I decided to see what I could do for a combat mage since all I've ever played have been gun bunnies. Logic based Dwarf Combat Mage. Critique and all that and any suggestions are welcome since this is the first time I've ever statted a mage before.

Dwarf Combat Mage

Body: 2 (3)
Agi: 2
Rea: 4
Str: 1 (3)
Cha: 2
Int: 4
Log: 5 (7)
Will: 5 (6)
Edge: 3
Magic: 5 (4)

Spellcasting: 5
Summoning: 4
Dodge: 4
Astral Combat: 2
Counterspelling: 4
Perception: 4

Focused Concentration: 2

Addiction: Moderate:
Allergy: Common, Mild
Allergy: Common, Mild
SINner

Manabolt
Stunball
Powerbolt
Increase Reflexes
Heal
Combat Sense
Improved Invis

Power Foci: 2
Sustaining Foci: 2

Cerebral Booster: 2
Trauma Damper
Ultrasound
Low-light
Vision Magnifier
Flare Comp
Protective Covers

Drones will kill you. Get a physical combat spell or hide behind your friend the streetsam.

I'm guessing the addiction is to Psyche or Loco Speedballs. Other than that, he's an all right character. Lots of ways to improve him (especially if you don't mind micro-management), but nothing blatantly wrong with him.

The only thing missing is an indirect combat spell since you don't have any kind of ranged or melee combat skill. You'll want some method to take out drones and other non-mana based targets.

Any suggestions on how to improve him since there are a bunch of ways? I'm curious as to what you would change.

Ok, I've played a number of mages, and I see a few potential issues here, not all of them are critical, but all together, your creating a sub-optimal mage here, I don't even know if he'll be able to survive the shadows.. without a few more capabilities... he might, but it will be due to luck.

First, you've taken a dwarf, that means for you, Willpower is your best stat, concider redoing your attributes for a Willpower of 7.. mind you, it's only a suggestion.. but every bit helps, and with focused concentration.. your base, before including Logic, is 9 for drain, and for a mage, those Drain stats are very.. very Important!


Step two... drop the cyberware/bioware... I think, in part, this may be your old gun bunny mentality is working here.. that Cyberware is good... rethink this.. for a mage.. any essence loss is bad... sometimes it's worth the drop.. but if I was going to do this, I'm raise the magic to 6, so that the drop was only to 5, rather then all the way to 4.. IMO, a mage should always start with a magic of at least 5.. Cerebral Boosters are very good for a Logic based mage, but I think it's something you should concider later, after playing with a mage for a while, and getting a better feel for one, not now.., giveing mage your first shot. Again, this is a suggestion, oh, and I should point out, if you must have that logic increase... concider this, an Increase Logic spell, with a Sustaining Focus, can do more for you, without the essence loss, subsequent hit in magic your taking.

Next concideration... in the Astral, Intuition is Reaction, it's more important to a mage then reaction, concider trading your reaction down to 3, for a intuition of 5, it will make you more more capable in The Astral. If your worried about combat, with Armor, Combat Sense, and Increase Reflexes... you'll be better off.. so also, grab the armor spell.

Four... You have only have Summoning?! This is bad!! For a mage, espcially a combat mage, this means you can't bind, or dispell any spirits, and Spirits are arguably, one of the more powerful options a mage has, they don't cost karma to gain, like spells.. You've given up at least 25%-30% if not more of your combat capability by not being able to bind spirits for long term capabilties, take a look at page 178-179, and concider if you really want to give this up. As to banishing, you lack here also, which means if you encounter a spirit, you have to fight them, rather then banish, and you don't even have a weapon focus, your will might be strong enough to make your attacks have affect, especially as a dwarf.. but do you really want to count on that?.. mind you, banishing doesn't always succeed.. but having the option could mean the difference between survival or not... if you want to be sorcery focused, that's fine and appropriate for a Combat Mage, but don't handicap yourself this bad for it, at least concider binding to level 2, and banshing to 1.. or taking the whole conjuring group to level 2 or 3.

