Hi folks.

I'm new to the forums, but I've been reading all your great advice as I've been putting together a new character for a regular game I'm playing in.

This is only the second character I've created, and I'd love to get some feedback on him from both from a Role-playing, and a roll-playing point of view before he goes on his first real run on Monday night.

I also figured that others can use this topic put up their characters for eval if they so desire.

As a quick overview, Fuji Montana is a Troll Adept with a passion for poetry and graphitti, who occasionally works as a bouncer at bars/clubs in the sprawl.

Here he is. Have at him.

Ignore the cred-stick/karm total...

Ettiquette. You have none. I don't think it's a hard and fast rule, but I don't let any of my players get by without it. You NEED NEED NEED it.

My answer to this is the same answer I have for everyone with particularly low charisma:

Fair criticisms.

Here's my thinking:

Etiquette:
We have a party full of pretty, pretty elves, which is why I decided to be the Troll. Everyone wants to be the face in my game. So I say, let them have it. When they need some muscle they can talk to me. I was thinking about Intimidation, and probably will get some at some point, since it will make him a better bouncer. I want him Gruff, not lovable...

Charisma:
Yes, it's very low. This is my big Munchkin play, since it's my least needed attrib, and by keeping it low I'm reducing the Karma cost for bringing it up to a 3 (which is where I want it) to what I can get in 2 or 3 gaming sessions.

Stream of consciousness:

Is the 5 Quickness including the Improved Attribute adept power?

The Exceptional Attribute on Intelligence raises the Racial Maximum, but doesn't change the modifications that you get for being a troll. You'd need Bonus Attribute Point: Intelligence for it to be a 5 when starting out, I believe.

The character looks pretty exclusively combat-focused, unlikely to be of much use at all in most other situations. I don't know what style of game you're playing, but if combat isn't that common, you might consider giving him a backup skill or two. Maybe at least some stealth ability?

With the coveralls and the camo jacket, he's looking at +2 TN on anything involving Quickness, and a similar reduction in his movement speed. Since he doesn't have any Quickness-based skills, this may not be a huge problem, but it's something to be cautious about.

I'm a little curious as to what the "Unarmed Combat Background" and "Projectile Weapons Background" knowledge skills would actually cover.

If your campaign uses Man and Machine, consider buying fewer melee weapons and spending the money on Dikoting the ones you keep. Dikote is very powerful with edged weapons.

A 2 in charisma for a Troll is pretty darn good actually.

Problem is, this character isn't very viable outside of comabt, in fact, he would be a dirt poor bouncer (he needs Intimidation: Physical, Stealth: Alertness, and Etiquette). Top it off, how does he get to work (not a single vehicle skill)

Etiquette doesn't just make you lovable, it lets you know how to act and how to get what you want. Most professionals have it in at least some level or another. Even 1 level is better then none since it allows you to roll while defualting means any TN over 8 (which, because of racism is almost EVERY social interaction whne defaulted to CHR).

I'd say drop the athletics down to a 3. Drop the improves attribute intell and let it sit at a 4. That gives you 7 points to purchase some of the above skills.

I'd drop Improved Reflex down to lvl 1 and drop the improved Athletics. Then I would then raise Improved Edge weapons by 2, and Improved Projectile Weapons by 2, and then spend the .5 on Empathic Sense (good skill for a bouncer, and a nice ability in general).

Even if this character doesn't know how to use it, purchase him a gun, if nothing else to use it to intimidate. Also, maybe pick up a bunch of knives, just tuck them away all over his body and quick draw them when needed.

Background in Combat skills doesn't give you a knowledge of how to perfom the skill, but various styles, history, and all other sort of neat little tid bits of information
example:
"Hrrrm, it seems he is using Cotton Fist kung foo, looks like the Shen Din Monestary style, which means they don't use reverasal into thorws, instead chosing to do a series of close body hits..." etc etc.

These changes do keep this character a combat character, but also gives him a couple of skills and abilities to use outside of combat.

****Edit****: If you have the spare cash, pick up a pair of Shock Gloves, they are very very useful. If you can't afford that, get some hardliner gloves.

It looks like you picked up Kung Fu only to get the Multistrike maneuver for his
Edged Weapons (I would pick Whirling, instead, for facing groups). Unfortunately, you have to buy the "normal" version of a maneuver first, before buying it for weapons. So you would need Kung Fu of 4, and two maneuvers (one the normal one, and one the weapons one), to have this.

The Edge you actually want is Bonus Attribute Point, not Exceptional Attribute Point (which, as someone already said, doesn't give you an extra point).

The Improved Physical Attribute power costs 1 point per level, not 0.5, once you go past the Racial Modified Limit (check the errata) - but I don't see it changing your Quickness at all on the sheet (which breaks things down as far as natural and augmented go). Personally, I would change the armor to keep the FFBA, but get an armored jacket and forearm guards. That will give you 7 ballistic protection and 4 impact armor in melee (as opposed to the 7/2 you have now), without looking as conspicuous. Best of all, you have no penalties with a 5 Quickness, so you can perhaps spend that point on improving your specialties instead (like 2 points more of Improved Ability/Edged).

