[andreww]

OK, I will be shortly playing SR5 and I wanted to get a bit of advice on character creation as I have never played the game before.  Can I ask people to take a look over what I have so far and make any suggestions.  Issues I am particularly struggling with are:

1. What order to put stuff in priorities.  How is the balance between the need for Attributes/Skills/Gear coming off.  I could really do with more money, especially for a Power Focus so how might I best achieve that.

2. Am I missing any really key skills for the Summoner/Face role.  Are there any other key skills I should pick up, bearing in mind that I dont expect to be able to cover every angle.

3. Spells: Any obvious, important or no brainer ones missing?  We will be playing a game closer to Sons of Anarchy than Cyberpunk. 

4. Gear.  I havent bought much yet, what do I really need at the start and how the hell do I afford it.

Priorities:
 
A Magic
B Attributes
C Race (Elf)
D Skills
E Resources
 
I set Race at C to have enough points to bump up Edge to let me take better advantage of the Limit removal for low Force boosting spells and let me push my luck on summoning bigger spirits. However this has left me with very little money and I am wondering if it is worth dropping Race to D and having more money or skills and just getting by with Reagents for Limit removal. I suppose that could get pricey over time and I strongly suspect it is a bad idea. I was actually tempted to set Race to B to max out Edge to 6 but that leaves me with a special attribute point I cant spend unless I take Exceptional Attribute (Magic) which I cannot afford.

Attributes:
 
Magic 6
Body 2
Agility 2
Reaction 4
Strength 2
Willpower 5
Logic 3
Intuition 5
Charisma 8
Essence 6
Edge 5

I have avoided too much dumping of attributes (no 1's).  I could do so but I suspect my GM would look less than kindly on doing so. 

Derived Stats:
 
Initiative: 9+1d6
Astral Initiative: 10+2d6
Physical Limit: 4
Mental Limit: 6
Social Limit: 9
Physical Boxes: 9
Stun Boxes: 11
 
Active Skills:
 
Summoning 6 (+2 Spirits of Air)
Spellcasting 6 (+2 Manipulation)
Counterspell 4
Binding 4
Etiquette 4
Negotiation 1
Con 1
Intimidate 1 (+2)
Assensing 1
Perception 1
Pistol 1

I have two specialisations which is an inefficient spend of Skill Points.  Should I be dropping them (and rebuying them with Karma at the end)?

Knowledge Skills:
 
English N
Street Gangs 4
Horizon Corporation 4
Magical Theory 4
Fences 4
 
Qualities:
 
Focused Concentration 5 (20)
Mentor Spirit (Thunderbird) (5)
 
Prejudiced (Biased towards Aspected Magicians, damned amateurs! (-3)
Spirit Bane (Water) (-7)
Corporate SIN (-15) (this will form a significant part of his Background and struck me as far more interesting than the Incompetent (thing I will never use) and Weak Immune System (thing we are rarely likely to encounter)).

This still leaves me with 25 Karma to spend.
 
Spells:
 
This is one area where I was really uncertain. I am really struggling to judge the effectiveness of the various different types of spells between Direct and Indirect, P and S damage, resistances etc. So instead I have largely gone for non damaging stuff combined with some buffs to stay alive in a fight. I thought about picking up an Increased Attribute but couldn't decide which I wanted. Focused Concentration will let me keep up Increased Reflexes, Armour and Combat Sense as always on Force 1 buffs (cheesed withy Reagents or Edge to bypass Limit) and leave me a little space to drop additional stuff during a fight if necessary. I also bought two extra spells with Karma.
 
Combat Sense
Mind Probe
Heal
Increased Reflexes
Improved Invisibility
Control Thoughts
Magic Fingers
Mob Mind
TriD Phantasm
Armour
Ball Lightning
Mana Bolt

Gear:
 
This is one area where I am pretty much clueless. I have bought two Foci, a +2 Summoning (air spirits) one and a +2 Spells (Manipulation). I would have preferred a Power Focus but they are expensive and I don't have the resources for it. I am guessing some sort of armoured jacket will be necessary together with a weapon of some sort, if only for show. I don't know yet how much stuff like licenses and sins will come into things (I suspect not much) and definitely want to buy some reagents.
 
I still have 7 Karma left and 10k cash. I was thinking of starting off with some bound spirits. I can do it during the game but they will default to Force 6 without any of that messy dice rolling.

[Csjarrat]

OK, I will be shortly playing SR5 and I wanted to get a bit of advice on character creation as I have never played the game before.  Can I ask people to take a look over what I have so far and make any suggestions.  Issues I am particularly struggling with are:

1. What order to put stuff in priorities.  How is the balance between the need for Attributes/Skills/Gear coming off.  I could really do with more money, especially for a Power Focus so how might I best achieve that.

2. Am I missing any really key skills for the Summoner/Face role.  Are there any other key skills I should pick up, bearing in mind that I dont expect to be able to cover every angle.

3. Spells: Any obvious, important or no brainer ones missing?  We will be playing a game closer to Sons of Anarchy than Cyberpunk. 

4. Gear.  I havent bought much yet, what do I really need at the start and how the hell do I afford it.

Priorities:
 
A Magic
B Attributes
C Race (Elf)
D Skills
E Resources        Magic A is pretty much where you need to be if you're taking a non-human metatype, B neccessary to avoid over-dumpstatting. Only areas you can really swap around are C/D/E. E can be mitigated by +10karma giving you 26k, but you'll have to work up to getting those foci another time. Skills E is dangerous, you'll need to spend a lot of karma on R1 skills, so you'll be a real one-trick pony. You could dump meta to E and bump the others up one rank, but it'll hit your AGI + CHA to do it. Its a trade off and only you know how you want the character to come out.
 
