Character Advancement, I've got some karma to spend Options

[mmu1]

I've posted a similar topic before, but I run into this kind of problem a lot - after designing a character to be good at what he does, then using karma to get rid of any glaring weaknesses, I find myself unable to decide what to spend the points on.

Here are the stats of the character in question:

ATTRIBUTES

Body: 6
Quickness: 6
Strength: 5
Charisma: 4
Intelligence: 6
Willpower: 6
Essence: 1.00
Reaction: 6+2d6
Combat Pool: 9

SKILLS

Active

Pistols: 6
Unarmed Combat/Karate: 3/5
Clubs/Stun Baton: 3/5
Athletics: 6
Stealth: 6
Computer: 5
Electronics: 6
Electronics B/R: 6
Negotiation/Fast Talk: 3/5

Knowledge

Electronics: 5
Safehouse Locations: 5
Security Companies: 4
Security Design: 4
Security Procedures: 6
Security Systems: 6

Languages

English: 6
Japanese: 3

Skillwires / Skillsoft Jukebox (Rating 5 / Task Pool 3)

Biotech
Car
Demolitions
Diving
Etiquette
Launch Weapons
Lockpick
Negotiation
Rifles
Throwing
Wilderness Survival
German
Japanese
Russian
Spanish

He's a sneaky B&E guy, so he relies heavily on Stealth, Electronics, and Electronics B/R - but he's got an Encephalon, so he's got the latter two skills effectively at 8 already, and uses a ruthenium suit for serious sneaking, which matters so much more than raw skill. (for non-adepts, anyway)

I've got 15 karma to spend, and frankly, throwing in 10 or more points to get one of those skills from a 6 to a 7 seems like a waste... but so does spending it on broadening his skill selection, when for rarely-used skills it makes a lot more sense to just buy a skillsoft.

Spending the points on getting some more knowledge skills is actually starting to seem like an attractive idea...

Though given that the character's a dwarf, he's actually got some attributes it'd be relatively cheap to advance, but the question, again, is whether that'd be worth it.

Any suggestions?

(Oh yeah... Please assume that in the game I'm playing in, the character works just fine, and doesn't in fact have any glaring weaknesses - so there's no need to point out, that, for example in your game only a munchkin wouldn't have some kind of vehicle skill, or that your GM would never allow a character with a ECD, or that the way you run skillwires, he would constantly run into trouble when trying to use multiple skills at once, or... well, you get the idea. ;))

[Mortax]

Hmmm, I see you have lockpicking, a general locksmithing skill would be good, or a safecracking speciality.

Physical sciences, engineering, chemistry, welding and such would be good if you need to make thing/s or understand how they work.

With a chem skill you can make your own explosives. :-)

[Herald of Verjig...]

Knowledge: Architecture is a wonderful compliment to your demo skillsoft when you need to get in quickly and/or leave nothing standing.

[Mortax]

Not sure how your GM runs skillwires, so if this isn't how it works, ignore it.

If I remember, you can only have so much "loaded" at once. If that is how your gm runs it, you could put karma into your most used skill that you chip, and then you have extra ram (for lack of a better term) for mor skills.

I like a high chem skill myself. Get youself a good shop and you can make most chems you could need, and you can make a BIG profit of of making things (like ruthilium polymers :-) street index is crazy). Those profits can get you a facility, wich means you can then make anything you need. Acids, poisons, tranq, drugs, explosives, expanding foam whatever.

I don't know if task pools work the same in 3rd as 2nd, but they used to give you major boosts to chemistry.

[Glyph]

You have three skills with base skill: 3 and specialization: 5. Specializations can go up to double the base skill, so you could improve 2 of those specializations to 6 for 12 Karma, or improve one of the base skills to 4 (allowing the specialization to be raised to 8 later), and improve one of the specializations to 6, also for 12 Karma. For the remaining 3 Karma, you can raise your Electronics knowledge skill from 5 to 6.

Another way to go would be to improve your Japanese language skill from 3 to 6, since it is one of your "natural" ones, and you want your languages to generally be high for any character that makes use of social skills.


When you get to the point where you are mostly where you want to be, progression can seem to slow down, since you need higher amounts of Karma to improve an Attribute or skill by one measly point. One way to go would be to start specializing more. For example, another way to spend 15 Karma would be to get a specialization of 8 in the pistol that you use the most.

[Fortune]

Start learning some of the Skills that you have 'Softs for. Then you can eventually get the 'Wires ripped out and replaced with something better.

[mfb]

stealth. stealth, stealth, stealth. because it's an open roll that is opposed by an open roll, you want to stack on as many dice as you can. my adept rolls 15 dice on sneaking tests. he's been detected on a dark night at sea by a guy with 5 intelligence and no sense mods.

stealth.

[ElFenrir]

Im a fan of upping the Stealth, and adding some specializations to the stealth, and the other skills. Addings specializations in game is pretty cheap, and doesnt lower base skill anymore. If you keep using certain skills, then i think upping them is a good idea, both mechanically, and character-wise.

Locksmithing sounds cool, too. Chemistry...hmm..thinking about it, you do have a few more viable karma dumps. :)

[ShadowDragon8685]

Here's an idea.

Use the Karma for Cash rules and cash in. Buy something nice.

Or else pick up some Decking, improve Pistols (take a Specialization in Ares Predator), or pick up some Submachine Guns.

Vehicle skills would be useful for everyone, I think. If you don't have it, you may not be a munchkin, but you are an idiot. Hell, go for something esoteric if you like - Pilot (Sail-powered watercraft). Your DM will feel almost compelled to bring it up at some point. :)

Maybe use the Karma to improve your negotiation skills - you don't want to get a reputation for using fast-talk to make your fences pay more, because either they'll come into the deal with a bad attitude and sour grapes that your fast-talking won't be able to counter, or they'll just ignore you.

You might also think about picking up appraisal - are you going to trust that shifty-eyed fence to tell you what something's really worth?