Character Discussion / Creation

Let's talk about character concepts and runner relationships before we actually build them mechanically. What kind of character are you interested in? What is their one sentence concept? How do you all know each other and how well do you work together?

The elevator pitch for my first-choice of PC-type would be something like;
"Social-engineer, infiltrator with a healthy-dose of hitman."

Though as mentioned, if no one wants to try the hacker role, it would be;
"Street-geek AR-specialist with a big damn, nasty-looking cyberarm."

As for how we know each other, with Shadowrun it can always be as simple as, "We were all contacted via RunnerHub/a Contact for a job." due to our skillsets and the needs of the Johnson.

Or of course we can always do something more contrived.

Shadowrun is probably the one game where I actually like the "brought together by the job" scenario, because I absolutely love the movie "The Usual Suspects". :P PCs don't know each other, and just have to kind of assume the Johnson gave them a bunch of other professionals toget the thing done with. PCs choose how much they want to get to know each other, maybe the game situation pushes them closer together (laying low, doing legwork, doing side jobs), maybe it all remains very business-like?

I'm interested in playing a muscle role, my one-line description would be something like:
"Big brute of a man, freakish amounts of cyberware."

Or

"Watched far too many cowboy trids, fancies himself the fastest gun in the west"

In other words, either a big ol' slab of muscle or gunbunny type of char. I'm on board with the "brought together by the job" scenario too - could be lots of fun!

That could definitely make things interesting!

I'm thinking of a Decker/Rigger type.

Just to make sure, you know they got rid of decks for 4E right?

I was pissed when I first discovered my guy couldn't carry around some thing that looked like a key-tar.

I'm looking towards some sort of magic-user type, though I last played 15 years ago (street samurai!) and remember almost nothing of the rules. I'll dive in tonight and see what stands out.

I don't know what typical runner party 'builds' are, or if this system relies on that as much as say D&D, so if a magicky fella is going to make life difficult I'm more than happy to take some direction.

Just wanted to make sure everyone has found Chummer 4, cuz it's such a great tool and makes the whole character creation process much easier...
I would say the main Shadowrun crew Archetypes/builds (based on a need for specific Positive Quality or very expensive gear purchases) are as follows - in order of complexity to create/play:

Street Samurai (cybered Firearms-focused)
Street Samurai (cybered Melee-focused)
Physical Adept (magic Firearms-focused)
Physical Adept (magic Melee-focused)
The Face (cybered or magic social-skills guy)

SIGNIFICANT JUMP IN COMPLEXITY HERE

Magician (Spell-casting focused)
Shaman (Spirit Summoning focused)
Mystical Adept (focused on nothing, doesn't do much well without homebrewing)
Hacker (AR focused)
Hacker (VR focused)
Rigger (every Rigger is also likely a functional Hacker)
Technomacer

Now, in pretty much all of these Archetypes there is a wide birth for "detailing". A Sammy that does Infiltration, or Computers and Demolition, or Medic stuff, or Driving/Piloting, etc. Pretty much every Archetype should be able to do their specialty well and still get into some sort of Firearm or other combat skill(s). Magicians have all kinds of ability to specialize in certain kinds of magic if they want, or to be a generalist caster, Shaman are gonna be passable Spellcasters, and so on.

Point is the above are broad categories defined by large/specific purchases necessitated by some part of your character creation resources. These purchases could be Qualities, and/or Skills, and/or Gear... But by no means is this the full-range of play options, there's all kinds of hybriding possible.

It sounds like we have a good diverse set of Skills/interests so far: Face, Sammy, Hacker/Righer, and Magician... these 4 Archetypes are what I would consider equivalent to the "Fighter, Wozard, Cleric, Rogue" of D&Ds basic party.

I was initially thinking something along the lines of "troll magician who is also skilled with swords or guns."

Now that someone else has mentioned interest in a magician and because I've been told magicians should focus on their magic because its costly, I might do "troll street samurai with a love for action and speed".

