Self-Actualization, Making Mudanes Better Options

[TheOOB]

Self-Actualization

The awakened initiate to deepen their connection with the magical world, technomancers submerge to deeper their connection with the digital, both have a theoretically infinite power level. There is no hard limit to the amount of power they can obtain, so long as they keep gaining karma, they can continue growing more powerful.

Mundanes, on the other hand, have a hard limit on the amount of power they can obtain. Once they have topped off all the skills and attributes relevant to their fields, and are equipped with the most wiz gear and cyberware on the market, there is not much more they can do to improve their power level.

I purpose that we allow mundanes to achieve “Self-Actualization”, and continue to advance their abilities much in the same way that the awakened and technomancers initiate and submerge. Rather then obtain a deeper connection with a parallel world from which they draw their power, then instead create a deeper connection with themselves, working to unify mind and body with the ultimate goal of reaching perfection.

Only characters who do not have the adept, magician, mystic adept, technomancer, or any other qualities that would allow them to initiate or submerge may self-actualize. Self-Actualization is a serious process in which the mundane deepens their connection with themselves and strives to improve both their mind and body. The exact process used to self-actualize varies greatly between person to person, but it is always a deeply personal experience where they strive to push their abilities beyond their normal limits. A street samurai may train extensively in a dojo for an extended period of time, a hacker may spend weeks logged into the matrix trying to find themselves, and an artist may create a great work in a new style.

Self-Actualization is measure in grades, beginning with Grade 1 and increasing. At the end of the characters first self-actualization they achieve self-actualization Grade 1, when they complete their second they achieve self-actualization Grade 2 and so on. The grades are for tracking self-actualization in game terms, every person refers to self-actualization in their own way. The cost to self-actualize is 15 + (Grade x 4) in Karma points. Characters who wish to self-actualize must pay that cost to advance to the next grade.

Self-Actualization Powers
Becoming self-actualized gives the character access to the following abilities.

Increased Attributes
Whenever a character achieves a new grade of self-actualization they may choose one physical or mental attribute and raise their natural maximum for that attribute by 1. They will still have to pay normally to increase that attribute.

Upon achieving self-actualization Grade 1 a character may choose either a mental or physical attribute to increase the natural maximum of, starting with Grade 2 and every grade thereafter they must choose a different type of attribute(physical or mental) to raise the maximum of then they did when they achieved their previous grade. For example is Joe the street samurai chooses to raise the maximum of a physical attribute when reaching self-actualization Grade 1, upon reaching Grade 2 he must choose a mental attribute to raise the maximum of, Grade 3 physical, Grade 4 mental, and so on.

Techniques
A self-actualized character may choose one of the following techniques at each self-actualizion grade (including the first). Unless otherwise noted no technique may be chosen more then once. Help in creating more techniques would be appriciated.

Haste: When the character spends Edge to increase their number of initiative passes the extra initiative passes last a number of combat rounds equal to their Edge attribute.

Lucky Bastard: The characters maximum for their Edge attribute increases by 1. They still must raise their edge via spending karma as normal. This technique may be taken up to 3 times.

Skill Focus: Upon taking this technique the character chooses any one active, knowledge, or language skill and increases the natural maximum for that skill by 1. They still must spend karma to increase the skill as normal. This technique stacks with the aptitude quality. This technique may be taken more then once, each time it applies to a different skill.

Spell Defense: The character gains a +1 dice pool modifier on all tests to resist spells and magical effects. This technique may be taken up to 3 times.

Strong Spirit: The characters essence increases by .25. This technique may be taken up to 3 times.

Thick Skinned: The character gains +1 natural impact and ballistic armor, this stacks with armor gained from all other sources. This technique may be taken up to 3 times.

[Ravor]

Although I personaly don't care for the idea of Initiation and unlimited advancement for mundanes (Given that both from a meta-level standpoint as the mana levels increase, at some point in the distant future there won't be any actual mundanes anymore, as well as it just not being my cup of tea in general.), I have to say that your system does seem more or less balanced with the possible tweaking of the listed Techniques. I'm not sure that Haste and Thick Skin are balanced and just have a strong dislike for Spell Defense as instead of focusing on improving the mundane, it instead detracts from an awaken's abilities.

