Mentor Spirit: Cat, Away from books and have a question Options

[Fyndhal]

I'm working on building a Cat Shaman and have a quick question.

DamienKnight's spreadsheet generator lists a bonus of "Gymnastics or Infiltration tests +2 Dice." I can't recall if that means the +2 Dice applies to both skills, or I pick which skill it applies to when picking the Mentor Spirit. I assume it applies to both but...better safe than sorry.

As a commentary:
This is the first mage I've built in 4th Ed, it's a lot harder than building Sammies or Adepts!

[Ryu]

You have to choose one. You get two times +2 to X.

Magicians have tons of options available, you just have to decide on one.

If you want an efficient core concept for a cat shaman, start with solid agility and charisma, and accept one point of magic loss for muscle toner 2, synthacardium 2, and cerebral boosters 2. Slightly lower magic (I suggest 5->4), more agility on both planes, higher athletics pools. Take the Acrobatics, Stealth and Influence groups, and a solid summoning skill. Spellcasting 4+ is a given; spells should be mostly illusions.

[Fyndhal]

I went 3 Agility and 5 Cha (first pass was an Elf with 7 Cha, but decided against that.)

This is the spell list I was looking at:

Hot Potato (Realistic, Single) (sm)
Improved Invisibility (Realistic, Single)
Stunball (Direct)
Acid Stream (Indirect, Elem.)
Heal
Increase Reflexes
Levitate (Physical)
Physical Barrier (Environ.)
[Critter] Form (Physical) (Black Cat)
Physical Double Image (Realistic, Multi) (sm)

And thanks for the clarification!

[Ryu]

Hot Potato (Realistic, Single) (sm) - very fitting
Improved Invisibility (Realistic, Single) - par for the course
Stunball (Direct) - Stunbolt should IMO come first, you will get issues with the size of the AoE.
Acid Stream (Indirect, Elem.)
Heal - yeah
Increase Reflexes - sustaining focus?
Levitate (Physical) - or magic fingers?
Physical Barrier (Environ.) - warning: if you want to cast it, we are likely talking force 5+.
[Critter] Form (Physical) (Black Cat) - yeah
Physical Double Image (Realistic, Multi) (sm) - how about Fashion instead?

[Fyndhal]

Hot Potato (Realistic, Single) (sm) - very fitting
Improved Invisibility (Realistic, Single) - par for the course
Stunball (Direct) - Stunbolt should IMO come first, you will get issues with the size of the AoE.
Acid Stream (Indirect, Elem.)
Heal - yeah
Increase Reflexes - sustaining focus? Yep
Levitate (Physical) - or magic fingers? Levitate is, I believe, more generally useful, though I love both spells.
Physical Barrier (Environ.) - warning: if you want to cast it, we are likely talking force 5+.
[Critter] Form (Physical) (Black Cat) - yeah
Physical Double Image (Realistic, Multi) (sm) - how about Fashion instead?

Physical Barrier is iffy, I agree. As for Physical Double Image, that combined with Imp. Invis. is a great defense. No need for Dodge rolls if the bad guys are shooting the wrong spot. Still, it's one of those things that rarely works more than a couple times, so again, iffy.

I'm currently at 473/450 BP for the character...gotta cut some things down.

[pbangarth]

450 BP, huh? I know where this guy is slotted to go! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

If you are already Invisible, the bang for the buck of Physical Double may be low.

Peter

[Fyndhal]

Working on the same character some more, but this is more of a background/opinion question than a rules question.

The character is a Cat Shaman who is is working on a Doctorate in Archaeology. What skills would best represent this?

He has Etiquette for dealing with the bureaucracy, he speaks a couple languages, he has Archaeology as a Sixth World Knowledge skill. What else would be needed, or would that cover it?

Edit: He also has a "Day Job" as a research assistant.

[pbangarth]

The character is a Cat Shaman who is is working on a Doctorate in Archaeology.

Huh! So am I. (Not the shaman bit, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) )

What skills would best represent this?
He has Etiquette for dealing with the bureaucracy, he speaks a couple languages, he has Archaeology as a Sixth World Knowledge skill. What else would be needed, or would that cover it?

Edit: He also has a "Day Job" as a research assistant.

Is he a classical archaeologist ( eg. Greek/Roman, approaching the past through lots of texts) or an anthropological archaeologist (focussing more on artifacts filtered through anthropological theory)? For the former, I would ensure a good spread of pertinent languages and maybe a bit of History skill to aid textual research. For the latter, I would add Anthropology skill and maybe a language to fit the particular area of research. Mythology would fit for both.

Peter