[X] My Assistant

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Which happen to be few and far between, in my experience.

The last time I created a challenging character in my group, the GM found a way to "fix" it, which somewhat ruined the mystique around my character and tossed out the hours of chargen time I invested in it.

You really need a player that embraces such a challenge and a GM that "gets it", to be successful. And even so, depending on the group, it could still fail if the other players are tweaked beyond believe and don't appreciate someone playing a character that has some challenges. So, I guess you also need a group of players that are okay with a character that is purposely built unoptimized.

I'm sure all of this does happen in real life, but it has to be quite rare.

This is very true. I am fortunate that I have a Great GM and a great bunch of players with which to explore character concepts. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

[Glyph]

You really need a player that embraces such a challenge and a GM that "gets it", to be successful. And even so, depending on the group, it could still fail if the other players are tweaked beyond believe and don't appreciate someone playing a character that has some challenges. So, I guess you also need a group of players that are okay with a character that is purposely built unoptimized.

Well, the thing is, the premise of the game kind of supports that playstyle. It's a game of shady mercs doing highly dangerous work, in a world where magic and technology can make people superhuman - and where, as a shadowrunner, you need that kind of edge simply to survive.

Not that the game doesn't have the scope and flexibility to support a wide variety of playstyles, but you should talk to the other players first. Figure out how they might have met/rescued/befriended your character, and what kind of relationship they have. If you just take your "challenging" character and plunk it down in the middle with everyone else's chromed sammies, katana-wielding adepts, and cigar-chewing troll combat mages, they will probably be a bit nonplussed at your character, and not know quite what to do.

[deek]

Well, the thing is, the premise of the game kind of supports that playstyle. It's a game of shady mercs doing highly dangerous work, in a world where magic and technology can make people superhuman - and where, as a shadowrunner, you need that kind of edge simply to survive.

Not that the game doesn't have the scope and flexibility to support a wide variety of playstyles, but you should talk to the other players first. Figure out how they might have met/rescued/befriended your character, and what kind of relationship they have. If you just take your "challenging" character and plunk it down in the middle with everyone else's chromed sammies, katana-wielding adepts, and cigar-chewing troll combat mages, they will probably be a bit nonplussed at your character, and not know quite what to do.

I guess I don't agree with the game supporting only highly specialized and optimized characters. I think that is a product of the group of players (how you fit with them, statistically) and what sort of opponents your GM is running at you. If the average die pool is, say 8, of both the group and the opponents, then you have a lot more freedom to build a broader skill set. If the average is 12-14, then yeah, there's more specialization needed. But, unless the opponents are also tweaked like that, you can be effective in the group without being tweaked as much.