellular glove molder - R4 - 2,000
Keycard copier - R6 - 3,600
Maglock passkey - R4 - 8,000
Mono chainsaw - 500
Sequencer - R4 - 1,000
Climbing gear - 200
Gas mask - 200
Grapple gun - 500
Catalyst stick - 120
Stealth rope - 500M - 425
Medkit - R6 - 1500
    - supplies(x5) - 500

Fake SIN - R4 - 10,000
    Fake license - concealed carry - R4 - 800
    Fake license - firearms - R4 - 800
    Fake license - locksmith - R4 - 800
    Fake license - surveillance devices - R4 - 800
    Fake license - smartgun system - R4 - 800
    Fake license - PGC - R4 - 800
   
Fake SIN - R2 - 5,000

2 months Medium lifestyle - 10,000

Auto-Injector - 1,500
Jazz(x4) - 300
Cram(x10) - 100
Novacoke (x10) - 100
Psyche - 200
Kamikaze - 100

BTL - Personafix
    - William Munny - 200
    - Doc Holliday - 200
    - Little Bill - 200
    - Wyatt Earp - 200
    - Watches You Bleed- 200
    - J.R. Ewing - 200
    - Dale Cooper - 200
    - Mr. C - 200
    - E.L.Fudge - 200
    - Gotcha Dude - 200
DocWagon Basic - 5,000


5890

[Ogrepot]

take Influence group at 5 and use the skill points in negotiation and etiquette to bump running to 3, stealth and perception to 4 (and drop the cyberears).
1 cyber arm is not going to help you much, you use longarms skill, meaning it uses your 2 arms to shoot.... for 105000 nuyen you can have 2 lower arms with agi 6  str 8 and hand blades (str+2 ap-2), a little less than your 1 arm, but less essence and you can use your agi6 with your longarms skill.

quality NASTY TROG (+3 intimidate vs non-trogs) or a Rating 4 Infrasonic Generator Cyberware (0.2 essence, av 12, 16000 nuyen, +4 to intimidate skill).
Biocompatibility Cyberware quality (5 points and drops cyberware essence costs by 10%, just cyberware, not bioware or geneware) if you keep the wired reflexes.
Synaptic Acceleration geneware (only 0.4 essence cost, 78000 nuyen, and gets 1d6+1 initiative and +1 to defenses) instead of wired reflexes if you can fix the cash somewhere.
Reaction Optimization geneware (0.1 essence, 6600 nuyen, +1 to initiative if you already have reaction enhancers).
Wired Reflexes optimization geneware if you keep the wired reflexes (0,1 essence, 9000 nuyen, you activate your wired reflexes with a simple action instead of a complex action).
DO NOT take an integrated commlink, this is not something you want, waste of nuyen and essence.
You have 3 limits at 4, this is too low, you need at least 6 in your specialty.
Always have personalized grips on your guns, it raises the accuracy by 1 for cheap.

I don't see the need for the Ares Desert Strike and the Argentum Coat + the Armor jacket (scrap the Argentum cloak and buy gel packs that give +2 armor to both your berwick suit and your armor jacket)

take Fancy (or socialite) culture at rating 3 instead of 3 topics relating to it
use the 4 remaining points to take economics (which includes accounting) you scrap the rating 6 knowsoft
drop some fake licenses (smartgun systems which is included in the restricted firearms licence, concealed carry and surveillance devices)
Take only rating 2 cybereyes (drop the vision enhancement because you raised your perception before, take Vision Magnification instead which is cheaper and more useful)

things would already look better.

[Thawmus]

Wait, why do I still have those softs? Let me go back through this. Something got screwed up somewhere...

[Lorebane24]

One thing that I think is too eady to overlook is appearance, especially when playing a face.  In response to one above suggestionc for example, there is basicly nowhere that a berwick suit covered in gel packs is going to blend.

[Thawmus]

Remaking due to above advice (thank you both).

I fatally misunderstood how the cyberlimb worked with two-handed weapons.  I blame my inexperience with cyberware.  I got really excited about my amazing dicepools for melee and ranged combat and thought I was getting away with murder.  The "leads an attack" language I still find confusing, but cede that it makes more sense if I'd need both arms to be good.

So I'm kinda mulling over if I want to switch to Automatics instead so I can use a machine pistol instead, or Pistols, or if I do indeed go the double-lower-cyberarm route (Not looking great in my head, though.  For whatever reason I can't shake that a cyberarm from the shoulder down looks cooler to me than a cyberarm from the elbow down.  Personal foibles and how they can wreck chargen!).

