Samurai Jack, Meet Jackie the Blade Options

[Androcomputus]

Saw Samurai vs Samurai and feel a need to build a 400 bp of Jack...

I am thinking that he would be a physical adept but I am new to the magic system as I usually play a hacker... what do you guys think?

[Neraph]

Yeah he'd be an Adept, probably with the Item Attunement metamagic and Improved Ability (Blades). Don't forget episode 1 and 2 and his proficiency with archery and spears though.

[hobgoblin]

thanks to that series and the clone wars shorts having the same graphics style, my mind tried to interpret the latter as irony or sarcasm, given exposure to the former.

[Karoline]

Cool. Shame he would likely take about 600+ BP to make.

I'm wondering what his edge would be. He seems exceedingly unlucky overall, but he has alot of luck in smaller ways. You know, every portal to the past doesn't work out for him, but he constantly finds them, and constantly manages to do alot of good for others along the way, mostly by virtue of being in the right place at the right time.

[Karoline]

Since I don't have my books on my ATM, instead of going through and making the character, I'll list some of the things he has displayed over the episodes.

Blade skill, likely with aptitude. Only two people have ever been a match for jack with a blade, and only one has ever beaten him.
Archery. He was in the same league as Robin Hood in archery.
Unarmed combat. He demonstrated roman gladiator grade unarmed skill, and also chucked a Scotsman dozens of meters. Makes fairly regular use of kick attacks. Also trained with some combat type monks.
Has never shown any particular skill with clubs.
No firearms skills
No technical skills
Limited social skills, though very polite, so maybe more etiquette than anything else.
Certainly an adept with a weapon focus.
Great leap from when he learned to 'jump good'
Good at climbing, amazing at gymnastics, amazing balance, not particularly great swimming, good running.
Don't know that his perception is particularly great.
He has done some infiltration, very limited disguise.
Don't know about any palming or shadowing.
No vehicle skills.
Agility and reaction through the roof. Good body and strength. He isn't weak but he isn't a Scotsman.
Great intuition, amazing willpower. Likely limited logic and charisma, though he has shown good force of personality.

So, off the top of my head, 4 bod, 5 agi, 5 rea, 3 str, 5 int, 2 log, 5 wil, 2 cha, 2 edge
Aptitude, adept.
Enemy, pacifist, wanted, astral beacon (Everything always finds jack), uneducated.

Blade (katana) 7
Archery (bow) 4
Unarmed (Wrestling) 4
Gymnastics (jumping) 4
Climbing 3
Swimming 2
Running (sprinting) 4

Adept Powers:
Great Leap
Improved Ability (Blade) 3
Improved Ability (Gymnastics) 2
Improved Reflexes 2

Pure awesomeness:
Able to deflect missiles with his sword (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Neraph]

Maybe a modified Missile Deflection power usable with his katana?

[kjones]

Since I don't have my books on my ATM, instead of going through and making the character, I'll list some of the things he has displayed over the episodes.

Blade skill, likely with aptitude. Only two people have ever been a match for jack with a blade, and only one has ever beaten him.
Archery. He was in the same league as Robin Hood in archery.
Unarmed combat. He demonstrated roman gladiator grade unarmed skill, and also chucked a Scotsman dozens of meters. Makes fairly regular use of kick attacks. Also trained with some combat type monks.
Has never shown any particular skill with clubs.
No firearms skills
No technical skills
Limited social skills, though very polite, so maybe more etiquette than anything else.
Certainly an adept with a weapon focus.
Great leap from when he learned to 'jump good'
Good at climbing, amazing at gymnastics, amazing balance, not particularly great swimming, good running.
Don't know that his perception is particularly great.
He has done some infiltration, very limited disguise.
Don't know about any palming or shadowing.
No vehicle skills.
Agility and reaction through the roof. Good body and strength. He isn't weak but he isn't a Scotsman.
Great intuition, amazing willpower. Likely limited logic and charisma, though he has shown good force of personality.

So, off the top of my head, 4 bod, 5 agi, 5 rea, 3 str, 5 int, 2 log, 5 wil, 2 cha, 2 edge
Aptitude, adept.
Enemy, pacifist, wanted, astral beacon (Everything always finds jack), uneducated.

