[Landmine]

So this is the first 5e character that I've built and I decided to go simple and try for a Street Samurai that would be fun to play. The concept is a former elf commando, excellent at ranged combat, good at close combat, and decidedly sneaky. I really wish I could find a way to get Resources down to priority B, but I seem to hit this gap where B doesn't provide enough nuyen and A gives me a bit more than I need. I appreciate any feedback as I am certain that I am missing something. Any feedback/suggestions/critiques are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Priorities: A - Resources, B - Attributes, C- Skills, D- Metatype, E- Magic

Mercy
METATYPE: ELF
B 5, A 7/9, R 5/7, S 3/5, W 3, L 2, I 3, C 3, ESS 0.55, EDG 2
Condition Monitor (P/S): 11 / 10
Armor: 19
Limits: Physical 8, Mental 4, Social 5
Physical Initiative: 8/10+3D6
Active Skills: Athletics Group 2, Automatics 6 (Assault Rifles +2), Blades 4 (Knives +2), Etiquette 1, First Aid 1, Intimidation 1, Perception 4 (Visual +2), Sneaking 4 (Urban +2), Throwing Weapons 2 (Non-Aerodynamic +2)
Knowledge Skills: Shadow Community 3, Small Unit Tactics 4
Languages: English N, Sperethiel 3
Metatype Abilities: Enhanced Senses: Low-Light Vision
Qualities: Addiction (Mild): Nicotine, Agile Defender, Code of Honor: Children (6dicepool vs. 4), Guts
Augmentations:
   Bone Lacing (Aluminum)
   Damper (Used)
   Image Link (Used)
   Muscle Replacement (Used) (2)
   Platelet Factories
   Smartlink (Used)
   Synaptic Booster (2)
   Thermographic Vision (Used)
   Vision Enhancement (Used) (3)
Vehicles:
   Suzuki Mirage [Handling 5/3, Speed 6, Accel 3, Body 5, Armor 6, Pilot 1, Sensor 2, Seats 1]
Gear:
   Area Scanner w/ Geiger Counter, Olfactory Sensor (4), Ultrasound
   Backpack
   Ballistic Mask w/ Flare Compensation, Gas Mask, Micro-Tranceiver, Trodes, Vision Enhancement (2)
   BDU's (black)
   BDU's (OD green)
   Casual Clothing
   Certified Credstick, Silver
   Certified Credstick, Standard
   Chisel/Crowbar
   Concealed Quick-Draw Holster
   Concealed Quick-Draw Holster
   Ear buds (3) w/ Audio Enhancement (2), Select Sound Filter (1)
   Flashlight
   Formal Suit
   Gun Belt (1)
   Identity: Specify Name w/ Fake SIN (3), (3 months) Middle Lifestyle
   Identity: Specify Name w/ (12 months) DocWagon Platinum Contract, Fake License: Augmentation (4), Fake License: Concealed Carry (4), Fake License: Firearms (4), Fake License: Grenades (4), Fake SIN (4)
   Identity: Specify Name w/ Fake License: Augmentation (4), Fake License: Concealed Carry (4), Fake License: Firearms (4), Fake License: Grenades (4), Fake SIN (4)
   Identity: Specify Name w/ Fake License: Augmentation (4), Fake License: Concealed Carry (4), Fake License: Firearms (4), Fake License: Grenades (4), Fake SIN (4)
   Medkit (3)
   Medkit Supplies x10
   Meta Link Commlink
   Meta Link Commlink
   Meta Link Commlink
   Meta Link Commlink
   Micro-Tranceiver
   Personnel Scanner w/ Cyberware Scanner, MAD Scanner, Radio Signal Scanner
   Plasteel Restraints x5
   Plastic Restraints x10
   Sleeping Tiger w/ Custom Fit, Electrochromic Modification, Gel Packs, Holster, Newest Model, Nonconductivity (6), Ruthenium Polymer Coating (3), Thermal Dampening (4)
   Stim Patch (6) x2
   Tac Harness
   Transys Avalon Commlink w/ Biomonitor, Sim Module
   Trauma Patch x2
   Trodes
Weapons:
   Ares Crusader II [Machine Pistol, Acc 7, DV 7P, AP -4, SA/BF, RC 2(3), 40 (c)] w/ (200x) APDS, Flashlight, Folding Stock, Gas-Vent System (2), (100x) Gel Rounds, (100x) Regular Ammo, Silencer/Suppressor, Smartgun System, Internal, (10x) Spare Clips
   FN HAR [Assault Rifle, Acc 7, DV 10P, AP -6, SA/BF/FA, RC 2(4), 35 (c)] w/ (300x) APDS, Flashlight, Foregrip, Gas-Vent System (2), (200x) Gel Rounds, Improved Range Finder, Laser Sight, (200x) Regular Ammo, Shock Pad, Silencer/Suppressor, Sling, Smartgun System, Internal, (10x) Spare Clips
   Combat Knife [Blade, Acc 6, DV 7P, AP -3]
   Combat Knife [Blade, Acc 6, DV 7P, AP -3]
   Flash-Bang Grenade x6 [Grenade, non-aerodynamic, Acc 8, DV 10S, 10m R, AP -4]
   Fragmentation Grenade x6 [Grenade, non-aerodynamic, Acc 8, DV 18P(f), -1/m, AP +5]
   Thermal Smoke Grenade x6 [Grenade, non-aerodynamic, Acc 8, DV Th. Smoke, 10m R, AP –]
Contacts:
Jameson (Connection 3, Loyalty 2)
Lead (Connection 4, Loyalty 1)
Saw (Connection 2, Loyalty 4)
Starting ¥: 1,197.5 + (4D6 x 100)¥

