Abbandon
Feb 5 2008, 09:30 PM
Well I was going through street magic to find some things to maybe replace on one of my unused characters who is an adept and I spotted some cool abilities I didnt really notice my first time through the book. So I just had to hurry up and make the character. This is my ode to Gambit from x-men.
CODE
Cherry (Meta-type: Human Female. bp)total bp 400
Height: 5'6" Wieght: 120 lbs
Attributes: (200 bps)
Body: 4/6 +30bp
Agility: 5/6 +40bp
Reaction: 4(6)/6 +30bp
Strength: 5/6 +40bp
Charisma: 2/6 +10bp
Intuition: 4/6 +30bp
Logic: 2/6 +10bp
Willpower: 2/6 +10bp
Magic: 6 +65bp
Initiative: 8(10)
Condition Monitor: 9S 10P
Edge: 2
Init Pass: 3
Essense: 6.0
Qaulities:( 0 difference)
Postive:(-35)
- Adept -5BP
- Natural Immunity -15 bp: Gamma-Scopolamine, is immune to one does in a 12-body hour time frame.
- High Pain Tolerance 1 -5bp: Can suffer two extra boxes of damage before suffering a -1 modifier
- Toughness -10bp: +1 to all damage resistance tests
Negative:(+35)
- Sensitive System +15: Cyberware costs double essense, bio the same.
- Simsense Vertigo +10: -2 dice when looking at AR/VR images
- Astral Beacon +5: Astral signatures last twice as long, and others get +2 when assensing them.
- Incompetent Pilot(aircraft) +5: Unable to default or learn pilot(aircraft)
Adept Powers: (6.0 pp)
-Improved Reflexes 2 (-3 pp): +2 reaction, +2 IP's
-Agility Boost 1 (-.25 pp): Magic 6 + AB 3 test. Each hits boosts agility for hits x2 combat turns. Drain 3. Simple action.
-Missle Parry 1 (-.25 pp): Reaction + Missle parry =/+ can grab thrown objects out of air.
-Missle Mastery (-1.0 pp): Harmless objects become(Str/2)P(round up), Normal thrown weapons have +1 damage
-Nimble Fingers (-.25 pp): +1 to palming, manual dexterity actions become free actions.
-Quick Draw (-.5 pp): May draw and fire 1 item if complex, may draw and fire 2 if simple. Thrown + Reaction(2) test.
-Power Throw 3 (-.75 pp): +6 strength for determing range/damage of thrown objects.
Contacts: (8bp)
-Fencer 1/3
-Fixer 3/1
Active Skills:(122bp)
-Athletics 1 = 10bp
-First Aid 2 = 8bp
--spec: Trauma wounds (4) = 2bp
-Etiquette 1 = 4bp
-Con 2 = 8bp
--spec: Seduction (4) = 2bp
-Palming 4 = 16bp
-Perception 4 = 16bp
-Thrown Weapons 5 = 20bp
--spec:Playing Cards (7) = 2bp
-Dodge 5 = 20bp
-Pilot(Ground) 4 = 16bp
Knowledge Skills: ([Int 4 + logic 2] x3 = 18 free bp)
-Card Tricks 3
-Poker 3
-Music 3
-Fencers 3
-Pool 3
-Dancing 3
Gear: 5bp =(25,000/25,000)
-Armor Jacket 8/6 900Y av: 2
-Glasses 25Y av: -
--Imagelink 25Y av: -
--Vision Enhance 3 300Y av: +4
--Vision Mag 100Y av: +2
--Low Light 100Y av: +4
--Flare Comp 50Y av: +2
--skinlinked 50
-Ear Buds 10Y
--Audio Enhance 3 300Y av: +2
--Select Sound 3 600Y av: +8
-subvocal mic 50Y av: 6
-10 Throwing Knives 20x10 200Y av: 2
-Defiance EX Shocker 150Y
-concealed holster 75Y
-clothes, dufflebag, 4 packs of playing cards 235Y
-Kawasaki Assassin(sport bike) 6,500Y av:-
-Fake SIN 4(Jessica Lachelle) 4000Y
--Fake License: Driving 4 400Y
Fake SIN 1(Aubry Pinsky) 4000Y
--Fake License: Driving 4 400Y
-<commlink #1> Erika Elite + Novatech Navi 4000Y
Response 3, Signal 4, Firewall 3, System 4
-<commlink #2> Meta Link + Vector Xim 300Y
--skinlinked 50
--mapsoft 6 30Y
Response 1, Signal 1, Firewall 1, System 1
--sim module 100Y
--skinlink 50
--skinned trodes (50+50) 100Y
-Low Income Lifestyle(1 month) 2000Y
Abbandon
Feb 5 2008, 09:43 PM
Has there been any rules for coating your edged weapons in chemicals and poisons? Should those effects stack on top of the weapons natural damage value? What kind of rules would you impose for handling "poisoned" throwing weapons? Would wearing gloves cancel out nimble fingers?
