What do you do?

Usually the death of a character offers the player the opportunity to make a new character, many times of different classes/archetypes/whatever you want to use to define characters. Shadowrun, unlike other PnP games I have played, seems to be a game that can be very reliant on various roles being filled depending on the style that you're playing.

Let's say, for example, that you are a combat mage and are the only one providing magic support to the team. Due to unfortunate circumstances, you received a double tap to the head and now your eyes are a liquid mess on the ground after two bullets ripped through your skull. It has been very crucial to have that magic support and continuing it is highly desirable, and the only other magic in the team is the physical adept street samurai.

So the pressure is on you to make another mage, not only from the players because of the support you provide, but also from the GM because the style of campaign was written with the belief that the team would have some sort of mage. You on the other hand -really- want to play a rigger, even though the team already has a hacker.

What do you do when the critical roles your dead character filled can't be filled by the character you now want to play?

Well, either you play another mage or you play your rigger and make the best of it. We have been in that same situation before and trust me, it can very quickly result in someone else needing to make a new character. Let *them* be the magical support for a while.

Seriously, though. If you want to play a rigger, then play a rigger. No sense making yourself unhappy to try and fill a game dynamic. It is a game, meant to be fun. So have fun, and if a couple more characters get the glorious double-tap then someone else can fill the gap your rigger left vacant.

Ah, so the death of one character can usually lead to a cascade of death, blood, and gore. Nice.

In that situation I say do both, you can make a decent go at a Rigger/Mage. Pure Overwatch support too, though not necessarily throwing around combat spells anymore. There must be a way to get what you want with what your team needs too. Maybe look into a Possession tradition too.

It's true too that someone else's character is bound to die due to lack of magic support. Let them become a mage for now.

Yeah, I agree that you should make whatever character interests you most. It's a game, after all, and if you're not having fun then it takes away from everyone's experience as a whole (especially yours).

- milk.