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[5e] Help me decide on a specialization for an Awakened character?

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nerankori

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« on: <12-28-17/2357:20> »
I'm not presently in a group right now,so I don't know what kind of party composition this character is going to go in if I play them in the future.

Basically,I wanted to create a character who's a former member of what is basically a go-gang of (mostly) Awakened individuals,the typical outlaw bikers with leather jackets and shotguns on big,loud motorcycles,prominently displaying their foci and fetishes on their weapons and vehicles.

They'd have functioned mainly as mercenaries for the other gangs and organised crime groups,being hired as backup for when someone else wanted muscle for things like robbery,assassination,or torching the property of their rivals.

My main issue for this character,specifically,is deciding whether I want them to be an adept with agility/stealth focused powers (which I have played before),or a conjurer.

Bearing in mind of course that I need to put a decent amount of skill points into Longarms (for shotgun/hunting rifle) and Pilot Groundcraft to be able to ride well,in addition to *maybe* Gymnastics/Sneaking.

Hence,my questions are basically two:

1) Sell me on being a conjurer over a stealth/combat focused adept

2) How many skill groups (or skill points) would a starting Awakened character put into the conjuring skill group (or its sub-skills) in order to be efficient at it right off the bat?

PiXeL01

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« Reply #1 on: <12-29-17/0101:01> »
Many spirits have power that can help you get closer, not limited to Concealment. Other powers can be used to hinder the opposition, such as accident, fear, influence just to name a few. Watcher spirits are also useful for scouting even if they are now a ritual (I miss the mindless bulldogs of SR2)

As for your second question: as many as posssible, though there’s much debate over the efficiency of Banishing. Bindgin a number of spirits to keep them around is always neat, unless you are a shaman or otherwise do not believe in spirit enslavement
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ShadowcatX

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« Reply #2 on: <12-29-17/1056:47> »
First off, I'm not here to sell you on anything, play what you want.

That said, summoning and binding spirits is  the most powerful thing in the game (read: broken). If a gang has the opportunity to get a mage they aren't going to say no, they're going to bend over backwards. Can't ride your own bike? Can't shoot? You'll get a body guard with a side car if need be.

FST_Gemstar

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« Reply #3 on: <12-29-17/1624:05> »
Easiest, most efficient, and most optimized  to make an adept for a stealthy shotgun biker. Can bill as an infiltrator and muscle pretty easily. Improved Reflexes is going to go a long way in being a good biker.  EABCD comes to mind for a pure adept... AEDCB or AEDBC elf/dwarf can swing it for a 'wared adept...

A full magician will be tempted to take more full magey stuff to be the magical specialist of a team. I would suggest getting some of the fun vehicle spells and road manipulation spells as part of the character.  ECABD will get you a bike and starting gear, the skills to be good enough at what you want to be good at and a good team magic specialist, and the spells/spirits to help you be better at those things (increase reflexes and a health sustaining focus will prob be part of this repertoire). 

I prefer an aspected conjurer. AEDBC Elf or Dwarf (or ork) will get you a highish edge Magic 4 or 5 aspected magician (with an essence point or two of 'ware) that can summon/bind (but doesn't have super high Charisma to be obnoxious with a giant bound spirit herd), shoot a shotgun, bike, be sneaky, and have other basic runner skills, and still have the cash for a nice bike and some foci at chargen. A character like this is more of a generalist (can shoot, drive, sneak, and conjure, but not top tier at any of them), but depending on the kind of table you are playing with (this character is more appropriate for a more sandbox game than strictly going from one run to the next game) a character like this can be a lot of fun. 

You may not sneak/bike as well as an adept, you can still bring a bunch of spirit utility to the table. 

I also think that thematically being an aspected magician is more in line with spending a lot of time as a go-ganger.

Generally, putting skill groups into conjuring is not recommended because banishing is a poorly designed skill that is often avoided. (If you can conjure spirits, it is almost always better to summon a spirit to fight another spirit than it is to try to banish that spirit).  If you plan on binding spirits, you are going to want to max/spec binding at chargen. If you are really short on skill points, you can usually skimp a little on summoning, but as spirits scale in power very steeply, being able to summon bigger spirits with more services more consistently tends to be a very good investment (so max/spec summoning if you can too).  Qualities/mentors/foci also help.
   
« Last Edit: <12-30-17/1503:28> by FST_Gemstar »

Tarislar

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« Reply #4 on: <12-30-17/1523:31> »
I kind of like the Biker/Conjurer idea.

A-Attributes-24
B-Magic-5/Conjuring-4(+2)
C-Skills-28/2G
D-Cash-$50K
E-Human-1

Getting Spirit Whisperer with Edge-3, Magic-6, Charisma-6 & maxed conjuring group & your going to be able to contribute plenty with spirits.
28 Points should get you plenty of Firearms, Biking, Stealth to be a "ganger"
You could even drop Stealth for Facing & you can contribute that way as well.
$50K gets you a bike, armor, & even a power focus if you want plus enough reagents to already have a bound army.

This character basically hits the ground running w/o any real weakness which isn't always the case at chargen.
At best his speed is an issue w/o any way to really boost his # of actions, but with a spirit swarm his actions aren't going to be an issue really.
Dump his STR/LOG to 1/2 & then buy a point with Karma if you really want & you can still have 2 actions per turn with 5's in REA & ITN.


Tarislar

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« Reply #5 on: <12-30-17/1529:05> »
A 2nd build option might be the following for some Elf love.

A-Attr-24
B-Elf-6
C-Skills-28/2
D-Magic-2
E-Cash

Put the group points into Influence & get a Cha-8 for minor facing.
The 28 is all going to have to go into Firearms, Conjuring, Summoning, Groundcraft, & Con.

Groundcraft is probably the lowest with something like L-1 (Wheeled+2) which is still 8 dice with REA-5 which should be fine as long as your not attempting a wheelie on the rooftop wall of a skyscraper.