The Cyber-Ninja, character build, comments or criticism? Options

[Mugzug]

Following is my Cyber-Ninja character build. He has all cyberlimbs except for cyber skull. I used the restricted gear quality to get him some fully customized cyber arms, and a cybertorso with modular limbs.

There are some things I had to alter to fit the theme, but used similar game rules and stats to make it work. For instance I took the stats for a cyber spur, and basically called it a hydraulic combat system that increases your unarmed damage. It takes a 'free' action to engage the combat system, and it does blunt damage.

For the shuriken gun, I based it on the nail pistol in Augmentation. Ammo is instead going to be the highly expensive shuriken (30 nuyen per shot!). Going off of the cyber spur shooter's use of the throwing skill, and the fact that shurikens are throwing weapons; I decided that it would use the throwing skill. Then with Arsenal I added BF and FA ability to it. This is balanced by the fact that a 10 round burst from this costs 300 nuyen.

There is a lot of room for this character to grow. He could purchase other modular cyberlimbs that would be useful for various jobs. His nanohive can support 1 more nanite type. Since he can hold his breath for a while, I would suggest later on picking up an air tank for his leg and fill it with poisonous gas. When captured release the knockout gas. The shuriken gun could be much more deadlier with the use of poison (narco suggested) and the addition of footspikes (or switching hands and adding a gyro to the other hand, but offhand penalty will apply).

Additionally he has not learned actual Ninjitsu advantages or combat maneuvers yet. That is room for karma advancement. His Sensei does not work for free yet, and has demands before he teaches him further Ninjitsu. This can be offset with a later purchase of the Sensei merit.

Overall this is a melee fighter, designed to close in quick whether by stealth or speed (skimmer discs). When he can't, there is the shuriken gun.


Any comments, criticisms, or suggestions?

Unarmed Combat Dice pool: 8 (agi) + 5 (skill) + 2 (spec) + 2 (ultimate champion) = 17 dice (25 redlined, but strength redlining is preferred)
Shuriken Gun pool: 8 (agi) + 4 (skill) + 2 (smartlink) = 14 dice (specialize later on)

Name: Chuan Ji
Race: Human

Ability (Augmented/Base)
Body: 8/5
Agility: 8/5
Reaction: 4/3
Strength: 8/5
Charisma: 2/2
Intuition: 3/3
Logic: 2/2
Willpower: 3/3
Edge: 3
Initiative Passes: 2

Skills
Athletics (group) 3
Stealth (group) 4
Infiltration 5
Unarmed 5
-spec Ninjitsu
First Aid 2
-spec combat wounds
Perception 4
Throwing 4
Electr (group) 2
Hardware 2
-spec Maglocks

Knowledge
Movies 1 (spec Kung-fu cinema)
Caracas Sprawl 4
Security Systems 4
Vendetta
Languages:
Portuguese / N

Qualities:
Born Rich
Restricted Gear (3X)
Bio Compatibility (cyberware)
Enemy (20 pts)
Vendetta (ninjas)
Signature

Contacts

Name Loyalty/Connection Location
Sensei 4/3 Matrix
Fixer (see background) 1/6 Global

Enemy:

Mysterious Ninja clan (connection 15)
Incidence: 5
Group Size: 100-1000 members (+4)
Global Scale (+6)
Magical Resources: A minority have magical resources (+1)
Broad Reaching Matrix Resources: (+4)

Bio/Cyberware
Name Essence Capacity Cost / Availability Grade
Cyberarm, Obvious (left)
Customized
Bulky
Ultimate Champion
+2 armor, +3 bod/agi/str
Hydraulic Combat System
Modular Cyberlimb
Shuriken Pistol (modular and customized, see gear)

Cyberarm, Obvious (right)
Customized
Bulky
Ultimate Champion
+2 armor, +3 bod/agi/str
Modular Cyberlimb
Grapplehand (modular)

Cyberleg, Obvious (left)
Customized
Bulky
+2 armor, +3 bod/agi/str
Modular Cyberlimb
Skimmer Disc (modular)

Cyberleg, Obvious (right)
Customized
Bulky
+2 armor, +3 bod/agi/str
Modular Cyberlimb
Skimmer Disc

Cybertorso, Obvious
Customized
Bulky
+2 armor, +3 bod/agi
Nanohive (rating 2)
Oxyrush Nanites (rating 5)

Synaptic Booster (1)



