Dumpshock Forums > So, a little help here-critique timex2!

ElFenrir

Apr 23 2008, 03:32 PM

So here goes. The second guy i am playing around still with these wonderful martial arts rules that i havn't gotten a chance to play in game yet; but i wanted to put a different twist on the character. The first guy i wouldn't call....original, but, well...I just had to try.

Both have backgrounds too in spoilers.

Our usual house rules are in effect(most know already, but for the newer folks it's Cha x 2 contact points, no Availability limit at chargen and we converted the SR3 edges and flaws to SR4.)

[ Spoiler ]

At 61 years old, Henry Nigelson might well be one of the older(and still living) runners in the Shadows. Well, Henry isn't really a runner anymore. He's more of the-Johnny on the Spot if you will. Henry, these days, is a butler. Yes, Henry you could look at as being a bonafide Battle Butler, like the ones of old. He's British, he's proper, he's smart, and he's got alot of skills you wouldn't expect the old, rich, proper coot to have. He seems to know alot, too. And he's got a rather amazing streak of luck. When you live as long as he has, with one foot sort of always dangling into the shadow pool, it's sort of expected.

Henry was born in 2009, so yes, he's seen about everything there is to see that's happened between 2015(you know, stuff that happens when your real young can get forgotten), and 2070. It would take too long to go into everything in this more of a briefing; but you could imagine. Henry was actually fairly well off growing up, intelligent and in good shape; and he decided to join the British Army at 18, when he got out of his schooling. Henry's patience, steady hand and eye funneled him into the sniper range; in addition, his gutsy willpower made him able to actually handle the job of a sniper. He wasn't cold or callous however, and basically did the work that was laid out for him. He became a natural leader and eventually proved to be good enough for the SAS; which he was in until he was 35 years old; when he finally removed himself from the military and got a corporate job for Schroeder Pharmicuticals. (It's not a canon corp, but we do make up our own for the campaigns).

However life as a company man and life in the military were two different things; at least in the military he was sort of doing things he believed in. After seven years of servitude he finally, with his vast contacts and networks built up over the years, managed to escape and create a new life.

Henry had always had an interest in cooking; so he began to do that part time while settling in; he had alot of money still from his family and was easily able to live off of it while doing some cooking on his spare time. He then met a man by the name of Fredrick Wellington and his wife, Nancy. They were also a rather rich couple who started frequenting the place where he cooked at on his spare time; eventually, through twists and turns, he was hired on as their butler and housekeeper. For the now 43 year old man who was perfectly happy to retire after a rather decent career, this was a great thing.

Fredrick and Nancy eventually had a daughter named Jaina; an extremely intelligent young lady who proved later to be magically active. The parents were heavily into buisness and didn't get to see her as often as they could; but Henry helped in raising her. When Jaina was 15 in 2060, her parents were killed in a bullettrain accident; it hit the young lady hard in several ways, mainly because she felt that she really didn't get to know her parents as well as she should have, but Henry raised her the rest of the way. He now ends up involved in many of her running antics. She runs with a team nowadays and has; her main thing was alchemy and magical scientist; she was a bookworm and labrat obessesed with knowledge. Henry, now the father figure, knows the team sometimes gets themselves into hot water-and helps pull them out(hence his Johnny on the Spot bit. But he never lets the team know he actually helps unless it's to be an emergency driver or something. He helps in more-subtle ways.) Henry has also been known to occationaly revisit things in the underground for old friends if needed.

Physically Henry is of average height(five-nine or so), and medium build, while he's still in excellent health for someone his age, years have taken a small toll on his physical fitness. He dresses nice and top of the line-suits or Polo shirts and slacks, nice shoes, and keeps his white hair short and well groomed, as he does with his mustache. He has light cyberware-eyes, ears, Skillwires and a sleep regulator-picked up years ago; he was never one for heavy cybernetics, though he doesn't mind if others do it. Henry has done all kinds of jobs in the past; nowadays he prefers to have a much more 'background' involvement-although, there are times, once in a great while, where he will lend his sniper rifle to the cause again, and there could be an instance where he would actually join a team again, if it was needed. He's got a wide variety of skills; from combat, but he prefers that as a very last resort-his social and stealth skills help him as well(especially when he's trying to keep himself quiet around Jaina and her colorful team.)

