1. Could you possibly give us your reasoning behind this. This doesn't make any sense. His actual natural magic is still going to be 3, it is just modified to 1 because of his essence. It will still cost the same to raise it to 4. He isn't raising his magic to 2, it is 4 and he pays for raising it to 4. I also don't think bone density 4 is worth it. Just get an armor jacket with a helmet or camouflage suite with a helmet. He would have to raise his body and strength for this.

2. I agree with karma vs BP efficiency. If you wanted to stick to efficiency "to a T" you wouldn't have any skills below 4. At the very least maybe 3 where it is still a little more efficient than a 1:1 ratio.

3. I agree with the metahuman strong attributes.

4. I agree with the armorer and palming as well. I would also suggest he change his charisma to 1 and put it towards getting an intuition of 5.

5. I agree here again about the specializations. It just isn't worth it. That 2BP can be spent elsewhere more efficiently.

6. The way to a well-rounded character that still is efficient is skill wires. For 12BP you can get 6 skills at 3. That is 72BP worth of skills for 12BP. An adept isn't a good choice for a well-rounded character. The most effective adepts I have seen are social adepts, and phys adepts with critical strike, killing hands, and elemental strike. You could also go for the phys adept with power throw.

IRIAN:

I would suggest not having so many weapon skills. You really only need one weapon skill. Get rid of 2 of these (close combat, pistols, or automatics). I would suggest close combat and pistols. Close combat because you don't have anything helping you to do any damage. You will be egregious at close combat. Pistols because any automatic weapon is better than a pistol. Gunslingers are very very egregious. You have to split your dicepool. You would need close to 20 dice to even start being effective. Even then, you could be more effective doing called shots with only one pistol.

Get rid of imp. sense(infra) and sustenance. You can get glasses with thermographic vision and ultrasound. Sustenance is just, lame. I would rather get a survival skill for this. If you want to be able to go without sleep, get a sleep regulator. Those adept power points are precious, spend them carefully. 20,000 or 4BP for gear is not going to be enough. The least I have been able to get away with was maybe in the 13-15BP range and this was for a mage.

You don't need a dodge skill of 6. I would suggest getting a 6 in a skill you will be using a lot. I suggest a weapon skill. With combat sense 3 you will be just fine.

EDIT: One other thing, Improved Reflexes costs 3 power points. If you get rid of sensitive system and get synaptic boosters 2, that would remove 1 magic. In effect, this would be 1 power point spent rather than 3. Also, contrary to what some have said, multiple IPs are almost essential in being effective in combat. They also do help in defense because you can do a full defense, yet still be able to attack in your other IPs. If you did not have the extra IPs you might not have been able to afford to do a full defense if you have already attacked the enemy, or actually needed to attack the enemy. Extra IPs allow you to be more versatile and not only have a power advantage over the enemy but also strategic.

Indeed, I can give you my reasoning behind this :

Adept starts with 3 Magic by buying it with BPs.
Gets 2 points worth of Cyberware, so Magic drops to 1.
Starts playing the game, earns 6 karma, raises Magic to 2.

The only thing the Essence Loss modifies is the Magic maximum rating - raising a Magic attribute that has been decreased by Essence Loss from 1 to 2 costs the same as raising a Magic Attribute that hasn't been decreased by Essence Loss from 1 to 2.

You seem to think otherwise. Perhaps I've missed the rule in the book, but I don't think so - I think the only rule there is specifically states the Magic max rating.
So in other words, he doesn't have Magic 3(1), he just has Magic 1.

However, if I'm mistaken and you do have a reference, thanks for giving me the page number.

Also, taking Bone density enables you to have it on top of a 1200 Camouflage suit (from the remaining 10k).

10k worth of gear is enough to get you by for the first run: get a good assault rifle, a good pistol, a camouflage suit, basic commlink, basic ammo, some smartlinked glasses, and off you go.
You can buy the nifty but less essential stuff later from your fixer.

Finally, Sensitive system gives you a penalty only towards Cyberware - Bioware is as normal.


Cheers,
Fumble.

