[baronspam]

Recently somone in another thread asked if there was a general do's and don't list for character creation.  I tried to start one there, but it didn't really get any momentum.  I thought I would give it another go with its own thread, and toss out some basic ideas to get the ball rolling.

In no particular order:

Don't assume you can always stay in the van (or other vehicle of your choice).

Not everyone has to be a combat monster, but be able to do something  in a fight.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket, but don't try to do so many things that you end up being good at none of them.

Don't take skill groups unless your really want all the skills.  But if you do they are a bargain.

Being able to defend and to perceive are critical to survival.

Edge is a wonderful thing.

Don't forget that gymnastics substitutes for dodge, and is easier to bonus with cyberware.

Augmentation or Magic, and play it to the hilt.

Adepts are the exception to the above rule.  A little bioware can make a good adept into a great adept.

Always have another ID ready.

Firewall 6.  Analyze 6.  There is no excuse. 

Legwork is everyone's job.

Contacts: you want some.

A specialization is only 2 karma during play.  Unless its a low skill that will only be usefull in the specialized area that you don't intend to advance, save the specialization for later.

[UmaroVI]

I would nitpick a few of those.

Don't take a skill group unless you want at least 3 of those skills.

If you are a mage or a technomancer, you're an exception to the Spec-at-chargen rule, because you have stuff that you can and do want to pour karma into (initiating/submerging and raising magic/resonance).

I will also add a few. Consider everything to have an "unless it is for RP purposes" disclaimer. If you want to make an ork charisma mage with Firearms 2 and Close Combat 2 because that's the character you envision, then feel free.

Avoid taking redundant combat options. Don't take the Firearms or Close Combat skill groups. Don't make a mage with Agility 2 and Pistols 1. Don't give your mage eight different combat spells that do fundamentally the same thing.

Decompiling and Banishing are trap options.

Wear proper armor. "Proper" for most people means "not obviously armor and at your encumbrance limit." You should be using Form Fitting Body Armor.

Always start and end character creation by asking yourself "why is this character not an ork." If you don't have a good answer you should be an ork.

If you can't afford everything you want, buy your skills to 4, the maximum you will ever want, or not at all (or 1 if you can't live without it for a little while) because you will get everything you want faster with karma. Same for stats - if you want but cannot afford two 5s, you're better off with a 5 and a 1 than two 3s.

[Jaffer]

Your second character will be better then your first, don't give your first character the 'enemy' quality then build that enemy.

Do, go into your first play session expecting to die, if the GM likes you, you'll survive.

Do read all of the book before you make your first character.
No not skip over the matrix and awakened sections cause you're making a gun bunny.  (Guilty)

[Glyph]

Before your character concept gets set in stone, rough it out a bit, to see if it actually works within the Shadowrun rules.  There are many things that are cool in concept, but problematic in execution.  A good character should have crunch that matches the fluff.

Balance optimizing your character out of the starting gate, and optimizing him for advancement.  Specializations may be cheaper after the game begins, but specializations are still worth it for two things - your main specialty, where you will want a large dice pool, and low-rated skills where a specialization lets you function in that skill (pilot ground vehicle: 1 with a specialization in wheeled, etc.).  On the other hand, hard-maxing Attributes is usually disproportionately expensive, and is better done with karma.

This is a game where it is far easier to specialize than to generalize, and where augmentations and magic give incredibly cheap boosts to your abilities.  These are not system flaws - they are design features.  It is a game of transhumanism, where you are playing a member of a team of freelance expert specialists.  Making a character who is an unaugmented mundane, a Jack of all trades, or both, is going against the grain of both the game and the setting.  I'm not saying don't do it, but if you do it, be aware that your character will be challenging to play.

Metagame properly - don't simply optimize a character by the rules, optimize a character for the specific game that you are playing in.  Don't bother making a super combat monster if the game is mostly talking, planning, and sneaking.  Don't make a sneaky guy if the runs mostly involve blowing things up.  Don't waste a lot of points in social skills if that player's talking ability seems to matter more than what's on the sheet.  If the playstyle is too far from what you like, you are probably better off not even sitting at that particular table, but otherwise, don't get mad - adapt.

[Onion Man]

Get yourself a trusty black trenchcoat or a pretty pink mohawk, make it your own, and live by it.  Don't try to have a character that flip flops between seriously gritty and over the top excitement

Be able to do something in combat, something in legwork, and something logistically.  A way to kill, a way to gather info, and a way to fix or buy items.

If you're going to serve up cheese to your GM night after night, expect him to send a cheese platter your way too (ex, if all you ever do is shock glove/shock frill and stick n shock, expect that to be met with someone with nonconductivity 6, a high willpower, and a 6 shooter full of rounds made to ruin your day)

If you turn out to be comically bad at your job, don't insist on playing it out to the bitter end, the end gets further and further away and more bitter the longer it takes.

Always have ALL of the basic matrix use programs.  Your commlink can't do a damn thing without browse, edit, scan, analyze, etc.  Might not even be able to take and receive calls if your GM's a dick about it.

