Minmaxing for odd things Options

[TeChameleon]

So... as shameful as it may be to admit, I have a certain munchkin side to my nature as a gamer. I like to test the limits of a system- not necessarily to the breaking point (see 'Pun-Pun'), but just seeing what I can do if I push things a little. Even if I'm not necessarily planning on playing the character (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

And with Shadowrun's crazy flexibility... well, while I was building my Trollish 'I hit the things and they fall down' Adept, the Kinesics power caught my eye, and I started wondering what one could end up with if one were to build an Adept Face (Facial Adept..?)

So, I started to putter around on Chummer (wonderful little program, I think I would have gone mad trying to build a Shadowrun character for the first time without it), and eventually managed to spit out a 400 BP Elven Facial Adept with a dice pool of 23 for Con, 22 for Negotiation, and 21 for Etiquette, with 15 in Intimidation and 17 in Leadership rounding out the Charisma-based skills. He's also got passable (not fantastic or anything. but functional enough) doctoring skills, and, if it gets right down to it, he can handle a grenade launcher well enough that he's not too terribly likely to blow his own foot off.

Should anyone happen to care, the core of it was 7 Charisma, and 5s for Intuition, Logic, and Magic. The main concern with the power points was Kinesics (rating 3), and 2.25 power points sunk into Improved Ability (non-combat) for Con, Negotiation and Etiquette (you could probably squeeze a few more points out of that- I grabbed Voice Control and Enhanced Perception as well, partly for flavour and partly for utility).

It kind of amused me to be able to build a character with a dice pool of 23 straight out of chargen (and with fairly minimal investment, could bring that up to 25s across the board for all charisma-based skills) while still being a capable medic, with decent gear and not being completely useless in a fight.

[Shortstraw]

The record for influence skills is ~60 isn't it.

[TeChameleon]

... I honestly have no idea, and I'm slightly frightened by this factoid (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

I suppose I should mention I did mine strictly from the (non-anniversary) PHB; I'm a near-total noob to all things Shadowrun-ish.

... was that ~60 influence skills straight out of the box? O.o

[Ears]

Yup, straight out of chargen:
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?s=&a...t&p=1132195

Just 50ish thugh. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)
Maybe someone's got a better one in another thread.

[Shortstraw]

Best part is since it is over 50 you can roll 5 dice and just add up the numbers.

Edit: I was including situational modifiers.

[UmaroVI]

Check the Shikima from the second link in my sig for an interesting example of unusual optimization.

[Ears]

5^3 dicks. The math geek in me approves. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Thanee]

Just 50ish

Or 32 with the dice pool caps of 20|2x natural attribute+skill (but those are optional, of course). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Stahlseele]

I think there was a Troll-Built with 45 Dice for climbing stuff.
And even if all of those AND Edge came up ALL ONES he would not fall.
He would simply not advance any further . .
And i think another had 30 to 35 dice for running and/or jumping . .

[Blade]

There was also a character with maxed out Body+armor+fire protections+counterspelling+magic resistance who could survive Insanely Powerful Fireballs... And that was about the only thing he could do.

[Ears]

Hmm, makes me wonder if there's ever been a contest where the goal was not the most tricked-out one trick pony but to see how many different dice pools you can get outragously large for one single character out of char gen.

[Stahlseele]

Easy. Maximum Agility and i think Logic and that should be it for about 80% of the Skills.

[Ears]

If you just want very good in one area, sure.
I was more thinking in the direction of really different things, say each pool has to be based on a different attribute. Prolly just boiles down to one Agility, Logic and Charisma skill each, though. And maybe one for Reaction if 'outragous' is defined sufficiently low.

[Umidori]

I once built a combination cyber/bioware-lizardman with rather impressive climbing, jumping, stealth, escape artistry, and intimidation. Basically he was a nutjob freakshow with extreme body modification including a tail, scales, claws, fangs, and more. He'd leap onto sheer walls, cling in place or scurry along the ceiling with his retractable climbing claws, use his voice modulator to shriek ungodly cyber-lizard screeches at 100 decibels, and generally just creep people the zark out.

He could also dodge like a maniac and brawl fairly impressively, and his prefered tactics were leaping onto enemies to subdue them while shrieking his head off, and purposefully drawing fire off of his team because he had plenty of dice to defend with on full defense. It worked ridiculously well for the couple of sessions we got to play, then the campaign sadly had to be put on hiatus. Wish I'd kept the character sheet, but I may rebuild him some day.

