Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: saithor on <10-10-14/1748:59>
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Some background may be in order. I originally tried to get into this game two months back, but was unable to due to RL taking up to much time for me to get a real feel for the game, and how it worked. However, I now have a much better feel and am trying to get into it again. I originally wanted to do Weapon Specialist, but have now switched over to Occult Investigator. I have some basic ideas on how the character works, but as a noob, am afraid I will make the wrong decisions. Some basic Ideas I have about the character.
-Priorities: Skills A, Attributes B or C, Magic B or C, Metatype D, Resources E
-Attributes: Focus INT, LOG, and WIL.
-Qualities: Mentor Spirit (Snake), Analytical Mind, Astral Chameleon, Photgraphic Memory, Sprit Affinity, Addiction (Mild ALcohol), Allergy (Seafood, mild),
-Skills: Focusing on Pistols, Sorcery, Conjuring, Stealth, Ngotiation, Con, Electronics, Hacking, Tracking, Enchanting
-Gear Weapons:One Pistol, Stun Baton, Armor: Lined coat Other: Mostly Electronics Survialence Equipment
Anything that I am missing or stuff that I'm focusing on that I shouldn't, and any general advice, would be appreciated. On a side not, this character is for the Play by post sub-forum.
Edit: Looking through the Rules and so on, some additional ideas I have and a few questions.
-Is learning Alchemy and the Alchemy version of spells worth it, or is just straight-up casting better?
-This is my idea for inital spells: One Stealth Spell (Improved Invisibility or Physical Mask), One Combat Spell (Any suggested good ones.), Heal, Comabt Sense, Detect Life Extended
-Weapons: Remngton Roomsweeper, Yamaha Pulser, Extendable Baton. Will probably drop the Taser.
-Qualities:Consdiering Bad Rep for the extra karma
Sorry that not a whole lot of information has been provided, still trying to learn the rules, it's a big book.
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I would focus more on Magic skills, counter spelling, Assensing in particular, followed by Arcane. I'd drop or atleast not invest heavily in Negotiate, Con, electronics and hacking. Those last 2 are very much outside your bailey-wick, If your Int, Log, Wil focus, then influence skill group isn't going to do you a lot of good. For combat stuff I'd recommend sticking to spells and conjuring back it up with a strong stun baton.
Good Luck with your character.
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Thanks for the advice, although I am planning on doing a character that is like a Investigator that supplements her abilities using magic, so Charisma will get some attention probably. Here's my layout of attributes with my current build whch is Prioirity C magic, Priority B attributes.
Body 3
AGL 3
REA 3
WIL 5
INT 5
LOG 5
CHA 3
MAGIC 5
EDG 3
With this, I'm cosidering dropping Attributes to C and bumping Magic to B at the cost of decreasing CHA, AGL, REA, and BODY by one point each, would a ppreciate some thoughts on that. I'm thinking I probsbly should, just to get my Magic up to 6.
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What's the power level of the campaign? I love the Investigator archetype, but it doesn't really work if everyone else is expecting wetwork 24-7.
I'd keep your stats are they are. Going down in Body and Reaction should always be done with caution. With skills so high, you should be able to manage some decent dice pools for casting.
I'd consider a Charisma-based tradition. As an investigator, you're probably going to be talking to lots of folks following up on leads and so forth, so having decent social rolls will be very handy. Have you considered going Dwarf with priority C and Attributes with D?
Bod 3
Agi 3
Rea 3
Str 3
Wil 5
Log 2
Int 4
Cha 4
You can tweak from there. I'd look at dumping Logic and then buying it back up with karma to start.
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Yeah, I'll leave them as is, boost my Charisma using Karma. Only problems I'm having ATM is gear wise, but that's to fit with the character I'm doing.
Campaign-wise, I'm going to put her in the character recruitment thread for the PBP here actually. And what does Wetwork mean? Competitive?
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Wetwork is assassination (or some other killing-related) work. Lots of assault rifles and lots of reflex boosters. It's fine, although I prefer investigator-friendly campaigns, but if you end up behind the power curve in a wetwork/SpecOp campaign, it can be really frustrating.
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I'll be sure to put in my application I'd prefer a non-wetwork one. I am thinking about taking a point out of. INT for a point of CHA. Thoughts?
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I'd go with Intuition based tradition, and this line. Intuition is the perception stat governor and its init stat. I wouldn't lower your stats. While I agree edge 3 is very solid and important its a lot cheaper to raise edge from 2 to 3 then magic from 5 to 6. I wouldn't be overly concerned on the question of wetwork, the only way this character is getting involved in that is gonna be solving the who done it side I expect.
