Recruiting (SR3): Brave New World, Living and learning in Bug City Options

[BlackHat]

God dammit, I can't believe how many pansies I'm getting with no initiative boosters. I think I might have to actually go easy on you guys for this one. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/spin.gif)

Or teach us a lesson.

There was no way I was going to be able to fit 2-3 essence worth of wired reflexes, as it was. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif) I was hoping to get two birds with one stone with move-by-wire, but I guess those only function as skillsofts in 4E - also the rules for them breaking down looked annoyingly complicated.

[crizh]

Hey, we've got some pretty good Face material here and it's not like a Troll melee brute really needs initiative.

[thearistocrat]

God dammit, I can't believe how many pansies I'm getting with no initiative boosters. I think I might have to actually go easy on you guys for this one. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/spin.gif)

Delayed Damage (2) is an out of combat adept power. Talk, Touch, Thank you sir, good day.

ps. if you want to go wiz-bang fast, try boosted reflexes & synaptic accelerator as an essence friendly combo

[krayola red]

Or teach us a lesson.

There was no way I was going to be able to fit 2-3 essence worth of wired reflexes, as it was. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif) I was hoping to get two birds with one stone with move-by-wire, but I guess those only function as skillsofts in 4E - also the rules for them breaking down looked annoyingly complicated.

IIRC a decent rating Move-By-Wire system was pretty much a death sentence in SR3. Your best bet would be to go with Synaptic Accelerators, which you'll probably get a chance to pick up in game since your guy has plenty of Bio-Index left for upgrades.

[thearistocrat]

IIRC a decent rating Move-By-Wire system was pretty much a death sentence in SR3. Your best bet would be to go with Synaptic Accelerators, which you'll probably get a chance to pick up in game since your guy has plenty of Bio-Index left for upgrades.

Yeah, Move-By-Wire is pretty much roll stress dice every other run, if you glitch you become a shell of a man. Glitch twice and your character's 2Mil. nuyen investment is shot.

Not to mention you can easily avoid these crippling setbacks while saving money and essence...

[ Spoiler ]

Speedy the Lame Elf

Attributes - 28

Body 6
Quickness 12
Strength 4
Charisma 6
Intelligence 6
Willpower 4

Essence 3.76
Run Mult. 3
Magic 0
BioIndex 4
Reaction 10(12)
Init. Dice 3(5)

Cyberware

Name Slot(1-6) Stress Notes
Boosted Reflexes [3](A) E:2.24 sr3.302|+2RCT, +2INI

Bioware

Name Slot(1-6) Stress Notes
Suprathyroid Gland BI:1.40 mm.069|+1RCT,+1STR,+1QCK,+1BOD
Muscle Toner[4] BI:1.60 mm.067|+4QCK
Synaptic Accel.[2] BI:1.00 mm.074|+2INI

And Speedy, the hyper-accelerated elf, still has 145K to spend out of 1Mil.

[BlackHat]

IIRC a decent rating Move-By-Wire system was pretty much a death sentence in SR3. Your best bet would be to go with Synaptic Accelerators, which you'll probably get a chance to pick up in game since your guy has plenty of Bio-Index left for upgrades.

Now I have to go look up how bio-index works in SR3, again. I thought it was like SR4, where whichever type was less only counted 50% against you.

[krayola red]

Hmm, when I said Bio Index I actually meant Essence Index, which is equal to your Essence + 3. Bio Index is what you get when you install bioware, Essence Index is what you have to keep your Bio Index under if you don't want to suffer serious side effects. In simpler terms, you can have a combined Essence/Bio-Index total of 8.99 before bad stuff begins to happen to you.

[BlackHat]

Well I'll be. Looked it up, and, yeah, I have plenty of bio-index (but not enough nuyen yet).

Edit: Ninja'd

[crizh]

Ah, I miss the heady days of SR1 where Bioware cost Body Index and you could have as much as you had natural Body.

Those were the days lad, those were the days....

[Dumori]

I'm interested but IDK where my SR3 books are. Any char types you might need?

[krayola red]

Hmm, looks like we don't have any riggers right now. +10 awesome points to anyone who rolls up a rigger, since I just finished reading through Rigger 3 and would really like a chance to see them rules in action. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Chance359]

Hope I'm not late to the party, been sicker than hell.


