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Gamble
So...in a departure of what I was originally going to play as due to an about face of a few players and their concepts, I am not attempting to do a wolf adept type character. What I am looking for is suggestions on what would be good things to take. A little background for the character is that he would be more of the fighting type with his cougar fineblade and tomahawk for in close and a Ruger Warhawk for when he needs a bigger "bite". I see the need for a high magic for more powers, high dexterity to hit, relatively high strength for damage and a high reaction but not quite sure what else to take. The Wolf would be the mentor spirit naturally but not quite sure what others have done. I know some have gone the route of shapeshifting as well which I would be interested in as well.

What is everyone else's take/suggestion for such a character? Open to any and all suggestions. All books are allowed and a 450 BP game. All normal restrictions allowed.

Sidenote: I know that a good many suggest taking the restricted item for a force 4 foci from chargen but would a weapon foci be more appropriate for an adept from chargen?

Also do people suggest doing things like some bio/gene therapy for things like thermal, heightened sense of smell, etc and so forth?
Glyph
So far you haven't really described much of a shamanistic side of this character - it is mostly pure adept. Are you sure you don't want this character to be a pure adept?

Augmentation can be worth it for an awakened character for some things - for adepts, muscle augmentation and/or toner, and synaptic boosters, because Attribute increases and initiative boosts are very costly in power points. For mages, cybereyes for aid in visually targetting their spells, and cerebral boosters for their Drain stat. Senseware, though, is not really worth it, unless you are getting something like cybereyes or cyberears with ALL of the bells and whistles. Improved sense only costs 0.25 points, before any geasa or Way discounts.
Gamble
My apologies. I want him to be an adept and you're probably right that I just butchered it by adding shaman to the title. Fixed and yeah...pure adept please.
Medicineman
QUOTE
Open to any and all suggestions.


make him a Native American
with a Toddler (Wolf Cub) dependant
a kind of Lone Wolf and Cub in " Native Colors "

with a native Dance
Medicineman
Mäx
QUOTE (Gamble @ Feb 27 2012, 08:41 AM) *
Sidenote: I know that a good many suggest taking the restricted item for a force 4 foci from chargen but would a weapon foci be more appropriate for an adept from chargen?

Obviously yes, power foci doesn't do anything for an adept unless you have one of the few powers that call for magic test and even then absolutely isn't worth getting.
UmaroVI
If you haven't done so already, you might want to check the adepts in my signature for some guidelines.
Gamble
Okay...I'll give this a shot. Tear it up and break it down.

Race: Troll
Special: Adept

Body: 7
Agility: 5 (7)
Reaction: 5 (6)
Strength: 7
Charisma: 2
Intuition: 3
Logic: 2
Willpower: 4
Edge: 4
Magic: 5 (4)

Essence: 5.1
Initiative: 9
IPs: 2

Blades: 4 (11)
Dodge: 2 ( 8 )
First Aid: 3 (5)
Infiltration: 1 ( 8 )
Perception: 3 ( 8 )
Pistols: 1 ( 8 )
Unarmed Combat: 2 (9)

Martial Arts:
Wildcat: +1 Called Shots vs Armor
Off hand training
Two weapon style

SINner
Vindictive
Combat Monster

Restricted Gear

Weapon Foci 4

Muscle Toner 2
Synaptic Booster 1

Cougar Fineblade
Tomahawk
Ruger Super Warhawk or Ruger Thunderbolt

I haven't chosen any adept powers as I was curious what others would pick to enhance the character as a close in/quick fighter.

Thanks for any input and help. cyber.gif
Aerospider
Are you sure about hard-maxing Agility? It's a lot of BP.

Also, Perception is linked to Intuition, so your DP is only 6.

No social skills at all?

Combat Sense is a great power for the up-close-and-personal fighter. Attribute Boost can be very handy, especially if your GM plays it RAW*. In any case, as a troll you already have good damage resistance so focus your powers on offence and versatility.

* My personal house rule is to make the drain the average of Magic and Attribute Boost levels - that way you don't get adepts with high Magic getting boosts out of a measly 0.25 power points and effectively no drain.
Glyph
Middling skills belong to generalist builds - for a front line fighter, you want either two 5's or one 6 and one 4, for your primary melee/ranged skills. I concur that hard-maxing Agility is a bit pricey. If you are taking a point in 'ware, might as well make it a full point's worth, and add a reflex recorder for one of your main skills. Two martial arts can add to edged weapon DV - I would recommend taking them; a point of DV can be the difference between doing stun or physical damage, and each point of DV takes, on average, three dice to soak. It is a very important thing to boost.

