Bear (elephant) shapeshifter mystic adept -- basically, a character created using the bear shapeshifter rules but he's an elephant shapeshifter. Nothing different rules-wise, just changing the fluff. Did I mention that he just recently expressed while in a circus, learned a bunch of circus tricks and is now out on his own?

Bear (elephant) shapeshifter
B8 A3 R1 S8 C1 I1 L4 W4 E2 M2 (magician) M4 (adept)
Yes, he's big, he has to think about things for a while and fast talkers just confuse him, but he never forgets anything.

Skills
Assensing 4
Athletics skill group 1
Counterspelling 1
Conjuring skill group 1
Influence skill group 1
Outdoors skill group 1
Spellcasting 4
Stealth skill group 1
Unarmed Combat (parry) 6(
He was already trained to do tricks and engage in mock combat before he Awakened and he saw people casting spells, he just didn't understand what it was that he had been seeing until after his change. Luckily, he doesn't forget.

Knowledge Skills
Biology 1
Chemistry 1
Economics 1
History 1
Knots 2
Literature 1
Security Design 1
Security Procedures 1
Street Drugs 2
Wines 2

English N
Chinese 1
Spanish 1

Qualities
Photographic Memory
Martial Artist 10
Mystic Adept
Computer Illiterate
In Debt (x2)
Phobia (mice -- common/mild)

Spells
Detect Sensor
Heal
Invisibility
Mask
Orgasm

Adept Powers
Improved Reflexes II
Killing Hands
Linguistics
Three-Dimensional Memory
Improved Sense (Infrasound -- super low sounds, like vibrations)

Gear
Fake SIN (rating 6)
White Pass
Trash lifestyle with lots of good food, some good clothes
Urban Explorer Jumpsuit -- a colorful jumpsuit that's well ventilated (6/6 armor)
CMT Clip Commlink (Response 1, Signal 3
Firewall 3 for that commlink
Medkit (rating 3)
Periscope

Martial Arts:
Arnis de Mano (seemed like a good circus style)
1: +1 die to disarm
2: may inflict damage when disarming
Disarm, Herding, Setup, Finishing Move

Mentor Spirit:
Cat -- circus people are lazy and he's not going to kill someone. That's just mean. +2 dice to Illusion skills, +2 dice to Negotiation tests, can't kill someone, has to toy with them first (preferably knock them unconscious) This is a lion named Wallace that only he can see (even on the astral plane).

I don't think Cat mentor is what you're looking for. For what you describe, you probably want Pacifist 1, the Cat's drawback just means that you're playful with your opponents and will do what you can to prolong the fight for your own enjoyment, not that you have an outright problem with killing people. The Cat mentor drawback is meant to be crueler that a quick kill. As a Mystic Adept, I would suggest a power focus, and instead of wasting all those adept points on Improved Reflexes, get the Increase Reflexes Spell and a Sustaining Focus (I'd also suggest making your points 3/3 in magic instead of 2/4, just because it's almost always better to cast spells at force 3 rather than force 2 because the drain is equal). Finally, if you're strapped for Power Points, get points of Critical Strike over Killing Hands, there are too many other ways to make your hands do physical damage to justify the .5 PP unless you're also going for one of the SM adept powers that have Killing Hands as a prerequisite. Assenssing is nice for a shifter as they have Astral Sight always on and can thus justify making Astral Perception checks unawares, however your Intuition is so low that unless you get it to a decent level and get a specialization it's not going to be worth it.

I think an elephant shapeshifter is a really cool idea. I'd drop the mentor spirit bit, though; I don't see how it reflects the concept. Or martial arts, for that matter. Those are my only gripes after a cursory reading of the character.

I notice a distinct lack of a phobia of mice.

and Mythbusters actually proved it's real, which was freaky

Detect Sensor doesn't seems a good way to stop folks taking pictures... not when Cybereyes are the most popular implants in the world. Also, you can't take people's comlinks away (not if you want them buying popcorn), and those would have cameras built in.

I don't think a 2070's circus would use illusions. With magic and high tech, that's just to easy; people wouldn't pay to see it. I think you'd get something more like Cirque du Soliel or Jim Rose's side show, where the whole point is to show off special skills, meaning everything happening is made as visible and obvious as possible.

Also, he's an olympic level martial artist AND proffessional grade mage; there should be something in the background about how he got that way!

(And yeah, as a shifter, you don't need killing hands, at least not to mess up spirits. Ax it and maybe drop a level of improved reflexes, drop down to 5 magic, and that's 30BP you could use elsewhere...)

I can see why he would have it easy remembering things: Intuition 1 + Perception 0 makes the few things he actually notices rare and treasured events to keep him happy until he notices something new a few years later

This topic might be of interest to you.

Elephants never forget. That's why they drink.

I was about to post that this wasn't actually true, but then I thought I should go search for the Mythbusters episode and...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpTSA_25wGE WOW!
Hmm,

Good point. Hmm, how would circuses stop people from recording shows then uploading the shows for free so that nobody needs to ever really go pay to see the circus?

Actually, he's a very poor magician with a magic there of only two. Shapeshifters (and animals) use Unarmed Attack to attack with their natural weapons. Any animal trained in mock combat or to do good tricks should have a good unarmed attack. From there, once you know the basic forms and are getting used to your new body, a couple new tricks shouldn't be too hard to learn. So, whether in human form or their natural form, they just use Unarmed Attack. At least, I thought they did. I'm looking for that statement.

I also thought that they could astrally perceive (being dual natured) but couldn't astrally project unless they were magicians, but I can't find that.

No way, Magic is so freaking ridiculously expensive for an adept. I have no interest in having to save up 204 karma (possibly 14 less if I join a magic group) and I don't know if my GM will allow the optional rules that put adepts in line with other archetypes. My perspective is that whatever adept powers I have now will be the only adept powers that I will have for a long, long time (as I really don't see the point in going on dozens of adventures only to buy a couple powers when the magician has initiated a couple of times and bought a boatload of spells and the street sam has a boatload of cool cyberware and has upgraded several skills and the face is approaching pornomancer status... I'm not going to gimp myself that badly. The killing hands is purely so that I can parry with my hands (which lets me avoid putting too many points in Dodge and Gymnastics) since I don't have many points.

Thanks, that was my thread.

Actually getting to 6 magic only costs 30. It's getting past 6 that gets really expensive, as then it is 35 + 13.

Ok, updated, somewhat...

First off, should point out that lion is a different mentor than cat. Also, you might find Spider more fitting

Maybe not lazy per say, but not particularly proactive, and the 'slow to react' is along the lines of lazy. Mountain might also be a decent one as well. Still, cat works if that's what you want, they are fairly lazy (mine is sleeping next to me as I type this).

Not sure why you have the detect sensors thing. If it is a consideration for keeping cameras out of the circus, well, cybereyes can record anything just fine, so there isn't much need to sneak a camera into a circus. I'd imagine levitation would be a popular one in the circus. Makes those 'death defying' feats alot less risky.