Shadowrun Play > Character creation and critique

Making a drake mage-face work

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Ixal:
The entry for The Coffee Clutch in No Future finally got me to put a concept I had in mind for some time on paper. Not that I will likely actually play it, but I just wanted to see if I could make it work.

Basic idea is a forward operative who sleazes his way in before the run to get into a good position + the occasional information gathering. And of course the usual mage stuff during the run.
Although this would only really work after the first initiation to get Masking.

Priorities

Magic: A
Attributes: B
Skills: C
Metatype: D
Resources: E

Attributes
BOD: 3 (4)
AGI: 3 (4)
REA: 3
STR: 3 (5)
CHA: 4
INT: 3
LOG: 3 (4)
WIL: 6
EDG: 5
MAG: 6

Derived Attributes
Essence:                                6
Initiative:                             6 +1d6
Astral Initiative:                     6 + 3d6
Physical Damage Track:                  10
Stun Damage Track:                      11

Limits
Physical:                               6
Mental:                                 6
    Vision Enhancement [+1] (Only Perception (Visual))
    Vision Enhancement [+3] (Only Perception (Visual))
Social:                                 7
   Rapid Transit: Elite [+1] (Must be visible)
   Securetech PPP: Arms Kit [-1] (Must be visible)
   Securetech PPP: Legs Kit [-1] (Must be visible)
Astral:                                 7

Active Skill
Assensing                              Base:4          Pool:7
Con                              Base:6          Pool:10
Counterspelling                              Base:6          Pool:12
Etiquette                              Base:6          Pool:10
Gymnastics                              Base:2 (grouped)          Pool:5 (6)
Pistols                              Base:2          Pool:5 (6)
Running                              Base:2 (grouped)          Pool:7
Spellcasting                              Base:6          Pool:12
Swimming                              Base:2 (grouped)          Pool:5 (7)
Unarmed Combat                      Base:4          Pool:7 (8)
Exotic Ranged Weapon Flame    Base: 4          Pool: 8

Positive Qualities
Dracoform (Eastern Drake)

Negative Qualities
Creature of Comfort (Middle)            -10
In Debt 6                                      -6
Prejudiced (Specific, Biased) (Japanese) -3
Records on File (Spinrad)                 -1
SINner (National) (California)             -5
Wanted (Dragons)

Tradition
Shaman                             #Draconic would be ideal, but I find it hard to justify for a PC, especially at chargen. Chaotic might also fit RP wise, but doesn't synergize with being a face

Spells
Combat
Lightning Bolt
Stunbolt
Detection
Dragon Astral Signature                       #RP pick
Detect Enemies, Extended
Health
Heal
Increase Reflexes
Illusion
Improved Invisibility
Manipulation
Armor
Fashion                                         #Mainly to bypass the 10% armor cost increase if the GMs allows that and to not reveal being a drake to contacts.
Influence

Lifestyle
Low 2 Months               #I know this triggers Creature of Comfort. More of a RP choice. Can be substitued for 1 month middle when I lose some gear
  + Cramped -10%
  + Public Grid Subscription

Armor
Armor Jacket                              12
  + Chemical Protection 3
  + Nonconductivity 3


Ares Victory: Rapid Transit            9 
  + AR Fashion
  + Concealed Pocket
  + Rapid Transit: Elite

Securetech PPP: Arms Kit             +1
Securetech PPP: Legs Kit             +1
Helmet                                      +2
Hardened                                    +2
Hardened Mystic                         +2

Weapon
Unarmed Attack
 Pool: 7 Accuracy: 6 DV: 4S AP: - Reach: 0
Claws
 Pool: 8 Accuracy: 6 DV: 6P AP: -1 Reach: 0
Ares Light Fire 70
 Pool: 6 Accuracy: 7 DV: 6P AP: - RC: 3
Cavalier Safeguard
  + Laser Sight
 Pool: 6 Accuracy: 5(6) DV: 6S AP: -5 RC: 3

Commlink
Renraku Sensei
 + Sim Module

Equipment
Earbuds Rating 3
 + Select Sound Filter Rating 3
AR Gloves
Contacts Rating 3
 + Image Link
 + Flare Compensation
 + Vision Enhancement Rating 1
Goggles Rating 6
 + Image Link
 + Flare Compensation
 + Vision Enhancement Rating 3
 + Vision Magnification
Tag Eraser
Subvocal Mic
Trodes
White Noise Generator Rating 6
Certified Credsticks: Standard x5
Zen x3
Long Haul x3
Slap Patch: Antidote Rating 6 x3
Slap Patch: Stim Rating 6 x3
Lodge Material (Shamanistic) Rating 3

Ammo
6 Clips (Ares Light Fire 70)
100 Regular Shot (Light Pistol)