For adept powers, improved ability (for combat skills) and combat sense are the top choices, with enhanced perception as a close runner up. Attribute boost doesn't work for augmented Attributes, so don't take it unless you are getting it for Strength, and don't take it at more than level: 1, which is easy to soak the Drain for, and will usually give you a decent increase.
Neraph
Vampire Adept. Being able to pump a 5 magic to an 11 makes for some fun Power choices. They also have fun Powers like Regen and very respectable attributes. SURGE for some other abilities like Thermo vision and whatnot.
thorya
Wolf Shifter isn't the most optimal build but it does fit the spirit of the character and it might be fun. Regeneration is also an awesome power. The biggest drawback is no augmentation. You can counter with combat drugs.

Race: Wolf Shifter Mystic Adept (the mystic parts not very developed but should allow you to diversify for more utility if you want later)

[ Spoiler ]


It's a fairly hard to hit character, with decent attacks, and the ability to heal on average 3 boxes of damage a round. Again, it's not fully optimized.
Gamble
I like the idea of the wolf shifter and it was what I had in mind originally (probably from reading the SR book Wolf and Raven and Wolfgang Kies). How would others optimize a wolf shifter?
UmaroVI
So, the trick with shifters is to understand that they are not as advertised. In particular:

Turning into an animal is a super-niche ability, because no armor and no equipment makes you very weak.
Being dual natured is a massive drawback, because you cannot hide from astral opponents and they can fly and go through walls while you can't.

The big advantage of shifters is Regeneration, which is quite powerful.

As a wolf shifter, you are paying 55 bp and picking up Silver vulnerability for Regeneration and some occasionally mildly useful enhanced senses in wolf form. This isn't great - wolves are easily the worst of the shifters. (Bear, Seal, Tiger/Lion, and Eagle are the better shifter types, if you are curious).

Anyways, you want to leverage your actual advantages (Regeneration), and try to minimize your weaknesses (Dual-natured). Getting your money's worth out of Regeneration is easy - get as much Willpower and Body as your type allows, and Fast Healing.

Minimizing the suck of Dual-natured means you really need to be either a Magician or a Mystic Adept. Being an Adept sounds cool but is the equivalent of walking around with a giant "PLEASE KITE ME LOL" sign taped to your back in astral space. Make sure you can do something at ranged in the astral (ie, Stunbolt, most likely). Also, since you are more vulnerable to magic damage (not being able to regenerate from it), Counterspelling is a good idea. Other than that, you're fairly free to do what you want, depending on your specific choice of shifter type.
Neraph
Not just a Silver Vulnerability (+2 DV), but a Severe Allergy (+4 DV) as well. It comes out to silver attacks doing +6 DV against you that you can't regenerate. Even a light pistol becomes severely lethal with silver bullets.

Also, you're a wolf that can shift into a metahuman. You have a wolf's life-expectancy and a wolf's mentality (for the most part).

@ thorya: That sustaining focus is only worth getting 1 extra IP unless Edge is used in the Spellcasting. It's a Threshold Test where the Threshold is the number of IPs you are going for - a Force 2 will only get you 2 IP.

Combat Drugs: Betameth, Psyche, Nitro, Overdrive, Kamikaze, Oxygenated Fluorocarbons, Snuff, Betel, and possibly Shade. Deepweed will get you an extra +1 Willpower, but it's a little expensive for just that. Your regen will take care of all the pesky Stun damage from those chemicals. Set them up in Autoinjectors built in to your Forearm Guards and Shin Guards and get them linked to a biomonitor and controllable by your PAN and you're good to go, Bane style.
Glyph
To clarify the bit about wolf shapeshifters being one of the least optimal ones, even if it's repeating what I said on another thread. Wolf shapeshifters pay the high base cost to get the shapeshifter package with no extras. For 20 points more, you can be a tiger or lion shapeshifter, and get 10 bonus Attribute points!
thorya
QUOTE (Neraph @ Feb 29 2012, 12:16 AM) *
@ thorya: That sustaining focus is only worth getting 1 extra IP unless Edge is used in the Spellcasting. It's a Threshold Test where the Threshold is the number of IPs you are going for - a Force 2 will only get you 2 IP.


You're right. That was a typo. It should be a force 3 sustaining focus. I fixed it.
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