And yeah, "The Usual Suspects" is an awesome flick!

Bořek "Goldeye" Valtus
Handle: Goldeye Nick: Goldie Metatype: Troll

Bořek Valtus grew up in the city of Prague, the son of a highly succesful troll Shadowrunner named Arturek Valtus and his wife, Dianka Valtus, a human mage and professor at The Univerzita Karlova, one of the first European Universities which started hermetic and magical studies after the awakening.

Bořek had no patience for arcane studies and took after his father, a fighter and man of action, even more so when his father one day didn't return form a mission. Bořek decided he would become a Shadowrunner himself and one day find out who had killed his father and find a way to revenge him.

After getting his feet wet as a Shadowrunner in Prague, he traveled to Lagos, Nigeria around the start of the Seven King War, as it was on a mission to Nigeria that his father had been killed.

He eventually found and killed his father's murderer, another Shadowrunner, and even though the encounter cost him his eye, he was pleased with having finally gotten his revenge.

---

ATTRIBUTES
BOD 5/10 (15) AGI 1/5 (7) REA 1/6 (9) STR 5/10 (15) CHA 1/4 (6) INT 1/5 (7) LOG 1/5 (7) WIL 1/6 (9) INI 2/11 (16)

Troll Metatype Abilities: Thermographic Vision, +1 Reach, +1 natural armor (cumulative with worn armor)

Essence: 6 Edge: 1 Magic: 0 Resonance: 0


BP (400) spent on:
Troll - 40

Does anyone have any questions or need any help with character creation?

I might have once I get a little further. Thanks for offering it, em!

I definitely have a couple questions, thanks E2! Here's my current BP expenditure (somewhat incomplete)

---

(400bp)
25 Dwarf
15 Magician
(40 base - 360 remain)
20 bod
30 agi
20 rea
10 cha
30 int
40 log
30 wil
(180 normal attributes - 180 remain)
40 Magic
20 edge
(60 other attributes- 120 remain)
Pacifist +5
Combat Paralysis +20
(+25 negative qualities - 145 remain)
Dodge 2
Pistols 3
Arcana 2
Assensing 3
Astral Combat 2
Banishing 2
Counterspelling 2
Spellcasting 4
First Aid 2
Medicine 2
Perception 3
Bluff 1 (fast talk)
(114 skills - 31 remain)

Focus (1bp/point) 11bp? (3, 3, 5)
Spells (3bp/spell) 7 spells, 21bp
Gear (5bp?)
Contacts ???

---

So:
1) have I missed anything obvious?
2) am I spread too thin? I'm running out of BP and need to push/pull something
3) I'm struggling with what gear I need AND how to buy foci.

I like the arcane investigation and utility magic angle, and I'm only taking stun spells because pacifist. I'm trying to avoid cyber ware because I'm thinking of playing him as a bit of a purist. Thoughts?

After a bit of looking around on the internet, seems I still need a mentor and a tradition? And I should grab a power focus and several low power sustaining foci, then read up on reagents?

I'll post some standard Runner gear considerations (commlink, fake ID(s), fake Licenses, etc...), there's so much gear in Shadowrun it's just easy to miss something that's actually kind of important...
Tookie, the mentor/tradition stuff is largely from supplements.

Your only choices using the Core is are you Hermetic (where Logic is your secondary Drain stat), or are you Shamanic (where Charisma is your secondary Drain stat). And as you're a dwarf/bought up your LOG, you've pretty much chosen Hermetic already :)

And Mentor Spirits are a Positive Quality, not a requirement. A couple are good, most aren't that great unless you're a Shaman if I recall... but definitely worth a look.

You absolutely need to get a Rating 2 Power Focus, and at least 1, Rating 3 Heal Sustaining Focus (you will use this to get multiple Initiative Passes), you should read up on and buy several Fetishes too.