Henry enjoys cooking still, keeps the manor that Jaina now lives on(as well as Aden, one of the heavy-hitting fighting members of her team and almost-boyfriend, who lives in a converted dormitory on the estate), still enjoys recreational hunting(he's an old British guy and he is perfectly fine with the jokes this causes; he even makes some himself), and an occational opera. (He makes it a point to remind the knowledge magical-knowledge obsessed, sometimes spirit dealing Jaina about Faust quite often.)

He is indeed the quintessential ''Cool Old Guy/Battle Butler''.

A few of his quirks/likes/etc: He's a good skeet-shooter and still goes to the club with the other old fogies; his age hasn't dulled him in the least here. He prefers deer and fowl hunting of all of it and is damn good at cooking it. One of Henry's downsides is the insistance of helping people out with his range of skill, experience, and knowledges-even though it prevents him from really ever getting totally out of the shadows. His current favorite opera is the classic Carmen.

Author's Note: Ive been a huge fan of Battle Butlers, from the main man Alfred himself to the (sort of like that) Waylon Smithers(ok, he's a comic version), to others. I basically stole every Battle Butler trope in the book for this guy, but, ya know...sometimes you don't have to go 100% original for the character to be fun. I also wanted to play an older character who has seen more; in addition to a more lightly cybered-non magical type(I usually go heavier cyber or magic), who is a generalist rather than specialist. He throws between 5-9 dice for his skills(his firearm skills get a smartlink too, so he actually shoots rifles with 11 dice which is rather good.) His high Edge can help him here, too, I think.

Character 2:

[ Spoiler ]

So, the help needed:

I have 6 BPs left-I might need some more Resources for this guy so I might spend yet another two of them there, leaving 4 to maybe dump into another skill-either an existing one or at least start him on a Stealth skill. Any ideas here? Im quite happy with his stats-he's got a good, solid, balanced level of stats for what he does(even though his Logic is completely average and unexceptional. He is highly intuitive though, and that strikes me as good for a Face since it's that 'hunch' kind of stat.)

This is my first Face-type of character; and while Im learning all the martial arts ropes well(i am the melee fan, im just trying out other things to mix melee with so it's not just 'melee and gun' or 'melee and ninja stealth' guy), Im hoping I have the face/diplomacy/social aspect of the guy down. Any toys or skills Im missing for the Face half? I also need to pick a Kung Fu bonus. (I might go Wushu instead since it does indeed fit the flamboyance; and i just plain like Savate and ended up not using it for my last character, so i brought it out with this guy.)

Background:

[ Spoiler ]

You know, sometimes you think your life is all set and ready to go; but naturally, the proverbial drek can hit the fan. It just so happened that the young man named Ethan L. Heinlein was standing under said fan when the monkey-house at the zoo ended up winding up their arms and pitching all at once.

Growing up, Ethan enjoyed a rather good life; he was fairly proud of his elven heritage, though not racist in any way and was generally a rather pleasant guy to be around. His slightly effeminate but very good looks, long blonde hair and hazel eyes made him a hit with the ladies in his rather nice schools. His parents had stable corporate jobs and with Ethan's natural charm, charisma and interest in the workings of politics and buisness, seemed to have a life as a 'face-man' all set out for him. Ethan was no frail prettyboy of a bookworm, though; since he was young he had an almost unhealthy obsession with Wuxia Action Theater type of movies and to keep himself healthy and in shape, studied martial arts under some of the more skilled teachers around that his parents found; they encouraged it(a diplomatic, charming man good with words can get plenty of work-a diplomatic, charming man good with words who can also defend himself and whoever he is helping out/speaking for from hostile rivals is even better; and he was alot more low key than the obvious cyber-monster ork with the gun a diplomat might take with them.)

It turned out that a politician by the name of James R. Andretti(no relation), whom knew Ethan's parents, was interested in young Ethan, whom at 20 had had two years of university under his belt, plenty of knowledge and skill in the social realms and had been taking said martial arts since he was 10. See, James R. Andretti had a bit of a secret past. While he was genuinely was trying to reform and be a better man these days(sure, he accepted brib...erm, donations and coughed a few out himself, I mean, UCAS politics are UCAS politics), 15 years ago he was known as ''Larry the Hammer'', as in the hammer of a revolver and yep, he worked for the Mob until some rather unsavory things happened.

