Aleksei is a morlock (this is really the only set in stone bit of fluff). He's a brute of a cyclops changeling covered in spikes that can punch his way through anything. He was living in the sewers of Vladivostok for while before the local Vory managed to subdue and capture him for use in pit fights, but word got out about the cargo and the shipment was hijacked. During transportation Aleksei woke up, and tore his way through the plane, and ending up crashing (and miraculously surviving) outside of Denver, where he's been living ever since (their sewers are surprisingly nice).

Cyclops (45 BP)
Changeling (10 BP); Bone Spikes, Thermal Sensitivity, Insulating Pelt, Elongated Limbs, and Thorns
Adept (5 BP)
Martial Arts (20 BP); Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, Karate
Gremlins level 4 (+20 BP)
Incompetent Negotiation, Etiquette, and Pilot Ground Craft (+15 BP)
Strength 10 (40 BP)
Body 9 (40 BP)
Will 5 (40 BP)
Edge 5 (40 BP)
Agility 5 (55)
Magic 6 (65)
Unarmed Combat 6 (24 BP)
Specialization Martial Arts (2 BP)
Martial Arts Manuever Kicks (2 BP)
Athletics 3 (30 BP)
Throwing 1 (4 BP)
Ghouls Knowledge 1 (2 BP)
45000 nuyen (9 BP); 2 Force 2 Foci, 2 sets of hardliner gloves with personalized grip and customized look (one set are steel toed boots)

Adept Powers;
Killing Hands (.5)
Smashing Blow (1)
Improved Ability Unarmed Combat 3 (1.5)
Penetrating Strike 3 (.75)
Critical Strike 6 (1.5)
Elemental Strike; Blast (.5)
Attribute Boost 1 Agility (.25)

So, Aleksei's punches are devastating (18 attack dice, 19P damage -3 AP), and he can punch through any barrier (double DV against barriers). But they aren't a sure thing. I don't mind him missing every now and then (as I've accepted that I am crippling myself by using a melee character), but Aleksei can punch through a military bunker- one of those hits should be a sure thing against a metahuman. But a good soak pool can take the damage.
So, how can I squeeze more damage (or AP) into his unarmed attacks? I looked into Bone Lacing, but it just isn't worth it (Titanium is worth it once I can get it in Deltaware).

More IPs. 3 IPs is 3x more damage than one IP.

don't forget elemental strike and penetrating strike do not combine, it's one or the other on that attack.

Can you break that 19 DV down for me, I don't see all of it. Edit: I think I found it, isn't there a limit of a total of +3 DV for martial arts? I think the newer Arsenal says that, but my PDF is the older one.

Also note that bone lacing won't help that much later, if you are attacking with the bone lacing then you aren't attacking with your hardliner gloves becuase neither of those actually add to your unarmed damage, but rather they both replace your base damage.

Sure thing.
Strength 10/2=5.
Critical Strike 6
Bone Spikes 2
Thorns 1
Muay Thai 1
Karate 1
Kung Fu 1
Tae Kwon Do 1
Hardliner Gloves 1

5+6+3+4+1= 19P. It all stacks. The only thing that doesn't always stack are the martial arts bonuses, but since Aleksei has over 4 Unarmed Combat I get to stack all +4 DV from the Martial Arts (unfortunately Martial Arts is limited to 20 BP).

Good point on the bone lacing. Titanium would really only be +2 then, and cost butt loads, and use up 1 full point of magic. The suck.


As for more IPs, I'm not really concerned. The character is more entertaining as a lumbering brute. And I didn't have the points to pick up a second IP. Besides, if there is a mage in the party combat never lasts more than one round.

This is it, the errata caps it at +3.

The rest of it adds up, still I'd check with your GM on some of your stacking to make sure its kosher for his game.

You need to turn this 1-trick pony into a 2-trick pony. Get him to where he can do this kind of damage and soak a lot of damage. 1 IP means you'll be soaking a lot of damage after charging some gunbunnys and punching them. You wont be able to do a lot of full-defense actions or take cover.

