Character Creation Discussion

[Havelock]

5 hours ago, Ayeba said:

On a completely unrelated note; I'm toying with the idea of testing out a D&D shadowrun-ish one-shot, with the possibility of expanding to a campaign. That is, a D&D group with the same basic feel as Shadowrunners. Only instead of megacorps, there are extremely powerful families with guilds in their pockets, and they hire runners to do their dirty work. Including something equivalent to Mr. Johnsons, contacts and, obviously, backstabbing.

I'm only 30% serious about it so far, but if others think there are merit, I'm tempted to try.

You could probably do something like that in Eberron.

[NewSheo]

Welp, rewrote a good portion of Llorona's backstory to take advantage of the fact that the Az-Am war happened. Feel like I might have gone a bit overboard on the detail though.

[NewSheo]

@saithor A few more questions for you.

- Should we have any particular contacts beyond the usual staples for our archetype(s)? I.e. a fixer we all know who's the "inciting event"?

- Would having our own ground transportation in Miami be worth it, even if we aren't a rigger? I know you mentioned a boat earlier but I wasn't sure if we were going to have it as our base of operations, or mostly as a means of access to the rest of the Carib League.

I also have one that's more specific to my own chargen:

- Given the frequency listed in the Flashbacks quality description, would Blood Magic be considered a valid trigger for the flashbacks? Or would something like that be considered too infrequent for this game?

[Laird_Thorne]

@saithor Quick Question

Quote

4). The following skills are going to combined to reduce the number of skills and eliminate redundancies. Diving and Swimming will be combined into one skill using Strength as it's attribute. All of the Mechanics skills (Automative, Mechanical, Industrial, Nautical) will be combined into a single mechanics skill.

How does that affect the Engineering Skill Group? Does it completely eliminate the group or does the group only contain the Mechanics skill (allowing spending Skill Group points on the skill instead of regular skill points)?

[Clockwork Writer]

Hmm you know when you have that moment where you're paging through books for ideas, see something that makes you laugh, but it doesn't actually help you narrow down what to play? Was looking in Hard Targets and spotted yo-yo's and roller blades. My brain said "well it is pink mohawk..."Unfortunately this has not yet helped me narrow down if I'm going techno with just those as a bit of fun, cyberadept, physical adept, or straight sammy. SR has too much fun flavor. lol

[Sapphic Reiver]

Finally settled on a concept.

 

@saithor Is the nuyen rewards going to be enough to support a High Lifestyle? Got a character concept in mind (Gunbunny Streamer-type, high AGI, high CHA, lives with a wheelchair-bound twin).

[saithor]

13 minutes ago, Sapphic Reiver said:

Finally settled on a concept.

 

@saithor Is the nuyen rewards going to be enough to support a High Lifestyle? Got a character concept in mind (Gunbunny Streamer-type, high AGI, high CHA, lives with a wheelchair-bound twin).

Yes

 

4 hours ago, Laird_Thorne said:

@saithor Quick Question

How does that affect the Engineering Skill Group? Does it completely eliminate the group or does the group only contain the Mechanics skill (allowing spending Skill Group points on the skill instead of regular skill points)?

It'll eliminate the group.

 

5 hours ago, NewSheo said:

@saithor A few more questions for you.

- Should we have any particular contacts beyond the usual staples for our archetype(s)? I.e. a fixer we all know who's the "inciting event"?

- Would having our own ground transportation in Miami be worth it, even if we aren't a rigger? I know you mentioned a boat earlier but I wasn't sure if we were going to have it as our base of operations, or mostly as a means of access to the rest of the Carib League.

I also have one that's more specific to my own chargen:

- Given the frequency listed in the Flashbacks quality description, would Blood Magic be considered a valid trigger for the flashbacks? Or would something like that be considered too infrequent for this game?

You don't need a particular fixer you all share, Blood Magic would be something I'd consider too infrequent so maybe something like Atechnology in general, and some method of ground transport would be good to have.

[NewSheo]

5 hours ago, saithor said:

Blood Magic would be something I'd consider too infrequent so maybe something like Atechnology in general

I suppose it's my fault for not specifying properly, was interested in taking Flashbacks rating 1, which would come up "every other shadowrun". So would something like "Security mage summoning a spirit" suffice?

[anon101]

5 hours ago, Sapphic Reiver said:

Finally settled on a concept.

