[Jack_Spade]

Yeah, stashing the car somewhere not directly accessible is probably the best option. What we need is ready cash. 

[Lorebane24]

So I had an idea for a character but it looks like it might have a lil too much overlap.  I think I'll rule out a spellcaster of any type, so I'm looking at an adept/face, a hacker, or a conjurer/face at this point.  What do you guys think would round out the party the best?

[Tecumseh]

If you like the social back-and-forth then I'd lean toward one of the face options. As for conjurer vs. adept, do you want to do your dirty work or do you want spirits to do it for you?

Alternatively, you can make a pretty bitching disguise/infiltration face with adept powers. Facial Sculpt + Body Sculpt + Keratin Control + Melanin Control + Voice Control. Elf for Agility and Charisma. Maybe carve out some points to do something useful in a fight.

Skills - A (need both Influence and Acting skill groups)
Magic - B
Attributes - C
Metatype - D
Resources - E + In Debt

Or drop Skills to B and raise Attributes to B.

Use your 25 karma from Chapter 1 to buy Edge up to 3 to get yourself out of sticky situations.

[Beta]

@Lorebane: 

I wouldn't say that magic is covered in nearly as much depth as you may think.
- Bobby has only one spell (albeit a powerful and flexible one)
- Jawsey is only good on the astral, the rest of his magical ability is near negligible at this point
- AM is a good spellcaster, but is aspected (so no spirits, etc), and has a somewhat focused list of spells at present:
Fling (Limited)          DV: F-4
Growth (Limited)         DV: F+1
Heal                     DV: F-4
Increase [Attribute] (INT)DV: F-3
Increase [Attribute] (LOG)DV: F-3
Increase [Attribute] (CHA)DV: F-3
Influence (Limited)      DV: F-3
Levitate                 DV: F-2
Makeover                 DV: F-3
Watcher                  DV: Special

AND Gilga is running this next section show AM won't really be around, and I'm hoping to pick up the following one so Jawsey won't be around in that one.

Besides which, in SR5 "we have too much magic" is not something you hear very often!  I think you could easily have a spellcaster who doesn't overlap AM much (and don't worry about overlapping Jawsey's magic).  Someone strong in illusion or detection magic, for example, would be really useful and quite different from what AM is about.

For the sort of group that we are, I have no objections to more social skills, but we may actually have more coverage there than with magic (Jawsey is reasonably strong, AM isn't far behind).  But neither of of the 'master of a 1000 faces' type that many more dedicated faces go for.  So that social adept that Tecumseh mentioned could be pretty cool too.

The only one with any real hacking skills is AM, but if you don't know the matrix stuff too well, that would not be a good call when you are busy.  (but there may well be an interesting technomancer/face build if you are more comfortable with the matrix).

****************************************************

Unrelated question:  Can you get the rating of a focus increased (for the incremental karma and nuyen cost), or do you need to have it done from scratch?   

(I hadn't thought about background count when I bought the rating 1 focus in character creation --> I need to upgrade Jawsey's weapon focus to make his shtick more consistent --> I realized that I wasn't sure of the answer to this question)

[Jack_Spade]

There are rules for upgrading foci in Street Grimoire p.230

[Tecumseh]

Mato comes up with a rudimentary marketing plan:

Logic 2 + Business 3: 5d6t5 1 hit

[Beta]

A very minor note that I changed one of Jawsey's contacts (which had not been used to date).  Changed from Mafia to Vory (and changed his name in the process).  I thought I'd done that earlier, but apparently had only thought about it. 

It just made more sense, his family had dealt with Russian smugglers since he was a child, almost certainly his father had ended up doing work for the Vory when in Seattle, and the contact passed down.  This would be the contact to whom Jawsey owes his debt.

[Lorebane24]

I may go ahead and put together a version of him to see how it pans out, then.  The plan is for him to be a full mage (or maybe a sorcerer who uses deep weed to percieve, so Jawsey can remain the primier astral scout) that focuses on utility and debuff type illusions and manipulations over combat spells or buffs.  I was thinking he'd only have one type of spirit that he could use to sustain illussion spells.

[gilga]

I don't mind an overlap with AM - she'll play to her strengths and can be handy in diverse settings.

[Lorebane24]

Template
Human Male
Karma: 15
Xtra karma: 12
Phys: 10, Stun: 10
Armor: 0, Evasion: 9
Initiative: 9+1d6, Essence: 6
B: 2, S: 2, A: 4, R: 3
L: 3, W: 4, I: 6, C: 4
Edge: 3, Essence: 6
Magic: 6, Initiation Grade: 1
Positive Qualities: Mage (Chaos Tradition)
Negative Qualities:
Skills: Assensing 6, Summoning 5, Small Arms (Pistols) 4 (+2), Sneaking 4, Palming 5, Perception 5, Negotiate 5, Con 6
Skill Groups: Spellcasting 5
Spells: Chaotic World, Silence, Phantasm, Physical Mask, Magic Fingers, Influence, Spatial Sense, Area Thought Recognition
Spirits: Water (Manipulation), Man (Illusion)
Rituals: Ward, Watcher
Metamagics: Psychometry
Weapons:
Other Gear:
Nuyen: 26,000

So here's where I'm at with him right now.  He's very much shaping up to be a dedicated mage that uses magic for misdirection and deception.  Priorities are A(Magic), B(Attributes), B(Skills), E(Race), and E(Resources).  Spent 13 karma (assuming the 25 from after that run) to iniatiate and got the psychometry metagmagic, and 10 has been converted to nuyen.  Still need to do gear and positive/negative qualities, and knowledge skills and contacts, but I wanted to show what I've got so far in case anyone notices any glaring errors.