Blade (katana) 7
Archery (bow) 4
Unarmed (Wrestling) 4
Gymnastics (jumping) 4
Climbing 3
Swimming 2
Running (sprinting) 4

Adept Powers:
Great Leap
Improved Ability (Blade) 3
Improved Ability (Gymnastics) 2
Improved Reflexes 2

Pure awesomeness:
Able to deflect missiles with his sword (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Don't forget that he's gotta get back, back to the past. (Wha-cha!)

[Whipstitch]

Probably goes without saying, but I would assume he's got a code of conduct flaw.

[Karoline]

Probably goes without saying, but I would assume he's got a code of conduct flaw.

Yeah, mentioned that in my list and then forgot to add it into the flaws except for pacifist. Despite all the butt he kicks, he never really fights unless he has to.

Now that I think about it, he might have berserk as well. It doesn't come out real often, but there are a few times that you see it.

[Udoshi]

I'm wondering what his edge would be. He seems exceedingly unlucky overall, but he has alot of luck in smaller ways. You know, every portal to the past doesn't work out for him, but he constantly finds them, and constantly manages to do alot of good for others along the way, mostly by virtue of being in the right place at the right time.

Moderate/high edge, but Bad Luck, i think.

[Karoline]

Moderate/high edge, but Bad Luck, i think.

That's kind of what I was thinking, but wasn't sure, because you never see it in small actions like you do with actual edge use. You know, he never trips over his own feet because he misburned edge on a jump check or anything like that. Instead it is more like "Okay, you wake up and you find that your house has burned down while you were asleep. You're unharmed, but you need to find a new place to live, quick."

Maybe some sort of custom made "Ill fated" quality. Or maybe he has decent edge, but uses it alot and takes all these bad things happening to him as 'karmatic balances' to refill his edge?

[AngelisStorm]

The problem is that Jack is a 7th Sea character, with "Foul Weather Jack." He always has a 4pt background popping up to make his life interesting.

[p4rtridge]

Just curious, i know it was off the top of your head, but shouldnt he have a magic attribute as well?

[Karoline]

Just curious, i know it was off the top of your head, but shouldnt he have a magic attribute as well?

Yeah, I left that out because I wasn't sure how high to make it (And I sorta forgot). Likely really high because he seems significantly above any other human (or robot or alien) that is encountered except a small handful. I mean he literally battles gods and wins. I'm sure he also has a few initiation levels (and definitely centering).

Oh, I forgot about blind-fighting. He does that fairly often.

Gezz, now I want to watch through the whole series and mark down everything, but I so don't have time for that.

[AngelisStorm]

Also Jack has Adept Geasa: correct shoes.

(Perhaps also an obsession/compulsion with them, since otherwise he would still be really good without his shoes. Of course, with the level of opposition he's fighting, maybe simply loosing some of his adept powers comparatively made him "bad.")

[Whipstitch]

I forgot to bring this up earlier, but Jack is definitely skilled with Clubs. In the episode where he fights in the Dome of Doom, he demonstrates skill with a staff* and nunchaku. Heck, when the staff gets cut in half he responds by beating his opponent down with a broken end in each hand. I guess he must have taken Close Combat to some extent and then broke the group up later in favor of his signature weapon. Oh, and I'd also say that he has some points in Throwing Weapons.** Nothing crazy like Power Throw munchkinry, mind you; I just think that he's demonstrated the ability to hit what he wants often enough to figure that he's got a couple of plain ol' mundane skill points to back up his natural Agility and Edge scores.


[EDIT]
*I watched the first episode again this morning. I had forgotten that a staff is the first weapon he ever learned on his growing up around the world montage, and I do believe they do fall under Clubs in SR4.

** Same with throwing weapons. Learns it from some Russians and the Mongols. Dude's a complete warrior, which is unfortunate since SR4 doesn't support those without spending a TON of points. The system favors specialists over skill monkeys. But with that said, you could just take Close Combat at a 4 and have Improved Combat Skill: Blades and beat the snot out of all but a very, very select few, particularly if you give him Restricted Gear and a Force 4 Weapon Focus katana. 15 dice is nothing to sneeze at, and that's even before you grab a specialization while in play.

