Character Generation Poll, Which is your favouite? GMs and Players Options

[The Question Man]

Hoi Chummers, I've been looking over several Alternative Shadowrun Character Generation Systems and was curious which one you pefer? The 1M :nuyen: Question :D

Cheers :spin:

QM :cyber:

[Ol' Scratch]

Other: Sum-to-Ten.

[Ray Becker]

agree with df.

[kevyn668]

Is it time for one of these again already? I put points but I'd say its probably a toss up between BPs and Sum to Ten.

Also, you have to figure what kind of game you're running. Lower and higher level games are easier to customize w/ BPs and BeKCS.

And ultimately, it boils down to what your GM's fav is. :)

[The Question Man]

What the Frag is Sum-to -Ten ???

Where can I find it?

Thanks

QM

[Ol' Scratch]

Sum-to-Ten is just like the Priority System except A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, and E=0. You still have to assign each group its own priority, but instead of going A B C D and E, you can choose any variation as long as it equals 10.

Example: Magic E (0), Race E (0), Attributes A (4), Skills B (3), and Resources B (3)

[Glyph]

I prefer the point-based system because it is the most easy to customize. Think awakened characters are overpowered? Raise the cost to be one. Want a low-resources campaign? Limit characters to 15 points spent on resources. Want a high-powered game? Give them 135 build points. And so on.

Priority is easier to use, and more consistent from group to group, but while I like it, there are characters that you can create with the point-based system that wouldn't fit within the narrow confines of the priority system.

I love Becks v.2, but it is biased towards creating certain types of characters. It discourages certain kinds of min-maxing, while encouraging others. It is good for gritty street-level campaigns or for encouraging more well-rounded skills, but it not fair enough to every character concept to edge out the point-based system for general use. What I mean is that some characters, such as covert ops specialists, need lots of skills at 5 or 6, while others, such as riggers, need high resources. But concepts such as sorcerers, who only need about two high Attributes and a single skill of 6, can take advantage of Becks to meet all of their needs and then become well-rounded in lots of other areas.



The above is how I feel as a GM. As a player, if the GM offers a choice of options, I will pick the one that will best create my particular character concept. If I want a street sorcerer who is resource-poor but has lots of contacts and spell points, obviously I would favor Becks. If I wanted a dwarven combat sorcerer, I would lean more towards Priority (since a similar character would be about 135 points with the point-based system). If I wanted to play a shapeshifter, I would definitely want to use the point-based system.

[RangerJoe]

I'm a fan of priorities and sum-to-10. Such simple systems make designing characters on the back of napkins a breeze.

[kevyn668]

[Zolhex]

Priority is my choice. Why you ask? It was the system I learned the game with. So it will more than likely be the system I use. I have looked at other systems they don't seem bad to me just not my choice. I won't even go into my thoughts of the edges and flaws.

[Connor]

I like to let my players use whichever generation system will let them build their character the way they see fit. I think players starting with characters they feel happy about is one of the most important thing to playing, so I'm pretty flexible with character generation as long as it remains balanced and stays reasonable. Most of the time Points are used, sometimes BeCKS

[spitfire gecko]

Definitely Sum-to-Ten. It has the simplicity of the priority system combined with the versatility of the build point system, and best of all, no one gets screwed by it. What's not to like? :)

[toturi]

Sum to Ten and BECKS are not Canon character generation systems. Sum to Ten used to be in SRComp but got mysteriously left out of the 3rd Ed SRComp.

[Mr.Platinum]

Point system allows some interestig characters to be created and it will not alow tyou to be limited by the priority system

[Lantzer]

Priorities is good for beginners: (rank what's most important to your character).

BPs are good for making specialists.
BeCKS is good for generalists.

I'm running a gutterpunk game that I hope to keep going for a long while. I started at 200 karma with BeCKS. I don't think I could have done as well with BPs (I had a hell of a time trying to rebalance things with BPs). The characters are weak right now, but are improving naturally. I hope to get them to 500+karma eventually. I have house rules to control the growth of the karma pool, in a way that the players actually seem to like.

[last_of_the_grea...]

I like sum to 10...mostly because humans get less screwed.

