Stian was my second character made and played in SR4, back in 2005. Didn't get to play him too much, but got some karma under his belt with his team(an all magical team, consisting of a summoner and a combat mage/ganger, both played by our usual group members.) At this time, we really didn't totally know the rules yet, but we figured them out. So this group-none of them really runners, had some runs and a lot of hilarity, but were successful, overall. We were talking a bit and wouldn't mind breaking the team out again when I visit. Or we might do another campaign. Or we don't know. But that's us.
He was a pure adept-I was still coming off SR3 at the time. But now, we are switching over to the Karma system in it's full-as in 750 points. So I'm tooling him up with this. Since it's more powerful than 400 BP, I am explaining this via time-skip(my mates, all my old group that I've played with in awhile and play with when visiting the US, also remade. Well, I know one of them did-the ganger, and he ended up with some more goodies, naturally), and it seems to work well-8-10 or so months will explain the extra skills, stats, and knowledges.
But in this timeskip, I'm debating taking him the path of the bio-adept. Part of Stian's thing was he liked being a natural adept. He was a bouncer for a seedy black metal club in Oslo-and he's quite the classic Norwegian Black Metal guy, even following the Black Magic path and everything; inverted crosses, dyed black hair, slightly gothic-looking and pale. His main thing was just being the group's main scrapper, decent with pistols, and VERY intimidating; even though he's only a little above average height(6 feet or so), he's just...scary, hence his very high Intimidation score, adept abilities increasing it. He's also damned perceptive, being able to notice things, and I sort of play him as knowing what someone is thinking before they even due, to add to his sort of uncomfortable factor.
His team mainly did lower end jobs-because none of them were runners. I mean, he was a bouncer/sometimes kneebreaker/occasional roadie and bodyguard, the combat mage was a ganger through and through-a very smart ganger, but a ganger nonetheless, and the third was a sort of snobby summoner who had very little to do with the shadows beforehand. But i figure after some months(and the extra points), I'd toss a few lower skills in(like stealth, which we lacked before and it added to the fun and hilarity), that he learned, as well as some more knowledges from Denver(where they were located and he knew little about then.)
What I want help with is figuring out which version I should upgrade him to. I'm trying to think in his head-would he be tempted by the bio, or would he stay natural? Thing is, I don't know. So I admit, I wouldn't mind picking one that seems the most...useful to the team. I don't necessarily mean ''overpowered'', but I mean the version that will bring overall more to the table. I really am torn here. I guess this is half a critique, half a question.
For the record, the houserules in use are our usual Availability out the window, and some Adept houserules-we can use Geasa as in SR3(as in, geasa lower the cost of a power by 25%), and the Improved Physical Attributes has indeed be cut to .5 per level flat. So this narrows the window even more between the two. Even though the characters had some karma, the new karma granted by the boost of power between 400BP-750 Karma sort of overtakes that, and we are still sticking with other chargen limits(half karma for Attributes,
I sadly don't have his original version on the computer-hardcopy only.
What it boils down to, is that Version A-the Pure version-seems to have ''grown'' more with his raw Attributes, Active and Knowledge skills. Version 2 sacrifices some of the new Knowledges and ratings(the old ones are still all there though, and there ARE still improvements), but has 1 point of Bioware-and even more Adept powers, because of the points saved. (I might even extend this to 2-I don't know yet. This is where you guys come in.) Yeah, I admit I can get min-maxy, but I'm at least trying to keep it with his personality.
Martial Arts were also gained with Maneuvers, since these rules didn't exist then.
I won't be posting everything-not gear, etc, as it's really unchanged. But just the core things will be listed. Feel free to comment on MA benefits chosen or maneuvers too, but I picked ones that I felt fit his position of the stuff that he did.
Basically, I want Stian to stay Stian even during the ''timeskip'', but I am having trouble thinking of which way he'd go. He would pick the way that would benefit him, and yeah, his team too(he even started to like them. He and the ork mage get along grand, having similar music tastes). It could be interesting character-wise either way; going under the knife might actually surprise his team a bit, too, since he was known for being a rather natural dude. He always had Sensitive System, but if he realized that Bioware didn't affect it, he might consider it more...or scorn it. Bah.
The Basics:
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Version 1, the Pure:
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Version, 2, Lured by the Call of the Bio:
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I have a feeling what the answer to this will be, knowing DS, and that's ''Option B with more bio!'' But I figured I'd at least TRY the pure version, especially since with those couple houserules in affect. The Pure one also can start basically initating right away and get more levels of stuff, and grab a lot of those powers that the second version has, anyway. Or...well, you could argue that to the second one. I don't feel either version is ''gimped'' (without the houserules in effect, I wouldn't even be posting this, however-I know what I'd do), but...yeah. I like getting advice from others.
I mean, the pure version does have a fair bit more in the Knowledge/Language area, and has a better natural Athletics...and....uhh...can lose stuff in Background Count. At least both of their regular attributes are the same, as are the skills, save said Athletics. The bio version DOES have 10,000 less nuyen for goodies. Both, though, could be the result of someone who had a little more experience shoved into them(hence, again, the 8-10 month timeskip.)
So yeah. Which should I take? Or an unnamed 3rd option? Both could be worked in background-wise easily. I had been wanting to do this for awhile; one of the reasons I liked playing Stian in Shadowrun, was because him and his team weren't really...runners at the time. It was kinda cool.