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Tomothy
Any feedback would be appreciated. Originally I was gonna use a normal Adept but I think Physical Mask is less complicated and more versatile than disguises. I also decided to drop improved reflexes to get more kinesics. I don't want my character to be a good social adept that can survive a fight. I want him to be a great social adept that never gets into fights.

=Loki=

Mystic Adept - Black Mage/Social Adept
Race: Elven

BREAKDOWN (400 Points)
Core Attributes: 200
Special Attributes: 80
Race: 30
Active Skills: 90
Qualities: -15
Contacts: 5
Resources: 1
Spells: 9

=Attributes=
Body: 3
Agility: 3
Reaction: 4
Strength: 2
Charisma: 7
Intuition: 5
Logic: 3
Willpower: 4
Magic: 5
Edge: 5

Essence: 6

=Qualities=
First Impression
Mentor Spirit (Trickster)
Mystic Adept
Allergy (Mod, Sea)
Sensitive System
Spirit Bane (Guidance)

=Active Skills=
Counterspelling: 2
Influence Skill Group: 4
Perception: 1
Spellcasting (Illusions): 3 (+2)
Stealth Skill Group: 4

=Knowledge Skills=
24 points of Appropriate Knowledge Skills

=Adept Abilities=
Kinesics: 4

=Spells=
Improved Invisibility
Orgasm
Physical Mask

=Contacts=
Fixer (Connection: 3/Loyalty: 2)

=Lifestyle and Gear=
Armour Clothing
Actioneer Business Clothes
Meta Link Commlink (w/Vector Xim)
AR Gloves
Subvocal Microphone
Contacts (w/Image Link and Vision Enhancement 2)
Earbuds (w/Audio Enhancement 1)
Certified Credstick
Low Lifestyle (1 Month)
Kyoto Kid
[edit - addendum]

...I would at least get a Increase Reflexes spell and put it on a Sustaining focus so he has more than 1 IP. Smooth talking won't do much against the sammy who can drill you before you can nail him with your spell. If he somehow resists (since you will only be able to cast a Force 3) then he has two more IPs to turn the character into swiss cheese or julienne fries.

Having a high edge is good but I have found a rating of 4 can still be really effective.

And for when the drek really hits the fan, I would at least have him pick up Pistols or some form of Combat spell like Stunball, and Dodge skill. I would ditch the Stealth Group & take just Infiltration since he already has Physical Mask and is not going to depend on disguise based adept abilities. This would free up BPs for other skills, spells and more contacts.

Moon Maiden would also be a good Mentor spirit since you get +2 to Negotiation (very handy at meets, getting hard to acquire gear etc.) and Illusion spells.

Also a face should have more contacts than just a Fixer. Granted it was a bit easier in previous editions since you spent resources instead of BPs on contacts. Good choices would include someone in LoneStar, a Detective, a Syndicate member, a Media type, and/or a Bartender/Club owner. If your GM allows it, you can get 14 "free" BPs for contacts using Blakkie's House rule (Charisma x 2 in contact BPs). Almost everyone I game with has adopted this rule.

It would be interesting to see what Knowledge skills he chooses. These can come in really handy during legwork.

ShadowDragon
Consider going straight mage. I think you mentioned in another post that you're new to SR, and mystic adepts are notoriously difficult to play; this is not a good mix. Instead of kinesics you can learn the increase charisma spell for nearly the same effect, and you'll have a much more effective character (access to astral space, higher force spells).

What do you need 5 intuition for? If you're going to avoid getting into combat, you have no need for a high initiative. Lower that to 3 and take the spells increase reflexes, stunbolt, and heal, then raise your will to 5 for the extra stun damage box and better drain mitigation. Put the last point into contacts.

It seems very strange that such a charismatic character has one mediocre contact. I'd ask your GM if he could add the popular cha x 2 or 3 free contact points houserule. Then I'd lower my edge a point or two and take more contacts.

Why did you limit your audio/visual enhancements to 2/1? Find the cash for 3/3 and squeeze in more modifications. Glasses and contacts overlap.