Equipment
Shuriken gun(modified using arsenal rules): 30 ©, burst fire, fully auto, smart link
27 shurikens (810)
Formfitting full body suit 6/2
Shades: Vision Enhancement 3, Vision Magnification, Low-light, Flare Compensation
Contacts: Smartlink
CMT Clip (commlink: 1 response, 3 signal)
Vector Xim OS (firewall 1, system 1)
Subvocal Microphone
Trodes



Weapons
Name Damage AP Mode Recoil Comp Ammo
Shuriken Gun 4P - SA/BF/FA 0 (1 RC strength) 30 ©






Melee Weapons
Name Damage AP Reach
Hydraulic Combat System 7P (11P with called shot!) - -




Background:

Chuan Ji had been a Kung-Fu movie enthusiast his whole life. In Caracas there was little else that made his otherwise horrible life enjoyable. When he got a job as a kung-fu movie critic for a brand new AR movie critic agency, Chuan was overjoyed. They immediately had him begin reviewing a slew of kung-fu trids from their vast trid library.

While watching “Ninjas Assassin 37� Chuan Ji noticed a familiar old Japanese man in the trid who was watching him. For the next few weeks the same reoccurring character would appear, but only during a Ninja Assassin flick. Chuan brought it up to the management who told him to ignore that and keep on with his reviews.

One day wall watching the hurried sequel to Ninja Assassin 37, Ninja Assassin 38, once more the old Japanese man appeared. Just then a black ninja with several agents burst into that matrix node and began to hit both the Old Man and Chuan with Black ICE! Chuan fought back, but within moments was in a coma.

While in his coma the Old Man once again appeared to him and explained that Chuan would simply call him the Sensei. He expressed admiration for Chuan’s courage and offered to teach him Ninjitsu if he would help him gain vengeance on the Ninjas who attacked them. Chuan agreed, and began to learn the basics of Ninjitsu while in the virtual world of his coma.
During this time Chuan learned that the Sensei was once alive, but somehow he died and became trapped in the Matrix. The Sensei did not go into detail about who he is, and who the Ninja clan was, saying how that will be revealed when he is ready to do so. He also let Chuan know that his body was wracked by the Black ICE and extensive modifications had to be made for him to survive.

Chuan Ji was shocked when he woke up in an underground black clinic. He was one of the rare, near full body cyber-limb replacements! Quickly a stream of nanites shut him down, before he was dumped into the Caracas sprawl.

His Sensei then let him know that soon he would be contacted by his old clients who brought much work to him. They handled the dirty business of the rich and powerful, and had much trust in the Sensei and his students. It would be a big step for him, but one that would prepare Chuan Ji for the ultimate challenge.

Unknown to the Sensei, the Ninja Clan is aware of his new student. They plan on exterminating both Master and Pupil and have been hot on their trail for some time.

[Glyph]

Optimized cyberlimbs are not available as modular cyberlimbs, unless your GM house rules otherwise.

[WearzManySkins]

Seems a shame to not take the Martial Arts Quality in Ninjutsu and not to take the Quality of Sensei, both to me fit the character concept very well.

What is the second nanoware gear for the NanoHive?

[Mugzug]

Ah I see now the optimized cyberlimb clause. So only make 1 arm optimized, and the other arm modularized. Or perhaps give up some capacity to make the nail pistol a cybergun and not have to give anything up at all.

There were just not enough positive quality left for Ninjitsu or Sensei. At least it allows for interesting character development and something for the GM to play with.

The 2nd nanoware for the nanohive is up to the player after the game starts. I would go for the +intuition upgrade to allow better hardware rolls to bypass maglocks and for perception.

[Steampunk]

There were just not enough positive quality left for Ninjitsu or Sensei. At least it allows for interesting character development and something for the GM to play with.

Somehow that sounds wrong to me, sorry. You don't get expensive and specialized cyberware first and then learn how to be a good fighter/ninja/whatever. Normaly it should be the other way round, first you become a promissing fighter/ninja/whatever and then you can invest much money into cyberware (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

So I personally would tend to try to save some points from equipment and buy Martials Arts, etc. for it.

[Mugzug]

If you explain it in your backstory then it works. By all flavor accounts he know Ninjitsu, he just does not have the top level training where you get those advantages. By the book in order to make the full cyberbody monstrousity you need to spend 35 positive quality points on those qualities I bought. The concept was cyber-body ninja 1st, and fully trained ninja 2nd.

[Rasumichin]

Just out of curiosity for insane ful--body cyborg concepts :

Do you really need all these physical stats with a full cyber body?
I can see the use of having a high unaugmented CON for poison resistance and the like, but the rest?
Are you going to do that many headbutts?

