Horror Born Characters, A new race with a cursed bloodline Options

[Kesendeja]

Before creating this race I spent significant time reverse engineering both shifters and drakes to get the formula for building them.

I'd appreciate further help balancing them as a playable race.


Creating a Horror Born Character
As with changelings and Drakes the character begins by creating a standard character out of Shadowrun 4A. After metatype is selected the player pick the appropirate quality (Horror Born or Cursed Ancestry), then continues on with buying up her attributes, skills, equipment, and other qualities. These do not count against the character's limit of 35 BP at character generation.


Sufficiently Metahuman
The Horror Born arre still very much metahumans, and can acquire other qualities and gear available to other characters of her metatype, this includes augmentations and implants, as well as other types of equipment (and subject to the usual restrictions of Shadowrun character generation).

The character can also be touched by most of the things that affect and afflict other metahumans: magic, diseases, toxins, and severe lead poisoning. However, they are also sufficiently different that they can be categorized separately using magical theory if desired. Thus, a horror born character can be targeted and affected by a spell that targets its metatype (ie. Slay Human, Slaughter Ork, etc) as well as a spell that targets horrors (ie. Slay Horror, etc.).

They are also immune to HMHVV—they cannot become Infected, and they cannot carry the disease.

Magic
Due to their unnatural origins every horror born character starts the game with a Magic attribute of 1, which may be increased with BP or Karma as other attributes to a maximum of 6 (+ initiate grade), as normal, and is used for any Tests involving innate powers. If a their Magic attribute is permanently reduced to 0, it reverts to human form and loses the ability to assume their horror touched form again. Should Magic be reduced to 0 due to a temporary reduction caused by background count/domains do not affect them.

Their blood makes them Awakened beings, but not magicians. They cannot learn or use any other Magic Skills, astrally project, initiate, or bond foci unless they also take an appropriate quality such as Adept, Astral Sight, Latent Awakening, Magician, or Mystic Adept at character creation.

Their aura clearly shows their altered form as an overlay to their metahuman form. Magicians may use Masking to conceal their true auras. Adept powers function no matter what form the character is in.


Augmentations
They can accept any augmentations, but only in their metahuman form. These implants may carry over to their altered form. A cyberlimb will remain a cyberlimb if the altered form has the same limb, but a horror born with no eyes cannot gain the benefits of their vision enhancements.


Altered Form
Horror born character’s posses a second, heavily altered form. It takes them a pass to transform into either form.

The altered form is built with 200 BP of advancements, most commonly pulled from attribute boosts and metagenetic qualities.

Horror Marked
Like some changelings, the horror born can often be afflicted with bizarre mutations. These marks denoting their inhuman blood are visible in both forms. They must take 15 points of negative metagenetic qualities.


New Qualities

Horror Born
Cost 65 BP
The character's direct ancestor was a creature not of this plane. They possess the benefits and the banes of this ancestry.

Cursed Ancestry
Cost 5 BP
Their is the blood of a horror in the character's family history and will at some point awaken in the character.

Toxic Aura
Bonus 10 BP
The character's aura reads as if they were a practicioner of a toxic path regardless of the truth. This effect cannot be masked even by a magician with the appropriate ability.