Why this:
Incompetent Negotiation, Etiquette, and Pilot Ground Craft (+15 BP)

Just take Uncouth for +20 BP, and then add Pilot Ground Craft for another +5 (if you really want to).

Don't know what you'd spend it on, but it's another 5-10 points.

Because Uncouth is absurdly broken against the player. =P

I don´t think that thorns and bony spikes add up. They are basically the same and only a braindead GM would allow speedballing them both. You can also attack with the spikes OR with the hardliner gloves, by RAW it would possibly add, but if shock gloves and punching don´t fit together, spikes and metal-knuckels don´t make sense either. Besides that it would subtract dices from his dicepool if you take thorns because of the uncomfortability it causes.

Am I misreading, or does he have 1 in both REA, INT, CHA and LOG?

And 215 BP's spent on attributes if my math is right. I don't recall - does Edge count in the normal BP maximums, or was that special like Magic/resonance is? I keep forgetting.

No, it's special.

All your gear is going to have to be so ultra customized . Extra 50% for bone spikes, extra 50% for troll, 10% for limbs, likely a little extra for thorns. That aside, a few potential problems:

First, you can only max one stat at chargen, and you have magic and agility both maxed.

Second, how do you come up with 18 attack dice? I only see 15. I suppose you're adding in your reach, but 15 dice and a reach of 3 is different from 18 dice. Oh, improved ability, of course. So, 18 dice and a reach of 3, very nice.

Third, There is serious debate on if critical strike can be used with hardliner gloves. I don't want to open that can of worms here, but I'm just warning you that it might come up based on the GM.

Fourth, Smashing blow multiplies Base DV, which is technically only the str/2 part, not all the extra bonuses from thorns and such, so that's another thing that might come up based on the GM you're playing under.

Fifth and sixth have been addressed with martial arts only being +3 max and elemental strike not stacking.

Seventh, no need to spend BP on ghoul knowledge, you get some free knowledge points.

That's all I spot off hand. Looks like a really huge bruiser that will bunch tanks to death

So it is. And, uh,yeah. 1's for most of his mental stats and reaction.

If you are strickly looking at damage then convert the points spent on improved unarmed over to critical strike. Improved unarmed give you a chance for more damage while Critical strike just gives guaranteed damage if you hit.

For extra IP's Synaptic boosters.
Rather than Bone Lacing how about Bone Density bioware?

and for fluffy reasons, how did the cyclops living in the sewers learn all those martial arts?

He's already maxed out critical strike, so moving points into that isn't an option.


What else is a 500lb cyclops living in the sewer going to do besides teach himself martial arts?

Edge doesn't count for attribute max.

"You need to turn this 1-trick pony into a 2-trick pony. Get him to where he can do this kind of damage and soak a lot of damage. 1 IP means you'll be soaking a lot of damage after charging some gunbunnys and punching them. You wont be able to do a lot of full-defense actions or take cover. "
Since the Martial Arts is capped at +3 I can put 5 of those BP into Pain Resistance. I can also pick up a shield, some PPP aromor, and a helmet, after a couple runs. His soak is already decent (9 body and 5 Will + 8/6 armor), but yeah, it needs to be better.

"Why this:
Incompetent Negotiation, Etiquette, and Pilot Ground Craft (+15 BP)"
Notoriety. Aleksei is a sewer living morlock, and a huge spikey one that can run through solid plasteel walls.

"I don´t think that thorns and bony spikes add up. They are basically the same and only a braindead GM would allow speedballing them both. You can also attack with the spikes OR with the hardliner gloves, by RAW it would possibly add, but if shock gloves and punching don´t fit together, spikes and metal-knuckels don´t make sense either. Besides that it would subtract dices from his dicepool if you take thorns because of the uncomfortability it causes. "
I agree it's a little cheesey stacking spikes and thorns, but it is legit, and it makes up for having to be a melee combatant. Spikes and Thorns both say they add DV to the damage value of ANY unarmed attack. Is combat a Physical Test? Just to check I checked the skill section, and stuff like athletics is a Physical Skill. Additionally shields add a -1 penalty to all physical tests, but also specify that the penalty includes attacks. I'm fine if the penalty subtracts from my attacks, I just want to be sure.

