Hellos all, just popping in to see if there is anyone that can give some advice on how to make a effective Pistol adept.

Current Build:
BOD: 6
QCK:8
STR:4
CHA:3
INT:6
WILL:3

Edges:
Bonus Attribute QCK
Exceptional QCK
Flaws:
Impulsive
Amnesia 1

Skills:
Pistols 6 (8 )
Unarmed Combat 4
Athletics 6(7)
Stealth 6(7)
Etiquette 3
Negotiation 3
Pistol B/R 3
Biotech(First Aid)2/4
Knowledge
Magic 6
Cooking 6
Card Games 6
Legendary Martial Artists 6
Corp Security 6
Languages:
English 4
R/W 2
Japanese 4
R/W 2
Sperethiel 4
R/W 2
Korean 3
R/W 1
Adept Powers
Improved Reflexes 2
Killing Hands 1
Improved Sense:
Low Light
Thermo Vision
Flare Comp
Vision Mag 3
Improved Skills:
Pistols 2
Athletics 1
Stealth 1

That be my current build, with some working around with back ground and the like still being nailed down as I slowly get more info about GM.
So any advice and critique would be much appreciate, thanks.

improved reflexes are incredibly important. This build will have 2 passes half the time and only one the rest of time. You could take some drugs for when the shit hits the fan. You could also take geasa if your GM doesn't object to squeeze a couple more MP out of your build.

Thanks, don't know about geasa being allowed, will have to talk to the gm. Was thinking about taking some cyber or bio, most likely smart-link, and could drop some of the vision powers and improved skill for more freed up pp. Am tinkering currently with the idea of the adept having gotten some cyber mods before realizing he was an adept.

You may wish to drop killing hands or swap a point of athletics for unarmed combat and a point of body for strength, so you can more effectively rough house.

Thanks!, also wondering if it would be a good idea to really take some cyber at the start say smart-link and maybe a few others. Would that be a good idea to help improve effectiveness at the start?

One essence point of ware is incredibly strong on an adept. It can shore up your weaknesses, enhance your primary specialization, or just save you points in general.

Case in point:



At 0.25 power points each, you have 1 point of adept powers in enhanced senses. Thats one full Magic's worth, so either 10 or 25 BP depending on how you look at it(Hardcapping to 6 costs extra).

Getting the same things in a Cybereye (Flare comp, vision mag 3, thermo, low-light) costs 7250, and takes up 8 capacity, which means it fits in a rating 2 cybereye for a total cost of 8000(about 1.5 build points), and 0.3 essence.

Same thing for your skill boosts. Improved Skill costs 0.25 power points, or 0.5 for a combat skill. A reflex recorder, however, costs only 10k(2 BP) and 0.1 essence for the same benefit.

They do, however, stack. Mix and matching cyber/bioware and adept powers is where you get particularly strong combinations.

... if you do end up taking a cybereye, though, I'd heavily recommend the Eye Light System from augmentation. Negating full darkness penalties is ace.

Thanks! Was wondering if it was worth it, only magical types I have played before have been Hermatics and the like and has always avoided cyber for them. But thanks again, will see what I can fiddle with to see how much I can cram into the one point of essence I will be playing with.

Hold on, are you playing SR3? Took another glance over your attributes, and they totally don't match up with 4th's.

If so, my advice is probably erroneous and may not apply, since the only one I really know is 4th.

I think most of the likness of rules still apply towards adepts and cyber. Thanks.

Lose some of the more...weird BR skills (Cooking? Who takes cooking?!) and try for Psychology 6...or physics/ballistics 6:) or improve your languges.

The meat-and bone part of the adept is fine, it's pretty vanilla and you can so a lot with it (although if you want ot eb a pistol adept, why go killing hands over more reflexes?)

-Tir

I have characters with Cooking... One is even a gourmet chef (Not professionally, of course, he only cooks for himself or friends).

I mostly took cooking for I thought it would be nice if my guy could cook. But anyways, I took killing hands for the time that my adept would not be able to use his pistols, say having to go into a place that bans weapon an the like, it helps make sure I can always beat the what not down if needed.

Both good reasons in my book...

IF you can get your GM to approve Gaesa, these ROCK in SR3. You can take basically ANY number of magic loss, and still keep your FULL powers with gaesa.

If you can just squeeze in one point of important bio or cyber, that rocks.

Do note, though, that cybereyes are not as good as natural eyes in SR3. I used to keep with natural IR vision, but take non-cyber-eyes eye mods for low-light. Also, you can get a smart-gun from goggles, so having it implanted isn't so important - although I usually did.

Attribute enhancements are far more efficient from bioware, though. Get some enhanced articulation (joints) ( +1 to ALL physical and combat skills in SR3, not just Physical with capital P), and muscle toner. Of course Damage Compensator and the pain resistance edge are also immensely good.

