How many dice should I expect to throw in a street-level campaign?, Trying to make sure I have a balanced character Options

[vollmond]

I'm building a character for a street-level campaign. 300 BP, availability cap at 10, 10 BP (50,000 nuyen) gear limit, no vehicles at start, and no extra-powerful magic.

I'm building a physad. In her current incarnation, I'm looking at 7 dice each for ranged (taser) and melee (martial arts) combat, bumped to 10 if I trigger the Attribute Boost (Agility) power. Does this seem about right? She also has a focus on stealth (she's does a lot of petty thievery to support herself), so there's some investment there.

[Neurosis]

300 BP, eh? Lowest I've ever gone is 350 BP, but 7 Dice still seems a little low.

Do you have Smartlink for ranged? You could improve melee, ranged, and stealth with a little Rating 2 Muscle Toner, which should be well within your Nuyen and Availability caps. You'd have to lose a point of Magic to it, of course, but it seems to me like it would almost definitely be worth it...you'd have to see what other cheap 'ware you could squeeze into that point of essence.

[klinktastic]

Yeah, 300 BP is a little low. A street level campaign should be about 8 dice on your above average rolls, 10 for you really good skills, and then 4-6 or so for your bad ones. I'd see if you can get your GM to bump your BPs up a little bit and just give you restrictions on skills, like one at 5, two at 4, then nothing else above 3. That way you get some well rounded characters (more realistic) which would give you a street level feel. Additionally, restricting 'wares and other gear down to 8 availability will make it more street as well. Something like 330-350 BPs makes a really good street campaign.

[Udoshi]

At a guess, I'd say 8-11 dice seem to be about the area you're shooting for.

If you'd like some more specific advice, why don't you tell us about your character? skills, stats, that kinda thing.

[toturi]

What is "extrapowerful magic"?

[Summerstorm]

Hm... 10 dice seems very good.

I have no problem with people throwing about 6-7 for their main skill set, in a street campaign. It means that, even if you never could get any formal education/training you still are good. Think about it... a "standart gunman" will only have about 6 dice+enhancements+smartgun. Dicepools just escalade when you are getting to the "professional"-level.

But i agree that your attributes should be the main focus, and skill maybe slightly underdeveloped. (Wait didn't we just have that disussion a few days ago?).

I would say: Allow for 200 BP attributes still. Magic and edge maximum 4, better 3. Low cash (yeah 10 BP looks fine... and makes "In-Debt" a good quality... if you aren't planning on showering them with cash)

[Udoshi]

Hm... 10 dice seems very good.

About 7+ dice is where you start to see a dramatic falloff in Glitches. Almost always, odd pools are better. 3-5 is where you tend to see a lot of glitches. But yeah, around or above 7 dice is where people start to feel completent. My personal bar for not sucking starts there, and a few more means you're good at it, while a handful more means you're pretty pro at a task.

There's a little bit of leeway depending on exactly what 'task' you're looking at. Some areas just have a lot of bonuses from ware or programs you can claim.

[vollmond]

The basic character concept is this: elf in her early twenties who was orphaned while on vacation in manhattan as a child. Took to the streets, learning to steal and defend herself, until recently last couple of years) landing a part-time job as a coffee shop barrista. Most of that (in her case) 40,000:nuyen: has gone to some decent B&E tools plus a good fake identity (Manhattan being so anal about ID, she doesn't want to skimp there).

I actually forgot about my laser sights above, oops. Since posting this, I've shuffled things a bit to boost Agility higher and specific skills lower, putting me now at 8/9 dice for fighting, before Attribute Boost power, which seems a bit better

Attributes: counting Elf agility bonus
Body 3
Agility 5
Reaction 4
Strength 3
Charisma 3
Intuition 3
Logic 2
Willpower 2
Edge 4
Magic 5

Skills:
Stealth (Group) 2
Unarmed Combat (Martial Arts) 1
Locksmith 1
Pistols (Tasers) 1
Con 1
Negotiation 1

Powers:
Improved Reflexes 1
Attribute Boost 3 [Agility]
Killing Hands
Penetrating Strike 3
Traceless Walk
Nimble Fingers
Memory Displacement (she's been caught before, so this seemed prudent. She can make herself forget about any extra hiding places/stashes she has until she's been released)

The GM's magic restriction really only applies to magicians, and involves having them not very magically "complete" due to limiting factors like not finding good teachers.

