I'm trying to build a character to use in a campaign, but I couldn't find anything in the books that covered what I wanted to do. Of course, I know the GM has final say on these matters, but I was hoping I could get some input on them first before I pestered him about it.

Character Background: Blackburne was a professional paranormal hunter until what seemed like a routine hunt turned out to hold some of the darkest secrets of his organization. According to official records, there were no survivors in the ensuing batttle, but Blackburne did survive. With his SIN now monitored, his network of contacts lost, and only the equipment on his person remaining, Blackburne becomes a Shadowrunner in order to rebuild his resources for his final goal: a recknoning with the organization that took everything away from him.

General Idea: A human adept with perfect ambidexterity and a fondness for using two-weapon combat in both melee and ranged situations.

Inspirations: Final Fantasy VIII (Gun blade), Equilibrium (Hunter-Style Martial Arts), Witch Hunter Robin (Spell Defense), and Drakengard (he has an appearance similar to Verdelet in that game)

Questionable Items:

Hunter-style Martial Arts: I was inspired to do this by the movie Equilibrium. Basically, this style of martial arts on using two-weapon fighting to deal with multiple opponents. It's benefits are the ability to take any maneuver available to the style for pistol-like weaponry (pistols, tasers, and redline lasers), and in innate ability for handling groups, reducing the target modifiers for multiple targets by 1 (this stacks with the multi-strike maneuver). It's down sides are a mandatory ambidexterity rating of at least 4 and the distinctive style flaw. The major maneuvers available are blind-fight, multi-strike, and whirling. The major benefit here is that a gunner with this art could fire at 4 different targets in an action. He also doesn't have to worry about girl scouts.

Gunblades: I did a little research on this already, and my idea was actually less powerful that what has been offered so far, as my design would use the stats for a kris rather than a sword as the melee component. In melee it would have a power of (STR) M and a range of 0, and as a firearm it would have a power of 9M and the range of a heavy pistol. It would have a concealability of 6, which is one less than the optimal concealability of a heavy pistol and that of a kris. Blackburne would specialize in twin gunblades. Oh, and if the GM allows it, firing the weapon in the middle of a melee strike would up the target numbers for the melee attack by by 2.

Spell Defense: Apparently this one won't work, which is a real bummer. It had actually been one of my primary goals for Blackburne. As a critter hunter, the ability to defend against magic would be a major help. I could probably get this back if I became a phys mage (right?), but I can't find the 5 build points to spare to do that unless I sacrifice his will and sorcery, which takes us back to square one.

Does anyone have any opinions on this design? Is anything too over-powered or too far outside the scope of the game setting?

The gun katas of Equilibrium are cool but senseless, so I strongly suggest you check with your GM. The gunblades sound fine. If you want spell defense, I think you can take Magician's way Power and that'll give you access to spell defense. Otherwise, there are some Adept powers than can defend pretty well against magic, such as Spell Shroud and the likes.

You can have Spell Defense, but like Backgammon mentions you have to spend at least 1 PP for Magical Power, and create your character as a Priority A Mage instead of Priority B. Not that that is a bad thing in the end. For that one point you get Spell Defense and Conjuring. Even if you never cast a spell (and frankly there are at least a half dozen that you could you very regularly at F:1), those two things alone are worth that single PP.

The downside of only taking 1 point of Magical Power is that if you ever lose a point of magic Magical Power takes the hit first. You would then lose your Conjuring & Spell Defense abilities. You also could not create an Ally Spirit, as they cost you one point of Magic.

EDIT:

Adept spell defense: magic resistance power, 1 PP/level (page 170 for those who forgot it exists)

Let me say pretty solidly put togetehr idea-your presentation is great, and if I were the GM in that game I'd be more inclined to listen. It shows attention to detail, and thats always great!

Thanks, everyone, for the input. I think I see a few issues to deal with:

Gunblades: This one is apparently a minimal issue. Nobody has had any complaints about it, at least.

Hunter-Style Martial Arts: Yes, I'll agree that the rationale for the Gun Katas was flimsy at best, but I was trying to get around that by ignoring the form and sticking to the function: the Clerics used martial arts training to augment their firearms ability, and they were very capable of firing at many people at the same time. The form of martial arts I proposed did just that, I'm just not sure it's a properly balanced martial art.

If I drop 1 point in Will and 1 point in Sorcery, all I'd need is a two point flaw to upgrade to a phys mage and have a 4/6 sorcery with a specialization in Spell Defense. A little rearranging of his magical ability and I could buy 1 point in magical ability. I just have to figure out a a flaw that makes sense for him (I had to take several to make up for his ambidexterity to begin with).

A quick suggestion: don't get silly about concealiabilty. 6 is pretty high for what you mentioned, especially when it's average for a light pistol. I'd give your gunblades a concealability of 4 with 5 being somewhat generous. Also, I'd suggest a penalty of +2 per range category for firing the weapon in the middle of melee combat. A flat +2 is a bit light when someone can fire while slashing and smack someone in the head at 50m. Additionally, might want to halve Smartlink bonuses, remove LAM bonuses, and completely remove Smartlink bonuses past short range.

That's a fair argument, Arethusa, but not exactly what I meant. I didn't mean firing during a melee attack as hitting multiple targets, I meant firing the gun while it's striking a target, adding injury to injury. In Final Fantasy VIII, that was the main character's trademark move - if you pushed a shoulder button during an attack, he'd fire the gun while the blade was doing its wetwork, resulting in higher damage for the attack (In this case (STR)M+9M). I figured making a strike where that would do any appreciable damage would be difficult, but not as difficult as a called shot, so I went with the middle of the road, +2. Even then, I said it was only if the GM allowed, meaning I had no intention on pushing the issue.

As for concealability, I don't know if I agree with you, there. The two components are integrated into eachother, not added together, so final result would be a little bit heavier and bulkier than a typical kris, but I wouldn't say as much as a mace or a three sectional staff (both of which have a conceal of 4). Still, it is reasonable, and I wouldn't complain too bitterly if the GM made that declaration.

For those of you who are curious, a rendering of the original FFVIII gunblade can be found here. It's not exactly what I was aiming for, but it does get the point across.

Hmm, I just had an idea... If you took improved skill Pistols, and geasad it to performing Gun Kata movements.. well, that'd be pretty cool!

a more balanced geas would be "whenever targets are at medium or closer range".

Ah. In that case, the ability to do an extra moderate wound with no dodge test is a bit too powerful to put at only +2. May be more balanced at +3 with an additional +1 to the melee test (at least the latter). That's up to a fair bit of interpretation, though. I had interpreted the move as something more along the lines of Equilibrium's melee gun combat.

As for the concealability issue, I had envisioned something more along the lines of Blade 2's only slightly less ridiculous Berettas, which essentially just had large blades filling in the space between the grip and the muzzle of the gun. Assuming what you have in mind is essentially just the size of a kris with a barrel down the middle and a revolver action nera the hilt, I'd still advise dropping a point of concealaibility down to 5. 6 is a bit much, considering semi-compact size handguns get that (lets ignore the fact that SMGs, 40 rounds machinepistols, and various other objects defying the laws of space and time also get ridiculousl concealability ratings).