Let's Get Gritty, Low Power Chicago, Survival is Harder than you Think Options

[Belvidere]

Not to shoot down the character idea, but I'm going to have to say no. Sorry. I'm not familiar enough with Karmagen to balance between what 300BP equivalence would be. Plus, I'm looking to run it, lower powered and I feel that 300BP suits that well.

[Mickle5125]

just tossing this out: 300 bp makes you less than the average human, attribute wise.

[Seth]

Well my 600 karma rat shaman turned into a 405 pt bp... That's mostly because I was a generalist, with lots of low attributes.

The systems are not the same, and IMHO bp gives more heroic characters, while karmagen encourages you to be a generalist. Both are ok

[Belvidere]

Well, the players have spoken. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) 600 karma gen it is. But try to make sure, you dont specialize to much and be realistic with gear.

[sabs]

btw, 300bp would more look like 550 Karma (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[Belvidere]

I've never been good at the number crunching side of shadowrun. I'm a writer, I tell the tales that you all bring to life. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Mickle5125]

yay!

[Belvidere]

What can I say, when the players speak, things happen. I run my games for my PCs not against them. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Tanegar]

NP, I can roll with it. Anyway, here he is:

Joseph Glass is the child of two Salish shamans: his mother is belongs to the Bear Doctor Society, while his father is a disciple of Coyote. His own magic manifested at puberty in the usual manner, with Joey unconsciously bending reality around himself. When it came time to go on his vision quest and find his totem, however, none of the tribal spirits would answer him. His parents both sought answers from their own totems; neither returned any the wiser. Joe spent months in ritual after ritual, calling to every spirit he could name; he met with only silence. Neither he, nor his parents, nor any of the other shamans they consulted, could sense any hostility from the spirits, they simply weren't interested in the boy.

Joseph grew into a capable sorcerer. Despite the spirits' disinterest, he could still heal the injured, entertain with illusions, and shape the environment to aid his people. Then, one night in his early thirties, Joseph Glass had a dream. He wandered the streets of a great city, crowded with people who somehow failed to notice him. They never jostled him; the crowds parted around him like water around a stone, but neither did anyone meet his gaze or acknowledge him in any way. Eventually he came to a cafe, and took a seat on the patio. He felt as though he had been walking for many hours, and was tired. There was a glass of water on the table; as he reached for it, he noticed that his right hand was made of concrete and asphalt. This troubled him obscurely, but he couldn't put a name to his unease. Finally, he put it out of his mind and drank the water.

When he put the glass down, there was a woman sitting across from him. Unlike the other people, she looked directly at him, and smiled.

"Hello, Glass-Walker," she said in a pleasant contralto. She wore old-fashioned eyeglasses and a very modern business suit. There was a hard-hat on her head, and a roll of blueprints tucked under her left arm. "You're quite late, you know. I expected you some time ago."

"I'm sorry," Joseph replied, "You must have me confused with someone else. That's not my name."

The woman shook her head slightly with an expression of faint amusement. "Yes, it is. It is the name that is written on your soul. You have come here to me because you have not yet found your path. I will show it to you."

Joseph furrowed his brow. There was something odd about this woman, but again he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Who are you?"

"Call me the Architect, Glass-Walker. I am the patron of builders. I will be your patron, too, and you will be my hands."

"I don't understand."

"Not yet, but you will. Far from here, a part of my domain has fallen into decay. My children are abused and in pain, assailed by many foes. You will go to them. You will be my champion, and theirs. When you awake, you will be able to hear them. Their voices will guide you to them."

"Wake up? But I am awake," Joseph said, confused.

"No, Glass-Walker, you are dreaming. But you must wake now, for you have a long journey and much work ahead of you. Do not fear, for I will be with you."

Joseph looked around, and suddenly noticed that as far as the eye could see, every person was looking at him. Their gaze was neither hostile nor friendly, but weighing, judging. He could almost hear them thinking, will he serve? Will he be strong enough? He turned back to the Architect. She smiled at him again, the smile of a stern but caring teacher to a promising pupil.

"Wake up, Glass-Walker."

Glass-Walker started bolt upright in his bed. A long, long way away, he could hear many voices crying out in misery. He knew he had to go to them, to help them, to heal them. He got out of bed, dressed, and began to pack.

