Wondering how some GM's out there would adjust a players stats if at all upon them becoming a wendigo? Or would you just add the critter powers and leave them to their old ork stats despite their new form?

who knows. you're pretty much gonna have to wait for someone to decide they need to make rules for it, because assuming there is any plan to make an official set of rules for wendigo (or other vampiric) PCs, i doubt it's gonna come out before your campaign starts.

if i had to take a guess, i'd say there's probably some physical stat increases (probably only to strength), and a chance to lose mental stats (iirc, the wendigo transformation often makes the person more animalistic). of course, not all wendigo will lose mental stats... so it should probably be a willpower test to avoid losing stats. maybe lose 3 points from logic, with hits on a willpower test reducing that loss on a 1:1 basis or something?

hard to say, really.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I would up the stats based on the info from Ancient History, using a reasonable amount of game balance, and taking into account the player's wishes for a playable wendigo PC.

On their first run together, I would have the wendigo eat the party.

Wendigo PC = Dikoted Orbital Drop Bear Spirits

Wendigos don't eat people on their first run. Wendigos persuade their victims to kill and eat oother people first, becuase they like the teste of cannibals. They'll usually run huge cannibal cults, occasionaly picking out a member to use as a snack. The great thing is they they only have to eat two people per year, so it is realitivly easy to keep the numbers up.

I wouldn't increase the stats. I would automaticly give the character the Magician Quality (Shaman tradition) and a Mentor Spirit (some predatory animal). All Wendigos are shaman of predatory totems, apparently.

the wendigo is, very specifical, an orc mage who contracts HMMHV. its a sub-species of ghoul. and its quite possible that a PC infected in such a way minght simply end up as a ghoul.

unless you goblinize directly into a windigo (possible but rare), then its probably going to come down to infection of a sub-group with only some becoming wendigo. as they are mages, there may be some magical ritual involved into infecting a new wendigo.

only time ive seen wendigo focused on, was in the 'find your own truth' trilogy. the main characters sister became a wendigo.

And Bruckner-Langer kills metas and turns humans into Nosferatu while HMHVV-II only affects Sasquatches by turning them into Bandersnatches. And so on.

Wendigos couldn't establish and run large cannibal cults if they are only as intelligent as a trained dog.

What happened to just turning the PC in an NPC? Have his old friends hunt him down and stuff. Nice story potential.

It's damn unpractical to have a PC turn into a Wendigo and stay in the team. ¸

The remaining PCs have to become complicit to the Wendigo's eating habit ; unless you are dealing with a seriously disturbed team, this ain't gonna fly well regarding Roleplay. Even in prisons full of killers there is a distinction between a contract killer, a child killer and a damn cannibal! As a player I'd be annopyed to have a Wendigo thrust on me ; the natural thing to do would be to kill it, flee from it or capture it and lock it up and seek a cure if he's my good buddy/brother. Keep it in the team as an active member? What, now I have to compromise the normal roleplaying of my PC so I accomodate a munchkin fantasy on the team? Ugh.

Secondly, the Wendigo PC is probably far more powerful than the rest of the team now. This also usually doesn't fly well, but this time on a metagame level.

Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm petty, but if another PC is far more powerful than mine it always pisses me off. 'I didn't come to the table to play a sidekick or to watch the Wendigo Show!' would be my initial feeling.

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EDIT : You said you wanted to adjust a players stat but didn't state whether or nor he was turning into a NPC...

If he remains a PC nothing you will do will be practical ; either you make him too strong or you balance him against the PC and undercut future Wendigos.

If it's for turning him in a NPC ; cut loose. Assume normal stats of 3 everywhere for the Wendigo normal block stats, return the orc PC to unmodified stats (-3 bod, -2 strenght) and add the new modifier. Voilà.

I assume he'd expel cyberware and bioware if any and regenarate any lost body part plus develop magic. Keep old skill and learn as much magic skill as tickle your fancy.

GOD NO!!!!!

I would NEVER let a PC play a wendigo. The act of turning a PC into a wendigo AUTOMATICALLY makes the PC an NPC.

The same goes for ALL HMHVV-I/II/II creatures. The only HMHVV I allow on limited cases is ghouls and the PC better have a great backstory.

For what it's worth, I think we're all acting a bit snobbish. Ultimately, the GMs should run whatever game they and the players would enjoy. If the story has run so that the player got infected, and the player wants to keep his PC, and nobody cares about the change in power level, then why not? It's not like the Gaming Gestapo is going to show up in the middle of the night and take his dice away... Maybe the whole group gets infected, and you hand-wave past the Sapience thing and just create an evil cabal of infected shadowrunners.

There were a large number of threads in the SR3 days about house rules for playing infected characters. Bull had a set of rules he put together here that you could adapt. Note that getting infected won't effect all characters equally:

• Mages and Adepts were already awakened, so they're not gaining there, but their new powers will be useful.
• Street Sams end up losing all their 'ware, in exchange for getting some nifty powers, and becoming awakened (but they don't know sorcery, conjuring, any spells, etc so they can't use their new magic rating effectively.)

I don't think a Wendigo PC will be overpowered, his flaws are a severe drawback as well his physical appearance, even though that could be disguised with an illusion spell.

Oh come one, if you can't find 2 people a year in 2070 that just plain need killin' you ain't even tryin'. The fact that you need to gnaw then to death is not really relevant. Johnson stiffs you? Eat him.

Is killing Clones illegal?
An killing a SINless? He doesn't exist for the system, after all...

I would have to agree with the "GOD NO" bunch.

If you let a player become a wendigo not only will it be a nightmare to run, but also that character is simply going to become the centre of your story. This will marginalise all the other characters as they are forced to abandon their own goals in order to fit in with the wendigo.
The wendigos superior powers will again tend to marginalise your other PCs.

Spot on, Charon.

Remember, the Wendigo most people think of (from the novels at least) is Sam Verner's sister, right? Well, just being a Wendigo meant she was capable of holding her on own a 'run with Ghost Who Walks Inside (among others).

Think about that, before you plan on tossing a Wendigo into a game with a bunch of regular Plain Jane shadowrunners.

Sorry all, I had to rebuild my comp and have been unable to post for the last couple of days. To explain further I am not asking if anyone thinks this is a good idea, or if it is munchkins pipe dream. But if you did have to handle it, would you change the stats and if so by how much? Along with any ideas on things I should remember to flesh out, bounty, appearance, general wendigo lore. There is not all that much info in the core 4th ed book, and the only other book I have that mentions them is the Secrets of Power novels.

The campaign has so far had a high pay scale. Most of the jobs the group has taken me up on have been wet work, so moral concerns over a cannibal should not come up. Unless its for their own person. I cant see the group killing him for the bounty alone, unless it was very high. All the players have personal side projects when not on a run that keep them busy.

The PC is a ork wolf shaman, and has roleplayed it very well. He has three rat holes in the puyallup barrens. With the Physical Mask spell and the metamagic power Masking to handle his appearance. I think it should mostly balance out with the proper flaws and allergys. I know about the drain to keep up the Mask spell and the -4 to all dice pools and lack of regen while in sunlight. The regen power its self has a number of certain types of damage that cannot be healed.

Any help on other things I can round out or have missed, rolls I should remember and such would really help me out. Thanks for the posts, I had not thought of him infecting the other runners. And how common is a background in paranimals or knowledge of wendigos? Would most common slags know one on sight? Would the average wage mage or runner know one on in the astral from a sasquatch? Most cyber melee weapos would count as ferrous metal correct?