In general, as a Magician, your biggest concern is managing your Drain (i.e. not passing out from casting your spells). Dumping as many BP into your Willpower and Logic is a good start, followed by choosing manageable spells, and finished by choosing some good Fetishes (note they are also a crutch as well as a boon).

Something big that your Magician is missing though is Summoning. Even though you're not "a summoner" Spirits are immensely handy and powerful tools, and every Magician should at least be able to Summon a little. Spirits can Sustain Spells for you like a Focus, they can watch your back on the Astral, I would encourage you to make room for the Summoning Skill. I would recommend getting these Skill Points from your current dips into First Aid and/or Medicine. I know the synergy with your high Logic for those two skills is tempting, but your best means of healing is going to be a Heal spell... Which you can't use a Spell on yourself to heal Drain damage, so if you keep either of those dips, keep First Aid, but I would highly encourage you to figure out way to get Summoning.

Oh and you also can get 10 more points in Negative Qualities, which I would highly recommend you do.

EMSQUARED'S SHADOWRUN 4E BASIC RUNNER GEAR GUIDE

Lifestyle - Buy some sort of Lifestyle, don't be a murder-hobo (be a murderer with a home). Low or Middle is probably the sweet-spot to start.

Armor - Just a note here, you cannot wear Armor with a B or I Rating that is higher than 2 x your Body, without incurring penalties to your Agility. If you have a 3 BOD, your armor should have a B/I rating of no more than 6/6.

Ammo - it's harder to forget this using Chummer, as it's the first category that pops up when you click on Gear, but I've seen people forget it so don't you do that. Ammo is important. And not all Ammo is created equal...

EX-Explosive Rounds - Add +1 Damage and -1 Armor Piercing (AP) to your weapon, this is every Runner's first choice in ammo to kill someone dead. You like killing people dead don't you?

Stick-n-Shock - For when you don't want to kill your target (yea right, like that ever happens!), does Stun damage, and amazing AP (-half) - actually very good for taking out Spirits too for us non-Casters

Fake SIN (ID) - pretty much every Runner should start the game with a Rating 4 Fake SIN (Rating 4 is the best you can get a character generation due to the Availability 12 limit, you should buy a Rating 6 later in game, but don't worry it's good to have multiple Fakes). This is what you will present to the working-man's world to make them believe you're not a criminal (being SINless is a crime). And it is your last line of defense against law-enforcement types who want to know who you are and what you're doing. Your first line of defense is avoiding them, or conning them, or hacking them... or possibly shooting them. A Rating 4 Fake ID isn't very good, that's why it's your last line of defense. But you still need to have one to function in the world of SINners. 4,000 nuyen

Fake License(s) - this is just like your Fake ID, except it's for certain pieces of gear, to make it OK in the eyes of society that you have some of the Restricted gear you're no doubt gonna have. Don't bother to get a Fake License for every Restricted thing you own, for instance if a law enforcement-type is seeing my Breaking and Entering gear, or my Sub Machine gun, the jig is probably up, but I might get Licenses for my cyberarm, or my pistol, or my modded commlink - "surface level" stuff... 400 nuyen, EACH (you'll likely end up with several)

Commlink - if you are not a Hacker or Rigger (or Technomancer), I would recommend you buy this Commlink set-up. For those who don't know, Commlinks are smartphones on steroids. The following 'link - once you get the Agent - will make you into your very own low-level, amateur hacker, a very handy and diverse tool.

Commlink - Novatech Airware, OS Novatech Navi, get a Subvocal Microphone and AR Gloves peripherals, and the following Programs: Analyze Rating 3, Browse Rating 3, Command Rating 3, Edit Rating 3, Scan Rating 3. Some day soon when you can afford it (or now at character creation if you can afford it) you'll get an Agent Rating 3. 3,800 nuyen (without the Agent, 5,3K with)

Audio Enhancers - unless you're buying cyberears, you should buy these... they will allow us to hear each other, hands-free, plus other fun stuff.

