Critique my Adept Driver Options

[Audious]

Sabhattin "Sab" Menderes
Human
Adept

Body 4
Agility 3
Reaction 5 (9)
Strength 3
Charisma 3
Intuition 5
Logic 3
Willpower 2

Edge 3
Magic 5 (4)
Initiative 15
Essence 5

Qualities
Adept (-5)


Weak Immune System (+5)
Allergy to Platinum, Moderate (+10)

Active Skills
Pilot Ground Craft (Spec: Wheeled) 6 (+2)
Shadowing (Spec: Tail Evasion) 6 [+4] (+2)
Etiquette 2
Infiltration 2
Perception 5
Automatics 2

Knowledge Skills
English N
Turkish (Spec: Lingo) 5 (+2)
Tamurat* (Spec: Politics) 4 (+2)
Lone Star Procedures 6
Safe Houses (Spec: Tamurat Safe Houses) 4 (+2)
Automotive (Spec: History) 3 (+2)

* - Tamurat is the Turkish Mafiya.

Bioware
Synaptic Booster (Rating 2)

Adept Powers
Improved Reflexes (Rating 2)
Improved Ability [Shadowing] (Rating 4)

Equipment
Ingram Smartgun X
-Gas Vent 3
-Concealable Holster
-Regular Ammo

Clothing (Chic)
Armor Jacket

Erika Elite
-OS: Iris Orb
AR Gloves

Mage Sight Goggles
-Low Light Vision
-Ultrasound Vision
-Smartlink
-Image Link
-Vision Enhancement (Rating 3)

Autopicker (Rating 6)
Medkit (Rating 6)
Fake License (Rating 4)
Fake SIN (Rating 4)

Chrysler-Nissan Patrol-1
Suzuki Mirage

2x High Lifestyle

Contacts
Halil, Tamurat Smuggler (L: 3/C: 4)
Munir, Tamurat Chop Shop Owner (L: 2/C: 4)
Donovan, Yardie Fixer (L: 2/C: 3)


Sabhattin is a member of the Tamurat (Turkish Mafiya) and a driver/transporter-for-hire.

He should be, in the Patrol-1 be getting dice pools of 20 for his Pilot Ground Craft checks and 15 for his Shadowing (Tail Evasion).

Does handling add bonuses to Tail Evasion?

[Glyph]

Synaptic Booster and Improved Reflexes are not compatible with each other, and do not stack.

You can't use Improved Physical Attribute to improve Intuition.

For both active and knowledge skills, you are limited to one skill at 6 or two skills at 5 at character creation.

You don't use tail evasion to escape vehicular pursuit - you use the Break Off action (rules on pg. 161).

No improved ability/pilot ground vehicle: 3? No control rig? That's 5 dice in your specialty that you're missing out on.

Also, he's pretty limited for a driver - no mechanic skill, no gunnery skill, and no electronic warfare skill.



I would re-work him. Making him a legal starting character will probably free up lots of build points.

[Audious]

Synaptic Booster and Improved Reflexes are not compatible with each other, and do not stack.

You can't use Improved Physical Attribute to improve Intuition.

For both active and knowledge skills, you are limited to one skill at 6 or two skills at 5 at character creation.

You don't use tail evasion to escape vehicular pursuit - you use the Break Off action (rules on pg. 161).

No improved ability/pilot ground vehicle: 3? No control rig? That's 5 dice in your specialty that you're missing out on.

Also, he's pretty limited for a driver - no mechanic skill, no gunnery skill, and no electronic warfare skill.



I would re-work him. Making him a legal starting character will probably free up lots of build points.

Took out Synaptic Booster.

Active skills are now as follows:
Pilot Ground Craft (Wheeled): 6
Etiquette 2
Infiltration 2
Perception 4
Automatics 2
Automotive Mechanic 4
Gunnery 4
Electronic Warfare 4
Negotiation (Bargaining) 2

Change powers to:
Improved Ability (Pilot Ground Craft) +6
Improved Physical Attribute (Reaction) +3
Enhanced Perception +2

Aren't I just better off with 5 magic and the +6 through improved ability versus 4 magic and the +2 from control rig and +2 from improved ability?

Also added a couple Machine Pistols to the Patrol-1 and an Uzi to the Mirage.

[hyzmarca]

You can't have improved ability higher than 3.