Well, Lar...erm, James managed to stay rather off the radar; and even in his aspiring political career managed to. Ethan worked as his mouth, his faceman, and his bodyguard all in one. The elf enjoyed the prestige-he knew what he had in him and he really enjoyed the travel and getting to actually utilize his varied skills in real-life situations; having nice food, a fairly big paycheck and limo rides was a bonus. His socially trained skills were the most used; but on occation he had to forcibly explain to some rather hostile people via negotations, a few intimidating words and/or a glare or, failing that, a kick to the head, that attacking he or his 'charge/boss/this politician guy' was a bad idea. He trained a bit with small arms to help; the world of politics and diplomacy in the mid-late 2060s could be a dangerous buisness.

Naturally, though, things fall through the cracks and a past mob contact, now enemy, caught on that James Andretti was actually yep, Larry the Hammer. He was none to happy about this and sent a few large men to deal with the matter in that time-honored method. However, they men sent to 'discuss' things were not expecting Ethan there; Ethan, being paid to both work with and protect James, dispatched the three of them bare-handed in a rather permanent manner; he knew sometimes that 'knockout' combat wasn't an option, given the large shotguns the men had. Well, it was a damned if he did, damned if he didn't situation, and Ethan was now caught up in James' crap(even if he hadn't killed the men, he would have been caught up anyway). So, Ethan decided it would be in his best interest to head to the underground after a couple other harrowing situations where he was now half-targeted also. James understood this and actually felt bad about dragging him down with him, not to mention the political backlash that was going on at the moment.

So after getting a change of address, a change of city, and a change of hair and eye color along with some fake IDs and the like, Ethan started setting himself up in the shadows best he could-luckily James had had a few contacts that weren't hostile to him and were able to help. Ethan quickly made himself very useful to teams, his excellent charisma and social skills were in want for dealing with everyone from Johnsons to guards; and his very formidable martial arts skills came in just as handy; after using some of his funds to invest in a little more cyberware(to help both his combat and social skills) he was able to hold up to a samurai in hand to hand as easily as he could hold up to a Johnson in negotiating or a politican in diplomacy.

Ethan can back himself up in firearms and has a smattering of other skills besides social and martial arts; however he isn't known for being the stealthiest person around yet, but he's trying to change that(he had no reason to know how to sneak in his past.) He's more likely to use his charm, charisma or looks to get his way into(or out of) things. He's taken all kinds of jobs from a talk-in-to snatch-and-grab to even wetwork; the shadows had opened his 'moral view' a bit, so to speak.

Physically, he stands around six-five(a little over 1.9 meters), with long, black hair(touched with a few dark blue streaks) pulled into a tail in the back, but worn to his chin in the front, dark blue eyes and fair skin with no beard-growth at all. He's built quite athletic. He can change up clothing to whatever is needed; from nice suits with form-fitting body armor and his beloved dark gray longcoat to his preferred jeans, sleeveless shirt, boots and gloves; with armored vest, shin-guards and arm-guards if combat looks imminent, to whatever else in between. He's charming, as said, he knows he looks good and and is actually a rather helpful person to his team, and he is rather loyal. He loves to see new things and meet new people; he's 26 years old so has quite a few years left to do that. He's got a taste for imported coffee and usually keeps a ton of types at his house; he drinks it almost like water, he also likes the classical-heavy metal combination of music and has a whole lot of varied Wuxia Action Theater movies, from good to cheesy(leaning more toward the right on that one according to those who have seen. He happened to borrow his rather amusing nickname from Kickmaster 3: Revenge of the Blue Lotus, which can't really be called a well-known film.) Teammates will find him very easy to get on with; even though he can, has and will preform some darker deeds in the shadows such as assasination for hire or whatnot, and tends to be protective of those he works with(a throwback from being a part time bodyguard), he really tries to be a good guy.