 

@saithor Is the nuyen rewards going to be enough to support a High Lifestyle? Got a character concept in mind (Gunbunny Streamer-type, high AGI, high CHA, lives with a wheelchair-bound twin).

Oh hey! Had a similar idea on the streamer-type angle, although now I'm drifting away from it due to the logistics of my character's backstory (being a drake and intentionally broadcasting yourself out there seems...counterproductive). Admittedly, I'm having that problem now where I'm waffling back-and-forth on what to do because I keep chasing different ideas. I've gone back-and-forth on being an Adept or a Mystic Adept half a dozen times now, and I'm not sure what metatype to go with either. Human seems easiest, but I've been told that Trolls and Orks make better adepts due to the higher Body and Strength caps. But then, I'm planning on going Drake, and for some reason a troll-drake or an ork-drake feels weird to me. Like stacking a bunch of D&D templates on a single character.

On a related note, for those here more experienced with Shadowrun than me, is melee/unarmed okay in this system? I keep seeing conflicting thoughts when I look around online, mostly wanted to go melee and/or unarmed because drakes get natural weapons anyways, and there's just something about vibro-blades and magic swordsmen in a cyberpunk setting that's really cool to me.

[saithor]

21 minutes ago, NewSheo said:

I suppose it's my fault for not specifying properly, was interested in taking Flashbacks rating 1, which would come up "every other shadowrun". So would something like "Security mage summoning a spirit" suffice?

Yes, mage summoning a spirit would work in that case.

2 minutes ago, anon101 said:

Oh hey! Had a similar idea on the streamer-type angle, although now I'm drifting away from it due to the logistics of my character's backstory (being a drake and intentionally broadcasting yourself out there seems...counterproductive). Admittedly, I'm having that problem now where I'm waffling back-and-forth on what to do because I keep chasing different ideas. I've gone back-and-forth on being an Adept or a Mystic Adept half a dozen times now, and I'm not sure what metatype to go with either. Human seems easiest, but I've been told that Trolls and Orks make better adepts due to the higher Body and Strength caps. But then, I'm planning on going Drake, and for some reason a troll-drake or an ork-drake feels weird to me. Like stacking a bunch of D&D templates on a single character.

On a related note, for those here more experienced with Shadowrun than me, is melee/unarmed okay in this system? I keep seeing conflicting thoughts when I look around online, mostly wanted to go melee and/or unarmed because drakes get natural weapons anyways, and there's just something about vibro-blades and magic swordsmen in a cyberpunk setting that's really cool to me.

Uhh…I’m not super skilled in the system but melee has always felt like a red-headed stepchild, but I think it can work decently well if built right.

[anon101]

2 minutes ago, saithor said:

Yes, mage summoning a spirit would work in that case.

Uhh…I’m not super skilled in the system but melee has always felt like a red-headed stepchild, but I think it can work decently well if built right.

Oof. Well, I dunno that I trust myself to build right since I haven't had much experience (and the time I did play a bit, it was for a bioware'd gunslinger). But I'll see what I can do, and probably keep some investment in guns just in case. Or maybe I'll switch it up and go for more of an infiltrator build, there were some pretty cool powers/spells I saw for that sort of stuff.

[Sapphic Reiver]

I think that's Bunny mostly done, backstory wise. I still need to finish up her character sheet, though.

[NewSheo]

1 hour ago, anon101 said:

On a related note, for those here more experienced with Shadowrun than me, is melee/unarmed okay in this system? I keep seeing conflicting thoughts when I look around online, mostly wanted to go melee and/or unarmed because drakes get natural weapons anyways, and there's just something about vibro-blades and magic swordsmen in a cyberpunk setting that's really cool to me.

As a melee connoisseur myself, with some experience in making magic sword-wielders, I can help out a little bit.

What exactly do you have in mind?

[anon101]

4 minutes ago, NewSheo said:

As a melee connoisseur myself, with some experience in making magic sword-wielders, I can help out a little bit.

What exactly do you have in mind?

I appreciate it, thanks!

