[X] My Assistant

[DireRadiant]

There is the One True Way for all Adepts.

All MUST Follow it.

Now can some remind which is the One True Way?

No arguments please.

[Kyoto Kid]

...not wanting ot go into frenzy of "he said she said" quote snippets

I had a response pretty much written up during my lunch break but had to get back to work before proofing and submitting it. So had a little more time to think as well.

On the subject of Adepts, yes I am a bit jaded. Over the past three revisions (prior to 4th) they have been my favourite archetype (hence why my longest running character is one). ElFenrir said it right in that Adepts have gone through more changes from edition to edition than any of the other main archetypes. Originally the Physical Adept appeared not in the core rules but as an supplemental archetype in the first Grimiore. They were also designed as primarily a combat oriented character. It was not until late in the run of 3rd ed that we saw the Social, Artistic, and Techno adepts (SOTA '64).

I guess my one beef is that of all the archetypes (mages included) the Adept in 4th ed has the worst progression within her concept. As I previously mentioned, even Mages have a several other options for enhancing their abilities without raising Magic Attribute. The Adept basically has two: Geasa (and again thank you Fortune for pointing my omission out), and Initiation + MA improvement. Given there was no upward adjustment in the suggested karma award from previous editions the Adept's "slow track" has turned into a literal crawl. Everyone likes to have their character improve and grow as they play. However when it takes between a month or two of weekly sessions to see any core improvement, it can be somewhat discouraging from the player's perspective.

In light of this, I can see why there is such an interest in going the "Hybrid Way" (for lack of a better term) of the augmented Adept. Whipstitch made a good point for this:

"...as a pure adept you're for all intents and purposes giving up the option of really progressing through nuyen..."

Agreed. Even in the previous editions it was slower going for an awakened character as she needed to initiate to improve in her core abilities at an increasing Karma rate each time. However it has gone to the extreme in 4th with the added cost of increasing one's Magic Attribute as well. Granted, since MA is now purchased at Chargen like the other attributes, it would be hard to find another mechanic to handle Adept character improvement. Our group had considered allowing Adepts to just initiate and choose between a Metamagic technique or an additional power point. As per the rules, the Adept could initiate up to her current MA after which she would need to increase the attribute to progress any further. Also any powers based on MA for duration or rating purposes would limited to the characters "real" MA. Yeah, an OK "fix", but yet another houserule nonetheless to muddy the waters further.

[Ravor]

Of course there is room in the Sixth World for people who believe that by holding onto the "purity" of their magic they will someday reap rewards beyond measure, I just don't believe that their espoused belief is true from either a rules or fluff standpoint. Nor should it be given that Shadowrun is in the Cyberpunk genre.


Basically it's the same reason that I scoff at the various threads complaining that magic is more powerful then tech because by RAW it is uncapped, in a "normal" campaign I just don't see characters ever earning the Karma needed. (As a disclaimer, in my games I run a Hard Cap on Magic, but then again I also houserule Magic Loss rather heavily as well.)

[Siege]

My character builds were either samurai or generalist adepts.

They weren't as task specific, but it usually meant a lot more play time because my character was the one plugging the gaps between the specialists.

And I liked the notion that the character didn't spring from a vat, mission-specific and perfectly synched to his assigned duties. "You have a PhD in physics...and you're driving a cab? What the frag?"

-Siege

[Kyoto Kid]

...sometimes though that PhD isn't worth much more than the paper it's printed on. I know I have degrees in several fields that are pretty much "go nowhere" occupations and am currently schlepping data at a shipping firm. But I digress...

Siege, you hit the nail on the head as to why I prefer playing adepts over wireheads. Oh, I've had my share of sams, riggers & deckers, but there is something about adepts that I find more attractive. Part of it is the stealth factor, unless you are assensed nobody knows your abilities or potential. You don't set off scanners & you have no outward signs you are tougher than the average Joe on the street.

[Siege]

Don't get me started on over-education and employment. :grinbig:

Adepts have a reasonable number of advantages, depending on the campaign.

The biggest advantage for me is the simplicity of construction - Man and Machine was the beginning of the end in terms of Samurai for me. Primarily because building one was almost as much of a headache as a decker or a rigger.

