Some Character Advice, New game, pondering what to play Options

[Cain]

Gunslinger adepts can easily be the most potent shooters in SR5. So far, I've seen three different people have come up with them, indedpendently.

A few suggestions:

Don't buy Improved Agility. The payoff isn't worth it. Instead, get Agility Boost 1; it's a little less reliable, but on the average it'll work out as well. By only getting one level, the drain will be negligible.

So, what do you do with those PP you just saved? Buy Improved Combat Skill, and Increased Accuracy if you can afford it. That'll boost your dice pool even further than before, and you'll be able to use more successes.

[Xystophoroi]

Gunslinger adepts can easily be the most potent shooters in SR5. So far, I've seen three different people have come up with them, indedpendently.

A few suggestions:

Don't buy Improved Agility. The payoff isn't worth it. Instead, get Agility Boost 1; it's a little less reliable, but on the average it'll work out as well. By only getting one level, the drain will be negligible.

So, what do you do with those PP you just saved? Buy Improved Combat Skill, and Increased Accuracy if you can afford it. That'll boost your dice pool even further than before, and you'll be able to use more successes.

That's...actually a good idea if I'm reading it right.

Get Willpower+Body of 8 dice and a single rank deals Drain 2, which with 8 dice to resist means you can just buy the hits.

The issue is the Simple Actions to activate every few turns. (Does it last rounds or Initiative passes?)

[Sendaz]

The boost lasts for a number of Combat Turns equal to twice the number of hits you get. So unless you get into really long fights, shouldn't need to pop it too often.

When the boost runs out, you take Drain equal to the level of this power, so again deferring the drain can be handy for not effecting the opening shots.

[Lobo0705]

Get Willpower+Body of 8 dice and a single rank deals Drain 2, which with 8 dice to resist means you can just buy the hits.

Make sure you check with your GM about buying hits. Some don't allow it at all, and most do not allow it for resisting damage.

[Cain]

Make sure you check with your GM about buying hits. Some don't allow it at all, and most do not allow it for resisting damage.

It's true, but if your Willpower + Body is over 8, you're not likely to take any drain in the first place. And even if you do, it's only 2 boxes, you can sleep that off in an hour. The risks are extremely minimal, even if you can't buy successes.

[Xystophoroi]

With that newfangled knowledge I could drop the 3 Improved Attribute Agility points and spend them on a host of other interesting things.

OR because the Magic investment is now lower I could focus on getting some more cash.

Also I've just read the Climbing rules and they use Strength primarily! I thought they used Agility. Climbing comes under Gymnastics and Gymnastics is an Agility skill...but Agility only seems to be used for Jumping.

Weird.

Strength has more passive benefits than Agility but could arguably rely on Attribute Boost as well. Grab Wall Running and buff Strength a little bit. A good way of ascending 2-3 meters rapidly and grabbing on with Gecko Tape or similar tools adds a really nice bit of verticality to a fight and my movement.

Magic 7 and Attribute boost 1 is 8 dice so just buy 2 hits, get +2 to Ag and Str from some other source (PP or Bioware) and I'm getting the maximum +4 augmentation bonus.

Resources C, Magic D is Adept 2. Race E is Human 1. That nets me Magic 3/6 and 140,000 nuyen. Bioware Strength 2 and Agility 2 is 0.8 essence and 127,000 nuyen. Leaving me with Magic 2/5.

That gets me Enhanced reflexes 1 for 1.5 and both Strength and Agility Attribute Boosts for 2x0.25.

Magic 3 and Initiating once costs 28 Karma and nets me 2 more power points.

[Jack VII]

Make sure to take note of the oddball rules for Attribute Boost. Many people argue that the way it is written precludes the boost from being applied to anything other than dice pools. I don't like it, but I tend to agree with the interpretation, so don't expect extra damage, base movement, damage boxes, etc. as a result of Attribute Boost, just extra dice for tests related to the Attributes.

[BlackJaw]

Edit: Also, how many programs can a Rigger Command Console run? I was considering finding a way of getting a 'scratch built junk model' for Y1.4k and having it run a Wrapper program and then running stuff on silent and slaving to the commlink as my matrix protection package. That way stuff like Tag Erasers or keycard copiers etc. won't show up as what they are.

General interpretation is that run programs on an RCC use up the share rating (although only autosofts are explictily shared with linked drones), but it's a bit unclear, as much of the rigging rules are. That means a Scratch built junk can run 1 cyberprogram, such as Wrapper, but it's not the most efficient way to do it in terms of price or bulk. The cheaper & smaller option is to get a Shiawase Kanmushi "bug" drone. Drones can run a number of cyperprograms equal to half their pilot rating rounded up. (P269) A bug micro-drone is the size of a cockroach and is only $1,000, making it easier to carry than a laptop sized RCC, slightly cheaper, and more efficient with 2 program slots instead of 1. As a bonus, it's tiny spy drone you might find other uses for.