A few quirks/likes/etc: His current favorite Wuxia Action Theater actor is Kain Andersson, the elven adept star of the high-action, high-acrobatic, high-body count and mildly high cheese series of movies called Kickmaster. His favorite bands are two that most folks don't know about anymore as they existed back in the 1990s-2000s, Apocalyptica and Therion. One of his little downsides is that while he does try to stay low key, he can get a bit flamboyant and tends to fight a little bit flashy and stylish(but still effective, but occationaly it's good not to be remembered.) He does a good job of staying serious on a job-but in a tournament-like environment he's gone as far as to name some of his moves. However, he hasn't gone as far as to call them out.

Author's Note: Im not too experienced with Face-types, and wanted to try it; but i wanted it to be in conjuction with something else. Ive seen plenty of mage-faces, sniper-faces and stealth-faces; but no real 'battle-diplomat'' types. With me still toying around with Martial Arts rules in Arsenal i figure it would be fun to try. I wanted a suave, really good looking and good with words/social skills guy who could still kick ass in a dangerous way. He throws 14 dice in martial arts(DV of 9P or S after everything, 11-14 in social situations, which are his two specialities; he can shoot a semi-automatic with 13 dice after a smartlink. He defends with 11/15 melee regular/full, and 6/10 dice ranged regular/full, so he's very competent at his chosen fields.

ElFenrir

Apr 23 2008, 08:40 PM

*gentle nudge*

before it falls to oblivion before it had a chance to live.

(well, i am 200 timezones away, just waiting for any face/generalist/skillsoft experts to show up.)

*runs and hides again*

WeaverMount

Apr 23 2008, 09:07 PM

two things. I'm really not big on paying essence for stuff you can do without cyber ie. all the ear mods.

Also Walter C. Dornez, of Hellsing is the best battle buttler 3VR!!!

Stahlseele

Apr 23 2008, 09:30 PM

Walter is beaten by Owen Burnett hands down!

[ Spoiler ]

but a little bit over the top i'd say *g*

WeaverMount

Apr 23 2008, 09:55 PM

Ah, a well constructed retort, and you may well be right in the world at large. However you forgot that this is a cyberpunk forum and mono-filament totally pwnz cuz that's what Molly packs.

ElFenrir

Apr 23 2008, 10:44 PM

To answer; Yes, they are badass battle butlers.

Okies, so I did gear lists-Henry doesn't have weapons and others yet however, and im still debating on what else to do here.

Henry:

[ Spoiler ]

Ok, so as for his weapons, besides the Barret Model, I think im going to get him the generic, old fashioned Ruger 100 Sport Rifle(for his hunting and skeet), and a Remington 990 shotgun as well(also good for hunting). So the old fella will have a fair little gun collection; but given his background a few pieces might be pretty natural. No Assault Rifles-that skill was from his time in the military(i figure anyone with a military background will learn to shoot an assault rifle.) I'm also getting him Shock Gloves too i think, unless I pick up a level in some martial art for him to help his rather low DV(hey, he's 61, I figure i give the guy a little break For all 3's and a 2 in his physical stats he ain't bad.). Shock Gloves might be the better bet though. Naturally i'd like to also get some Armor Mods.

I still need to pick his Skillsofts-I think Hardware, Software, and Locksmith will be there(i like the idea of him with the lockpicks.) Dunno how much more I can afford, though, especially after his weapons, they are going to run him a bit of that 21k i have left.

Ethan:

[ Spoiler ]

I'd still like a few Lingasofts and Knowsofts; for a face/bit of a diplomatic/social guy this could help alot; I sorta ran out of knowledge skill points. You don't need Skillwires to use these so i'm good to go.

I think I might actually take 2 of the 6 BPs left and get an extra 10k nuyen, and put what's leftover from the Softs and that to a pretty nice car. Arsenal is not in front of me, but when i see it again i'm going to search out a decent car that's fairly affordable. He does have style, after all. (I'd love to try to afford him a high lifestyle if I can.)

Then he still has 4 BPs remaining to pop into an existing skill, a new skill, or to buy a couple of specializations. Or hell, a specialization and more nuyen or even more nuyen for a nicer set of wheels or something. Armor Mods are something i'd like to keep in mind as well(nonconductivity, etc), to touch up his coat and vest with a bit.