Sam Jones, Ork Legbreaker, former gang member, Federal Witness
Attributes

[ Spoiler ]

B: 7 (9)
Q: 7
S: 7
C: 4
I: 5
W: 4
E: 0.8
R: 7 (9)
Initiative: 9 + 2D6

Combat pool: 8

Skills

[ Spoiler ]

Athletics: 3
-Climbing: 5
Bike: 4
Cyber Implant Combat: 1
-Climbing Claws: 6
Electronics: 3
Etiquette: 3
-Street: 5
Light Guns: 4
-Pistols: 6
Lock Picking: 4
Interrogation: 2
-Torture: 4
Medium Guns: 4
-Shotguns: 6
Negotiations: 2
-Bargain: 4
Stealth: 5
Unarmed Combat: 6

Knowledge Skills
Criminal organizations: 4
Evaluate: 3
-Jewerly: 5
Gambling Card Games: 5
Biology: 3
Navigation: 3
-Land: 5
Paranormal Animals: 3
Pop Culture: 3
Security Procedures: 4

English: 5
r/w: 3
Spanish:

Chrome

[ Spoiler ]

All alpha grade

Auto-Injector
Auto-Injector
Bio-monitor Processor
Bio-monitor
Bone Lacing Titanium
Cyber ears w/
-Dampener
-Hearing Amplification
-Spatial Recognizer
Cyber Eyes w/
-Eye light system
-Flare Comp
-Low Light
-Protective Covers
Internal Air Tank
Retractable Climbing Claws
Smartlink
Wired Reflexes: 1

Meat

[ Spoiler ]

Enhanced Articulation
Muscle Augmentation: 1
Muscle Toners: 2
Orthoskin: 2
Synthacardium: 2

background

[ Spoiler ]

Sam Johns makes his living as a leg breaker and collector for the Cutters street gang out of Detroit. Given the Cutters profit driven nature, he also freelances for the highest bidder. About six months ago while on one of his freelance jobs his employer was killed and Sam was stuck in possession of a recently deceased child.

After his arrest, he knew he would be facing the needle he did the only thing he could, he turned states evidence in a federal trial against some of the Cutters former business partners. The UCAS Marshals had him in Chicago to give his deposition.

[Chance359]

Ah, I miss the heady days of SR1 where Bioware cost Body Index and you could have as much as you had natural Body.

Back in the day when the shit was real...

[Dumori]

Hmm, looks like we don't have any riggers right now. +10 awesome points to anyone who rolls up a rigger, since I just finished reading through Rigger 3 and would really like a chance to see them rules in action. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Was thinking rigger any way. Now to find my books =( I was give a huge bunch of them by a family member only ever played SR4 though.

[Toptomcat]

Toptomcat:

I'm intrigued by your character concept, but I'm wondering exactly what kind of niche your character would fulfill. Usually most "detection" oriented characters I've seen are awakened, and I'm guessing this is because the most effective senseware items are also usually the cheapest and pretty much everyone has 'em (i.e. cybereyes). I'm questioning the utility of stuff like gas spectrometers and MAD scanners, which, while useful to have in certain situations, aren't essential enough to build a character around. Stuff like radio scanners and laser microphones are pretty much standard gear and I'm not sure if spending the Essence to make them a part of you would provide a significant advantage over just carrying them in a backpack.

Like I said, I'm a big fan of your character idea, but I want to make sure that you would have a role to play in game and contribute something unique to the team dynamic so you wouldn't get bored. If you wish to keep your character as is, sell me on it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'll be honest: I don't know a great deal about the Bug City setting. I know the very broadest strokes, but little detail. Due to your provision that we would be unable to purchase any gear to start, and your note about the game being a sandboxy survival game with no forseeable hope of rescue and a battle to claim scarce resources, I assumed that stuff that's ordinarily 'pretty much standard gear' would be something of a bitch to find. This would make good surveillance equipment a rarity in this game, and put a premium on a character who had it. A lot of the comments you've been making have indicated that it will be easier to find gear than I'd initially assumed. If that is the case, I will readily respec to a more well-rounded build.

