I'm building a licensed critter hunter, someone akin to the people in the 1800's who made a living turning in dead coyotes for cash. He might get extra money on the side by selling certain select parts, but he has respect for nature; he only hunts down dangerous creatures who are a genuine threat to metahumanity. I'm thinking of making him a ghoul hunter in a major city, a bug hunter in the former CCZ, or maybe even a jungle runner killing critters which have gotten a little too bold in their incursions into the fringes of a South American city. He's going to be a melee adept, either a Wakyambi with a weapon-focus Monowhip and a LOT of dice to use it or an Ork with a weapon-focus combat axe.

Thoughts?

is the laser axe still a viable anti critter weapon? i think i remember it saying in the fluff it was designed as an anticritter weapon

Oops, I meant the icon to be sr4, not sr*. Laser axe is SR3 iirc. Would one of the mods be so kind as to fix the icon?

you mean to tell me there are no more lasers fixed on melee weapons? noooooooooo!
ok im over it.
i think your monowhip guy would prove more useful in a variety of situations but that may just be me.

Monowhips are much easier to hide

Don't forget about to make a one of a kind jacket made of and adorned in para-critter bits.

"Whats that Tyro?" says pretty young lady
"Why that little thing? Just a manticore spike. Nothing much. You should see the scar that matches it." Says a prideful Tyro

Played a troll critter hunter once. Had a blast just confounding the GM by coming up with bits and pieces of dead critters worth wearing or selling. If your a lacking in the scruples department don't overlook the potential for trapping and selling, or serving as a rich mans hunter guide.

*sigh* Another post to make me wish we had our 4th ed critter book, got some great ideas and some old stuff I'd like to resurrect with critters, including a good old fashion hunt scenario. One of my earliest 1st edition runs had the team stranded in the middle of nowhere in a ruined vehicle. They spent the night hiding from a pair of Juggernauts who were attracted to the sounds and smells of wounded runners squatting on there turf.

i did pretty much the same things in third edition.
critter scenarios are always good.

Ah the juggernaut and chuck monkey run, hmm good times.

The one were they were sure there was a hell cow but instead was a minatour was frustrating, the blade bunny sam diced the poor Tour before I could land a nice deadly wound on anyone.

So yes, bar flying critters or underwater critters melee is a good way to go. Though a high powered rifle may be more sane.

Make sure to pack a nutcracker for the Abram's Lobsters.

"Sane" and "Paracritter hunter" are not compatible concepts, omae

As a background idea, the nation of Quebec offers significant bounties on a number of paracritters. Kinda going for a Nouvelle-France "coureur des bois" vibe. It's an ideal background to build a paracritter on. And as a cyberpunk concept, Quebec offers bounties even on sentient critters, so you can have a character that feel disgusted with himself for what he's done for money.

In what book(s) might I find in-depth information on Quebec? I agree, the French have a LONG history of hunting animals for their parts on this continent.


Or I could play someone who genuinely doesn't give a damn - that could be fun too

I've been toying with the idea of an Infected Infected-hunter, someone who caught the bug while hunting and kept at it, using his newfound abilities (I'm thinking vampire or ghoul) to become an even better hunter. Maybe even make him a celebrity, the ghoul who hunts ghouls, recognizable and therefore not shot at as he has a reputation as a good citizen (and the cops don't want to explain having killed a local hero).

Vampire Hunter Blade De Vries?

The ghoul idea gets even more interesting if you use the African variant with +1 Reach and no claws, and give him a No-Dachi Weapon Focus ^_^

And cybereyes, of course. Most everyone I build has both magic and cyber; I guess I have some Munchkin blood (but little enough that I don't try to "win" the game, thank all gods!)

Shadows of North America. It's technically 3rd ed, but it's one of the best 3rd ed books IMO and most of the info still applies to 4th.

Found it. I love the sidebar listing bounties for different critters (including, yes, several varieties of sentients). Keep in mind that most cities have bounties on ghouls, though; they're sentient-ish. So Quebec is just more depraved than average.

I need the biggest jug of Hollandaise you've got, stat.

I posted This a few weeks ago. may come in handy.

Already on my hard drive. The thread you linked to is what got me building this guy in the first place

I made him a ghoul not only for stat boosts and roleplaying hooks, but also to make him immune to other forms of HMHVV. The idea is that he was a ghoul hunter who got infected on the job.

I might be mistaken, but wouldn't you want something between you and the critter? I know perfectly, that the monowhip gives you a reach advantage, but if I'd deal with dangerous critters, I'd prefer to have a weapon that actually keeps the critter physically at bay, like a spear. Modern technology should be able to create an extendebly spear that shouldn't be to bulky to carry. In addition a shocker might be also of interst, if you want to catch something alive. There Freeze Foam (or the Ares Fogger Glop Cannon mounted on a Tata Hotspur, which makes a good hunting vehicle) might come in handy too

A No-Dachi works really well too

wait I think if made well, that long armed troll surged with longer arms with HMMV plus a No-Dachi is 4-5 reach IIRC

Yeah, fine. You can minmax the thing. The pure reach modificator is not the whole story. A No-Dachi does not have a lugs or anything else, that prevents the critter to continue its movement towards you (fluff, not crunch), when struck by the waapon the critter might just work its way up weapon to attack the hunter. A spear, like a boar spear is designed to prevent that.

OK Tyro, what's wrong with have cyber and magic? You pay for cyber/bio with Essence. It's not like you get those augmentations for free you know.

I think he's worried about turning his characters into combat monsters that are entirely capable of taking on an entire runner team - without resorting to their magic.

If I'm building a ghoul Adept with no cyber, I would want to find a way around needing cybereyes.