Mostly, I'm torn between Blades and Unarmed, leaning more towards Unarmed since that's the skill for natural weapons (which drakes get, and I want to capitalize on that since dual-natured characters like drakes can use their natural weapons against spirits...though I'm not entirely sure if they use Astral Combat or Unarmed for that). Part of me wants to get both, just cause I imagine unarmed might be better for infiltration type stuff, while blades are better weapons in general and can be made into Weapon Foci. I'm not sure I can swing both of them though, especially if I'm taking a ranged backup (maybe Throwing, since there seems to be a lot of Adept support for that?), so if I have to pick one I might go Unarmed if that's viable.

More importantly, I'm a bit torn between going pure Adept or going Mystic Adept. If I got Mystic, my goal is to lean more into the Adept side and mostly just use Spellcasting for some utility stuff like invisibility, mask, detection spells, and maybe an AoE spell for emergencies. The other magician skills like enchanting and summoning don't seem like something I'd focus on, so mostly it's figuring out how valuable Spellcasting is as a tool vs allocating those resources elsewhere.

Lastly, maybe most importantly from what I'm reading, I'm thinking Human for metatype but I keep seeing people say that you need to go ork or troll for a melee character. I dunno how true that is, but I can sort of see it with how much higher their Body and Strength scores are. Human lets me assign higher priorities elsewhere though, plus on a fluff level it's just weird for me to imagine an ork or a troll draco-shifted. Nothing stops them, I guess it's just my brain worrying that I'm going too snowflake-y by making a drake who's also a troll/ork on top of that.

[NewSheo]

Before you read this, I will make a big disclaimer that this is what I've picked up with my experience in Shadowrun. This will obviously vary depending on other people's experiences, so take what I say below with a grain of salt, and if nothing else, do what makes sense for the character concept first. With that said ...

18 minutes ago, anon101 said:

I'm not sure I can swing both of them though, especially if I'm taking a ranged backup (maybe Throwing, since there seems to be a lot of Adept support for that?), so if I have to pick one I might go Unarmed if that's viable.

So the Astral Combat/Unarmed thing I believe depends on if the spirit is materialized or not, but I'm a bit shaky on that one. But funnily enough, the character I'm applying for this game with rocks both Blades and Unarmed combat, albeit with more of a 'ware angle. Mostly depends on what you're building for. Adepts have a lot of support for both, but specializing goes a long way. There are also adept powers that'll straight up boost your physical attributes or skills, functioning like the magical equivalent of muscle toner/replacement.

In terms of what to shoot for with melee combat, generally, having a high AGI, a decent STR (usually around 5+ via augments and/or drugs), high skill, and dice pool boosts of various kinds are what matters. AGI gets you the hits, STR gets you the base damage. There are some exceptions, but we'll tackle those if/when we get to them.

Also, do not discount martial arts. For example, I'm planning on using Jujitsu, specifically the Clinch move, as a way to leverage my character's Gymnastics pool to lock down threats like mages or people with really big guns. But if you're planning on just slugging it out with the opponent, good base strength is a must.

23 minutes ago, anon101 said:

More importantly, I'm a bit torn between going pure Adept or going Mystic Adept.

The biggest thing between the two is that while Mystic Adepts are a lot more karma hungry, they get a lot more options too. Spellcasting alone, once you're able to reliably mitigate drain, can become your main ranged weapon. There are a few ways you can do this, like limited spells and fetishes, but the biggest thing is, again, specialization. Adepts have less power growth potential, but they come online a lot quicker, and can be a lot simpler to deal with, especially when it comes to costs for power boosts and the like.

28 minutes ago, anon101 said:

I'm thinking Human for metatype but I keep seeing people say that you need to go ork or troll for a melee character. I dunno how true that is, but I can sort of see it with how much higher their Body and Strength scores are.

Human would be solid simply for the extra edge, and the ability to put points elsewhere. Generally, as long as you're able to toss out a decent number of dice (usually 12-14+, this is one of those things that'll vary by experience and environment) for your specialties, and more importantly, if you can usually hit near or at whatever is acting as your "limit" (ie accuracy or physical limit) you should be good. Given that you're thinking of doing a Drake, which is a rarity from what I've seen, your drake form would likely be the substitute for the ork/troll in this scenario. Not to mention the karma investment is pretty high if I remember right, though I will admit I've never seriously looked into making a Drake character (though fun story, the character I'm making, Llorona, was originally conceived of as a Drake of Sirrug, though that particular idea got scrapped pretty early on). If you think you can stretch an ork or troll, go for it!