Adept Weapons specilist., Help me make this guy a better runner. Options

[Dumori]

So I made a runner for the "Greenhorns in Seattle recruitment drive" but I didn't get the place but I have fallen in love with the idea of the runner I made so Dumpshock can you help me make him more playable as so far he seems a bit odd.

Heres his stats

[ Spoiler ]

Race: Elf 30BP
Resources: 145,000Â¥ 29BP
Stats PNT Level 190 with edge and magic
Body 3 3/ 6
Agility 3 4/ 7
Reaction 4 4/ 6
Strength 3 3/ 6
Charisma 2 4/ 8
Intuition 3 3/ 6
Logic 3 3/ 6
Willpower 3 3/ 6
Edge 2 2/ 6
Magic 3 3/ 6

Skills 150 BP
Archery 2/ 6
Armorer 5/ 6
Close Combat (Group) 2/ 4
Demolitions 4/ 6
Dodge 2/ 6
Firearms (Group) 4/ 4
Heavy Weapons 2/ 6
Influence (Group) 1/ 4
Throwing Weapons 2/ 6
Palming 3/ 6

Knowledge Skills Level
Blade Design 4/ 6
Chemisty 4/ 6
Engineering 4/ 6
Firearm Design 4/ 6
Gun Trivia 2/ 6

Language Skills Level
Arabic N/ 6
English 3/ 6


Loyalty Connection

Contacts
Gang Leader/ Syndicate Boss 3 4
Arms Dealer 2 2
Mercenary 2 2


<<Positive Qualities>>
Guts 5
Human-Looking 5
<<Negative Qualities>>
Addiction (Moderate) -10
Allergy (Common, Mild) -10
Sensitive System -15


Adept Power Level Points
SustenanceÛž 0.25
Nimble FingersÛž 0.25
Quick DrawÛž 0.5
LinguisticsÛž 0.25
Missile MasteryÛž 1
Multi-TaskingÛž 0.5
Improved Tech. Ability [Armorer] 1

Gear
Melee & Projectile Weapons
Blades
Ceramic Knife 9
Katana 2
Survival Knife 2
Clubs Amount
Stun Baton 1
Projectile Weapons
Bow 1
Arrow 20
Medium Crossbow 1
Bolt 20
Throwing Weapons
Shuriken 10
Throwing Knife 10

Firearms
Hold-Outs Streeline Special 1
Light Pistols
Yamaha Sakura Fubuki 1
Heavy Pistols
Ares Predator IV 1
Sniper Rifles
Walther MA-2100 1
Grenade and Mortar Launchers
ArmTech MGL-6 1

Weapon accessories
General accessories
Airburst Link 1
Concealable Holster 2
Silencer 1
Quick-Draw Holster 1
Smartgun system, external 2
Spare Clips 29
Ammunition, per 10 rounds
Explosive Rounds 15
Regular Ammo 39
Grenades Amount
Flash-Pak 2
Fragmentation 6
High Explosive 6
Smoke 2
Thermal Smoke 2


Armor
Armor Jacket 1
Form-Fitting Body Armor
Full-Body Suit 1
Synergist Business Line
Skirt/Slacks 1
High-collar Shirt 1
Longcoat 1
Helmets and Shields
Helmet 1

Electronics
Commlink Model t
Novatech Airwave 1
Iris Orb 1
Program Packages
FTL Matrixware Power Suite 1
Commlink Accessories
Sim Module 1

Vision Enhancers
Contact Lenses 1
W/
Image Link 1
Smartlink 1

Goggles 1
W/
Vision Enhancements
Thermographic 1
Ultrasound 1
Vision Magnification 1

Tools
Facilities
Armorer Facility 1
Kits
Armorer Kit 1

Odds and Ends
Smart Pack 1
Butt Pack 1
Smart Pouch System
Ammunition Pouch 9
Ration Pouch (3-day supply) 4
Smart Canteen (1 liter) 16
Combat Load Vest 1

SINs, Licenses, and Credsticks
SINs
Fake SIN 2 Rating 4
Licenses
Fake License 5 Rating 4

Credsticks
Certified Credstick 1 Silver

Lifestyle & Expenses
Lifestyle (per month)
Middle 1

Sorry about it not being the neatest thing in the world.

