Shadowrun 5 Character Creation Questions Options

[Stormdrake]

So got my copy of 5th a couple days ago and have been reading it and so far I am pretty happy with most of the changes. Having played 1st and 2nd edition back in the day I am pretty familiar with the priority system but I wanted clarification on the following.

My example:

I decide to play a mage and take Priority B for Magic. This gives me a starting magic attribute of 4, two rating 4 magic skills, and 7 spells that I don't have to spend karma, skill, or attribute points on.

I then decide I want to play a dwarf and take priority A for Metatype. Which gives me 7 points for my special attributes.

If I am reading character creation correctly (and I may not be) I can then take two of my seven points for special attributes and raise my base magic of four to six and put the remaining five points for special attributes into luck.

Am I reading this right?

[Jaid]

So got my copy of 5th a couple days ago and have been reading it and so far I am pretty happy with most of the changes. Having played 1st and 2nd edition back in the day I am pretty familiar with the priority system but I wanted clarification on the following.

My example:

I decide to play a mage and take Priority B for Magic. This gives me a starting magic attribute of 4, two rating 4 magic skills, and 7 spells at I don't have to spend karma, skill, or attribute points on.

I then decide I want to play a dwarf and take priority A for Metatype. Which gives me 7 points for my special attributes.

If I am reading character creation correctly (and I may not be) I can then take two of my seven points for special attributes and raise my base magic of four to six and put the remaining five points for special attributes into luck.

Am I reading this right?

well, they're calling it edge, not luck, but otherwise yes.

[DWC]

So got my copy of 5th a couple days ago and have been reading it and so far I am pretty happy with most of the changes. Having played 1st and 2nd edition back in the day I am pretty familiar with the priority system but I wanted clarification on the following.

My example:

I decide to play a mage and take Priority B for Magic. This gives me a starting magic attribute of 4, two rating 4 magic skills, and 7 spells

I then decide I want to play a dwarf and take priority A for Metatype. Which gives me 7 points for my special attributes.

If I am reading character creation correctly (and I may not be) I can then take two of my seven points for special attributes and raise my base magic of four to six and put the remaining five points for special attributes into luck.

Am I reading this right?

That's right, except that the attribute in question is Edge, not luck.

[Tycho]

yes but you are being stupid, because if you would switch proirities, you would get the same magic and edge but more skills and spells.

[Jhaiisiin]

Wow Tycho. The guy is just trying to understand the tweaks of the Priority system. No need to start in with the name calling.

[Tycho]

no offense, I just wanted to point out the fact, that his example is a combination you should never take.

[Redjack]

yes but you are being stupid, because if you would switch proirities, you would get the same magic and edge but more skills and spells.

Your point could have been made without the appearance of a personal attack with:

yes but you can make a more cost effective choice if you would switch priorities, you would get the same magic and edge but more skills and spells.

Edited based upon followup post.

[Samoth]

I have one question: is it specifically stated in the rules that you can NOT initiate at chargen with your free karma? If it is, I can't find it anywhere. Great way for adepts to pick up extra PP right out of the gate if it is allowed.

[RelentlessImp]

I have one question: is it specifically stated in the rules that you can NOT initiate at chargen with your free karma? If it is, I can't find it anywhere. Great way for adepts to pick up extra PP right out of the gate if it is allowed.

It's not stated, and it's even hinted that you can. I'm gonna repost my opinion on this:

It's not on the "Additional Purchases and Restrictions"-table on p.98.

Edit: Ok, thats only for purchases. I have to reread that section.

Edit2: Basically it's not mentioned as a possible choice for spending your leftover karma (not in the text on p.98, not in the table on the same page and not in "Character Advancement" on p. 103ff). It's not explicitly stated as being forbidden, it's just not listed as a possible option.

Personally i would allow it (it's just a single point cheaper than exceptional attribute and does increase the cost for further improvement in comparison).

A lot of things aren't mentioned as possibilities, but it's suggested they are allowed.

Any remaining Karma can now be invested in smoothing out any rough edges, picking up or improving skills, buying additional spells, acquiring bound spirits, bonding foci to be used at the start of the game, purchasing contacts, etc. Refer to the Additional Purchases and Restrictions table to note any special restrictions on purchasing items with Karma.

Emphasized wording one suggests that anything you can do with karma is available at this point. Emphasized wording two suggests that the table exists only for actions that have some kind of restriction on them.

[Finster]

Except that's going to open the door to possibly doing both. Getting Exceptional Attribute and also Initiating. That might be a bit beyond what was intended for character creation.

[RelentlessImp]

Except that's going to open the door to possibly doing both. Getting Exceptional Attribute and also Initiating. That might be a bit beyond what was intended for character creation.

It's expensive as shit to do that, though. I mean you're paying a karma premium to do it.

[The Masked Ferre...]

It's expensive as shit to do that, though. I mean you're paying a karma premium to do it.

Yes, but you can get the other benefits of starting off as an initiate.

One way I might suggest that it be allowed is that. Sure, you can initiate, but (when the Magic book comes out) you cannot get a discount for your initiation. No Geas, no group, etc.

[Lurker37]

Yes, but you can get the other benefits of starting off as an initiate.

One way I might suggest that it be allowed is that. Sure, you can initiate, but (when the Magic book comes out) you cannot get a discount for your initiation. No Geas, no group, etc.

I'm going to wait to see what (if any) changes have been made to those before I make any decisions there. I may allow them, but require that resources be paid for and any relevant rolls be made.

After all, I'm not expecting street sams to start play recovering from the op to install their cyberware.

[Stormdrake]

The example was pretty much just to check my understanding. I have players who are gonna tweak this system seven ways from Sunday. Thanks for the responses. This is going to make playing a mystic adept a lot more attractive.

[RHat]

The example was pretty much just to check my understanding. I have players who are gonna tweak this system seven ways from Sunday. Thanks for the responses. This is going to make playing a mystic adept a lot more attractive.

Keep in mind that the Mystic Adept is going to be errata'd - at this point, that's pretty much a complete certainty. For now, the Mission's guideline is 5 Karma per power point; this may be superseded by the errata.

[Skynet]

While we're at it: How would a MysAd who didn't use up his full magic-capacity at chargen to get power points increase those during gameplay? Only through initiation? The same 5 Karma (only up to [Magic] power points total of course)?