Hi everybody! I'm in a bit of a conundrum, I've finally been awakened (never thought it would ever happen) but now have no clue what to choose. I can either go shaman, mage, or adept (is an adept mage the same thing as a mage w/ extra powers or is it something else completely?). One of the main problems is that I lost both of my arms so my replacement arms eat esscence. Also in our currently setting a Great Dragon took over Florida and placed it under marital law in order to find us (we pissed him off) so I'm not certain how I can initate myself when I'm fleeing for my life...

Currently my essence is 3.08
My Bio Index is 2.92

My body is 6(1) = 7
Quickness is 6(4) = 10
Strenght = 7(3) = 10
Charisma = 4
Intelligence = 7
Willpower = 5

Dare I say, examine what is most fitting for the character and what you most want to play, cross reference what is best for the game.
With your effective magic score it matters little what your tradition from power point of view. Concentrate more what would make for the best roleplay fun.

Edit: My surggestion: Totemic adept for the roleplay potential and the maximum use of your point of magic.

I was thinking mage/adept but am not sure how to initiate myself. One of our mentors died and I cased his place (better us have it then the Lone Star). I have magical books but most of them are in languages I don’t understand (Sumerian is the only one I know). This is for the SR3 system. I’m not certain what would be necessary to initiate myself. Is there trials I’d have to go through? If so what type of trials would be?

It looks like you're already set up to be an augmented sam. You'd have to become a triple-initiate to match the starting magic available to a newbie 'runner mage.

Honestly, I'd say don't bother with Initiating, and get some more cyber to drop your Essence score below 1. that way the dragon will have a harder time tracking you than if you were awakened.

I'd also say just blow your own brains out now, since let's face it - you have a Great Dragon pissed off enough at you to personally conquer a significant chunk of the Carribean Leauge and put it under Martial Law just to find your team.

XD that'd be fun but I dont think we'd have enough time to get me supped up. Unfortunately the dragon is after us because we have a magical box that breaks one of the laws of magic. Me and the group have decided we're gonna try, even if it kills us. I'm gonna try to either pawn each item off to other dragons (different dragons get different items) before I roll over. Giving one of those bastards that amount of power is just crazy. There's powerful enough as is... And this way they'd duke it out with eachother.

Considering that your character is in a situation of being pursued and having little time left, I would avoid any magical tradition which will force you to learn an all-new set of skills, and have a ways to go before being as effective as a starting mage or shaman. I agree that dealing with a Totem and all-new fledgling abilities would be fun in a more extended campaign, but it doesn't sound like this character will live long enough to explore those options.

Instead, take adept. You may only get a point's worth of powers, but they can complement your sammie abilities. For your first point, you can pick up killing hands, so that you will be much more effective battling spirits. Then you can initiate and get two points of improved ability to boost one of your combat skills. And so on.

I would ignore the curmudgeons, and go with either the mage or the shaman option because it has an awful lot of rp value. There is much more fun you can have with the shaman angle. A totem guide would be really cool to help you through this. Don't bother with initiating for the short term. If you need too, you can just do it yourself. you pay more in karma, but it's about the fun value you are going for, not a number crunching. Who cares if your magic rating is 1. it's better than 0.

My advice hinges upon the game and the GM. If the primary focus is telling an interesting story, pick a tradition with the most RP benefits. If the primary focus is overcoming the challenges the GM sets up, I'd go with the tradition that gives you the biggest power boost.

This is not to say a game that hinges upon challenge won't have an interesting story, or that a story based game won't have plenty of mechanical challenge. Its a question of which aspect has an edge on the other one. To put another way, you can't roleplay your character if its dead.