Hes a gun nut and combat specialist who has a side job modding and fixing weapons of all types. He s has a past with organized crime im thinking the Yaks. Can any one help me with this. For those who want better layed out infomation you can download the files i used to make him here. http://www.2shared.com/file/3624250/470822...line_final.html

[Stahlseele]

*waits for the obligatory "Change Elf to Ork"*
everything else seems pretty good as it is, if you ain't trying to max something in char-gen

[Dumori]

Im just wondering if infiltration or a higher Influence would be better. But yeah I migh up magic to 2 but im unsure what i would spend it on most likely the second IP

[Stahlseele]

technically yes, influence and infiltration should be high on every runner . . but your role is fire-support so for that character it ain't all that important in my eyes . .

[krakjen]

Strange, it's a weapon specialist but has no automatic weapons?
He coul use them though, he has the Firearms and Heavy Weapons Group.
What about multiple targets? suppressive fire?
WHERE IS MY DAMN MINIGUN DAMNIT?

Oops. That was a little too much.


Seriously though, you should consider acquiring some kind of assault rifle/machine gun.
A good ol' Ares Alpha, for example, often come in handy...

[Dumori]

I though that but my current arsenal suites how I want to play him and a tmp or a alpha would be a quick pick up and I would perfer to get the HK XM30 or the AUG. Thinking about it a pilot skill along with infiltration would round him or and may be one rank of mechanic automobile but what to drop?

Edit:If I use the free contact point house rule for Frank's Points rule I'll be in the green by a few points but thats up to the GM. I could also drop guts and have an extra 5k to spend as well.

or re jig my skills like this

[ Spoiler ]

Archery 2/ 6
Armorer 5/ 6
Close Combat (Group) 2/ 4
Demolitions 3/ 6
Dodge 2/ 6
Firearms (Group) 4/ 4
Heavy Weapons 2/ 6
Influence (Group) 1/ 4
Throwing Weapons 2/ 6
Palming 2/ 6
Infiltration 1/ 6
Automotive Mechanic 1/ 6
Pilot Ground Craft 1/ 6

Knowledge Skills Level
Blade Design 3/ 6
Chemisty 3/ 6
Engineering 4/ 6
Firearm Design 4/ 6
Gun Trivia 2/ 6

Language Skills Level
Arabic N/ 6
English 3/ 6

[Stahlseele]

aren't automatics grouped in with firearms?

[Mäx]

aren't automatics grouped in with firearms?

Yes, any specific reason for asking. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Glyph]

I think the biggest problem with this guy is that you used the weapons specialist archetype as a starting point, and it is one of the more poorly-designed ones in the book.

For starters, being an elf does you no good. It would be fine if you wanted to take the BP hit because you really wanted to play an elf, but you have human-looking! An elf costs 30 BP, and has 30 BP in Attribute bonuses. If you changed the race to human, and took the 30 points from race and put them back into Attributes, the only differences would be that you would gain a point of Edge, and save 5 BP from not needing to buy "human looking". This guy supposedly worked for the Yaks, too - aren't they kind of racist towards metas?

Now, I'll look at how effective you are in various roles. Right now, you are spread way too thin, in my opinion.

Combat is a big BP sink for you, skill-wise, but you are still hardly in a sammie's class. With a smartlink, you have 10 dice for ranged combat before any modifiers for range, visibility, etc. Better than an average mook, less than an average sammie or combat adept. Good enough to hit a security guard who is out in the open or to pin some people down with suppressive fire, but only 50-50 against enemies who are dodging or behind cover. That's with the firearms group - it is less good with your secondary ranged weapons. Melee-wise, you sling 5 dice, about on par with a ganger. You have an average Body (your armored jacket alone will give you encumbrance penalties), slightly above average Reaction, a minimal dodge, and 1 initiative pass. Perfectly acceptable for a support character, but if you use some of your heavier weapons, you will probably draw more return fire than you can handle.