Body 3
AGL 3
REA 3
WIL 5
INT 6
LOG 4
CHA 3
MAGIC 6
EDG 2
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I do feel a bit bad leaving CHA at three, although I can raise it to 4 using Karma. So the attributes are now hashed out, I'll get my ideas for Spells and Skills up tomorrow. One question I do have though is would Alchemy be worth it, or is it not as good as conventional spell casting?
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I do feel a bit bad leaving CHA at three, although I can raise it to 4 using Karma. So the attributes are now hashed out, I'll get my ideas for Spells and Skills up tomorrow. One question I do have though is would Alchemy be worth it, or is it not as good as conventional spell casting?
Not as good, but still fun for flavor.
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So threw something together quick. Might be up your alley, and wouldn't even fall behind too much in a heavy combat envireonment.
Ability to buff yourself for social or problem solving skills are a boon(logic and charisma can both be increased by +4 pretty easily), can even have a friendly spirit cast it for you so you do not have to sustain.
Priorities:
Meta - d
Resources - E
Magic - C (mysad)
Stats- B
Skills - A
Stats:
Body 3
Agility 4
Reaction 4 (5)
Strength 2
Will 3
Log 3
Int 6
Cha 3
Edge 2
Magic 6
Qualities and expendatures:
-25 of your choice
5 mentor spirit
5 analytical mind
5 contacts
5 money trade in
30 Power points
Spells:
I.Logic
I. Charisma
Lightning bolt
Influence ( make people tell you the whole truth, or get you into areas you shouldn't be)
Area thought recognition (clues, people to investigate further in a crowd, determine if being followed)
Power points:
Astral perception (free mentor)
analytics 1
improved reflexes 1
enhanced perception 4
combat sense 1
attribute boost : agility 1
I. tactile sense 1
three dimensional memory
I. potential mental
Skills groups:
Conjuring - 5
Stealth - 3
Influence - 2
Skills:
Con 6 (fast-talk)
Spellcasting 6
Counterspelling 6
ritual spellcasting 3
Longarms (or any firearm you want) 5
Arcana 4 (+2 from oracle)
Assensing 6 (+4 from ep)
Perception 6 (+4 from ep)
tracking 3
Contacts:
Fixer 5/2
Hacker 4/3 (for finding clues in areas you aren't proficient)
16k nuyen to work with, probably a few spells you will want to buy as you progress (i.e. heal,I.Invis and more detection spells).
Is that up your alley.
Could afford 1 point of essence loss, if you choose to as campaign goes on, mnemonic enhancers would be a great choice, sleep regulator, datajack,cyber eyes/ears etc. , certainly not neccessary, but possible to fit if you wanted.
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Thank you for the build, but I am not doing an Adept. I know that the general consensus is that Adepts are the best starting characters, but I would much rather prefer to just do the Magician build than an Adept. Thanks for putting the build up though, it has given me some ideas for how to assign my Skill Points and Spells. Here is what my current build is shaping up as so far.
Priorities
Meta-D
Resources-E
Magic-C
Stats-B
Skills-A
Stats
Body 3
AGL 3
REA 3
STR 1 (Raise to 2 with Karma)
WIL 4
INT 6
LOG 4
CHA 4
MAGIC 6
EDG 2
Qualities: Common Mild Allergy (+10) , Bad Rep (+7) , Insomia (+10), Minor Addiction (Alcoholisim) (+4), Astral Chameleon (-10), 3xFocused Concetration (-12)
Karma 38
Raising STR to 2 (-15)
Skills
Conjuring Skill Group 5 5
Stealth Skill Group 3 2
Influence skill Group 2 0
Spellcasting 6
Counterspelling 6
Perception 5
Con 6
Arcana 4
Pistol 4
Unarmed Combat 4
Locksmith 2
Astral Combat 4
Tracking 3
Strret Knolwedge 4
First Aid 2
Spells
Detect Life Extended
Improved Invisibility/Mask (Which one in your opinion is better?)
Combat Sense
Lightning Bolt
Heal
Analyze Truth (May spend 5 karma for it)
I am currently 4 skill points over the limit, any advice on what I should cut down on? Also, what is Area though Recognition, I can't find it in the book?
