"Heath Ledger Joker" archetype player character Options

[Kazuhiro]

I've just made a character based loosely on Jack of Mass Effect 2. She has a literal pink mohawk and wears manly cargo pants to hide her Vestigal Tail. She's kitted-out for hotsim operations and is a power 5 magician armed with fun spells like Shatter, Orgasm, Mind Probe, Powerball, and Foreboding.

She's also almost totally lacking in sight receptors (-6 to sight perception) though the sight bits in her brain are mostly okay (full-VR works, cybereyes do not).

My idea is that she's so divorced from physical reality that she's become a total sociopath. I'd like advice on how to play her in a "creepy" way. Creepy in a way that can be justified by her backstory preferably. It's established at this point that she freaks people out in subtle ways despite the fact that she's the least physically imposing person ever, not just by the reactions of the NPCs in the run I introduced her with, but also with a few things on her character sheet: she's got points in Intimidate and the Nasty Vibe quality.

[Tanegar]

If her visual cortex works, then cybereyes should work just fine.

[Kazuhiro]

Well uh--

I'm pretty sure RAW forbids you from using cybereyes to circumvent reduced sight. RAW also says that if you don't take the extra 5 points for Neurologically Blind, then simsense works fine.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Well uh--

I'm pretty sure RAW forbids you from using cybereyes to circumvent reduced sight. RAW also says that if you don't take the extra 5 points for Neurologically Blind, then simsense works fine.

It does not actually forbid you from doin so, it just requires that you buy off the disadvantage if you have cybernetic implants put in, or complications will develop until you do so... as for the Neurologically impaired... yeah, no help there... even from Simsense...

Keep the Faith

[Karoline]

So, how do you plan to cast all those fun spells? Blind mage can't target anything on the physical plane without touching it. May as well get custom touch range spells to reduce the drain since you can't use LoS except on the astral where some of those spells aren't going to do any real good.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

So, how do you plan to cast all those fun spells? Blind mage can't target anything on the physical plane without touching it. May as well get custom touch range spells to reduce the drain since you can't use LoS except on the astral where some of those spells aren't going to do any real good.

A Blind Mage can still use Astral Sight to target spells... works just fine, and there is not even a penalty to do so, as casting spells is a magical action...

Keep the Faith

[Karoline]

A Blind Mage can still use Astral Sight to target spells... works just fine, and there is not even a penalty to do so, as casting spells is a magical action...

Keep the Faith

Sure, to target spells at astral targets. Astral sight doesn't give you LoS to physical targets.

[Kazuhiro]

So, being able to assense someone doesn't give you LOS to them?

What if I were to give her only AOE spells? Or does she not have LOS to a point in physical space because she can't see it?

[Karoline]

So, being able to assense someone doesn't give you LOS to them?

What if I were to give her only AOE spells? Or does she not have LOS to a point in physical space because she can't see it?

No physical sight means no ability to target people or points on the physical plane, since you can't see it, and you must be able to see something to target it (And astral doesn't give LoS to anything on the physical plane).

I suppose I should have prefaced all of this with being how I read the rules, since the rules are fairly clear about needing LoS and that astral doesn't allow for LoS to the physical. Most people on the boards will likely tell you that astral totally lets you draw LoS to the physical plane, as I've see it brought up a few times. I'd suggest doing a search, I'm sure there are threads on the subject, or you could start a new one.

[Kazuhiro]

I'll discuss it with my players or figure something out- thanks for pointing that rule out.

Anyway, the actual -point- of this thread was me asking how I should roleplay a "crazy sociopath" character.

[Legs]

I'm all for playing whatever character type you want, but from a GM standpoint I will say this...

Every time I've had a player RP a "crazy sociopath" it has totally derailed the campaign. The character would ruin nearly every encounter he was in. If he was meeting with an NPC and the NPC said something the PC took as negative towards him, he would kill the NPC. He would botch every job because he was "crazy" and not "professional." The other PCs would eventually be killed because they were on the downward spiral with him. Now, if I were one of the PCs I would just say "I don't want this guy on our team anymore, he's going to get us all killed." but these PCs didn't say that and they ended up paying for it.
Now, my philosophy as a GM is that players can do whatever they want, as long as they realize that all actions have consequences. So I gave them those consequences...no fixer or johnson would meet with them anymore because of this one player. They ended up having 2 criminal organizations and countless gangs constantly gunning for them because this one player got on their bad side because of his "craziness."

Shadowrunners are professional criminals. "Crazy sociopaths" aren't professional. Take the "crazy" out and you might have something. Play however you want, just be aware that your craziness has consequences.

[Kazuhiro]

Right. Saying a character is "crazy" is dangerous territory, I realize.

Which is why I'm asking the questions that I am. I don't intend for this character to be counterproductive, random, and disruptive with the excuse "the character is crazy." I want to get a handle on how I can portray this character as a sociopath with a loose grip on reality, who makes other people uncomfortable.

