On the other hand, adepts are a boatload of fun! Most beginning players will enjoy playing them. The "traditional" adept is your "ninja guy." Physically superior, capable of dealing out (and even taking) decent damage and usually stealthy as hell. They are a
great infiltrator if they take Astral Perception, and are a good bodyguard for a mage/shaman, if they have both Astral Perception and Astral combat and a decent weapon focus.
Role playing wise, especially for a beginner, they have some nice hooks: playing the snobby foil to the street sam that has all that *holds nose* "non-organic" stuff in them. Yet, when the drek is flying, it's often them and the Sammy, fighting back to back that save the day (usually saving the mage's hoop so he has time to call down the wrath of the heavens on your opponents.)
(Traditional)Adepts frequently also make up the shortstop guy for the team. While they are usually one of the top fighters (typically only out shined by a well-built Street Sam) if you need a guy to do ANYTHING physical that takes agility or reaction, he's your metahuman! He can probably drive a getaway car, makes a great impromptu sniper and in 4th edition can be a decent break-in guy with a good hardware skill , tools and 'trodes. As with any other character, he can be a great face, and without sacrificing too many BP points here can definitely be a good backup. What it boils down to, the adept can be versatile and for a new player, if he doesn't try to specialize too hard, will never be bored and will always have something to do. And will probably frequently find himself being the "hero" for the party...coming through and saving their bacon when the chips are down.
It only costs 5 BP to take the Adept quality (and if you stay at a Magic 5) only another 50 BP to gain all their Adept abilities. So, in designing your typical Character with 400 BP, you've only spent 255 BP for a boatload of attributes and Adept super-boosters. That leaves you a whopping 145BP to spend on skills and Gear, Contacts and Edge. Personally, I'd consider a 15 or 20 point Negative quality to pay for that extra point of magic to go to Magic 6...say Sensitive System, if you truly never want to go "cyber" with this guy. Remember, you aren't going to be paying for ANY of that expensive cyberware out of your BPs. Another nice side benefit to the Adept is that you aren't going to be raising any flags with all your "illegal" (and unditchable) cyber at a checkpoint.
Another thing to remember is that an adept can also take a mentor spirit. Not only does this allow a role playing hook/set of ideals for your character, there are some that can provide worthy bonuses to your character:
Examples:
Dark King:
Advantages: +2 dice for Perception and Assensing Tests, +2 dice for spirits of man.
Disadvantages: –1 die to resist Physical damage.
Rat:
Advantages: +2 dice for Infiltration Tests, +2 dice for resisting disease and poisons
Disadvantages: A Rat magician must make a Willpower + Charisma (3) Test to not immediately flee or seek cover whenever
caught in a combat situation. If there is nowhere to flee, then she is forced to fight.
Thunderbird:
Advantages: +2 dice for air spirits, +2 dice for Intimidation Tests
Disadvantages: A Thunderbird magician must succeed in a Willpower + Charisma (3) Test to avoid responding to an insult
in kind.
The above are all examples of Mentor Spirits that don't have some sort of spell boost as part of their advantages. 5BP to pick up 2 dice to some pretty important rolls is a thing not to be overlooked, especially when the added flavor to the character is considered.
House Rule to ConsiderAs a side note, my group has decided that with mentor spirits that
do have spell boosts and/ or spirit boosts, you get those dice in those types of things. Example:
Raven:
Advantages: +2 dice for Manipulation spells, +2 dice for air spirits.
Disadvantages: A Raven magician must make a Willpower + Charisma (3) Test to avoid exploiting someone else’s misfortune
to her own advantage.
An adept that follows Raven would not only get his normal defense test against Manipulation type spells, but get to add two dice to that pool. Ditto, if he is facing an air spirit. If he is attacking one, say with Astral Combat, he adds a pair of dice to the attack. If he is defending against an attack from one he gets those dice as well. We find it it helps balance out magic a bit for the mundanes by allowing one more character a slightly improved chance of fighting against magical foes.
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In the end, it is sort of silly to completely compare all/any of the archetypes. It really depends on what guy you want to role-play. Also, remember most shadowrun games are played as a "team." No one character is gonna have all the skills to be the uber-guy at everything. You really do need that core 4 types: Warrior, Mage, Hacker, Infiltrator. Typically, the Adept can fill/supplement the Warrior and Infiltrator roles marvelously. With his peek into the magical realm he can also be a nice complement to the Mage and with, appropriate gear and skills, at least a second rate hacker.
The Adept is far from broken and there are a vast number of ways one can be put together. As with most things, it depends on the type of game the GM is running as to how completely needed or awesome he is. I usually don't worry too much about growth caps, down the line. The Adept can do a lot of growing along the way and yet, can be damn impressive right off the blocks. Besides, like most newbie runners, he'll probably get geeked on the streets inside of 6 months. Welcome to the shadows, chummer. ANYONE can die and frequently does.
Vlad