Guidance spirit bane is a nice touch for a mage named Loki smile.gif
TheOOB
Eeep, I'm not seeing infiltraition, which is an essential skill for anyone who makes a living doing things that are less then legal, I'm also seeing nothing in the way of combat skills. Avoiding fights is fine and dandy, the shadowrunner who always rushes into battle head first is usually dead, but part of what makes a shadowrunner more then a common criminal is that they do the dangerous jobs, and they can still handle themselves when the fecal matter hits the ocelating device. I don't care how good you are, fights will happen, and you need to be able to defend yourself. For only 6 BP you can get pistols(semi-automatics) which will be good enough for a start.

I also find it a bit confusing that you are a black mage, a member of a spirit oriented tradition, and you don't even have summoning. Black mages deal with demons and evil spirits to get their spells, so it stands to reason that you would be able to summon them, plus spirits can do the fighting for you should it come to it.

A cool trick for magicians who can summon spirits of men like you, summon a force 4+ spirit of man and give them the optional power innate spell(increase reflexes), then by using a service you can have them cast the spell on you. As long as you don't have them do something else, they should only need to use the "continuous use of a power" service once to keep you going all day.
Kyoto Kid
..he has the Stealth Skill Group which includes Infiltration.
nathanross
Do the Voodoo mon, and min-max more, why are you paying for an extra point of strength? You dont need it, so get rid of it. Also Voodoo elf mystic adepts are the way to go for anyone who lovest that oh so sweet taste of power.

A player I ran with for one session (before everyone else who played with him threatened to quit) used his spirits to boost his Charisma to 12 and then conjure more spirits with the increased Charisma. Totally broken, thats why you will hear Kyoto ranting and raving in your Possesion thread.

Though it probably doesnt fit with your concept, I have to agree that Mystic adept isnt exactly crucial either. Sure, Kinesics rocks, and being able to throw more dice than you own in a negotiations test with exploding sixes also rocks, you need some balance and really need to rethink your BP spending. I personally think you are spread too thin and will not be effective enough at what you really want to be doing. Go full mage, and you sure you dont want to go Norse?
Tomothy
Kyoto Kid: If I'm constantly changing identities or even just plain invisible I'd like to think a Sammy would have a hard time finding me. Even if he did I'd want to use Orgasm on him to take him out of contention.

I like the free points worth of contacts rules but I don't have a GM. I live in Sydney which is apparently devoid of Shadowrunners. Besides this character isn't meant to be a face.

I don't like the idea of taking increased reflexes spell when it seems out of character. I have to admit it would annoy me if every mage I ever encountered happened to have increased reflexes and a sustaining focus.

Shadowdragon: I am new and you're probably right in saying that I'd be better off going straight mage. I was just trying to build a character that I had in my mind and this is where I ended up. Unfortunately I haven't had any experience actually playing which makes it hard to know which skills are more useful than others.

TheOOB: Infiltration is in the stealth skill group. You're probably right, fights will happen and even the best laid plans don't work out but that's part of the fun isn't it? You take the jobs you think you can do and lay the best plans you can and see how things work out.

Black Magic was the only Charisma based tradition that fitted in with the characters "Con Elf" identity. Self-centred and self-serving.

This was my other idea for a runner:

=Wahn=

Koradji
Race: Elven

BREAKDOWN (400 Points)
Core Attributes: 180
Special Attributes: 70
Race: 30
Active Skills: 112
Qualities: -15
Contacts: 0 (21 Free)
Resources: 2
Spells: 21

=Attributes=
Body: 1
Agility: 2
Reaction: 3
Strength: 1
Charisma: 7
Intuition: 5
Logic: 5
Willpower: 5
Magic: 5
Edge: 4

Essence: 6

=Qualities=
Magician
Mentor Spirit (Crow) [Raven]
Addiction (Mild, Psyche)
Incompetent (Hacking)
Sensitive System
Spirit Bane (Man)

=Active Skills=
Arcana: 1
Assensing: 2
Astral Combat: 2
Conjuring Skill Group: 4
Influence Skill Group: 1
Perception: 1
Sorcery Skill Group: 4


=Knowledge Skills=
30 points of Appropriate Knowledge Skills

=Spells=
Alter Memory
Control Thoughts
Influence
Manabolt
Mask
Mind Probe
Mob Mind