Expect to be pulled out of your comfort zone.  I don't mean just out of the van, I mean being forced to leave the van, and all the explosives behind to go spend a week in Africa (where your gnome will pick all sorts of fights for you).  If you think you're going to live in a rigger cocoon, expect to be called to a court where they dojn't tolerate that monocycle with a valkyrie cocoon and make you stand about in the meat world, uncomfortably far from your rig.

Make something you'll enjoy playing, not something your GM or other players say they really need in their group.

If anything looks like the rule is too good to be true, try reading it from the perspective of an outsider.  Negative qualities that are read as "optional negative qualities" aren't likely to be read that way by an outsider, and definitely won't be by the GM that finds out 3 sessions later that you've been ignoring the must in the rule for your guidance spirit from the beginning.

Forget about that black trenchcoat, wear a pink mohawk.  Black trenchcoats are for silly WoD games and Top Secret.  Go Pink, go big, go tusks.

[jago668]

I don't know about not taking a firearms and close combat skill groups.  It never hurts to not have to default if you need to punch something, and it doesn't take much to make a stun baton hurt.  If you have an agility of 3, that one skill group means the difference between 2 dice, and 4 dice.  It ain't great, but I'd rather be rolling 4 dice than 2.  I wouldn't bother with it after that point, but having a ranged skill and a close combat skill isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Take some form of fixer and street doc contacts, preferably with a good loyalty rating.  You are going to want jobs, and you are going to want someone to patch you up.  You want either one of those people willing to quickly and easily sell you out?  I know I don't.

Have a couple of different fake SINs, from different political bodies (ex UCAS, Renraku, and Salish-Sidhe).

Carry backup weapon(s).  It never hurts to have a ceramic knife in a conceal holster, or a hold out pistol, or both.

Splash grenades with c-squared (arsenal, 82), incendiary, or white phosphorus grenades all make wonderful site scrubbing tools.  Jack a car to do a run in, after it is over park it in the barrens, and toss in a wp grenade.  Don't have to worry about hair and fibers now.

It is a good idea to carry a smoke grenade or two, and a flash pak.

Never ever make deals with a dragon.

If you are going to break a point of Essence for a piece of gear.  Might as well get the most out of the point (especially if you are magical).  Going for some cybereyes?  Might as well get some ears, a radar sensor, orientation system, and a datajack.  (I didn't add up the essence on that, just an example.)

Willpower isn't a dump stat.  Your very first stunbolt/ball will be more than happy to show you this.

Kill the mage first.

Always plan on at least one way out of a situation.  If it goes pear shaped (and it will), you want to already have an escape planned.

Edge is not a dump stat.  Leaving it at 1 is asking to get kicked in the jimmies.

Probably a good idea to carry two commlinks.  A clean one that broadcasts your fake SIN, and the one you actually use.

If you want to play a sniper, buying a few micro sized motion sensors/cameras to watch your back is a good idea.

You really want the ability to scan for rfid tags, along with a tag eraser.  Having just the tag eraser isn't doing much good.  Also having a couple of emp grenades handy can be useful.

Buy a respirator.

Buy a medkit.

Having a use or two of nanopaste disguise can be extremely handy.  Being able to leave an area looking different than you arrived is valuable.

Wine and dine your contacts.  Even when you don't want anything.

Having a prearranged safehouse setup under a different identity can save your life.

[Mystic]

If I repeat, I apologize.

Buy appropriate gear: your face is likely NOT going to need that Panther Cannon.

And get the best gear you possibly can. Remember, you get what you pay for. 

Know what you want to play, and create your stats as best you can, but don't worry if you aren't the best right away. That's what karma is for.

But do have one "go to skill" that is as high as you can make it with out sacrificing other skills.

Always own at least two guns: one you can easily carry and get away with carrying, and one for putting big holes in someone/thing for when the fecal matter hits the ocelating cooling device.

And for crying out loud, make sure you have at LEAST two to three re-loads on you AT ALL TIMES.

Always have something you can stick into someone or beat someone with. Guns run out of ammo but clubs, blades, etc don't.

And as for kit, do yourself a favor and know how to competely use what you have.

Don't try and be good at everying. Know what your role will be and build accordingly.

And while not about building, but rather playing: HAVE FUN. When it becomes work, it's may be time to quit.

[UmaroVI]

I feel like we're kind of digressing into general advice rather than character creation advice.