For social skills, you roll 5 dice. No face, but capable of handling most normal social interactions without embarrassment. Only average, though, at what should be one of a weapons specialist's core functions - getting black market parts and gear. Good contacts could ameliorate this weakness, though.

For using the armorer skill, you roll 9 dice. That's about the same as the mechanic NPC rolls for fixing a car, so you are about average for an armorer, the kind who can do most routine modifications. No hardware skill, though - that would be a very useful skill for an armorer. You do have demolitions, though, which is the other good complementary skill for an armorer.

For adept abilities, you went for the "fun" stuff, some of it giving some minor bonuses, rather than focusing on hyper-improving his armorer skill or improving his combat abilities significantly. That's fine - fun is why we play the game, so it's good unless pimping his combat ability would be more "fun". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)



So, lots of room for "improvement", but I'm not sure what you want. I tend to like more focused/specialized characters, so I would probably either make him a sammie with some armorer ability, or make him a pure armorer, pimping his Logic and armorer skills while paring his combat ability down to unarmed combat and a decent pistols skill.

Looking at the character now, I think "Armorer who spends too much time playing with his toys at the firing range." As far as your description, I could see "gun nut", but in the same game world with heavily augmented sammies, superhumanly accurate gun-fu adepts, mercs in combat armor, etc. he is not a "combat specialist", although you could have fun with him if you wanted to play someone gung-ho and in over his head a bit.

[Dumori]

(your armored jacket alone will give you encumbrance penalties)

Well that is a optional rule.

Other than that I like my runners to evolve but dropping closes combat and just having blades would be a better move. Archery could be dropped and use to pump armorer to 6. Along with this though in some combat drugs for when the dreck hits K-10 and the anit-besrek drug as well as some jazz for the less or frag moments. With his Chem skill he could knock up jazz was he needs it as well has explosives. I can see what you mean by specializing a bit more in what he aims to do.

Changes I'm contemplating

[ Spoiler ]

Race: Human

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


Armorer 6/ 6
Blades 2/ 6
Demolitions 4/ 6
Dodge 2/ 6
Firearms (Group) 4/ 4
Heavy Weapons 2/ 6
Influence (Group) 1/ 4
Throwing Weapons 2/ 6
Palming 3/ 6
Software 1/ 6
Hardware 2/ 6
Infiltration 1/ 6

Adept Power Points

Nimble FingersÛž 0.25
Quick DrawÛž 0.5
Improved Combat Ability [Pistols]0.5
Improved Tech. Ability [Armorer] 0.75
Improved Reflexes I 2

No positive qualities and plus 1 connection on the arms dealer and yak boss.

[Mäx]

Well that is a optional rule.

umm, no it's not an optional rule.

But if encubrance is house ruled away in your games, i would go for a much heavier armor.

[Jackstand]

I've actually made a similar character, once upon a time. I thought he was a lot of fun. I'll have to see if I can dig him up if you'd like to compare notes, but I tend to not make much of an attempt to optimize my characters, so, while you might get a glimpse of a variation on the theme, you probably wouldn't see much of anything revolutionary, as efficiency goes.

[psychophipps]

I fail to see the issue, really. Tossing 10 dice in ranged combat is quite respectable and your Joe Blow sammie will be tossing that much. I figure that a typical ex-military street merc will run a 4 AGL and 4 Firearms. Add a smartlink and you're seeing the same ten dice shown above.
Yes, some optimization might be in order if he wants but it's far from a gimped character depending on the game type he plays. It might be that his game is similar to mine and a 3 pass, 15 dice per action deathmachine isn't completely necessary for survival. Besides, I think that watching Chuck go down with a single aimed shot is just as effective at suppressing his chummer's fire as hosing an entire area with inaccurate, ammo-wasting autofire. Hell, it's probably more so if the next one is close enough to make them think about things.