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The great thing about the Mysad is the enhanced perception for your concept, giving you a +4 to both regular perception, and assensing. So you would get 16 dice for assensing and perception.
pg 108 SG
AREA THOUGHT RECOGNITION (ACTIVE, PSYCHIC, AREA) Type: M Range: LOS(A) Duration: S Drain: F + 2 This set of spells is a less intrusive form of Mind Probe (p. 287, SR5). The caster grants the subject the ability to scan the target’s surface thoughts for a particu- lar word, phrase, sound, or image chosen when the spell is cast. This spell does not dig through the target’s brain for information; it merely verifies if a target is actively thinking about a particular person, place, event, or thing. Investigators use this spell to determine if a target has knowledge of something (such as a murder weapon) that they otherwise wouldn’t to determine if they are in- volved with a crime. Spies use this spell to determine if someone is tailing or looking for them. Thought Recognition is used on one particular target, while Area Thought Recognition scans the minds of ev- eryone within the area.
Willpower is better off as an odd number, so maybe get it to 5, or drop it to 3.
Street knowledge is a knowledge skill so not an active skill, so that would free up 4 points. Unarmed is also not neccessary, as long as you have an offensive spell, you have the means to cast it in close combat, and 2 strength isnt going to help you do any damage.
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Astral Combat not gonna that helpful. Just use spells for that kind of combat. Street knowledge would be a knowledge skill and there for a separate category.
You still need Assensing.
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Astral Combat not gonna that helpful. Just use spells for that kind of combat. Street knowledge would be a knowledge skill and there for a separate category.
You still need Assensing.
Both true especially assensing.
I would recommend influence over analyze truth, can get more use out of it, including " When i talk to you, all you want to do is answer me honestly, and with great detail."
Astral Chameleon seems wasted on this build. You do not look like you will be casting many if any high force spells, so your signature would be quite low to start with.
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Ok, I'll drop Astral Combat, and maybe a couple points of a few other. I'm planning on using Astral Projection quite a bit, so shoul I bump the Will to 5 for that?
Just picked up Street Grimoire, looks amazing, some good spells, and Ally spirit look like something I'll want to consider. I will switch out Analyze Truth for Influence, but I still want to hold onto Extended Life Detection.
Thanks for all the help so far.
Edit: Reason I picked up Astral Chameleon is because I thought it would help me hide in the Astral Realm when I was projecting. Now that I've read up on the rules, it seems it does not. May pick up Ritual Spellcasting, several of the Rituals seem very useful.
Revised Skills
Spellcasting 6
Counterspelling 5
Perception 5
Con 5
Arcana 4
Pistol 4
Unarmed Combat 4
Locksmith 2
Aseensing 4
Tracking 3
Strret Knolwedge 4
First Aid 2
Ritual Spellcasting 2
Edit: A couple more questions. First off, is there any difference between the snake and oracle mentor spirits? Secondly, I'm not sure which tradition my characters background fits. She has a close to religous respect for spirits and for her mentor spirit, but also approaches actual spellcasting with a more heremetic bent. Any advice there?
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Edit: A couple more questions. First off, is there any difference between the snake and oracle mentor spirits? Secondly, I'm not sure which tradition my characters background fits. She has a close to religous respect for spirits and for her mentor spirit, but also approaches actual spellcasting with a more heremetic bent. Any advice there?
Snake and Oracle spirits provide different adept powers, and have slightly different drawbacks. Oracle's drawback is honestly much more severe, as you have to spend your first initiation towards Divination, which is kind of a waste (unless you wanted it in the first place).
I'm looking at Intuition based traditions, there may be others that are better suited but use a different drain stat. Wiccan Tradition (Goddess Wicca) seems like it may be a decent fit for you. Sioux tradition seems like it may be similarly useful. Druidic tradition has a slightly different flavor, but may be something you want to look at. Those are really the only ones that seem to fit what you're looking for, unless I misunderstood you.
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Edit: A couple more questions. First off, is there any difference between the snake and oracle mentor spirits? Secondly, I'm not sure which tradition my characters background fits. She has a close to religous respect for spirits and for her mentor spirit, but also approaches actual spellcasting with a more heremetic bent. Any advice there?
Oracle would have only been useful for mysad, divination would go well with build.
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I think Wiccan will work, but my main beef is that I want to portray her RP-wise as a sort of combination, a little logic mixed in with Intuition. Not looking for a tradition to meet that, just worried if it will cause any conflict. I think I will go with Snake, had that as the original characters theme. Also, Divination seems interesting, but not like it could help in investigations as much as other choices . Psychometry or Necromancy actually seem more useful, unless I'm missing something. If I get this right, I can only initiate into one, right?