=Lifestyle and Gear=
Magical Lodge (Force 5); Binding Materials (Force 5); Meta Link Commlink (w/Vector Xim OS); Contact Lenses (w/Image Link, Vision Enhancement 3 and Vision Magnification); AR Gloves; Headphones (w/Audio Enhancement 2); Subvocal Microphone; Survival Kit; Fake SIN (Rating 3); Squatter Lifestyle (1 Month).
TheOOB
Eep, I totally blanked on the stealth skill group. Just remember, as a mystic adept or a magician, tradition is the most important choice you'll ever make. If none of the traditions fit make your own, just keep in mind that charisma based traditions usually gain their power through consorting with spirits, hence why a charismatic character (who gets along with spirits better) has an easier time with it.
Kyoto Kid
...I admire the idea of not "ubering" an awakened character with "boosted this" & "boosted that". Unfortunately I have been in too many groups where if you didn't hype up the initiative & reaction, the character was basically dead meat on the first run.

In previous editions it was easier to survive without maxxing initiative, particularly for physad melee types because of the counterattack rule. My SR1 - SR3 namesake only had 2d6 (equivalent to 2 IPs), a single digit Reaction score, yet retired as a 300 Karma character. She was actually more dangerous when on the defensive.

There are a number of ways that Improved Invisibility can be defeated by mundane methods including ultrasound, and heightened sense of hearing or smell (the spell does not block these senses, just visual). Environmental situations like mist or dense fog can also betray the character. During the last run I GMed, I had one mage consider casting II on the team to sneak up on an installation only to realise it had been snowing & the footprints would still be visible.

The concept of a "con man" type is actually a rather nice one, & yes I can see how the Trickster mentor fits. I was just throwing out ideas based on your previous thread about Social Adepts, most of which I have seen, tend to be or become the team's face.

It is sad that nobody in Sydney plays SR. For a while I felt the same was true here in Portland (OR). I see you have posted in the GM/Players Registry on the General Gaming forum. Have patience, I now have two SR "tracks" I am involved with when only a month ago things looked very bleak.
Glyph
I actually like your first character. You need to ask yourself what kind of game your GM is running, though, and whether the other players would be willing to pick up the slack for a non-combattant who provides them with other benefits (such as negotiating better pay for them and getting them past security checkpoints and other tricky situations).

I see your point about "every mage has increased reflexes", but that's kind of like saying "every street samurai has a smartlink". Extra initiative passes are extremely useful, even when you're not fighting, so I would recommend either starting out with it, or picking it up soon (since he is not a combat-oriented character, I would rate that spell as useful, but not essential - but you should still pick it up eventually). I would also recommend levitation, which in addition to its many other uses, is a great spell for expeditious retreat.

TheOOB is right about the summoning, though. It is a strong part of the tradition that you have chosen, and it would fit the character concept to summon up "muscle" to take care of the distasteful business if it comes down to fighting (and despite your muscular social skill set, there will still be times when negotiation won't even get a chance to come into play).

How to get it is tough, though. You could drop Strength to 1 and Intuition to a still respectable 4, to pick up summoning: 5. Or, you could split up your Stealth skill group - I would really hate to do that, since they are all useful skills. But you could get summoning/specific spirit: 3/+2, disguise/cosmetic: 3/+2, and the other stealth skills at 1. The first option seems less painful to me.

For a socially-oriented character, mystic adept is actually a good choice, and your split of abilities is also good - 3 lets you start of as a decent mage, and kinesics rocks. The only change that I would suggest, since you have such decent social abilities, would be to sacrifice a single point of kinesics to get the useful Commanding Voice and Nimble Fingers adept powers.
snowRaven
I'd lower Kinesics by 1 point and get some other social adept power, maybe Commanding Voice and Cool Resolve 1.

I'd lower Intiution by 1 and Edge by 1 and get some more contacts and maybe an additional skillpoint or two - Preferrably Dodge 2 or 3 so you'll have a slightly easier time getting out of combat using full dodge while seeking cover. Maybe 1 point higher Spellcasting.

That said - I like the character, and the concept. Very nice.
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