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first time Runner, some questions on Trolls

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antijoke_13

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« on: <04-04-13/1400:22> »
How viable are trolls in crew roles outside of the "big nasty" category? I understand that they make really good heavies of all stripes, but can they effectively be used in other realms, such as, say, Magic? and if so, how do you recommend going about that?

I always thought it would be interesting to see a troll that was not only capable of doing some serious heavy hitting, but equally adept at ruining someone's day with a well placed lightning bolt or covering his escape with a summoned elemental. any ideas for making this build work?

as an aside, how does magic even work, rules wise? i've had difficulty grasping that concept.

If it helps with presenting me ideas, i have the 4th edition core, the runners companion, street magic and arsenal.


Bewilderbeast

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« Reply #1 on: <04-04-13/1406:32> »
It's totally possible to have a troll who isn't just a club-dragging combat monster. Check out Umaro's Combat Hacker for an example of a troll that isn't primarily about killing things (although, yeah, he can do that too).

Troll mages are totally doable. I've seen a troll hermetic mage who took some 'ware to boost their Logic (to make up for racial deficiencies). Perhaps a simpler option is to take an Intuition-based tradition (you can find these in Street Magic). Trolls don't get penalties to either their Intuition or their Willpower, so you'd be as good at it as anyone else.
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RHat

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« Reply #2 on: <04-04-13/1410:50> »
Troll Druid Combat Mage...  That could be powerful.  They can also make good hackers, especially combat hackers, and decent riggers (with a greater focus on Logic boosting ware)...  You can do a lot with them, and use their natural abilities to boost their combat abilities so that they're not screwed in combat.
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UmaroVI

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« Reply #3 on: <04-04-13/1515:56> »
Trolls do actually have - 1 Intuition.

Basically, it comes down to two things:

1. There's various effective ways of using magic to enhance physical combat. Trolls are good at physical combat.

2. Trolls get +5 body and 1/1 armor (whee). -1 to your soak rolls is really not that bad, because mages tend to be high-priority targets and thus being a hard target against physical attacks is very good.

3. Fomori are really really good.

Bewilderbeast

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« Reply #4 on: <04-04-13/1520:07> »
Trolls do actually have - 1 Intuition.
Whoops, my bad. Away from books at the moment. And yeah, I should mention that Hermetic troll I saw was also a Fomori, because they are indeed really really good.
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