"Am I misreading, or does he have 1 in both REA, INT, CHA and LOG?"
It hurts, but I didn't have the BP to fix it.

Maybe he bumped into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

He lived in the Vladivostok sewers (which have to be pretty high rated to have someone his size in them, I mean c'mon). Where else are all the old bootleg kung fu optical chips going to be stored?

If it says a -1 on Physical tests it doesn't include combat. If it says a -1 on physical tests, it does include combat.


Will doesn't factor into soak tests, though it does give him a bigger stun track. Consider getting FFBA and some really good armor. Slap on that helmet and shield and you should be reasonably well armored.

Might want to look at getting dodge (ranged) and perception. Right now your character is virtually blind (DP of -1).

1. I forget that Magic counts for that often. I've no problem dropping Agility. Frees up BP for the other stats.
2. 5 Agility (now 4), 6 skill, 2 speciality, 3 Improved ability unarmed, 2 focus, -1 cyclops, 1 personalized grip= 17 dice.
3. Interesting. If the DM thinks it doesn't (which I don't really agree with- it simply states unarmed combat), it doesn't hurt me that much as it just means -2 attack and -1 damage.
4. Do you have definite proof of that? I know base DV does not include hits from the attack roll, but why does it not include the additional bonuses (which work the same as bonuses from ammo, correct?)?
5 and 6. I knew elemental strike and penetrating strike don't stack. I want them both though. Elemental Strike is cool, and awesome against high armor foes, and penetrating strike is good against barriers.
7. Since I only have 6 points of knowledge, and 2 BP left over, I put it on ghoul knowledge.

I won't argue it one way or the other, but the reasoning for it not stacking is that hardliner gloves are weapons, and thus their use is armed combat, and the fact that they use the unarmed combat skill is simply coincidence. I see both sides of this argument, so I'm not going to tell you to believe one way or the other, I'm just warning you that some GMs will go with the 'don't stack' model.
Well, the base DV is str/2, everything else is a bonus that raises the DV, but the base DV would technically stay the same. This is another one of those where there is a fair bit of debate and I see both sides of the argument. If it is only half strength then the power is fairly weak for a full PP, but it also seems weird to include things like thorns. So, not going to argue it here, just warning you of potential views your GM might have.

Alright, just wanted to make sure you knew that. The 2 BP could go towards a contact though. Must have a mentor that taught all those martial arts, must have a fixer that gets you work, etc. Some of those could be potential low grade contacts.

Mentor is back in the Motherland, but I do need a contact.

As for the debated things (stacking DV and critical strike with hardliner gloves (which is really needed in order to actually hit things in unarmed combat)), I'm fairly certain my DM is fine with it.

Quick question about armor;
FFBA Suit is 6/2, and Armored Jacket is 8/6, giving me a 14/8, right? Then a full PPP system and a helmet bumps that to 17/16, and gel packs makes that 18/17?

I love how granny can beat him in initiatute, pull out her taser, make a called shot at his nads, and he has to spend edge to even have a chance to get out of the way.

Ahh, he has crit strike listed twice, I just say the .5 crit strike expendature.


Thought this was only 1 skill can be at 6 at character gen, must have been doing it wrong all these years.....AFB for now, will check when I get home. Never have enough points to max more than one stat anyhow (of course I won't run with 3-4 stats at a 1 either).

People seem to have differing opinions on whether magic counts toward the "one attribute of 6 or two attributes of 5" rule. Either way, that 6th point is prohibitively expensive and I would advise dropping it.

I always consider Magic and Edge to be "special" and to not count towards the max attribute rule.

Aleksei isn't a combat specialist- he's a demolitions specialist.

"People seem to have differing opinions on whether magic counts toward the "one attribute of 6 or two attributes of 5" rule. Either way, that 6th point is prohibitively expensive and I would advise dropping it."

I read that because the cap is in the mental and physical attributes section, magic is not capped if the other stats are maxed. But I've been wrong. Either way, I need the full 6 points. The only optional adept power is attribute boost, and that's only .25 PP.