Earbuds Rating 3 - with Audio Enhancement Rating 3 and Select Sound Filter audio enhancements, 930 nuen (you will later install Spatial Recognition in these, but cannot at character creation due to the Availability limit 12)

Visual Enhancers - unless you're buying cyber eyes, you should buy these... they will allow us to see what each other are seeing.

Contact Lenses Rating 3 - with Imagelink, Vision Enhancement Rating 3, Flare Compensation visual enhancements, 525 nuyen

Glasses (can be sunglasses or whatever, aesthetically) Rating 4 - with Smartlink, Thermographic, Vision Magnification (and later you can add Ultrasound) visual enhancements, 800 nuyen

Miscellaneous Gear

Rating 6 Medkit - only need 1, but buy some Medkit Supplies too, so that if you go down, we're sure to have something available to hopefully get you back up. 650+ nuyen

Stimulant Patch - carry at least 1, it lets you ignore negative modifiers from Stun Damage.

Tranq Patch - carry at least 2, knock someone out without violence.

Stealth Tags - every Runner should carry 20 of these... they are effectively little tracking devices.

Aaaaaaaaand I think that about covers the "every Runner should buy this" gear... :P

As always, lemme know if you have any questions.

I cannot, for the life of me, find the breakdown of cash and BP for buying foci at character generation anywhere in the core book, and I have a searchable PDF (I've found the crafting/binding rules)... this is why I'm not playing a Hacker--I don't know what successful computer use looks like. Maybe I should take the Gremlins negative trait...
I was wondering about this. I'll reorganize some skills and reread the summoning section.. I sort of glossed over it, as you might've guessed. I'm also thinking I need either skill points in Infiltration, or Hush/Improved Invis.

Thanks for the input! The learning process continues!

Here's round about where I'm at:

400 BP

-30 BP Elf

-5 BP, PQ - Adept
-5 BP, PQ - First Impression
+10 BP, NQ - Allergy, Common, Mild (Air Pollution)
+10 BP, NQ - Spirit Bane (Toxic)
+5 BP, NQ, Scorched
+5 BP, NQ, Sensitive Neural Structure
+5 BP, NQ, Incompetent (Escape Artist)

-20 BP, BOD 1>3
-40 BP, AGI 2>6(8)
-40 BP, REA 1>5(6)
0 BP, STR 1
-40 BP, CHA 3>7
-40 BP, INT 1>5
0 BP, LOG 1(3)
-20 BP, WIL 1>3
-10 BP, EDG 1>2
-40 BP, MAG 1>5(4)

ADEPT POWERS
Improved Reflexes I
Combat Sense II
Kinesics II
Improved Ability (Non-Combat), Disguise II

Initiative 11, 2 Passes

-13 BP, Contacts

-16 BP, Nuyen (80K)

Muscle Toner Rating 2
Cerebral Boosters Rating 2
Reflex Recorder (Pistols)
Reflex Recorder (Unarmed)


-40 BP, Skill Groups (Influence)
-76 BP, Active Skills

Con 4(13)
Disguise 4(11)
Etiquette 4(13)
Hardware 4(7)
Infiltration 1(9)
Intimidation 1(10)
Leadership 4(13)
Negotiation 4(13)
Palming 1(9)
Perception 1(6, 9 Audio/Visual)
Pistols 6(15)
Unarmed Combat 1(9)

The nuyen cost is on p. 348 of the SR4A core, and I'm not sure where to find the BP cost for Bonding your Foci in the book, but it's 1 BP per point of Focus Rating (so, a Rating 2 Power Foci costs 2 BP to Bond), I believe.

The cost for bonding Foci is on p. 87 of S4A. It's 1 BP per point of Force of the focus. You can't be bonded to more foci than your Magic attribute.

Looks like you all are chugging right along here!