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[Tarislar]

Priorities: A - Resources, B - Attributes, C- Skills, D- Metatype, E- Magic

B 5, A 7/9, R 5/7, S 3/5, W 3, L 2, I 3, C 3, ESS 0.55, EDG 2
Armor: 19
Limits: Physical 8, Mental 4, Social 5

Active Skills: Athletics Group 2, Automatics 6 (Assault Rifles +2), Blades 4 (Knives +2), Etiquette 1, First Aid 1, Intimidation 1, Perception 4 (Visual +2), Sneaking 4 (Urban +2), Throwing Weapons 2 (Non-Aerodynamic +2)

Qualities: Addiction (Mild): Nicotine, Agile Defender, Code of Honor: Children (6dicepool vs. 4), Guts

Augmentations:
   Bone Lacing (Aluminum)
   Damper (Used)
   Image Link (Used)
   Muscle Replacement (Used) (2)
   Platelet Factories
   Smartlink (Used)
   Synaptic Booster (2)
   Thermographic Vision (Used)
   Vision Enhancement (Used) (3)

Buy those L1/L2 skills w/ Karma.  Use those 28 Skill Points on 4-5 skills at the most.
  (Automatics, Blades, Perception, Sneaking, & maybe Throwing)
Why so much Used Cyberware if you have the extra Cash from Priority-A ?
Platelet Factories is the only thing on their that I would get used for cost reasons, maybe the Vision Enhancement-3.
  The rest of it is Regular/Alpha items.
I'd also seriously look at Human-D for the Edge, 1 point of Agility isn't going to be that useful compared to Edge-5, IMHO.

[JackVII]

If you're getting that many vision mods, I would consider getting cybereyes. It might be cheaper that way on your essence. Alternately, I wouldn't ever get an image link unless its the free one that comes with cybereyes. Just get a datajack instead since you don't need an image link at that point and you gain DNI and Noise Reduction to boot.

[Landmine]

Your point about skills makes a lot of sense. I didn't think about how cost effective it would be to keep a few high skills, then buy the lower ones later. Most of my starting karma was spent on edge, martial arts, advantages, and upgraded contacts. Are these not worth the expenditure at creation?

Being an elf gets her the martial arts style that I wanted, more max Agililty, and some free Charisma points, which I thought was worth it. But 5 Edge is really tempting now that I think about. As I'm still working on background, that might require some serious reevaluation.

The reason for the used cyberware was that I have Essence to burn, and those small pieces of eye- and ear-ware have low Essence costs so the penalty isn't too bad. I would rather save the cash to spend on things like her extra fake SINs. This character is only going to have a minor bit of social skills, so I don't mind the social limit cap, and I don't know if I will have access to magical healing regularly enough to be worried about that penalty. It also saves some major cash on the muscle replacements. I didn't go with a cybereyes system because doing this was cheaper, but I should run the numbers on Essence cost of individual upgrades vs. cybereyes.

I didn't think I could get the platelet factories used as they are bioware.

Regarding the image link, I thought it was necessary for visual information. I must need to read the description again. I thought with a trode net plugged into my comm, I could run everything wirelessly. Or are you suggesting the datajack because then I wouldn't have to rely on wireless?