FFBA (Full) 6/2
Armored Jacket 8/6
Vitals Protection 1/1
Forearm Guards 0/1
Shin Guards 0/1
Leg& arms casings 1/1
Helmet 1/2
Gel packs 1/1
Troll natural (w/Cyplop-metavariant ?,not w/books) 1/1

I'm pretty sure thats actually supposed to be killing hands, since its a prereq for elemental strike.

It is supposed to be Killing Hands, and it's been fixed.

Don't use gremlins, trust me. You wouldn't be able to turn on a commlink without having to roll. Goodbye group intel. Get Badluck instead.

Don't get me wrong, edge is really nice, but i don't see it helping you when you are knocked unconscious by a stray mana bolt. drop it a little and get your other stats as far from 1 as possible. Trust me, you'll be saving yourself a reroll. No stat should ever be at a 1, there's no good reason for it. Ya want to have a character who would make a retarded, lobotomized, cross eyed monkey look like Stephen Hawking. Every time your character goes to the bathroom your team mates will be sticking his nose in it saying "bad boy." No need to handcuff this guy, just tie his shoe laces together. That'll keep him puzzled on how to move for a few hours.

I am almost certain that this rule is for skills and not for attributes.

There is a good reason though, its the basic min/max tactic when using the built point method. He can buy those all up to 2s or 3s after a couple of sessions for almost no karma.

well yea, but i doubt he'll make it through a session. With a reaction of 1 he'll go after the paranormal chocolate squirrelador in combat turns. When i meant no good reason for a stat of 1, i hold fast to it cause min/maxing tactics is not a good reason, it's cannon fodder for any gm. Any melee specialist with one IP and no first aid is gonna be the first down.

That is for skills, not attributes.

The rule for attributes states quite plainly

Edit, oops, quoted the wrong person. You really need to use the quote tags, makes it so much easier tell what you are and aren't saying.

LMG+wide full auto for the win.

Or a sniper rifle shot.
A mage with some mana bolts.

But really the whole character is completely silly.
It's not a character, it's an NPC mcguffin you send a shadowrun team to recover.

Of course each of those examples would also take out nearly any character. Very few are going to be able to handle a -9 to their dodge DP, this character is actually more likely than most to survive the sniper shot because he at least has a high body. And he really isn't any worse off against a mana bolt than anyone else either.

Of course, when targeting that huge immobile mass, you go for the narrow burst, not the wide one.

Very true.

Aleksei doesn't need CHA or LOG, since those skills won't ever be good enough to matter. INT and REA would be nice for the init, but the BP just aren't there. I don't really need higher magic, so INT and REA can be brought up very quickly with Karma. And getting hit isn't a problem, since the soak pool is pretty large (18/17 armor and 9 body) and he has plenty of damage boxes.
Actually, INT and REA are both now at 2 because I dropped AGI to 4.
As for Stunbolts, he does fine. More Stun boxes than most character, a good WILL score, and the ability to take Counterspelling means he's less suscpetible to magic than most.
I don't really expect him to have to survive combats. With a gunbunny and a good mage in the party I might have to roll dice every once in a while.

Gremlins is fine. Using a commlink for everyday tasks doesn't take any tests so I'm not worried about critical clitches.

I would love to get all stats to at least 2 (I really do hate 1's and gross min-maxing like this), and put some points into Outdoors and Perception, and even Dodge, but there just aren't enough BP. After a couple runs I'll have the Karma to learn other things, but he needs to start out great at this trick in order to make it worthwhile.

True, but even with edge he'd be rolling nearly nothing against a mana bolt. I'm sure any one of the other character could possibly roll with edge and survive, hardly i'm sure, but survive none the less.

Hey i'm all for the tank type builds, i've had my few posts bout it here on the dump. That's why i'm going with a bear shape shifter. But my lowest stat is 3 on any character i've made. Mainly thanks for the people on these forums showing me the light.

OP, there are more ways than one to skin a troll size cat. At 18p you are hitting as hard as a tank. Your foes are turning into red mists upon being touched by you. Hell at 12p you'd be doing well. Perhaps you might want to lower the damage a bit and focus on survival, whether it be dodging, stealth, or distration (thermal smoke nade). Leave some room to grow, otherwise when between jobs your character will be reading dr seuss books and getting confused. You know why romeo's zombies weren't as scary as 28 days later zombies? Cause they weren't smart enough to turn the door handles........

