I know that the PC character for Dragons was April Fools but... has anyone made a character using those rules?

Didn't you look at my post on the other forums?

And mine!

Hopefully other people answer:)

I've wanted to, but I just make a nosferatu instead and end up being more powerful.

The problem with Dragons is that with 400 BPs, you're left with at most 100 for skills, stat-increases, spells, contacts, and gear...

I haven't tried Karma Gen though - maybe they fare better there?

And you dont get to go traipsing around in your natural form whenever you please. Shadowruns usually require that you go inside somewhere, so in the end you only end up getting to use the full-might of your dragon form in the same places that a rigger could fully employ his tricked out combat-car, and then the tricked out combat car rocks more socks than you ever will.

Very true, but being a dragon has a whole slew of advantages - like dropping your masking when negotiating with an astrally active Mr. J; sheer intimidation factor etc. Of course, it comes with at least the same amount of problems...

The best part IMO would be the massive amounts of reagents you get every time you shed your scales.

but each scale shed is a material link to you, yes?

There are things you can do to break that link but leave the reagent intact.

Even without doing anything fancy you're still left with making a judgement call on how long such links last too. Once something decomposes/dries out or has been chemically preserved it ceases being applicable as a material link, although the time it takes for that to happen is anyone's guess, particularly considering that they included hair as a tissue sample, and keratin is so stable that the poultry industry is often looking for cheaper ways to dispose of all those pesky feathers. So, at my table the way I handle links is that you need reasonably fresh blood for it to be material link. A fleshy bit is fine but toe nails, teeth or hair are not, although such objects make such top-notch sympathetic links that you can perform ritual magic through them without any penalty as opposed to having the -2 dice penalty or more with other objects. So it's still a dangerous practice to leave your toe nails lying around, but at least people'd have to realize whose nails they are AND get them to a magician with the right metamagic.

Does anyone still have a copy of that post i cant seem to find it i would like to see it

Not to mention, who has the stones to risk trying a ritual link on a Dragon? Seriously? It's a better idea to get into melee with a ghoul.

TBH, if I was going to start trying to take out dragons I'd rather play the long game and become adept with Symbolic links and enchanting. I mean, yeah, it'll be more expensive, and you'll lose out on some dice, so it's not without its drawbacks, but it's a helluva lot easier to keep a secret. I really can't think of a quicker way to get your silly ass killed then asking questions like "Yes, yes, but are they Tjuranga's clippings?"

Well, this was talking about it from the other side: being the dragon, and having access to the reagents of your own body, with the drawback of them being ritual links to you. Benefit is, many might not want to attempt ritual magic against you if they know you are a dragon?

http://www.catalystgamelabs.com/download/p...ers_preview.pdf

Yes i found the rules for those who would like to see them

That...

That doesn't actually seem all that bad. With BP costs like that, they're not going to be too unholy terrors.


Hrm... I wonder what an all-dragon game would be like...

I have asked myself that very same question...

The amount of ritual magic they could pull off would be effing disgusting because they dont have a magical tradition.

it would end in a bunch of PCs thinking they're the baddest mo'fo's in the city and getting gutter stomped by a Megacorp. Or Ghostwalker.

Reading this gives me the idea of a deeply crazed dragon cyberzombie.

Of course they do, it is a Dragon Tradition...

I'm thinking the Sixth World needs a dragon with a datajack again.

blech, Dragon-Trodes™ work just fine

If you're planning to be a for-reals, serious hacker, none of that shit need apply. You have to get your ass cybered, that's just that. Even if it's just a datajack, implanted commlink and some visual/audio mods, you have to.


Well, unless you're a technomancer, but (for now at least, thank god,) there's no such thing as an Emergent Dragon.

No, just an e-ghost one

Poor Eliohan. Damn the Crash 2.0... Frankly, I would've thought if anyone had the physical and mental stats to survive the dumpshock to end all dumpshocks, it would've been a Dragon.

Indeed.

I blame Ares!

Waitaminute, I just had a thought...

What happens if someone who's in hot sim VR projects onto the Astral? Presumably, astral projection would trump hot simsense, I'd think. And if they had rigged a system to do a hard disconnect of their cyberdeck (this was 2064, though it works just the same if you replace cyberdeck with commlink,) when they went Astral (presumably by use of that detecting moss to trigger a hardware disconnect,) they should be able to get out of even an encounter with Black IC with just regular old dumpshock.

Most likely, your brain remains subjected to whatever input it was receiving when you 'left' - you're just not aware of it beyond the 'distant pain' described by RAW.

Even if you disconnect the commlink, the body would still get the dumpshock, even if you're unaware of wat's going on.

Oh, definitely.


But eating dumpshock is a hell of a lot better than eating Black Hammer, especially if you're a dragon with the condition monitor boxes and the stats to say "pffft" to the dumpshock.

And it probably beats being turned into a ghost in the machine; if you go astral, you can go and find an ally, or a friend, and ask them to avenge you, even if your body got toasted. If you happen to be a dragon, I'm sure pretty much any Dragon (or even Great Dragon) would be receptive to your warning that something out there is killing Dragons, and probably be willing to throw some resources into avenging you. And, at Astral speeds, anyone you can name is within range of your final warning.

Ah, yes as a way of keeping alive for a few hours to get revenge I think it's quite valid.

If you just project and let your body stay hooked up, your icon will keep getting pummeled though.

I know, that's why I figure you'd want to hook up some of that moss that glows in the presence of Astral forms to trigger a hardware disconnect. So you Project, your body gets Dumpshocked, and you're now loose on the astral and pissed-off at whatever was chewing your virtual face off in the Matrix.

Possibly you might want to summon (or preferably, command a preexisting) a spirit with Innate Spell (Heal) to help you overcome the damage that mean-old Black Hammer or whatever did to you, while waiting for your meatspace allies to get there with medical kits.

Technically, hair can be used as a DNA link only if the root is still on it, otherwise it is simply keratin.

EDIT:


Don't forget that if you're Initiated your Astral Timer stops when you go to the Metaplanes. And you can summon spirits to take messages to the Physical Plane for you.

Ooooh. That would be fun!

That might also explain Ghostwalker, too. He might have been trapped in a Metaplane without a body when the Fifth World hit. When he came back, he didn't "retrieve" his body, he conjured an entirely new one and Inhabited it.

How? Because he's Ghostwalker, bitch! He don't have to explain shit to you!



More seriously, yeah. That would be really nasty, I think - killing a dragon's meatbod with lethal biofeedback from the Matrix, only for him to fuck off to a metaplane and start sending Spirits to get you.

No, he grabbed his body back a-la Sahloknir. And Dunkie is still hanging out in the Astral because everyone knows only a dovahkiin can properly kill dragons.

Under the assumption that it was an assassination...