Full Version: What is your favorite class to play
I hate all the classes... thats why I play Shadowrun.
*Snarky comment explaining that Shadowrun doesn't actually have classes*
QUOTE (zeborazor @ Dec 27 2009, 01:04 AM) 
*Snarky comment explaining that Shadowrun doesn't actually have classes*
*Facetious remark about Shadowrun having social classes*
QUOTE (Heath Robinson @ Dec 26 2009, 08:59 PM)
*Facetious remark about Shadowrun having social classes*
*Snarky comment about awakened and technomancers possibly qualifying as a "Class"*
*Informative comment noting a misspelling of "World" in the above poster's sig*
QUOTE (zeborazor @ Dec 26 2009, 11:28 PM)
*Informative comment noting a misspelling of "World" in the above poster's sig*
I noticed that the other day, but I wasn't sure if it was a clever pun of some kind or a very literal quote.
*Looks* Oh hey! How about that. I left an "L" out of "sleep" once in my sig (something about lacking it and going crazy).
I quoted whoever posted that, who I think was quoting something else, which may or may not have had a typo.
I quoted whoever posted that, who I think was quoting something else, which may or may not have had a typo.
While it may not be a class system in that there are defined classes. There effectively are classes given the roles and the benefits given to specialization.
Hacker
Rigger
Technomancer
Street Sam
Face
Detective
Mage/Shaman(In previous editions I'd separate them in 4e they are the same)
Phys Adept
You can mix and match a bit or multiclass if you want, but they effectively are classes decently enforced by the mechanics and setting.
Hacker
Rigger
Technomancer
Street Sam
Face
Detective
Mage/Shaman(In previous editions I'd separate them in 4e they are the same)
Phys Adept
You can mix and match a bit or multiclass if you want, but they effectively are classes decently enforced by the mechanics and setting.
QUOTE (Shinobi Killfist @ Dec 27 2009, 12:47 PM)
You can mix and match a bit or multiclass if you want, but they effectively are classes decently enforced by the mechanics and setting.
Those aren't classes, those are archetypes and labels we haphazardly graft onto skill sets. They exist only by virtue of synergy and because they ease communication; a true class system is marked as much by character limitations as it is advantages. For example, one of my favorite characters was a Social Mystic Adept Rigger, and to call him a given "class" is frankly a bit misleading.
The Only "Classes" that exist are Awakened,Technomancer and Mundane beacause they're mutally exclusive (Yes I know about latent Awakening 
)
everything else is mixable.Hacker/Streetsam ? Rigger/Hacker ? Technomancer/Rigger ? Face/ Rigger ? so many combinations possible
with a combination Dance
Medicineman
)everything else is mixable.Hacker/Streetsam ? Rigger/Hacker ? Technomancer/Rigger ? Face/ Rigger ? so many combinations possible
with a combination Dance
Medicineman
In Shadowrun, you can mix and match skills and abilities as you please (the exception being certain qualities that must be taken at character creation if you want to have them). While at first glance this might seem similar to D&D Third Edition, where you could muticlass as much as you wanted and pick from a variety of feats and proficiencies, there is one big difference.
There is not the same straightforward progression by level. You can start out with someone who is close to the absolute best in his field, or someone who can do a lot of things, but none of them well. This can make balancing a group more difficult, but illustrates how flexible character creation can be.
There is not the same straightforward progression by level. You can start out with someone who is close to the absolute best in his field, or someone who can do a lot of things, but none of them well. This can make balancing a group more difficult, but illustrates how flexible character creation can be.
Just out of curiosity, is it possible for the thread title to have the word class changed to role/archetype?
Once I make that assumption, I like to try to model characters I make in SR4A after some role I would enjoy having the spotlight in a SR4A game, usually inspired by some entertainment like a movie or book, so the following come to mind: assassin, sniper, parkour, stuntman/driver... I think I make a horrible magician or hacker, though having some basic knowledge of those areas for minimal defense seems preferable but I feel drawn to the power points of being an adept and kinda put off by replacing flesh and bone with cyber but the biotech is very interesting, sorta like making a Dark Angel.
I think my latest entertainment inspired character to add to the criminal fraternity would be a character inspired by Sherlock Holmes, those logical leaps and bounds in street fighting were awesome scenes.
Once I make that assumption, I like to try to model characters I make in SR4A after some role I would enjoy having the spotlight in a SR4A game, usually inspired by some entertainment like a movie or book, so the following come to mind: assassin, sniper, parkour, stuntman/driver... I think I make a horrible magician or hacker, though having some basic knowledge of those areas for minimal defense seems preferable but I feel drawn to the power points of being an adept and kinda put off by replacing flesh and bone with cyber but the biotech is very interesting, sorta like making a Dark Angel.
