Setting Up For a First Run Options

[Xystophoroi]

Hi,

My group is gearing up for a Shadowrun, I've never played before and am not normally a fan of sci-fi stuff. They've played once before but I think they had an issue with a min-maxer in their previous run so they've banned magic outright.

So I want to make someone who is good at something and not incompetent in key areas but there are just so many moving parts in this game that I wanted some input as to what to look out for.

I will be a Troll drug and chemical chef. I always play either magic users or tanks. As magic is out I am going to be tanking like nobodies business. I also won't be using cyberware (personally I find the idea of cutting off body parts to replace with a robotic one skin crawling), bioware is in though. I also like to use the less straightforward options, that's why the idea of using drugs/toxins, tasers, flash grenades etc. appeals more than just burying lead in someone.

My background is the third son of a successful, rich family, the older brother is a successful bio/cyberware engineer/head of research, the older sister is a powerful businesswoman in a major company of some sort and me, the third son is the slacker lowlife.

Publicly the other siblings shun and ignore me as a wastrel living off inheritance, while privately we all support one another with unique skills covering business, technology and me providing criminal connections for when special kinds of people are required.

400BPs, 20th Anniversary Ed. Core Book only

I am looking at spending those something like
Troll 40bp
Gear 50bp (I want to set aside the maximum and can claw back from it later, there's so much stuff...)
Contacts 30 (thinking 5/6 sister, 5/6 brother and a 4/4 in a local gang/mafia boss who uses me as a chemical producer)

Attributes 200bp
Not spent anything here yet, though I want Body 9 (tanktastic) and Logic 4, probably Willpower 4 or 5, Agility and Reaction seem like they have to be as high as possible for me to be able to take part in combat so 4 and 5 respectively...nothing in Strength as 5 is high enough and I'm not a melee fighter, Charisma perhaps 3 to give me a dice pool in social situations (I don't want to be the guy who blows the entire groups cover because I can't keep a poker face)

Skill I am less sure about as I don't really know what's good and what's not and what kinds of levels I should be looking to get, currently I am eyeing up
Groups: Bioware 1, Influence 2 (giving me around 5 dice on most social rolls...is that enough? Or will any random policeman just blow straight past that kind of dice pool when I'm lying?)

Skills
Pistols 6 (I plan on using a Ballistic Shield if we go for a full on assault rather than a sneaky route so one handed all the way, obviously leaving the shield at home if we go sneaky)
Dodge at some ranks
Thrown Weapons 3 with lobbed specialty (for delivering flash bangs and CS bombs)
Chemistry around 3 or 4 ranks with a specialty

General questions are:
- What kind of dice pools am I looking for to be competent in an area, amazing in an area, etc.? I am particularly worried about messing up a social situation like trying to lie our way past corporate security and having a dice pool of 5 vs. them with much higher skills for working out if I am lying (if they're always going to blow past my defence in that area then why bother spending points on it at all? if a 5 is going to fail anyway then why not leave it at a 1?)

- Is there a 'Go big or go home' feel to the rules in play? I mean in a game like WoD using dice pool mechanics if you're in a contested situation you really should either go for high focus or not bother because any attempt at stealth for example vs. anyone observant is going to fail unless you've maxed out and a failure on 1 die is just the same as a failure on 7 dice.

- Have I understood defence vs. weapons correctly. I would have Armour Jacket 8/6, helmet +2/+2 and ballistic shield +6/+2, +1/+1 from troll, +1/+1 from Bioware armour (orthoskin?) and have an armour rating of 18/12. Someone shots a gun at me with Agility 6, Skill 6, specialty, Smartgun +2 for a dicepool of 16. Average around 5 hits. I roll Dodge vs firearms of Reaction 5 and Dodge...say 3 with specialty for 10 dice, average 3 successes. They take their two remaining hits vs my ballistic rating of 18 and deal only stun damage not physical. I then roll armour of 12 stun+9 body for 21 dice needing to beat 2 hits to take no damage. Am I right? How does anyone hurt anybody! Even if you'd not maxed defensively say body 4, armour 8/6 their 5 hits vs say 2 hits on a dodge would leave them with 3 hits vs. a damage roll of 4+6 so still unlikely to do anything or only a single point.

- What kinds of weapons/armour should I be looking for? I like the dart guns and the tasers and probably a normal pistol to deal some physical damage eventually

- What kinds of Bioware should I be looking for?

- What kinds of those little things in the gear section should I be looking for? RFID tags, Commlinks, SIN and Licenses, etc.?

- Any skills that come up all the time but aren't obvious or ones that seem important but rarely come up?

- Any qualities that your recommend? I was going to take the one that doubles essence costs for cyberware as an explanation for why my guy never touches the stuff but what about other positive or negative ones?

I build characters very visually, I picture how I want them to act like in a movie scene and then try to build someone to meet that vision so, in a fight, I picture this guys being huge and hulking, armoured head to toe, ballistic shield in one hand, pistol or grenade in the other standing more as mobile cover for the faster more agile combat characters in the group. I walk forward and take the focus of the opposition, cripple and interfere with their operations while the street samurai, assassins, etc. of the group jump from behind cover to behind me, plucking a spare set of ammo from my bandolier and then gunning down the next enemy.

If you've played D&D 4e think a combination of a Defender/Controller. And a reference to D&D4e should suggest that our group does tend to do combat, I suspect we'll have Deus Ex and/or Matrix style gunfights probably once every 2 sessions and general investigating/stealth/talking/hacking/etc. filling in the rest of the space with maybe short sharp fights like a quick fist fight down an alley to shut an informant up.

Have I totally missed the point of the game? Am I falling into newbie traps (like: LOL, high Body! You want XYZ to be a good tank!)? Are there glaring flaws in my ideas?