Five... Assessing is your friend.. for the mage, arguably more so then perception, perception is limited to your 5 senses, Assessing can give you much more information.. like emotional state, health, mundain or awakened, presence of cyberware.. and that's just the begining.. look on page 183, and then really concider if you don't want some preception also.

Six, this is optional, if you have Street Magic, also concider Arcana for the long term effects, being able to design your own spells, irather then buying them, or going to someone else to learn them from, you can create your own spell formulas... it will save you over time.

You are a combat mage; why do you not have a spellcasting specialization in Combat? Further, if you take said specialization, you will be reliably (mostly) capable of affecting Drones with Powerbolt, negating the need for an Indirect spell.

Personally, I have always found Astral Combat to be pretty much worthless, only ever good for defense. Manabolt or Stunbolt work so much better.

Perception really only needs to be 1 to avoid defaulting, although more dice do help. I would suggest dropping it to 1 or 2, and taking a specialization (probably Visual).

Your method of writing your attributes is odd - racial modifiers are not augmentations, and so are not listed in parenthesis.

Focused Concentration (RAW) is honestly crap. I would strongly suggest exchanging it for something else.

You have no method of combat outside your magic; unless this is a deliberate choice based on your character concept, it must be changed.

Your skill set is extremely limited. I would strongly suggest expanding some. As for your Conjuring skills, I would suggest dropping Summoning to 2, taking Binding 2, and adding a specialization to each for your favorite spirit type. Purchase some Binding materials at character generation, and bind a spirit or two once the game begins.

Random suggestion: Make this guy a Goblin (they get Immunity to Fire )

Hardmaxing an Attribute is not always a good thing, 25 points hurts. Drain stats, while important, are by no means the major thing you should be looking at.

Starting with a Magic of 4, while not optimal, is not necessarily bad. I have done it before without many issues. Cerebral Boosters are a very good choice, & Platelet Factories can very easily substitute for removing Focused Concentration & leaving Willpower at 6. Cybereyes (I hate cyber...) can be useful. If you really want Willpower 7, consider taking Genetic Optimization. You can fit all of that into 1 Essence. If you can afford it, it is a good choice.

In almost all cases, Increase Body is superior to Armor; it gives you the same resistance dice, is not affected by Armor Penetration, allows you to take more hits before dropping, & assists with resisting Toxins & similar. Further, it is less Drain.

Intuition is not all that important for a non-intuition based magician - 4 is plenty. How often is he really going to be fighting in astral? For some reason, I seriously doubt as much as the physical.

I do not suggest Banishing - it has it's uses, but I have always found Manabolt to be far more effective at removing hostile spirits. It is, however, pretty much requried if you intend to play a Toxic magician, as that is the only way to corrupt spirits.

Forgot to mention this; yes, Assessing is very much a neccesity. If you do not intend to take it, save yourself some points & switch to Mystic Adept (assign all your Magic to spellcasting, you have lost nothing, while opening up possibilities for future advancement).

Arcana - needed if you want to join a Magical Group (suggested). Effective on a Hermetic magician. But otherwise, usually a waste of points on a combat mage.

I agree, it's not the most important.. but is is very important.. I'd say your Magic attribute is the most important, with Logic and Willpower being second... but that's just with regards to Attributes... I should have said that.



Alright, I'll give you the Magic, sometimes, starting with 4 isn't always bad, but generally.. I tend to see it as so... Cybereyes does give you some good options, I'm just not sure it's the best choice for a starting mage.. but ah well.

With regards to Genetic Optimization, you have my complete agreement, if you can afford it, it's worth it.. but usually you can't.. Oh, on a side note, generally, I agree with you regarding Focused Concentration, it's not usually worth the points.. but, if he decides to keep the Cerebral Boosters, it's just at the point of 16 dice on drain, letting him, if the GM allows this option, buy 4 autosuccess on drain tests.



Depends on the game, I've been in games where a lot of stuff took place on the astral, in part, because of the GM, I've even accompanied the rest of a team in the Astral, as a mage... I've also been in games where my magician rarely ever used it. As to Increase Body.... hmm.. I say pick up both.



Actually, yes and no, some spirits have Counterspelling, which they can defend against your Manabolt, but they can't really do much about your dispelling.. but perhaps this is what you mean regarding having it's uses.