I think my latest entertainment inspired character to add to the criminal fraternity would be a character inspired by Sherlock Holmes, those logical leaps and bounds in street fighting were awesome scenes.
Sammy all the way baby. Of course, I tend to slant a little towards sneaky and talky but what are you going to do? I mean, as hard as you try, you just can't shoot your way out of every situation. Sometimes you gotta scare the crap out of the guy to make him run out of cover so you can shoot him or sneak around the side to jump off a roof and smash some guys lil head.
QUOTE (CanadianWolverine @ Dec 27 2009, 07:43 PM)
Just out of curiosity, is it possible for the thread title to have the word class changed to role/archetype?
Under that assumption as well, I tend to play... physical... combat... specialists. All my long term characters (that is, anything I have played for more than two sessions) have been mundane. One was a sam who could rig, one was a sam without any cyber or bioware, one was just a regular sam, and another couple were low tech sams.
This makes me realize how few characters I've actually played in SR. For one, I am very loyal to a character, once I find one I like. So while most of my group had a stable of characters, I usually had one main character and back up )to be played on side runs when the whole group couldn't make it).
[ Spoiler ]
total. (He retired with a lifetime luxury lifestyle). No cyber, no bio, no magic, but a lot of really good gear. He started out as a private detective and morphed over the years into James Bond, with tusks. I played him in mulitple campaigns and groups and most of the time other players assumed he was a phys ad with masking.
If there was a class in shadowrun there is only one that could ever translate from DnD to SR and that is the factotum since he can do anything and about everything in the DnD world, SR has roles yes but no classes per say besides the mundane and the awakened. Very little is restricted from the player except for the magical talent unless the player starts off as awakened spell caster or adapt, other then that every skill is open to your character. If you have a firearm skill you can use said guns from the class of firearm and even if you don't you can still use them, well in SR3 anyways at a slight disadvantage. SR kinda ruined DnD for me after getting used to the whole skill system and lack of hitpoints, now I expect every RPG I play to mirror it in concept and play style.
QUOTE (CanadianWolverine @ Dec 28 2009, 03:43 AM)
I think my latest entertainment inspired character to add to the criminal fraternity would be a character inspired by Sherlock Holmes, those logical leaps and bounds in street fighting were awesome scenes.
Does that include the playing of music in the middle of the night, doing drugs and the bromantic partner?
I tend to have 2-3 favored characters I can recall the stats of. But those are the same ones I tweak and adjust and polish both the numbers as well as the story till they are as flawlessly broken as I can make them. I have a adept specialist that is fairly handy in combat, a generalist magician and a combat decker/hacker.
QUOTE (toturi @ Dec 28 2009, 03:22 AM)
Does that include the playing of music in the middle of the night, doing drugs and the bromantic partner?
Don't you know it! How does that not scream Shadowrunner?
The funny thing is, before I was thinking most of my characters would end up with a high Intuition stat, Sherlock Holmes in his first/latest incarnation got me thinking about playing a high Logic stat as well. Hmm, I should start thinking about high Willpower too? How would Sherlock Holmes react to a world where magic is full on real and not technological parlor tricks?
QUOTE (CanadianWolverine @ Dec 28 2009, 02:27 PM)
Don't you know it! How does that not scream Shadowrunner?
The funny thing is, before I was thinking most of my characters would end up with a high Intuition stat, Sherlock Holmes in his first/latest incarnation got me thinking about playing a high Logic stat as well. Hmm, I should start thinking about high Willpower too? How would Sherlock Holmes react to a world where magic is full on real and not technological parlor tricks?
The funny thing is, before I was thinking most of my characters would end up with a high Intuition stat, Sherlock Holmes in his first/latest incarnation got me thinking about playing a high Logic stat as well. Hmm, I should start thinking about high Willpower too? How would Sherlock Holmes react to a world where magic is full on real and not technological parlor tricks?
Based on how he was portrayed in the "Sherlock Holmes in the Twenty Second Century" and his calm demeanor towards having been resurrected some 400 years after his death* I think he'd be pretty ok with it. Interested and highly skeptical of anything people say about magic that he hasn't witnessed himself. I'd expect he'd have more than a few pieces of manatech, such as the mana sensitive camera.
*by which I mean the one that the author wrote before fans wanted more and he miraculously survived falling off a cliff or similar.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.