[The Question Man]

Are these accurate examples of the "Sum-of-Ten" Shadowrun Character Creation Rules?
Shadowrun
Character Creation (Sum-of-Ten)

Magician
A 4 Attributes (4) 30
B 3 Magic (4) Magician
C 2 Race (0) Human
D 1 Resources (0) 5kY
E 0 Skills (2) 34

Magician (Metahuman Variants)
A 4 Attributes (4) 30
B 3 Magic (4) Magician
C 2 Race (2) Elf or Troll [Race (1) Dwarf or Orc]
D 1 Resources (0) 5kY
E 0 Skills (0) 27 [Skills (1) 30]

Adept
A 4 Attributes (4) 30
B 3 Magic (3) Adept
C 2 Race (0) Human
D 1 Resources (0) 5kY
E 0 Skills (3) 40

Adept (Metahuman Variants)
A 4 Attributes (4) 30
B 3 Magic (3) Adept
C 2 Race (2) Elf or Troll [Race (1) Dwarf or Orc]
D 1 Resources (0) 5kY
E 0 Skills (1) 30 [Skills (2) 34]

Free Spirit (Special Variant)***
A 4 Attributes/Force (3) 30/5
B 3 Magic/Spirit (3) Magician/Spirit Powers
C 2 Race (4) Free Spirit
D 1 Resources (0) 5kY
E 0 Skills (0) 27

Intelligence Agent
A 4 Attributes (4) 30
B 3 Magic (0) None
C 2 Race (0) Human
D 1 Resources (2) 90kY
E 0 Skills (4) 50

Street Samurai
A 4 Attributes (4) 30
B 3 Magic (0) None
C 2 Race (0) Human
D 1 Resources (4) 1mY
E 0 Skills (2) 34

Street Samurai (Metahuman Variants)
A 4 Attributes (4) 30
B 3 Magic (0) None
C 2 Race (2) Elf or Troll [Race (1) Dwarf or Orc]
D 1 Resources (4) 1mY
E 0 Skills (0) 27 [Skills (1) 30]

Rigger
A 4 Attributes (3) 27
B 3 Magic (0) None
C 2 Race (0) Human
D 1 Resources (4) 1mY
E 0 Skills (3) 40

Rigger (Metahuman Variants)
A 4 Attributes (3) 27
B 3 Magic (0) None
C 2 Race (2) Elf or Troll [Race (1) Dwarf or Orc]
D 1 Resources (4) 1mY
E 0 Skills (1) 30 [Skills (2) 34]

Decker
A 4 Attributes (3) 27
B 3 Magic (0) None
C 2 Race (0) Human
D 1 Resources (4) 1mY
E 0 Skills (3) 40

Decker (Metahuman Variants)
A 4 Attributes (3) 27
B 3 Magic (0) None
C 2 Race (2) Elf or Troll [Race (1) Dwarf or Orc]
D 1 Resources (4) 1mY
E 0 Skills (1) 30 [Skills (1) 34]

;)

[BitBasher]

Sum to 10 is essentially a way to get more points if you already wanted to be a mundane human (or have more than one E rank). It's a little bit of an exploit over the priority system in that context because you can score more than one thing at 0 and recoup points. Nothing wrong with that.

[Luke Hardison]

[Ol' Scratch]

[The Question Man]

Actually the ABCs were to keep the Old Priority System and the Sum-of-Ten System separate in my mind. If you check closer the ABCs are numbered 432s etc...

I have edited the previous post of corrections.

Cheers

QM

[Paul]

BeCK's owns character generation for me, and my people. Combined with the NSRCG we are loving it.

[Skeptical Clown]

I'm partial to the priority system, although sum-to-ten isn't bad.

[sidartha]

I like the points system mainly for the smaller gaps in the resources dept.
There's a lot one can do with 650,000 :nuyen: that can't be done with 400,000 :nuyen: :cyber:

[Cirenya]

I used to prefer the point system, but changed my mind. to high-power games I used sum-to-ten, both because I like the opportunity to take the same priority more than once, and because when I use BP I nearly allways end up with a very low skillpoints.
Becks karma I like using to make low-power characters, because I don't get the feeling of being shafted, just because I don't min-max.
BP I use to make metavariants (because I don't know how to make them in sum-to-ten), shapeshifter (because they usually turns better out than in sum-to-ten) or when my GM tells me to use BP.