The Sample Characters, We can do better! Options

[Cain]

Okay, we all know that the sample characters in the book are carelessly done, poorly optimized, and tend to lack critical things. Like the mage without Assensing, or the Decker without Exploit, or any character lacking a Fake SIN or commlink. On RPG.net, people asked if we have any substitutes here. I got quite a few in the past, but I thought I'd post here again to see what Dumpshock as a whole can come up with.

So, here's the deal. I'm going to list off 16 archetypes. Anyone who wants to gets to call dibs on a character, then gets a few days to post it. You can only call dibs on one character at a time, so no one gets overloaded.

Anyone up for the challenge?

The archetypes are:
Bounty Hunter
Combat Mage
Covert Ops Specialist (Ninja)
Decker
Drone Rigger
Enforcer
Face
Gunslinger Adept
Occult Investigator
Otaku
Radical Eco-Shaman
Sixgun Samurai (Pistols expert)
Smuggler
Sprawl Ganger
Street Samurai
Street Shaman

[Kyoto Kid]

...I'll take the Gunslinger Adept. :grinbig:

...wait...Decker? Otaku? What edition are we talking about?

[Whipstitch]

I'll take the Covert Ops Specialist.

Any preference on whether or not it's an adept? Also, are we looking at solid, likely to be playable with most any group sheets (my preference) or hardcore min-maxed check-out-my-e-penis sheets?

A link to the appropriate RPG.net thread (if it exists) might not hurt as well, since it'd be silly to put all the pressure on you as a go between if it turns out things aren't quite what people were looking for.

[Cain]

KK: Sorry, I'm am atavism. I use the old terms. :P

[Spike]

Y'know, a few of the flaws you point out may only be flaws at your table. I mean, in all the years I've played, not one Runner has ever bought a fake SIN. Just wasn't important to us, y'know?

Now: Yes a mage SHOULD have assensing, yes a Hacker SHOULD have expoit.

Just be careful that your 'optimized' characters don't start to look like caracatures instead of characters.

Just Sayin'.

[Kyoto Kid]

[Whipstitch]

I know what you mean Spike, but I can't help but think that the sample characters are a wee bit heavy on the really, really bad flaws. I mean, if I remember correctly about a half dozen or so out of the 16 characters have Uncouth or Combat Paralysis.

I plan on making my covert ops guy very, very good at what he does, but I'm going to skip the synaptic boosters as well as anything that can trip cyberware scanners. I'm thinking a Ork Adept with a point or two of the athletics and attribute boosting bioware. What's really killing me is whether or not to take some throwing weapon skills and the Missile Mastery Adept power. Normally, I'd jump right in but unfortunately Gecko Hands and trying to throw things doesn't mix very well. Which is a shame, because improvised weaponry+built in assisted climbing= win.

[Kyoto Kid]

...I agree. Why would anyone in their right mind take a quality/flaw that not only had her going last in the first initiative pass, but also lose 3 dice to her surprise test. That usually results in a very short career.

The only 20 pt NQ I ever took was Undeducated, which while still having some pretty bad effects was no where near as devastating as Uncouth or Combat Paralysis. Of course I also tended to stay away from "cheezy freebees" like Incompetence and Sensitive System for awakened characters.

BTW are Street Magic and Augmented fair game for this as well?

[DTFarstar]

Well, I mean, really, Gecko Hands and attacking doesn't really go well unless you go with unarmed combat and kick a lot.

Chris

[Whipstitch]

Bah! Sensitive system is perfectly valid for Awakened under the current rules. Attention Coprocessors, Reaction Enhancers, SkillWires and Cybereyes are all proof Dunkelzahn loves CyberMages and wants them to be happy.

Then again, I once made a Mage that took Sensitive System, Incompetent Spellcasting, Incompetent Counterspelling, Incompetent Ritual Magic and Incompetent Banishing (Take that Street Magic, you and your shitty Aspected Magician rules!), so perhaps I'm just the cheesiest of all cheesey bastards. I guess I just don't see how choosing to close off an entire path of character advancement isn't some kind of drawback, provided that the campaign goes beyond a single one shot adventure. :P


Actually, Gecko Hands rock for unarmed combat, and it has nothing to do with kicking. In all honesty, when it comes to attacking via Unarmed Combat, you generally have 4 options:
1. Get shot.
2. Get shock hands and pray for incapacitation so you don't get shot.
3. Become an Adept and pour stupid amounts of points into Improved Skill Unarmed Combat and Critical Strike. If your attack doesn't take them out in a single pass (which is likely), then please refer back to option 1.
4. Go for subdual so they can't fight back. Better than 2, slightly more effective than 3 and also is a helluva lot cheaper. This option also gets a plus 2 bonus from Gecko Hands.

[DTFarstar]

That isn't that cheesy, taking Incompetent Throwing, Blades, Clubs, Bows, Lockpicking, and such like that is cheesy for a mage. I mean really, how often does Incompetent Heavy Weapons really penalize a mage, or like I just said Incompetent Lockpicking? Or Incompetent Software?

Chris

[jklst14]

Should the metatype of the Sample Character stay the same? For instance, does the Face have to be a Dwarf like she is in the book, or can we change her into an elf?

[Cain]

[Cthulhudreams]

[Whipstitch]

...I've found initiative passes in general to be overrated. They're really important, yes, but Synaptics are expensive and they don't always contribute to doing your job, plus there's always the potential to combine Edge and Jazz.

