Character build help? Divination specialized mage?, magic is scary Options

[Rayston]

I have an idea for a character for http://reddit.com/r/runnerhub but the idea requires he be a mage and the magic rules in shadowrun confound and terrify me.

His name is Query

He is sort of a cross between Constantine and "The Question" from DC animated.

just rattling around ideas in my head, conspiracy theorist nutjob obsessed with trying to know the "truth" of the 6th world and all that entails, on the magic front he should be more about divination, but not certain there is a way to make an effective runner out of a divination focused mage

[Stahlseele]

SR1/2/3/4/5?
And the magic rules usually ain't that complicated . .
Also, the less the GM understands them, the stronger magic gets.

[Rayston]

SR1/2/3/4/5?
And the magic rules usually ain't that complicated . .
Also, the less the GM understands them, the stronger magic gets.

SR5

[Glyph]

Mages make decent information gatherers. I would recommend a full mage with a high assensing skill, some detection spells, possibly a control manipulation spell or two, and some stealth-related illusion spells (such as physical mask or invisibility), and spirits to do searches and recon for him. An Intuition-based tradition would probably suit you best, although a Charisma-based tradition and a touch of face ability wouldn't be bad either (especially with Constantine as one of your inspirations).

[Rayston]

Here is my first try

First try at my Conspiracy Theorist Query

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B11jwr71t4...VZBLTZtWEE/view

I have not had a chance to fill in all his background but the basic idea behind him is that he is obsessed with finding out the "truth" of the world. He has crazy conspiracy theories written all over his walls and is ultra paranoid.

His runner focus is detection and divining.

[toturi]

Depends on what you mean by Divination mage. Divination is a metamagic technique that often relies on the GM willing to let go off his plot.

[Shaidar]

You might also want to converse with your GM about working tutilage/schooling into your background, specifically in the Divination and/or Psychometry. Your various Addictions could be a handy reason for why you aren't in the SINner world plying your trade as a professional Buddhist Advisor and/or Occult Profiler.

Have you considered trading some of your addictions for a SIN?

[Rayston]

Depends on what you mean by Divination mage. Divination is a metamagic technique that often relies on the GM willing to let go off his plot.

I took the oracle mentor spirit so that metamagic is required to be my first initiation goal. Until then ill just flavor it up with consulting my gods.

You might also want to converse with your GM about working tutilage/schooling into your background,

I had considered taking "College Educated" as one of my qualities to reflect that kind of background.

specifically in the Divination and/or Psychometry.

I might take up an academic skill for divination. Isny Pscychometry a metamagic?

Your various Addictions could be a handy reason for why you aren't in the SINner world plying your trade as a professional Buddhist Advisor and/or Occult Profiler.

Thats pretty much exactly the story. He desperately wants to know the truth of the universe, he wants to be one with the universe. He will do anything, including poison himself with drugs, to achieve that. Specifically his insomnia combined with Long haul addiction is to reflect him staying up for days on end praying, meditating, posting crazyman conspiracy theories on to the local jackpoint, consulting with spirits, taking Zen and trying to become one with god. HE.WANTS.TO.KNOW. He MUST know. He is desperate.

Have you considered trading some of your addictions for a SIN?

I suppose I could play him as addicted without actually formally having the negative quality.

[Jaid]

if you play him as being addicted (ie by taking those drugs), the negative quality will catch up to you fairly quickly anyways, most likely.

[Shaidar]

The Schooling I was referring to is the equivalent of a Masters or Doctorate in Thaumaturgy which grants an additional 10% decrease in the Karma necessary to Initiate, and requires and additional expenditure of Nuyen (10,000 per 5 weeks of study), from pg 140 of Street Grimoire.

[Rad]

if you play him as being addicted (ie by taking those drugs), the negative quality will catch up to you fairly quickly anyways, most likely.

Not necessarily. My old street sam Johnny Blades would spend each fight flying on so many combat drugs he'd be in danger of dropping dead from overflow the moment they wore off and the stun damage hit, yet he never failed a single addiction test despite speedballing Cram, Jazz, and Kamikaze on a regular basis.

If you've got a decent Willpower, which a mage is almost guaranteed to have, addiction tests can be kind of trivial to pass.

[Shemhazai]

Check to make sure you don't have more than 25 karma in positive qualities. I counted 27, 31 if you took both Resistance to Toxins and Resistance to Pathogens, plus whatever Spirit Champion costs. I think you may have included the resistance qualities because of the +2 that dwarves receive on those tests. If that's the case, then I estimate 23 + Spirit Champion.

You have the Watcher ritual but no Ritual Spellcasting skill. You can't default on Ritual Spellcasting, so you can't create Watchers yet.

I counted 22 skill points (32 - 10 magical skills from Magic A) and 21 attribute points. So, Magic A, Attributes B, Metatype C, Skills D, and Resources E. I'm guessing that you spent 10 karma to raise Agility from 1 to 2. With 22 karma worth of negative qualities, I'm guessing you have more karma to spend. Did it all go into money?

You get a free native language at rating N.

As for concept, consider the Remote Sensing ritual, as well as the Clairvoyance and Clairaudience spells. They may help you penetrate private meetings where they discuss plans for world domination. If your character is paranoid, you may consider Detect Enemies over Detect Life.

And finally, in the Sixth World, conspiracy theories aren't so crazy. Of course people are plotting sinister ways to increase their power and wealth.