I also have to synthesize these traits with the idea that she is a competent and experienced Runner. After all, she's a magician, she's SURGEd pretty badly, and she's blind. Shadow activities and prostitution are about the only ways for her to make money.

[Legs]

I'd say she'd have ZERO sense of humor. She totally doesn't understand sarcasm, humor, or irony and her constant straight face would make people uncomfortable.

I'd say that goes for all other emotions, too. She wouldn't feel ANYTHING....I would imagine that would be unnerving to people too.

Also, she can't empathize with anyone and she has no remorse for anything...not because she's cold hearted, but because she CAN'T feel remorse. She can't feel anything. She's numb.

Any of her actions are purely for self preservation and she doesn't calculate ahead.

I dunno, those are just my two cents.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Sure, to target spells at astral targets. Astral sight doesn't give you LoS to physical targets.

NO... you can target physical objects/people with astral sight... That being said, it will not allow you to target from Astral Space to Physical Space... That is exactly how ghouls work, and even ghoul mages can target on the physical plane with spells using their astral sight (Ghouls are blind after all)...


Keep the Faith

[Banaticus]

You would... want to insert...* pauses in strange places.
*make innuendo type of gesture here

The suggestion about having no irony or sarcasm is good. Say things that make people uncomfortable.

Now, why would anyone ever want to work with you or hire you? Nobody wanted to work with the Joker unless he basically had them over a barrel. Nobody worked for him unless they were basically a common street thug who was in it for the money.

[Wandering One]

Now, why would anyone ever want to work with you or hire you? Nobody wanted to work with the Joker unless he basically had them over a barrel. Nobody worked for him unless they were basically a common street thug who was in it for the money.

This exemplifies the issues with sociopaths. Sociopaths leave your ass on the wire when there's risk to them they consider higher then the logical gains. The hacker ducks out when a trace starts, bullets fly and they've got the Maguffin, they're gone before you look and get the cash to themselves.

A remorseless individual needs a driving factor to keep them on target (IE: Extreme patriotism, see random Rambo movie here), even if they're not that concerned about the body count for achieving the goal. They are the ultimate result of 'The end justifies the means'. They'll gas-bomb a city if they think it wouldn't get them caught and stroll out with said Maguffin.

Now, backing away from true sociopathy and to someone that a team MIGHT be willing to forgive the quirks of, instead of creepy, go for... odd. Creepy odd is fine, creepy knife in the back is not.

[Whipstitch]

Yeah, please note that even crazy ol' Jack from Mass Effect 2 was capable of working with the rest of the Shepard's team even if she wasn't all buddy-buddy between missions. That's because she wasn't actually a backstabber or untrustworthy, per se. She had serious issues with trusting people, but it came from being burned repeatedly rather than necessarily being pathologically incapable of trust or empathy-- Hell, she was vengeful, if anything, so she definitely understands what it feels like to be crossed.* Aggression and a disregard for social boundaries is doable, but for the sake of playability you should probably draw a line in the sand when it comes to loyalty.

*Actually, I think she did say she killed some people on pretty thin suspicions a time or two, but even so it's not like she did so while entirely unprovoked.

[Karoline]

If you have quite a bit of spare time, I suggest reading erfworld and paying close attention to Jack whenever he shows up. An amazing example of someone who is crazy but still smart and very functional (well, more so later on).

[Falanin]

Well, a fair number of sociopaths can be REALLY convincing liars and persuaders, since they don't have any emotional hangups or consciences screwing with their tells and social cues. Honestly, as long as the group KNOWS they're a sociopath, they're pretty good to run with. They're predictable--just make sure you keep the consequences of fucking the team over worse than playing along, and you're golden. Hell, a lot of the "Ice cold professional" archetypes are at LEAST borderline sociopath to begin with.

Now, if you want to be CRAZY, rather than just emotionless, that's an entirely different animal.

[The Dragon Girl]

Only suggestion I have is that if you want to play a mental condition research the heck out of it. Don't just go by tv stereotypes, make sure you really understand -why- they act the way they do.

[AngelisStorm]

Can you cast spells if blind?

Sight is the most common means of establishing a connection with a target (hence the range "Line of Sight"), but by no means the only one. If you physically see, astrally perceive, or touch the target, you can cast the spell.

In situations where the player wishes for their character to use another sense (hearing, smell, echolocation, etc.) to cast a spell, it's up to the gamemaster to decide if that is possible. At the very least, a Perception Test involving the sense in question is called for, with appropriate modifiers (Using Perception, pp.135-136, SR4A). In the case of enhanced senses, the enhanced sense must be integral to the character (i.e., cyberears with audio enhancement would work, but earplugs with audio enhancement would not). Naturally, this works better for Indirect Combat Spells than others.