Rasumichin
Feb 6 2008, 01:57 PM
QUOTE (Abbandon @ Feb 5 2008, 10:43 PM)
Would wearing gloves cancel out nimble fingers?
As long as they're not oven mits or boxing gloves, i see no reason why they should.
As far as the general concept is concerned, i just gave it a quick glance, but note that humans start with Edge 2 and that seduction is a specialization of the con skill.
You might want to change that knowledge skill to something like "cajun pickup lines" or somesuch.
Abbandon
Feb 6 2008, 05:27 PM
Ok edited her edge. Seduction...I didnt really mean in the speech sense more of how to be seductive in her body movements and stuff, didnt know it was a spec of con. So I changed it to Dancing.
Abbandon
Feb 6 2008, 05:27 PM
...
Fortune
Feb 6 2008, 08:07 PM
QUOTE (Abbandon @ Feb 7 2008, 04:27 AM)
So I changed it to Dancing.
Of course, Dancing is a Specialization of either Artisan or Gymnastics (take your pick).
fistandantilus4.0
Feb 6 2008, 09:06 PM
Moved to appropriate Forum. That would probably explain your lack of feedack Abbandon. 
ElFenrir
Feb 6 2008, 09:55 PM
Hmm...well, you have Influence and Biotech skill groups at 1...with a 2 Logic and Charisma. Im not trying to be too minmaxy, but if i should, i'd drop Strength to a 3(still giving 2P damage, only one less...and even with a 3P you won't be doing a lot of armor penetration unless you get a lot of hits. (Looking at the skills and powers, with the manual dexterity, quick drawing, sleight of hand, and the like... for some reason im picturing more willowy and agile than brutish but of course you might have different ideas). Rolling 4 dice for any Biotech or Influence skill isn't super great, but it's better than 3...ive tossed 3 dice before on defaults, and those are tough to get hits that you might need. and 4 dice for a backup isn't the most horrid thing in the world; i find that one extra die can sometimes mean alot of difference.
(Alternately, take the 20 BPs from Strength and increase the skill groups by 1 each.)
Just a couple of nuyen. I know having the 5 Strength is nice for range...but still, a 3 +2 will give her a 5 strength essentially for throwing; which is still really good.
fool
Feb 6 2008, 10:25 PM
will of 2? This guy is going to be a sitting duck for most spells. I never run a charactern without at least will 4.
also a point or 2 in a melee skill is often key to survival. Though you can still used ranged combat when in melee, it does have penalties.
Stahlseele
Feb 6 2008, 10:34 PM
not really critique . . but i'd change her name . . as soon as she gets separated from the others the group has lost it's cherry *snickers*
ah well, it's what would probably happen in my group anyway ^^
fool
Feb 6 2008, 10:50 PM
besides with a charisma of 2 who'd want that cherry
Yep. She might as well be an orc.
Wait? An orc! Magic could simply be five (Imp. Reflexes 1), and five other points would pay for it. Now if we keep Body at 5, thats two points free for Reaction 5(6) and Cha or Wil 3. Strength would be 7 (9 for throwing).
Abbandon
Feb 7 2008, 12:07 AM
Dancing/seduction/whatever!! its just a knowledge skill not an active skill. Instead of telling me what not to call it how about suggestions on waht to call it.
-Currently she can chuck a playing card and do 4P, if i lower her strength that will go down. It is her main form of attack so i cant see how weaking it is a good thing.
-rating 1 group skills are just so I dont have to default. Defaulting sucks.
-less IP's?? I dont think so. She needs all those IP's to do damage.
-no melee...she would have 6 dice against shots and melee normally. 16 if she goes on full defense. I probably will add unarmed combat later but she has quickdraw and isnt really going to ever be left empty handed.
