got a game starting here in the near future with some rotating GM's in a campaign setting, and I am one of them ....Im putting together a mission and trying to prepare for multiple angles and I had one pop up at me tonight that I had yet to think of and instead of taking the hours to make it I figured Id pop over to see if anyone had one on hand that they could post for my personal usage

I am looking for a 600 bp insect Shaman(Fly preferably but I can adapt most anything)

requirements

Masking and extended masking - it is a must so at least 2 levels of Metamagic

sterilize - fly's are notoriously nasty creatures (wollowing around in excrament) + material link is a bad thing

Negotiation - NPC will be hiring the runners for a job

Highly Combat capable - I seem to recall a way to use assensing to determine tradition and possibly even the totem a shaman uses ... tho I cannot find it at current
but at the least an assensing test and A) getting through the masking and B) getting enuf hits to notice that hes obviously insane might spark a fight so I dont want to be caught with my pants down

Control Animal (insect type) - I plan to use this as a way to gain a material link Should A) runners attack and kill the shaman B) Fail the Job or C taking the money offered and running

as I said before I am looking at 600 BP (Superior Prime Runner statistics) I am not sure if the NPC will be used again in the future .... but hey ... better safe than sorry

those are the Basics of what I need ... anything else is just gravy ....

also this is an emerging Colony (wrong word I know) so theres no mass nest yet

Lemme know

I had something lying around that I quickly modified:

He (she?) is about 650 BPs, if my calculations are correct.

Dwarf Fly Shaman
The basic idea behind this character is a hyperactive, somewhat jittery and paranoid addict mage looking for a fast-track to power (hence the foci, drugs, and lure of insect totems). Idea is using thermal smoke and Swarm spell as cover for an escape, then applying Physical Mask, if need be. Control Swarm and Insect Sense can be used together to use flies as spies and scouts.

Spell and skill choices are made to reflect a strategy of tailing a victim, using stun touch, influence and tranq patches to subdue them and bring them back for possession. I picked Acid Stream as the combat spell thinking about the vomiting of blow-flies, but if you want the mage to be more efficient in combat change it to a Manabolt or Manaball (or area Acid spell) and change Stun Touch to Stunbolt.

I did a high reaction+combat sense+jazz with dodge and perception to mimic a fast, always-on-edge fly able to dodge out of the way easily, using Edge to act first or get extra actions as needed. If you want him really hard to hit, add Deflect with a sustaining focus.

If you want to reflect a budding Insect Shaman with no ability to summon a Fly Mother, replace 'Metamorphosis' with Centering, Shielding or maybe Quickening (if you pick Quickening, make Combat Sense quickened and make the sustaining focus for Swarm instead - and Quicken Deflect if you add it).

could work ..... I guess I should have mentioned that Fly is the Parent classification .... this is actually for a mosquito

LOL I didnt expect to get one THAT detailed)

Did some Modification to get it to the 600 mark (yours was actually closer to 680 or so depending how you added initiate grades- I used BP)

made it a human ... dumped some 2 skills added some spells and it looks Great

appreciate the assist

Glad to help - it didn't take more than a few minutes to alter what I had to a 'fly' concept. Didn't do much more than switch some spells, stat points and skills.

(As for cost of initiations, I count roughly 1 BP per 2 Karma, like Qualities - probably a bit low compared to most. Didn't do a full count of what the entire character would come out to - just an approximation.)

Hope it all goes well!

Have you considered breaking up his abilities and making him/her more subtle?

It would not need a high negotiate and exceptional masking if it could influence a Fixer/Johnson (possibly one with a small rep) to deal with the team. Add a few other minions (with appropriate levels of creepiness if you want to give out hints) to take care of meets and other stuff while your shaman pulls strings in the background. This gives your players some chance to get a twinge about the whole deal and you can rest easy knowing that a lucky (edge fueled) roll could tip the PC's to the plot prematurely.

I just like to do that because it gives me more flexibility in dealing with the party. It sounds like you want the shaman to be the big bad in the climactic final battle and your PC's might appreciate a little warm up mayhem on its flunkies. My players always got as much or more satisfaction from destroying the evil organization as they did taking down the bad guy.

If I would use the modified npc that I posted, I'd play him as paranoid, jittery, doped up, and seemingly incompetent to make the PCs underestimate him, dislike him, and possibly even loathe him.

Getting him to appear as a mildly competent screw-up would set things up for the final revelation in a neat way, and he'll need the masking to avoid detection while repeatedly dealing with the PCs. That way, you get more milage out of the character than just one scene.

Both paths have different benefits and drawbacks.

Heh... That is a possibility, though with its own drawbacks. We had a campaign in 2nd Edition that centered around a Roach Shaman, and the Nest he was putting together. The Player Characters despised this thing with a great passion, and were always on the lookout to kill him. Eventually, 2 of the PC's found him. He was a mentally challenged, pathetic excuse for a Troll, caged and imprisoned by the "queen". The GM did such a good job with the portrayal of the Shaman that the 2 PC's who found him LET HIM GO, out of Pity. Needless to say, the 3rd PC was not impressed, especially when that Troll about killed them all in the end. It was well played by all around, but Kudos to the GM at the time. He was inspired in his portrayal of the Insect Shaman. It was quite the brutal campaign.

Sounds like great fun =)

It was pretty entertaining...