Hi all, I set out to make a "Combat" Mage and utterly failed. I didn't want to make another Manipulator (aka Mind Rapist) either so I ended up with a... well this.

Backstory:

Character was born from the rare middle-class, raised as a Christian but those of the mind that those with magical abilities are simply evil and shouldn't be tolerated. He can't afford med school so signs up with the military, who promise to pay for his education and even provide a year or two of training provided he signed on for a few years.

He Awakens. This leads him to be embraced by the military and cast off by his family. The first spell he manifests is Heal, but he is quickly exploited to lead astral recons and develops a skillset based on infiltration and observation. He leaves after his term is up, however since he transferred from the medic corp to the scout group his subsidies went mostly to OCS--meaning all he earned was two years in pre-med at a university.

He has no money, no support network, and sees only service with the military as the only way to survive.

His old buddies however rang him up and signed him on for a 'run or two.

Angry at those that cast him out he underwent a crisis of faith, morally numbed by 'running he stumbled into the Barrens one night and encountered the squalor of the children. Overcome with pity, he soon begins to visit shelters and neighbourhoods and offer to help; mundanely with his medical training, and magically.

Once a week he visits a 'hood and offers to clean (Sterilize spell) places and purify water (Clean Water spell), in areas that are anything but clean. He administers medical aid, free of charge (I'm thinking of it as Dependent Medium). He even has the Fix spell so he can repair buildings (floor by floor, over time).

He even offers minor psych-help, altering memories for those who want it... discreetly. Sometimes memories just hold you back, after all.

But he's still conflicted enough to shoot people in the face for money. Well, if he has to.

"Missionary" (Perhaps "Saul")



I need help with the mix of the 12 spells. I'm fairly happy with it but I wish I can squeeze more in there and I'm not too certain about others.

For example, Makeover and Fashion. Huh? You say. Well look at it this way: these people might be down on their luck, they may not have the best grooming and clothes and it could be an unnecessary expense. Any clothes donations can be made a bit more fashionable, perhaps enough to get someone a job. Makeover is also good for proper hygiene. Also the clothes could be made a bit more comfortable-the right size or maybe appropriate for the weather.

I also like the Alter Memory/Influence combo. Planting a suggestion and removing the suggestion afterwards is subtle and fun.

Knowledge skills will have appropriate stuff. But from his stats you can see that he was never really meant to be anything but an average student.

Thoughts and ideas?

What tradition is he?

As for spellcasting at 6? You could always take that down to a 5 to save you some BP and get a multitude of specializations. They're cheap enough. Unless they changed them in SR4A, but to my knowledge they didn't.

And hell, just get specializations anyway, give you a boost to your (mostly) low skill pools.

I think the spell selection is fine, seems like the Tool Time of spells.

Personally I'd find a way to raise reaction one, but if it can't be done oh well.

Also, have you considered counterspelling? Since this appears to be a support mage it would fit.

Ok, generally, it's a pretty cool idea, but there's just one thing I have to nay-say here, and that's the progression from healer to scout. Scouts in most modern militaries these days also have seriously... violent secondary mission guidelines (read: sniper, infiltration, sabotage, etc). Most medics are of a mindset that wouldn't lend themselves toward those secondary roles, and manifesting Heal as your very first spell, totally untrained, while a wiz plot device and awesome background element, doesn't grok with the mindset they look for in scout forces.

Now, there's a way to deal with this and stay completely true to your story line thus far:

Try doing it as 1) you sign up in the military and have a talent for stealth or somethign else that recon forces look for, but you remain latent for a while, until on a mission you're doing First Aid on a buddy and your spell manifests. Then as you explore your Awakened talent, your ability to feel the flow of life energy turns you off to killing and violence generally.

Then just step back into your story line from mustering out and you're golden.

If that doesn't appeal, you could change it so some form of Detection spell was your first, or maybe it was an uncanny knack you never understood until you met an Army Magician who figured you out. Then (especially if you picked a guardian spirit that covered Health) you "spontaneously" learn Heal and decide killing isn't for you and... you get the idea.

Essentially, I'm suggesting do the scout thing first, however you decide on it. Plenty of Spec Ops troops are cross-trained in Medicine and First Aid, and that could turn out to have been a passion or a talent, or... heck, you could just wind up manifesting Diagnose! (That just occured to me.) An absolutely uncanny knack for knowing what's wrong with somebody?

Anyhow, that's my two centinuyen. If you'd like more, you're welcome to send me a PM. But generally I really like the general idea/concept. (No comment unless you want some on your Crunchy Bits^TM.)

