Character Creation

All questions about character creation and discussion on the topic goes here.

was anyone else going to play a spellslinger? I'm thinking about a magician who also acts as the face

I just bought the core rulebook pdf, so I'll have to read over it before creating my character but I'm definitely going for a melee dude. Probably street samurai type, but possibly adept.

if you want a suggestion, go the samurai route. rules for adepts are very... in-depth

Note taken, I'll go sami.

so.. here's my concept for a character.. let me know if it's too out there...

Female elf from the Sioux nation, so she's a Sioux woman... magician with raven as a spirit mentor so she's more of a trickster type. works as a face and is an expert in social infiltration with powers that make her look like anyone else and manipulation of others to get what she wants. I don't see her as being a heavy hitter and when she drek hits the fan she'll more than likely take cover and have spirits do her fighting for her.

I'll flesh her out more this evening but that's what I got so far

Hey guys! I don't have anything ready other than a street sam, and as that's already taken I'll work up something else. Busy couple of days ahead, but I should have some time on the weekend.

So I've got a lot of different characters that I've made before that I either made for someone else and it got played during our brief attempts, or it was made but never used. So really I can fill in whatever we need. I think a spellcaster is the only thing I'm not particularly interested in (adept is good, though), so I can do whatever else!

we're going to need a decker, even if it's just an NPC

I will definitely play a decker before leaving it up to an NPC. I'll let someone else that really wants to be a decker play it first though.

this is what I have so far

Looks good. I won't get to check it in details until I'm home from work.

I have been thinking of a house rule that was used in the game I played. We all got a Connection 3/Loyalty 1 free contact to represent a fixer that you all have and the one responsible for putting the group together. Everyone also gets to make up one fact about him.

That's fine. I have the annual office christmas party this weekend (didn't have time to do it in december) so I probably won't have time to start the game for real until next week :P

There's also possible to have to street sams without them being identical. There's some leeway in most of the usual archetypes.

Would an infiltrator type be okay and useful?

it depends on how we choose to do runs. if we like being silent and smooth, then an infiltrator would be great to have. I'm playing a con artist that can also infiltrate (or can make our infiltration specialist invisible!) and provide spirit support. sounds like we're going to have a street sam and a decker. we can double up on archetypes, we could use a rigger if we want drone support and/or a getaway driver, the possibilities are endless

I always just say, "Play what you'd like," and we'll find a way to make it work. I'll do my best to fill in whatever gaps we have.

I think I forgot to include my lifestyle. had to take low lifestyle. going to have her living in a small RV in a shitty part of chicago

I didn't even notice. What I did notice is that you get one Native language for free. Usually a Knowledge skill with N instead of a number.

And remember the shitty part of Chicago is behind a wall of rubble and torn down buildings. Right near where the nuke went off.

Which brings up a question I have. Are everyone up on Shadowrun lore when it comes to Chicago. Should I write a small description of how it ended up like it did or is it enough to link to the wiki.

I read over the wiki, but it might be helpful to get a short description, just to see what parts are most important for you to get across.

Also, I'll be able to put my character together by the weekend. Sorry for being so slow going.

I'm working on an infiltrator/driver character. Will be a great complement to your character, darth, with minimal overlap in skills.

I thiiiinnk it's probably safe that I make a Decker, then?

Oh, by the way, I have the Bullets & Bandages, Data Trails, Gun H(e)aven 3, Run & Gun, Run Faster and Street Grimoire books for 5e, if anyone wants me to list some of the things from them.

awesome, mari. go for it, momo

I just got the rigger 5.0 book to find us a good ride. What kind would people like? What's important to you?

we need a ride that can fit all of us if you're going to be the getaway driver. a van could do that, it would need to be fast and armored. are you thinking about using drones at all?

Yeah, a van would be nice. Also, reading up on the Chicago stuff that SA posted, it's looking like I want to get some Noise Reduction if the Matrix is spotty, yeah? I'm assuming that's how that works.