-low willpower....You can either have high offense, or high defense but if you have neither your not going to hurt anything or stop damage which means your totally worthless. If I raise will i have to lower something else which will just make her suck at what she is suppose to do.
Hey I have a question. The power throw ability can be taken multiple times. Do those bonus's count toward your augmented maximums. Like a human max's out at 9 right? If i had strength 6 and 2 levels of power throw (+4) would that max out at 9 still?
Being an orc or troll with Cherry is being a little to min/maxxy for my taste. I want her human.
djinni
Feb 7 2008, 01:21 AM
QUOTE (Abbandon @ Feb 6 2008, 08:07 PM)
Being an orc or troll with Cherry is being a little to min/maxxy for my taste. I want her human.
wait...you don't want to lower the strength because it will lower her damage output, but think picking a race other than human is min/maxing? not sure you are going to receive any advice that doesn't min/max you character.
SoyKaf Adict
Feb 7 2008, 01:26 AM
I think you should take away being an adept... Get a gun arm, with a slingshot designed especially for cards. You save 5 BP from adept, you can spend all those BPs used on powers to buy some fancy chrome, maybe some wired twitch grade 2. She'd be just as good, because if wasting an adept into being a card chucker isn't the most random waste of talent possible, I have no idea what is. She'd have to be crazy like a dwarf running in the middle of a bunch of ghouls yelling, "Eat me please!" To be going up against a troll and expecting a playing card to go through armor is unreal. even if it is magic.
Playing cards are a good idea, small and easily hidden. You may want to consider something sturdier, maybe craft your cards out of a thick polymer and have them painted like real cards and have the edges sharpened so they at least will STICK INTO armor rather than falling short a few feet and the floating to the ground... Defaulting does suck but any character made is going to be defaulting, unless you spend yourself thin, and it is like you said, dumb. Only with karma will you be able to buy up decent skills, so it'll happen. Oh yeah, and I agree with Stahl, the character's alias has a little too much "stage name" to it. I mean, hell, the primo Skank McBimbo from the First Run's Stuffer Shack mission(SR3) was called Zany... Methinks "Chastity, Vanity, Cum-dumpster..." would've been suitable names. My 4 random aliases chosen for your card-flinging dervish-seducing adept all should do with the game she knows so well, why not "Euchre," "Parcheesi," or "Rummy"?
Hehe, all right, "Aces'n'8s" is my choice for a nick name. What with it being referred to as the Dead Man's Hand. (Not withstanding there is no suicide king, that would be a long and pointless nickname) Even if it is represented to 'kill' the person holding it, she's a shadow runner, if she has some dark fate awaiting her, something tells me if she has balls enough to fight people with cards (And thank you GeneTech for making it possible!
), she has enough to tote the name, think it works?
So now that I feel like a critic of French cuisine, did I leave out any suggestions to the comments?
QUOTE (Abbandon @ Feb 6 2008, 07:07 PM)
Dancing/seduction/whatever!! its just a knowledge skill not an active skill. Instead of telling me what not to call it how about suggestions on waht to call it.
-Currently she can chuck a playing card and do 4P, if i lower her strength that will go down. It is her main form of attack so i cant see how weaking it is a good thing.
-rating 1 group skills are just so I dont have to default. Defaulting sucks.
-less IP's?? I dont think so. She needs all those IP's to do damage.
-no melee...she would have 6 dice against shots and melee normally. 16 if she goes on full defense. I probably will add unarmed combat later but she has quickdraw and isnt really going to ever be left empty handed.
-low willpower....You can either have high offense, or high defense but if you have neither your not going to hurt anything or stop damage which means your totally worthless. If I raise will i have to lower something else which will just make her suck at what she is suppose to do.
Hey I have a question. The power throw ability can be taken multiple times. Do those bonus's count toward your augmented maximums. Like a human max's out at 9 right? If i had strength 6 and 2 levels of power throw (+4) would that max out at 9 still?
Being an orc or troll with Cherry is being a little to min/maxxy for my taste. I want her human.
Fortune
Feb 7 2008, 01:57 AM
QUOTE (Abbandon @ Feb 7 2008, 11:07 AM)
Dancing/seduction/whatever!! its just a knowledge skill not an active skill. Instead of telling me what not to call it how about suggestions on waht to call it.
