OK, so I put together another character, this time more buffed up than the slightly underpowered Adept.

Street Name: Kestrel
Name: Olga Voronina
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0
Human Female Age 28
Height 5'8" Weight 137 lbs
Composure: 5
Judge Intentions: 6
Lift/Carry: 8 (60 kg/40 kg)
Memory: 6
Nuyen: 1380

Description
Former VDV (Russian airborne troops) Sergeant, combat character focused on assault weapons and close combat.

Attributes


Active Skills


Knowledge Skills


Qualities


Gear


Background
Sergeant Olga Semyonovna Voronina of the 7th Guards Airborne Division, Russian Army, killed in a friendly fire incident near Cherik-Martan in Caucasus along with her squad after going AWOL. That's the official version. Unofficially, her squad was used as a shadowrunner team on Saeder-Krupp payroll by her CO, Cpt. Ivan Butov. However, Butov was deemed "too greedy" by S-K, who decided to get rid of him and his "black-ops shadowteam". The off-the-books mission Voronina's squad was sent to turned out to be a deathtrap engineered with the help of corrupt higher-ranking officers who ordered a missile strike on the Cherik-Martan village, claimed by "intelligence reports" to be a "terrorist hideout".
Out of ten soldiers and over seventy SINless villagers, Voronina was the sole survivor - heavily burned, blinded and with both arms damaged beyond repair. Evo, S-K's opponent in the proxy war over the area, managed to send their scouts first, retrieve the crippled sergeant and make it look like she perished as well. Now, Evo had a very pissed off soldier with a grudge owe them a huge favor and Olga had the capability for revenge...

Notes:
I shifted some points here and there: she's still the designated shootist (14 dice on her SMG and 11 on any else, 12 on her pistol and 9 on any else), but with no Longarms or Gunnery expertise now. However, I upped her Blades skill by one, so if someone's stupid enough to go mano a mano with her it's 12 dice on attack and 9 on defense - however, I'm considering moving that point from Blades to Dodge, as it's more versatile (well, she only needs the blades in situations where she's conveniently unarmed, to cut up the first armed schmuck that comes close and loot his toys). I also gave her two pretty useful soldier skills, Navigation and Survival.
Having two fake SINs at once, not to mention two different commlinks, seems to be all the rage - so is it sensible to use another BP to get those, as well as other gear?

Also, feel free to post your character builds for advice. You never know what "hidden depths" others can find in them.

The thing with fire is that with SR4 tech there's not much reason for fire to really be all that common in most neighborhoods except as AR iconography. Squatters eat nutrisoy and whatever they can trade for in the Barrens while people with low lifestyles are thankful if they have an autocook with a full suite of flavor faucets. Personally, my new li'l apartment has an electric range and none of my friends are smokers, so it's probably been weeks since I've seen a flame. Obviously the frequency can vary, but I can understand how GM might go either way in an urban setting depending on how dependent they think squatters and street people are on fire for warmth out in the worst parts of the sprawl.

What, your Barrens doesn't have squatters standing around a barrel fire with fingerless gloves drinking bad hooch out of a container in a paper bag?

The gangers don't routinely toss firebombs around for fun and retribution or just as a reminder they are tough?



Still..I'm not sure an open flame would be a common occurrence.

In my games people who can't manage a squatter lifestyle usually don't live very long.

Nitpickery to consider background wise:

1x squad of VDV would have to be exceptionally hand picked for a Russian Bn/Regt commander to be its CO. Usually there would be a platoon leader, then a company commander, THEN the old man. Unless your very special and on detached duty of sorts.

Also, low CHA is fine...Russian NCOs are usually less leader, more intermediary follower, than western equivalents. Of course, in a hand picked, cream of the VDV, use doff the books squad...who knows...

Maybe other people's characters don't associate with the Halloweeners or Red Hot Nukes as often as mine do, but... yeah. That seems odd.

I second that average charisma and low skill for a NCO isn't really a big deal. While the military does emphasize leadership skills they also put an awful lot of effort into creating an environment and hierarchy that allows people to lead effectively; being on friendly terms with a lower ranking soldier in the same unit can net you 3 or 4 extra Leadership dice under the SR4 system rather easily. So a sergeant who knows their job well enough to avoid giving stupid orders and has a good team behind them doesn't really need to be Miss Congeniality in their normal course of duty.

Great, thanks for doing the research for me . The COs rank was pretty much a placeholder, really. Actually some lower-ranking officer would be more likely to be enough of a slimeball to pull something like this on his men. That and the threat of higher-ups finding out about his "jobs on the side" would be more likely too.