-Siege

[Kyoto Kid]

...OK last night for grins (and being bored), I took my favourite adept and worked up an alternate version of her sacrificing 1 PP and 22 BPs in resources just to see what would happen.

Using bioware only (so she still could slip past scanners) I dropped the Boosted Reflexes power, her Bike Skill, Increased Pain Tolerance I quality, and 1 pt of Strength and gave her the following:

Synaptic Booster 1 .5ess
Muscle Augmentation .2 ess
Synthcardium 2 .2 ess
Moderate Biosculpting .1 ess

The last augmentation fits with her backstory and in a way would validate her going the bio route anyway as it would have reduced her MA by 1. In her background I mentioned that she received a fair amount of cosmetic modification, effectively changing her ethnic appearance from Anglo to Japanese. This was before the release of Augmented and is now covered by Moderate Biosculpting.

OK so what this does is:

Free up an additional 1.25 power points (as I also had to drop one level of Improved Physical Ability in Gymnastics) which went to the following powers:

Improved Sense: Low Light Vision
Combat Sense 1 (improves her odds from one avg hit to two on a simple dodge test)
Enhanced Perception 2 (she now has a DP of 10 for sight and 12 for hearing perception tests).

This also gave her back the Athletics Skill Group I originally wanted her to have albeit at 3 instead of 4 (though effectively she is at a rating 5 with the Synthcardium.). She now has ten dice in Running (very useful for her rollerblades), Climbing, Swimming, and 12 in Gymnastics. This is in keeping with the original concept in that she was supposed to be an all around accomplished athlete.

The one thing that does deviate a bit from her background is the loss of her Increased Pain Tolerance which came from the mistreatment she received.

Final observation

So OK, it I can see it does make for a better (in her case more rounded) adept. Of course to improve her powers or add any more implants (like additional Synaptic boosting), she would need to raise her MA again (6 - augmented back to 5). However when she goes to raise her MA after that (7 - augmented back to 6 or 5 if she continues in the "way of the burnout"), she will now need to initiate as well, adding an additional 13 Karma to the cost. In this way it is kind of like borrowing on your future, you got to pay the piper sometime.

[Glyph]

I'll admit that, like Siege, I like adepts a lot because they are so much simpler to construct than a sammie is. And even if you go the bioware-enhanced route, one or two points of bioware doesn't complicate it that much.

As far as "pure" adepts go, I guess I don't worry so much about whether they are the equivalent of a sammie or not - I just get Magic 5 or 6, get improved reflexes: 2, then have 2 or 3 more power points to play with. And what I like best about Street Magic isn't the cool new combat powers, but all of the cool miscellaneous powers, like sustenance, or linguistics, or multi-tasking.

[Whipstitch]

One of the nice things about improved reflexes is that as expensive as it is it doesn't do anything to lower your magic cap or dilute the maximum rating of your other adept powers. This is why I prefer Synaptics for adepts with powers like Improved Ability: Gymnastics (During chargen Improved ability is effectively capped at Rating 3 due to the 1.5 modified skill limitation) and Nimble Fingers if I'm going the combat monster route and light attribute boosting bioware and Improved Reaction if I'm taking a character who's more likely to rely on powers like Pain Relief, Iron Will, Power Throw and Spell Resistance, which are nice abilities that work best with either a high magic or when taken at a high rating.

[Kyoto Kid]

...I thought I read (or heard) somewhere though that an adept can only take up to half her current skill rating (rounded down) in Improved Ability. So for example, the Short One having Athletics Group at 3 only allows her to take Improved Gymnastics 1, or can she take the power at rating 3?

...now I am a bit confused. :huh:

[Whipstitch]

It depends on your current rating. I just meant that the "Only one skill at 6" creation limitation means you can take at most Improved Ability: 3 in one skill at creation and are stuck with rating 2 or less for everything else.

[Glyph]

The good news, though, is that you will still have 2 more points than a sammie ever can, since reflex recorders are the only skill-boosting 'ware they can get (although there is a lot of other 'ware that gives dice pool bonuses). And it's good to be able to save the points, since improved reflexes are so much more important in SR4 melee.

[Kyoto Kid]