A specialist in blades and bows I understand, but it does not jive with your background as a bouncer. Not that many places use bouncers with bladed weapons - and you've specialized in those; a Kung Fu skill of 3 would not let you kick a lot of butt if someone got unruly. Sidekick covered the other skills that you are lacking. I could see him as an exotic bodyguard, but not a bouncer.

How attached are you to that Athletics ability? I am asking, because dropping it would free up some skill points for you. Any starting character desperately needs the Etiquette and Stealth skills, just to get by.

Thanks muchly. Your input is really a great help, and I believe it will have me making many less "I shoulda" statements when playing tomorrow.

I've updated the character, incorporating many suggestions given here.

I modded the gear as suggested, except I don't know where the Dikote rules are! Can someone give me a pointer?

He's lost some attribute points. I've upped the quickness, but with only 1 level of Imp. Reflexes I'm no longer assured of getting into 2 phases of combat (I'll need to roll a 4 or better on 2 dice). A little nerve-racking, but no pain no gain...
Since I'm not going to get 8 combat pool anyhow, I moved a point of WILL into STR. figuring I get more bang for my buck having it in there. I also took the Empathic Sense that sidekick mentioned since it does seem to be a nice skill making my character worth having around in non-combat situations.

I've dumped the Athletics and added 2 each in Stealth/Etiquette. I've also changed my Martial Art to Pentjak Silat, since I'm going to be concentrating in weapons anyway.

He's no longer a bouncer of any sort. He works freelance exclusively as a bodyguard, specializing in situations where guns cannot be used.

My only thought is to move all 4 points of Imp Abl Combat into Edged Weapons, since it's more important for me to have successes in melee situations then bow firing situations.

I just have to ask, why are you playing an Adept?

Anyhows, regardless, I think moving all 4 to Edged is an EXCELLENT... ney... REQUIRED change. The idea behind playing an Adept is specialization. If you don't specialize, you can do more as a Cyber type (short-term anyhows, admittedly, long term Adepts have unlimited potential).

Other than that, the 'roll' part is looking very good. Can I ask why you opted to take Empathic Sense? Just curious, not saying it's a bad nor good idea.

Sphynx

Well, adepts are nice stealth bodyguards, since they look like normal Joe-boys but in fact can tangle pretty well with any cybered up goons that come at you. Mind you, as a Troll you lose some of the nice inconspicuousness of being an adept, but it you can still walk through a cyber detector at a meet and come out clean

Well DrVital, great thing about taking Reflexes at 1 is that it's only 1 Initiation to get the 2nd if you want. Take survival powers first, and the niceties later on for best results.

Anyhows, since you'd consider a Geasa, I'd personally recommend going ahead and doing that anyhows and get yourself a +5 or the full +6 if you can deal with getting Empathic Sense later. However, that's when you go from well rounded to munchkin.

Sphynx

I'm curious - what are the maneuvers for Pentjak Silat? You don't have them listed. It is a great choice for edged weapons specialists - you can take Close Combat and Whirling for weapons.

Dikoting (found in Man & Machine) gives you +1 Power and +1 Damage level for edged weapons, but it costs something like 1,000 per 10 square centimeters, so you will be unlikely to afford coating your swords with it to start. You could probably coat the knife, and maybe an arrow or two (just be sure that you kill your target, or he'll be running off with a 1,000 arrow sticking out of him. "Hey! Come back here with my arrow!" )

You might want to reconsider the +1 Quickness. You don't really need it for anything yet - you won't even have penalties from your armor with a 5 Quickness - and you might lose a point of Combat Pool, but with that one point you could buy 2 more dice in Improved Ability/Edged. I would still move the dice from the bow over to the edged weapons as well, except - you might want to spend 0.5 points to get Vision Magnification and Flare Compensation (which will help your archery more than the extra dice, actually) and move the other 0.5 to edged (giving you +5 dice - which is about right for someone who is both a blade specialist and a bodyguard).

I would keep the empathic sense, though. It is GREAT for a bodyguard, as far as spotting people with violent emotions (don't overly depend on it, though, because pro hitters might feel no strong emotions at all about the person they are trying to whack).

Okay. I've been tweaking on this all day. I think he's done for now.

Not sure about the Empathic Sense, it's a perception test, TN4. With only a 4 Intelligence behind it, it hardly seems worth it. But what the heck, it's one dice off the roll. I'll take it and give the character more life outside of combat.

I took a geasa on Imp reaction (it'll end up being a dikoted miniature metal sword that's bandaged against his arm) and added flare comp. I don't think that vision mag exists for adepts...

Thanks for all the help. Fuji is a better man/mountain than I could have made him without you.

As far as the Dikote, what would you GM types charge me to coat my Katana? I've also determined that I could get a "bulk discount" on dikote tipped arrowheads, having them made up in a batch. 10 for 1,200. Hmm. Maybe it should be 2,200...

Vision Magnification does indeed exist for Adepts, with the bonus that with the cost of .25 P.P. the Adept gets the ability at its highest level. This also applies to any enhancement that has varying levels, such as Select Sound Filter, etc.