Some people believe that the augmented attribute value should not be higher than 1.5x the natural one, but most just require that it be not more than 1.5x the maximum natural value.
By this ruling, you could have the same stats (except for headbutts, holding on to a rope with your teeth and the like) and drop STR and AGI to 1.

I might dump both stats, claim that the character was a rich, physically slightly disabled couch potatoe who always wanted to be a ninja and used all that cyber to buy himself into a ninja clan.
But that might just be the powergamer in me.

[Mugzug]

If you want to use the character concept feel free to alter it. His stats are that high because damage and dice pool require a high agi and strength. Body is absolutely needed to resist damage.

Remember this guy throws 24 dice for damage resistance(only using form-fitting, not even counting later purchased armor) . He has 17 boxes of physical condition. He can take quite a bit of punishment, so he has some durability built it.

There is no cyberskull on this guy, yet. If you really want skin on him, you can buy nanoskin to place over his cyberbody. With the bulk modifications he might just look like a freakishly large body builder.

[Rasumichin]

If you want to use the character concept feel free to alter it. His stats are that high because damage and dice pool require a high agi and strength. Body is absolutely needed to resist damage.

What i meant was that, unless we're dealing with those rare tests where only the head's physical attributes count, you'd have the same AGI and STR with natural attribute values of 1.
That alone would give you 80 BP more.
It wouldn't fit your background, granted, but i thought i'd bring it up anyway.

I've been contemplating a full-body replacement combat hacker with natural physical dump stats and maxed-out cyber stats for some time now and with karmagen, some new qualities from RC and warez, he might finally become a viable build.


BTW, i'd rather use Exotic Ranged Weapon as skill for the shuriken thrower.

[Squinky]

Rasumichin, I'm with you on this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I got jumped on for recommending a full body cyborg character to leave his natural stats at one, but it just makes sense. Beyond Body, you still need that for healing and stuff.

[BishopMcQ]

Enemy has a cap of 25, you put 32.

A 25 point enemy is something like:
Foe (5) It seems like the enemy is stalking the character. No matter where they go or with whom they deal, the enemy always seems to put in an appearance.
Membership (4) 100-1,000 members
Area of Influence (6) Global
Magical Resources (6) Vast Magical Resources
Matrix Resources (4) Pervasive Matrix Integration

Congratulations, your death warrant has already been signed.

[Mugzug]

Ah yes, looks like I messed up on the enemy thing. I thought that the base connection and group connection were different things. Good catch!

So you can now add the signature flaw or distinctive style (cyber-body, 10bp worth).


To fix it the new enemy would be:

Mysterious Ninja clan
Incidence: 5
Group Size: 100-1000 members (+4)
Global Scale (+6)
Magical Resources: A minority have magical resources (+1)
Broad Reaching Matrix Resources: (+4)


Thanks for that catch.


As for exotic weapon for the shuriken thrower, I was thinking that. Then I noticed how the nail pistol used the pistol skill, and the cyber spur shooter used the throwing skill. Going by that logic and the fact that the shuriken thrower was mechanically more disadvantageous than the pistol gun, I figured throwing skill would be a fair fit. I could see a GM going against that idea, as it was in fact my original gut way of going with it until comparing other items already in the game.

[Rasumichin]

Rasumichin, I'm with you on this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I got jumped on for recommending a full body cyborg character to leave his natural stats at one, but it just makes sense. Beyond Body, you still need that for healing and stuff.

That's the advantage of replacing over augmenting.
And it needs that advantage to be a good option.

I can see people getting (unnecessarily) riled up about this, but in the context i had envisioned it, it just makes sense.
I like the idea that somebody could theoretically become a viable combatant without any aptitude or training, just by getting the right implants.
It has a transhumanist vibe to it that fits nicely with the way SR4 is turning out to be.

And furthermore, these dump stats give you an explanation why somebody goes to the doc and says "please chop off most of my body to replace it with scary machine parts and encase the rest in chrome, i really want to look like a household device gone bad."

To take such desperate measures, you need either a) maniacal determination, b) a deeply disturbed self-perception, c) a highly convinced transhumanist outlook or d) have to experience your own body as utterly dysfunctional.

Having crappy physical attributes is a good explanation for reasons b) to d).
Not the only one, but it is both believable and maximizes the efficiency of this rather off-beat concept.

Ah yes, looks like I messed up on the enemy thing. I thought that the base connection and group connection were different things. Good catch!

So you can now add the signature flaw or distinctive style (cyber-body, 10bp worth).