Also, If I remember right, turret mounts for vehicles are forbidden at the start? I had a friend that was making a rigger with a van but was complaining that he couldn't get any decent turrets on it at character creation.

for matrix noise reduction, all you need is a signal scrubber program. actually, a decker can still do quite a lot with some noise, but a signal scrubber will reduce all noise penalties by 2.

Right, I knew how, but I didn't know if there was some other rule for it, Chicago-specific and all. If it just counts as a little extra Noise, then all is well. :)

I'm the one that's going to have problems with background count and spirit summoning

hey, maybe I'll go toxic!

I'm not a rigger, just a driver. My other skills go into being a sneaky cat burglar crossed with a ninja.

if we're not worried about space for drones, we can go with a van easily. should fit everyone.

I don't have my own transportation, but I do have a contact who is a cab driver.

Yup, was planning on a van. Was more asking what to prioritize: stealth, armor, comfort (pick 2)

We seem to be a pretty sneaky team. I'd say Armor and Stealth.

So I plan on being a Gnome Decker.

SA, Gnomes are in the Run Faster book, do you want me to type up their info here? They're an offshoot of Dwarves with some magic resistance of a sort, but they require me to spend 7 Karma to play.

I've made the character except for the resources, and with Resources A, that's a pretty big step. But I'm mostly there!

Yeah, I don't have access to that book. So I would like to see the statistical write up of them.

So they're the same on the Metatype priority chart as Dwarves except I have to spend 7 Karma to take them, so I'm taking them as Priority C, so I get 1 extra Special Attribute. Their stats are:

BOD 1/4 | AGI 2/7 | REA 1/6 | STR 1/4 | WIL 2/7 | LOG 2/7 | INT 1/6 | CHA 1/6 | EDG 1/6

Their Racial Traits are: Arcane Arrester (2), Neoteny and Thermographic Vision

Arcane Arrester (2): When targeted by a spell (including a critter's Innate Spell), the character is harder to affect. This potent ability make casting both benevolent and malevolent spells on these characters much more difficult. The character adds (Level x 2) dice to their resistance test against any spell. If the spell is one that is not normally resisted (such as Invisibility), the character still rolls their Arcane Arrester dice pool of either two or four dice and reduces the hits rolled on the Spellcasting Test by any hits they roll. For instance, if a mage casts Invisibility on a character with Arcane Arrester 2 and gets 4 hits on a Spellcasting Test, the target character rolls 4 dice and gets 2 hits, meaning only two of the hits on the Spellcasting Test are used to make the target invisible. Arcane Arrester cannot be combined with Magic Resistance (p. 76, SR5). This quality can be taken by characters with a Magic attribute, and it affects spells they cast on themselves.

Neoteny: Neotenous characters have halted during development and retain the physical traits of a child or adolescent (up to a thirteen-year-old) even though they are legally adults. Given the absence of certain traits common to adults (height, body hair, facial changes, deeper voice, and so on), they can easily be mistaken for children or teenagers. Gamemasters may modify certain Social Tests depending on how an NPC will interact with the character. People often underestimate children, which may give a neotenous character an advantage. The character's lack of physical development reduces his default Physical Condition Monitor to 6 + (Body/2, rounded up) boxes and may result in social modifiers.

Characters with Neoteny need custom armor and equipment, causing a ten percent increase in lifestyle. They also suffer social stigma and modifiers.

And their Thermograhic Vision is the same as Dwarves.

Thanks.

So, how far are the rest of you with your character generation? I know it can take time with Shadowrun, but just speak up if someone needs some help.

I've got everything done but the contacts. I ended up going with a Ford Econoline for her transport...super stealthy because there are so many of them, but still decent body and armor.

For reference, my priorities were:
A skills
B resources
C attributes
D metatype
E magic

So what all do we have character wise. I have two in the mix currently and want to try and cover the bases.

Mine is a driver/infiltrator with some close combat skills.

Some of the qualities I wanted to take are in the run faster book, too. If I write them up in detail on my character page, can you review and let me know if they are okay? For example, one is Day Job, which is a negative quality of 5 for 10 hours of work a week. My idea was that my character works in an automotive shop part-time.