I realize that it seems strange that I'm talking about wanting to bump down resources, then looking to save money on augmentations. But when I tried to get everything as cheaply as possible, I came up with a total that was unattainable with 275,000 plus karma cash. So while there are some discretionary expenditures that could be cut, I chose to put a lot of that nuyen into things other than ware. She has a good many fake SINs, excellent armor, a decent lifestyle, good DocWagon, a vehicle, etc. Those trade-offs seem worth it to me as my future cash can primarily be put into upgrading my future ware. Is that not the way to go with a Street Samurai?

[saithor]

Really would suggest some Wired Reflexes, those extra initiative dice are amazing.

[8-bit]

Cybereyes Rating 4 can fit literally everything you would ever want for less Essence than you are paying right now.

You can get Bioware used as long as it's Basic Bioware. Cultured Bioware cannot be gotten used. Platelet Factories are Basic Bioware, so they can be gotten used.

A Datajack gives you DNI. If you have DNI, you have no need for Image Link, as DNI provides a direct neural interface (exactly what it stands for actually) that lets you see ARO's with your natural eyes without any aids. Still need a commlink, of course.

I could give you a more thorough breakdown if you wanted, but I figured I might as well answer your questions.

[Landmine]

I have Synaptic Boosters 2. Her initiative is at 10+3d6. Is that not normal for a starting street sam?

8-bit, your replies have been extremely helpful so far. Anything you have to say, will gladly listen to. I will run the numbers on the eye ware when I have access to my rule book again (I'm currently at work). When I was working on this character I ruled out Cybereyes 4 for some reason that I can't recall now. I think I was worried about availability. But if it's used, then that will help.

I now understand the differences between bioware and cultured bioware! Progress!

I was using trodes for a DNI, but now the image link description makes more sense, thank you. I feel like I don't have a good handle on what systems are needed/best to run a PAN. I get that you need a commlink, DNI, and a smartlink to make things work and that running it wirelessly (silent or no) makes you vulnerable.  I am just not sure how to optimize it for someone who relies on the technology, but isn't great at defending it. Other than hire a decker...

EDIT: stupid autocorrect

[saithor]

Oh, sorry, I apologize. Augmentations are not my strong suit, although I may be making a Street Sam myself soon.

One question I have is what Martial Art are you using, since I don't see it listed, and how much Karma did you spend. I'm assuming it's one of the blade ones. Really consider Human-D, edge is very useful, and the feel I'm getting from the character is that he/she is not a very charismatic person.

[Landmine]

No worries. Now that I'm looking at the output block, Herolab didn't include the martial arts. I took Carromeleg (which from the text, is only available to elves) with Iajutsu and Riposte. I considered Kenjustsu, but I really like Riposte, which it doesn't have.

Social skills are definitely not a priority, but the free contact points along with some very basic social skills would allow her skate by when a face isn't around. At least, that's what I was going for.

[8-bit]

10 + 3d6 is pretty good for a Street Sam. Not the best, but it's likely to get you 3 Action Passes (only need 11 on 3 dice, not too difficult to get). As for running a PAN, you want 3 things. A strong commlink; the Transys Avalon, which you have, is highly recommended. A high Willpower; 3 is usually good enough if you have a Transys Avalon, but more does not hurt. A decker; because that's their freaking job is to protect your team's wireless stuff. You can also run silent on the Public Grid to give deckers a hard time of locating your device, but that's just a delay tactic.

You can actually fit a lot of big purchases for 'ware into Resources B, but you have to make some decisions to throw away stuff. If that stuff is core to your concept, you're better off sticking with Resources A. Although it looks like you don't have that many Augmentations anyway. Also, Elf and Human are fairly equivalent in this case; one gets you a slightly higher Agility and Charisma for free (good for Contacts), while the other gets you a ton of Edge, which is arguably more useful. However, you shouldn't depend on luck, if you are playing a low Edge character, you have to have good dice pools so that you don't have to spend it all the time. Anyway, I'll give you a couple of ideas below.