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I think Wiccan will work, but my main beef is that I want to portray her RP-wise as a sort of combination, a little logic mixed in with Intuition. Not looking for a tradition to meet that, just worried if it will cause any conflict. I think I will go with Snake, had that as the original characters theme. Also, Divination seems interesting, but not like it could help in investigations as much as other choices . Psychometry or Necromancy actually seem more useful, unless I'm missing something. If I get this right, I can only initiate into one, right?
Now, don't take this for fact, as I'm not 100% sure I'm right, but I believe you can initiate into both. I'm not seeing anything directly contradicting it in the book, but they are both completely different studies that would likely have to have an elaborate story reason to have both of them. Mechanically though, I cannot find anything that says you cannot initiate into both. Just remember that people who know Necromancy are pretty closely watched and regulated to ensure they aren't slipping into darker magical techniques.
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Ok, thank you all for the advice so far. Character is almost done except for Gear and final Karma expenditure. With Resources E, I am kind of forced to get Nuyen with Karma, so is there any gear for this type of character that most people would consider essential? Also, what kind of Foci should I porbably spend my Karma on? Finally, doe anybody knw if any of the Play-by-posts are open for recruitment?
Also, I did have A look at magical traditions more in-depth, and the one that probabley actually matches my chr=aracters background is Aztec, so I may go for that one just because for me Background is just as important as the actual crunch of the character.
Edit: Reading up on traditions in Street Grimoire, I am now extremely confused. Spirits went from being generalists to now you can only summon those in your tradition, and now you can only use a spirit to do the things based on the category it's assigned? So if I'm a shaman and summon an Earth Spirit, the only thing it can do is Healing? Beasts spirits can only do Combat? Water Spirits Detection?
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Edit: Reading up on traditions in Street Grimoire, I am now extremely confused. Spirits went from being generalists to now you can only summon those in your tradition, and now you can only use a spirit to do the things based on the category it's assigned? So if I'm a shaman and summon an Earth Spirit, the only thing it can do is Healing? Beasts spirits can only do Combat? Water Spirits Detection?
Yes, it's dumb. Especially since an Earth Spirit can't heal. "I'm sorry man. I know you summoned me to heal you, but I can't do that." There are others that are much better versed in magic than I, but I would suggest you sit down with your GM and ask him these things. Because right now it's rather messed up.
Ok, thank you all for the advice so far. Character is almost done except for Gear and final Karma expenditure. With Resources E, I am kind of forced to get Nuyen with Karma, so is there any gear for this type of character that most people would consider essential? Also, what kind of Foci should I porbably spend my Karma on? Finally, doe anybody knw if any of the Play-by-posts are open for recruitment?
Also, I did have A look at magical traditions more in-depth, and the one that probabley actually matches my chr=aracters background is Aztec, so I may go for that one just because for me Background is just as important as the actual crunch of the character.
Interesting, I thought maybe Zoroastrianism might have been appealing to you. As you wish though.
For Gear, here is what I recommend. Also, yes, you absolutely need 10 karma into Resources with Priority E.
Essentials
Armor
Weapons
Commlink (Expensive + burner if you need a PAN, just burner if you don't)
Credsticks
Fake SIN
Fake Licenses (If something isn't that obvious like a smartlink, then don't bother)
1 month of Lifestyle
Optional Stuff
Extra Burner Links
Medkit (For healing after a run, recommend rating 6, keep in vehicle or home of choice)
Vehicle
Glasses/Vision device that has Image Link (AROs are super important to interact with your team and the world in general)
Any specialized protection for your area (Respirators, Chemical Protection, etc.)
It should be noted that you really want Image Link, so a Monocle would probably be the way to go. Monocles are expensive, but they allow you to spellcast, as you still have natural Line of Sight. If you get Glasses, you do not have Line of Sight, since even though you might be able to normally see what you see through Glasses, you are looking at a digital image.
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Yeah, I'll put in the recruitment thread about how traditions are done.
Aztec appealed to me because because I want my character to focus on her Mentor Spirit, and not a lo of traditions allowed for that option. Thanks for the gear advice, although I have to ask if RIFD tags are worth it?
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If you want to discreetly transfer data, then yes, I would say they are good. You can basically accomplish the same thing with a commlink, but RFID tags are useful in that they don't leave a data trail and cannot be tracked back to you. I would say that they are something optional though. You can get 50 Datachips for 25 nuyen, so it's not that expensive.
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I was actually thinking of getting some Security Tags to help keep track of leads and so own. Spirits alone won't be able to keep track of people. I'll hae my finished gear up here soon, but here is what I was thinking for starters.
