I have a friend who's a first-time SR4 GM. He wants to put together a monstrosity of a troll as the big bad for his adventure. I can't munch out a troll quite as much as he'd like in the time allotted, so I'm tossing this one out to the Dumpshock population. What is the nastiest *legal* troll NPC build possible? Oh, and he wants him to be a heavy weapons specialist, preferably in a minigun. As a NPC, the character creation limits don't apply, but if you can stay within them, bonus points to you. Also, ideally he should be self-contained, so no possession unless he's also a summoner.

The winner of this contest will receive the accolades of the Dumpshock population, as well as a free membership to the Evil GM's Union!

Let the contest begin!

Your friend must first determine the level of the NPC troll. You know, like Inferior, Equal, Superior, "I just want the PCs dead"... Without this info, it is not possible to stat the troll. I suppose that your friend wants a chargen Equal troll, but is fine with a non-Chargen Superior or better troll?

troll - 40 BPs

Attributes (230 BPs)
Str 7 - 20 BPs
Bod 7 - 20 BPs
Agi 4(6) - 30 BPs
Rea 4(6) - 30 BPs
Int 3 - 20 BPs
Log 3 - 20 BPs
Wil 5 - 40 BPs
Cha 2 - 10 BPs

Edge 5 - 40 BPs
Init 10
IP 3

Qualities (-15 BPs):
Magic Resistance 4 - 20 BPs
Scorched (-5 BPs)
Severe Addiction (Novacoke) (-20 BPs)
Mild Allergy (Pollutants) (-10 BPs)

Skills (114 BPs)
Athletics 4 - 40 BPs
Stealth 2 - 20 BPs
Influence 1 - 10 BPs
Heavy Weapons 6(7) (your choice +2) - 26 BPs
Unarmed 4 (Parry +2) - 18 BPs

Resources (40 BPs)

Rest as desired: 52k remaining.

Wired Reflexes 2 (32,000)
Synthacardium 3 (30,000)
Muscle Toner 2 (16,000)
Adrenaline Pump 2 (60,000)
Reflex Recorder (Heavy Weapons) (10,000)

Contacts (9 BPs)
Spend as desired

a bit shallow, to say the least. i would consider investing in a skillwires and some skillsofts very seriously if this were a PC, but this should get you the basics. i would probably also cut back somewhere (probably the magic resistance) to get some pistols skills for a player char, but as this guy needs to stand alone... 4 points of magic resistance is well spent, imo.

a few points to notice: his strength, agility, reaction, and will all increase by 2 points when his adrenaline pump is active... and he ignores the effects of stun damage. his damage soak isn't as big and scary as the average troll's you'll see made, but he's still pretty solid in that department. i haven't created a full gear list or anything, but i recommend vision and hearing enhancements highly. (possibly cyberears just for the dampers, but the rest should be external)

i've left the blanks more or less so that specific needs could be filled in as desired... go nuts

[edit] nitro would also be a fairly good drug for him to be addicted to... pain resistance 6 means he's not gonna stop for much of anything +2 perception is also handy, and willpower is always helpful to have... if you do go with nitro, you could probably drop willpower to 4 natural, and just have him on nitro boosting him to the max of 9. [/edit]

How much of a one trick pony do you want?

I can super munch him if you want and keep him legal.
Does he need to be viable outside of combat?

Does he need to be viable outside of using a minigun?

Let me know and I will tweak away.

He just needs to be the ugliest, nastiest, biggest troll with a minigun possible. Nothing else much matters, my friend says. He wants it to be a near overmatch for an entire team of runners, so take that as you will.

Sky's the limit on this one! Have fun with it!

here is my creation... tell me what you think

Actually he only has 6 resistance from the Armor mods. Shield and Armor mods don't stack, it's highest rating is used. Check pg. 317 "When combining armor and a shield, only one of them provides the modification bonus (wearer's choice)." Also shields can only get chemical protection, fire resistance and nonconductivity mods.

Here's an adept build, modified from a tank build I posted in another thread:

Actually for 800 points, build a Troll Phys Adept who uses throwing mastery etc and uses pocket change to kill the pcs. Just think of it....

"Damn he just threw a half new yen coin thru the Ork's head!!!!!!!"