I might get gel packs for the armor jacket, but I do agree with Lorebane, I don't want that stuff in my fancy dinner party wear, I'd rather have the coat.

I must have copy-pasted some stuff from the first version over to the second, because I know I didn't intend to have all that software anymore after I ditched the skilljack.  Just didn't catch it!

Re: Limits - That's kinda why I may end up keeping the Wired Reflexes and Reaction Enhancers.  I don't know how else to bump those limits up other than to take Attributes at a higher priority (and I'm already pretty much against the wall on that).  I could dump my Agility a little bit, and my Intuition a little bit, and bump Strength and Willpower 1 each.  That would give me:

Physical - 4
Mental - 4
Social - 12+whatever Essence I end up with /3 - Probably 4

Argh!

I'm less worried about the Social, because I know Tailored Pheremones and the coat with bump it up to 8, but I come 1 point shy of getting each of these limits to 5.  Really don't want to rearrange my priorities.  Attributes D sucks though!

[Thawmus]

Wait, hold up, strike all of that.

My limits are poorly calculated, I rounded down instead of up.

Without even modifying them from before:

Physical - Strength (3)x2 + Body (5) + Reaction (1)= 12
So it's a 4 normally, with reaction enhanceers and wired reflexes it's a 5
Mental - Logic (3) x2 + Intuition (5) + Willpower (3) = 14
So it should have been a 5
Social - Charisma (4) x2 + Willpower (3) + Essence (1) = 12
So it was indeed a 4

So basically if I dropped my Intuition by 1, and my Agility by 1, and raised my Strength (or Reaction) and Charisma (or Willpower) by 1, I'd have 5's across the board.  Then I'd have a 9 for my social limit (in close proximity to the target, of course).

Is that stupid?  Should I do that?

Okay, so it would be:

Body - 5
Agi - 2
Rea - 2
Str - 3
Wil - 3
Log - 3
Int - 4
Cha - 5

Assuming Essence 1 (keeping in mind we're re-drawing that board, but for now, bear with me)

Physical - 5
Mental - 5
Social - 5 (could be a 6 if I can bring my Essence to 3 or higher)

But now I'm definitely needing cyberarms to get anything done.

[Ogrepot]

Also you should modify some negative qualities:
Consumate professional 3 points (street cred comes slower, but you get +2 dice pool to social skills with employers)
Poor Self Control: Vindictive 5 points or thrill seeker 4 points (in both case you should succeed the composure test)
Force of CHaos for 4 points: combat bonuses for employing tactics and group maneuvers are cut in half (because plans are good, but for others).
keep only 1 addiction
get scorched off
you can take an uncommon moderate allergy for 10 points which is better.

the Human Looking quality, you can have it by taking the Metatype Reduction cyberware (0.3 essence and 6000 nuyen, or 0.24 essence and 7200 nuyen in alphaware)
Honest Face costs 5 karma and gives +2 to your opposed willpower+charisma test when someone judges your intentions
Lightning Reflexes costs 20 karma and gives you 1d6+1 to initiative and +1 to defenses (no essence cost, but cannot be combined with any other initiative enhancement, meaning no wired reflexes, no geneware or bioware synaptic acceleration and other stuff).

You get 1.7 points of essence back and 33000 nuyen, the loss of first impression being not a big deal considering you already have tailored pheromones 3.
Which should give you enough for the following:
Reaction Optimization geneware: 0.1 essence, 6600 nuyen, +1 initiative (only because you already have reaction enhancers)
Neuro-Retention Amplification bioware: 0.1 essence, 10000 nuyen, gain the photographic memory quality (0.08 essence and 12000 nuyen in alphaware).

Rating 2 Reaction Enhancers alphaware costs 31200 nuyen but with essence of 0.48.
Rating 3 Infrasonic Generator alphaware costs 1400 nuyen for 0.16 essence (i'd still go for rating 4 normal grade on this one, 0.2 essence and 16000 nuyen)
Rating 2 eyes with smartling, lowlight, flare compensation and vision magnification costs 15700 nuyen and 0.24 essence

If you make some mods like this, you should keep your stats (or get better ones) and still get at least 1 point of essence bonus, for the same amount of cash, and therefore gain on your social limit which is what you want.