Shadowrun Play > Character creation and critique
SR6 - First attempt at a Detective
Ajax:
I needed a drink. I needed a lot of life insurance.
I needed a vacation. I needed a home in the country.
What I had was a coat, a hat, and a gun.
Name & Principle Alias Ishida Ide / ''Lucky''
Concept Ex-Cop Private Dick
Ethnicity & Metatype Japanese Human
Born 2051 Sex Male Height 5'10" Build Slight
Nationality American
The Pitch They told me you were looking for me. Well, you found me. So turn on the sob story. I got the time. But first, tickle my commlink with your credstick. I may have the time, but I haven't got the interest until I know you've got the nuyen. Time takes money, chummer. Just flick the stick through the ARO of the mail slot. My pocket secretary will dump my rates and sheet onto your `link.
The sheet will give you the highlights of my illustrious career: maidens rescued (no guarantees of returning in 'like new' condition), the lost made found, the found made lost... But I don't do erasures. No point in going on, I see in your eyes you've already scanned the sheet. Charlies at the precinct or did Stevie the Snitch pass it on? Don't really matter. If somebody hadn't given you my name, you wouldn't be looking at me.
Now, before we go any further, let me check the cred balance. Whiz! You got my interest, all right. What's the job?
The Lowdown The private detective leads a hard life, balanced between the shadows of crime and the harsh glare of corporate and city law. To keep his own code of honor and justice in tact, he makes constant compromises to get through the day... or the night. He won't touch magic, though his cases often involve it, and he won't augment his body, though sometimes his resolve puts him at a disadvantage. He'll tell you that a man has to stand on his own feet.
Race C Attributes A Magic E Skills B Resources D
Attributes
Body: 3 ( 3 )
Agility: 3 ( 3 )
Reaction: 5 ( 5 )
Strength: 3 ( 3 )
Willpower: 3 ( 3 )
Logic: 5 ( 5 )
Intuition: 6 ( 6 )
Charisma: 6 ( 6 )
Edge: 7
Magic/Resonance: 0
Essence: 6.00
Initiative: 11+1D6
Matrix VR Initiative: 7+2D6 +1D6 HotSIM
Astral Initiative: 11+2D6
Phys CM: 10
Stun CM: 10
Surprise: 11
Composure: 9
Judge Intentions: 9
Memory: 8
Lift/Carry: 90kgs
Defence Rating 4
Bonus D Damage Res 0
Unarmed Attack 2S, 8/—/—/—/—
Primary Ranged Attack Test, 1P, SS, 1/0/0/0/0, 0
Primary Melee Attack Test, 1P, 1/—/—/—/—
Positive Qualities / Racial Bonuses
Negative Qualities / Racial Penalties
Skills
Astral 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Athletics 1 ( 4 ) S: 0 E: 0
Biotech 2 ( 7 ) S: First Aid E: 0
Close Combat 2 ( 5 ) S: Unarmed E: 0
Con 4 ( 10 ) S: Acting E: 0
Conjuring 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Cracking 1 ( 6 ) S: Hacking E: 0
Electronics 1 ( 6 ) S: Computer E: 0
Enchanting 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Engineering 0 ( 4 ) S: 0 E: 0
Exotic Weapons 0 ( / ) S: 0
Firearms 5 ( 8 ) S: Pistols E: 0
Influence 4 ( 10 ) S: Intimidation E: 0
Outdoors 0 ( 5 ) S: 0 E: 0
Perception 2 ( 8 ) S: Urban E: 0
Piloting 1 ( 6 ) S: Ground Craft E: 0
Sorcery 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Stealth 2 ( 5 ) S: Sneaking E: 0
Tasking 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Knowledge / Language Skills
English (Native)
Japanese (2)
Organized Crime
Police Procedure
[Sprawl] Streets
Gear
”My buddies travel light, and they're fun to have around. One travels in a holster, and the other in a hip flask."
There's a lot of gear, but the major items are a Ruger Super Warhawk, Actioneer Business Clothes, a Toyota Gopher, and piles of surveillance equipment... and a hip flask.