He's probably the guy who send them on errands, not their direct commander. Add one or two level of flunkies (who can have some nice accidents) and it should do the trick. Or maybe she thinks the commander was the one calling the shots while in reality it was some intermediary faking his authorizations - and maybe even one not in the chain of command. Who then can safely howl with the wolves and point his fingers at the commander to divert the investigations away from him.

It's easier to cover it up when you don't have any flunkies between you and the team. Also, less people to split the payola between. So scaling the bastard down to platoon commander makes sense: having 30 to 50 guys at his disposal, low enough that the corporation can afford his "services", but ready to bail out as soon as he feels heat under his ass. That even works with the alternate version of the background, where it's S-K who order the airstrike higher up, to break the corrupt bastard's career. The grunts were just a collateral. How did that one go, "never deal with a dragon"?

..Availibilty of Fake Sin lvl 5 is over 12, Fake Sin lvl 4 is highest what u can get in char.gen.. (w/o Restricted gear-Quality)
non-modified armor??

I can't believe it took me this long to realize this, but... I think somebody's been playing some Splinter Cell: Conviction.

And maybe some Metal Gear Solid 2, though that's a longer shot.

I can't believe it took you this long NOT to realize this, but... this list is longer. And you missed a couple of very obvious references.
Big deal, dial the SIN level down a bit and save some money. As for "non-modified armor", what do you have in mind? I didn't really look at the new armor options in Arsenal, really. However, she cranks out 12/11 Armor in her street clothing, 11/9 when she drops the coat and 15/13 when she dons the "mission jacket". Either that or Armor calculation in Chummer is messed up (I can't believe she has pools this high). Also, looking at the cost of all those clothes... I think I shouldn't have spent that much on them. Oh well, the downsides of playing a woman...

Company commander would be about right. Its the position in the Russian (and most western) armies where real book keeping starts, but low enough to simply tell 3rd platoon to break off a squad without it looking horribly suspicious. So CPT so and so...

Captain Kizhe... (falls under the desk laughing, must be a funny day today)
But yeah, that's what I had in mind. Also, the suggestion of changing the fake SIN to level 4 is a good idea, especially if the saved money can be used to fit the "mission jacket" with a Nonconductivity mod.

..one way to save precious Y, inststead Berwic suit, buy Actioneer Business Clothes...
..if playing RAW Max armor= 2x Body, choices of decent Armor are pretty slim..(especially for body 3)

Yeah, Actioneer suit is a good idea, not as ostentatious but still protective enough. Also, I just found out Chummer indeed derped out and stupidly treated Cyberarms armor as stackable all-body armor (that also happens to stack with itself). Hence the completely insane dice pools. That'd mean I have only 9/7 protection in the Mission Jacket.

....hmm...buying Industrious Line Coverall (5/4), adding Helmet (1/2) = 6/6 + armor from Cyberhands = 9/9...
or Industrious Line Winterized Coverall (6/5) (it already have lvl 2 Fire resistance,Insulation, and Chemical protection) adding Forearm/shin-guards (0/1) makes
also 6/6..

Your nat. Str is 3, W/ str enc. from hands makes it 6, right??
people makes same damage with str 5 or str 6 in unarmed combat , so dropping it to 2 (bringing total to 5), and raising Body stat. with it gives more choices of armor..

Does Body enhancement from cybernetic limbs increase the average value for character? Because if it does (Chummer gives an increased value in parentheses, like it does with Wired Reflexes for Reaction, but I'm not sure if it's correct), I have effective Body stat of 4, which means that Armor Jacket (which I can keep) + PPP Vitals Protector + Cyberarm Armor give me a whopping 12/10 (8/6 +1 +3).

+3 str bonus do increase stat,yes..
but armor question..
addind vitals protection to armor jacket raise it 9/7 and so giving agility and reaction penalties..
those c-hands armor gives extrra dices to resist damage (from Bod. enc) ..
better option (IMOO)
Industrious Line coverall (5/4) +
Form Fitting Body Armor (6/2) (considering as 3/1,when conting penalties) +
PPP Helmet (0/2) +
Shin Guards (0/1)
11/9 (considering as 8/8 when counting penalties)
+ 3 from c-hands.. 14/12..