@booher

Yeah I initially had Spellcasting 4, then 5, and now 6. Just to squeeze in all those spells. Hmm... Counterspelling! I knew I forgot something. Hmm.

I was doing a bit of min/maxing here and waiting for my first run (or first karma rewards) for the specializations. Wanted more skills, namely the utterly useless First Aid and Medicine at 1 which I could've done without if it wasn't central to the concept.


@Kerenshera
That makes much more sense and is actually more in line with his stats. The Agi 5 for instance was meant to show that he had a talent for such sneaky work.

How about a bit of both? Scouts need medics too right? I like that manifesting of Diagnose... creepy and cool. He signs up, gets spotted for really good physical ability and is trained. His interest in medicine is parlayed into cross-training as a medic.

I still need a way to screw him over though. If he finishes the tour of duty a soldier can get a university education. Or maybe he's supposed to sign on for two tours but only does one after he Awakens and gets his training sidetracked for astral recon and whatnot, not what he signed on for definitely so he opts out and gets what education he can.

He starts 'running to make ends meet, ironically doing illegally what he left the army for. But this way he can earn a living on his own and perhaps even get into med school. Or not.


Spell-wise what do you guys think?

Thanks a lot for your thoughts.

Scouts don't necessarily have an extremely violent mission. More often, scouts are used as forward observers to monitor troop movements or to mark targets for bombing runs. Sure, the scout's got to be ready to kill if he has to, but for the most part the forward observer has to sit there, lay low, and try not to get noticed.

I think it sounds like a great concept for a more mercenary-oriented 'running group where some medical skills are necessary for a long deployment and where the scout skills can really get put to good use. For your standard street shadowrunning group the characters skills may not be appreciated as much, though.

So what's his tradition, and his mentor spirit? And why? I'm really liking the character concept as it's presented now, but those two things are definitely important parts of any awakened character.

I guess I am more than a bit predjudiced by the way most modern SpecOps are getting used at the sharp end. Heavy units are seeing clerks pressed into duty as line infantry (I had a friend lost a leg as an infantryman, and his official posting was as an MLRS artillery officer!); That means we're MORE likely than less to see an expansion of SpecOps forces for all the "non-line" duties in the field (while drones probably fill in the rear, at least in the 6^th World). Yes, technically, a scout isn't necessarily more than a person who's good at getting in and collecting info. On the other hand, these days, they're expecting those same people to do something hands-on while on site. But even as an artillery or close-air-support FO (make sure you have Electronic Warfare at 3 or 4, MINIMUM), just because you don't pull the trigger doesn't mean you're not responsible, emotionally, especially since you're eyes on the target before, during and AFTER the fire mission, which can be as hard (depending on the target; Remember, this is the dystopian 6^th World here) as watching a target fall in your sniper scope.

But generally, I got the impression it was one of those "infiltration" scouts, rather than just an information gatherer that was being tossed about. Marwyn's reply to my suggestion certainly seems to bear that out at any rate.

Ahh Tradition and Mentor Spirit... I don't know yet. Heh, that's another thing. Gotta figure that out. Perhaps even hash out a Tradition if one doesn't fit. I do know I want the Spirit of Man in there, somewhere.

My idea of scout is more of a general look arounder. He sneaks in physically to get a looksee at what needs seeing. He looks around and bypasses astral barriers too. I'm torn between specializing him in SMGs or Assault Rifles actually. Being taught pistols and autos makes sense to me, as he probably wasn't taught sniper techniques.

Ideas for the tradition?

EDIT:

Mentor Spirits

Dark King: +2 Perception/Assensing, +2 Spirits of Man, -1 Physical Damage
Bear: +2 Health, +2 Res Damage, Berserk

I think Dark King is suitable. He has the instincts of a healer even if his Logic and his skills aren't exactly in tune with that. Being closer to the dead gives him a nice RP layer I think.

Tradition is going to shape your character's perception of magic, so choose carefully. A couple purely RP considerations:

You Awakened late, so that's going to mean you're "learning on the fly" compared to those who learned in their teens from a formal tutor of some kind.

If you're learning in somebody's army, and you had any kind of mentor provided BY the service, keep in mind that armies are at heart massive bureaucracies at heart, and given ANY kind of choice, they're going to want something they can doccument and structure (read: probably Hermeticism or Chaos Magic). Or you could go your own way... learning on your own is inherently an intuitive process....