[krayola red]

I'll be honest: I don't know a great deal about the Bug City setting. I know the very broadest strokes, but little detail. Due to your provision that we would be unable to purchase any gear to start, and your note about the game being a sandboxy survival game with no forseeable hope of rescue and a battle to claim scarce resources, I assumed that stuff that's ordinarily 'pretty much standard gear' would be something of a bitch to find. This would make good surveillance equipment a rarity in this game, and put a premium on a character who had it. A lot of the comments you've been making have indicated that it will be easier to find gear than I'd initially assumed. If that is the case, I will readily respec to a more well-rounded build.

While high level equipment would be pretty difficult to obtain in the beginning, there will be opportunities for characters to get their hands on some neat stuff as the game progresses, so it might be unwise to build a character around gear that you might conceivably find in-game later on down the road. Also keep in mind that an event like Bug City would completely obliterate the normal economic model of supply and demand - you may find people who are more than ready to trade you their entire stock of whizbang electronics gizmos in exchange for some food and medicine.

As far as your character goes, you have approval to purchase implants and gear related to surveillance and counter-surveillance up to rating 10. As Aristocrat said, beefing up his combat abilities is one way to round out your guy. Another way you can go which might be a more natural extension of the character is to expand his abilities to include security penetration, which would involve maybe picking up Electronics B/R and investing in cyberware like Retinal Duplication and Second Voice Patterns. Just some suggestions. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[krayola red]

Krayola Red, is it a problem that his adept social skills are coming from State of the Art 2? They are pretty tame powers so I figured that they wouldn't be a problem.

Crap, I missed this. Yeah, the powers should be fine.

[Dumori]

I feel a wheelman would work better h-than a full rigger in bug city. Go down the pysad rout and a bit of cyber train i air and land and see what I've got.

[krayola red]

I never really understood the distinction between a vehicle rigger, a drone rigger, and a full rigger. AFAIK, you need a VCR to be competent in any of them, and it applies its benefits to all areas of rigging. Hmm, although I can definitely see an adept picking up VCR 1 just to get access to the control pool and then using Improved Ability to boost his driving/gunnery skills to ungodly levels. But then you're stuck with the problem of not having any money to buy vehicles.

[Dumori]

Yeah all I need is a motorbike (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) but the distincion is style and skills. But making a rigger with nothing to rich wuold be fun.

[thearistocrat]

I noticed we don't have a face yet, so I played around with Aristocrat's stats to make him a better face.

[ Spoiler ]

Bonus Stat (Str) became Bonus Stat (Cha) and skill points got moved around a bit.
Now he's a Cha 5 troll with alright face skills and edges.

Etiquette/Street [4/6]
Intimidation/Physical [4/6]
Negotiation/Fast talk [4/6]

Friendly Face 1 (TN -1 for meeting new people)

Plus his adept powers give him +2 dice to avoid being socially duped and +2 to check for lies (shame the test is Int versus negotiation).

[crizh]

Oh, I thought Jack was a pretty decent Face.

Mind you it never hurts to have two. I certainly won't be winning any Miss Congeniality awards any time soon.

[BlackHat]

I noticed we don't have a face yet, so I played around with Aristocrat's stats to make him a better face.

I'm certainly fine with your adjustments, but FWIW, the character I put together could function pretty well as a face - if you were regretting having to pick up the slack. (Charisma 6, Negotiation/Etiquette 6, Frendly Face, Good Reputation, etc). He mostly ended up that way because I wanted to make him competent at negotiating courier jobs even when he didn't have access to his headspace.

He won't be as good at intimidation, and I don't think it'd be a bad idea to have a backup in case he bites it soon.

Also, I must have missed the "good looking and knows it" edge. What book is that in? I do remember my old gamign group bringing it up a lot.

Edit: Oh yeah, and he can speak 14 languages (sort of)

[krayola red]

There is no such thing as the Good Looking and Knows It Edge. It was listed as an example of a custom Edge in Shadowrun Companion and people generally assume that it's canon, but by the RAW, it's not amongst the list of official Edges. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[BlackHat]

There is no such thing as the Good Looking and Knows It Edge. It was listed as an example of a custom Edge in Shadowrun Companion and people generally assume that it's canon, but by the RAW, it's not amongst the list of official Edges. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

That explains how I missed it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)