NEWS

SRM-5 Nuyen Boosting Qualities

  • 5 Replies
  • 2297 Views

Vassago

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 18
« on: <03-18-17/0825:03> »
Hey folks, finished a character I'm bringing to a missions game, so tooling around with a few back-ups today.

It's looking like Priority E, or even D resources just can't cut it with all the boxes to check for missions.

Born Rich is an option, but burning all karma on cash is limiting. Other qualities that affect Nuyen are disallowed- no Trust Fund, no In-Debt.

Looking over the SRM FAQ doc and comparing to the quality list, is there any I'm missing? If there's anyway to save a bit of karma and not have to use >/=C Resources, that'd be whiz
And at least put some thought into the Negative Quality Addiction-Mild (DeepWeed). You're playing in Denver afterall, and a Sasquatch-sized joint gets me right in the feels.

Kiirnodel

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Ace Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 1471
« Reply #1 on: <03-18-17/1537:34> »
What sort of "boxes" do you need to check?

You should be able to get most basic gear at priority D. And you'll be tight on nuyen at priority E by spending some karma (the base 10 for 20,000¥ should be enough for the super basics)

If you're asking if there is a way to get a lot of money without spending resources, you're out of luck. That's not how the game works.

Vassago

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 18
« Reply #2 on: <03-18-17/1619:02> »
Just looking at pricing for multiple decent SINs / Licenses, Transport and/or Lifestyle, class-centric gear necessities, bonus gear to utilize support skills, on and on ad infinitum. Budgeting even lowest cost and quality options feels like it's unavoidable to leave a hole somewhere in your gear preparation department.  D+E are designed to be limiting of course, and not looking to "game to system", but with the massive array of available qualities, I was curious to see if there were some legal options and combinations I may have overlooked.
And at least put some thought into the Negative Quality Addiction-Mild (DeepWeed). You're playing in Denver afterall, and a Sasquatch-sized joint gets me right in the feels.

Kiirnodel

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Ace Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 1471
« Reply #3 on: <03-18-17/1725:11> »
Just looking at pricing for multiple decent SINs / Licenses, Transport and/or Lifestyle, class-centric gear necessities, bonus gear to utilize support skills, on and on ad infinitum.

Woah, full stop right there. That's the sort of talk of a gear-centric character, which tells you that you want Resources to be higher on your Priority list right from the get-go. At D Priority you can probably get a lot of the stuff you're thinking about, but definitely not everything. Just having several SINs is gonna set you back quite a-ways. At Priority D, you're probably looking at having a single good SIN, some decen gear focused mainly around the sort of things you're trained to do. Maybe some supplementary gear so that you can hold you're own in a few non-focus areas. A cheap lifestyle, and maybe a vehicle if you can afford one.

At Priority E, you're looking at having the bare essentials. A cheap SIN (Rating 1, 2 tops), Armor, a weapon or two, maybe a Low Lifestyle if you can budget it, and the essential gear to do what you're built for. Build up the rest of your arsenal after creation, because by putting Resources at E, you're not expecting to have the money/gear be a major part of your character from the start.

Budgeting even lowest cost and quality options feels like it's unavoidable to leave a hole somewhere in your gear preparation department.  D+E are designed to be limiting of course, and not looking to "game to system", but with the massive array of available qualities, I was curious to see if there were some legal options and combinations I may have overlooked.

Yeah, you're going to leave a hole somewhere, probably. That's why runners work as teams, you aren't expected to have absolutely everything covered all the time. Even with qualities, you would just be moving the expense from your Priority choices to Karma costs. And trust me, if you're trying to use Priority E and you are grabbing Born Rich to be able to spend more karma on nuyen, you're probably over-thinking something. You can probably move one of your other priority choices down instead and save the karma.
Quote from: Math
Priority E Resources: 6,000¥
+Born Rich/Karma to nuyen: 5 karma + 21 (karma) * 2,000 to get up to 50,000 for Priority D
Skills: could cost as low as 8 karma to pay for 4 extra skills at rank 1 (the move from 18 to 22 skill points for Priority E->D
Attributes: as low as 20 karma to raise two attributes up from 1 to 2.

It's not guaranteed to be cheaper, but it's worth considering. Personally, I see the qualities like Born Rich as pretty "empty" (in the same vein as saying candy is "empty calories"), since it only affects one aspect of the character during creation only. After character creation, the fact that you spent 5 karma on Born Rich means nothing compared to a character that spent that 5 karma on something else.

Hobbes

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Prime Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 3078
« Reply #4 on: <03-19-17/1034:41> »
Priority E Resources and 4 Karma gives you 14k to work with.  Priority E Resources means you're a Mage, Adept or a Technomancer of some kind so you're not going to need to roll out with a squad of gun drones and an Ares Alpha.  They'd be nice to have, but aren't "Essential".

Armored Jacket 1,000
Helmet  100
Fake SIN 3 w/3 Licenses 9300
Survival Kit  200
Gas Mask 200
Meta Link 100
Flashlight and 3 Light Sticks 100
1 Month Squatter Life Style  500
Contacts w/ Low Light (if Human), Flare Comp, and Image link 1375
'Trodes and AR Gloves 220 (if Magic, not Techno)
Subvocal Mic 50

You've got 855 Nuyen left and can spend another 6 Karma for 12,000 Nuyen more if you need Transportation and/or weapons of some kind.  Those choices get too character specific to make any recommendation, but you've potentially got enough for a small car and a big pistol. 

Yes, you'll want to do a lot of shopping after each run.  Yes there is a lot of "nice to have" stuff in Shadowrun.  But for Priority E Resources characters, you're flinging Spells or Sprites or Shooting the wings off flies from 100 meters with a rusty old Predator you found in the dumpster. 

Glyph

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1661
« Reply #5 on: <03-19-17/1740:34> »
For fake SINs, I could see starting with one rating: 3 or 4 fake SIN, and one lower-rated everyday/throwaway fake SIN, but it is not really essential.  I think you might be looking at a lot of "nice to have" things as "absolutely essential for survival" things.  The importance of Resources is subjective and can vary from campaign to campaign, but here is how I see it:

E with no Karma: Literal street people - murder hobos, neo-Luddites with limited experience in urban areas such as shapeshifters or recently-arrived-to-the-sprawl tribal shamans, barrens dwellers, or people who have been suddenly and violently displaced from their previous circumstances.

E with 20 Karma: The basics - armor, a gun, a bike, a fake ID, a commlink, a low lifestyle, and some other inexpensive gear.  Unaugmented combat adepts, mages without foci, other street level or starting shadowrunners.

D: Adepts with a Qi focus, mages with a spell, spirit, or sustaining focus; characters who have very light augmentation, and characters who are not deckers or riggers, but who need extra gear to do their job - cover ops specialists, demolitions experts, street docs, etc.  Also characters who are otherwise similar to E + Karma, who need a single more-expensive item such as a monofilament whip or a good rifle.

C: Sammies with cheap augmentations, adepts with an essence point's worth of augmentations, mages with a power focus, and characters who are either well-to-do or who require more extensive gear (a sniper who is also a covert ops specialist, etc.).

B and A: Generally, these will be exclusively deckers, riggers, and street samurai.