As far as I am concerned, pointing out specific rules constitutes as help. If you choose not to see it that way, or do things in a different manner, that's your prerogative. But I stand by the theory that a person should try to understand the canon rules before making up house rules. I don't like telling people how to make their character (or even helping much unless it is for my game), and therefore have almost always limited my advice in this type of thread to what is and isn't permissible according to canon.
Have a nice day.
Earlydawn
Feb 7 2008, 02:11 AM
Woah Fortune, no need to dig on him. He's just trying to build a cool character that has some flair.
Personally, I think it's a great concept, Abbandon. Stick with it. Defenitely go with the custom, sharpened throwing cards made of plasteel or whatever.. also adds a nice little touch if you're going for an assassin background.
Glyph
Feb 7 2008, 04:54 AM
The power throw power isn't affected by the augmented Attribute caps, any more than, say, dermal plating is. It only gives an effective bonus to Strength in certain circumstances.
Personally, I would change the ratings around for Agility Boost (reduce it to 1) and Power Throw (raise it to 3). Lowering the Agility Boost means you are only resisting Drain of 1, something you are likely to do, rather than Drain of 3, which will give you a point of Stun or two if you get unlucky on the dice. You want a boost that you can use often without worrying about it. Power Throw, on the other hand, basically raises the base damage of your primary attack at 0.25 a point - a huge bargain.
Fortune
Feb 7 2008, 05:19 AM
QUOTE (Earlydawn @ Feb 7 2008, 01:11 PM)
Woah Fortune, no need to dig on him. He's just trying to build a cool character that has some flair.
More power to him. I was merely offering my help (albeit in some small capacity), and there was no need for him to snap at me for it.
Fortune
Feb 7 2008, 05:21 AM
QUOTE (Glyph @ Feb 7 2008, 03:54 PM)
The power throw power isn't affected by the augmented Attribute caps, any more than, say, dermal plating is. It only gives an effective bonus to Strength in certain circumstances.
Power Throw is going to be limited to three levels in the next Errata.
- Fortune made the suggestion, but Dancing could end up under artisan or under Gymnastics, depending on style. I vote Gymnastics, someone has to carry the flag of chargen efficiency here.
- The +2 from Power Throw increase strength for thrown weapons. Thats clearly counting against the cap. Consider that other people use to throw weapons instead of gaming devices, and you find this to be a sensible move.
- Do not care about IPs that much. If you do, see that you pay 35 BP for +2 IP. Thats a whopping 7 points cheaper than Synaptic Boosters 2 + a point of lost magic. Last I checked, an adept would spend 7 BP if that would permit him to buy two more points of magic.
- No melee is fine, allthough nearly a waste on this char. The basics (Agi, Str, Rea) are all there.
- Low willpower is also fine. The amount of willpower never made a real difference for spelldefense IMO. You either have counterspelling or you don´t.
- I always get "orcs are min/maxing". They save a whopping 15 BP at most, that is not my point here. You need strength to make your weapon of choice work. Currently you stand at the damage output of a light pistol with normal ammo. The concept is cool, but would not work in our game.
Abbandon
Feb 7 2008, 12:49 PM
Sorry if I snapped at you Fortune but i just get frustrated when people are in my opinion being to anal. Who cares what a knowledge skill is called? What different does it make if it had the same name as an active skill? Its not going to be used the same way and IF you thought it could be then what would be appropriate knowledge skills for someone who is seductive/sexy?
Agility boost \/ for power throw /\ is interesting...
AB1 would on average only give me 1-2 hits. that would be 6-7 agility +7 card chucking for 13-14 dice for attacks
But my damage would jump up to (Strength 5 +6)/2 = 6P for starting damage.
ab3 would give me 2-3 hits. That would be 7-8 +7 card chucking for 14-15 dice
Damage is (strength 5 +2)/2 =4P
ab3 is like an axe... sometimes the damage might be really good, other times it might be really low. Hmmm yeah i think Ab1 is a great idea. As others have pointed out, and I knew when i took it but forgot about it mostly is that I would have alot of trouble resisting the drain from a higher AB power.
I still havent heard to much on the quality front. Ok so what if i turned influence -> into con 2/spec seduction 4 and added ettiquete (?) and strengthened biotech or athletics? Im leaning more towards atheletics. She would probably use it less but it fits more with the character. I dont see her playing medic that often since she is so focused on offense.
