Hi,

I was going through the Shadowrun books and I came up with what seems to be the maximum you can get for charisma based social skills for a starting character.

Attributes
Race elf: Maximum Charisma 8
Exceptional attribute +1
Genetic optimization: +1
Cosmetic surgery +3

Total: 13

Adept:
Kinesics +5
Improved Ability (Social Skill of Choice at rank 6) +3

Positive qualities:
First impression +2


Bioware:
Tailored pheromones +3
Enhanced phermone receptors +2
Vocal range enhancer +1
Cosmetic surgery +3

Software:
Empathy software (Rating 6) +6

Lie detection (Rating 6) +6
Thermographic vision +1

So with empathy software you can get a maximum 35 dice for social skills and with the detect lies software 36.
With the social skill of choice 38/39

Skills:
Con (Cha) RANK 6
Etiquette (Cha) RANK 4
Leadership (Cha) RANK 4
Negotiation (Cha) RANK 4
Intimidation (Cha) RANK 4

Skill specialization +2

Social skill of choice 38/39 + skill+ skill specialization for final total.

Making maximum totals of 46/47


Have I missed something or counted wrong?

-Chrysalis

Can't have more than your Magic levels of a particular power. Thus, if you have a Magic of 6, you can't have any adept power (such as kinesics) at higher than 6, regardless of power point cost.

Updated with the change to adept power.

-Chrysalis

I assume you've read the original pornomancer thread? That might have something you've missed.

Not sure but can you stack Genetic Optimization with the Exceptional Attribute positive quality? That'd net you an extra die.

Yes exceptional attribute does stack with genetic optimization. Updated original post.

No I haven't read the original pornomancer thread. Link please.

-Chrysalis

Drop Kinesics by one (-1 Magic from Essence Loss)
Add Improved Ability (Social Skill of Choice) - Total of 10 ranks to be divided.
Add skill specializations.

Updated.

Improved Ability is not a Bonus, but an increase to the skill. As such, it is limited by Augmented Maximum, or +3 if the skill is maxed normally.

Add Aptitude for social skill of choice.
EDIT: Aptitude would replace First Impression due to quality maximum, resulting in one less die first meeting, one more die subsequent meetings.

[Augmentation Optional Rule]
+3 Charisma; Cosmetic Surgery.

Wait, wha? I had assumed you were counting exceptional attribute in the first place. Elves are +2, for a normal max of 8(12). With exceptional attribute and genetic optimization that only takes you up to 10(15). (not that there's a whole lot affected by the augmented maximum) What am I missing?

don't forget mentor spirit bonus.

Improved Ability, as mentioned, is limited to Level 3 (assuming a 6 in the associated skill).

Tailored Pheromones are limited to Rating 2 at chargen due to Availability.

Whats your explanation for why Tailored Pheromones would be limited to rating 2 at chargen? Seems a rating x4f = Tailored Pheromones 3 being availability 12, unless you have sources I am not aware of.

Yep, my mistake. I was thinking of something else.

Updated.

So that would mean that for your social skill of choice there would be maximum totals of 46/47.

... all of this is why making most of these Dice Pool modifiers was a really bad idea. Tailored Pheremones, Pheremone Receptor, Voice Modulator and Kinesics should all be Attribute augmentations. Most of the rest should be Skill augmentations. That would cap you out at 25 dice, which is more than reasonable.

One thing that is missing - you will need to have at least one language at 6 to get full advantage otherwise your skill will be capped at your language (which will also lower the boost from adept powers).

Kithran

Have you heard of something usually called "Native Language"?

The point is that Social Skills are limited to the level of the language being used. While it's all fine and dandy to negotiate with no penalty in your native language, you would be penalized for trying to con someone in Russian when your skill level in that language is lower than the Social Skill used.

so skillwires or ain't those needed for language skills?

Hmmm, if the skill level is capped by language, does that mean the skill modifiers like Improved Ability would also be capped?

If not you just have to find room for the Linguistics power and then pick up pretty much all languages in the game at Rating 1, losing 5 from the die pool. If it is capped, you lose 7 from the die pool.

So even if it is capped, still allows you to work your mojo with pretty much anyone albeit at a reduced die pool.

You don't need Skillwires for Linguasofts (or Knowsofts). Merely either a Datajack or a Sim Module.



Canon wording states that the maximum augmented skill level is 1.5 times the current rating. I would say that if language limits the current rating of an Adept's Con Skill, then any Improved Ability would also be limited in kind to the new current rating.

My guess is that they chose to make them bonus dice instead of attribute augmentations because they didn't want all those powers adding to a potential drain stat and astral strength.

Tailored pheromones will do that....

Well, they can have it only apply in certain circumstances, like the Bone Density augmentation.

And if it only applies at certain times then it is a bonus and is not limited by caps.

Call me crazy, but wouldn't a mystic adept work better then just a normal adept pornomancer? I mean at least w/ the mystic adept they can also cast illusion based spells that will also increase their social dice pool. I mean there are a few glamor spells to push that cheese just a little further. With a few sustaining focuses wouldn't the mystic adept pull out the cheese even more hardcore or am I missing something?