To fix it the new enemy would be:

Mysterious Ninja clan
Incidence: 5
Group Size: 100-1000 members (+4)
Global Scale (+6)
Magical Resources: A minority have magical resources (+1)
Broad Reaching Matrix Resources: (+4)


Thanks for that catch.


As for exotic weapon for the shuriken thrower, I was thinking that. Then I noticed how the nail pistol used the pistol skill, and the cyber spur shooter used the throwing skill. Going by that logic and the fact that the shuriken thrower was mechanically more disadvantageous than the pistol gun, I figured throwing skill would be a fair fit. I could see a GM going against that idea, as it was in fact my original gut way of going with it until comparing other items already in the game.

These two are actually some of the very few exceptions (along with most natural weapons such as fangs, beaks, claws and goring horns only, i think).
However, i wouldn't mind too much as a GM, as i believe that demanding an Exotic Weapon skill is overused in SR4 anyway.

As far as the enemy clan is concerned, you should really consider the fact that, if the rules for enemies are applied strictly, these guys will most likely kill you within the first session.
Seriously, you're getting yourself into a world of hurt with that enemy rating.

If there's one thing i would really tone down, it's that.

Awesome ninja clans can be statted up believably and still quite awesome without signing your character's death warrant.

[BishopMcQ]

As far as the enemy clan is concerned, you should really consider the fact that, if the rules for enemies are applied strictly, these guys will most likely kill you within the first session.
Seriously, you're getting yourself into a world of hurt with that enemy rating.

To respond to this as well. Remember that after the first few times the Ninja clan shows up, roughs up your contacts, or causes a general nuisance to the run--if the ninjas don't kill you, your team very well may. Any negative quality that is worth 20 points all by itself is going to ruin your day.

[The Jopp]

A thing to keep in mind is that if you really replace the entire body into cyberlimbs you effectively remove ALL body musculature used for bodily movement (Bicepts, triceps and the like).

Agility and Strength are attributes you can basically reduce to ZERO (ie dont buy anything) and only add a little body for disease/poison resistance.

[Glyph]

Honestly, I woudn't find it that cheesy if someone took extremely low physical stats for a cyborg, since they usually got those limbs because their real ones got messed up - which sounds like an Attribute of 1 to me.

The only real jarring discontinuity is customized cyberlimbs. By the rules, you simply buy the points over the base of 3. By the flavor text, though, they sound like limbs designed for exceptionally large and fit people.

Customization allows cyberlimb attribute ratings to be increased by tailoring the limb to the user's overall size and musculature.

Although I guess you could say that the person was physically fit and active before he got mangled, which could even explain a relatively high Body and low ratings for things like Strength and Agility.

[Mugzug]

Customization seems to imply it goes up to match what your stats were before the limb was lost. It could go either way.


Theoretically with my character's backstory as written, I could say his physical stats dropped to 1 after his body got devastated by black IC.

[Rasumichin]

Ruleswise, Augmentation is clear on that issue :

Each customized cyberlimb may have a starting Body, Strenght and Agility attribute of up to the character's natural attribute maximum (see pp. 62 and 73, SR4).

Emphasis mine.

If it would not be possible to get customized cyberlimbs with attributes exceeding the current meatbody attribute value, as long as they remain below the natural maximum, it would say so, wouldn't it?

Of course, this can lead to quite extreme examples.
An elven catgirl with Exceptional Attribute, Metagenic Improvement and genetic optimization for Agility who undergoes cybermancy and ends up with Essence -5 could get limbs with Agility (22), while having a natural attribute of 1.

[Mäx]

Of course, this can lead to quite extreme examples.
An elven catgirl with Exceptional Attribute, Metagenic Improvement and genetic optimization for Agility who undergoes cybermancy and ends up with Essence -5 could get limbs with Agility (22), while having a natural attribute of 1.

How does she have a natural Agility of 1, wouldn't the minimum be 3?

Edit: Tarantula i don't think that an availebilty is gonna be a problem for someone who can get herself made into a cyber zombie.

[Tarantula]

Of course, the availability for those limbs would be 23. Which is really the limiting factor.

[Rasumichin]

How does she have a natural Agility of 1, wouldn't the minimum be 3?

Oh...ehm, yes, of course.

Of course, the availability for those limbs would be 23. Which is really the limiting factor.

When we're talking delta-grade full body replacement, the price will also be an issue.
For the full body, we'd be talking 1.8 million (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) for the Agility customization alone.

But for a CZ elven catgirl ninja who could default with a DP rivaling twinked-out starting sams with their main weapon, that's a worthwile investment.