[Chalkarts]

1st, I know I ask a lot of random questions at a pretty rapid pace, I apologize, lol.

2nd,
I was reading through some new(5e) books i have access to now.
I came across the Magic archetype, Explorer.

I am intrigued.
I've always liked astral perception and from time to time try to find a way to shoehorn it onto something.
The idea of an astral badass sounds cool, but the main drawback I can see is that its a total Van character.
Trying to go on a run with a guy that has to be unconscious to truly be effective seems like a no go.

Is there a way to make an effective Explorer runner?

[Michael Chandra]

I would say Possession spirit tradition and let a spirit handle your body. But if a Rigger and a Hacker can go k.o., why not a mage?

[Beta]

A few quick thoughts:
- Don't make the astral stuff all that you can do!  The advantage of being an explorer is that it is only priority C, so you can still have some other competence*  So you don't need to be astral all of the time.
- You don't have to be astrally projecting to use astral combat, as I understand it.  You should be able to use it while astral perceiving (you have the option then of unarmed combat or astral combat).  So while astral scouting and going astral to chase down spirits are for sure part of your shtick, you can make use of your good asensing and astral combat while still in your body too.
- For an ongoing character, figure out ahead of time what your growth path is.  There are limited options on the magic side (a metamagics are useful, a weapon focus is handy, but that is about it), so make sure there is good room for growth in your other role.
- One good thing is that your magic stat only really matters for pushing through mana barriers IIRC, so taking some 'ware won't hurt your astral performance.

* The challenge is that astral combat is very deadly due to the lack of armor, and how spirits have mental stats equal to their force, i.e. often all 6s, so you need very good mental stats too.  Willpower is your hit stat and soak stat.  Logic goes into your dodge.  Intuition is part of your dodge, counts twice for init, and is the basis for asensing.  Charisma is your damage stat.  You want all of those as high as you can manage, or you may not make it back to your body.  Something like attributes A, Skills B, Magic C, meta D (either elf for more charisma or human for more edge), resourced E.  Or if you can use sum to 10 then attributes A, skills, magic, meta all C, resources E (elf, start with four edge).  Or Attributes A, skills, magic C, meta, resources D (to support a weapon focus or some basic 'ware)

[FST_Gemstar]

I probably have some examples in the forums here, but i find explorers work imo only as "astral samurai." Basically primary physical combat  tank characters with weapon focus that can also do astral combat when useful (ex. Fighting dual natured creatures at a physical distance).

Drop out is a pre-explorer Magician astral samurai, but the concept is the same.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6kA-rvHAq-rZmRPZmhGZG9RY0U/view

Concept relies on drugs to power physical initiative and prowess (with cram/psyche, Drop-out gets two or three passes a turn and 21 full defense dice), but also to play with their astral stats (zen to boost willpower and novacoke if they really need to boost charisma).

Drop Out did not start with a Pain Editor, which was a bad idea. Astral Samurai need them. Without them, tank characters are a trap. Due to high armor, everything that comes in comes in stun, so there is no balancing of damage tracks. Such characters quickly start adding up negative modifier and then passing out. However, with a Pain Editor (and high willpower for big stun track and cyberlimbs for more physical track), all damage coming in as stun is great. Character ignores injury modifiers, and when their big stun track fills up, that stun damage gets eaten at X/2 on their big damage track, effectively giving the character hit points of stun track + 2x physical track. That is huge in Shadowrun. In addition, Pain editors give that bonus +1 to Willpower to for even better astral combat prowess.

Magician as astral samurai perks:
-can still learn full magic skillsets, even if just basic spells and  counterspelling (very useful when in astral). An important avenue for longterm character growth.
-can benefit from a mentor spirit
-free spells

Explorers as astral samurai perks:
-bonus skills are more focused, making building a skills E character much easier
-higher value lower cost magic rating lets you cram more ware in at chargen and have higher edge.
-can and should be able to squeeze restricted gear quaility and a pain editor at chargen.  Pain Editors are what makes a tank in shadowrun.
Can take both Seer and Null Wizard qualities (free) without losing any utility, for free psychometry and some bonus spell resistance.


Outside this concept of physical combat + astral combat character, there isn't a ton of synergistic use I have seen that makes making astral combat really viable for characters. Astral combat is just too dangerous and niche, and too few game mechanics link to Willpower to warrant the high investment needed to make astral combat possible.

That being said... Getting Magic 5 at priority C, the ability to project, and 6 points of assensing and and arcana is nothing to sneeze at. if nothing else, Explorer just lets you have these abilities. It's like taking aspected D just to get a Magic rating, which is a very good use of a D slot. While Explorers can't take advantage of things like mentors or counterspelling as easily as say aspected sorcerers, they still get to use weapon foci, access the astral world (to an even greater extent), all sorts of magic qualities, metamagics, etc. They can also invest in a lot more 'ware without really trading anything because Magic for explorers doesn't really scale. A Magic 1 explorer can do the same things as a Magic 5 explorer (just not for as long).

