[Tosk]

Howdy everyone!

I'm a returning player that used to play 2nd and 3rd Editions back in my teenage years, and have recently jumped back on the bandwagon with the "Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops" kickstarter. I picked up a handful of the 5th edition core books and I'm chugging away through them, but I was hoping some more seasoned runners could clarify a couple of things I'm finding confusing.

1) The rules in "Run Faster" for making a Changeling character are not very clear on what the final Karma cost for your mutations is. Assuming you are going with SURGE III, the given example says that the player pays 30 Karma up front... but then later says that the player takes positive and negative qualities that balance each other out, paying for a net surplus of positive qualities out of their own pocket (1 point in the example). So... are you paying 30, or 1? Or does the game expect you to pay 31 Karma for the privilege of net-1 points worth of positive mutations?

2) Is armor effectively just extra Body dice now? I remember in older editions it used to reduce the DV of the attack hitting you. What are the advantages to having armor dice over just having a higher Body score?

3) I'm working on building a character who is designed to do one thing: smash through walls. I'm naming him "Rhino", and he's a Cyclops Physical Adept, taking the maximum racial strength score of 11.
He's got the powers: "Smashing Blow", Critical Strike (Goring Horn +3), and "Improved Attribute" (+3 Strength) among others.
He's a changeling, featuring "Goring Horn" (Str +3 P DV) and "Celerity" ( among others.

What does the calculation look like when I'm charging a wall, a vehicle, or a person?
By my count I'm rolling 20 dice when ramming a metahuman with my horn, or 40 if I'm attacking a wall or vehicle, right? Is this likely to be enough to smash through a brick wall?

Thanks for your time, and any advice you can offer!

[BeCareful]

I'm unsure about the first question, but as to the second, the advantage to armour is that you can just buy it without having to go skipping rope for a month; though you can do both to get a better BOD and more armour. Yes, it means more soak dice, but also, if you have more armour than the incoming DV (adjusted for Armour Penetration), then Physical damage gets converted to Stun damage. So even if you have more BOD than WIL, you can always slap on a stim patch and take a nap when its effects wear off, run willing.

As for Question #3, you're charging around with DV 14, AP what? 0? Also, you don't roll twice as many dice to attack an immobile object, you just count all hits as net hits because the wall can't dodge. Unless the Smashing Blow power lets you roll twice as many dice when smashing into stuff, in which case, smash away!
Since a brick wall has Structure 10 and Armour 16, and for the purpose of my guesswork, you buy 10 hits and can keep them all, you're going to hit the wall with DV 24. If the GM buys hits for the wall (which is a sensible thing to do), that'd be 6. So you do 18P and knock a meter-sized hole in a brick wall that's one meter thick, just 2 DV shy of making it two meters, so you may have to Pre-Edge the roll so as to not have to hold your breath and squeeze through.

If that isn't enough for you, keep in mind that it is a wall. You will definitely be able to go all Juggernaught-meets-Kool-Aid-Man on any door that gets in your way.

[Tosk]

Thanks for taking a look BeCareful!

The first question concerns the rules in "Run Faster" (specifically page 103, in the first printing that I have). The armor explanation helps, thank you!

As for the wall-busting character, The calculation I was doing is
base Strength of 11
+3 from Phys Adept "Improved Attribute"
+2 from Goring Horn [This quality is listed as dealing (Strength +2) P damage]
+2 from Phys Adept "Critical Strike" (Exotic Melee Weapon - Goring Horn)
+2 from making a Charging attack (Running into Melee, pg 162 of SR5 core rulebook)

So that's how I was calculating a DV of 20P. I'm not sure how I could convert any of this into armor-piercing damage, but if you know of a Phys Ad power or item I can wear on my horn, I'd love to know about it.

"Smashing Blow" is from pg. 174 of "Street Grimoire", and states "Multiply the Adept's base DV by 2 when attacking a barrier or other static object." So as I'm still unfamiliar, my assumption is that "base DV" means the above sum of 20, before adding damage from the hits of the melee attack roll. Or am I wrong, and "base DV" mean just the character's flat Strength of 11, multiplied to 22, and THEN the other bonuses are added on top? I'm also unable to find anything about the relative speed of the attacker having any bearing on the damage dealt, so I guess the "Celerity" quality is just to help Rhino get around quicker.

