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Falconer
One of my friends who's a big fan of drakes recently had me read two of the SR3 books which describe them.

I think one of them was dragons of something, and the other threats. All in all about dozen pages or so (including one of those shadownet fluff sequences).

But one of the big things which struck me was that they were highly hunted. Besides a little short comment in the description about how there are people interested in them... this is barely addressed in Runners Companion at all.

I'm a little curious, have things changed in the timeframe from SR3 -> SR4. I honostly don't see the fluff changing.

At the same time, if drakes gained the Enemy5 (+25BP) and Wanted (+10BP) qualities automatically in addition to the Drake (-65). The net of +30 seems a lot more comparable (especially if those negatives don't count against the +35 limit), and comes very close to the chargen rules I saw in there for them. (in the SR3 books I think it was roughly 25 or 30BP quality or racial priority B, but you automatically gained enemy6).
Ancient History
There was a good deal of complaints at the tail end of SR3 regarding how drake characters tended to become the focus of the campaign just by existing. So it was decided the hunting angle would be downplayed. Given that drakes have been popping up since the Year of the Comet and have now come to the attention of anybody with access to a search engine, the "gotta catch 'em all!" feeling has worn off most people. Most.
Ryu
I seriously consider playing a drake. It is not a very powerful option, but very stylish. And being a spellcaster should take care of any "hunt" angle pretty well - one way or the other.
Falconer
Yeah, I find the drakes interesting as well.

Just badly over costed if your alternate form is of no or extremely limited use. If you have to worry about the whole hunted thing you can't use it at all, and you end up w/ 65BP worth of bits you just can't use.

In a world where cameras are everywhere... a 3m dragon (about the size of a tiger or polar bear if you think about it) is still a problematic runner.

That much said, it would have been nice to see in the writing that the whole hunted aspect had been an overblown first reaction and they're more common and accepted now. Though the odd corp and organization may express more interest in most in acquiring you. That does help a lot, thanks for the explanation Ancient History.
Ancient History
Oh, I didn't say anything about common and accepted. I had an adventure seed all written out where the runners had to take down a talislegger/taxidermist who hunted drakes down and made stuff from him. He had drakeskin boots, drakeskin luggage, a drakeskin rug (with the horns!) and a stuffed drakeshead on his wall which doubled as a security drone.
Ryu
Sounds interesting Ancient, do you still have that lying around somewhere? Or is it under an NDA?
Ancient History
You'll never know...
Falconer
Ryu: Mind if I ask how you'd put a char like that together?

I keep looking at this and wondering how would one bring their abilities into play.

On one hand, I have an image of an eastern dragon dirty harry adept chomping a cigar, wearing specially crafted drake military body armor, and a brace of pistols. And realize how completely silly and over the top that is. While definately cool... if that char didn't start w/ distinctive style flaw... it'd have it in no time flat.

On the other hand, the mystic/hardened armor/natural weapon comes into play nicely on the astral plane for a projecting mage, but then you lose all the other abilities (like enhanced ability scores, enhanced perception). Then again, adepts can't project so that's an edge over other magicians.

Only other dodge, I could think of which is a bit twinky... Accept that you're a drake, rather than using your 'shift' power... Get a sustaining focus and shapechange into metahuman form, since I don't think you'd lose a lot of your enhanced senses and mystical armor abilities... though again the shapechange would override the physical stats.
Ol' Scratch
Drakes (and most of the sillier races from Runner's Companion) don't work in a typical street-level urban setting where anonymity is one of your most important tools. But if you're playing an alternate campaign, like a merc group or a corporate security team, they could work and you could take better advantage of their natural forms. If you're also playing in a game where the GM doesn't care how you look and no one ever seems to remember anything about anyone, same thing.
Ryu
QUOTE (Falconer @ Sep 25 2008, 12:40 AM) *
Ryu: Mind if I ask how you'd put a char like that together?


Prequeresites:
1.) A group that does not freak out just because you can do it. It is not overpowering in any sense.
2.) KarmaGen System. You seriously want to start as an Initiate 3+, with both Masking and Flexible Signature, plus Dragonspeech.

Execution:
- I have 620 karma to build the "best" magician you can, and have to compensate that I just spend 130 karma on something that is mechanically not good. I already feel pitty for myself. (No, I don´t. Thanks to whomever balanced Drakes, this way I likely get to play one.)
- A statline of 4 is no reason to cry, and cheap.
- Spells get focused on something else than combat; my mentor will likely be Snake.
- Race/Dracoform combinations I considered are Dwarf/Oriental, Elf/Oriental, (Trog/Western), (Menehune/Sea Drake). I´m currently leaning towards the Elf/Oriental combination, due to both forms sharing a certain "fragile" appearance.

Uses of the Dracoform:
- Pure coolness.
- Some things a spellcaster could do with spells
- Astral Perception without negative mods on the physical plane
- Astral Projection still works for Drakes, and hardened mystical armor(4) is not without value. More so since we play hardened armor with half rating rolled, half rating auto-success.

Alternative:
Be an adept, powers work in both forms. Ork/Western with Mystical Armor, Imp. Reflexes, Killing Hands.
Malicant
QUOTE (Dr. Funkenstein @ Sep 25 2008, 12:51 AM) *
Drakes (and most of the sillier races from Runner's Companion) don't work in a typical street-level urban setting where anonymity is one of your most important tools.
I always thought street-level was about gangs, the mob, dirty cops, etc. where reputation, the stellar opposite of anonymity, might be kind of important and useful, and not hiding in anonymity on the streets. Weird how people use the same word so very diffrently.
Ryu
QUOTE (Malicant @ Sep 25 2008, 01:14 PM) *
I always thought street-level was about gangs, the mob, dirty cops, etc. where reputation, the stellar opposite of anonymity, might be kind of important and useful, and not hiding in anonymity on the streets. Weird how people use the same word so very diffrently.


Yes to that one. If you live on the streets, you don´t need to hide (that much). Most people just go "street = low power". Being one of the better assets of the local Don or Oyabun is pretty good protection.
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