Lifestyle
Low (One month pre-paid)
Contacts
"Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman. Just when you think one's all right, he turns legit."
Thành "Duke" Nguyen [Fixer] Connection: 4 Loyalty: 2
Nicholas "Dr. Knick" Knickerbocker [Street Doc] Connection: 3 Loyalty: 2
Sanjuro Nui [Yakuza Lieutenant] Connection: 4 Loyalty: 3
Eijiro Gonji [Yakuza Soldier] Connection: 3 Loyalty: 4
Margret "Maggie" O'Hara [Police Detective] Connection: 4 Loyalty: 3
Charlie Kim [Beat Cop] Connection: 3 Loyalty: 4
Tsukasa Nui [Coffin Motel Clerk] Connection: 2 Loyalty: 5
Stevie "The Snitch" Wichita [Bartender] Connection: 2 Loyalty: 4
Karma Expenditure
Starting Karma 50
Racial Costs 0
Qualities 18
Negative Qualities 22
Attributes 45
Skills 5
Resources 4
Remaining 0
ZeroSum:
1. You have both Intuition and Logic at 6, but at character creation only one attribute can be at max (I fell into this trap when making my first character, too).
--- Quote from: SR6 p.63 ---During character creation, only one attribute may be at the maximum for the selected metatype.
--- End quote ---
2. Just a note on the efficacy of picking Skills at high priorities; spending skill points for low rating skills is quite inefficient considering 1 skill point gives you rank 6 for no additional cost over rank 1. For example, raising a skill from 0 to 1 with Karma costs 5 karma, but going from rank 5 to 6 costs 30 karma. In other words, by spending a skill point on a rank 1 skill you are essentially forfeiting a potentially significant karma advantage. Now, this might be perfectly fine depending on the game you're playing. Just something to be aware of is all; if I were you, I would raise fewer skills to higher level, and spend a few points of Karma on your rating 1 skills. This will let you focus your abilities just a little bit more.
3. Also, you have the Cracking and Electronics skills, but Cracking relies heavily on having a cyberdeck to be able to perform Matrix actions. Was there a specific reason you picked these skills?
For Skills, here's a few things you could do if you were so inclined: Drop Athletics 1, Cracking 1, Electronics 1, and Piloting 1. I would personally also drop biotech 2 or stealth 2. This gives you 6 skill points to further raise Close Combat, Con, Firearms, Influence, and Perception with. To give you an idea of what the math looks like, consider the following.
4x R1 skills: 4x5=20 Karma
1x R2 skills: 2x(5+10)=15 Karma
It would cost you 35 Karma to raise those skills back up to the level they are currently at using Karma. Comparatively, consider this:
Firearms 5 to 6: 30 Karma
Con and Influence 4 to 5: 2x25=50 Karma
Close Combat or Perception 2 to 5= (15+20+25)=60 Karma
You are saving your character from having to spend 140 Karma in-game to increase those skills. Again, this is just general advice to consider when using a priority based system; some choices are objectively more optimal than others, but ultimately you have to choose what concept fits your character. There is no right or wrong way to build a character, but there are ways you can optimize if you want to.
On a non-mechanical note, I think a detective would probably want to be quite perceptive and have good if not great social skills in order to be able to interrogate suspects and ferret out the truth. Skills like electronics and cracking are better left to the Matrix specialists, as police forces in the Sixth world have dedicated personnel for these activities similar to the forensic experts in modern day police forces. Similarly, piloting is something you may or may not need, as driving in SR6 can be wholly handled by GridGuide for the most part, and if you ever have to take a piloting test with only 6 dice you are going to be in trouble because you have to hit the Handling Threshold of your vehicle, which for the Gopher is 4.
I think you have a solid concept on your hands; if you were playing at my table, I would merely recommend narrowing your focus a little bit.