Thanks for the example, the one thing I haven't read about yet is "buying" hits, can you tell me where to find rules for that in SR5?

And yes, jumping through doors is a great way to make an entrance, but nobody expects a human rhinoceros to come barging into the scene through a concrete wall! 

[BeCareful]

I think the Base DV is referring to the horn itself, the STR+2. So it'd double that (including enhanced STR) from 16 to 32. Then Critical Strike and charging increase that to 36.
Then you do AGI+Unarmed vs. nothing, every hit counting as a net hit to increase damage.

As for buying hits, the rule's on Core, page 45. If the GM's okay with it, divide your entire dice pool by 4, rounded down, and that's the number of hits you get. It's for doing something routine or no-risk, or to speed things along. In this case, if I'm the GM, I'd allow buying hits for both the ramming action and for the wall.

So, if your attack dice pool is, let's say, 16, you buy 4 hits to make your DV an even 40. I buy those 6 hits for the brick wall, reducing it to 36P, making, let's say, a 3.5m breach. You & your allies can easily step through it, and if there's opposition with guns trained on the door, I'd also allow a Surprise test. Spider-man had better be careful!

[Glyph]

A changeling does, indeed, have to pay 31 Karma (the example shows this).  You almost can't talk about SR5 changelings without talking about SR4 changelings.  SR4 changelings were too optimal of a choice, so SR5 set out to de-power them as an option - and went a bit too far in the other direction.

[Tosk]

I see. Well, I missed SR4 entirely so I guess I don't know what I'm missing. Still, I had fun making my character and I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out. Have a look, and tell me what you think! The purpose here is to smash an unconventional entry point into an enemy facility, then soak up attacks while the rest of his crew complete the objective. As a starting level Runner this is likely only an effective strategy against street level targets, but once he accumulates some karma and better gear Rhino might move to to hitting corporate jobs.

Name: Aleksi Sestyovich AKA “Rhino” AKA “Rocksteady”
Metatype: Troll
Role: Physical Adept
                                                                                                        SKILLS
BODY: 10 (+2 bone density)(+6 armor)                                               Running                 2
AGILITY: 4                                                                                Unarmed Combat            4
REACTION: 3                                                                                    Blades                    2
STRENGTH: 10 (+3)                                                       Exotic Melee Weapon (Horn)        4
WILLPOWER: 3                                                                                   Survival                2
LOGIC: 2                                                                                       Intimidation                1
INTUITION: 2                                                                                   Perception                2
CHARISMA: 2                                                                                 Automatics                2
MAGIC: 6                                                                            Organized Crime (Street)        2
ESSENCE: 6                                                                             Corporations (Street)       3
EDGE: 4                                                                                            Fixers (Street)        2
                                                                                                           English                1
                                                                                                          Russian                N

INITIATIVE: 6 + 1D6                    LIMITS: Physical (11)    Mental (3)   Social (5)

Condition Boxes:  Physical 13
             Stun 12
              Overflow 10

Movement: Walk (12 m/turn)  Run (24 m/turn)        Sprint: (+2m/hit)
    Double interval in between fatigue tests for strenuous activity or hostile environments.

SURGE mutations 30
Celerity - 6 Karma                                        Berserker - 6 Karma
Dermal Alteration (Rhino Hide) - 7 Karma        Striking Skin Pigmentation (Grey) - 4 Karma
Goring Horn - 5 Karma                                  Impaired Attribute (Logic) - 8 Karma
Ogre Stomach - 8 Karma                              Impaired Attribute (Charisma) - 8 Karma
Bicardiac - 4 Karma                                      Scent Glands - 4 Karma

BIOWARE (No essence loss - prototype transhuman)
Bone Density Augmentation Rating 2
(+2 BODY to resist damage)
Damage Compensator (Stun) Rating 4
(Ignore 4 boxes of Stun damage before applying damage modifiers)


QUALITIES
SURGE III - 30           
Prototype Transhuman - 10
Tough as Nails (Rank 2, 2 stun) - 10
Thermographic Vision
+1 Reach       
+2 Dice to resist ingested toxins.   