[Isath]

OK you may have that out of the CoreRules but I wouldn't allow a specialization like "Ground Vehicle (Wheeled)". Bikes, cars, walkers, what ever...but wheeled is to general I think. Though I have to admit it is a matter of preferance.

[Cthulhudreams]

You don;t need electronic warfare. Buy an autosoft, and a low rent drone.

If you want mechanical suggestions:

You'd be strictly better if you crossed out human and wrote in 'ork' - it would free up 30 BPs if you didn't change your stats at all.

Make up another 20 points of disadvantages. I personally like geasa. Make it so he has to say his prayers, or not drink alcohol or some other 'disadvantage' Gives you 20 points right there.

My suggested changes would net you 66 BP. I'd use that to boost my edge to 5 (20 BP), magic to 6 (25 BP) and spend the remaining 21 BP on more equipment. Specifically, all the drones you can carry and matching autosofts, and some IC to protect your network.

[Audious]

You can't have improved ability higher than 3.

I'm going through Daegann's character generator, sometimes I just take its word for things and don't look it up.

Edit: Just looked it up. You can have Improved ability up to the score of that ability.

[WeaverMount]

OK you may have that out of the CoreRules but I wouldn't allow a specialization like "Ground Vehicle (Wheeled)". Bikes, cars, walkers, what ever...but wheeled is to general I think. Though I have to admit it is a matter of preferance.

Man, next you going to be shooting down First Aid(Combat wounds), Assensing(Auras), and Gunnery(Ballistics). Nazi.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

[Muspellsheimr]

Edit: Just looked it up. You can have Improved ability up to the score of that ability.

You can have Improved Ability up to your Magic attribute, as normal for Adept powers. It just does not do anything beyond rank 3, and that is assuming you have a 6 or 7 base in the skill to be modified.

[Glyph]

By the official errata, "A skill's maximum modified rating equals its base rating x 1.5". So the most you can get is 3 points of it.

You can improve Reaction with the adept power, but every point over the normal human maximum costs double, or two points. So increasing Reaction from 5 to 8 would cost 5 power points, not 3.


If you really wanted to pimp out his car handling, the way to do it would be to raise Magic to 6, then get Move-by-Wire: 1, Reaction Enhancers: 2, and a Control Rig (Alphaware), for 3.0 Essense. With the remaining 3 power points, get improved ability/pilot ground craft: 3, and 2.25 power points on other powers. You will have a Reaction of 9, skill plus specialization for 8 more dice, and bonuses for 5 more dice, for a total of 22 dice. You would have to sacrifice in other areas for the resource points and to get that last point of Magic, though.

Or... you could also simply get improved reflexes: 2 instead of improved Reaction: 3, lower improved ability/pilot ground craft to 3, and raise enhanced perception to 5. You would still have 18 dice for driving, which is more than enough for most circumstances. And you wouldn't need to change anything else.

[Audious]

Okay, so I'm just going to repost the whole character sheet as it exists now.

Sabhattin "Sab" Menderes
Ork Adept

Body 4
Agility 3
Reaction 5 (9)
Strength 3
Charisma 3
Intuition 5
Logic 3
Willpower 2

Edge 5
Magic 6 (5)
Initiative 14
Essence 5

Qualities
Adept (-5)
Weak Immune System (+5)
Allergy Unc/Mod [Platinum] (+10)
Geas [No Alcohol] (+10)
Spirit Bane (+10)

Cyberware
Reaction Enhancers (Rating 2)
Control Rig (a)

Adept Powers
Improved Pilot Ground Craft (Rating 3)
Improved Reflexes (Rating 2)
Enhanced Perception (Rating 5)

Contacts (L/C)
Halil, Tamurat Smuggler (3/4)
Munir, Tamurat Chop Shop Owner (3/2)
Donovan, Yardie Fixer (3/3)

Active Skills
Pilot Ground Craft (Cars) 6 [+3] (+2)
Etiquette 2
Infiltration 2
Perception (Visual) 4 [+5] (+2)
Automatics 2
Automotive Mechanic 4
Gunnery 4
Electronic Warfare 3

Knowledge Skills
English N
Turkish (Lingo) 5 (+2)
Tamurat (Politics) 4 (+2)
Lone Star Procedures 5
Safe Houses (Tamurat) 4 (+2)
Automotive (History) 3 (+2)
Smuggling Routes 1