Man i wish I had arsenal. She could probably use those new qaulities and manuevers to improve her game.
He does not speak of the name, he does speak of the active skill. Dancing is a given spec for the Athletics active skill, as well as a valid spec for the Artisan skill. Much like Con is used for seduction and Leadership for keeping self control.
Fortune
Feb 7 2008, 12:59 PM
QUOTE (Ryu @ Feb 7 2008, 11:46 PM)
- The +2 from Power Throw increase strength for thrown weapons. Thats clearly counting against the cap. Consider that other people use to throw weapons instead of gaming devices, and you find this to be a sensible move.
Only those things that add to the entire Attribute as a whole (Muscle Augmentation, Cerebral Booster, Improved Attribute Power), and not just one particular factor of that stat (Bone Lacing, Power Throw), are considered to fall under the Attribute Cap. Everything else is a situational modifier.
Missed the missing qualities. Consider incompetencies for Rifles, Automatics and Heavy Weapons. SINner is allways good, criminal SINner can be depending on the char. I can see both Guardian and Task spirits hate you, much. Both on account of you toying around. Then there is mild addiction (alkohol) for someone who spends her whole life in bars.
Rasumichin
Feb 7 2008, 01:06 PM
As far as biotech is concerned, do you actually need the whole group?
Just taking first aid would be cheaper and have the same effect.
I don't think you plan on being the groups healbot, so it's highly unlikely that you have to fix the group sam's wired reflexes or conduct long term medical treatment of your teammates.
Go go with first aid (2) instead of the skill group on 1, get one more dice for the situations where you actually use biotech skills if you're not a doctor or at least a trained paramedic and save 2 precious BP.
Abbandon
Feb 7 2008, 01:15 PM
Hmm synaptic boosters would be more effecient. They would cost 32BP of which i could get 35BP back just from selling back 2 points of magic and still have 1.0 PP to get more stuff with.. but....it would decrease my agility boost power which is vital to my character. And I really dont like the idea of mixing cyber and magic on characters. Mages and adepts should be pure. Obviously there should be a bigger penalty for awakened characters who get implanted like -2 magic for every 1 point of wares. -1.5 if its cultured bio (round down). Make delta/whatever is the best bio 1:1.
I just dont think an orc/troll chick can be sexy, thats why im so opposed to changing that. Seriously, can you see an orc chucking cards at people? More like taking a basbeball to their face.
Fortune
Feb 7 2008, 01:22 PM
QUOTE (Abbandon @ Feb 8 2008, 12:15 AM)
Obviously there should be a bigger penalty for awakened characters who get implanted like -2 magic for every 1 point of wares. -1.5 if its cultured bio (round down). Make delta/whatever is the best bio 1:1.
I whole-heartedly disagree with this sentiment, and contest that it is in any way an 'obviously' needed alteration.
Rasumichin
Feb 7 2008, 01:23 PM
QUOTE (Abbandon @ Feb 7 2008, 02:15 PM)
Hmm synaptic boosters would be more effecient. They would cost 32BP of which i could get 35BP back just from selling back 2 points of magic and still have 1.0 PP to get more stuff with..
Doesn't work this way.
You first have to raise the magic attribute, then get the ware installed, then lose the magic points you have already payed for.
Edit : wait, you're right, but it only works out for your character BP-wise because you have already maxed out your magic attribute, wich is prohibitively expensive at chargen.
The synaptic boosters cost you a point of magic (If we assume you have them installed instead of lying on a shelf
). So you need to find 7 BP to keep your magic at 4. Still worthwhile.
To pure magicians: I whole-heartedly disagree with this sentiment, and contest that it is in any way an 'obviously' needed alteration. (Thanks Fortune)
The same on the racial stereotyping that seems to be common. An orc does not have a lower charisma than a human. Not all orcs are muscle-packed brutes, just because they are on the samurai throne right now. Or did you want to sell a natural strength 5 as a toned body? Human women would mostly be in the roid-user category to achieve that.
