[Critias]

Hey how about a heroic adept path...thoughts?(damn it! its a supplication that slides into a question)

I'm kind of missing the question, here, I think.  Just looking for ideas for cool "superhero" adept powers?  Or was there more to it?  If you're just after some neat ideas for a would-be superhero adept to take, it's gonna be a lot of the usual suspects from shadowrunning adepts, really.  Vigilantes can still run the usual gamut of stealth and combat powers that most folks use, but the fun bit would be going for more distinctive stuff (and maybe a bit less worry about anonimity and subtlety).

'Cause if there's ever been a time for Killing Hands, Critical Strike, and some Elemental Strike add-ons...


 

[Charybdis]

I'm curious. What is it about the average Phys-ad (or even shadowrunner)  that is 'Not' a superhero ability?

Faster, Stronger, Better,  generally awesome superhuman (super-metahuman?) abilities....

If you pump some development karma in to make a Legendary runner, I'm sure you'll see more than a few superheroes emerge if you build that way. Key examples could be:
- Stryker - Street Sam Archtype - Extra Cyberlimbs and Battletac systems
- Deadpool - Phys-ad Archtype - Regeneration plus excellent weapon/unarmed/firearms skills
- Zatanna/Dr.Strange - Hermetic Mage Archtype - Magician plus ultra

[The_Gun_Nut]

It's something that was mentioned in the movie "The Incredibles," when everyone is super...no one is.

[CanRay]

Just make "The Punisher", and, hey, you've just made a typical Shadowrunner. 

[Critias]

I'm curious. What is it about the average Phys-ad (or even shadowrunner)  that is 'Not' a superhero ability?

Mostly the fact that their abilities aren't unique.  It's their mindset (and discretion) that lets shadowrunners do what shadowrunners do, not just their die pools. 

[CanRay]

Discretion.  Unless you're in LA, then it's RATINGS!

[Charybdis]

I'm curious. What is it about the average Phys-ad (or even shadowrunner)  that is 'Not' a superhero ability?

Mostly the fact that their abilities aren't unique.  It's their mindset (and discretion) that lets shadowrunners do what shadowrunners do, not just their die pools.

Meh. 'unique' superhero abilities are getting few and far between these days.

But the standard of being a Kung-fu trained Parkour expert seems to be gaining ground (and I know I've used it...a lot

[CanRay]

But the standard of being a Kung-fu trained Parkour expert seems to be gaining ground (and I know I've used it...a lot

I've even used that for my Accountant From Hell.  Minus the Kung-Fu.

Combat pragmatism.  He makes people who fight dirty look good in comparison.  Martial arts follows too many rules for him to like much.  Parkour is mostly a mobility martial art for escape or evasion.

[Critias]

Which is to say it's a mobility art.  There's nothing very martial about it.  It can be used for martial purposes, yes, but it's not in and of itself a martial art.

And there are plenty of martial arts that don't follow many (or any) rules, especially in the alternate-future of Shadowrun.  With brutally effective stuff like Sioux Wildcat, the specialized "murder you with implant weapons" arts, and that sort of thing, mixed in with real-life no-frills stuff like Krav and Kali?  You can fight just as dirty as you want to.

[CanRay]

True enough.  Maybe my Accountant From Hell will find a trainer later on in his career, if I ever get to play him.

Although, he does know, "Break your arm with a car door"-style quite well.

[Charybdis]

Which is to say it's a mobility art.  There's nothing very martial about it.  It can be used for martial purposes, yes, but it's not in and of itself a martial art.

While I agree with you, this is just an opinion. It all depends on your definition of martial art, which can vary greatly:

Martial arts (literally meaning arts of war but usually referred as fighting arts) are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat. Martial arts all have similar objectives: to physically defeat other persons or defend oneself or others from physical threat.

Parkour would fit into this category under the 'defend oneself' option

martial art - any of several Oriental arts of weaponless self-defense; usually practiced as a sport; "he had a black belt in the martial arts"

According to this definition, Krav Maga, Savate and other non-Orient titles are not Martial Arts. It also excludes weapon Martial Arts such as Kendo

MARTIAL ART]: any of several arts of combat and self defense (as karate and judo) that are widely practiced as sport

This seems to be the simplest, all-encompassing option.

[CanRay]

Marital Arts:  A misprint of an approved hobby in Alpha Complex where people just stand around in a room, looking uncomfortable.   

[Critias]

I'm not out to be too nitpicky (or to derail yet another thread), so I'll just say that to me the emphasis on the phrase "martial art" has always been martial more than art.  So -- using my personal definition -- Parkour doesn't quite quality.

Now, this isn't to say it's any less awesome, or any less on-topic for Shadowrun.  Parkour's a great way for a shadowrunner to get around, especially given the cyberware, bioware, and magic that can make them very, very, good at it.  It's a great way for a shooter to get into position, get out of position, etc, etc -- so martial characters can certainly use it, but I see it mostly as being in preparation for, or to escape from, an ambush site or something else.  I've dug "Mobility Adepts" for kind of a while, folks may recall:  http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?act=ST&f=7&t=11661&st=0#entry354346   

And, given the abstract nature of Shadowrun's Martial Arts qualities (re: Arsenal), I'm not horribly opposed to some athletics (rather than unarmed combat) oriented "Parkour" qualities being cooked up, that help modify running speed or jumping distance or falling damage, that could be priced and categorized similarly to the existing Martial Arts qualities.  So I don't mind it being lumped in with "martial arts" in a Shadowrun house rules sense, where those qualities are concerned.

I just...don't consider it a martial art, in the literal senses with which the words are used.    

Okay.  There.  I said my pedantic bit, and we can get back to talking about serious business like crime-fighter vigilante Shadowrunners. 

[CanRay]

Okay.  There.  I said my pedantic bit, and we can get back to talking about serious business like crime-fighter vigilante Shadowrunners.

The Punisher?  Batman for a Pacifistic one?

[Dead Monky]

Just make "The Punisher", and, hey, you've just made a typical Shadowrunner. 

That's actually the aim my gf had with her weapon specialist.  A totally mundane character that can kill the crap out of anyone and anything that she crosses paths with.  So far, the project is progressing nicely.