I set Race at C to have enough points to bump up Edge to let me take better advantage of the Limit removal for low Force boosting spells and let me push my luck on summoning bigger spirits. However this has left me with very little money and I am wondering if it is worth dropping Race to D and having more money or skills and just getting by with Reagents for Limit removal. I suppose that could get pricey over time and I strongly suspect it is a bad idea. I was actually tempted to set Race to B to max out Edge to 6 but that leaves me with a special attribute point I cant spend unless I take Exceptional Attribute (Magic) which I cannot afford.

Attributes:
 
Magic 6
Body 2
Agility 2
Reaction 4
Strength 2
Willpower 5
Logic 3
Intuition 5
Charisma 8
Essence 6
Edge 5 elves start at edge 1, so you'd have total edge 4 with the +3 special attribute points

I have avoided too much dumping of attributes (no 1's).  I could do so but I suspect my GM would look less than kindly on doing so. 

Derived Stats:
 
Initiative: 9+1d6
Astral Initiative: 10+2d6
Physical Limit: 4
Mental Limit: 6
Social Limit: 9
Physical Boxes: 9
Stun Boxes: 11
 
Active Skills:
 
Summoning 6 (+2 Spirits of Air)
Spellcasting 6 (+2 Manipulation)
Counterspell 4
Binding 4
Etiquette 4
Negotiation 1
Con 1
Intimidate 1 (+2)
Assensing 1
Perception 1
Pistol 1                       

I have two specialisations which is an inefficient spend of Skill Points.  Should I be dropping them (and rebuying them with Karma at the end)?
Specialisations are excellent investments. they are much much cheaper to get at this point than in-game.
i'd say you have duplicate skills here which aren't helping. All of the social skills can be trimmed down to two choices. Pick negotiation and etiquette and drop the others. Put those points into boosting perception, assensing, psitols.

Knowledge Skills:
 
English N
Street Gangs 4
Horizon Corporation 4
Magical Theory 4
Fences 4
 
Qualities:
 
Focused Concentration 5 (20)
Mentor Spirit (Thunderbird) (5)
 
Prejudiced (Biased towards Aspected Magicians, damned amateurs! (-3)
Spirit Bane (Water) (-7)
Corporate SIN (-15) (this will form a significant part of his Background and struck me as far more interesting than the Incompetent (thing I will never use) and Weak Immune System (thing we are rarely likely to encounter)).

This still leaves me with 25 Karma to spend.
 
Spells:
 
This is one area where I was really uncertain. I am really struggling to judge the effectiveness of the various different types of spells between Direct and Indirect, P and S damage, resistances etc. So instead I have largely gone for non damaging stuff combined with some buffs to stay alive in a fight. I thought about picking up an Increased Attribute but couldn't decide which I wanted. Focused Concentration will let me keep up Increased Reflexes, Armour and Combat Sense as always on Force 1 buffs (cheesed withy Reagents or Edge to bypass Limit) and leave me a little space to drop additional stuff during a fight if necessary. I also bought two extra spells with Karma.
 
Combat Sense
Mind Probe
Heal
Increased Reflexes
Improved Invisibility
Control Thoughts
Magic Fingers
Mob Mind
TriD Phantasm
Armour
Ball Lightning
Mana Bolt
all depends on what you want to do really, improve reflexes + combat spell + trid phantasm + improved invisibility are the staples. mob mind and control thoughts always useful. area of effect spells seem to be better than direct spells now.
Gear:
 
This is one area where I am pretty much clueless. I have bought two Foci, a +2 Summoning (air spirits) one and a +2 Spells (Manipulation). I would have preferred a Power Focus but they are expensive and I don't have the resources for it. I am guessing some sort of armoured jacket will be necessary together with a weapon of some sort, if only for show. I don't know yet how much stuff like licenses and sins will come into things (I suspect not much) and definitely want to buy some reagents.
 
I still have 7 Karma left and 10k cash. I was thinking of starting off with some bound spirits. I can do it during the game but they will default to Force 6 without any of that messy dice rolling.

At resources E you'll need to dump the maximum 10 karma into this to get a basic loadout. even a F1 power focus will wipe out most of your +10 karma option so forget that for now.
As a basis a shadowrunner needs:
-Gun (light pistol or better, i like fichetti security. buy a scope, concealable holster and gasvent 3. it is accurate, powerful, has built in RC, good ammo capacity and the built-in laser gives +1 to your attack pool with the scope helping mitigate range mods.
-Good commlink. grab the 5k one, it helps defend all your electronic kit from hackers.
-Audio + visual kit. Grab glasses with image enhancement (boost perception tests), image link (so you can see AR), flare compensation (to help against flashbangs). Grab some headphones/earbuds with audio enhance etc. budget 1-2k for these
-Good fake SiN. (rating 3 at least, 3 dice gives 1 hit on an ID test, so this is the minimum you need. 7500+ for this)
-Good fake licenses (again rating 3. things like weapons, foci etc need licenses)
-A vehicle. Don't be late for the meet because the bus didn't turn up. grab a dodge scoot, (3k).
-Good armour. You need at least a lined coat + helmet, though might as well go for the full jacket + helmet (budget 1000+)
-Somewhere to live. grab 1 month at low, or squatter if money is really tight. (500-2k for this)