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Fuchs
Apr 7 2008, 10:59 PM
This is a conversion of an old SR2/3 character.

Haywire

Picture

Haywire's background was that she was part of Ares' KE Bug Hunting squads, and left the corp after an operation went horribly wrong - she's persuaded it was sabotaged by a superiour to further his own career, and blames the corps in general for such a mentality. So, she received rather specialised and rushed training by KE to hunt insect spirits, not much law enforcement or other military training.

Haywire in a jungle

[ Spoiler ]


Thoughts?
crizh
Apr 7 2008, 11:12 PM
Got something against Insect Spirits?

From a purely maths pov, would you not be better swapping around blades and pistols?

If you end up in melee those extra 3 Dice could save your life whereas you have a lot of ranged options so losing a couple of dice from pistols isn't the end of the world.
WearzManySkins
Apr 7 2008, 11:16 PM
Question on the Alpha, would you not need Heavy Weapons Skill to use the Grenade Launcher built in to the Alpha?

WMS
Malicant
Apr 7 2008, 11:19 PM
You might consider replacing mana barrier with the offensive version, since it was developed by Ares for the purpose of kicking insect butt, if I recall correctly.

Also, Spirit Bane Insect Spirits is kind of (i.e. totally) lame. Those things hate you anyways. Unless the GM interprets it in a twisted way and Insect Spirits actively hunt that character. Then it is solid vegm.gif

You might want to consider to add assensing to the character, it tends to be nice to know how strong a spirit actually is. Or to be able to break the masking of a fleshform, or similar situations.

What are those melee weapons good for? You can't use them. Toss it out of the window.

A Fake SIN rating 4 costs 4 grand, not 3.

You have a Skillsoft (Athletics), which is a skill group, but those suckers have only single skills recorded.

That's kind of it after a quick glance biggrin.gif
Fuchs
Apr 7 2008, 11:22 PM
QUOTE (WearzManySkins @ Apr 8 2008, 01:16 AM) *
Question on the Alpha, would you not need Heavy Weapons Skill to use the Grenade Launcher built in to the Alpha?

WMS


The Alpha is an ares-made weapon, and a very good one, so I'd expect KE bug hunters to use it. The grenade launcher comes with it, but I don't expect Haywire to have had training in it (she'd have been using skillsofts, or agility in a pinch).
Cthulhudreams
Apr 7 2008, 11:23 PM
QUOTE
What are those melee weapons good for? You can't use them. Toss it out of the window.

A Fake SIN rating 4 costs 4 grand, not 3.

You have a Skillsoft (Athletics), which is a skill group, but those suckers have only single skills recorded.

Err, he can thanks to the skillsofts that you go on to mention wink.gif
Malicant
Apr 7 2008, 11:36 PM
Yes, he can use the sword. With 6 dice. Unless he is fighting force 1 workers he will get hosed. And the other melee weapons he is throwing 3 dice. That is just asking to get killed.
ElFenrir
Apr 7 2008, 11:36 PM
QUOTE
Also, Spirit Bane Insect Spirits is kind of (i.e. totally) lame. Those things hate you anyways. Unless the GM interprets it in a twisted way and Insect Spirits actively hunt that character. Then it is solid


This is how i'd count it. Spirit Bane means that spirit seeks out THAT character beyond everyone else, first. So yeah, the insect spirit might hate everyone in the room but it hates this character alot more, and thus goes after it. Since they are nasty buggers*rimshot* i'd let it go. biggrin.gif
Malicant
Apr 7 2008, 11:45 PM
I don't think it is enough that she get's attacked first by Insect spirits to warrant that quality, since spirit bane should also effect you outside of combat. Like walking down a street and getting harassed by local spirits that have no real business with you.
Spirit Bane for anything but standart spirits tends to be less harsh then, well, Spirit Bane for standart spirits, since they are everywere and always ready to annoy the character, while threat spirits will be encoutered in combat most of the time and then it will be very likely they attack the mage (her) first anyway.
suppenhuhn
Apr 7 2008, 11:57 PM
Imo this spirit bane fits pretty well with the character. Also not all insect spirits attack random people on sight, just consider mantids for example. Also there aren't that many more 'standard' spirits around normally that have the time and freedom to really annoy the character.