Somehow, sustenance is just badass.
"Yeah, I'm mister badass, I don't sleep, I don't eat, I hardly need to drink... Yeah, haven't come round to that breathing thing... yet..."

I personnally love it !
It's just such a cheap way to be badass


Smartlink your glasses rather than your eyes - more essence friendly.
And when you do loose those glasses.. Well, it's just not such a big deal in this edition as it used to be (+2 dice is not nearly as powerful as -2 TN), so you're still fine.


Cheers,
Fumble.

Wouldn't it be better to use 40 BP on magic and then get wired reflexes instead of synaptic boosters? Since wired reflexes are much cheaper I don't think it costs significantly more, might even be less (I can't remember the exact price of wired reflexes). Then you can latter replace the Wired reflexes with synaptic boosters and you have a large essence hole you can fill with varies cyber or bio goodies.

Well spotted !
It would indeed be better at creation.

However, it depends on the kind of game you run - my group doesn't get particularly high payment (we do get dangerous missions with some karma, though), so the prospect of me getting 160k for my synaptic booster later in the game is slim - which influenced my advice, indeed.

Also, if you use the synaptic booster, you get some "Essence space" to squeeze in Bone density, and still keep it under 2 ess.

Then you get magic 2.

Then you get some more cyberware, which gets you to magic 1 again.

Then you can improve your magic again at low cost, untill you reach 3, at which point you've got to initiate.

Cheers,
Fumble.

Yeah I can see how the money flow would play a role in which option to pick. I haven't played SR much, but what I played clearly proved to me that with our GMs money does in fact grow on trees.

...OK Electric Torch

By that logic, why not buy the cyberware first at char gen, that way you don't lose any magic when you purchase it.

Buy 2 ess worth of cyber,
buy magic 1 for 10 points
then start game

*shudder*

(OT)
Hah! Same here. That's the first thing that comes to mind even now, whenever somebody starts calling them torches.

In Italy, a torch is slang for a joint. This cause immense hilarity during a D&D game (in which, coincidentally, certain participants were stoned). "We need to buy torches" said the player who wasn't familiar with italian slang. Laughter. "Seriously, we only have six torches left - this will not last us the night!" More laughter. "There must be a shop in this town that sells torches. We need torches and food!" Eruptions of stoned giggling.

That game went on forever!

Again there is no effective Magic and actual Magic. Having bioware or cyberware reduce your Magic makes it easier to increase your Magic.

I agree with the gist of Glyph's post.

But I think Irian has 2 options: 4 for Athletics group(for Gymnastics and all round athletic ability) and 6 for Pistols; or 4 for Firearms and 6 for Dodge.

...that's not the way I understand it. Let's say, you start with a 6 MA, you burn out one point with 'ware that takes you to a 5 but you still have e 6 MA for basic purposes. So, in order to raise it back to 6 you actually have to raise it to 7 which means you have to initiate.

One simple question: Where does it say that? I only know for sure, that any lost essence will decrease your magic rating and your max magic. So I can't quite agree with you... If you lost essence, you only have magic 5 - the next point it the 6th.

Edit: So many possibilities... Perhaps I should try playing a whole group of adepts

There's nothing about a split magic attribute for "actual" and "real" magic. Magic rating is reduced by one. The character in the example has Magic 3. So the next point will cost him 12 (4 * 3) Karma. Simple.

So I agree to laughingowl, until someone shows me a quote (or page number) where it is ruled otherwise

...then again 4th ed is broken for in past editions (at least in SRIII) that is the way it worked.

Technically, that might be doable. But in an actual compaign, you'll be starting out with low amounts of cyber/bio and a low Magic, putting you behind dedicated sammies and adepts alike. Plus, you'll be constantly getting surgery, and spending your Karma on merely keeping your Magic at the same rating. Yeah, you'll save Karma over the long haul, but in the meantime you'll be stuck with a frustratingly weak character who gets de-powered in areas with even the weakest background count.

Min-max doesn't always mean "cheapest". Hard-maxing your Magic and then getting synaptic accelerator: 2 is hideously expensive, but can be used to make a brutally effective combat adept.