Glass-Walker uses a custom tradition:
Tradition: Glass-Walker's Way
Concept: Glass-Walker hears the voices of the spirits like any other shaman, he just doesn't hear the same spirits. Instead of the children of the Earth-Mother, Glass-Walker heeds the offspring of Her half-sister, the City. He hears them in the wind howling down plascrete canyons, he hears them in the endless murmur and chatter of trid broadcasts, he hears them in the buzz and hum of electrical current. He hears, and calls to them, and they answer.
Combat: Guardian
Detection: Guidance
Health: Water
Illusion: Air
Manipulation: Task
Drain: Willpower + Charisma

Mentor Spirit: Architect
Concept: Architect is the builder and creator. Where Artificer loves tools and tool-makers, Architect is the patron of cities and city-builders. She commands her children to make her cities beautiful, to tend the worldly and spiritual needs of the people who live there, and to combat urban blight wherever it appears. She appears to Glass-Walker in the guise of a bespectacled woman in a business suit and hard-hat, with a roll of blueprints under her arm.
Advantages: +2 dice for Manipulation spells, +2 dice for Task spirits
Disadvantages: Architect magicians must make a Willpower [3] test to knowingly damage a road or building.

[mister__joshua]

Well, if you let me know if it's 300 BP, 600 Karma or 550 Karma I'll adjust my character accordingly.

If you use karmagen, are you using the german edition errata?

Cheers

[Seth]

So Umbra looks a little like this. I'll enhance the back story tomorrow to explain the criminal and prejudice qualities, and link to his spreadsheet. I'll also pick some contacts, although this doesn't feel a very contacty sort of person. I have to say this is the first time I have ever created a character with no lifestyle...feels rather weird.

If you are happy I'll make the "dependent (easy)" a sense of responsibility for the habitation we are living in. Perhaps some sort of code of conduct would be better. Basically rat wants me to look after them, and occasionally I feel a need to guard someone.

Race: Orc
Attributes: Body 5, Agility 5/7, Reaction 5/7, Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intuition 3, Logic 1, Willpower 3, Edge 3, Magic 6/5
Skills: Blades (cyberwpn) 4, Pistols (taser) 1, Infiltration (urban) 4, Outdoors 1, Athletics 1, Influence 4, Pilot ground vehicle (wheeled) 1, Perception (visual) 2
Knowledge skillsChicago underground (not criminals...under the ground) 2, Chicago area knowledge 2, Zoology 1, Botany 1
Positive Qualities: Genetic heritage (reakt), First impression, Local fame, Mentor spirit (rat)
Negative Qualities: Scorched, SINner (criminal), Dependent (easy), Combat monster, Prejudiced (specific, biased)
Adept powers (ritual: 1 hour solitude): Combat sense 4, Improved reflexes II, Improved infiltration 2, Kinesics 3
Cyberarm: Body 4, Agility 9, Strength 11, Large smuggling compartment, Hand razors (retractable: weapon focus level 2)
Bioware: Muscle toner 2
Outer Armour: Urban explorer jumpsuit + helmet. Nonconductivity 3, chemical 3, fire 3
Under armour: Form fitting body armour / full body suit Thermal damping 3, Secure tech vitals protector
Helmet: Urban explorer internal air tank 2 hours
Weapons:Defiance FX shocker/smart link
Glasses: smart link
Contacts: Flare compensation, visual enhancement 3, thermal
Ear buds: audio enhancers 3
Other: Auto lock picker rating 6
Drugs:I think I will pick a few up...not sure what
Commlink:So what is a commlink anyway, and why would I want one?
Lifestyle: None!

Roles:
Primary: Scout
Secondary: Talker, Melee

[Tanegar]

How are you fitting 6.5 points' worth of adept powers into 4 points of Magic?

[mister__joshua]

Well, Seth's character certainly seems to blow mine completely out of the water in terms of power, especially when it comes to gear! It's obviously up to the gm, but also I would suggest that qualities like scorched and sinner aren't really negative in the setting we're in when there's no commlink. I went for computer illiterate which might not come in to play but seemed to fit better for me. Liking the concept though. Is that a 600 karma then?

[BlackHat]

How are you fitting 6.5 points' worth of adept powers into 4 points of Magic?

I assume its probably the ritual geas, but having those reduce power-point costs is a houserule.

That or initiation granting power points instead of metamagic, but that is also a houserule.

[Mickle5125]

do we need to have the character built by the end of the weekend, or is the short blurb about the character enough for this stage? Unfortunately, I'm away from my books until Monday...