Ajax:
Name & Principle Alias Ishida Ide / ''Lucky'' Version 2
Concept Ex-Cop Private Dick
Metatype Human
Race C Attributes A Magic E Skills B Resources D
Attributes
Body: 3 ( 3 )
Agility: 4 ( 4 )
Reaction: 5 ( 5 )
Strength: 3 ( 3 )
Willpower: 3 ( 3 )
Logic: 5 ( 5 )
Intuition: 6 ( 6 )
Charisma: 6 ( 6 )
Edge: 7
Magic/Resonance: 0
Essence: 6.00
Initiative: 10+1D6
Matrix VR Initiative: 6+2D6 +1D6 HotSIM
Astral Initiative: 10+2D6
Phys CM: 10
Stun CM: 10
Surprise: 10
Composure: 9
Judge Intentions: 8
Memory: 8
Lift/Carry: 90kgs
Defence Rating 4
Bonus D Damage Res 0
Unarmed Attack 2S, 8/—/—/—/—
Primary Ranged Attack Test, 1P, SS, 1/0/0/0/0, 0
Primary Melee Attack Test, 1P, 1/—/—/—/—
Positive Qualities / Racial Bonuses
Analytical Mind ( 3 )
First Impression ( 12 )
Networker ( 3 )
Negative Qualities / Racial Penalties
Addiction, Level 3 ( -6 )
Allergy, Uncommon Moderate [Cats] ( -8 )
SINner ( -8 )
Skills
Astral 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Athletics 0 ( 3 ) S: 0 E: 0
Biotech 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Close Combat 3 ( 7 ) S: Unarmed E: 0
Con 5 ( 11 ) S: Acting E: 0
Conjuring 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Cracking 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Electronics 0 ( 4 ) S: 0 E: 0
Enchanting 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Engineering 0 ( 4 ) S: 0 E: 0
Exotic Weapons 0 ( / ) S: 0
Firearms 6 ( 10 ) S: Pistols E: 0
Influence 5 ( 11 ) S: Intimidation E: 0
Outdoors 0 ( 4 ) S: 0 E: 0
Perception 3 ( 8 ) S: Urban E: 0
Piloting 0 ( 4 ) S: 0 E: 0
Sorcery 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Stealth 2 ( 6 ) S: Sneaking E: 0
Tasking 0 ( / ) S: 0 E: 0
Knowledge / Language Skills
English (Native)
Japanese (2)
Organized Crime
Police Procedure
[Sprawl] Streets
Gear
”My buddies travel light, and they're fun to have around. One travels in a holster, and the other in a hip flask."
¥ 50,000 from Priority D, ¥ 24,000 from Karma
Lifestyle
Low (One month pre-paid)
Contacts
Thành "Duke" Nguyen [Fixer] Connection: 4 Loyalty: 2
Nicholas "Dr. Knick" Knickerbocker [Street Doc] Connection: 3 Loyalty: 2
Sanjuro Nui [Yakuza Lieutenant] Connection: 4 Loyalty: 3
Eijiro Gonji [Yakuza Soldier] Connection: 3 Loyalty: 4
Margret "Maggie" O'Hara [Police Detective] Connection: 4 Loyalty: 3
Charlie Kim [Beat Cop] Connection: 3 Loyalty: 4
Tsukasa Nui [Coffin Motel Clerk] Connection: 2 Loyalty: 5
Stevie "The Snitch" Wichita [Bartender] Connection: 2 Loyalty: 4
Karma Expenditure
Starting Karma 50
Racial Costs 0
Qualities 20
Negative Qualities 22
Attributes 40
Skills 0
Resources 12
Remaining 0
Build Notes Okay, this incorporates ZeroSum's feedback and mostly consists of moving his Skills from many "short stacks" into a smaller number of "tall stacks." Thoughts?
Stainless Steel Devil Rat:
Seems thematically odd that if you're going to have a maxx'd out skill, it's not Perception. He is a Detective, after all...
Ajax:
I see him as being more of the information gathering detective, rather than the forensic evidence gathering type. I’m going for a Sam Spade / Philip Marlowe sort of noir private eye, rather than a Sherlock Holmes sort.
That’s why I’ve chosen to emphasize his Influence and Con skills over Perception. He’s still pretty decent at Perception and his large Edge pool means he can get a “lucky break” now and then to uncover something.
His maxed out Firearms skill is just a necessary conceit to the fact that at the end of the day, he’s a Shadowrun character.
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