I'm wondering how adepts come into there powers. Are they totally random? That would mean most adepts would have bazaar combos like with mystic armor, wall running and improved ability (bag pipes). Are they 'chosen' sub-consciously at adolescence leading to hoards of Koreans with improved ability (star craft)? Do adepts have conscious control over there powers meaning adepts get to train or develop there abilities however they please, meaning that characters and players would seek twinkish synergy?

a little bit of all of those from a fluff point of view at least . .
usually magic manifests in puberty, most of the powers in that kind of time are random . . a little later come sub-conscious powers and if they find their sensei they get to learn what they wish to know

Crom grants physad powers, and he min-maxes.

improved attribute in STR and BOD, improved skill Sword-fighting . . what else? *g*

MORE BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!...er I mean um..crap..that was said out loud again wasn't it?

for the record: derailed in post 3, by wounded ronin, carry on ^^

I would imagine that most of the powers come from what the character focuses on as they develop.

I.E. if your really into martial arts, being a Phys Ad lets you go farther than mundanes as you develop powers. Like getting stronger with exercise.

Doesn't magic seem to work the way people believe it to? Might adepts work under that same principles? If magic works how the mage wants it to work one would think the adept has the same choice. You want it so you... got... it?

yes, well, at least with a little training once you realize that there actually IS magic . . else it will just do things realted to things that move you in a fairly big way . . mybe make you better at your hobby, maybe if you're bullied it will make you run quicker or easier for you to hide or make you stronger/tougher or giving you armor or something like that . . if you're trivia-otaku magic will grant you a photographic and eidetic memory O.o

The magic infuses itself into the adept as he grows and develops. He has probably always consistently been better at certain things than others, stronger, faster, more skilled, etc. When he begins to focus, his ability grows. It's not like he wakes up one day and suddenly has killing hands. He's probably been boxing or doing martial arts his entire life, and it's been a slow progression.

Why not? One day he is a Latent, next day the GM in the sky decides to exercise the Latent Awakening option. So he can wake up one day and suddenly has Killing Hands.

yeah, but to speak in SR3 terms(which i understand) he won't start out with Deadly but with light or maybe medium

In SR3 terms, it means one day he wakes up and has Magic 6 (or whatever his Essense is), which can translate to Killing Hands Deadly, right from day one.

A latent awakening is convenient, and would probably cover a wide variety of loosely connected powers. Do as you like.

Adept powers should also probably emerge from 80s training montages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WlfHFTK_uA...feature=related

The above clip deserves to be played in an endless loop while you sit around with your friends generating Shadowrun characters.

Am I crazy or did Van Damme gain other skill - etiquette level 4 with a geese that it can only be used when blindfolded?

Yes. He uses it in the end of the film to produce more asian stoic magic than Bolo Yeung.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0YDuSLXcX8...feature=related

How did my street sam come into these world class shooting skills and boosting cyberware! I mean suddenly I can shoot the wings off of flies, throw bullets around corners, fire billions of rounds a minute and leap over tall buildings! It's like some numbers I were pulled out of a hat,a nd whan there I am!

Holy crabapples and Forest Whitaker is in that movie.... On a side note if mages just instantly ding and go from magic 5 to magic 6 adepts must work the same way. You don't have killing hands and then suddenly you have killing hands, or whatever you decide to break that one point of magic into.

He is talking about the magic spike, not that suddenly your shadowrunner is just that good and has world class killing skills. Initiating takes time, other people, and a ritual, or a meta planer quest, or something. Magic just goes up a point and suddenly you are just better. Kind of like leveling in that killing that last baddie made you suddenly all that much more badassed. Magic seems to apply in this fashion. So remember when you decide to raise your magic by one point say DING!