<sounds of player characters running very fast>

Hehe...honestly, with 400 you can do it. I'd probably go about 450 for a tough NPC, though. It's not overkill but it can be damn tough.

Im in the boat of pumping the Minigun skill as high as possible with Agility, smartlinks, recoil compensation. Strength can stay at a base 5(perhaps with some augmentation to help the last bits of recoil), Reaction and Dodge as high as it can go, with Body and defense pumped as much as possible. Make him be able to hose like hell and be hard to damage. Any sort of Pain Resistance would be a great idea. And as a couple of the good versions do, make sure his Willpower is high, and Magic Resistance would be a good thing, too.

Well, this was seemingly made already, sooo....


And perhaps a good Clubs skill so he can go upside someone's head with the minigun if they get too close without dropping it.

Okay. Two variations on the same guy for you. I don't have stats for a mini-gun so I used a HMG.

Rhino/
Troll Street Samurai.

Attributes
Body: 10
Agility: 3
Reaction: 6 (9)
Strength: 5 (3)
Charisma: 2
Intuition: 5
Logic: 2
Willpower: 2

Edge: 6
Initiative: 14 4IP
Essence: 0.075


Qualities
High Pain Tolerance 3
Magic Resistance 4
Toughness
Will to Live 3

Skills
Dodge : 6
Automatics : 5
Heavy Weapons (Machine Guns) : 6
Unarmed Combat : 6
Perception : 6

Cyberware
Obvious Torso (delta) - Body 10, Armour 4
Obvious Skull (delta) - Body 10, Armour 4
Obvious Full Arm (delta) - Body 10, Armour 4
Obvious Full Leg (delta) - Body 10, Armour 4
Obvious Full Arm (delta) - Body 10, Armour 4
Obvious Full Leg (delta) - Body 10, Armour 4
Cybereyes Basic System I (delta)
w/ Smartlink
w/ Ultrasound Sensor
Wired Reflexes 3 (delta)


Equipment
Full Body Armor (10/
Helmet (+2/+2)
Ultimax HMG-2
EX-Explosive Rounds (belt-fed, 200 rounds)

Image: A short, but incredibly stocky troll stands before you. He's about 6'3" tall and close to that wide. He is obviously compensating for his diminutive stature by being chromed to the max. His skull is gleaming chrome with a facial sculpt to preserve the troll bone-structure and horns., his polished arms are thick-set and layered with ceramic armour plates. Not even his chest is natural, being a plated, powerful centre-piece to the technological marvel that is his body. Across one dazzling pectoral, the Ares logo glitters and the scrolling motif reads "Sponsored by the "Ares Macrotechnology - Suppliers of Cyberware to the UCAS Military."

Notes: Depending on how you interpret the rules for cyberware armour, this troll either has 4/4 additional points of natural armour or 24/24 points of natural armour. After all - helmets add to the general armour rating and they're specific to a location and the troll is essentially made of metal and ceramic armour.

Rhino/
Troll Physical Adept

Attributes
Body: 10
Agility: 5
Reaction: 6 (7)
Strength: 10
Charisma: 2
Intuition: 5
Logic: 2
Willpower: 6

Edge: 6
Magic: 6
Initiative: 11 (12) 2IP.
Essence: 6

Skills
Automatics : 5
Heavy Weapons (spec: Machinegun) : 7 (9)
Pistols : 5
Unarmed Combat : 6
Dodge : 5
Running : 4
Intimidation : 4
Armorer : 4

Qualities
High Pain Tolerance 3
Magic Resistance 4
Toughness
Will to Live 3

Adept Powers
Mystic Armor (level 6)
Improved Reflexes (level 1)
Improved Ability : Combat Skill (Level 2)

Equipment
Full Body Armor (10/
Helmet (+2/+2)
Ultimax HMG-2
EX-Explosive Rounds (belt-fed, 200 rounds)

Image: A troll the size of the space needle who still needs to overcompensate by carrying a huge machine gun. He seems to give off an aura of cracking energy somehow and his blood shot eyes regard you with absolutely no sanity whatsoever.

==============

I took no limits on character creation to mean that I could spend more than the usual amount on qualities. If not, just strip a couple off. Note that the Physical Adept version ends up with 18/16 armour but is a better shooter. The cybered version gets either 16/14 or 36/34 depending on rules interpretation and is also faster.