[Cthulhudreams]

using jazz probably isn't a crash hot idea for a new player - that was my point about IP boosters in general, vets can power through without them with tricks but as a new guy safety net in general. Still, YMMV.

I just tossed together this rigger

He still has 45k and 1BP in the bank for some more drones and and a car/van

I'm also debating cutting logic and dumping the points into something useful, like charisma and intuition.

I am also ignoring my own advice, this needs to come with an explaintory note about using gymnastics and unarmed combat in place of dodge. He's reasonably well rounded, but his disadvantages are a bit cheesed out.

Dwarf

Body 3
Agility 5
Reaction 4
Strength 3
Charisma 2
Intuition 3
Logic 5
Willpower 4
Edge 2


Gunnery 6
Perception 4
Athletics (Group) 1
Unarmed Combat 1
Pilot Watercraft 1
Pilot Ground Craft 4
Pilot Aircraft 1
Influence (Group) 1
Cracking (Group) 4
Electronics (Group) 4
Automatics 1

Weak Immune System
Allergy (Uncommon, Moderate) gold
Incompetent Aerospace
Allergy (Uncommon, Moderate) Silver
Incompetent Fishing. Like. Whatever

Cyberware:

Control Rig

Datajack

Gear:

3 months Medium Lifestyle

Chamelon Suit
-Helmet
-Chemical Protection
-Fire Resistance
-Insulation
-Non conductivity
-Thermal Damping

Googles
- Lowlight
- Flarecomp
- Smartlink
Earbuds (Evo Audio Accuity Aids)
- Audio Enhancement 3
- Select Sound filter

Every program except reality filter at rating 6 and a 5/5/6/6 commlink
Rating 3 Agent

Ingram Smartgun
Two Spare clips
200 rounds

FNHAR
Two Spare Clips
200 rounds
Rating 6 Medkit
4 x Shinawse Kanimushi

3 x GM Nissan Doberman
With Ingram White Knights
600 Gel Rounds


Edit: Other gear I forgot

Rating 4 Fake Sin
1 x Rating 4 license for the SMG.

Aim to spend the rest of the money on ome more drones and a car - probably a blimp, some flyspies and one or two of the aerial recon drones.

[kzt]

[imperialus]

I'll do a street sam. I tend to be good at them. Since he's supposed to be a sample character I'll restrict myself to the BBB.

[ElFenrir]

Arg, i was going to grab street sam. :grinbig:

well, i'll do my take on the street sam, then...and then see how it matches with yours. :D

EDIT: Honestly, Street Sam i wouldn't change much. This is what i did:

[ Spoiler ]

Attributes: No Change. The only thing added is the +1 Dmg Resistance for Body(see below).

Skills:
Dropped Athletics Group to 2
Used those 10 points to Specialize Infiltration to Urban 2(+2)
Specialized Negotations to Bargain 2(+2)
Bought him Street Etiquette 1(+2)

Switched a point of Unarmed Combat and Blades, so he has Unarmed Combat 4 and Blades 5

Removed one point from Dodge from 3 to 2, but specialized in Ranged 2(+2), and added a specialization to Automatics(SMG) 5(+2)

Dropped Heavy Weapons. To me, this isn't really a Street Sam's forte. It's cool and all, but it's more ''Merc-y'' to me. Used 2 of those points to buy him Perception. Divided the last up between Blades(Swords) and upped his Fixer's Connection by 2 to 5. (You could specialize him in Pistols too...but this version is already heavily specialized.)

So his final skill list looks like:

Athletics Skill Group: 2
Automatics(SMGs): 5(+2)
Blades(Swords): 5(+2)
Dodge(Ranged): 2(+2)
Etiquette(Street): 1(+2)
Infiltration(Urban): 2(+2)
Negotation(Bargain): 2(+2)
Perception: 2
Pilot Ground Craft(Bike): 1(+2)
Pistols: 4
Unarmed Combat: 4


Gear:

Knocked Docwagon Platinum down to Gold(saving 25,000)

Bought2 Rating 4 Fake IDs(8,000)

Rating 4 fake licences for his guns and blade(comes out to about 1,200)

Picked up some Regular Plastic Bone Lacing(bringing Essence to .3), for 5,000, giving him +1 to his Damage rolls and letting his unarmed to 4P damage if he chooses physical

Picked up Armored Jacket instead of Armored Vest(300 nuyen difference)

Picked up another SMG, a nice tricked out AK-97 Carbine with a Gas Vent 3, Smartlink, 5 clips of Regular Ammo, 5 clips Gel, and 5 clips EX-EX.

With the final bit of money, i purchased him a subvocal mic, skinlink, climbing gear, earbuds with all of the audio enhancements, a Handheld Sensor Package with microphone, atmosphere sensor and radio signal scanner 4, a couple pairs of plasteel restraints, a Sequencer 4 and a micro flare launcher with 4 flares.

Ok, that's my take. Again, im pretty happy with him generally, but i think the skills needed the most tweaking.

Hmm...maybe since i didnt exactly rebuild this guy, ill do the Combat Mage instead. Oh yes. Here, Combat Mage....;)

EDIT: And imperalius, please still do your sammie; i'd like to see how the two compare, to see what others ideas of the Ideal Sammie are. :)

[Ryu]

In Memory of: Hatchetman. Dibs on the Sprawl Ganger. Hope that works out.

[Kyoto Kid]

[FrankTrollman]

I call the Bounty Hunter.

-Frank

[Whipstitch]

[Jaid]

[kzt]

Not according to page 126. I don't write the silly rules, I just use them.