Build Point costs for Western Dragon, Anybody interested? Options

[ShadowDragon8685]

I'm trying to calculate them now, though since I just started, it'll be awhile. I imagine this will be humorous.

[Jaid]

this is gonna be pricey...

first you got all those stat boosts...
then there's the special abilities (free magician+ quality, flight, hardened armor, astral armor, etc).

next, add in that they get 7 magic minimum (i assume this is for a starting dragon) and can go up to 12 without initiating apparently... so that's +6 magic attribute. also, there's a free 2nd IP, if i'm not mistaken, and some bonus edge.

though i suppose they would recoup some points on what is effectively a really bad case of simsense vertigo, and also probably the equivalent of "bio-rejection" or whatever that old flaw was called (doesn't exist in 3rd, but i'd guess it's at least a 20 point flaw)

[ShadowDragon8685]

Note that this document assumes Western dragons, and makes the following assumptions:

As far as mental and physical attributes go, “3� is a static, average score. If you take any given creature, strip away it's racial mods and magical/cyber/bio augmentations, and ignore personal advancement (or personal underachivement) the number you find will be a three.

This leads to the extrapolation of the attribute modifiers, by simply taking the numbers in the BBB. However, special attributes will not be be calculated as such; it is to be assumed that such attributes, being, of course, vitally important, have been bought up. Therefor, they will start at 1, as per usual.

These are the baseline stats of a non-great Western dragon, as presented in the BBB, from which I am extrapolating:

Body 15
Agility 7
Reaction 8
Strength 40
Charisma 8
Inteligence 8
Logic 8
Willpower 8
Edge 6

Essence: 6+1d6? (How does this work....?)
Magic: ESS (Hmmmm.)

Movement: 15/40 (30/60 flight)



Now, obviously, this is going to take a bit of modification. Therefor, we are going to determine that “Dracoform, Western Dragon� has the following attribute modifiers, with their racial maximum and augmented maximums listed afterwards:

B 13/18 (27)
A 4/9 (13)
R 6/11 (16)
S 38/43 (64)
C 4/9 (13)
I 4/9 (13)
L 4/9 (13)
W 4/9 (13)

Innate qualities:
Dragonspeech
Dual Nature
Elemental Attack (Usually Fire)
Enhanced Senses (Smell, low-light vision, thermographic vision, wide-band hearing)
Hardened Armor 8
Mystic Armor 8
Natural Weapon (Bite/Claws DV 10P, AP-2)
Reach +2

All dragons have the Magician quality by default. They need not purchase it again, nor does it count against quality limits. They may not purchase the Adept, Magician's Way Adept (yes, I know it's called “Mystic Adept� now), or Technomancer qualities, nor may they opt to be mundane.

Special: Dragons start with an Essence score of 6, as per normal. They can raise it, same as any other magician; by Initiating. Additionally, they have to buy their Magic attribute, just like everyone else, however build-point costs for raising Magic are one-half. (This has no effect on the Karma cost of raising Magic; it only applies at Character generation.)




Now, here is my stumbling block: What should the BP cost for all this be? I'm thinking 200 is a good number; any Dragon character in a normal 400 BP game is going to be extremely powerful, obviously, not to mention disruptive to normal Shaodwrunning operations. Additionally, there are individual powers listed in the BBB for Dragons; perhaps these should be purchasable for additional points cost? I'm not sure how much; say, 20 points per power, maximum of 2 selectable? (The options given are Animal Control, Compulsion, Corrosive Saliva, Fear, Influence, Noxious Breath, and Venom.)



Let's ignore for the moment the absurdity of a dragon PC, and just try to crunchify it, please?






Jaid: Where the Essence is listed as 6+1d6, I'm choosing to interpret that to mean that any given Dragon that's established and hasen't died in it's first year of dragonhood has initiated at least once. Also, I didn't see anything about a free initiative pass, and they have a maximum of 6 (7 if Lucky) Edge.

[Jaid]

the last stat in the line is IP, and it's value is 2. IP = initiative pass.

and neither maximum nor current essence increases with initiation, normally.