So with this in mind, I can imagine some well rounded socially focused explorers. Skinned in different ways like investigators, nature lovers, performers, etc. Explorer stops being a defining element of character, but just a way to access some abilities and starting stats. As they say in 5th, everything has a cost, but layering different costs together can make something worthwhile for the shadows.

[FST_Gemstar]

Quick mockup of an elf explorer-samurai version below.

I still prefer dwarves for astral samurai because high willpower is used for astral defense, astral attack, full defense, etc and high cyber strength makes for a good melee combat character. However, there is something to be said that when fighting in the astral, you really don't want to give who you are fighting against a chance to strike you back, so being able to more reliably one-hit incapacitate is important. So Elves can trade some willpower for some high charisma, which is good for astral damage and astral barrier smashing.

Either way, astral samurai are def NOT van characters. They are perfectly functional drug-fueled street sams/tanks, that also know how to take the fight to the astral if needed.

---
Karma: -24 a PQs, -9 on bound R3 focus, -10 on Edge, +25 NQs = 7 karma remaining (Can be spent on basic skills now or if a generous GM can save some for jack of all trades discount at game start).
Nuyen: still ~80k to get combat gear/weapons/armor ammo, basic runner equipment, vehicle, lifestyle, and fill those limbs with fun goodies.
24 Contact points to spend.
12 Knowledge points to spend.

== Personal Data ==
Street Name:
Name: Unnamed Character
Movement:4/8 (2m/hit)
Swim:2 (1m/hit)
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 2
Public Awareness: 0
Elf
Composure: 15
Judge Intentions: 13
Lift/Carry: 6 (45 kg/30 kg)
Memory: 9
Nuyen:79,980¥

== Priorities ==
Metatype: D,1
Attributes: B,3
Special: C,2
Skills: E,0
Resources: A,4

== Attributes ==
Current Form:
BOD: 3
AGI: 2(
REA: 5
STR: 2(3)
CHA: 8
INT: 5
LOG: 1(2)
WIL: 5(7)
EDG: 2
MAG: 1

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                                2.02
Initiative:                             10 +1d6
Rigger Initiative:                      10 +1d6
Astral Initiative:                      10 +3d6
Matrix AR:                              10 +1d6
Matrix Cold:                            5 + DP +3d6
Matrix Hot:                             5 + DP +4d6
Physical Damage Track:                  14
Stun Damage Track:                      12

== Limits ==
Physical:                               5
Mental:                                 6
Social:                                 9
   Impassive [-1] (Does not include Intimidation.)
Astral:                                 9

== Active Skills ==
Assensing (Psychometry)                 Base:6          Pool:11(13)
Astral Combat (Blades)                  Base:6          Pool:13(15)
Automatics (Machine Pistols)            Base:6          Pool:14(16)
Blades (Swords)                         Base:6          Pool:14(16)
Perception (Visual)                     Base:1          Pool:6(

== Knowledge Skills ==

== Qualities ==
Addiction (Mild) (Psyche)
Addiction (Mild) (Cram)
Creature of Comfort (Middle)
Cyber-Singularity Seeker
Explorer
Impassive
Jack of All Trades Master of None
Low-Light Vision
Magic Resistance ((Null Wizard))
Null Wizard
Restricted Gear
Seer

== Cyberware/Bioware ==
Cerebral Booster Rating 1
Datajack (alpha)
Narco
Obvious Full Arm (AGI 8, STR 3, Physical 5) (Left) (alpha)
   + Customized AgilityRating 7
   + Enhanced AgilityRating 1
   + ArmorRating 2
Obvious Full Arm (AGI 9, STR 6, Physical 7) (Right) (alpha)
   + Customized AgilityRating 6
   + Enhanced AgilityRating 3
   + Customized StrengthRating 6
   + Enhanced AgilityRating 3
   + ArmorRating 2
Obvious Full Leg (AGI 6, STR 3, Physical 5) (Left) (alpha)
   + Customized AgilityRating 6
   + ArmorRating 2
Obvious Full Leg (AGI 6, STR 3, Physical 5) (Right) (alpha)
   + Customized AgilityRating 6
   + ArmorRating 2
Pain Editor

== Weapons ==
Horizon-Flynn Rapier
   Pool: 17 (16)   Accuracy: 7   DV: 5P   AP: -3   RC: 2
Unarmed Attack
   Pool: 7   Accuracy: 5   DV: 3S   AP: -   RC: 2

== Gear: Equipped ==
Weapon Focus (Bonded Foci) (Horizon-Flynn Rapier) Rating 3

[Chalkarts]

What happens if you go full cyber?
Aside from the insanity.

[FST_Gemstar]

if you Magic hits 0, you lose your magic abilities until you can by your Magic Rating back up. If your max Magic hits 0, you burn out for good--there is no getting magic back.

So, falling below 1.00 essence will trigger your max Magic to hit 0, so magic characters shouldn't do that if they want to stay magic and not burn out. And depending on how much Magic you start with invest in you may want to invest less in 'ware if you want to start play with a Magic rating (instead of buying it back with karma in play).