Stahlseele

Apr 23 2008, 10:45 PM

nah, Magic pwnz more, and puk (owen burnett) is a child of oberon and titania *g*
and heck, yes, he even has a replacement-arm, if you wanna look at his stone-hand like that so there! ^^

WeaverMount

Apr 23 2008, 11:09 PM

Dude my boy jumps out of a helicopter and dices a a swarm of doodz and lands in a 10 point bad ass pose. Without and stupid fairy blood. Besides physads are real and fairies haven't come back yet, and windlings are gay. yeah screw there d10 karma dice.

edit: Sorry for the high jack, I just don't have a lot to say yet another face/pistol/stealth. You aren't making noob mistakes and don't seem to need optimizing advance as all your DP are the ranges you want. That and Walter C. Dornez is 3.6794 * 1^12 % win

ElFenrir

Apr 23 2008, 11:33 PM

Heh, no problems. I was wondering what happened, hehe.

I figured i wasn't making a new to Shadowrun mistake, since ive played it a bit. I was more or less wondering due to well, not really making a face-type before(even he is more of a combat face-erm, more like a face that can take care of himself and the people he's with.). Sure i take social skills for my guys but I heard they have new toys and such out that help Faces that i'm unfamiliar with. As for picking Knowsofts, i guess i'll get a handful of stuff that looks like he might could know-and what are they charged under...in my SR4 book i can't seem to find it. They are charged nuyen as general purpose programs, if i recall?

As for Battle Butler, I know mine isn't like a load of whoopass but i think i know the direction i wanna go with him. The Skillsofts i have to choose carefully because i only have so much nuyen left.

Im still thinking about negative qualities for both that could fit them well.

WeaverMount

Apr 23 2008, 11:44 PM

ok, so I'd avoid posting two chars at a time because It makes it really hard to hold in your head. I think one of your chars had edge 5 and skill wires. I'd make sure you get the skill wire expert system to go with it.

ElFenrir

Apr 24 2008, 12:25 AM

Hmm...might be right there. Sorry about the confusion; i had made em both up and once and didn't want to pollute the board with two threads at once. Might have been easier though.

Well Henry(Battle Butler) has the 5 Edge and Skillwires. Skillwire Expert System? Sounds pretty cool. I think i remember it from part 3.

Ethan(Kung Fu Face) doesn't have skillwires, but to my knowledge you don't need them for Knowsofts or Linguasofts.

toturi

Apr 24 2008, 03:05 AM

QUOTE (Stahlseele @ Apr 24 2008, 06:45 AM)

nah, Magic pwnz more, and puk (owen burnett) is a child of oberon and titania *g*
and heck, yes, he even has a replacement-arm, if you wanna look at his stone-hand like that so there! ^^

Battle Butler - Kato - Thou shalt not be more uber than the Man, Bruce Lee.

WeaverMount

Apr 24 2008, 08:05 AM

Cato is no Bruce Lee. Not all Chinese martial artists are bruce lee. But yes another awesome battle butler.

Bruce Lee vs. Neuromancer? Could Mr. Lee round-house an Ultra-Violet node so hard it cries?

Stahlseele

Apr 24 2008, 08:27 AM

no, only chuck norris can do that

ElFenrir

Apr 24 2008, 08:50 AM

Kato was awesomeness too.

The Big O anime had a badass battle butler as well. And then there's Hayate the Combat Butler, whose a super battle butler and he's only 16. That's pretty badass.

WeaverMount

Apr 24 2008, 08:54 AM

damn i flubbed my knowledge(matrix meme) roll!

toturi

Apr 24 2008, 02:11 PM

QUOTE (WeaverMount @ Apr 24 2008, 04:05 PM)

Cato is no Bruce Lee. Not all Chinese martial artists are bruce lee. But yes another awesome battle butler.

Bruce Lee vs. Neuromancer? Could Mr. Lee round-house an Ultra-Violet node so hard it cries?

Why would Mr Lee do that when he can 1 inch punch the node so hard it cries mommy?

ElFenrir

Apr 24 2008, 02:13 PM

I have to say this is the most interesting character critique thread i've seen in a long time.

Mental Note: Next time, post characters seperately.

EDIT: Come to think of it, maybe i should take it as a good thing with the derailment. The critique threads that go on for 3-4 pages usually mean fatal mistakes in the character. I could take this that I actually got it right.