Build 1 - Simple, cheap, and effective | 10 Karma into Nuyen should let you get everything else you could want (within reason)

Wired Reflexes 2 - Used - 111,750 nuyen | 3.75 Essence
Muscle Replacement 2 - Alphaware - 60,000 nuyen | 1.6 Essence
Rating 3 Cybereyes w/ Flare Compensation, Low-Light Vision, Thermographic Vision, Smartlink, Vision Magnification, Vision Enhancement 2 - Alphaware - 33,600 nuyen | 0.32 Essence
Platelet Factories - Used - 12,750 nuyen | 0.25 Essence
(Datajack can be slipped in by making Platelet Factories Standard Grade; this allows you to pick up either a Standard or Alphaware Datajack)

Total Resource Cost: 218,100 nuyen, Total Essence Remaining: 0.08

Build 2 - Wired Reflexes + Reaction Enhancers | Dips very low into Essence for high Initiative Boost (have to give up Cybereyes)

Wired Reflexes 2 - Standard - 149,000 nuyen | 3 Essence
Muscle Replacement 2 - Alphaware - 60,000 nuyen | 1.6 Essence
Reaction Enhancers 3 - Used - 29,250 nuyen | 1.125 Essence
Platelet Factories - Used - 12,750 nuyen | 0.25 Essence
(Datajack can be slipped in by dropping Reaction Enhancers to Rating 2 and getting them as Standard or Alphaware; this allows you to pick up either a Standard or Alphaware Datajack)

Total Resource Cost: 251,000 nuyen, Total Essence Remaining: 0.0250

Build 3 - Bone Lacing Build | Gives up a few things to fit Bone Lacing in

Wired Reflexes 2 - Standard - 149,000 nuyen | 3 Essence
Muscle Replacement 2 - Alphaware - 60,000 nuyen | 1.6 Essence
Aluminum Bone Lacing - Standard - 18,000 nuyen | 1 Essence
Platelet Factories - Standard - 17,000 nuyen | 0.2 Essence
(Datajack can be slipped in without any changes)

Total Resource Cost: 244,000 nuyen, Total Essence Remaining: 0.2

I think you get the idea.

Here are some comments I made on a thread a while back, so I'll just quote it here. It's about other purchases you may, or may not, want to consider. It was for a Troll build, so some of the content may not apply here.

Single Items to Consider

Platelet Factories: You may have noticed that I include this in every single build I put up there. For a pretty measly 17,000 nuyen (less if you get it used) and .2 Essence, it has a pretty huge impact. When you take Physical damage, not only do you start to rack up wound penalties, but that's a sign that you are probably going to die unless the situation changes. Platelet Factories delays this. It's extremely cheap for what it gives.

Damage Compensators: I might get a little hate for this, since Pain Editor makes these obsolete later on, but I think these are fantastic. You can get rating 4 for a measly 8,000 nuyen and .4 Essence, and it just let's you go longer without wound penalties. A pretty good pickup for any combat character, especially so for melee characters that have to get close.

Cybereyes/Cyberears: These are more for flavor then anything else. Yes, you can get some really decked out 'Eyes or 'Ears, but it's hard to fit it into a really tight budget that you already have. On the flip side, having really tricked out Cybereyes and Cyberears makes you extremely perceptive and fun to roleplay (hawk vision and super hearing should not be underestimated). Otherwise, skip them.

Mnemonic Enhancer: These are in no way useful for combat. I seem to run into the problem of having a really low mental limit when playing a heavily optimised combat character, so sometimes I get these to have a little boost solely for Perception checks. I guess the language/memory boosts are nice too. Anyways, these are pretty cheap to pick up, even just one level can help.

Sleep Regulator: Story reasons? Nothing more, nothing less; I tend to like these because I don't have to worry about the fact that my character has been up for 18 hours without sleeping. I also like the fact that I don't have to spend 8 hours sleeping; leaves me less vulnerable. This sort of stuff is usually handwaved during gameplay, but it's still something to consider. Very cheap augmentation.

Symbiotes: Trolls are already amazing natural healers. Add on Quick Healer and some of these, and you get someone who recovers from injuries in an extremely short time. Considering you can get rating 3 used for 7,875 nuyen (Somewhat hefty .75 Essence), or rating 2 alphaware for 8,400 nuyen (.32 Essence), these are a really cheap addition that you may find useful. Not a combat augmentation, for sure, but still useful all the same.

--------------------------------------

For skills, here are some suggestions. You can get Throwing Weapons 1 with 2 Karma, instead of spending 3 skill points on it. For grenades, the only thing you are using it for, you only need 3 hits to completely reduce scatter. 9 Agility + 1 rank is going to work 90% of the time. I would skip First Aid. You need to reach a threshold of 2 and then get net hits to heal any boxes of damage (Page 205 of the Core Book of SR5). You're better off letting a Rating 3 or Rating 6 Medkit run by itself with a dicepool of Rating x 2. I might recommend replacing Blades with Unarmed Combat to take advantage of your Bone Lacing. That one is just personal preference. All your rating 1 skills should be with Karma, as you can use your skill points better. I would up Blades/Unarmed Combat to 6, Sneaking to 6, and then either get Perception to 6, or get Con 1 (+2 Fast Talk).

