Ok in YotC it says that to be a changling you have to spend 5 Bp's. Thats great if your using Bp's.

But waht happens if your not? How do you become a changling on the Priorities? Fortune (I think) suggested using edges/flaws, Ok got that, but is being a changling (on it's own) an edge or a flaw?

Also how many edges/flaws are you/ would allow a changling character to have?
Cos being a changling should allow you to have more IMHO. Because you are needing 2-4 flaws to make a "themed" changling, be it cat, dog or drake.

[EDIT] can you see a common theme here[/EDIT]

Unless your Gm demands that it be the only system used, why would you want to use the Priority system for this? The BP system is better for Changelings, as well as 'shifters.

SURGEd trait costs would be balanced by flaws, but would not count against edge/flaw total IMO.

~J

That's fine, but what about the initial 5 BP cost to be SURGED in the first place?

I ignore that rule. It's not really fair.

I don't as such, i've used the Bp's system ever since it came out in SR2. It's just that i know a lot of people here think it does mages and adepts no favours even more so if there meta human (I haven't done the maths myself). but whats your opinion on what would be an ok number of flaws for the changling "part" of a character as opposed to a the character as a whole?

[EDIT]

If you insist on using the Priority system, you could always just assign them 'D' in Race, which in the BP system is equivelant to 5 Points for Ork or Dwarf.

I'd just include that as another cost that must be balanced by either negative SURGE traits or flaws.

~J

Spending five build points on it isn't exactly fair either.

~J

So it's pretty much as i thought the only real way of doing it is via Bp's (not that i have an issue with that). Though i do feel the "entry" cost is unfair but hey.

Ok how about the limit on edges/flaws?
Would this be over the top?
Changling edges and flaws
Scales (all over) -2pt
Altered Eye colour -1pt (yellowy green and blinks sideways)
Altered Skin colour (dark green) -2pt
Dual natured -5pt
Claws (tho i would prefer climbing style claws from M&M) +2pt
Prehensil tail +5pt

Net gain of 4 points

Then add
Quickhealer +2pt
Total pacifist -5pt
Hunted lvl1 Nil pt

Now assume all of this has approite background story for it.

Opinions please

As I said earlier, you could always just use the 'D' race Priority for them.

Is there anything in canon that states that the positive and negative aspects of SURGE have to balance each other out?

Actually, canon implies that they shouldn't balance each other out, I mean.

The 5 BP cost to be a changeling isn't meant to be fair. It's meant to keep the number of changlings down. They're supposedly very rare, so what's the point in allowing them in if everyone takes them?

As for BPs with mages, you find a few instances where you get a better character from priorities. Though there are some characters which are impossible to create that way.

Build rules don't really do justice to making rare things rare. According to MitS only 1 out of every 100 people is awakened at all, and most of those are adepts or aspected, and on top of that almost all mages are scooped up by corps with only the smallest percentage of them working in the shadows. Based on that you should only actually see a magician at all once out of every 150 shadowruns or so but they tend to make up about 50% of all in-game shadowrunners and about 20% of corporate enforcers.

Also does anybody else think the build rules rather screw aspected magicians over? In general you have about 1/5 the magic options available and 1/5 the conjuring depending on your path. Yet it costs about 80% as much. Reasonably it should be way cheaper to encourage aspecteds, you almost never see them.

It is never stated that most are full mages. Some may read it to imply that, but it merely says that out of the number of magicusers "another fraction" (not a direct quote, book elsewhere) are aspected or Adepts. That fraction could be 1/100, 1/2, or 99999999/100000000.

~J