[Seth]

Well, Seth's character certainly seems to blow mine completely out of the water in terms of power, especially when it comes to gear! It's obviously up to the gm, but also I would suggest that qualities like scorched and sinner aren't really negative in the setting we're in when there's no commlink. I went for computer illiterate which might not come in to play but seemed to fit better for me. Liking the concept though. Is that a 600 karma then?

I don't mind starting with no gear. There is a lot to be said for starting with "clothes" and a stick: gear can be picked from the bodies of our enemies. To be honest I have a standard set of about 10K of starting gear: a good suit of armour, a set of glasses, ear buds, a decent commlink and contact lenses and that was about it. I realised though that there was no way this character would have a commlink and took it out. I recommend that set of equipment to your self though: my rational about how I got the electronics was I threw a brick through a shop window and picked them up.

The qualities I can change as well. I am wondering about enemy, computer illiterate or bad rep all of which are in keeping. SINner criminal I thought was a pretty serious liability. although I take your point about scorched and actually computer illiterate captures what I wanted better

It about 590 karma...I have 5 points left over for contacts.I created it with DKs spreadsheet link here. I always create a second spreadsheet after to check DK's though, as twice now its gone crazy. I haven't done that second check yet. I wouldn't be surprised if its 10..20 points out.

How are you fitting 6.5 points' worth of adept powers into 4 points of Magic?

Its actually 5 points, and done using the (optional) rule on p31 of Street Magic (it requires a ritual which if not performed means you loose access to the powers). Again its easy to tweak (taking out kinesics does it). I think there is quite a difference between a house rule and an optional rule: like the Power Point for metamagics rules, I think most games on dumpshock use it.

I'm not very good at character design: usually when I post on dumpshock I get loads of comments about how to improve it, and when I follow that advice I tend to get a character more in keeping with the design goal I am after. My design goal here is a sneaky character that I think could survive and thrive in Chicago, while having a lot of Ratty flavour.

[Tanegar]

Its actually 5 points, and done using the (optional) rule on p31 of Street Magic (it requires a ritual which if not performed means you loose access to the powers). Again its easy to tweak (taking out kinesics does it). I think there is quite a difference between a house rule and an optional rule: like the Power Point for metamagics rules, I think most games on dumpshock use it.

It's actually 4 points. Your cyberarm costs 1 Essence, and your muscle toner has a nominal Essence cost of 0.4, but having more cyber than bio knocks it down to 0.2. Your character's Essence is 4.8, so his maximum Magic is 4 + initiate grade. Even with the 25% discount on geas-bound powers (and do check with Belvidere to make sure he uses the adept geasa rule), you're still at 4.875 points' worth. You also did not list Adept as one of your positive qualities. If you accounted for the points but just forgot to list it, all you need to do is edit the post, but if you didn't account for the 5BP cost, you need to tweak something.

[Seth]

The cyberarm is an alpha arm...Essence is 5. Adept is accounted for in the costs, I just didn't add it to the list, although the information about him being an adept is in there.

[Seth]

Thank you for the feedback. My DK spreadsheet had gone haywire, and I was about 30 points over.

Umbra - link to spreadsheet

[ Spoiler ]

Race: Orc
Attributes: Body 4, Agility 5/7, Reaction 5/7, Strength 3, Charisma 4, Intuition 2, Logic 1, Willpower 3, Edge 3, Magic 6/5, Essence 5.0
Skills: Blades (cyberwpn) 4, Pistols (taser) 1, Infiltration (urban) 4, Outdoors 1, Athletics 1, Influence 4, Pilot ground vehicle (wheeled) 1, Perception (visual) 2
Knowledge skillsChicago underground (not criminals...under the ground) 1, Chicago area knowledge 1
Positive Qualities:Adept, Genetic heritage (reakt), First impression, Local fame, Mentor spirit (rat)
Negative Qualities: Computer Illiterate, SINner (criminal), Dependent (easy), Combat monster, Prejudiced (specific, biased)
Adept powers: Combat sense 4, Improved reflexes II, Improved infiltration 2
Cyberarm: Body 4, Agility 9, Strength 11, Large smuggling compartment, Hand razors (retractable: weapon focus level 2)
Bioware: Muscle toner 2
Outer Armour: Urban explorer jumpsuit + helmet. Nonconductivity 3, chemical 3, fire 3
Helmet: Urban explorer internal air tank 2 hours
Weapons:Defiance FX shocker/smart link
Ammo:8 darts
Glasses: Smart link
Contacts: Flare compensation, visual enhancement 3, thermal
Ear buds: audio enhancers 3
Other: Auto lock picker rating 6
Commlink:So what is a commlink anyway, and why would I want one?
Lifestyle: None!
Contacts: Mayor Denby Contact 3 Loyalty 3.
Starting cash: None

Backstory

[ Spoiler ]

Umbra's den was off a main storm drain that led into Lake Michigan. While messy, it had everything that Umbra needed: a stash of food, a place to keep a few spare clothers (needed when meeting posh folks), and a nice safe place to hide Umbra's small set of treasures.

