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SR5 / 1st char. / decker

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Overbyte

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« Reply #15 on: <05-25-18/0137:01> »
Just a quick note.
You should probably take Boosted Reflexes instead of Wired. Save you a bunch of money and Essence and is almost the same. You probably won't ever upgrade anyway.
No.
Boosted is NPC thugs only. Wired is essence expensive but its one of very few things that has explicate language for stacking, wired ref + reaction enhancers is good times for everyone!

Too expensive in terms of essence and nuyen for someone that isn't primarily a sammy. And it doesn't help in VR anyway.
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Trollisko

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« Reply #16 on: <05-25-18/0148:43> »
Thanks for all your input!

It has given me quite a few things to think over as well as helped notice issues with how I did this chargen and where I made mistakes with how I calculated things. I will rework the character and post an update after the weekend.

Overbyte

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« Reply #17 on: <05-25-18/0225:43> »
Are you using Chummer? If not.. do.. it makes your life SO much easier.
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Marcus

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« Reply #18 on: <05-25-18/1327:23> »

Too expensive in terms of essence and nuyen for someone that isn't primarily a sammy. And it doesn't help in VR anyway.

Decking isn't essence intensive, he's got plenty of essence space, and there's no take backs on boosted, once it's in, it's not coming out.
Wired 1 isn't very expensive cash wise, and it does what it designed for better then just about anything else. Add reaction enhancers later on, or with resource A right now.
You get solid boost to initiative. Sure it won't be street sam level, but strong second string, with cyberarm, certainly capable taking care gangers or looking after one self in fire fight.
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Overbyte

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« Reply #19 on: <05-25-18/2136:44> »
Just going to disagree.
Wired is a whole 'nother point of essence. And he doesn't really ever need anything else since it doesn't help in VR.
Also, stuffing in Wired, and then an Arm on top of other cyber/bioware is going to drop his social limit and screw up his Face skills. Wired is also 4x the nuyen cost of Boosted and he is short on nuyen to begin with.
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Marcus

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« Reply #20 on: <05-25-18/2235:14> »
Just going to disagree.
Wired is a whole 'nother point of essence. And he doesn't really ever need anything else since it doesn't help in VR.
Also, stuffing in Wired, and then an Arm on top of other cyber/bioware is going to drop his social limit and screw up his Face skills. Wired is also 4x the nuyen cost of Boosted and he is short on nuyen to begin with.

Oh please Overbyte, you're blowing way out proportion, Social limit is so easy to raise, and as we all well know it won't effect his social skill pools in anyway, and he can easily recover the limit loss with a nice suit, and with some pheromone cologne he can even raise it beyond what was. As to the cash I already suggested he give up the Skill A Trap get a more useful Priority in that slot.

Boosted cripples that character for further development. It can never raise initiative beyond the +1d6 level it's stupid to ever install it on any character you intend to play for any kind serous campaign. Better just use light combat drugs then use that non-sense.
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FST_Gemstar

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« Reply #21 on: <05-26-18/1223:44> »
Honestly, a Reaction Enhancer is cheaper, less essence intensive, and fundamentally gets the character as is the same benefits as Wired Reflexes 1 (Reaction 4 and consistent 2 initiative passes).

The most optimal thing to do would be to get Used Reaction Enhancers 3 for the same price as Wired Reflexes 1. It gives the perk of giving higher Reaction (for piloting skills and Defense) and with less essence. 

« Last Edit: <05-26-18/1228:08> by FST_Gemstar »

Overbyte

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« Reply #22 on: <05-26-18/1446:54> »
Boosted cripples that character for further development. It can never raise initiative beyond the +1d6 level it's stupid to ever install it on any character you intend to play for any kind serous campaign. Better just use light combat drugs then use that non-sense.

Now who is being hyperbolic Stupid? Crippled? I just disagree and gave my reasons.

Plenty of chars (including this one) don't need to have more than +1d6 ever in a campaign. Certainly it depends on the campaign. And a full point of essence is a lot, no matter where you are taking your char in the future, but particularly if you are going to advocate another point in cyberarm. Wired I is a lousy return on your investment in nuyen and Karma, really no matter what. With Boosted, you can still raise your initiative you are not "crippled" for life. You can add reaction enhancers, use drugs, etc. And a decker has plenty of things he'll need to spend 100,000 nuyen on before buying Wired 2 when s/he already has Wired 1. As @FST_Gemstar said, might as well just get Used Reaction Enhancers 3, or.. Alpha Reaction Enhancers 2, that way you won't "waste" money on something you intend to replace later.

This is not really the thread to debate the merits of various character building strategies, its really just better to present options (and reasoning) to the OP and let them decide what kind of char they want to play knowing (hopefully) what kind of campaign they are in.

Nothing is foolproof. Fools are so ingenious.

Marcus

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« Reply #23 on: <05-26-18/1640:07> »
Boosted cripples that character for further development. It can never raise initiative beyond the +1d6 level it's stupid to ever install it on any character you intend to play for any kind serous campaign. Better just use light combat drugs then use that non-sense.

Now who is being hyperbolic Stupid? Crippled? I just disagree and gave my reasons.

Plenty of chars (including this one) don't need to have more than +1d6 ever in a campaign. Certainly it depends on the campaign. And a full point of essence is a lot, no matter where you are taking your char in the future, but particularly if you are going to advocate another point in cyberarm. Wired I is a lousy return on your investment in nuyen and Karma, really no matter what. With Boosted, you can still raise your initiative you are not "crippled" for life. You can add reaction enhancers, use drugs, etc. And a decker has plenty of things he'll need to spend 100,000 nuyen on before buying Wired 2 when s/he already has Wired 1. As @FST_Gemstar said, might as well just get Used Reaction Enhancers 3, or.. Alpha Reaction Enhancers 2, that way you won't "waste" money on something you intend to replace later.