Equipment
2x High Lifestyle
Ingram Smartgun X
-Gas Vent 3
-Concealable Holster
-Regular Ammo
Clothing (Chic)
Armor Jacket
Erika Elite
-OS: Iris Orb
AR Gloves
Mage Sight Goggles
-Ultrasound Vision
-Smartlink
-Image Link
-Vision Enhancement (Rating 3)
Autopicker (Rating 6)
2x Directional Jammer (Rating 6)
Medkit (Rating 6)
Fake License (Rating 4)
Fake SIN (Rating 4)

Vehicles/Drones
Chrysler-Nissan Patrol-1
-Rigger Adaptation
-2x Weapon Mounts w/ Ingram White Knight (Explosive Ammo)

2x GM-Nissan Doberman
-Ingram White Knight (Explosive Ammo)

[Squinky]

Specailizing in wheeled vehicles is perfectly legal, and in the main book. Don't cut yourself short unless your GM shares these hardcore views (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Ryu]

I advise against Wheeled, if it exists (it does not in the German edition) - it is by no means the obligatory choice it may seem to be. Tracked drones contain a few nice choices, too. The fallback should be Remote(=VR) operation. As long as you have access to your kind of meat reaction, those two dice are not important. That changes quite a bit with response-based remote piloting.


The Doberman is a walker-drone. Your base Reaction gains you nothing when jumped in, and you would be sorely missing the Dodge skill for evasion. I´d either re-tool quite a bit or ditch the VCR and drones. You are aware of the price you are paying for godly perception, yes? The 25 BP for magic 6/perception +4 could have also been spend on Body 5, Willpower 3, and the Guts quality.

[Audious]

I advise against Wheeled, if it exists (it does not in the German edition) - it is by no means the obligatory choice it may seem to be. Tracked drones contain a few nice choices, too. The fallback should be Remote(=VR) operation. As long as you have access to your kind of meat reaction, those two dice are not important. That changes quite a bit with response-based remote piloting.


The Doberman is a walker-drone. Your base Reaction gains you nothing when jumped in, and you would be sorely missing the Dodge skill for evasion. I´d either re-tool quite a bit or ditch the VCR and drones. You are aware of the price you are paying for godly perception, yes? The 25 BP for magic 6/perception +4 could have also been spend on Body 5, Willpower 3, and the Guts quality.

To be honest, I don't know a whole lot about drones. Wasn't really planning on playing a rigger of any sort, but apparently without drones, a driver is limited...?

[paws2sky]

Most people who think Driver, think Rigger, not Wheel Man.

The drone suggestions come, I assume, on the notion that you're going to want to do more than just drive, sometimes. You already have Infiltration and Automatics, so you can fight if you need to. The fact that you have the skills to be able to run some drones from the safety of your car, without exposing yourself directly to incoming fire is just gravy. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Personally, I think you're going out of your way to over-specialize, but that's just me. I prefer more generalist characters - if I can get a dice pool of 12 in my character's main skill(s), I'm pretty happy.

Since I'm here already, I'll throw in my 2 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) ... For an Adept Driver, I'd be looking at Pilot Ground Vehicle 6, Reaction 5, and Improved Ability (Ground Vehicle) 3. That's 14 dice, which will make you one of the best drivers in the world. If you can get two more dice, you can buy 4 successes rather than rolling, which, if I recall correctly, is considered a critical success. Those two dice could easily come from Improved Reflexes (2), Reaction Enhancers (2), or even a Specialization.

-paws

[Screamin Demon]

Not to detract from the excellent build that it looks like you have going on OP, but my guts are just going to pop if I don't say this: You could make a better driver-type build out of a mage any day of the week.
With a good ol'analyze device spell slapped onto your simrig and spirit possessing the vehicle you will be a Turkish version of Speed Racer on nova coke. Drop me a message if you are interested and I can reply with more numbers and details.

[DireRadiant]

Control Rigs give a bonus while in VR and Jumped In.

If you are planning on physically driving, then a control rig will not add to a Reaction + Pilot Vehicle test.

If you are jumped in, it's a Vehicle Response + Pilot Vehicle test. In this case you get the VR bonus, and the control rig bonus.

[Backgammon]

Just a note that the change from Human to Ork may be more than just free BPs - Racism may be a big issue, especially in Turkey. Talk to your GM.

