QUOTE (Glyph @ Nov 10 2010, 06:58 PM)

That's my own personal PC design philosophy - be really good at what you do, but be able to function outside of your specialty. Two good questions to ask for a character are "Can this character fill a role on a shadowrunning team?" and "Could this character have survived on his own before joining a shadowrunning team?"
QUOTE (KarmaInferno @ Nov 10 2010, 07:34 PM)

Specialization is good.
Having a secondary skill set as a backup is very good too, though.
You never know when your primary specialist is going to be tied up and you need someone else who can do the job RIGHT NOW.
It's why the military often cross-trains soldiers in a secondary role.
I generally recommend to players to pick a focus, but also if they can fit it in also pick a secondary focus. Aside from the utility, it can help flesh out a character.
Both are good, but neither means your character will inevitably have a glaring weakness, or even a ton of them. There's no truth to the concept that a pornomancer must be crippled, or any other powerful character.