Abbandon
Feb 7 2008, 01:44 PM
Awakened characters bodies, should be more sensetive to drugs and wares. I think it is reflected in the -modifier you get from just trying to treat an awakened character with first aid. If their bodies worked just like a mundanes then why is that there. I think the balance between cybered, mundane and awakened doesnt make sense actually. cybered people should be easier to treat with first aid since there is less of them(+ modifier for first aid/healing), drugs would be more potent in them since there is less "person" to absorb them which explains to the +modifier to benficial stuff but it should also be a -modifier for negative drugs, and they should be more susceptable to magic + to healing, - for resisting spells or + for enemy mage spellcasting.
Awakened people on the other hand. - to healing, + to negative drugs. They should be harder to harm with enemy spells so + for spell resistance or - for enemy mage spellcasting on them. And wares would be way more harmful to them since there is less magic "person" to channel magic through, draw on whatever.
But that wound be to complex just to make things realistically balanced. But still i think its pretty stupid that there are tons of mages and adept running around with wares. But lets stay on topic heh.
Awakened characters bodies loose magic when they get augmented. So the Awakened need to spend karma on keeping their level, or take a (in the case of adepts rather substantial) hit on their power. Besides that, healing them is flat-out harder already.
Cybered chars should heal worse than the Awakened. Being awakened is binary, while augmentations can and often do alter the whole body. Repairing a cyberlimb instead of healing the body can easily negotiated (when I GM at least), but most players prefer the "no cost, and I don´t feel the pain"-variant.
On this tangent, I rarely see anyone who would never take augmentations for his awakened char take anything less than maximum magic, soft or hard cap depending on the player. The purity decision seems to come bundled with the ultimate-power decision. YMMV.
Abbandon
Feb 7 2008, 03:59 PM
Ok I was looking over qualities, and i saw one that jumps out at me...
Natural Immunity...-5/15BP I was thinking she could take it for a toxin gamma-scopolamine(truth serum). It causes paralysis among other things.
(are there any new toxins in arsenal or augment? specifically with paralysis and that maybe cause damage?).
Its vector is injection so would you guys count suffering a physical wound by a playing card coated in g-s as being "injected", thats probably going to draw blood. She could coat her playing cards in that stuff and handle them just fine but if she accidentally cuts herself with them she would be immune. g-s is made from a plant so does that mean I only have to pay -5BP for immunity? (-15bp is for artificial).
As negatives qaulity i was thinking of Sensitive System +15BP and Simsense Vertigo +10BP and possably Astral Beacon +5BP but that raises a question......
What kind of things would an adept have to do to leave an astral trail behind? power throw would leave a signature on my arm not a playing card right? Would missle mastery leave one on the card since its making it into a better weapon, a knife would do more damage, is this just do to better accuracy (my arm, eyes) or due to infusing magic into the thing im throwing(cards/knifes/stars)?
I like the idea of having an extra bright aura lol even though its mostly bad.
djinni
Feb 7 2008, 04:07 PM
there is a certain dose needed to be injected, your cards can't carry that dose.
you can throw a normal card hard enough to give you a paper cut so in teh magical world of shadowrun in your concept an ordinary everyday playing card would be able to cut pretty bad.
whenever you touch something you leave behind an astral signature.
Rasumichin
Feb 7 2008, 04:11 PM
QUOTE (Abbandon @ Feb 7 2008, 04:59 PM)
Its vector is injection so would you guys count suffering a physical wound by a playing card coated in g-s as being "injected", thats probably going to draw blood.
I'd count it as injection, extrapolating from the rules for cyberspurs combined with toxin glands.
QUOTE
She could coat her playing cards in that stuff and handle them just fine but if she accidentally cuts herself with them she would be immune. g-s is made from a plant so does that mean I only have to pay -5BP for immunity? (-15bp is for artificial).
IMHO, it's artificial.
Natural toxins would be stuff like a critter's venom.
Not substances merely produced on the
basis of a natural substance.
But that point is debatable, better talk to your GM about it.
QUOTE
As negatives qaulity i was thinking of Sensitive System +15BP and Simsense Vertigo +10BP and possably Astral Beacon +5BP but that raises a question......
The first two fit well with your concept, generating badly needed BP without actually incurring real drawbacks.
If you are willing to restrict your concept in such a way that you don't use ware oder smartlinks, you should be at least patially compensated for it, i think.