Adepts can't take counterspelling. They aren't cool enough.


He does have a really good willpower though (for some reason)

I've had many characters that have gotten by with 2s in stats, I've even had a handful of 1s, but those are fairly rare, and generally very intentional for the character as opposed to min/maxing.

Agreed, the damage is somewhat more than you need to one shot someone with armor of less than about 18ish. Though on the other hand, most of your ways to increase damage didn't cost a ton. Also, those Dr Seuss books are confusing

Nothing against a manabolt? What do anyother non-Magicians have? Aleksei has great body (I think I could get away with 7 body in order to increase some skills or stats) and great will, and can learn put points into counterspelling. Forgive me if I'm wrong, as I've never messed around with actual magic.
And Aleksei isn't supposed to be a tank, though that is secondary.
As for room to grow, this character has plenty. If I put points into the mental stats and skills it will actually be harder to grow (because the karma will cost more). I'm not 100% happy that it is such an unbalanced character, but I had to make sacrifices in order for it to run through walls.

Fair enough

Let's optimize a bit. Starting at the metatype varient... You got one eye making all physical tests a -1. +1 str and +1 reach. Any other metatype would be optimistically better. However i'm guessing you are going cyclopes for the fun of it. Also be aware that you have no vision enhancements, so i dunno how you can see in the sewers, but that aside.... ok

Get rid of penetrating strike. Ya got elemental strike which i'm guessing you'll use all the time. You can't use that and penetrating strike at the same time so it's a waste of points. Also smashing blow is redundant. With it, you'll take your base damage (str/2) and double it. That's 10p on barriers......... You'll doing 18p without it. With those points you can get atleast 1 more IP with lightning reflexes.

Pick up riposte or better yet counterstrike 1 if you can. You'll love it, trust me. With the str you have you could be using people as weapons (if you get to them fast enough). Look into power throw, missile mastery and attacks to subdue. Pickup an enemy and use him as a skipping stone while closing the range to the others.

Cyclops for the +1 STR. And I think cyclops look better as ankylosaurs than trolls do. Thermal Sensitivity is thermal vision (which I get from being a changeling).
Penetrating Strike vs Elemental Strike. I'm undecided. Penetrating Strike is useful for when I go up against barriers (because halving the impact armor isn't super useful if they don't have impact armor). I'll talk to my DM to see if Smashing Blow is useful (if it doubles the bonuses to DV from critical strike and the like it is actually good... if not it is a terrific waste of points).
I have Riposte on a samurai physad, and I can't get enough of it. However, Aleksei will almost never successfully block an attack (since we're looking at 13 dice to unarmed block).

Thermal Sensitivity is not the same as thermal vision. It's more like a "There is something hot over there." sense.

Good catch. I will instead, for the same BP cost, take Thermographic Vision.

Good point on the riposte, Aleksei wouldn't be able to block much. With the amount of str you'll have (and not much blocking) you might want to look at sweep/throw maneuvers. Ya need mitigation, and not so much from damage as from constant attacks. Getting into a fray with 4 people is much easier of 1 is knocked down and the other is being used as a meat bat.

Why have kick? It only adds 1 to reach, which you'll have at +3 as it is (1 from being a troll variant, 1 from being a cyclopse, and 1 more from surge quality). Once again, seems redundant.

no need for smashing blow, did you read blast damage elemental attacks?
Blast
The blast elemental effect is like a hurricane
wind or the shockwave of an explosion. Blast
damage is treated as Physical damage and is
resisted with half Impact armor (rounded up).
Characters struck with a Blast damage attack
are more likely to be knocked down—add the
Force to the damage inflicted when comparing
to the defender’s Body (see Knockdown, p.
151, SR4). Blast damage can also break glass
and knock over trees and other objects. At
the gamemaster’s discretion, objects with a
Structure rating less than the Force may be
knocked over, shattered, shredded, or otherwise
swept away.