[Omer Joel]

Self-Actualization... Isn't that something the Universal brotherhood offers in its posters and advertisement? :evil:

On a more serious note, I'd simply remove the skill and stat caps BUT require higher than usual Karma expenditure to go above them.

[Garrowolf]

Okay I hate this idea for a lot of reasons. For one it doesn't fix a problem, it causes a whole new series of them. Open ended systems are absurd. I think that the magic and technomancers need limits. They need hard caps. Not the other way around.

Two while I don't mind the idea of feats, that is exactly what you have created. In the wrong system. If you want to add feats then add them at a more reasonable power level and for everyone.

Three a self actualized person would not be a criminal. The thing that Shadowrun dances around is that an intelligent and balanced person would not be a Shadowrunner. If these people were real they would have a mental disorders score higher then their bp total! They would be completely heartless and disassociated from humanity to behave this way. There is NO way for that kind of person to become self actualized. If they did then they would no loner be criminals. They would have to work through all the issues that allow them to react this way.

If you want a powerful character that is already out of balance then pick a physad.

[Kyoto Kid]

...I like the concept of Mundane Spell defence. I think instead of adding extra dice it should add a threshold to the spellcaster's test.

Go Ahead, cast that Mindprobe, hope you like the headache you mage slime!

...OK, I feel much better now, really.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

This is... wrong. Just... wrong.

[Garrowolf]

A better way to do that would be a skill that spies and such would learn to become more sensitive to mental probes and try and block them out. I was thinking about a character on Babylon 5 that tried to block Talia from reading his mind by reciting songs, doing math, etc. It probably would have worked for most other telepaths but she was too powerful.

The downside of this skill is that it is an exclusive complex skill. You can't do anything else while you do it and it only works while you do it. You can block from the beginning only if you are aware that they might do that to you. Otherwise you get perception tests with it to realize the mental contact.

That way it is not a power but it isn't imbalancing either and it is difficult to maintain. It would just add to the willpower test to resist.

[Eleazar]

Wouldn't the self actualization you are advocating here require some sort of power or energy? How are they going over their natural maximum? Why would it all of the sudden increase during extended training? Why do these mundanes all of the sudden become supermen? So, if 7 is legendary then what is a skill of 8, demigod-like? This sounds a bit too much like a dnd epic level handbook for mundane Shadowrun characters.

The way I understand self actualization is a realizing of maximum/full potential. So wouldn't self actualization just be another method(RP) for a mundane to realize his natural maxium attributes and skills. Rather than exceeding them somehow.

[Kyoto Kid]

[Spike]

I'm torn. I like the basic idea, and I'll happily argue Garrowolf's point about the nature of Shadowrunners any day of the week. :P

And I even like the implementation. Unlike many fan-projects I see I don't get the feeling that this is a 'look how uber I can make my favorite characters' from it.

On the other hand I can definitly see how this doesn't really fit Shadowrun much, if at all. If people could gain self actualization so 'easily' then cyberware would be much less common. That's a crude version of the comment. Lets just say that realatively straight forward, easily acheivable 'Self Actualization' of this sort is more in line with 'Shaolin Monk' roleplaying, and less 'urban criminals'.

[2bit]

Infinite magical advancement is rhetoric, and should never be an issue within the scope of the game.

[Backgammon]

Defining a serious system of "Self Actualization" is limiting.

Averything you described is or can be a Positive Quality, and Positive Quality can be bought with Karma and/or roleplaying (preferably 'and'), GM permitting.

So instead of structuring this big system that makes little sense, allow your characters to gain Positive Qualities based on significant events in their lives.

Structuring it into a rigid rule system is, as Rotbart eloquently stated, wrong, just wrong.

[Konsaki]

I have to agree with 2bit. If you actually get a mage/TM to Initiate/Submersion level 13 then you need to make that character a NPC...

I have always felt there should be a hard cap on magic/resonance of 12, but if you actually can get a character up that high anyways, you probably have either neglected everything else on your character or been playing way too long with that character.

[Rotbart van Dain...]

[2bit]

That's not a bad idea actually; self actualization sounds like a great adept path.

[ShadowDragon8685]

This is Parkour. Adepts are Parkour on mega-magic steroids.

Any questions?