I mean the pornomancer just walks in and casts orgy or orgasm... I mean what could make more sense?

Yes, especially since Kinesics is only 0.5 PP per die. That leaves you with half your Magic rating for casting spells.

Slap the dude with orgy, orgasm, entertainment, influence, and anything else you can think of in Street magic. You could actually give the dude a low magic and sink most of it into power points. Just have the elf overcast to force 2 or 3 and jam it in a sustaining spell focus.

Remember that only one sustaining focus can be active at a time.

Well ok, but really in the end you only need one. Slap the silly sod with some debuffs, hit yourself with some buffs, and walk all over his mind like Fred Astare. Even if you sustain a few force 3 or 4 spells on yourself without the sustaining focus and even with your -2 you are still hitting them harder when you work your social mojo overall. I mean god help you if the guy decides to shoot you, but how could they waste a thing of such beauty? I mean why waste the stunning elf? Now make love to the stunning elf constantly might be a problem, but let the GM worry about if they want to use that angle. Although throwing this many dice should have the Zoolander effect; Like being able to stop bullets and thrown weapons with a look.


Maybe it might be nice just to have a r2 power focus just to cast higher force spells and sometimes pass a few of the sustaining spell over to one of your bound spirits or something.

Then that's a mechanical failure of the rules.

That does work, but it presents problems of its own. For one thing, if you use it as a long term strategy, focus addiction might be a problem. For another, binding spirits requires resources. You'll need money for the materials, plus the skill to do it. That goes off magic. So now to get a decent DP (you're going to need at least 1 service...), you now get to make the magical choice of either sinking skill points that could be used on social skills, or pumping up casting magic, which is going to hurt your adept magic. Not saying it can't be done, just saying that at this point, you're making some sacrifices.

Pumping your character at the start of character gen I thought was the whole point of this was to roll off 400 bp character of crazyness. You can already start with some bound spirits at your beck and call. Summoning up a spirit on the fly and passing it a sustaining spell is free. Yes passing tasks off to spirits does cost money in the end, but hell if we are talking about going for the hard tweak a mystic adept is your best bet. I mean when you initiate you can take a meta magic, or get a power point. Thus either increasing your skills, or taking a possible useful meta magic.

In the end this build takes to keep the wheels working, but it has at the starting gate more dice with debuffs. In the end game it also has the potential to be more powerful then it's adept cousin in the very long run.

Lowering the Adept side of your Magic also lowers the maximum rank of your powers.


Incorrect. There is nothing limiting the number of Sustaining Foci you may have active beyond the normal foci limits.

Where do you get this from?

Ok, so if you do the math and you take a power foci r2 and have to split your magic and adept power at 2.5 and 2.5 can basically cast force 4 spells *edit* and have less of a chance of killing yourself *edit thanks fortune sorry for not being clearer*. If you take the 4 dice you lose (2 from kenesics and 2 from improved ability) you can cast a force 4 Influence sustaining spell, a force 4 orgasm spell, and a force 4 entertainment spell... even with the resist with the willpower you have probably at least broken even. The only problem is, is that it works better against adepts and mundanes, but worse against mages.

Possibly SR3 or 2 for the sustaining focus limit?

Power Foci do not actually raise the Magic Attribute, so do not really contribute to casting higher Force spells. They merely add their Force to any test involving the Magic Attribute, basically just giving you more dice.

It's not a failure, it's a feature.

If it wasn't then various augmentations would be totally pointless.

Not that I recall. There has always been a general rule about the maximum number of Foci that can be safely used, but nothing specific limiting Susutaining Foci.

No, that is exactly how the rules were designed to work. As hyzmarca says, a feature, not a bug.

Sorry, I won't have my book on me for a few days. But I was pretty sure you could only use one focus at a time. Or is it just that you can only use one focus on any given test?jj

If I'm not mistaken, you can only have one focus add dice to any one roll, but you could use 2 foci for the same test by using a spellcasting focus for casting it and a sustaining focus for sustaining it...

Yep. The rule is that you can only use on Focus (of any type) on any one specific test.

There is a limit on the total number of Foci that a person can Bond, which is equal to their Magic Attribute. There is also a limit on the total Force of all Bonded Foci, which is set at five times the character's Magic Atrribute.

Not in 4E! Quote from the top of pg. 186: "For all other purposes, including the determination of the maximum level for adept powers, the character's full Magic attribute is used."

Merry Christmas.

Man hat is so screwy I have to make a Mystic Adept Face now...

...is it bad that I'm so intrigued by the mystic adept pornomancer that I want to build one, just to see how it works?

...and, if it works, I want to play it... I feel dirty...

I made one, have it on file at home, it's pretty much exactly like an adept pornomancer, but with spells like orgasm and it is completely grotesque...

Elf, Mystic Adept, Magic Component using Charisma as a Drain-Stat, preferably Possession Tradition too . .
high charisma, high agility for shooty/fighty stuff . .
yes, one can work with this *g*

Yeah well basically you take the adept and just give him/her crazy buffs and debuffs. No GM should allow that character to played in their game.