I was also thinking about going with alchemy instead of spellcasting.  Some of my spell selections would be different but it might be cool.

[Tecumseh]

I played an alchemist for a couple years and found it to be a big hassle of bookkeeping. In my opinion it needs a lot of house rules to make it viable/enjoyable. It's a fussy system and perhaps not the best if you're going to occasionally have time concerns.

You might be under on skills. You should have 46 individual skill points (36 from Skills B and 10 from Magic A) but I only count 41.

Spells are pretty good but I'd recommend Trid Phantasm over Phantasm, and the Extended version of Spatial Sense (awesome spell). I've never played with Area Thought Recognition. I'd spend 10 karma on another 2 spells if you have it to spare. Nothing expands a magician's toolbox like more spells. Heal would be a personal request.

Note that your Physical Limit is 3 due to your low Body and Strength scores, so your hits on Sneaking and Palming tests will be pretty low unless you boost them somehow, like with a chameleon suit. If I were you, I'd raid 2 attribute points out of Logic and buy it back up to 2 with 10 karma. Then drop 1 point into Body (not only boosting your Physical Limit but also giving you an extra box on the Physical condition monitor) and another in Willpower for drain purposes (and an extra box on the Stun condition monitor to boot). If you have another 10 karma to spare, repeat the process with Strength (dropping to 1 then buying back up to 2 with karma) to get your Charisma to 5.

Say 25 karma from chargen and 25 karma from chapter 1:

Initiation (13) +
Nuyen (10) +
Logic 2 (10) +
Strength 2 (10) +
Heal (5) =
48 karma

That's pretty solid, and you can get more from Negative Qualities if there are other gaps you want to fill. Buying and bonding a power focus, for example.

[Lorebane24]

Just before I read this I had finished tinkering with an alchemy/summoning version, who goes priority A skills and B magic (1 special point from human used to bring it to five).  Figured I may as well see if it looks any better.

[gilga]

Looking forward for the character.

[Lorebane24]

So I've been tinkering with it a bit and here's where I'm at now.  Does this look any better?
Spent 10 karma of the initial 25 to raise str from 1 to 2, and I think the rest went into qualities.  25 post-creation was used for initiation (13) and to pick up 2 ranks each in survival and computers (12).  Still have to do knowledge skills and contacts, and got a smidge more nuyen to play with, so I'm going to browse run and gun and cutting aces to see if there's any cool gear.

Template
Human Male
Karma: 0
Phys: 10, Stun: 10
Armor: 0, Evasion: 9
Initiative: 9+1d6, Astral Init: 12+2d6, Essence: 6
B: 3, S: 2, A: 4, R: 3
L: 3, W: 4, I: 6, C: 4
Phys: 4, Ment: 6, Soc: 6
Edge: 3, Essence: 6
Magic: 6, Initiation Grade: 1
Positive Qualities (21): Mage(Chaos Tradition), Focused Concentration 3, First Impression
Negative Qualities (15): In Debt (11), Mild Addiction (Novacoke), Did You Just Call Me Dumb?
Skills: Assensing 5,* Summoning 5,* Con (Fast Talk) 5(+2 ), Small Arms (Pistols) 3(+2), Negotiation (Bargaining) 5(+2), Perception 4, Sneaking 4, Palming 4, Locksmith 4, Etiquette 4, Computers 2, Survival 2
Skill Groups: Sorcery 5
Spells: Chaotic World, Silence, Trid Phantasm, Physical Mask, Clairvoyance, Area Thought Recognition, Influence, Decrease Intuition
Spirits: Water (Manipulation), Man (Illussion)
Rituals: Watcher, Curse
Metamagics: Psychometry
Weapons: Remington Roomsweeper (Smartlinked), Ares Lightfire 75, Defiance EX Shocker (Smartlinked)
Ammo & Accessories: Quick-Draw Holster, Concealable Holster, Hidden Arm Slide, Shotgun Shells x80, Explosive Slugs x40, Standard Light Pistol Rounds x80, Taser Darts x20
Armor: Lined Coat (Thermal Dampening 3, Fire Resistant 3, Insulated 3), Armor Vest, Actioneer Business Cloths
Other Gear: Erika Elite Commlink (R4), AR Gloves, Glasses (Image Link, Smartlink, Low-Light Vision, Image Link), Earbuds (Spatial Recognizer, Select Sound Filter 2, Fake SIN (R4) x2, Fake SIN (R2) x2, Stealth Tags x10, Micro-Transceiver, Tag Eraser, White-Noise Generator, Sequencer (R4), Autopicker (R6), DocWagon Basic (1 Year), Stim Patch (R6) x10,
Lifestyle: Low (2 months)
Nuyen: 18,710

[gilga]

Looks good to me, I'll wait for story and background and write you in the story.