Basically in SR3 you have to remember one thing: Getting 8 dice in your combat skill is GOOD. At chargen, I think you were limited to 5/7 with specialisation, which you can boost with adept powers, enhanced articulation, and reflex recorder. I don't remember any character of mine to ever have more than 8 dice (+ pool of course) after chargen, and that was WITH a good deal of optimisation. (To the degree of being a passable generalist, I have to admit.)

Things to optimise for in SR3: Get to Quickness 9, somehow. Get to Bod 8, somehow. ALWAYS wear at least a 9/9 armour. Get three passes, 10+3d6, or 8+4d6. Don't neglect Willpower, since mind-control spells get a success threshold equal to half your Willpower, AND the other guy has to roll your Will to succeed. Getting to 6 is important. (Always make sure that you get a target of 6 in opposed tests.)

Now, if you can get gaesa approved your completely gold: Get a ton of expensive bioware, and then ignore the essence loss. Get more dice from adept powers.

If you don't get gaesa approved, then you have to specialise, really hard, because basically non-adepts can beat you at almost everything if you don't.

Thanks, from what I from I can gather from the gm, no cultured Bio to start with and do not know about gaesas, but leaning towards a no from the GM. So working with in a one point lose on magic and use of around one point in cyber and bioware. But might be best to hold off until I know if the gm is going to allow geaseing.

Question, does raising skills above their natural max cost more for improved ability? I vaguely recall reading that somewhere but can't find it in the books.

I think that is with attributes, where it goes from .5 to 1.

hmm. . . that may be it. Awesome! Thanks!.

You be welcome!

I've always thought the rule on cultured bio is just dumb. I mean, a cerebral booster is LEGAL, and so is some other cultured ware. Making it impossible to get at chargen just means you will NEVER have one, because in no game I've ever had that amount of cash lying around. Well, personal experience, here, but it's very unlikely you'll ever have one.

Seriously, if you can't get gaesa, then very likely you would be better off with a simple sammie. You might lose a few dice on your super-specialised attack rolls, but you will definitely end up more versatile. Adepts pretty much suck in SR3. Troll or Dorf adepts have some validity, and you may manage to make a passable one with the Priority system. A Troll Magic adept is worth mentioning as a viable option, too. The troll takes care of your physical stats, and spells mean you win against anything non-magical, because pool boosted buff spells are basically invincible even at low force. (Of course mages still eat you for breakfast, but...).

With a human physad your numbers always look a little low. You'll be pretty fragile, and the only saving grace is being able to put down 10 dice on an attack roll without pool, so you can save that for dodging.

Now one more thing about gaesa: There are two kinds, the one to overcome magic loss - if you can get that in, it'll cost you a lot of shifting and moving of points, but you'll be golden. The other is the optional rule about learing an adept power with a geas for reduced cost. If you can do that, then you can build a very good character.

Look at this:

Albino Troll Physad (35pts)
28 Attribs, 22 Skills , 90K money (no ware).

High Pain Tolerance (2)
Exceptional Attrib (Qck) (2)
Some flaws.

Bod 8(9 troll);
Quk 8 (7pts + exceptional + 2magic)
Str 6 (with a polearm that's still enough)
Ch 3
Int 4
WP 6 (5 pts + albino)

Magic 6, Reaction 6(10), Init 3d6. That puts you at just over 20, so you'll have three passes most of the time.

Skills:
Firearm 5/7 (+2 Magic)
Polearms 5/7 (+2 Magic)
Athletics 4
Stealth 3 (+3 magic)
Etiquette 2/4

20 Know skills, that's plenty.

Powers (all geas learned):

Imp Ref 2
Imp Phys Attr 2 (Qck)
Imp. Combat skill (firearm) 2
Imp Combat skill (polearms) 2
Imp Phys Skill (Stealth) 3

Get a good general firearm (remember you can default to a skill in SR3, so basically you can get a longarm, I'm fond of sport rifles, and default on a pistol.)
Get a telescopic combat staff (with 3 reach, you can basically beat anybody up.)
Get other stuff via gear (smartlink, etc.)
Get a dicoted halberd (that will give you +4D (=10D) damage with three reach) for those trips to the barrens.

I understand that you won't be much of an alrounder this way, but basically any long rod can be a polearm, you can use a bayonet, too (which rocks). You don't have a lot of other skills, well... that's SR3 for you.

Without gaesa, you basically have to suck, I believe. Play a sammie with 0.0001 essence, you'll be better off.

Thanks for the advice, but I shall still be playing my adept, with one point of cyber and bio. I can deal with not being as good off as a sam or as a adept with geased powers, will just play with the concept I have in my head.