Lined Coat
Ares Light Fire 70
100 rounds regular ammo
2 Spare Clips
Concealed Holster
Renraiku Sensei COmnlink (Not sure what you meant by burner)
1 Month Low lifestyle
3 Standard Credsticks
3x Fake SIN Rating 4
3x Fake License Rating 4 (Firarms, Conecealed Carry)
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I was actually thinking of getting some Security Tags to help keep track of leads and so own. Spirits alone won't be able to keep track of people. I'll hae my finished gear up here soon, but here is what I was thinking for starters.
Lined Coat
Ares Light Fire 70
100 rounds regular ammo
2 Spare Clips
Concealed Holster
Renraiku Sensei COmnlink (Not sure what you meant by burner)
1 Month Low lifestyle
3 Standard Credsticks
3x Fake SIN Rating 4
3x Fake License Rating 4 (Firarms, Conecealed Carry)
I would pick up some Gel Rounds, you don't always want to be lethal when shooting someone.
Rating 4 Fake SINs are 10,000 nuyen each, you can afford at most 1. With 3 licenses (I would say get a fake investigator license too), then your Fake SIN + Licenses would be 12,400 nuyen.
What I mean by burner links is this. Whenever you make a search on the Matrix or a call with anyone, you run the risk of being detected and eventually tracked down if they notice you are performing illegal activities. So, let's say you talk to your Fixer, and then someone sells you out. They know your commcode now, and law enforcement can track you down. If you know a commlink has been compromised, you can throw it away. You generally want one high rated commlink to form a PAN (Personal Area Network) to defend your devices from hackers, and several (or only one if you can afford) burner links to communicate and perform all the activities you need the Matrix for. If you get compromised, you don't lose too much if you drop a 100 - 1,000 nuyen commlink.
Think of it like this. Do you know what a single use cellphone is in real life? Do you know why people use them? It's the same reason with "burner" (aka disposable) commlinks. It's for security and paranoia's sake, so you can cut ties without too much worry. You can get away with either Meta Link commlinks for burners, or if you want slightly more security, Renraku Sensei Links. Here's what I went on one of my Priority E Resource characters: 1 Renraku Sensei commlink for legal activities and security, and 3 Meta Link commlinks for illegal and quasilegal activities and communication with team. You don't want to be traced back to an illegal call from your main commlink, so using a burner link allows you to have a cutout that you don't mind throwing away.
As for Security Tags, that sounds fine. It's another way of keeping your data secured and stored without it being easily traceable to you. They're still pretty cheap, so it's not a huge expense.
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Ok, character sheet so far
Priorities
Meta-D
Resources-E
Magic-C
Stats-B
Skills-A
Stats
Body 3
AGL 3
REA 3
STR 1 (Raise to 2 with Karma)
WIL 4
INT 6
LOG 4
CHA 4
MAGIC 6
EDG 2
Limits:
Mental: 6
Physical: 3
Social: 6
Qualities: Common Mild Allergy (+10) , Insomia (+10), Minor Addiction (Alcoholisim) (+4), A, 3xFocused Concetration (-12)
Karma 7
Raising STR to 2 (-15)
20,000 nuyen (-10)
Spell (Area Thought Recognition) -5
Skills
Conjuring Skill Group 5
Stealth Skill Group 3 2
Influence skill Group 2 0
Spellcasting 6
Counterspelling 5
Perception 5
Con 5
Arcana 4
Pistol 4
Unarmed Combat 4
Locksmith 2
Aseensing 4
Tracking 3
First Aid 2
Ritual Spellcasting 2
Knolwedge Skills
Contacts
Police Detective 3/3
Talismonger 3/3
Hacker 4/3
Fixer 3/2
Spells
Detect Life Extended
Improved Invisibility/Mask (Which one in your opinion is better?)
Combat Sense
Lightning Bolt
Heal
Area Though Recognition
Weapons
Ares Light Fire 70
-100 Regular Round
-50 Gel Rounds
-2 Spare Clips
-Concealed Holster
Lifestyle
1 Month Low Lifestyle
Armor
Lined Coat
Gear
1 Renraku Sensei Comnlink
3 Meta Link Comn Links
30 Security Tags
Bug Scanner
Monocular w/Image Link, Vision Magnification
Rating 4 Fake SIN
Crowbar
3 Rating 4 fake Liscenes (Private Investigator, Posession of a Firearm, Concealed Carry)
Rating 6 Medkit
Nuyen: 1,460
Will have background up sometime, just want an opinion on it's believability.