[Ryu]

To be honest, I don't know a whole lot about drones. Wasn't really planning on playing a rigger of any sort, but apparently without drones, a driver is limited...?

All you really need as primary skill is Ground Vehicles 5 (Cars +2), and preferably high Reaction and Intuition attributes. The whole magic on top of that is excessive, more than you can make use of without drones. You also want something to do on the run itself, were cars rarely play a role.

Let me suggest a combat taxi-driver, basically a Jack-of-all-Trades character that happens to be really good at driving:

- Synaptic Boosters 1, no magic. Muscle Aug+Toner 2 is a must-buy, as is Synthacardium3. The VCR is out, you don´t need it.
- Buy the Stealth and Athletics groups, and shift one point of Charisma to Influence 1. That gives you many useful ingame abilities.
- Add an Area Familiarity skill for your hometown to reflect taxi driver experience - very useful in most games.
- Add a Black Market knowledge skill. Helps with getting supplies, and offers employment opportunities.
- Give him good body armor on top of higher Body and Willpower (the 5/3 mentioned). Combined with an effective Reaction of 5, you can defend yourself in desolate parts of town, while you are searching for your client.

I share pawsk2skys preferences. The specialist builds often suffer from a severe lack of secondary skills. A non-existant athletics pool can be deadly for any runner. Defaulting on all social skills is a severe character trait, as it will be hard (read cha 5) to get to one buyable hit. The above changes all center around the life of a combat driver, but at the same time not on driving. The primary concept profits because there is no hit on playability, just on the maximisation of some other pools.

[Cthulhudreams]

The reason everyone wants to slap in drones is drones are awesome and someone in your team probably wants to do the drone thing. And there isn;t much room for a drone rigger and a driver in the same team, so naturally everyone is slapping drones in.

However ryu makes a pretty good point and that is you probably want dodge or athletics.

[Audious]

All you really need as primary skill is Ground Vehicles 5 (Cars +2), and preferably high Reaction and Intuition attributes. The whole magic on top of that is excessive, more than you can make use of without drones. You also want something to do on the run itself, were cars rarely play a role.

Let me suggest a combat taxi-driver, basically a Jack-of-all-Trades character that happens to be really good at driving:

- Synaptic Boosters 1, no magic. Muscle Aug+Toner 2 is a must-buy, as is Synthacardium3. The VCR is out, you don´t need it.
- Buy the Stealth and Athletics groups, and shift one point of Charisma to Influence 1. That gives you many useful ingame abilities.
- Add an Area Familiarity skill for your hometown to reflect taxi driver experience - very useful in most games.
- Add a Black Market knowledge skill. Helps with getting supplies, and offers employment opportunities.
- Give him good body armor on top of higher Body and Willpower (the 5/3 mentioned). Combined with an effective Reaction of 5, you can defend yourself in desolate parts of town, while you are searching for your client.

I share pawsk2skys preferences. The specialist builds often suffer from a severe lack of secondary skills. A non-existant athletics pool can be deadly for any runner. Defaulting on all social skills is a severe character trait, as it will be hard (read cha 5) to get to one buyable hit. The above changes all center around the life of a combat driver, but at the same time not on driving. The primary concept profits because there is no hit on playability, just on the maximisation of some other pools.

Temptation to make Hiro Protagonist clone is rising.

[Glyph]

Personally, I don't find the character over-specialized. He's really good at his main function (getaway driver), has the secondary skills needed for his specialty, and has the general skills needed to survive. I would keep the specialization in wheeled, myself. Drones may get less dice, but they don't need them as much - they are more likely to be deployed offensively (at least Dobermans are) than to be in a situation requiring lots of maneuvering.

The one thing I do agree with Ryu on is that you shouldn't be paying that 25 points for a starting Magic of 6. You already have an Intuition of 5 and perception/visual: 4/+2 - you don't need 5 more dice for that.


I would recommend against trying to make Hiro Protagonist. It's like trying to make Spike Siegel. You can make someone who is an absolute badass at one or two things at character creation, but you can't do a badass of all trades - you'll just spread your character too thin.

[Jackstand]

I think that all of these people suggesting Control Rigs are forgetting just how awesome Attunement is. Of course, then his limo could be used as a material link for ritual sorcery, but c'mon, how cool would that be, anyway?