We're getting into SR Missions in our area, and this is my prospective character for it. His specialty will be the wheelman (not a rigger, due to a bad IC incident that Scorched him and gave him Simsense Vertigo) with a decent array of firepower he can bring to bear. He's a weapons generalist, believing there's the right gun for the right situation. Also, he's got gear to handle rudimentary B&E, in case the team is without a proper specialist.

In his background, he was a DocWagon hot-zone ambulence driver, who was just beginning training in the Air Response branch when he was in a near fatal accident (caused by the above IC attack) in which he was believed to be killed. ("Missing, presumed dead".) Which meant when the Crash of '64 went down, he wasn't on the "active people list" or whatever that was used to restore peoples' SINs.

Meta: Ork

Attributes:
Bod: 7
Agi: 4(6)
Rea: 5(7)
Str: 5(7)
Cha: 2
Int: 3
Log: 2
Wil: 3
Edge: 4
Init: 8(10)
IP: 1(3)
Ess: 2.25

Qualities:
Moderate Addiction (mmm...beer)
Simsense Vertigo
Scorched

Skills:
Firearms Group: 4
Athletics Group: 1
Influence Group: 1
Stealth Group: 1
Dodge: 4
Unarmed Combat: 4
First Aid: 2
Pilot Ground Craft: 6
Pilot Aircraft: 2
Heavy Weapons: 1
Perception: 1

Knowledges:
English: N
Or'zet: 2
Security Procedures: 1
Hospital Routes: 3
Gang Turf: 2
Mafia: 2
Yazuka: 2
Smuggling Routes: 2
Sports: 1
Augmentations:
Obvious/Synthetic Hand (one of those interchangeables from Augmentation)
-Cyberspur in the Obvious Hand
Datajack
Wired Reflexes 2
Muscle Toner 2
Muscle Augmentation 2

Gear: (75k worth)
A bunch of guns, and bullets.
Armor Jacket (Fire resist 6, nonconductivity 6)
Helmet (covered in synthleather, WWI style)
Commlink (R:3, S:3 Novatech Airwave)
-OS (F:3, S:3 Iris Orb)
-Edit 3, Browse 3
Tag Eraser, Area Jammer 4
Goggles (Ultrasound Vision, Vision Enhancement 3)
Earbud (Audio Enhancement 3, Select Sound Filter 3)
Autpicker 6, Maglock Passkey 4, Sequencer 4
Fake SIN 2 (for everyday stuff like rent and groceries)
2xFake License 4 (for the above SIN, one for firearms, one for cyberware)
Fake SIN 4 (for use in job-related activities, where scrutiny is probably higher)
2xFake License 4 (for the above SIN, one for firearms, one for cyberware)
GMC Bulldog
Medkit 6, 4x Stim Patch 6, 4x Tranq Patch 6

Contacts:
Mechanic (L2, C3)
Fixer (L1, C4)
Hospital Worker (L3, C2)


I know he's not min/max'ed (at least I hope not; if I could stack Reaction Enhancers with Wired Reflexes, he'd only have WR1) but I think he'll be lots of fun.

I know it's part of the character concept, but I'd be really careful about simsense vertigo; in the age of Matrix 2.0 it's essentially the worst common mild allergy EVER since AR is the defacto standard for intereacting with commlinks now. It also effectively cancels out any bonus from say, a smartlink, and since it even mentions image links, it's quite feasible that it means your Ultrasound Vision goggles could cause disorientation as well. I'd really recommend dropping a point of strength to get rid of it; an augmented 6 is still plenty beefy and won't really hurt your melee ability. Besides that, a VCR (provided you ditch Vertigo, of course) would be nice, even if he only used it in emergencies due to his fear of getting Scorched again.

...makes a very good wheelman with a 12 DP. Don't really need a Vehicle Rig anyway since it doesn't really add all that much to vehicle operation (unless you wish to fire vehicle mounted weapons). For that fact even Smartlinks are really not all that important anymore what with the change from a variable to fixed Target Number. All they do now is add 2 extra dice to your pool rather than reduce the TN which had more of an impact in the previous editions since you were only looking for 2s as a success up to short range).

If you have any BPs left over, consider adding a Cyber Weapons specialisation for your unarmed combat (or do so with your first Karma award).

He's got the best ride for the money in the Bulldog.

I also like the fact he's picked up a couple of general use programmes. I see so few characters who aren't "Matrix Specialists" (my term since hacker sounds so gauche) do this.

Normally I don't take many skills at 1, but his linked attributes (Agility & Strength) do give him a respectable pool in Athletics group.

Since he has only a 2 Charisma, I would consider dropping the influence group and just taking Etiquette 2 (Street) for the same number of BPs. That would give him 6 dice instead of 3. This reduces the possibility of glitching on a social roll. Leadership (part of the Influence Group) really isn't worth it & I'm sure the team he's on will have a face to handle the more delicate Negotiation tasks.

I like the Docwagon Background. My Character Kat Markova also had a previous association with DW in her background as well.

...actually several. In one group there we had only a couple players so we each played two characters. I'm in three different SR campaigns that we switch off between. Also, some characters are my "second stringers" for when my main characters are out of action due to things recovering from injury, doing extended research, going off & meditating to get more adept powers, etc.

...however, let's please not derail tyweise's character thread discussing other characters unless it has a relation to the subject.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Yeah, I know the simsense thing is harsh. That's why he picked guns that came with laser sights instead of smartlinks. Although, I was thinking that it still might be beneficial to have smartlinked guns; could I use the other benefits of smartlink (free action clip ejects, airburst link, etc.) if I didn't connect it to the visual display? (Obviously, no targetting help and no +2 DP.)

I basically wanted him to have a reason not to jump in and just Rig a vehicle. For me, having the man at the wheel, physically driving the A-Team van, is just too classic an image to do away with. It will also provide me with endless ammo to play the grumbling old-timer (he'll probably be in his 30's) when even so much as ordering a drink at the bar usually means ordering off an AR menu.

The DocWagon background I picked up from someone posting here. I had some cliche spec-forces black-ops bliggety-blah thing in mind initially, but the DocWagon thing is just so much more believable.

I did think about advancement a lot with his initial build. That's why I don't have an specializations to start with. (Cyberweapons, Ranged Dodge, Wheeled vehicles all come to mind as ones I'll pick up quick.) Also, I wanted him to be able to roll on a lot of common skills without defaulting, which is why I picked up the skillgroups at 1, and perception and heavy weapons. Going forward, I'll probably just advance individual skills out of those groups (like ettiquette, infiltration...)

This guy has no computer skill, especially now that it's mostly all AR and VR. So he wanted some basic programs that help take care of text editing/email (Edit) and Matrix websurfing (Browse.) Maybe I should pick him up a cheap Agent so he has to do even less of that himself.

...another idea would be to have a Hacker contact who will spoof your datatrail for you. make him/her heavier on the Loyalty than the Connection rating if you go this route.

You may want to try to raise his perception up unless you were going to play him not noticing things when driving and swerving away at the last moment. If you do he should so be of Asian decent. I tease my girlfriend all the time. She shakes her finger at me and then laughs.