I think sniper rifles are deadlier on enemies than vindicator miniguns. my runners always take out the enemy "line troops" with not much difficulty, but it's the sniper that's a half mile out making headshots that does the real damage to the party. NPC boss that's a sniper would be gruesome. ofcourse the 'magic makes it better' rule applies as usual mage/sniper=bring the pain.

All these sheets look like they would do OK, since it's not hard to make a twinky troll as long as you're willing to throw practical every day skills to the wayside. One suggestion I would make though is that the troll should have an internal airtank to go along with the chemical protection. It's an easy piece of 'ware to fit in, and it's always fun to bring some nausea gas to the party. Nothing screams "Ambush!" to the players like gas coming out of the airvents, after all.

I also agree with Turtleboy's sniper comment, although it's hardly any secret. Troll Archer/Grapplers with high strength scores and a good infiltration score are another deadly way to go. As always, the all-important thing for racking up a good body count is the ability to neutralize an opponent in the first pass, and it's pretty easy to do when you're basically just rolling for successes.

Umm troll bear berzerker mage (as norse but possessing) magic 6 possessed by a force 12 guardian spirit with heavy weapons as a extra skill from it's extra powers...

24 hardened armour, about 20 body. 28ish dice for attack. Over twenty dice for resisting any spell.


Is that good enough?

GENOCIDE - Troll Twisted Warrior Adept (40BP)

B 11[12], A 4[5], R 5(7)[8], S 10[11], C 2, I 5, L 3, W 5, M 3, E 5, ESS 3.05

INIT/IP 12/3, CM 14/11

Qualities: Adept, Exceptional Body, Mentor(Bear), Guts, SINner II, Uncouth, Astral Beacon.

Active Skills: Armorer 3, Athletics Group 2, Dodge 4(Ranged +2), Etiquette 1, Firearms Group 4, First Aid 2, Heavy Weapons 6(Machine Guns +2), Intimidation 3( +2), Perception 3, Stealth Group 2, Throwing Weapons 3

Powers: Mystic Armor 2, Motion Sense, Quick Draw, Spell Resistance 2

Cyberware(alpha): Cybereyes(w/Flare Compensation, Lowlight Vision, Protective Covers, Smartlink, Thermographic Vision, Vision Magnification), Dermal Plating 3, Lower Cyberarm, Obvious (w/B 6, S 6, Gyromount*)

Bioware: Adrenaline Pump 1, Damage Compensators 2, Platelet Factories, Synaptic Booster 2

Armor: Camo Suit(w/chemical protection and nonconductivity 6), Helmet, Dermal Armor, Mystic Armor = total 15/14.

Weapons: Ingram White Knight [6P, AP -6, BF/FA, RC 8(9)*, 100(belt), w/smartlink, APDS] (so he can be mobile and fire 10-round bursts without penalty)
ArmTech MGL-12 [10P, AP -2, SA, 12©, w/smartlink, HE grenades]
2 Flash-Bang grenades, 2 Thermal Smoke Grenades
Mossberg CMDT [9P(f), AP +5, SA/BF/FA, RC 3(4), 10©, w/smartlink, shock pad)

For further fun, use some karma and Initiate him, and raise magic by one - adding the following:
Initiate Grade 2: Adept Centering, Infusion
Powers: Improved Heavy Weapons 2

That way he can use centering to offset penalties in combat, and Infusion to push up his Mystic Armor, Spell Resistance or Improved Heavy Weapons by 4 as the situation warrants.

If you like, change Guts to Ambidexterity and give him twin White Knights (or LMG/Shotgun) - though that may be pushing it rules-wise.

(I can probably make a combat mage that's more of a challenge to a team (along the lines of that norse bear berserker mage) but that would require initiation for maximum effect, which the adept does not.)

I'm going to go the other way. I reworked my initial one to see how nasty a 300-point troll could be. Here he is:



He didn't turn out that bad. With his smartlink, he can roll 17 dice for an attack with his LMG, or 15 dice to fire two airburst-timed grenades an action. With his armor jacket and helmet, he has 12/11 armor, which goes up to 18/15 when you add the ballistic shield. With his Magic Resistance and high Edge, he isn't even that vulnerable to Willpower-resisted direct combat spells.