Agreed.. if your not going taking accessing, Mystic Adept is a better choice for you.




This one, once again, depends on the game

A lot has already been said, but the following are a few things I'd consider.

Attributes: You're a combat mage. That means you're going to be in a lot of fights. You'll want to boost up your Body to a level where you're going to be able to wear a decent amount of armor. I like Body 5 (that's enough for the Vashon Island Steampunk armor set and full Form-Fitting Body Armor for a nice 13/10 armor rating). Coincidently, a dwarf would look bad ass in a steampunk get-up. Since you don't seem focused at all on astral perception, I'd also drop Intuition to 3. The other stats are fine enough. But Body really needs a boost.

Active Skills: I'm a very big fan of specializations. Spellcasting (Combat Spells) 5 is a must-have and I'd probably do the same for Counterspelling. I'd also consider swapping Dodge for Gymnastics (Dodge) but that's just a personal preference, and some GMs may not allow it since it's not an "official" specialization in the skill list. Astral Combat, especially at only 2, is pretty damn useless for a combat mage. Even Pistols (Semi-Automatics) 1 is a wiser choice, but I wouldn't recommend that with your Agility. You're just as well off going with a low-Force combat spell in most situations. Beyond that, he's rather two-dimensional in the skill department. I realize that's a flaw with the BP system, but it's one you should consider. Try to give him a little more life, at least with your Knowledge Skills.

Qualities: Focused Concentration would be okay if it didn't cost an insane number of points. You're waaaay better off going with a Loco Speedball (Psyche + Manashrooms), and it fits the vibe of a street-level combat mage a lot more in my opinion. You can also take Psyche as a Mild Addiction (don't do it with Loco as the Manashrooms part has a drawback, so you'd only wanna speedball when you know you're going into a hot situation in the near future), in effect giving you 25 more BP to work with. Which I'd probably invest in Quick Healing or something similar. That way when you do take Drain, you at least recover from it a bit faster.

Spells: I'm a big fan of Stunbolt. It's my staple attack for most of my magicians, with an indirect single-target combat spell for those situations where I need to take out a vehicle or something. Stunball is a great AoE until you can afford to expand your spell list later on. Combat Sense is nice, but you need a sustaining focus for it to really be effective. I'd consider an Armor or Physical Barrier spell in its stead. "Geek the mage first" is a mantra many people in the Sixth World follow, so once you start slinging your spells, you become Public Enemy #1. So you need to be able to defend yourself as much as you dish out the damage.

Foci: Power Foci are just way too expensive to get during character creation, especially considering how much you're struggling for points in other areas. I'd ditch it and try to pick one up after the game begins.

Implants: With the vision mods you have, you may as well get a set of Cybereyes to save Essence. And while I understand why you went with a Trauma Damper and Cerebral Booster, my advice there is the same as with Power Foci -- they're just too damn expensive for a character who's otherwise lacking. Build a strong, solid character first then improve him with gear as the game goes on. And when you do, be sure to sneak a set of Platelet Factories in. Combined with a Trauma Damper and you'll be able to cast even bigger spells with less worry. I'd go with one over a Cerebral Booster any day.

First of all, i agree on the importance of Binding.
You might even consider Enchanting (Alchemy) to craft your own binding materials.



This, however, would only work ingame.
Your sustaining focus has to be of the same level as the spell- for Logic 5 to raise, you need a Force 5 Increase Logic spell.
Without restricted gear, no Force 5 sustaining focus.

Plus, foci have their downsides(wards etc., and they're clearly visible on the astral till you get extended masking).










But...binding a Force 2 power focus only costs 2 BP at chargen, in game, it's 16 karma!

Once the game starts, you'll want to initiate as soon as you have this amount of karma available.

So i wouldn't say it's a bad choice.

correction, for binding a power focus in character creation, it costs 12 BP's... 10 for 50,000 cash to buy the thing, and 2 to bind it.

Yeah, i was just referring to the binding part, not buying it.

So, you have to outweigh the short-term gain against the possibility that you may not need as much money as other characters and can more easily save up 100K after the game starts.