I think this is a perfect system to rebalance Mundanes with mages and adepts and technomancers. Perhaps it's something that (meta)humankind has always been able to do.

Perhaps it's simply an expression of the Mana level's slow rise. Before, only guys like Parkour could do this - but as an alternative to the "Spike PhysAd" idea, perhaps this is what they were doing all along...

[Trigger]

Parkour is a person? I thought Parkour was a french sport/ movement style/ philosophy/ martial arts and the people that practiced it were called Traceurs....but if there is an actual person named Parkour then I have actually been practicing a new cult religion for the last few months...

[PBTHHHHT]

[ShadowDragon]

[mfb]

self-actualization goes against the core of cyberpunk. cyberpunk means trading in humanity in exchange for power, whereas self-actualization (especially as described here) means gaining power by becoming more human.

in SR, all of the 'superhuman abilities' that don't come from technology come from magic. a person who practiced this self-actualization and gained power from it would be an adept, and they would manipulate mana just like every other Awakened character. that's how it works, in SR. there are no higher powers of the unAwakened mind waiting to be unlocked--it's all magic.

now, if this "self-actualization" were some kind of simsense therapy thing, where you chip in for long periods of time and come out changed? that would be cool. and it'd cost essence.

[TheOOB]

Perhaps self-actualization is an inproper name for the process, as mechanically all it represents is pushing yourself beyond your normal limits and trying to hit the absolute peak of your (meta)human abilities.

I can make a character a human character with a 6 in agility and a 6 in pistols, and via qualities I could even get both those up to 7. If I spend enough nuyen and essence I could even in theory increase those values even more via cyber/bioware, but at that point it's not my abilities so much as the wares abilities.

I agree with the common trend that at a certain point any character should be retired as they've just gotten to powerful. Sure in theory a magician could initiate dozens of times and be a god, and a mudane with these rules could self-actualize the same number of times and be crazy insanely powerful as well, but thats not the point of this process. The point of this process is to leave some room for advancement in your choosen field. At character creation by spending enough BP you can essentially master one field to the point where there is little or more additional advancement you can make in that field. At that point all the karma you gain can seem a little hollow in comparison to the mages or the technomancers, while they still have the ability to improve the core abilities, you need to spend your karma on secondary skills. Sure they are useful, but when you build a character to shoot things, you want to know that 10 sessions from now, you'll be a little better at shooting things.

[Konsaki]

One thing you need to think about is the fact that Mages, Adepts and TM's are supposed to be better than their mundane friends just because they are 'special'. They spent the extra BP/Karma to be better and have all that cool shit.

Should you ever get to a point where you have to deal with a maxed out Mundane vs a endless 'awakened', I think you need to restart the game since you have obviously left the realm of normal shadowrunners and entered the realm of OMGWTFPWN level of gaming where you take out dragons for a run.

[TheOOB]

But you can get extreamly close to maxing out your ability in a certain field at char creation with a mundane. For example, for a gunslinger, if you start with 7 pistols and agility (assuming human with apitude and exceptional attribute) and take some agility boosting cyberware you've allready hit close the best a mudane can ever be at pistols under the current rules.

[Konsaki]

Yeah... and?
7 Pistols and Agility for an unmodded human is at 'Super Human' levels. So you maxed one skill out at chargen, you still have alot left to skill up and you obviously are going to be lacking in them due to spending so many BP on Pistols, Agility and the Positive qualities to bring them up to 7/7.

Now what about everything else? You just spent 138/400 just on the stats and qualities for pistols. Yeah, agility helps with alot of other skills, but you can only get 4 in them now since you maxxed out pistols.
One super maxed out skill doesn not equal a good shadowrunner. Infact, in most situations, it makes your runner weaker due to the fact that he is so specialized, but I digress.

Awakened characters are supposed to have 'cool' stuff that Mundanes dont have because the awakened character had BP spent at chargen to make them 'better'. Mundanes have 'Ware' to make themselves better so they can compete with the awakened charcters.
If you wanted everything to be even, then you might want to ban mages, adepts and TM's in your games, not make up some rules that make mundane characters just like them but without magic. I admit that they are good and well thought out house rules, but no thanks. You can play with them if you want, but I'll pass.

[ShadowDragon]