What the character really lacks, and what's pretty essential to her job would be assensing though.
Malicant
Apr 8 2008, 12:01 AM
QUOTE (suppenhuhn @ Apr 8 2008, 01:57 AM) *
Also there aren't that many more 'standard' spirits around normally that have the time and freedom to really annoy the character.

What makes you think so?
Cthulhudreams
Apr 8 2008, 12:09 AM
QUOTE (Malicant @ Apr 7 2008, 06:36 PM) *
Yes, he can use the sword. With 6 dice. Unless he is fighting force 1 workers he will get hosed. And the other melee weapons he is throwing 3 dice. That is just asking to get killed.


Well, I guess thats true, but the character is clearly some distance from optimized. For example throwing the pistols score out the door, spending the points on bumping dodge, automatics and counterspelling to 4, and then moving the spec from pistols to dodge and going 'ranged' is a straight power boost with no downsides.

Also, just using manabolt in astral combat, and ditching the astral combat skill is another potential powerboost. use it to by the missing assensing.

And having the skillsofts at 2 rather than 3 is silly.
suppenhuhn
Apr 8 2008, 12:15 AM
QUOTE (Malicant @ Apr 8 2008, 02:01 AM) *
What makes you think so?


Might be the way i see it but i think most spirits prefer to reside on their metaplane unless they are summoned by someone or have business to do with metahumans. so i'd mainly consider free spirits to be what could make trouble and of that i think insects are maybe among the most abundant as they actually do want something off metahumans (which is their body nyahnyah.gif).
If you play spirits more like each lake has it's water spirit then ofc it's quite different but still the only thing that really changes things imo is if you take a spirit from your tradition that you actually do summon from time to time.
Fuchs
Apr 8 2008, 12:24 AM
QUOTE (Cthulhudreams @ Apr 8 2008, 02:09 AM) *
Well, I guess thats true, but the character is clearly some distance from optimized. For example throwing the pistols score out the door, spending the points on bumping dodge, automatics and counterspelling to 4, and then moving the spec from pistols to dodge and going 'ranged' is a straight power boost with no downsides.


Unless the campaign features a lot of situations where automatics are out of place, but pistols can be used.

QUOTE (Cthulhudreams @ Apr 8 2008, 02:09 AM) *
Also, just using manabolt in astral combat, and ditching the astral combat skill is another potential powerboost. use it to by the missing assensing.


I assumed the training in astral combat was also to be able to escape better while astrally scouting (going full defense).

QUOTE (Cthulhudreams @ Apr 8 2008, 02:09 AM) *
And having the skillsofts at 2 rather than 3 is silly.


Partly a cost issue (ran out of bp), partly to be able to keep 3 skills active at once.

The sword is there because its an Ares Product, and it can, together with the survival knife, be used for a number of purposes other than fighting. In combat, it's mostly meant to be used for defense (reach helps there a bit).

Assensing is lacking though.
Cthulhudreams
Apr 8 2008, 12:36 AM
I'd have to run home and check, but don't some of the SMGs have an SA firemode? With the cut down barrel mod from arsenal, it is functionally the same as a pistol, and sports some additional options. Mostly just lets you roll with one firearms skill though.