[Xystophoroi]

General interpretation is that run programs on an RCC use up the share rating (although only autosofts are explictily shared with linked drones), but it's a bit unclear, as much of the rigging rules are. That means a Scratch built junk can run 1 cyberprogram, such as Wrapper, but it's not the most efficient way to do it in terms of price or bulk. The cheaper & smaller option is to get a Shiawase Kanmushi "bug" drone. Drones can run a number of cyperprograms equal to half their pilot rating rounded up. (P269) A bug micro-drone is the size of a cockroach and is only $1,000, making it easier to carry than a laptop sized RCC, slightly cheaper, and more efficient with 2 program slots instead of 1. As a bonus, it's tiny spy drone you might find other uses for.

...and it doesn't seem weird that people that are wandering around with computers on their heads (Commlinks) are instead choosing to walk around with a small robotic flying bug so that they can run their computer programs?

Can you use the drone without an RCC?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

That's...actually a good idea if I'm reading it right.

Get Willpower+Body of 8 dice and a single rank deals Drain 2, which with 8 dice to resist means you can just buy the hits.

The issue is the Simple Actions to activate every few turns. (Does it last rounds or Initiative passes?)

Drain for Attribute Boost Level 1 is ONLY 1 point of Drain (not 2 drain, as many people are suggesting (Unless I missed an Errata)... it is equal to the Level of the Adept Ability). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)
And you cannot buy hits for Drain. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Jaid]

...and it doesn't seem weird that people that are wandering around with computers on their heads (Commlinks) are instead choosing to walk around with a small robotic flying bug so that they can run their computer programs?

Can you use the drone without an RCC?

you can give the drone orders from a regular commlink.

as to attributes E, well, for the character you have, i'd probably drop logic, intuition, and willpower down to 3, lose a couple points out of reaction, drop strength and charisma to 1 each (boost them back to 2 for 10 karma each), probably drop 1 point of agility, and from there it starts to get a bit tough to make decisions. personally, i'd lose a couple points off reaction, buy it to 2 for 10 karma, and then invest a few power points in combat reflexes to get my dodge pool back up to respectable levels, as well as magic resistance to compensate for lower willpower.

on a side note, you can get rating 3 *used* muscle toner at chargen. and unlike initiative enhancers, they don't say they don't stack, so you could in fact combine them with improved agility if you ever wanted to improve your agility using adept powers.

(you could also invest in boosting your strength the same way; in fact, you save even more with boosting your physical attributes by going bioware than you save from replacing improved initiative, and that's saying something considering improved initiative is pretty expensive. and takes less resources as well. you also have the option of bone density for body, at least as far as damage resistance tests are concerned).

with that said, the attribute boost route is also definitely an option. and if you find it comes up short, you can always sacrifice a point of magic for bioware later (you're capped at +4, but only initiative boosters don't stack).

one thing i will add though: if you do go for attribute boost, i highly recommend you invest in faster healing (the quality, not the adept power). honestly, it's a pretty decent purchase for anyone, it's just even better if you are ever going to be taking drain or fading at all.

also, if you're *completely* nutso, you can theoretically get uncapped initiative boost with the adrenaline boost power. of course, the drain every round if you do boost your initiative dramatically higher using it is not exactly nothing... but it is also completely reliable =P

(too bad you can't pick up magician centering. imo, adepts with powers that cause drain should be able to...)

[Cain]

Drain for Attribute Boost Level 1 is ONLY 1 point of Drain (not 2 drain, as many people are suggesting (Unless I missed an Errata)... it is equal to the Level of the Adept Ability). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)
And you cannot buy hits for Drain. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'm away from my books right now, but isn't the minimum drain for anything 2?

[Jack VII]

I'm away from my books right now, but isn't the minimum drain for anything 2?

From looking through the various Drain sections, it looks like minimum drain is set by whatever action caused it (Spellcasting, Conjuring, Adept Powers, etc)> Adept Powers don't mention a minimum value, the others do. The generic Drain section doesn't mention a minimum either.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

I'm away from my books right now, but isn't the minimum drain for anything 2?

Attribute Boost specifically tells you that Drain is equal to Attribute Boost Level.
Errata does not change that.

In fact, all the Adept Drain Powers are specifically at Power Level (Of course, there are not a LOT of them currently).

[Cain]

Attribute Boost specifically tells you that Drain is equal to Attribute Boost Level.
Errata does not change that.

In fact, all the Adept Drain Powers are specifically at Power Level (Of course, there are not a LOT of them currently).

Like Jack said, that's something of a special case. But at any event, it's only 1 drain, not worth arguing over. If anything, it proves my point that the drain is a non-issue.

[BlackJaw]

...and it doesn't seem weird that people that are wandering around with computers on their heads (Commlinks) are instead choosing to walk around with a small robotic flying bug so that they can run their computer programs?

That's more of an issue with the fact that Commlinks are unable to run programs while RCCs, Decks, Vehicles, and Drones all can run programs. I personally think they should have had a nice low program capactiy too. Right now, to be good at Matrix Searches (Browse cyberprogram) you either need a big computer with drone features and remote controls, a big scary cyberdeck, or a vehilce/drone. That's just strange to me too, but it's the rules for now.

Can you use the drone without an RCC?

As pointed out by Jaid already, you can issue orders or remote control a drone with just a commlink. RCCs provide extra features (like autosoft sharing or signal scrubbing.) You'd need a Vehicle Control Rig implanted to jump into the drone for rigging, but anyone could simply own a drone and give it orders (letting it use it's pilot program or on-board autosofts) to actually take actions.