But cash = cash, where 2 BP ≠ 16 Karma.

That was my reasoning as well.

Some people, however, like to argue that spending more BP than necessary on cash would be wasteful.

Okay...we'll give this a try:

Body: 5
Agi: 2
Rea: 4
Str: 3
Cha: 2
Int: 3
Log: 5
Will: 6
Edge: 3
Magic: 5 (4)

Spellcasting: 5 (Combat Spells: 7)
Summoning: 4
Dodge: 3 (Ranged: 5)
Counterspelling: 3
Assensing: 2
Longarms: 3 (Shotguns: 5)

Quick Healing

Addiction: Moderate:
Allergy: Common, Mild
Allergy: Common, Mild
SINner

Manabolt
Stunball
Stunbolt
Powerbolt
Increase Reflexes
Heal
Combat Sense
Improved Invis

Power Foci: 2
Sustaining Foci: 2

Platelet Factories
Trauma Damper
Ultrasound
Cybereyes w/
Low-Light
Vision Magnifier
Flare Comp
Protective Covers
Smartlink
Therm
Vision Enhancer

Defiance T-250
-Underbarrel Weight
-Internal Smartlink
-Sling

Spas-22
-Underbarrel Weight
-Gas Vent 3
-Sling

Form Fitting Body Armor
Steampunk Set

I'd pick him up a Perception of around 1 at least, and maybe an etiquette of around 2(or even 1+2), just so he's not rolling 1 die to default on social skills. Improved Invis can sort of cover his stealth. But otherwise, looks pretty good, IMO.

I disagree w/ some of the more blatant advice. Hard maxing stats in chargen w/ BP is almost never a good move, because the 15BP penalty cost is excessive. Wil6, Log5(+2 more w/ bio) is already pretty good for the mage. You can max them out with karma later w/o extra cost. (even WIL7 is only 21karma in game, vs. 25 more BP marginal cost)

Similarly, w/ runner's companion surged provides a neat way to get some special abilities. (vision enhancements, pain tolerance, etc. etc. etc.). If surged is allowed, there's no reason to bother with cybereyes and the essence loss (mystic adepts can even use surged for astral perception w/o paying that ripoff 1magic cost).

Similarly, power focus is the single biggest bargain in chargen you can find. As a mage, advancement is almost completely karma limited... and power focii are really bad on that score. (force x8 karma attunement costs!).
Magic 6 costs 65BP, Magic 5 w/ +2 power focus costs 62BP. (it's not as if you're a street sam and the 50BP equipment limitation is kicking in). If you really want to push it... limited equipment avail for one item for 5BP quality... knock it up to force3 (5BP qual, 15BP equipment, 3BP attune==23BP for +3mag, vs. 25BP for mag6).

NoteBene: background counts hit you twice (reduce force of focus, and your magic... so kind of a double whammy), and focus have their other problems. But generally they can be worthwhile, especially if you're smart about keeping them off except when you need em)

Low force sustaining focus also isn't a bad move if you can't summon spirits of man, otherwise that -2 on everything is painfull. (cast force 3 spirit of man and have it cast and sustain improved reflexes on you for example as the poor mages sustaining focus for more IP's).

Another point is this is a combat mage, you want decent reaction and body. Body so you can wear more armor w/o taking penalties! Reaction to avoid getting hit and for a boost in initiative. (body also provides more boxes of damage and increases your overflow!)

After this it's a question of where do you want to go... do you want more well rounded skills or to be very specialized. I prefer well-rounded as it gives more room for rapid karma advancement later. And it's always good not to be defaulting on skill checks.

Cyber/bio is kind of a hard one to decide... it's really up to you and your char concept... one thing to keep in mind is generally mages are rolling in nuyen as the game goes on w/o much equipment wise to spend it on. Really the biggest expense is ritual binding materials and even those aren't that costly if you can buy/harvest/refine your own. So getting a little bit of bioware later, once the game has been going on generally isn't too problematic. Especially after you've initiated once or twice and your magic rating is a bit higher.