But yeah, this is why its tough to critique a character. if you can throw down some background for the game, we might be able to help more. For example, i'd assume from the jungle thing that you were running in hellholes and thus the assault rifle was the weapon of choice, and the extra dice it that would be worth some very modest to negligible inconvenience else where.
suppenhuhn
Apr 8 2008, 12:39 AM
Maybe go with a black scorpion, you could raise automatics by 1 then so you're just 1 point worse with your sidearm but 1 better with your main weapon and also could take assensing (spirits) 2
Glyph
Apr 8 2008, 02:25 AM
As far as the spirit bane, I wouldn't consider it cheesy. Spirit Bane: Insect Spirits and Spirit Bane: Toxic Spirits are both acceptable - sure, there may be a bit less of them, but first, you're taking Spirit Bane for a whole class of spirits (something like Spirit Bane: Toxic Spirits of Man or Spirit Bane: Mantis Spirits might be too limited). And second of all, you're basically saying that whenever your group meets this type of spirit, they will attack your character first. That's a significant disadvantage, actually.
twilite
Apr 8 2008, 04:35 AM
I'm not sure that the point count is correct.

First- you have a Magic listed of 4, at a cost of 40 BP, but if that is the correct magic rating then it would only cost 30 BP's as you get the first point free. Possibly there is a mistake in whatever program you used?

Second- the costs you have listed:
240
134
-10
19
15
3
That comes out to 401, so you'll have to lose a point in there somewhere.

Sorry for getting nit-picky on it- guess that's just what I'm like talker.gif
Cthulhudreams
Apr 8 2008, 04:56 AM
Magic has been brought up to 5, then gone to 4 because of the cyberwear
Critias
Apr 8 2008, 05:53 AM
This character isn't slinging double-dice attacks with every piece of gear on her character sheet?! She's crap! What kind of nonsense is that? If you're not super awesome at everything, it's time to reevaluate whether or not a character's even worth wasting the forum's time and bandwidth over.
Fuchs
Apr 8 2008, 06:58 AM
QUOTE (twilite @ Apr 8 2008, 06:35 AM) *
I'm not sure that the point count is correct.

First- you have a Magic listed of 4, at a cost of 40 BP, but if that is the correct magic rating then it would only cost 30 BP's as you get the first point free. Possibly there is a mistake in whatever program you used?

Second- the costs you have listed:
240
134
-10
19
15
3
That comes out to 401, so you'll have to lose a point in there somewhere.

Sorry for getting nit-picky on it- guess that's just what I'm like talker.gif


Good catch on the BP, I don't use a program, so at times something slips.

The main problem I would see with the SMG is that it's a bit hard to sell to a bouncer of security guard "Yes, sir, it's a SMG, but I'll only use it as a pistol, can I go inside?"

There's no specific campaign yet for the character, apart from checking if I can covert an old SR3 character (well, the concept of it, the character was played for quite some time so I don't look for direct number conversion) I am looking to get a character ready for online gaming, in case a game opens up. So, the character should be versatile enough for standard games.

Main problem that showed is the lack of assensing, I missed that it cannot be defaulted. That will have to be corrected. Maybe reducing pistols 1 point.

The background is that the character was trained by Ares to hunt bugs, and her skills should represent this focus (Ares didn't waste much time on anything else, but some skills may be the result of standard training (pistols), or personal interest (pilot ground vehicle).
Cthulhudreams
Apr 8 2008, 07:04 AM
With the pistols thing I can see where you are coming from. Conversely, I feel that if a licensed concealed carry SMG is going to be a problem, an unlicensed pistol is likely to be an issue too. PS: If you are planning on carrying the gun through security, a fake license is probably a good idea.
DreadPirateKitten
Apr 9 2008, 08:23 PM
Automatics includes Machine Pistols, many of which, like the Crusader, look like a regular pistol. Thats an Ares Crusader, which is IC, I'd say, for this Ares stylin' dude
Fuchs
Apr 10 2008, 12:13 PM
So, the following changes seem in order:

Skillsoft Athletics corrected to Gymnastics.
SIN typo corrected to 3.
Contact reduced to 1/1

As far as assensing is concerned, one could drop pistols by 1 and get assensing 1.

Alternatively: Pistols dropped completely, points spent on Assensing (spirits) 2 and Automatics +1. Ares Predator, Stun baton, silencer and ExEx ammo for it replaced by Ares Crusader with internal smartlink/skinlink.
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