Character Critique - Pimp my Mage Options

[Cube]

So I made a thread a few days ago, but I figured that a direct critique would help. I made a Troll Mage based loosely on the combat mage build from these very forums. Does it look like it's okay?

[ Spoiler ]

Tom Beckett
Metatype: Troll (40 BP)
Special: Magician (15 BP)
Total: 400 BP

Body: 5
Agility: 4
Reaction: 3
Strength: 5
Charisma: 3
Intuition: 4
Logic: 3
Will: 4
Magic: 5
Edge: 2

(Stats 150. Edge 10, Magic 70)

Spellcasting: 5
Counterspelling: 4
Conjuring: 2
Blades (Swords): 2
Pistols (Heavy): 3
Unarmed: 3
Etiquette (Street): 2
Perception: 2
Dodge: 2
Astral Combat: 3
Assessing: 3
(Active Skills: 136)

Knowledge
English N
Spanish 4
Astral Research 3
Magic Knowledge 3
Design (Spell) 2
Cooking 3
Magic Theory 3
Club Music 1
Comic Books 2

Spells
Stunbolt
Powerball
Armor (Physical)
Heal
Chaotic World
Physical Mask
Improved Invisibility
Levitate
Trid Phantasm
Analyze Truth


Gear:

Sony Emperor with Redcap Nix

Armored Jacket with Thermal Dampening (8/6)
Street Clothes
Armored Hat (Helmet) 1/2



Monosword
Shock Gloves
Survival Knife

Ares Predator IV with Silencer, Concealable Holster, and Extra Clip

Earbuds (1-3)
Audio Enhancements Rtg 3
Select Sound Filter Rtg 3
Contact Lenses (1-3)
Flare Compensation
Smartlink
100 x Gel Rounds
50 x EX-Explosive Rounds
100 x Regular Ammo
Concealable Holster
20 x Spare Clips
Magical Lodge Materials (1-6) Rtg 6
Conjuring Materials (1-6) Rtg 2
2 x Fake License (1-6) Rtg 4
Fake SIN (1-6) Rtg 4
Image Link
Glasses (1-4)
Sim Module
Trodes
Subvocal Microphone
AR Gloves
2 x Stimulant Patch (1-6) Rtg 4
Common Use (1-3) Rtg 2
Medkit R (1-6) Rtg 4
3 x Medkit Supplies
Backpack
Respirator R (1-6) Rtg 3
Tag Eraser
Flashlight

Qualities
Astral Chameleon 5
Sensitive System -15
Simsense Vertigo -10
Allergy (Common, Mild) -10

(Positive 20. Negative -35)

Fixer (Loy. 2 Con. 2)
Talismonger (Loy. 3 Con. 3)

[Eisenbeiß]

150 BP for attributes would never be okay for me.

[Summerstorm]

Hm hm...

why is the entry for "magic" show 70 paid points? You included extra spells or something?.

Hm.. and for my taste the attributes are pretty low (especially the Troll-attributes body and strength) - (But i prefer higher attributes and lower money/skills at start anyway...)

But overall looks rounded enough. Has hobbies and interests, rounded equipment (even if sometimes weird numbers and ratings - like the medkit and the binding materials). Also you list things like AR-Gloves and a sim-module... but no comlink?

[Cube]

Well, what should I do, then? I mean, I'm just going with what the sheet says. Nothing is even capped. o_o

[Laodicea]

pick stunball and powerbolt instead of stunbolt and powerball.

[Summerstorm]

I think he, like me, means: 150 for attributes is pretty low. I seldom see people NOT maxing the 200 possible points out.

Oh and i wouldn't specialize skill at chargen... since they cost only two karma ingame. But whatever fits the character. (A veteran is surely already specialized)

[Cube]

Hmm...

Well, how would one of you build him? I have no idea how.

I mean, my tradition is Intuition - Willpower...

[Glyph]

The trouble with copying over stuff is that you can copy over mistakes from the original. Looking at the sheet, you spend 40 for troll, 150 for Attributes, 50 for special Attributes (not 80), 130 (not 136) for skills, 30 for spells, and 11 for contacts. Positive and negative qualities are balanced (magician counts as a positive quality, raising your positive qualities to 35 - still legal). So that's 411 build points, and that's before adding in however much you have for resources.

You do have a commlink, though. "Sony Emperor with Redcap Nix" is your first entry under Gear.

[Whipstitch]

I wouldn't worry about changing the attributes much. You've got enough points spent on mental stats to bind a few spirits or foci and spending more on Strength really isn't going to be any better than just picking up Athletics would be. Likewise the sorts of armors that a 5+ Body is necessary for are also the sorts of armor that are really expensive or aren't really appropriate for sneakier missions. I think people mostly just have a bias against wussy-for-a-troll builds since they're really efficient BP for BP and are often tacked onto builds that smell of min-maxing. And really, it's not an entirely unfounded position; totting up the points makes the outcome pretty clear, really. Personally though, it's never bothered me as a GM though considering that such a player is taking on the role of belonging to two often mistrusted minorities just to get a couple more attribute points that don't have much synergy with being a Magician to begin with.

[Cube]

The trouble with copying over stuff is that you can copy over mistakes from the original. Looking at the sheet, you spend 40 for troll, 150 for Attributes, 50 for special Attributes (not 80), 130 (not 136) for skills, 30 for spells, and 11 for contacts. Positive and negative qualities are balanced (magician counts as a positive quality, raising your positive qualities to 35 - still legal). So that's 411 build points, and that's before adding in however much you have for resources.

You do have a commlink, though. "Sony Emperor with Redcap Nix" is your first entry under Gear.

Oh...

...Well then.

...I had better start over. Meh...

[Glyph]

Actually, I missed something. He is legal.

Taking a closer look at qualities, his only other positive one is astral chameleon. I had assumed he had 20 points of other positive qualities, since the magician quality wasn't listed with them. So he has -15 from qualities. Assuming 4 points for resources, that makes him a 400 point character after all. Sorry about that.

[Cube]

Actually, I missed something. He is legal.

Taking a closer look at qualities, his only other positive one is astral chameleon. I had assumed he had 20 points of other positive qualities, since the magician quality wasn't listed with them. So he has -15 from qualities. Assuming 4 points for resources, that makes him a 400 point character after all. Sorry about that.

Oh. Well then.

...But is he balanced?

[Cube]

Look, I seriously need help...

My GM wants me to make my Fixer a 4/4 but I don't know how to move all of my points around so it would fit, and every time I try to arrange my points I run out. D:

[Whipstitch]

Just drop 2 specializations or a rank from one skill and you should be good to go. Having more than one melee skill AND a Dodge of 2 is a pinch redundant anyway, so taking a rank from just one of those 3 skills would hardly derail the concept you have built up.

[Cube]

I fixed it after I noticed some knowledge overflow was eating my points.

Here's my sheet: http://ge.tt/5cP57VA

Just replace Unarmed Combat with First Aid.

[Makki]

I have a troll mage with bod7 and str5. in the long run, I really regret it, mostly for fluff reasons. we're talking the weakest troll in the world. an average orc and every cybered elf/human beat him in arm wrestling, that's just not right.
Have you tried swichting to Orc?

btw, you can drop the armor spell. with 5 body, you can wear at least 10 armor

[dreddwulf1]

That works unless you are trying for subtlety, then wearing alot of armor fails. There aren't that many places that you can't wear armor, but too much of it draws attention to you.