Oh, and he also had modular cyberlimbs and strong composure rolls so that he could be taken apart and stuffed in a shielded crate or a suitcase or whatnot in order to smuggle him into places that would turn him away simply because of how freaky he looked. Barring that, he'd infiltrate and hope for the best. Even when it backfired it tended to be at least partly beneficial, because he'd cause a distraction elsewhere while the rest of the team did their thing.

I dunno. I tend to play support characters designed to operate in tandem with, but separated from, their teammates.

~Umidori

[Blade]

- A Centaur
- Surged with Celerity and Satyr Legs
- Equipped with skimmer disks
Runs at around 350km/h without sprinting.
You can add the Movement power on top of that.

Oh yeah, and I got him Elongated Limbs and Martial Art (Capoeira).

[Umidori]

And just for fun you put him in rollerblades too, right?

~Umidori

[Glyph]

The trick to making a Master of all Trades is using skill, Attribute, and dice pool boosts, which Shadowrun has plenty of. A lockpick gun can give you +6 to lockpicking, empathy software can give you +6 to all social skills, a medkit can give you +6 to first aid checks, muscle toner: 4 gives you +4 to a wide number of skills, and so on.

Also, some things, like gymnastics and social skills, have multiple, stacking bonuses that they can get. The pornomancer has been done a zillion times, so... gymnastics. You have satyr legs, synthcardium, Neo-EPO, enhanced articulation, a reflex recorder, the improved ability adept power, muscle toner and/or suprathyroid gland to raise that Agility, and I've probably missed a few.

[Draco18s]

You should min-max to figure out how many guns you can carry on your body (and still fire them all at once).

Most I can think off (off the cuff) is 11. Don't know if it's possible to buy all the gear needed to make it happen at chargen though.

[_Pax._]

You should min-max to figure out how many guns you can carry on your body (and still fire them all at once).

Most I can think off (off the cuff) is 11. Don't know if it's possible to buy all the gear needed to make it happen at chargen though.

I assume you've already included the Nartaki heritage? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Also, does insane ranks of Juggling, and a dozen pistols, count? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Draco18s]

I assume you've already included the Nartaki heritage? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Also, does insane ranks of Juggling, and a dozen pistols, count? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Hadn't considered juggling.
Not sure if that would be considered at the same time if he could shoot them.

But yes, Nartaki already included.

[_Pax._]

.... there's also Emotitoys with gecko tips, and (External, Remote, Flexible) Weapon Mounts ... and Trolls have an AWFUL LOT of real-estate for those suckers to clamber around on ...

I can get a well-modded FN 93 Praetor into an Emotitoy. Electronic firing (std), low-light Flashlight (std) Sound Suppressor, Additional Clip, and 100 subsonic rounds ... a Pilot 4 with Targeting (Automatics) 4 ... whisper-quiet death, in a cute cuddly Furby-like package!! ^_^

[Xenefungus]

It kind of amused me to be able to build a character with a dice pool of 23 straight out of chargen[...]

Welcome to the system. Now go remake all the archetypes, cause they suck. Then, compare yours to Umaro's.

[Udoshi]

Hmm, makes me wonder if there's ever been a contest where the goal was not the most tricked-out one trick pony but to see how many different dice pools you can get outragously large for one single character out of char gen.

Someone should run an Iron Chummer.

And your secret ingredient today is..... Demolitions! Everyone's favorite! Pump that skill as high as it can go, and try to survive the explosive ordnance disposal challenge course afterwards!

[Halinn]

Someone should run an Iron Chummer.

And your secret ingredient today is..... Demolitions! Everyone's favorite! Pump that skill as high as it can go, and try to survive the explosive ordnance disposal challenge course afterwards!

Or more interestingly, biggest bomb (measured in damage, not weight) right out of chargen. Pumping logic and the skill (with aptitude) is a given, but how much money would you want to sacrifice from your bomb towards pumping that skill...

[Stahlseele]

Ah, i actully forgot about the most broken way to be a true jack of all trades.
Pump ALL ATTRIBUTES as high as possible.
Skillwires. Move By Wire 2 Beta should work pretty good.
Then get a level 3/3 group connection to a warez network specializing in skill soft.
Then get one comlink completely maxed out for searching stuff on the innernets.
Presto, in 3 Days Game-Time, you can have every last single skillsoft in te books for 10% of the list price, if they did not fix that.

Remember that aside from Magical and Emergent Skills only the Exotic Weapons-Skills can not be had as Skill-Soft.
EVERY OTHER SKILL WORKS.