As far as astral beacon is concerned, i cannot recall any rules passage explaining how it would work out with the powers mentioned by you, but your approach (no signature for power throw,but for missile mastery) makes sense to me.
masterofm
Feb 8 2008, 09:22 AM
How about just getting a synthetic cyber arm? You could put a cyber arm slide in it and your character will basically produce cards out of nowhere, you can jack up the Str on it to seven because lets face it you are probably only going to be throwing cards with a single hand. You could tone down your characters Str a bit to be able to afford the implant and at the same time free up some Bps. If you GM will let you fluff the way that since you already have nimble fingers the cards come out of a hidden compartment and you can quickly catch and throw the card at the same time (makes sense.) This will allow you to give up quick draw (because lets face it the only thing throwing two cards per IP will do is just make you split your dice pool) and trim away just .5 more essence off of maybe off of power throw and you will be doing pretty much the same damage (depends on if you care to redline or not) and it allows you to play around with your stats some more... Worth a thought at least. If its synthetic it looks like a normal arm so at least you character does not have some funky looking robot arm, and you can buy up your karma instead of your Str to flesh out your character a bit more.
Abbandon
Feb 8 2008, 09:30 AM
Ok I added all her new qualities... She is right at 400bp's. Any more opinions on if Gamma-scopolamine is a natural or man made toxin? 10bp's is huge and would go straight into Etiquette.
I think there is a difference between processing a plant to make a toxin and engineering a toxin in a lab by mixing things together that dont ever come together naturally.
Abbandon
Feb 8 2008, 09:50 AM
So you guys are saying keep her an adept but hack off her arm right? Not ditch being an adept and just become cyber? Hmmm I dont have augment. Even though I hate that idea....it sounds like something cool to do later if her power level just cant keep up with the rest of the group or isnt able to hurt anything.
I can see her pissing somebody off eventually and they knowing about her card chucking so they hack off her whole arm.
Oh yeah. And normally I would totally ignore everyone's opinion about my chick's name cuz thats 100% personal and i dont give a crap if others dont like them but... I do agree its maybe to simple. It did have a reason though. Gambit is always calling Rogue "Ma'cherie" or whatever. So thats where it came from. But having her be so focused on playing cards and stuff there is probably a really cool name should could go by.. I have a few but wouldnt mind hearing more card playing names.
Diamond - kinda sounds more like a stripper name. But they are sharp and hard.
River - The 5th card in texas hold'em (the best form of poker)
Seven - Or Lucky Seven. For 7's that are on the slot machnines.
krakjen
Feb 8 2008, 10:42 AM
The French "ma chérie" means "my darling"
(even though Gambit is speaking Cajun, I don't think the meaning is much different)
IF you'd want to go for a French-sounding name:
Cherry -> Cerise
Diamond -> Diamant*
River -> Rivière
Seven -> Sept*
* Those two are masculine nouns in French, that doesn't sound very nice for a girl's name...
Gamma-Scopolamine is supposed to be a man-made variant of atropia belladonna.
BlackHat
Feb 8 2008, 12:55 PM
I once made a throwing adept ("Knives") for a game on these boards, so I thought I would weigh in.
I like your idea about how someone figured out her shtick and had her arm lopped off. I think if you decided to get cyber, something along those lines would make a good backstory, too. I don't recommend waiting to get cyber in play. Depending on the GM, it can be a lot more trouble than the price suggests - tracking down a streetdoc that you can trust, negotiating the operation, making sure he didn't cross any other wires while he's in there, dealing with being out of commission for a while, etc.
Could always have a streetdoc contact, just in case things go south.
As for the hidden arm slide idea, unless it popped the whole deck of cards out, it would only hold a single card - and with nimble fingers, you end up being able to pull out a card pretty fast (I think it becomes a free action to draw a small item).
I would shy away from cyber, as an adept, if only because you end up paying for it twice - losing 1 point of essence for a new arm (with maybe 3 more strength on it) would cost you a lot in powers that you already paid for. I'm not sure what you would consider dropping, but I wouldn't even think about touching power-throw (best damage boost you're going to get to playing cards), missle mastery (necessary to even do damage with cards in the first place), quickdraw (what you need to draw cards quickly, increased reflexes (absolute must-have for any magically active character, and comparing it to wired reflexes, you will have already bought it with magic).