As to mentor spirit, consider what it is you did the first time(s). If it was a Health spell, something with a bonus there. If Detection, same. Mentor spirits shape you in ways both subtle and dramatic and, IMHO, even before you Awaken. They are supposed to reflect your personality... or your personality attracts the spirit, however you choose to view the thing.

Anyhow, I hope that gives you at least some ideas.

There is a difference between a "scout" and a "forward observer." To say "military scout" covers a nastily broad range of jobs, it's like saying "infantry." It depends on what role within the military the fulfill, are we talking about someone who directs artillery fire? Air strikes? Gathers information? A pathfinder? It really depends... and a modern military will have different people for each job. I think that this character might have been a pathfinder and/or have gone through SERE training... or something to that effect.

The other thing you have to remember, is not "what would he have liked to have done in the military?" but "what would the military have wanted him to do?"


I like the concept though!

Except one thing that came up (another thread now) was that 6^th World armies are trying to more with fewer (meta)humans because HR-related costs are the highest ticket item in a military force. Much of the routine "scouting" is going to be done by stealthed drones and/or satellites. Where you're going to want to keep your (meta)human element involved is where you need intuition rather than programmed routines. It doesn't make sense to train (and maintain/pay) a (meta)human to do what a drone can do; Training somebody who does LOTS of things well (SpecOps) and training them to be good observers (mandatory for the jobs they already do, actually) means you can have one versitile tool instead of a bunch of specialized ones. Financially, it's cheaper to train one person to do three things than to train three to do the same things individually because you're duplicating basic training requirements (as opposed to seeing synergy of cross-training on person) as well as having to keep three times as many people fed and supported. Drones are cheaper both to purchase AND maintain than a (meta)human soldier, so using a "scout" grunt in a tedious, dangerous job a drone could do as well is couterindicated. Now, if you want somebody you "trust" on the ground because of their "experience", even these days that's going to SpecOps. I just don't see the kind of massive TO&E we see in current units, and truthfully, there's a move away from those kinds of organizations as we speak. Is it possible there is somebody who's just a "regular scout" without any extra role? Sure. Is it likely or common, compared to the norm? I don't believe so. In fact, I'd say the story of what unit wanted such a person was FAR more interesting, and deserving of attention in the background story. Like, was it they needed an Aztlaner-Spanish speaker whose features would blend in to survey the town/border? (Mind you, that's getting into other realms, and oftentimes they'd still tap SpecOps for the job, but hey, it's possible I guess.)

As a side note, SMG or AR is a hard choice and will depend entirely on where your character operates: in the open, an AR, slam dunk. If in close confines (read: Urban), it's going to depend on your expected opposition; Heavier targets will call for heavier weapons.

Well I was thinking of a "do-it-yourself" tradition. I was calling it The Path, as in Your Path. Will + Int.

As for the Mentor... Dog can actually fit. His loyalty extends to healing is all. But I can't find a fitting Tradition still. Hedge Wizard could've fit but it's Possession and doesn't use Spirits of Man.

I'm thinking of just modifying Chaos Magic. or rather creating a sub-tradition that's just Will + Int. Where Chaos Mages are logical and all researchy, the Path Mages are more introspective. I have a write-up of it here but it's kinda rough.

Dog Mentor Spirit or perhaps Dark King, with Chaos Mage modified with Int (with the GM's permission).

I don't know. Dog's not a BAD spirit, by any means, but I just don't see Dog for your character as described; Mainly it's the "clinic" thing that is tossing me over on that. Dog is usually not a follower like that. If you had a FRIEND who started a clinic and you got absorbed, sure, but STARTING something? Doesn't really grok for me. I was planning on doing some other writing tonight (I'm out at Unoson my laptop) but I'll prruse the books and see if something else jumps out at me.

As to tradition, converting Chaos Magic to INTuition is doable, but it stinks of a little cheese. I'd be happier with a totally custom tradition than that particular switch-up.

I looked over everything, and the best thing I could come up with is Bear, just mind your temper...

Bear

Bear is a mentor found in cultures wherever bears are known, from North America to Europe and Asia. He is powerful, but gentle and wise. He tends to be slow-moving and easygoing unless urgency requires speed. Bear is slow to anger, but terrible in battle. Bear tends to be calm, cool, and collected. He is the healer and protector of the natural world. Bear cannot turn down someone who needs healing without good reason.

Advantages: +2 dice for Health spells, +2 dice for resisting Physical damage.