Spells: combat... Get a reasonable mix. 2 or 3 combat spells, some other utility spells, and some usefull manipulation spells such as control thoughts work well. Make sure you have an idea in mind for how you'll be able to engage various targets both living and inanimate.

/signed.

No, they cannot. Astral Sight is incompatible with any other Awakened or Emergent Quality. SURGE allows you to take Astral Sight, if you choose - not Astral Sight v.2, Astral Perception, or anything else. It is literally indistinguishable if you have taken it normally or through SURGE.


Disagree. If you have a Magic of 4 or higher (before Essence Loss), it is better to take Augmentation during Character Generation. Reason: 10BP, or 12+ Karma. 10BP is worth aprox. 15 Karma, but Magicians need Karma much more than other characters, making this not entirely accurate in their case.

Basically, if you intend to have a Magic of 4+, and want Augmentation, take it during character generation. It is the same cost or cheaper on your Magic, and your Karma can go into other things, such as Initiation.

A Force: 2 sustaining focus can only sustain up to Force: 2 spells - it is all but worthless. You are better off simply taking the sustaining penalty to start with, and buying sustaining foci later in the game, when you can get them at an optimal level. For the same BP cost as buying/bonding that sustaining focus, you could buy/bind a Force: 3 Counterspelling/Combat focus, giving your counterspelling a boost.

So what do you suggest for starting foci from Chargen? Say, I wanted to have a sustaining foci for increased reflexes or combat sense? Again, sorry for the newb question but never messed with magic before except for geeking the mage first.

Astral Perception...
I lent out my runners companion so I can't verify... but I thought there was an enhanced senses changeling quality which gave astral perception, not the useless ability from street magic. Mea culpa if I had that on faulty recall. I just remember it was on the list.


On the other note. Bio/cyberware...
I see your point, and it's valid... but this is a question of absolute optomization. One thing to keep in mind is you're limited to alphaware and rating 12 in chargen. You're literally talking about an extra 3 karma per point magic over your starting (until you lose the point of essence). If you initiated and raised magic say twice to 7 in play, then bought some expensive bioware w/ the phat loot. You're ONLY talking about an extra 6 karma lifetime in that example.

At this point you're basically arguing over pennies on the dollar. Yeah if your'e talking someone who's got his magic up to 12 before doing it... yeah then those pennies have added up... but for someone who's only raised 1-3 times it's not so much that it'd affect how I'd RP the char.

Glyph:
Only weapon and power foci are 5xRating Avail... the rest are 4x Rating. So your max is a rating 3 sustaining focus (9BP for force3 sustaining focus).

Force3 improved reflexes is still 3IP/pass. That much said, I agree for him, a spellcasting(combat) focus might be a better bet for a combat mage. Use the power focus to cast the spell, then withhold the dice from the spellcasting focus to better resist drain. (you can only use one focus at a time for each test).

Sustaining foci are gold, don't get me wrong, but you can only get them up to Force: 3 at char-gen. The Force of a sustaining focus caps the Force of the spell - that's its biggest limitation. So a Force: 3 sustaining focus could get you 3 points added to dodge attacks from combat sense, or 2 extra IP for increase reflexes. On the other hand, if you cast them at Force: 5, you can get up to 5 dice added to dodging attacks, or up to 3 IP. Well worth eating the -2 dice penalty until you can get a higher-Force sustaining focus.

For starting foci, I generally like the power focus: 2, which is too good to pass up, and, for combat mages, the aforementioned counterspelling/combat: 3 focus, since, in my opinion, protecting teammates from hostile magic is one of the mage's main functions on a team. For someone really focused on summoning, I would consider replacing the power focus with a Force: 3 summoning focus, since the dice can be used to soak Drain (you used to be able to do that with spellcasting foci, too, but it got inexplicably, and perhaps unintentionally, nerfed in the errata).

One caveat: if your campaign has a quick rate of advancement, you might forget about the counterspelling/combat focus and wait until you learn shielding, and get a shielding focus. Shielding foci are sooo much better, because unlike counterspelling foci, they are not limited to a single type of spell.

Really you only want 1 or 2 foci coming out of chargen, IMO. Also keep in mind, you're limited in the number of foci you can use at once.