Nimble fingers fits the concept, but probably won't end up helping you in a fight unless you've thrown your 52 cards and need to pick up something else to throw. Missle mastery fits the concept too, but what are the odds you'll fight someone else who also throws their weapons. Attribute boost is nice, since you're capping power throw in anticipation of the errata, but I never much liked that power. Even if you got rid of those three non-essentials, its not enough to pay for the arm.
I would also heavily recommend picking up the skill-boost power for throwing weapons. +6 to hit will help when you're taking range penalties cause cards don't go far, or when you need some extra damage to get past a troll's heavy armor.
Last thought: Consider picking up arsenal. If nothing else, you can save yourself a buying quick-draw by taking it as a masrtial-arts advantage or maneuver (5 points). It also has a table for improvised throwing weapons - which a throwing adept should keep on hand. Once you've run out of cards, or realized they're not doing a whole lot of damage, you could throw a bowling ball, your unconscious friend, and maybe do a little more.
Other than that, I'm not sure how much mileage she will get out of that book, but its a good book anyways.
BlackHat
Feb 8 2008, 01:10 PM
Also, two-weapon-fighting (ambidexterity or off-hand training [arsenal]). Splitting up your dicepool against a well-armored opponent would be suicide, but against a number of unarmored opponents you could throw twice as many cards. Its situational, probably, but you don't really need the off-hand for anything in your current build. Plus, it would mean that lopping off her main arm wouldn't stop her.
Getting extra dice from adept-powers would probably help with this a lot too. You're currently doing, like, 6P damage with each card. Theoretically, against someone who doesn't soak up a lot of damage, being hit with two cards for 1 or 2 net hits each is worse than beign zinged with one card for 3 or 4 net hits.
Abbandon
Feb 8 2008, 02:18 PM
Tossing around a billion cards raises an ok name...
Pickup - Why are you called pick up? Do you drive one or something?
*pulls out her deck of cards and starts cutting and shuffling them with one hand*
masterofm
Feb 8 2008, 04:41 PM
If you are gimping your strength it allows for a different stat shuffle and if you want to have a little more stat distribution I don't see how you are suffering that much by pulling out a cyber arm if it also adds to flesh out your character. Also on a side note I meant to say Cyber arm slide and holster. If you can have enough room for a hold out pistol I don't see why a deck of cards is totally out of the question... I mean you should basically be able to have a devise that can easily handle subtly moving a card into your hand in the SR universe (If you pay 6k for that and the GM can't hand wave that you might be in trouble, but 6k to hold a single small card vs. a hold out pistol?) A cyber arm would boost the Str from five to seven and if you knock down the Str of your character to 3 that gives 20 build points to shift around, which you could put the extra BP into con (or charisma) and maybe a few points in being able to speak French. I mean it seems you are looking for a character with flavor because if you seriously wanted to be an awesome card chucking ninja you would have rolled up a troll.
BlackHat
Feb 8 2008, 05:00 PM
QUOTE (masterofm @ Feb 8 2008, 11:41 AM)
... to hold a single small card vs. a hold out pistol?
What good is a holster that holds a single card? You whip it out, throw it, and then what?
Having it hand you a box of cards would be nice, and still elss than a pistol, but why not just always hold a deck of cards in your off-hand?
Having an arm that holds a whole deck of cards, but hands them to you one at a time (like those auto-shufflers) would be the best, but would require working it out with your GM.
Stahlseele
Feb 9 2008, 12:17 AM
so get a smuggelling compartment into the arm and just PLACE one of those auto shufflers from some casino in there so the cards come out one at a time into your hand by DNI-Command O.o
masterofm
Feb 9 2008, 01:01 AM
I just think something that can hold and whip out a pistol why can you only whip out a single card. I mean you are paying 6k
to whip out one single card? A GM who would be that much of a sticker would make it that tough on a character you might not want to make a fluff character. But back story on a character with a cyber arm could be like this.
As Cherry was growing up she was a small time card dealer earning small amounts of money on the side while at the same time trying to fool people with complex card tricks to hide her creative shuffling. One night during a card game a Yak gang member spotted her dealing from the bottom of the deck and as a small word of warning had her arm chopped off. Luckily Cherry had squirreled away some money and was able to buy a cyber arm to aid in her day to day wheeling and dealings. With her nest egg gone though, and forced out her job as a high stakes dealer in a casino, Cherry has turned to the shadows to seek her fortune. Very very basic and I know it can be filled in, but hey it's a decent back story.
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