Disadvantages: Bear magicians can go berserk when wounded (taking Physical damage) in combat or if someone under their care is badly injured. Make a Willpower + Charisma Test (wound modifiers apply). The character goes berserk for 3 turns, minus 1 turn per hit; 3 or more hits avert the berserk rage entirely. A berserk magician will go after the attacker(s) without regard for her own safety. If the magician incapacitates a target before the time is up, the berserk fury dissipates.

It fits the later-life part, and He is also a protector. None of the LISTED totems as-is really are a perfect but I think this is closer than Dog at any rate. But that's just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

Hmm see that seems a bit counter-intuitive for a guy that's sneaky. I liked the Bear too for his protectiveness, but if I fail I charge into combat instead of you know... healing the guy that got hurt.

Berserk means what exactly? That I charge into unarmed combat range? I can't even shoot him or hurl Stunballs?

I'm liking Dark King actually, for RP purposes. It fits, perhaps that's what made him a good scout (+2 Perception/Assensing). It'll be up to the GM. I'll have a new tradition written up, but if he's okay with modifying Chaos slightly I'll be happy with that too.

But I guess I should define just how he perceives magic.

Another thing to consider is how much his opinion of magic users has shifted now that he is one. You said that he believed magic users to be evil, correct? That means that, most likely he had a very strict religious upbringing-and that sort of thing sticks with a person. Does he feel like he's betrayed his faith? Does he seek out other magic users, or is he scared of what he might find?

In other words, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being perfectly content and happy with magic use in general and 10 being "Hey honey, I'm going to go out with the boys and hang me some magi!" where does he fall?

Essentially that you use your most effective to start dropping stuff. But as a Mage, you're going to have good WILlpower, and hopefully decent CHArisma. If you can get to 9 dice, usually you'll make the roll to not go off.


I considered that with the scout role, but I wasn't positive with the connotations implied... but that's up to you.


Bingo.

Ooh you're right. I glossed over that a bit.

He "comes out" to his family while he's in training, when he Awakens. Perhaps looking for support, perhaps as a confession.

I'd say he falls at 5 right now. Neutral to the whole thing, he's thankful to the army that welcomed him even just to exploit him. They taught him, even if it didn't quite fit. I'm sure military magical training builds self-esteem as well so he probably relied on that.

Faith-wise he's at a very low ebb.

The view would be that this is a fallen world, even moreso since it's the Sixth World. Just because one has these abilities doesn't mean they're meant to be used, and that all creation exists to glorify God. How is God glorified then by using miraculous powers apart from him?

If he believed and God enabled him to do so, he would've been able to do all these things and more with the Holy Spirit.

So does he reconcile this as many have with technology? In other words, if you can thank God for a life-saving surgery that lacked supernatural and divine miracles can you thank him also when you're magically healed? Is it just another means? Another avenue? Or is he treading on God's territory?

Is the miracle in the presence of that surgery itself? Or in the allowing of that spell to be cast? Or is he so far apart that he can't discern what the Holy Spirit is telling him.

And no, it doesn't matter what the church or anyone else is doing. It's between him and God.


That's the tip of what I want to run through. That's why I'm leaning towards Dark King... imagine having that as your Mentor Spirit.

I want to explore this.

Well then, that's good enough.

I have one more suggestion though:

Print out a description of the Dark King's "fluff text" and keep it next to you whenever you're working on the character - especially background bits - and read the fluff before each creative session, and again when you're done. See if you're remaining consistent - remember, Mentor Spirits are pervasive in your life.

Another suggestion: find a piece of music that's representative of the character to you for some reason, and play it over and over again (easier if it's a closely related theme so you don't go nutz), such that you associate the music and the character subconciously. I did that with Kerenshara and I listen to the music before I pull up outside where we're playing, and it helps put me in-character. (Not that anybody cares, but Rob Zombie's "Meet the Creeper".)

Good luck.

My suggestion for a astral scout Mentor - Owl.

Thanks Kerenshara, I'll try to immerse myself in something while I flesh the character out.

toturi, awesome! I had glossed over Owl actually and I think it fits, thanks. "Owl magicians are wise, quiet, and perhaps a bit creepy, aware of secrets hidden in the darkness beyond."

Yes, it fits. You guys have been great help!

Owl is an excellent choice for an Astral scout, true, but it's one I considered and discarded as a suggestion BECAUSE OF THE FLUFF:

Owl features in mythologies all over the globe as a symbol of wisdom, prophecy, death, and as a guide to the afterlife or spirit world. Owl maintains vigilance throughout the night and has gleaned wisdom from the darkness. He perches between this world and the next, able to foretell the future of man and guide his spirit after death. Owl magicians are wise, quiet, and perhaps a bit creepy, aware of secrets hidden in the darkness beyond.

