[Fisher]

Hey-low, fine Shadowrunny type folk. Run Faster's gotten me excited about the game enough that I've finally stopped lurking and hopped onto these boards.  Avatar to come, but first, I've been tinkering with a character. Only I've been a bit spoilt by the priorities system: I'm not sure what I should spend her last 100 karma on. It feels like there's a bunch of stuff left to get: skills, spells, gear.... Where should I spend my points.

Context: I'd like the character to be a medic able to throw down some mojo if need be. I've not had much of a chance to actually play the game, but am looking into PbP, so any more practical advice would be greatly appreciated. This is very much 'what I have so far' and I'm convinced I've not done a great job here. But.... well, I'll shut up now and just hope for a little feedback

Pixie (70 Karma)
Magician (30 Karma)
6 Magic (100 Karma)
UCAS: General (15 Karma)
Fugitive (40 Karma)
Magical Education (50 Karma)
Community Collage (Magic) (55 Karma)
State University (Medicine) (65 Karma)
Corporate (Wage Mage) (100 Karma)
Street Magic (Occult Investigator) (100 Karma)

Buyoff Uneducated, Bad Rep, Paranoia (22 Karma)
Day Job (-10)
Megacorporate Fame: NeoNET (12 Karma)

101 Karma remaining

Pixie

Body +1/2
Agility +3/8
Reaction +4/8
Strength +1/2
Willpower +8/8
Logic +6/7
Intuition +4/7
Charisma +4/8
Magic 6/6
Edge 2/7

English [Native]
Mandarin [+3]
Sperethiel [+2]

Computer +2,
Academic Knowledge: History +5,
Academic Knowledge: UCAS +1
Etiquette +3,
Street Knowledge: [DeeCee] +4,
Street Knowledge: [Seattle] +4
Acting skill group +2,
Perception +5,
Sneaking +1,
Sorcery +6
Conjuring +4
Arcana +5,
Biotech Skill Group +1
Biotechnology +1
Chemistry +1
Assensing +6,
Astral Combat +2,
Enchanting skill group +1,

Professional Knowledge: Magical Law +1

Academic Knowledge: Magical Theory +9,
Academic Knowledge: [Metaplanes] +9,
Academic Knowledge: [Medicine] +9,
Professional Knowledge [NeoNET] +3

Influence skill group +1,
Locksmith +1,
Pistols +1,
Tracking +2,
Professional Knowledge: Forensics +5,

Magician (30 Karma)
Megacorporate Fame [NeoNET, DeeCee, UCAS] (12 Karma)
Day Job (10)
Limited Corporate SIN (15)

[8-bit]

Interesting that you went through the modules and somehow didn't get the Sorcery skill group. I could have sworn that was a staple in Life Modules. Anyway ...

60 Karma should go into 12 Spells. Your skills look all right, so I would consider getting your attributes up a bit more (Intuition would be my first choice). You also need Contacts still, so some Karma is going to end up there.

[Darzil]

Given you mention being a doctor, I guess medkit 6 would be a good plan, I'd be tempted to take more than your current 1 point of first aid, given that the number of boxes restored is limited by your skill. You'd want to use that before Heal for maximum healing.

[Fisher]

Interesting that you went through the modules and somehow didn't get the Sorcery skill group. I could have sworn that was a staple in Life Modules. Anyway ...

*blink* Yeah, mea culpa on that one. Sorcery and Conjuring are the skill group versions, not the individual skills.  Bit better off on that front. As to contacts, do the point buy systems still get Charisma x3 points worth of free contacts? I wasn't sure on that.

Given you mention being a doctor, I guess medkit 6 would be a good plan, I'd be tempted to take more than your current 1 point of first aid, given that the number of boxes restored is limited by your skill. You'd want to use that before Heal for maximum healing.

*nods* It really is irritating that there's just no Doctor option in the Lifepaths, outside of Military Service. Which doesn't really fly for a Pixie since they'd hit their Physical limits from that one course alone. Attending a Medical University gives you one rank in the relevant skill group. That's not too far out of line with other things, and I could've brought that up to two if I'd unified her degrees, but.... aargh....

Ok, so yeah, I need medical skills. Question is, what do I prioritize here? Spells, Attributes, the skills, contacts? I have pleanty of things I'd like to spend that Karma on but I'm not sure what's for the best.

For the record, my concept for the character was a sheltered medical researcher who moves into Shadowrunning for personal reasons. Limited practical medical skill is possibly ok; they were an academic, not a surgeon. But I'm really hesitant about having something like that as low as 1.

[Darzil]

For the record, my concept for the character was a sheltered medical researcher who moves into Shadowrunning for personal reasons. Limited practical medical skill is possibly ok; they were an academic, not a surgeon. But I'm really hesitant about having something like that as low as 1.

I've not run the maths, but I guess 3-4 would be entirely reasonable for first aid, as that'd cap you at 3-4 boxes healed, before using heal skill. With a medkit 6 and your 7 logic that'd give you 16-17 dice, and as it has a threshold of 2, you'd need 5-6 hits before the level of skill would be an issue. 1 for medicine is probably fine, as you are would have 14 dice with that, and each skill point would only add one more, and just 1/3 box healed more per period.

[ZeldaBravo]

But medkit 6 is larger than a pixie is. Maybe you should get a medical drone from b&b? I guess that a pixie can even ride it!

[faket15]

*nods* It really is irritating that there's just no Doctor option in the Lifepaths, outside of Military Service. Which doesn't really fly for a Pixie since they'd hit their Physical limits from that one course alone. Attending a Medical University gives you one rank in the relevant skill group. That's not too far out of line with other things, and I could've brought that up to two if I'd unified her degrees, but.... aargh....

There is an option for a doctor besides military service, it's called Regular Job and gives you 6 points to be spent on skills related to your job (max 3 per skill). Another option is Postraduate Studies. It gives you 10 points to be spent on skills from the education module (max 4 per skill).

[Fisher]

Yeah, the Real Life module exists. I tried it on an earlier build, for similar reasons. Whilst it's a possibility, it's not very efficient. I don't think it'd solve my issues here: any module I dropped for it would drastically hurt the character's spellcasting.

Ok, so raising the Bioware group is what I'd like to focus on. But how far can I get away with raising it? I need Karma for both spells and gear, and I'm not sure how much of either I'd need for this character. (Do I need Rigger equipment to pick up a drone, or is there a 'manual handling' option? Price aside, a VTOL drone is tempting as a ride. ) How important is a high rating Fake SIN for a SINer? Lodge materials if you don't intend to focus on summoning? Should I focus on summoning with this skillset?

Sorry for the kinda stream of consciousness questions, thinking as I go here.

[Csjarrat]

You can control drones from commlink/deck and rcc, just need rcc for simultaneous command of multiple drones and program sharing.
Nothing stopping you from AR piloting your drone from a commlink at all

[BetaCAV]

You can control drones from commlink/deck and rcc, just need rcc for simultaneous command of multiple drones and program sharing.
Nothing stopping you from AR piloting your drone from a commlink at all

Or... see if your game master will let you get away with installing manual controls on it, for the same cost of adding a rigger interface to a regular vehicle.

On the other hand, if you get a pixie-sized rcc and commlink setup, then you could use it with any rigged vehicle. Even a Scorpion, which will make folks do a double-take.