With the cost of a focus and the binding cost. You're better off maxing out counter-spelling stat or running it up to 4 or 5 in chargen, than paying all that for +3 dice against a single type of magic only. Generally I'd shade toward a spellcasting focus before the counterspelling simply so that I could resist drain better on my favorite spells (counterspelling requires the other guy to cast that particular school which you can't control).

That much said... the big two to cover for defensive counterspelling are combat and manipulation. I'd look at specializing in counterspelling manipulation (more likely to be seen out of combat and when you don't have your counterspelling focus either on you or activated), then if you feel the need get a counterspelling(combat) focus. Or like Glyph said, even better get a shielding focus later after initiating a bit.

Manipulation spells aren't quite as 'evoker' for combat mages but they're still highly offensive and bigtime used and I'd carry some on the combat mage in addition to the combat spells... and your street sam budy willl be buying you drinks for a long time if you can keep him from getting his mind taken over.

While on the subject of foci. A weapon focus, isn't really all that bad if you plan on using astral combat. It adds it's force to your dicepool on astral combat tests, as well as on tests for using the focus as a weapon in meatspace (including parrying incoming melee attacks). My biggest issue here is a force2 one isn't all that usefull, force4 or 5 later can be quite powerfull though. It's also usefull for attacking and bringing down wards in a hurry.

Ok... this is a much better build then your first one, IMO.. but there are a few things I still would change. One suggestion, drop longarms to 2, and trading summoning 4 for Conjuring 2.. the main reason, as a mage, to have a ranged attack skill, is when you want to avoid drain.. as your spells will cover it.. at the moment, your manabolt, cast at level 4, which will be usual for you, has a only 2 drain, and you have 11 dice avalible for drain.. if your GM allows you to buy successes.. it's an automatic 0, and it's range is LOS, which, sense you have Vision Mag, is better then any range for your longarm. Stunbolt is even better, with a Drain Value of 1... and Powerbolt, your next attack spell has a DV of 3.. even your area affect spell, Stunball, has a DV of only 3. Casting Stunbolt at level 8, max you can, does a Physical drain of only 3.. even there, you can do well.. Also, regarding sustaining spells, a bound spirit can sustain a spell for you, for a period of time, which is another reason to pick up binding... if you lose that Sustaining Focus. At the very least, take binding at level 1, and a speciality in fire spirits.. sense those help your combat the most for mages, and it's only 6 points.

Second Suggestion... I meant to suggest this earlier.. but forgot.. get a Mentor Spirit, it's great for the cost, and can majorly increase your capablities.. Dragonslayer, Shark, Wise Warrior, Bull, Dark Goddess, Lion and Sun are all good choices for a Combat Mage of your Tradition.. if you don't mind having a love for conflict, I'd suggest the Dark Goddess.... you get a bonus to combat and health, but have to roll Charisma + Willpower at target of 3, to avoid esculating a conflict.. physical, mental or social... and Sun can give you a bonus to fire spirits and combat spells... if you don't mind haveing to spend 2 edge to downgrade any glitches

Third.. for a mage, your charisma is too low.. concider raising it at least to 3.

Other then these, I am seeing a

Your character is just too specialized, your character is going to have to do more in their career then blow people up with magic. For one thing, you don't have access to some of the most important skills in shadowrun(pistols, infiltration, and(in your second build) perception).

While picking up a gun skill in your second build was good, you can't rely on magic all the time, but really every shadowrunner should have pistols unless they have a strong thematic reason not to. Pistols are perfect ally effective in combat, are easy to conceal, easy to silence, and easy to get a believable fake license for(no one will question that packing heat for protection in the sprawl is a good idea, but a shotgun is over doing it).

Improved Invisibility is good, but you still need infiltration. Shadowrunners can't fight every battle if they hope to survive so sometimes you need to sneak. Invis only affects visual stealth(not auditory) and as mentioned, you can't always rely on magic

Shadowrun has deadly surprise rules, people who are surprised usually die, you need perception.

I'd suggest diversifying your character just a little, both in combat situations(lightning and acid spells would both be useful to you) and out of combat(you need something to do when the bullets aren't flying.