That is it really? Going to be in a game soon and though I know 4th ed well enough my knowledge of 3rd ed is lacking. How could one go about building a White Collar type character?

lots of social powers for adepts in State of the Art 2064 p64

Yeah, I never got that book, but it had (IIRC) the kinesics power, which was ultra-powerful, since it actually gave TN mods. In SR3, you couldn't get improved ability for social skills (unless that SOTA book changed that), and Charisma wasn't part of the dice pool (so a troll with Charisma: 4 and social skills of 6 was about as good as an elf with Charisma: 8 and social skills of 6 - Charisma was good for a few things like negating racism penalties).

So the main thing with social skills was TN modifiers - the Shadowrun Companion had Friendly Face, Good-Looking and Knows It, and Good Reputation (which could be taken up to two levels), and any good face would be advised to take all of them. Etiquette and Negotiation were the mainstays, social skill-wise, but a dedicated face could take the other ones, too.

Keep in mind that skills in SR3 were not limited, so social skills of 6 were only the beginning - you could get them up to 9, 10, etc. But higher skill was a piddling thing compared to TN modifiers. Another adept power (which I wish they had kept for SR4) was empathy sense.

Thanks for the help guys. Still wish it was a 4th game, but so be it. Looks like I will have to look up the rules for social tests in SR3. Basically I'm trying to backwards design my White Collar style guy from 4th. I'm really going to miss the Advanced Lifestyle rules, le-sigh. But oh well. Again, thanks for the help. Keep it coming.

Then why not using the advanced lifestyle rules? As far as i remember most of SR4 rules are just copied. They should be in the SR3 companion as well. I know i used them back in the days too.

Luckily it did, so OP should get that too.

They aren't, they're in Sprawl Survival Guide.

To the OP, the SotA64 powers are dumb in the face, but they sound like exactly what you're looking for (it depresses me to no end that they apparently got carried into SR4, but that's SR4 for you.). With Kinesics, Good Reputation 2, and a few other things here and there you will reliably be able to convince your enemies (+6 TN) to do things that are disastrous to themselves (+6 TN).

~J

Thanks tons guys.

And looking of the SSG it looks like the broken bits from SR4 aren't in there. Surprising.

First and final bump to see if anything else was missed.

If your GM is foolish enough to allow it, make sure to take GLaKi, the example edge which is simply flat-out better than any other similar edge on a point-for-point basis. That's getting pretty cheesy, though.

It's expensive, but if you already have Friendly Face, Good Rep, etc. and are really dedicated to being the best at the talking-people-into-submission thing, choosing a strategic social skill for an Aptitude can help rub it in even more.

If you've got the cash and Essence to spare, don't forget Tailored Pheromones.

If you have two Build Points left over and are feeling really cheesy, you can take Vehicle Empathy. Due to careless wording, it helps the driver even if you're a passenger.

~J

GLaKi?

Good Looking and Knows It.

Oh. Thanks.