[Whipstitch]

Anyway, a totally uncybered 400 point w/ chargen restrictions canon-ish Jack who demonstrates most of his powers would make for an impractical shadowrunner considering that he has pretty much no contacts or gear, but here's what I came up with:

Total Cost: 399 bp, so there's a point left over. Sue me.

Metatype: Human

Attributes: 200 BP standard, 65 BP special
Body: 3
Agility: 5
Reaction: 5(6)
Strength: 3
Charisma: 2
Intuition: 4
Logic: 2
Willpower: 4

Edge: 2 (I hate this result, personally, but that's 400 points for you)
Magic: 6

Positive Qualities: 20 bp
Adept
Martial Artist 2 (Kenjutsu, +2 Blade DV) (You can get the same benefit from the Arnis & Sangre y acero combo, so I call it that for fluffy reasons)
Restricted Gear 1 item

Negative Qualities: -35 bp
Wanted
Uneducated
Pacifist (Mild)

Resources: 9 bp (45k nuyen for the uber-katana)

Skills: 128 bp
Close Combat: 4 (Modified 6 w/ Blades)
Athletics: 4
Archery: 5
Throwing Weapons: 5
Perception: 2

Knowledge/Languages: Freebie points.

Adept Powers: 6 Power Points
Great Leap 2
Improved Combat Ability: Blades 2
Improved Reflexes 1
Blind Fighting
Berserk
Missile Parry 4

Bound Foci: 4 bp
Force 4 Katana Weapon Focus

Martial Arts Maneuvers:
Iaijutsu
Riposte
Finishing Move
Sweep (this one's important because it can let you do damaging melee Knockdowns that only inflict Stun. Great for a Mild Pacifist if your GM is OK with letting you do so with your sword. Maybe you can just keep it sheathed or something).

Now, if you want him to be a playable but still a cyber free low tech warrior, I'd dump the Missile Parry, Berserk and Blind Fighting in favor of Improved Reflexes 2, Counter Strike 1 and one less point of Magic. You'll honestly be more effective that way AND you'll free up 25 build points which you could then use get some modern gear and Contacts. I'd also replace Uneducated with practically anything else. For example, some combination of Lost Loved Ones, a Vendetta and one nasty Enemy could be interesting with the right GM and would still fit the Samurai Jack theme. Dropping either Throwing or Archery and picking up a non-combat skill like Infiltration would also be for the best. Hell, to be completely honest, I'd ditch both and grab a gun skill as well.

Ultimately though, if you're at a table that features high powered games, I'd suggest going with a lightly cybered Adept or a full-on Street Samurai, but that's almost another build discussion entirely.

[Karoline]

Actually he has a ton of contacts. The Scotsman is his most prominent one, and then you have dozens of villages, civilizations, and other groups that he has saved, all of which are going to be super high loyalty group contacts of varying connections. This of course doesn't translate over to SR well, but you could at least throw in the Scotsman and his Martial Arts school.

I figure you could cut off a point of magic, maybe drop missile parry some and berserk. It only shows up a handful of times throughout the series.

Samurai Jack would likely be better served as a guest appearance from the GM or something, or as a prime runner.

The other option is that you have an adept who stumbled across the old show and decided to emulate Jack's example. Would certainly take care of things like the uneducated quality going away.

[Whipstitch]

He doesn't really have contacts when starting out though. He's just dumped on his rear in the future and works from there. The core of the character is a guy with a sword and his own skills who then goes forth and does good.

[Karoline]

He doesn't really have contacts when starting out though. He's just dumped on his rear in the future and works from there. The core of the character is a guy with a sword and his own skills who then goes forth and does good.

Well, true. He also doesn't have great leap when he first starts.

Oh right, and forgot to mention, there are indications that he does have the infiltration skill. At the very least there is the ninja episode where he goes white ninja. Very cool episode with the way they play with 'lighting'.