I don't know about not taking a firearms and close combat skill groups.  It never hurts to not have to default if you need to punch something, and it doesn't take much to make a stun baton hurt.  If you have an agility of 3, that one skill group means the difference between 2 dice, and 4 dice.  It ain't great, but I'd rather be rolling 4 dice than 2.  I wouldn't bother with it after that point, but having a ranged skill and a close combat skill isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I don't think it's a bad idea to buy a close combat skill (probably Unarmed, since if you're forced to hit someone, it's likely because you don't have your guns, and that might mean you don't have your stun baton either) and a firearms skill. The problem is that investing in the groups is disproportionately expensive and serves only to give you redundant options. I'd much rather have Unarmed (Martial Arts) 4 (6) than Close Combat 2

[UmaroVI]

Another two:

When you buy 'ware, first, check if there's gear that duplicates the effect of the 'ware. If there is, think long and hard about what you're getting out of it. If you buy cyberears, you should think really, REALLY hard about how much you're paying for them in nuyen and essence over earbuds, and how often it's going to actually pay off. Unless it is something that the gear does not do and is totally worth it on its own, or you think the gear is likely to be unavailable often and you just cannot live without it, don't get the 'ware.

Shadowrun is a game full of trap options. Most spells suck. Most adept powers suck. Most 'ware sucks. Always look for the "catch," and always check and see if there's another spell/power/ware that's just outright better, or if it duplicates cheap and legal gear.

[squee_nabob]

Body and Willpower should be odd for the extra condition track box.

3 Body means you want to stay out of combat, 5 body means you want to fight people. Less is asking to have a nasty, brutal, short, life.

[Tex Muldoon]

I would like to add some if you don't mind.
1. Don' t go into your first session thinking that you are the best in the area. There is always someone waiting in the shadows to put down young pups.
2. Bigger dicepools don't make better runners. Brains, skills, contacts. and gear make better runners.
3. Contacts are bullets you want enough to get the job done.
4. Go in with a good idea of what you will do to get legwork done. I can't stress this enough. One contact is not enough to get the job done.

[Captain Karzak]

I would like to add some if you don't mind.
1. Don' t go into your first session thinking that you are the best in the area. There is always someone waiting in the shadows to put down young pups.
2. Bigger dicepools don't make better runners. Brains, skills, contacts. and gear make better runners.
3. Contacts are bullets you want enough to get the job done.
4. Go in with a good idea of what you will do to get legwork done. I can't stress this enough. One contact is not enough to get the job done.

I found several of these suggestions dubious and unclear.

Let's say (1) is true. How should I build my character differently now that I know what this is true? What specific prescriptions do you have for the allocation of BP's based on this rule?

(2) Is false by definition. If two players are equal in every respect, except one of them has a character with bigger dice pools, then that character is better. Are you trying to say that big dicepools are a necessary but not sufficient characteristic in making a successful runner? I could get behind that.

(3) So contacts are useless in the game I am in. Nearly every player activates their contacts in each session, and I've yet to see a contact do anything that makes them worth their cost. They are ridiculously over-priced in terms of BP. In fact one of the most common house rules I've seen is that all characters start with CHA x 2 BP worth of free contacts, just to address this issue.

Regardless, their usefulness is obviously super dependent on the GM. Adjudicating the effects of using a contact is a complete magic tea party, so I doubt we can give general character creation advice about how useful they are.

Furthermore (3) is not very actionable advice. It would be more useful to say how to allocate BP on contacts. I could spend 40 BP on 10 2/2 contacts. Is that good, or would I get vastly more mileage out of 10 BP spent on one 5/5 contact?

In general, what we can say on contacts is that you shouldn't waste your BP on low connection, low loyalty contacts. Those are easy enough to earn for free in general gameplay. If you want some really high-powered connections to people who ordinarily wouldn't give you the time of day, then it might be a good idea to pick up a high connection-high loyalty contact.

edit: correcting bad grammar

[ARC]

One thing I find helpful, come up with a backstory before you even sit down and start building.  I say this because, sometimes it's the story that builds the character.  Especially in heavy RP games.  Plus, you get more karma for good Rp.  Plus if the GM likes your story he might just give you starting karma for a good detailed one.

[Joush]

Do:

Get a few ranks in perception.

Get Body to at least 3.

Make sure you have something to do in an Investigation encounter (collecting information), a combat encounter (Fighting) and a social encounter (Talking) Even if you aren't specialized as a face, try to be able to add something to a conversation.

Spend at least 10pts on things that help define your character. Contacts and equipment are good places to do this.

Mix Bio and Cyber wear if you go for technical augmentation. They offer a strong synergy if you want to keep your essence cost down.

Get a Medkit, Fake SIN and some kind of Visual and Audio enhancers.

Go for what sounds fun to you, not what people say are optimum ways to build a character.

Find out what other people are playing and try to work out ways your characters can work well together.

Have some way for your character to get around town that won't get you arrested.

Don't:

Exploit badly written or confusing rules to your advantage.

Try to create conflict within the group.

Take stats at 1 without a good reason that fits with your character concept.

Play a personalty-less tabula rasa. In a pinch, think of a few traits your character has like biting a thumbnail or starting speaking by saying "hey guys" and have them do that IC. Have at least a basic idea as to what your character looks like. Negative qualities are a great place to start with these.

[Phylos Fett]

Always start and end character creation by asking yourself "why is this character not an ork." If you don't have a good answer you should be an ork.

Just curious as to why?