Rat wasn't the easiest totem to follow. Sometimes Rat put Umbra in danger. It was safer outside Chicago, but Rat said there were things here that had to be done. It wasn't easy to get inside the wall, but Rat knew a way. There were others dangers too: there were other people living near here, and there were predators that preyed on them. Rat didn't like that, and Umbra had to do things about it. Sometimes Rat was greedy and Umbra had to go and get some treasure. Still Rat was helpful, and had taught Umbra lots of tricks.

Rat has told Umbra that he needs to grow. Umbra is a person and the people above are people. Umbra needs to learn to be with people. So Umbra is now spending more time upstairs, and is learning about people. Rat sometimes tell Umbra to look after certain people. Sometimes Rat tells Umbra to rescue certain people: it's very dangerous in Chicago.

Some of the people above don't like Umbra. It wasn't his fault that he was very big and little bit slow. They used to pick on him, and Umbra would run away. Once they didn't let him run away and he had to hurt them. Umbra hurt one of them so bad that he never walked again. Rat taught him "always run from a fight, but if you cannot then finish it". Umbra doesn't like to fight but sometimes you need to. The people above don't mess with Umbra anymore.

Some of the people above don't like anyone. Once Rat told Umbra to stop some raiders. That didn't go too well: the raiders had radar and grenades, and Rat's tricks were not enough to save him. The doctor saved most of Umbra, but couldn't save his arm. Rat really isn't an easy totem to follow. One day Umbra will be able to leave Chicago and get a new one.

Umbra likes the Mayor. The Mayor gave Umbra a shinny badge called a medal, and paid for a new arm. Rat says that the new arm is spoiling his magic, but it's better than not having an arm. The Mayor said Umbra had to get washed before he could get his shinny badge. Lots of people watched Umbra get his shinny badge. More people are nice to Umbra now. Rat was right, but not having a proper arm hurts sometimes.

Umbra likes Chicago. There are nice people here. There are no wage zombies in Chicago. Umbra doesn't like Wage Zombies.

Rat says that Umbra has to grow up more. Umbra needs to find some friends to help protect the Mayor's people.

[mister__joshua]

Out of curiosity, how many build points would he work out at?

[Seth]

It would take a long time to work out. At a guess 350. Hes not very minimaxed: if anything hes minimaxed for being a generalist, which is kind of the opposite of the usual usage of the word. I must admit I am pleased with him: I wrote the backstory first, then tried to come up with a character from the prose. I think he's pretty close to the text.

[mister__joshua]

I am quite unfamiliar with Karmagen so in the interest of balance I decided to work it out (Seths it the only karmagen character I've seen posted).

Your 600 Karmagen character, by my reckoning, works out at 397 build points. Like you say, as a generalist karmagen favours him a bit.

My character is a 300 BP character. In karmagen he comes out at a mere 419 karma. He's a generalist, which with BP's isn't really that good.


I don't mind which system is used, but for fairness and balance in my opinion really everyone needs to use the same. I can re-write my character for 600 Karmagen if that's the way we're going (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Just my 2 cents

[Tanegar]

Glass-Walker

[Seth]

IIRC we are using 600 karma see this post

I'm using the errata which were published earlier. The most important bits of those are: attributes cost 5*new level not 3 times, and race costs its base cost in karma (it costs 0 in standard karmagen).

@Tanegar
Its nice to see someone else using google docs: their spreadsheets are ideal for pbp I think.
Your character looks nice: I think you are insanely brave taking spirit bane: insect spirit, but I love you for it (I feel much safer already - they will go for you not me)

[Tanegar]

@Tanegar
Its nice to see someone else using google docs: their spreadsheets are ideal for pbp I think.
Your character looks nice: I think you are insanely brave taking spirit bane: insect spirit, but I love you for it (I feel much safer already - they will go for you not me)

Glass-Walker has been sent by the Architect explicitly to reclaim Chicago, which necessarily entails driving the Bugs back from their beachhead in the physical world. I rationalize the Spirit Bane quality as the Insects instinctively recognizing an enemy.