Uncouth - 14                   
-2 Dice to resist acting inappropriately. Pay double to raise social skills.
Dependant (Oksana, wife) - 6
+50% time required to learn skills or long term projects
Distinctive Style - 5
+2 Dice to attempts to trace or identify Rhino. -1 threshold for memory tests to remember him.
Allergy (Pollution, Mild) (-2 dice to physical tests when in contact with allergen)



ADEPT POWERS
Smashing Blow - 1 PP (Doubles base DV to break through physical or magical barriers)
Improved Physical Attribute 3 (Strength +3) - 3.0 PP
Critical Strike 2 (Exotic Weapon - Goring Horn) - 1 PP
Mystic Armor 2 (+2 Armor) - 1 PP

GORING HORN: DV (STR +2)P, Reach -  AP -1
UNARMED PUNCHES: DV (STR +2)P Reach +1

COMBAT AXE: DV (STR +5)P, Reach +3  AP -4. Accuracy 4

AK-97: DV 10P, AP -2, Accuracy 5(6). SA/BF/FA, 38(c)

LIFESTYLE: Low (2200 Y / month)
        + Troll (+2200 Y / month)
        Angry Drunk Reputation (Negative Quality)
W-Zone (Mountain man) (Negative Quality)


Comfort & Necessities: 2    Security: 1    Neighborhood: 2   
Fatigue Damage: 4S        W-Zone: Response Time: 3d6 Hours
Entertainment: Yard, Garage (Large), Grid Subscription


STARTING CASH: 1,890 Y + (3d6 x 60Y)

GEAR
Urban Explorer Jumpsuit     Armor 9      650 Y
    +Chemical Seal    Rating 6    3000 Y
    +Fire Resistance    Rating 3      750 Y
 Helmet            Armor +2      100 Y
    +Spatial Recognizer             1000 Y
    +Audio Enhancement Rating 2    1000 Y
    + Image Link                   25 Y
    + Vision Enhancement Rating 1    1000 Y
Renraku Sensei Commlink            1000 Y
Combat Axe                    4000 Y
    Fake License (Rating 4)          800 Y

AK-97                          950 Y
    +Laser Sight (top mount)          125 Y
100 rounds regular ammo               200 Y
100 explosive ammo    (+1 DV, -1 AP)          800 Y
2 space clips                        10 Y

Micro-Transceiver                  100 Y
Fake SIN (rating 4)                10,000 Y
Survival Kit                       200 Y

Bone Density Enhancement            10,000 Y
Damage Compensator              8,000 Y

1 Month rent                      4,400 Y

CONTACTS
Parazoologist  (Connections 1, Loyalty 3)

Street Cred: 0        Notoriety: 1        Public Awareness: 0

Ramming Walls With His Horn (Assuming auto-hits):
DV: 34
Vs -    Reinforced Material (Security door, Armored Glass): 4 square meter hole
Structural Material (Brick, Plascrete): 3 square meter hole
    Heavy Structural Material (Metal beam, concrete): 2 square meter hole
Reinforced Material (reinforced concrete): 2 square meter hole (maybe 1)
    Hardened Material (Bunker): 1 square meter hole   

BIO
Aleksi was born in Russia to a poor troll family that was forced to give their child up to a bioware lab interested in SURGE babies; after studying the unusual child he was later sold off to members of the russian mafia in his early teens. Aleksi did good work as a legbreaker and bouncer as he learned the knocks of a hard life, and growing to understand his strange body’s abilities and magical potential. His approach to magic is a sort of gruff Greek Stoicism philosophy; any pain he suffered could be overcome if he concentrated on not feeling pain, any obstacles he faced could be overcome by not feeling the obstacle as he smashed headlong into it. With his limited intelligence, Aleksi has not progressed far beyond this simplistic understanding of his abilities, but a proper mentor might be able to Initiate him into deeper mysticism someday. By the time he reached early adulthood he broke from the mafia shortly after moving to Seattle. Finding his options as a free agent abundant and more enticing that remaining with his mob contacts. However, his tendency to say obtuse things, then fly into a brawl with little provocation earned him a bad rep, and so "Rhino" was rarely recruited for jobs more difficult than robbing local businesses or tearing the money out of an armored car. The pollution was increasingly bothersome to his sensitive allergies as well. Both of these drove ‘Rhino’ to relocate out of the sprawl and into the rocky mountains, soon taking a wife “Oksana”, a simple caring woman with the superhuman ability to put up with Aleksi’s unpleasant personality and hygiene. Rhino cares deeply for his wife and not much else, and would be content to be a hermit for the rest of his days if not for the need to bring in income having no employable skills not related to smashing walls, people, and things.