I'm still working on my character. It will probably be a couple of days before I'm finished, sorry this is my first shadowrun character so I've had to check out stuff online to make sure I'm doing everything correctly. Just so you guys know the gist of what I'm going for, he's a human street samurai type with a focus on unarmed combat and athletics.

We have a melee street sam, shaman/face, infiltrator/driver, and a decker, as far as I'm aware. :)

Cerris, what are your two ideas? We have a pretty stealthy team so far. I'm happy to re-config my character to be more weapon-based if either you or PsionicHamster (hilarious name, awesome!) want to be a rigger/driver.

And I'm willing to rework my character if either of you want to be a Decker. :)

I can use my rigger character. That seems to be a gap that we have.

Still have to add gear. But this is the basic rundown with skills and cyber.

Cerris, are you able to do the driving, then?

Yea I can. Will need room for the drones as well. I have a couple of them.

Spending my last 16k nuyen now, then transferring it all from my spreadsheet onto GP and then I'll be done!

Mari, I kind of assumed you'd have things like a lockpicker and sequencer, so I didn't invest in those. I can, though, if you don't have the funds for it or some such.

Sure do. I have all the B&E stuff covered

How close are we to starting? I'm anxious to play a spellslinger for the first time

I have 2 Karma left, and might grab another negative quality and pick up more skills.. gotta write a backstory. Should be really quick though.

What do you want us to do as far as backstories go?

We also need to flesh out that extra contact we were given. I believe it was one fact about him/her from each of us.

ok, I'll put forward my first fact

--our fixer is surprisingly young in reality but disguises their true age through edited AR and audio.

Ok, I had to switch vehicles to accommodate the drones. No more stealthiness...assuming we still want a group vehicle for transport?

Like MoMo, I'm just finishing up the last few calculations and transferring to the GP sheet.

My fixer fact:
She really hates Horizon, but we have no idea why.

I'm also almost finished with my character. Just need to transfer it to GP and then hopefully someone can look over it to make sure that it is playable haha.

My fixer fact: She operates out of an old arcade.

My fixer fact: She's a Trideo addict: Binge-watching shows, playing games like Run, Run Runner, attending all manner of music concerts both in person and through simsense; you name it, she does it.

Great, we're getting close to starting hopefully.

As for backgrounds, at least a paragraph. But I'm a proponent of fleshing out during play when you've gotten a feel for the character.

Fixer fact: Her parents were members of the Universal Brotherhood and because of this there is a bounty on her. No one is aware of this fact.

Character submitted! I've also put up every Matrix action into Powers on the character sheet, for easy reference. I'm gonna deck like there's no tomorrow. Anything that I used from other books is written up in there exactly as it is in the book. Used some qualities from Data Trails (the decker/technomancer book) and Run Faster.

So my character sheet got wiped somehow. :(

Dunno what happened exactly. I'll go back and write everything in again. Probably won't be redoing the matrix actions, as nice as that was to have.

Send a PM to Keleth first, it might have something to do with the migration to the new site.

I thiiiiink I added too much to it. I had the descriptions for all of the items on there, and qualities and such. Was taking a long time to load it/save it. But thanks, I'll send him a PM just in case.

Keleth was able to fix it! Thanks, Mari. Saved me from redoing a lot of work.

Also, here's for starting Nuyen!

I think we're to go once Toastymalone is ready. If anyone's afraid of screwing up. Character creation is pretty involved in Shadowrun. I will offer the same thing I offer all players in my face to face game. You're allowed to switch around and change stuff after the first session/adventure. Sometimes you won't see how something works until you've played. Or you realize you forgot something important.

oh yeah, starting nuyen...

3d6x60

720 to start...

Alright, I have finally submitted my character. Sorry for the wait. I made it in Hero Lab so everything should check out, but please let me know if anything is amiss. I wrote a short background in my character sheet.

Yep. Looks good. I will start the game off after work tomorrow :)

Alright so 3d6x60

Starting Nuyen x 500 = 7,500