For the moment, I'm trying to avoid 'ware, as it doesn't really make sense backstory-wise.

Full backstory (draft) for those interested:

[ Spoiler ]

Ikeda Mayumi

Mayumi is a twenty-year-old barista, failing actress, and sometime thief. The elf has a past her coworkers might not suspect - the daughter of a wealthy Japanese businessman, she was separated from her parents during a family vacation to Manhattan at the age of seven. Unable to understand the language and failing to reconnect with anyone she knew, she eventually had to take to the streets and try to support herself. She learned English along the way, and eventually landed (fairly) steady job at a coffee shop in a nicer part of town. She lives paycheck to paycheck off this job, barely making rent each month. She supplements this income with a bit of breaking & entering and petty thievery, though she would rather leave all this behind and take up a job as an actress. Unfortunately, she has very little talent, a fact she has refused to accept thus far.

Helping in her less savory activities is her well-hidden magical background. A moderately powerful adept, she is preternaturally quick when it matters, and able to get in and out of most situations without being noticed. She is a capable martial artist, having learned some bits of Kenpo online over the years.

She is a SINner, having been registered by a shelter she was at for some time early on. The SIN records her several stays in juvenile correctional facilities, caused by her early failures in burglary. These stays were all short, one way or another, and the most recent is some distance in her past - she hasn't been caught for some time.

She has some residual bias against Koreans, a result of her Japanese upbringing. She doesn't really know why, but anything Korean will draw instant disdain from her. She has experimented with recreational drugs (what street urchin hasn't?), but swore them off after a particularly bad experience with a BTL.

Slim and raven-haired, "Ikemayu" stands about 5 feet 5 inches. She wears fairly common low-class fashion, dressing a bit better for her shifts at the cafe. She carries a sensible taser in her handbag, and a less common Morissey Elan broken down into her various pieces of jewelry and other accoutrement.

So, points in Stealth and Lockpicking for the B&E/theft, fighting skills for personal defense in the slums, Con for thieving and bad acting, and Negotiation for fencing what she manages to steal.

[Summerstorm]

Hm... looks fine to me (I myself wouldn't use attribute boost though: hate the damn power, and i would have used less magic and a few more skill points instead)

But looks like someone who could really exists. May fail a bit at the beginning but has a good foundation (like it should be... hyperspecialization is not for such a campaign).

But, what with qualities? You could really use some points squeezed out of that (or some boost from them).

Maybe some of the incognito stuff? Maybe a light surge? Or some extraordinary skill?

[Makki]

But, what with qualities? You could really use some points squeezed out of that (or some boost from them).

there are some negative ones mentiones in her background story


Maybe add Catlike? Expensive at the beginning, but saves you 0.5 power points in the long run.
switch penetrating strike with critical strike and attribut boost 1 is enough, it only gets worse...maybe Elemental Strike, Mystic Armor or Combat Sense...

[vollmond]

Sorry, I didn't copy in any of my qualities.

Positive: Catlike, Martial Arts 2 (Kenpo)
Negative: Day Job 2, Prejudiced (common/biased), Scorched, SINner (criminal)

So Attribute Boost is not desired? Seems 3 more dice would make a big difference...

edit: hmm, though not in her stealthy bits.

[Udoshi]

I'm a fan of attribute boost, but - read the description of the power. You don't really need higher levels of it. Those .5 PP can go to great use elsewhere. If you seriously need to boost an attribute, just spend edge on the test. Attribute boost doesn't give you 3 extra dice on an attribute test. You have to roll, and only the net hits give you a boost. More than 1 level doesn't really give much benefit for the increased drain, but its a great way to bump yourself to the augmented max on an attribute.

What you ought to consider doing is taking Attribute Boost for Reaction too. Extra dice on defense tests are never bad.
If you plan on being in melee, ever, Counterstrike is pretty awesome, especially with the riposte maneuver.
I'd recommend swapping Penetrating Strike for Critical Strike. Due to how damage is calculated, Damage is more important than Soaking. Each net hit on the attack is worth roughly 3 on the defense.

See if you can squeeze in points for the Hardware skill, and and cash for an electronics toolkit. You'll need it if you want to deal with maglocks.

[vollmond]

*rereads the power* oh. yeah, that changes things