NEWS

First Shadowrun character ever. 5e

  • 8 Replies
  • 2891 Views

BraveEarth

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 1
« on: <08-03-14/1302:13> »
So I've only ever made one character for Shadowrun and this is her. I didn't really get to play her as our game fell through very quickly, but I still think I only did subpar with my first time with the system. Could I get a great deal of constructive and in-depth criticism on her and where I went wrong. The basic concept for her was that she was a corporate infiltrator before the game but was on the run during the time of opportunity (IE Party meet up).

Name: Mika "Gypsy" "Joan Freneski" "Nadia Greene"
Metatype (D): Human

Attributes (C)

BOD: 3/6 
AGI: 3/6 
REA: 3/6
STR: 2/6
WIL: 3/6
LOG: 2/6
INT: 4/6
CHA: 4/6
EDG: 5/7
ESS: 6
MAG: 6/6
INI: 7 + 1d6
A INI: 8 + 2d6

Magic (A): Magician (Shaman)

Combat Spells
Manabolt
Fireball
Lightning Bolt
Detection Spells
Analyze Device
Analyze Truth
Health Spells
Increase Agility
Increase Reflexes
Illusion Spells
Trid Phantasm
Manipulation Spells
Ice Sheet
Rituals
Renascence

Skills (B): 36/5 + 28 Karma
Groups
Conjuring 5

Single
Pistols 2
Gymnastics 2
Running 2
Perception 3
Disguise 5
Palming 1
Sneaking 2
Con 4
Impersonation 4
Etiquette 3
Negotiation 3
Arcana 2
Assensing 3
Astral Combat 3
Alchemy 2
Counterspelling 3
Spellcasting 5
Ritual Spellcasting 5
Knowledge & Language (12)
English (N)
Lakota (N)
Japanese 1
Salish 2

Magical Theory (Academic) 2
Business (Professional) 2
Corporate Security (Professional) 3
Corporate Politics (Interest) 2

Resources (E): 6,000 + 20,000 (Karma)

Lifestyle Low (2000)
FakeSIN R3 (7500)
Fake License to practice Magic R3 (600)
Fake License to carry FS600 R3 (600)
Fake License to conceal R3 (600)
FakeSIN R1(2500)
Fake License to practice Magic R1 (200)
Fake License to carry FS600 R1 (200)
Fake License to conceal R1 (200)

Metalink (100)
Micro-transciever (100)
Mapsoft  (100)

Glasses R4 (2150)
+Low Light Vision
+Vision Enhancement 2
+Vision Magnification

Earbuds R3 (1400)
+Audio Enhancement 2
+Select Sound Filter 1

Lined Coat (1400)
+Electrochromic Modification

Fichetti Security 600 (350)
Hidden Arm Slide (350)
60 Rounds Regular Ammo (120)
30 Rounds Explosive Ammo (240)
2 Spare Clips (10)

Magical Lodge Materials F6 (3000)
30 Drams Reagent (600)
1 Health Spell Formula (500)

Survival Kit (200)

1 Silver credstick (20)

Contacts (12) +2 Karma
Mid Corporate Management (5C/2L) Was the only person she kept in contact with from her last failed job
Fixer (6C/1L) Occasionally throws her jobs been with him a while

Qualities
Positive
Bilingual (5)
Mentor Spirit - DragonSlayer (5)

Negative
Common Moderate Allergy - Bees (15)
Simsense Vertigo (5)
Incompetent - Electronics (5)

Leftover Nuyen - 460

Marcus

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 2802
  • Success always demands a greater effort.
« Reply #1 on: <08-03-14/1521:31> »
So I've only ever made one character for Shadowrun and this is her. I didn't really get to play her as our game fell through very quickly, but I still think I only did subpar with my first time with the system. Could I get a great deal of constructive and in-depth criticism on her and where I went wrong. The basic concept for her was that she was a corporate infiltrator before the game but was on the run during the time of opportunity (IE Party meet up).

