[subgenius]

Of course, just when I'm almost settled on one type of phys adept to play in our game, the new book has to come out and throw everything into disarray... The cyber adept is an interesting route, but I wanted to contrast it with a pure adept that packs in as many power points as possible and uses some of the more interesting powers that are now in the mix.

Backstory isn't fixed, but I'm thinking a high potential child of corp parents who has been sequestered in training programs most of his life, to basically be a trained killer for the corp. They're trying to bring out the beast in him, but unknown to his masters, that brought out Shark who has convinced him that these masters aren't worthy of guiding a predator such as himself. He escapes the compound and is now basically homeless and penniless in the shadows, stealing to survive.

His skillset is a close combat specialist who can also shoot a rifle at range. Infiltration is a strong backup, and he has adept powers to get where he needs to be unnoticed and to take down targets either quiet and nonlethal or loud and messy.

Qualities +5 karma
Corporate SIN +25
Way of the Beast -20 (Half price improved reflexes 1, traceless walk and elemental strike, free mentor spirit)
Shark mentor spirit 0 (+2 unarmed, free killing hands)

Metatype C - Human 5

Attributes A - 24
Body 4
Agility 6
Reaction 5 ( 7 )
Strength 4
Charisma 3
Intuition 5
Logic 2
Willpower 3
Edge 7 (5 points from metatype)
Magic 6

Magic B - Adept
Improved reflexes 2 - 1.75 points (0.75 level 1 from beast, 1 level 2)
Attribute boost agility 1 - 0.25
Attribute boost strength 1 - 0.25
Attribute boost body 1 - 0.25
Nerve strike - 1 (come on, this just sounds fun! with a physical limit of 7 and a good close combat pool, hopefully it will be enough to down people in one shot in some cases, particularly if they're surprised)
Killing hands - 0
Elemental strike (electricity or fire perhaps?) - 0.25 (half from beast)
Elemental body (same element) - 1
Traceless walk - 0.5 (half from beast)
Wall running - 0.5
Freefall 1 - 0.25

Skills D - 22
Unarmed (nerve strike specialty possible?) 6 ( 8 ) - 7
Longarms 4 - free magic points
Stealth (indoors) 5 ( 7 ) - 6
Palming (pickpocket) 1 ( 3 ) - 2
Perception (visual) 1 ( 3 ) - 2
Running (wall running specialty possible?) 1 ( 3 ) - 2
Etiquitte (corporate) 2 ( 4 ) - 3
Con 1 (2 karma)
Locksmith 1 (2 karma)

Resources E - Set to 26k with 10 karma
Yadda yadda, SIN and lifestyle (probably both pretty bad to fit his current situation), comlink and comms gear, a gun of some sort, maybe room for a focus (would be nice to fit a force 4 Qi focus to get the last point of improved reflexes)
Easy to fit the necessities here

That leaves me with 16 karma left for focus binding and picking up some more low level skills. Seems like a lot of fun powers in one package. Some of the specializations I'd like to take will require GM approval, but I think it'd be reasonable to think he would specialize in things that are directly related to a power use.

I'm REALLY interested to see how nerve strike and elemental body play out. I imagine him sneaking up on a target with traceless walk and general stealth to take it down with nerve strike and then blast up with the elemental body if an alarm gets raised and a real brawl begins. That drain though... could be rough once the fight's over if it goes on too long.

[Top Dog]

Unless something changed, Strength Boost isn't that useful, is it? It doesn't increase your melee damage (and I imagine the boost to running isn't possible).

I also think you could do with a boost to unarmed attack skill. It's not exactly low, but melee is (somewhat) easier to defend against, and puts you in danger - so you'd want to make sure you connect. 1 or 2 ranks in improved ability perhaps?

Don't forget to buy a good set of armor, you'll need it.

Can't comment on Elemental Strike and Nerve Strike and such otherwise - obviously I haven't seen them in action yet either. They seem fun though!

[subgenius]

Yeah, strength boost isn't as good as it should be (unless I can convince my GM to house rule it a bit...) but it's there mainly to make wall running more versitile since that uses a str + running test and to fit the flavor. You're probably right though that it's possible to spend the .25 points more wisely.

Armor will definitely be a given, but most likely just something like an armor jacket with some mods if possible. I did some more looking too, and it will be possible to easily fit in a force 4 qi focus to max out his reflexes.

At first I was super excited to try and fit exceptional attribute (magic) into the build and pump up another point, but then sadly realized that you can only have 25 points of positive qualities

Oh, and almost forgot, how high does unarmed need to be for it to be useful? He's throwing between 17-20 dice depending on how well the attribute boost goes. Going over 20 in anything at chargen seems a bit... much.

[ZeldaBravo]

I wonder if nerve strike stacks with shock gloves...

[Rythymhack]

The Str boost would help if you have the martial arts maneuver Throw Person .

[subgenius]

Ohhhh, I hadn't thought of giving him a martial arts style, but that would be an option with some of the leftover karma.

I looked through run & gun though, and was distinctly unimpressed with martial arts in general. Is there something I'm missing that makes them really cool? I wouldn't mind taking a style if it added something to his versatility, but as it stands he'll be nerve striking metahumans and electrically smacking (well with body at least, elemental strike seems a little lame) drones and other things with most of his combat actions. Martial arts worthwhile?


Edit: So, would finishing move be allowed with nerve strike? Finishing move says it can be used "if the character successfully damages an opponent with the melee attack", but nerve strike says "reduce his opponent's ... instead of inflicting Physical or Stun damage". I guess by RAW, no then... Two strikes to bring a dude to his paralyzed knees would be great (particularly with 7 edge and lotsa speed...).

[ZeldaBravo]

Is there any way to resist nerve strike's effect? It is not damage by RAW.

[ZeConster]

Way of the Beast -20 (Half price improved reflexes 1,

Unfortunately, it seems the last sentence for Beast's Way should've been left out of the book, so you can't apply the discount to Improved Reflexes (I was disappointed too).

[ProfGast]

I wonder if nerve strike stacks with shock gloves...

Is there any way to resist nerve strike's effect? It is not damage by RAW.

Nerve STrike does not stack with shock gloves because Nerve Strike causes attribute damage instead of normal damage

The only way to "resist" it is to avoid it.

[subgenius]

Where'd you read the last sentence was a mistake? Is there an update thread somewhere?

[ZeConster]

There's a few different topics about the mistakes in Street Grimoire, but the one you want is in the Errata forum: this post is the one about Beast's Way.

[subgenius]

Gah, thanks ZeConster... That's disappointing indeed. It's like they intentionally went out of their way to limit the number of people who choose a way for their adepts. So 20 points for what works out to be around a max of 1.25 power points? And that basically means you're shoehorned into taking only the min-max choices for your powers within the way?

Yeah... I'm starting to rethink this whole idea again. The cyber adept was much less of a headache to make an interesting character who could actually do something in melee. Maybe I'll just initiate and give him nerve strike instead once the game starts.

[ZeConster]

Yeah, Ways are really only worth it if you're interested in their metamagics, and it takes time before those kick in (I took Beast's Way with my adept because apparently I can still use Elemental Body in Totem Form, meaning I can be a wolf that's on fire, but that's with a bunch of money and Karma post-chargen from converting to 5th, meaning I can simply start with 3 Initiations).

[subgenius]

You know that's just begging someone to take a mentor spirit with the form of a horse and use an electrical elemental body. Every time you charge into combat, it's mandatory to have Dethklok playing in the background!

But yeah, 20 karma for 1pp and the opportunity to maybe get a different metamagic in the future (instead of more power points...)? Yeah, that's not the best plan I've ever heard.