What part of that seems to match the actual concept the OP's suggesting, besides the Crunchy Bits^TM? I highlighted the parts that actually pushed me away from suggesting it. The personality might work, but the "other aspects" of the totem are a little... off, for a healer methinks.

What attracted me to the Dark King was a certain duality it gave to someone with a healing/caring nature. Perhaps he cares now knowing they can die, perhaps death is the reason why he heals.

Okay no directions to heaven are needed but we need not apply all the facets of a mentor spirit right?

Um, yes and no. I posted in another thread http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=27443&hl about a simple and workable "alternate mentor spirit" system where you and the GM could work out all the things the archetype means to you, then take the bits that best represent the aspect(s) you're interested in.

Look at that, and let me know.

Good stuff, I'll need careful rumination on that.

Here's the rough draft of the Intuition tradition. I tried to think of the gap in between Hermeticism and Shamanism. For those people who want to look beyond, well, tradition and see magic for what it is. It is related to Chaos Magic in that it tries to remove barriers of bias, but for totally different reasons.


The Path

Concept: Sorcery is an extension of the Magician, Magic is to be experienced and harnessed as it is with an open mind as possible. Don't enforce your bias on magic, rather let it be explored by you. Other traditions are merely attempts to explain instead of accepting Magic as it is.

Combat: Fire
Detection: Guidance
Health: Task
Illusion: Air
Manipulation: Man
Drain: Willpower + Intuition

A counter-tradition of sorts similar to Chaos Magic, the highly individualistic "walkers" (as followers of the Path call themselves), evolved on the Matrix as a collection of independent magicians striving to understand magic without the system. Unlike Chaos Mages, however, walkers do not believe in *just* a systematic representation of magic. Formulae are useful shorthand for complex magical processes, but everything from poetry to cookbook style instructions are shared online.

Core to the walkers' belief is that there are some things about Magic that simply cannot be comprehended. Though these unexplained mysteries are not attributed to 'spirits' there is only one answer repeated on the various walker sites on the Matrix: "We don't know, go find out."

The group is decidedly open-minded, lending it a bit of a rebellious air that many mistake for disorganization. Though no walker claims that their systems are rationally ordered there is a distinct pattern of organization specific for each one.

Magic has no "face" amongst walkers. Its spirits are not even the hermeticists' stoic elementals but rather simpler representations of their summoner's personality. In essence, a spirit summoned by a walker is a mix of magic and the magician: not friends or tools but rather something to be examined for self revelation and/or greater meaning.

Most members of the Path meet on the Matrix, though several larger cities have groups that meet regularly. The tradition attracts independently minded people from a vast swathe of metahumanity and by their very nature it is difficult for the groups to agree on a greater agenda.

The only custom enforced widely is one of civility and respect. The Path is named as such because in the end it is one's own path, and no one else has a right to judge what you chose to share. It's a practical custom because the walkers come from various backgrounds that are prone to magical violence if left unchecked.

One observer commented that the tradition itself is "a collection of anecdotes, complex formulae, insightful or droll philosophy, shared on blogs, cafes, and street corners," and that it is made up of "the most difficult and easy-going community that enforces politeness and rewards mistakes. They are delightfully contradictory."

Though discounted by most of the awakened community, many read walker writings for their insight into the way "magic really works" as they often claim. That is, if they can be bothered to look for it.


Views on other traditions:

Hermetic - They train and cajole mana and in turn gain understanding in how it works, assuming that everything has a graspable reason for being so. Disciplined but too focused.
Chaos Magic - These mana-hackers are as shameless as we are in using whatever we want to get what we want. We differ on what we want, they seek to merely control mana in pursuit of a purer system. They don't see that they inflict their least common denominators on magic.
Shamanism/Druidic - The heck?
Black Magic - Sinister folks. They are not at all interested in the mystery of mana, and when they are for only what it can do for them. Powerful, but shortsighted.
Hedge Witchcraft - Don't dismiss these guys. Their rituals and trappings have a lot more in common with what we're learning than any other tradition.

The Path - In the end we're no less self-serving than other 'traditions'. We seek the true nature of magic because of what it means for us, we just try not to get in the way. If thinking about a spell in one way helps you cast it, that's fine. Just look deeper into why that was necessary, share that with others. Each of our steps lets us walk the path.

Very well compiled, regardless about any particular mechanical quibbles somebody may or may not have with it.

Thank you. Please do post of any mechanical or conceptual problems it may have, quite open to critiques.