Name: Mika "Gypsy" "Joan Freneski" "Nadia Greene"
Metatype (D): Human

Attributes (C)

BOD: 3/6 
AGI: 3/6 
REA: 3/6
STR: 2/6
WIL: 3/6
LOG: 2/6
INT: 4/6
CHA: 4/6
EDG: 5/7
ESS: 6
MAG: 6/6
INI: 7 + 1d6
A INI: 8 + 2d6

Magic (A): Magician (Shaman) So with Wil+Cha as your drain pool; your looking at 7 die for drain resistance, a nice trick is to drop your lowest stat to 1 then buy it back up with Karma Lets you move a point easily, 8 isn't a lot better then 7 but it would help

Spells  I'd suggest combining spells into a simple list, or break into subsections. The first time I read it,  I totally thought you had like 14 spells
Manabolt
Fireball
Lightning Bolt
Analyze Device
Analyze Truth
Increase Agility
Increase Reflexes
Trid Phantasm
Ice Sheet
The heal spell is one of the single greatest advantages magic has, and can bring to the party, I'd suggest replacing ether fireball or lightening bolt with it, as they both are spells that serve the same purpose, Next I'd consider swapping out manabolt for clout or stunbolt, the ability to do stun damage is often more valuable then the ability to do Physical damage.

Rituals
Renascence

Skills (B): 36/5 + 28 Karma I'd consider your skill carefully, your very spread out, I'd work on focus, and drop a couple, then raise some others.
Conjuring Skill Group 5
Pistols 2
Gymnastics 2
Running 2
Perception 3
Disguise 5
Palming 1
Sneaking 2
Con 4
Impersonation 4
Etiquette 3
Negotiation 3
Arcana 2
Assensing 3
Astral Combat 3
Alchemy 2
Counterspelling 3 Counterspelling is very important, there is a  good chance it would be the only defense your team will have vs magic
Spellcasting 5 Spellcasting is the core purpose of build like this, having it at 6 maybe with a specialization in the type of spells you like best would be advisable
Ritual Spellcasting 5

Knowledge & Language (12)
English (N)
Lakota (N)
Japanese 1
Salish 2

Magical Theory (Academic) 2
Business (Professional) 2
Corporate Security (Professional) 3
Corporate Politics (Interest) 2

Resources (E): 6,000 + 20,000 (Karma)

Lifestyle Low (2000)
FakeSIN R3 (7500)
Fake License to practice Magic R3 (600)
Fake License to carry FS600 R3 (600)
Fake License to conceal R3 (600)
FakeSIN R1(2500)
Fake License to practice Magic R1 (200)
Fake License to carry FS600 R1 (200)
Fake License to conceal R1 (200)

Metalink (100)
Micro-transciever (100)
Mapsoft  (100)

Glasses R4 (2150)
+Low Light Vision
+Vision Enhancement 2
+Vision Magnification

Earbuds R3 (1400)
+Audio Enhancement 2
+Select Sound Filter 1

Lined Coat (1400)
+Electrochromic Modification

Fichetti Security 600 (350)
Hidden Arm Slide (350)
60 Rounds Regular Ammo (120)
30 Rounds Explosive Ammo (240)
2 Spare Clips (10)

Magical Lodge Materials F6 (3000)
30 Drams Reagent (600)
1 Health Spell Formula (500)

Survival Kit (200)

1 Silver credstick (20)

Contacts (12) +2 Karma
Mid Corporate Management (5C/2L) Was the only person she kept in contact with from her last failed job
Fixer (6C/1L) Occasionally throws her jobs been with him a while

Qualities
Positive
Bilingual (5)
Mentor Spirit - DragonSlayer (5)

Negative
Common Moderate Allergy - Bees (15)
Simsense Vertigo (5)
Incompetent - Electronics (5)

Leftover Nuyen - 460
Good Luck!
« Last Edit: <08-03-14/2119:27> by Marcus »
*Play-by-Post color guide*
Thinking
com
speaking

Davidvs

  • *
  • Chummer
  • **
  • Posts: 233
« Reply #2 on: <08-03-14/2310:56> »
What do you absolutely want have to have? How do you want to handle combat (unarmed/blades/guns or magic or some combination / noisy or subtle)?
What do you want - if you can afford it?
What don't you care about?
i.e: when your fixer sells your services, what does he say to make you sound good?

Your character is so spread out that it's hard to tell what you are trying to do. For instance: You have Magic A, but spellcasting at 5 so your roll is only 11. How come you didn't go for 12? Along that same line... your drain is very low for someone that invested in magic, so you can't cast many spells / high force spells before you tire. You have alchemy, but I didn't see any alchemy spell/preparations? Same for Ritual Magic - how do you plan to use it. In your skill group you have 5 in dispelling, but you don't have the drain to use it effectively. I would suggest getting counterspelling as high as you can.

