So, for the first time in a really long time, I actually get to be a player again =) Here's the situation:

I'm the new guy, joining a group hat's been together a long time. We've played one session together though, and I think this may end up being, at least potentially, a long term thing.

I started off with a support mage/summoner (materialization)

the rest of the group: (as far as I know - we didn't pass around character sheets)

Combat Mage
PhysAd - melee
Mundane Hacker - planning on picking up some rigging when funds allow
BioSam - lots of guns
Robocop - yeah, really^^
Covert Ops - with some guns

With the combat mage there already, I felt a bit redundant, and now that I know the group, I feel a little more comfortable taking on a more visible role. I checked with the GM and he ok'd a rebuild. A Face seems like the obvious hole to fill, but since I have no interest in a pornomancer, I'm looking for a secondary support role to play.

Any suggestions? Build method is BP, 440 to start, all core books available.

Thank you for your time =)

big group. seems there will be loads of fighting. so lots of wounds. what about a face/healer? either a techie guy with some 'ware or magical with the "mystical healing" optional rule from augmentation. healing potions ftw!

You could do a mystic adept with Kinesics and a Charisma based tradition. If the combat mage isn't picking up the Clair* series, then you can face, recon, assessing support, and still handle yourself respectably in combat.

Edit following Makki: There's a lot of good support stuff in magical healing, including boosting everyone else's initiative passes if I recall.

If you want to be magical I also support going mystic adept but a mysad face/caster is pretty point heavy as it is. If you go mundane face then it would easier to put points into being a doctor as well as being a bit of something else. Also some ware is better then magic. I made a Face/cyber sam with move by wire 2 outta the gate. With a good matrix contact pirating skillsofts is easy and makes you a skill monkey of sorts while still sticking to your role. If you go this route I advise getting the skillwire expert system so you can use edge to reroll failures.

Hacker is easy to combine, and they're the natural planner/leader/communicator. Do you only need one?

Probably only need the one hacker, though a rigger might be doable.

And yeah, Wyld, the MysAd is crazy expensive; I just finished rolling one up to price it out - ouch...

What about 'maker'? There are a number of handy B/R (/create) skills that suit the thinking man (including, as above, medic). Also including software, mechanic, chemistry, armorer, forgery, etc.

Does covert ops mean 'burglar', 'ninja', 'paratrooper', all of the above? Physical security is another nice Logic niche (not that a Face needs logic, but it's nice to combo it with 'Mastermind', like Leverage).

Thats why mysads are best as a focused build. My mysad was a magical watch dog with heavy detection and counterspelling. If you still go face my advice is go easy on the adept powers if your GM allows you to take a power point instead of a metamagic, a force 4 power focus helps out a lot so mysad, restricted gear, power focus 4. Thats what I did and it made a whole lot of a difference. Also remember you can save that restricted gear or use it at chargen. Your choice.

Face is good to be combined with a shamen or a technomancer.
A Face should be able to pass by cyberware scanners. (If you can't explain this move by wire 3, you have a Problem)
To be a mage also makes it much more easier to infiltrate mage circles (so soon as you have aura masking).
(Shapechange alone is the one spell for faces I guess, if you have to make a get away.)
About mystic adapt+Face, I do not know. I guess it very depents on how much of the cheese with mystik adepts flys in your group. (And how much bonus you would get for assensing on the other hand)

Here's a quick and rough build of MysAd Face with a smattering of spells to help in various situations.

Thank you for that =) I think with some tweaking around, this will be pretty close to what I end up using.

You can thank my at times boring unpaid practical training.

Edit: i can sent you/host online the excell chargen sheet with the build if you want.

Ah, thanks for the thought, but I had already put it into my spreadsheet by the time I saw your post =)

Where's that character's sorcery skill?

With an ominous *poof*, the GM appears!

Hey man, just let me know your contacts; prolly won't come into play for our next session, but I'd like to try a sort of round-robin thing using the PC contacts as hooks for runs.

Are you looking at playing a dryad? I should warn you, a female character will get you some flak in that group. I used to draw a lot, and when we were playing Marvel Superheroes, I had drawn a picture of this female hero and wanted to play her. I was pretty much mocked until I gave up the idea. Perhaps your resolve will be stronger than mine!

Heh, I was finishing the contacts list right before I saw this^^ I'll be emailing them within the hour =)

And no, I'm not really down with the dryad^^ I'll just be going with a baseline elf - thanks for the heads up though, good to keep in mind for the future