This is not really the thread to debate the merits of various character building strategies, its really just better to present options (and reasoning) to the OP and let them decide what kind of char they want to play knowing (hopefully) what kind of campaign they are in.

And I addressed your points. You can use edge, but you cannot use anything that stacks reliable dice, that's just a fact, and yes from my perspective is crippling, many new player don't understand the consequences of that ware, as it has changed considerably from what it originally was in 3rd. As to if you're happy playing in a campaign where you never want to go above +1d6 more power to you. But that's not how anything gets done in SR that I'm used to. As to dropping 100k on wired 2 i expect they will drop considerably more 100k cause they are gonna want that in at-least beta hopefully better then that. But that's goal for once your up and really running.

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fseperent

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« Reply #24 on: <05-28-18/0244:03> »
I know this will probably get torn apart.
Tried building a decker/face with the priorities you listed.
Remember, after you spend your nuyen given by your priority, you can only spend 10 more karma.
Yes, I use Hero Lab.

Code: [Select]
Unnamed Hero
METATYPE: ELF
B 2, A 3, R 3, S 2, W 4, L 6, I 5, C 6, ESS 6, EDG 2
Condition Monitor (P/S): 9 / 10
Armor: 8
Limits: Physical 3, Mental 7, Social 8
Physical Initiative: 8+1D6
Matrix Initiative: 8+3D6
Active Skills: Computer (Matrix Perception +2) 5, Con (Fast Talking +2) 5, Cracking Group 6, Etiquette 6, Hardware (Cyberdecks +2) 5, Negotiation (Bargaining +2) 6, Outdoors Group 4, Perception 6, Pistols (Tasers +2) 2, Software (Data Bombs +2) 5
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Languages: Chinese N, English N
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Qualities: Allergy, Common (Mild): Sunlight, Bilingual, Codeslinger: Hack on the Fly, Photographic Memory, Quick Healer, Sensitive System
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         Mapsoft: Seattle
Gear:
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   AR Gloves
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   Ear buds (1)
   Exploit
   Glasses (4) w/ Image Link
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Weapons:
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Contacts:
Bartender (Connection 2, Loyalty 2)
Fixer (Connection 2, Loyalty 2)
Mr. Johnson (Connection 2, Loyalty 2)
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Starting ¥: 5 + (4D6 × 100)¥

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« Last Edit: <05-28-18/0329:44> by fseperent »

Trollisko

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« Reply #25 on: <05-28-18/0510:10> »
Coming back with a few pieces of info.

Having talked to the GM about the theme, it will revolve around drug trafficking and the like. That being said, the characters are meant to become runners, not exactly start as ones. With that in mind I thought it might be good to share some background on the idea for the character.

He's meant to be a fall-from-grace corp cog, who enjoyed the benefits of a family well rooted into a small brach of Wuxing. After a series of bad decisions by a few members of the family, he found himself mostly out of money and couple of said family members less.

Mechanics-wise, I've looked at what has been posted and made a few changes that should suit a decker/face a bit more. All I've read so far was very useful and quite educational, thanks again! I've ran the numbers on skills and nuyen again through chummer to double-check, but with the amended qualities all looks in order.

As for the choice of race - frankly, I wanted to go with troll initially, but found it a bit hard to build for a first character and I've played humans in recent games most of the time (not that WH40k gives much choice ;)) and wanted to have a change of pace.

Here's the decker/face after all the changes - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xePXqRXGd32xpcGuxmcMRDYh8MUIOTdW

FST_Gemstar

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« Reply #26 on: <05-28-18/1214:43> »
What are your priority selections? EBEAB? Some things aren't calculating right to me. 

But generally, a nice enough build for a face/decker. You could probably send those locksmith and first-aid skills somewhere else (you can hack nearly every lock as a hacker, and first aid has weird rules where investing in it somewhat doesn't really pay).

« Last Edit: <05-28-18/1218:01> by FST_Gemstar »

Trollisko

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« Reply #27 on: <05-28-18/1325:31> »
Priorities were:
A - Skill
B - Attributes
C - Resources
D - Metatype (Elf)
E - Magic

Apart from bringing edge up, all leftover karma went in nuyen(hence the born rich).
« Last Edit: <05-28-18/1506:15> by Trollisko »

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #28 on: <05-28-18/1508:43> »
With regards to the Wired Reflexes vs Boosted Reflexes debate:  Don't forget that if you have the spare EDG available, you can blitz during a critical combat turn (usually the first one...) and do better than Wired OR Boosted by spending an edge point and rolling +5d6.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

Overbyte

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« Reply #29 on: <05-28-18/1513:57> »
A couple things after taking a quick look.
Most people recommend having BOD and WIL at odd numbers to take advantage of the rounding when computing your damage tracks, so you might want to go 3 and 3 instead of 2 and 4.
Also, you might consider having more than one datajack because it actually gives a boost to your noise cancellation.

First Aid and Lockpicking are two skills where gear can give you huge boosts so you don't need a lot of dice for them if you want to make use of those points elsewhere. I use the Advanced Medicine rules in Bullets and Bandages, so in my game you need some First Aid to attach a medkit, but even then you don't need a monster pool.
Nothing is foolproof. Fools are so ingenious.