Since you are so spread out I can't really make suggestions until I know more about what you want to do.
Were the others at your table spread out or were they specialists?
Have you considered being an elf; they make good shamans
What type of infiltration does your character do? Physical? (your skills may not be high enough); social engineering? (not all the right skills, not high enough, better combined with Shaman and see elf above)

Top Dog

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1219
« Reply #3 on: <08-04-14/0607:52> »
The earlier posters already brought up some very good points. To reiterate Marcus' point, you have 3 seperate spells to do Physical damage. There are going to be a lot of cases where doing Stun damage is useful, and there's too many useful spells in general to waste 3 on essentially the same thing, even if it's going to come in handy at one time or another.
Also, why Increase Agility? Normally you'd get that to get really good at shooting things or whatnot, but that's not going to be a major factor here I think. Also, remember that, unless you use a sustaining focus or something similar, you're going to have a -2 on everything you do while the spell is active (which'd also offset most of the bonus you get from the spell). Trid Phantasm is also not the most useful spell (you might want it for roleplay reasons or such, but it's of limited use to a shadowrunner).

Having a backup burner SIN is useful, but I'm not sure if I'd use karma for it. I'd probably get your primary one to 4 first. Buying a second one, after that sweet money starts rolling in, is always a good idea though.

About skills: it's already been suggested to focus more. One thing to consider is specialties. It costs 7 karma to buy a specialty - and you're going to want some for your primary skills eventually anyway. You'd have to consider if it's worth buying them at chargen (it's not always worth it - it depends on what you'd spend the skill points on otherwise).
Like people already said, buying up Spellcasting to 6 is useful if that's going to be your specialty. If it isn't - if you go conjuring - you could think about switching the two (getting skill group Sorcery instead). That way, you can drop Banishing, which is less useful.
Alchemy is useless if you don't get any formulae for it (and I'd advise against it for now - going all three routes is spreading yourself too thin). Ritual spellcasting isn't though - if you have people to help cast spells with. That is, if you expect to join a group or get contacts that you can assist with spellcasting, it might end up being useful. If not, it's of no use to you until you get the formulae for rituals.

I'd think long and hard about getting the Electronics incompetence. That basically means you can't do any computer-related things - it wouldn't even enter your mind to do that. Commlinks being as prevalent as they are, that's going to be very, very bad (looking something up on the internet is going to be inconceivable to you). If you want to be "bad" at computers, I'd probably get Gremlins instead.
Speaking of NQ's - while it's in the book, I'd give anyone who gets Common Moderate Allergy - Bees (15) a dirty look if I were the GM. That shouldn't be common.

Davidvs

  • *
  • Chummer
  • **
  • Posts: 233
« Reply #4 on: <08-04-14/1812:54> »
"Speaking of NQ's - while it's in the book, I'd give anyone who gets Common Moderate Allergy - Bees (15) a dirty look if I were the GM. That shouldn't be common"

If it is common then the GM is well within his rights to make 1/3 of the food sweetened with a honey extract so it comes into play like a seafood allergy.

ZeConster

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 2557
« Reply #5 on: <08-05-14/0835:41> »
I don't think that works: being allergic to bee venom and being allergic to honey are seperate things.

Top Dog

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1219
« Reply #6 on: <08-05-14/1041:36> »
I don't think that works: being allergic to bee venom and being allergic to honey are seperate things.
Yeah, that was my thought. It's not too clear what a bee allergy actually entails in Shadowrun. You could actually be allergic to bees - as in, if one flies nearby, you get sick (like a cat allergy). But I assume - and I think most people assume - it's an allergy to being stung. And that shouldn't be common. Unless the Sixth World has swarms of aggressive bees flying all over the place. Which would work too, I guess?

Anyway more to the point, picking an allergy like that is kind of common, but also kind of lame. It's better - from a roleplay perspective - to pick a meaningful NQ.

Davidvs

  • *
  • Chummer
  • **
  • Posts: 233
« Reply #7 on: <08-05-14/1952:36> »
I don't think that works: being allergic to bee venom and being allergic to honey are seperate things.

True, I should have stated my point better: i.e. Common allergy of seafood by RAW, as I know it: is that 1/3 of the food is made from some type of seafood. So, it would be fair to make that allergy something that comes into play 1/3 of the time.

Marcus

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 2802
  • Success always demands a greater effort.
« Reply #8 on: <08-05-14/2011:13> »
I thought bees went extinct sometime in the SR time line?

Honestly it doesn't look to me like we are gonna hear back from BraveEarth. So I'm out on this thread. Nice reviewing with ya :D!
*Play-by-Post color guide*
Thinking
com
speaking