Nice, but too much crunch and not enough fluff. When people say "Industrious Line coverall", I have a subconscious desire to add a latex clown mask to it, for that "Hollywood bank heist" look.
I have a different idea, a gear pack that fits in a go-bag easily and can be afforded by a starting character short on points: Armor Jacket (8/6), PPP shin guards (0/1) and c-arms. 11/10, but easier to put on and take off (anyway, 15 dice is a pool fit for soaking assault cannon shots... >_>). Or an "I-Don't-Fuck-Around" kit I'd feel comfortable in:
FFBA fitted with Biomonitor and Nonconductivity 6 (6/2 - I hope that cutting the sleeves off doesn't decrease the armor values )
Ares Globetrotter Camo Vest (3/3) with Gel Packs (1/1) and Smart Pouches
PPP Vitals Protector (1/1)
PPP Leg Casings (0/1) (maybe with a QD holster)
PPP Shin Guards (0/1)
That'll be... 11/9, 14/12 with c-arms added in. Leg Casings and Shin Guards can be replaced with a PPP bucket, er, helmet, Vitals Protector and Leg Casings can be replaced with a milspec bucket.

Also, I think I need another license, this time for cyberware. Folks with reflex enhancers are directly dangerous to The Man. The spurs, well, they can be hidden in a couple different ways.

Honestly, fluff wise I think it's a wash. In urban environments wearing a camo vest can stick out as easily as coveralls. In either case it's probably an advantage to cover up a bit with a light unarmored jacket.

Ah, my other hobby shows up here. I kinda took for granted that those camo vests, apart from your typical woodland/desert/urban camo will also be available in solid colors like olive, tan or black. The same thing, just without camouflage bonus.

I'd allow it as a GM, but well, when you said camo I thought about camo.

Anyway, shadowrun fashion is supposedly pretty out there anyway. Really, the big distinction is often upscale dress clothes/namebrand casual vs. everything else.

Depends which in-universe characters you ask. Seems Dev//grrl might have something to say on that. Whether she should or not might be a different story.

Yeah, I have a strict "Those books never happened" policy re: Attitude and War.

Oh, night urban camo (TacTiger, SDU) works fine in nighttime conditions everywhere.
Also, regarding clothes and fashion: it'd be indeed more impressive if my character could just walk in to a meeting in a classical European Berwick suit (checked - normal jacket gives the full set 0/1 armor more than Actioneer clothes) and an overly heavy greatcoat thrown over her shoulders. +5 street cred outta nowhere.

Style over substance any day of the weak (except teusdays) in my book.

I don't know. They are a mess, but they have some interesting things. I just choose to take it all with a grain of salt before allowing/using it.

Hmm, I think I'll replace the Actioneer set with a Mortimer Berwick set, use one or two points reserved for Contacts (two 2/3 Contacts should suffice, one better and one worse too) and build that armor set with FFBA. FFBA plus full Berwick is 11/6 with no encumbrance penalties, 14/9 with c-arms - just right for those meetings where you expect trouble (hmmm, maybe a pair of reinforced sapogi to up the armor to 14/10? You can hide shin guards easily in those!). That and Olga is usually all buttoned up to cover the burn scars.

Hell, and to think I wanted to use her only as a contact. Now I want to play her even more than my physad. Unless I manage to make my next character even more of a beast (but riggers are more, uh, "quadratic", they start weaker but grow in power faster).

I'll take either before Spy Games.

Haven't gotten started on that one yet. Though I likely should, since y Phys Ad. player is interested in a few things...

I tweaked the character stats a bit, see the first post.

Also, a general character creation question: why the hell a lot of builds use more guns than a character can carry? For example, this archetype: machine pistol, handcannon, taser, stealth pistol, machinegun, grenade launcher. Why not settle on one customized pistol (for example, the Fubuki), instead of three? Especially while the LMG doesn't even have two full spare boxes of ammo (one and a little bit if you mix the ammo types).

Hmm. 1.) Must collect them all, 2.) Versatility, 3.) Different Legalities, 4.) Multiple Weapon Caches

Oh. Yeah. Again, my other hobby comes up (and the bad memories of lugging three pistols, assault rifle and sniper rifle simultaneously). I could still do as fine with less guns (especially if I could load up more ammo instead).

Having two fake SINs at once, not to mention two different commlinks, seems to be all the rage - so is it sensible to use another BP to get those, as well as other gear? For example, a wig.

..as combat oriented Charc. there is simple rule " always have a extra weapon, would it be knife,club or Firearm"...
..as in game term .. when rolling dies, you get Glitch, Critical Glitch (!!), GM says your pistol's slide is locked back, and not working
without a visit to your friendly Gunsmith...What!! that was your only gun??...
well..enemies are firing , and approching your position....

But three pistols AND two main weapons? Hell, I can understand having the LMG as the main weapon, glauncher as special (espec. if loaded with splash, flash or gas grenades) and one pistol as backup, but dragging the hog, the plonker AND three different pistols? Trim it. If you have 20 dice on attack, no way in hell you're going to roll 11 ones with no hits. And if you do... Well, if you have that many guns, and loaded with Ex-Ex ammo, you can afford one to blow up in your face, especially if it's your 5000 nuyen customized Fubuki. You even deserve it for rampant combat pornomancy.
That and you can pick up whatever the enemies dropped.