For Attributes, I recommend this setup.

Body 5
Agility 7 (9)
Reaction 3 (5)
Strength 4 (6)
Willpower 3
Logic 1
Intuition 5
Charisma 3

Intuition is generally more useful because of Perception checks than Reaction, especially in this case, since your Reaction is already being boosted. Logic can be raised easily with 10 Karma either at character creation, or shortly afterward. Finally, Strength improves your Physical Limit, and the damage of your melee Attacks, which is very important for a Street Samurai.

Finally, for qualities, I recommend taking the full -25 points in negative qualities. The extra Karma is just so useful to spend on so many things. Also, unless it's part of your concept, I would skip Guts. It's pretty niche and unlikely to be used.

[Landmine]

Very helpful, thanks. What I'm gleaning both from your comments and other character sheets I've found is that I shouldn't plan ok upgrading my ware. It seems like a nice goal, but it's a bit optimistic to think that a.) the character lives that long and b.) the game lasts long enough to acquire the huge amount of funds. I was intentionally leaving some room to grow, so to speak, for ware. But it looks like it would be much wiser to load up on ware and to acquire less expensive equipment during gameplay.

What is your opinion of martial arts? Iajutsu, Riposte, and Finishing Move seem like worthwhile investments.

[8-bit]

You have to walk a pretty fine border between character efficiency, and character concept.

You can go less 'ware and leave a lot of room to grow (not that more 'ware doesn't leave room to grow), but you have to think of the context of your game. Do you have a game that's tabletop that has a good group that will play for a while? Then you should plan to be able to grow your character. Are you in a Skype game that shows no signs of anyone dropping out? You should plan to grow your character. Do you have a group that plays multiple tabletop games and rotates them out often? You should not plan to grow your character, as you don't know how long the game will go. Not saying that it's a bad thing to have that kind of group, my current group is like that, but you have to think about these things. Finally, you could play a PbP (Play-by-post) game on a forum, but those games take a long time to get anywhere, so you probably want to frontload as much as possible.

Martial Arts are mathematically inefficient compared to some other stuff, but in certain niche cases are very powerful. Generally, most characters don't have enough Karma to invest in one. However, if you are willing to make a few adjustments, you can easily fit a technique or two in, if you want. Just remember that you get the first technique plus access to the Martial Art for 7 Karma, but each new technique requires another 5 Karma.

Finishing Move can be devastatingly powerful, but it requires you to spend Edge and take a penalty to Initiative. If you have enough dice with your skill, and you're willing to spend Edge anyway, you could just Edge to Push the Limit and likely get enough net hits to kill something anyway. Iaijutsu is a very powerful technique, as it essentially ups your Action Economy (how you handle your limited assortment of actions to perform the most efficient amount of actions per round). This one is probably worth investing in. Riposte is pretty niche, and it is a nice technique. It's basically an upgraded Parry action. I would say maybe 50/50 on this one, it's up to you if you want it.

I should note that I'm not an expert at Shadowrun Martial Arts. It's not something that comes up too often, and all I know is that Martial Arts got a huge hit in SR5 from SR4. I honestly don't know the list of Martial Arts that are considered viable purchases, so I just have to analyze each one on a case by case basis and use my experience. I would say that Iaijutsu is worth it, and Riposte is a decent second choice if you want it.

[Sabato Kuroi]

Well if it helps, my street sam killed a chimera assassin from splintered state in one Pass using Charge, Iaijutsu and Finishing move with a nodachi (got a little bit lucky with the chimera's soaking dice though :p, and drew enough aggro for the chimera sniper to leave me with one box of health before I managed to flee)

[The other Bandit]

How the hell did you get the big ´dachi in there?! Not to derail but I am allways keen on hearing how other people solve the same problem in different ways.

[Sabato Kuroi]

Sorry, I meant katana, not nodachi.
Best rating fake sinn, best rating fake licence, I posed as a kenjutsu instructor, my character being japanese helped a lot.I also rolled etiquette successfully.They marked me of course so I now have to throw that particular SINN away but it was worth it.

I keep the nodachi for runs, along with my heavy armor, assault rifles etc