3 Clips (Cavalier Safeguard)
50 Shot (Taser)

Vehicle
Yamaha Growler
 + Sensor Array Rating 2

SINs
Fake Sin (UCAS) Rating 4
 + Fake License (Firearms)
 + Fake License (Magic)

Contacts
Loan Shark  Connection 2 Loyality 2
Fixer Connection 4 Loyality 4


I haven't spend any karma on it except for the Drake quality. Not sure if that is a good idea or not (probably not).
Also I did not add the 10% cost increase for armor yet, so that might require some reshuffling of funds

Shinobi Killfist:
Seems fairly solid on the mage side at least and at least competent as a face for dealing with guards etc though not for negotiating with Johnsons.  I'd try to squeeze in focused concentration 4+ if possible. And while armor is a solid choice I prefer the avoid getting hit spells like combat sense or deflection. Also you might want to see if you can squeeze in increase attribute charisma as a way to lean a bit more into the face side.

Ixal:

--- Quote from: Shinobi Killfist on ---Seems fairly solid on the mage side at least and at least competent as a face for dealing with guards etc though not for negotiating with Johnsons.  I'd try to squeeze in focused concentration 4+ if possible. And while armor is a solid choice I prefer the avoid getting hit spells like combat sense or deflection. Also you might want to see if you can squeeze in increase attribute charisma as a way to lean a bit more into the face side.

--- End quote ---

Thanks for your answer.
You are right that Combat Sense is superior to Armor even with higher drain. And as melee is a possibility I rather have that than Deflection.
Ignoring negotiation means that the group needs a 2nd face, but I did not see a way to get 3 skills up to acceptable levels and imo etiquette and con are more important for infiltrating places.

And getting Focused Concentration is certainly also a good choice to have Reflexes running before the fight and because its cheaper at chargen

Still, Drakes are very karma hungry. 80 or more additional karma in addition to any leftovers from chargen to pay the quality off and to get what I consider the essentials (Mastery, just because being a Drake for only 30 seconds is silly and magical flight, at least for eastern). So hopefully there will be a lot if hooding runs.

I am not quite happy with the shaman tradition or any other Cha drain tradition. I will likely switch to Chaos even if it means 1 less drain pool or maybe Hermetic which would give me the same drain pool as a CHA tradition while in drake form. Unless I can somehow justify Draconic. Even having to shift mid game would be ok, but that depends on the story.

I am also not quite sure about the equipment. Without ranks in pilot the bike is pretty useless for any shady work and I could also use a good home medkit for wireless on healing.
On the other side being wanted and without vehicle is a bad idea.
A off-road bike is also less that inconspicuous in the not run down parts of the city. A Cyclops would be better especially to maintain cover, but is also more expensive. But if I can somehow get some ranks in driving the Growler likely makes for a better escape vehicle once the wanted quality rears its head (I still have to decide who specifically is hunting him. The lore in SR5 about drake hunting is a bit contradictory.

I should probably also exchange the contacts for glasses as having to shift with contacts in might hurt a little.

Shinobi Killfist:
Charisma by the numbers it a good drain stat.  And yeah its hard to find a tradition that has the drain stat you want, a theme you want, and spirits you like. I wish I could find a logic themed non possession tradition voodoo spirit collection.  For charisma I love Obeah for its spirits(almost voodoo and not possession), but it kind of calls for a specific personality.

I like logic hermetic styles unfortunately only hermetic seems really to tie with logic, a lot of traditions have logic as the drain stat but when I read it I'm like why is this logic?  Sadly though logic kind of sucks for mages compared to the other options as it does virtually nothing in the magic realm and very little on its own.  Want spirits, astral combat damage, forcing past wards and a backup face one of the key all shadowrunner skill sets go charisma, want to assense things and well have one of the key combat stats go intuition. Logic, I guess if you want to be the teams first aid source. And because of that, a charisma or intuition focussed mage can dump logic more than a logic mage can dump intuition or charisma.  I frequently do dump charisma, but it means I suck at binding and dealing with wards and low end cons.

Chaos being intuition is a solid drain stat choice, but its spirits like hermetic I never really liked because the great form spirits power are all the same, except man.

Ixal:
I didnt even look at spirits. Like with negotiation I didnt have enough skillpoints for both spellcasting and summoning, so I concentrated on the former.
Although 2 or so points in summoning might be a good idea to make use of low level spirits for recon and utility. Especially if I can get away with draconic as tradition to call any materialization spirit.

Its not as if I can raise anything for a while after the game start. First the drake quality must be paid off and then dracoform mastery is a high priority. Why does this cost another 50 karma? Aren't drakes expensive enough? But without mastery many other drake abilities become near useless. Imagine a sea drake trying to dive while having to shift back and forth every 20 seconds.

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