Oh, and one more thing: does installing spurs in your cyberlimb decrease Essence as well as capacity? I couldn't find any clarification in rulebook nor in FAQ.

No. If you add anything in to cost capacity, it only costs the Capacity. If it has an Essence cost associated, that is how much it costs to add the item to your meat body.

Ah, my bad. Completely forgot about the cybereyes. That's where my missing 0.3 Essence went (coincidentally, Cybereyes have as much essence loss as single Spur, I thought that Chummer derped out).

..yes, u can pick up whatever the enemies dropped, but if u are Troll/Dwarf and dropped enemies are Humans/Orks/Elfs/or other way around..

Owning 3+ guns counting your launchers isn't really all that strange. My last street samurai started with 5 (an Alpha, a Crusader, a custom Executive Protector, an ArmTech MGL6 (shielded smuggler mod in the glove compartment ) and a smartlinked Morrissey that he could default to 10 dice with) even if he generally only carried 2 of them at any given time. Even then, one of the first things the team did after our first run was pool cash for a well-secured safehouse with food, water, ammo and a few Ingram Smartgun-Xs.

Dwarf need weapons made for their size too? Weird, I thought they have hands large enough to grip a standard weapon and need only fitted armor.
Well, weapons aren't that expensive unless you're going for either high-tech or heavy artillery, you really don't have to spend BP on enough guns to arm the whole party.One-two decent runs and you'll either loot something or get paid enough to buy something better.

If the runs go right and you don't have other things you want to buy. The "You can always buy it later" game is kinda silly, really, given that money is often one of the absolute best deals you can get, bp for bp. At my table at least it also generally pays not to be bugging your Fixer for nickel and dime stuff all the time. And even if you do have a Fixer hooking you up with multiple weapons pretty often, that's still not a particularly good argument against the utility of having multiple distinct weapons. Now, if we just want to say that actively carrying a half dozen guns at once or owning multiple guns that do basically the same stuff is silly, then I am inclined to agree with you. I'd still rather have too many guns than too many gun skills though.

..in Char.Creat. for metahumans (and their variants) everything they buy is automatically
sized their metatype without extra cost by default.
after that..many ways.. goods are so common and easy to use all metatype. (no extra cost)
goods are not-so common ( and Trolls and Dwarfs are paying 10-25 % more)
for weapons...
in Arsenal there is metahuman Customization- modification option for weapons..
in to confuse even more..
(for example)
that Ares makes their Ares Predator IV pistol
3 different sizes (human-size,troll-size,and dwarf-size)(and everyone pays standard 350y,no extras..)

Well, "different sizes" may be related only to grip and triggerguard size. For example, my dad has a pair of really thick Pachmayr grips installed on his 1911 that I find uncomfortable to hold (I have a bit smaller hands than him). My airsoft Springfield MEU (a 1911 variant) with hand-me-down Hogues my dad deemed "uncomfortable to use" suits me just fine. Now, as a human in Shadowrun you probably could use a dwarf-adjusted weapon without problems, but a troll-adjusted one would be unwieldy.

human using dwarf-sized weapon get -2 die penalty,and using troll-sized weapon get -4 die penalty..
rules of using non-proper sized weapon can be found in Arsenal..

Actually, it's -2 for using incorrectly sized, cumulative for additional differences (so a dwarf would get -4 for using Troll weapons, and a troll would get -4 for using dwarf weapons.)

thank u for correct info, my books are in my folks..

No problem. Mistakes happen to the best of us.

Today a small teaser:
I'm planning to rework my Phoenix Bodyguard into something more viable. I have a short list of changes:
- More Magic. I need at least 3 for the barebones setup (improved reflexes and astral sight), 5 for more fun (Enhanced Perception, Spell Resistance, maybe Combat Sense).
- More books. The Warrior's Way is definitely in, maybe I'll find something interesting in SM too.
- Make L5R references more fluff-related - no Logic 4 at the beginning, but more practical references to the Shiba code (I don't know, some geas about protecting others and never starting a fight yourself).
- Restricted Gear quality for the Force 3 Weapon Focus, ancestral katana named Houou-no-Hane (Phoenix Feather). More melee focus - no Automatics at the start, more points invested in Blades and Pistols. This way I'll be able to clock pretty damn anything, dual natured or not.
- Sensitive System stays.
I'll click the character over to Chummer to keep track of stats more easily.