Edit: Lots of little fixes to the crunch. For the updated status of the character, click here: Chummer Output.

Crossposted from official forums. This is my first post here! My GM told me about you guys and I've been learning tons just lurking.

So my last character was 'too generalized'. The character before that had submerged during chargen (unnoticed by the GM) and broke the game. Apparently I am too focused on the crunch side of things and I should focus more on the concept. My GM and I were talking and I came up with the idea for a Yakuza character - the whole pompadour, white suit, talks with his fists, loyal to the family, man among men type guy. My GM said he should be a drake and I was like "Why not?" It was later decided that he should undergo drakomorphosis during the campaign and she made an exception for me that I could take Latent Dracomorphosis without having it count towards the 70 Karma positive quality limit. The reason for him running would be tied into the Judas quality. The other exception made was that I could have electric elemental breath as a drake, suggesting that an electricity theme would be interesting for the character.

The idea is that this campaign is meant to be medium power level. Useful but not too invincible. All the PCs are new to the game and new to RPGs in general. I'm posting this character to help with any rules I might have unknowingly broken and to see if there are any improvements that could be made without violating the concept. We have a mage and a combat face already. The GM is unfamiliar with the 4th edition rules for the matrix so we agreed that I wouldn't have to be a hacker. I'm pretty new to shadowrun so if this guy is really strong or not strong enough or lacking a real niche please tell me and give me some advice. I basically just asked myself, "What would a badass Yakuza do?" Not a comic relief type character but someone with style. Any suggestions to help optimize for play or to improve the concept would be appreciated.

750 Karmagen
Content allowed from: Anniversary, Arsenal, Augmentation, Runner's Companion, and Street Magic (no Unwired)
Free knowledge skills as in BP creation.
There are a few more house rules such as High Strength Affecting Recoil Compensation, Chunky Salsa, Threshold for Hits Lowered to 4, Nuyen and Karma are interchangable during play at 1 Karma exchangeable for 2500 Nuyen, and more but these probably don't matter much.
No submersions or initiations during chargen. Max Availability 12 per normal rules but no forbidden items (F) in chargen without the Restricted Gear quality (is she confusing something from 3rd edition?) Restricted items ® are only permitted if the character has a reason to have it.
Finally, skill groups can be broken during chargen. For example, I can buy the Influence skill group to 3, then break it up and raise Con to 4 and specialize in Fast Talk and then I could specialize Negotiation in Detective Motive all during character creation.



Can you recommend anything that would be particularly fitting for this character? I know that artisan is probably useless but want it especially if I have enthralling performance. Can you also suggest weapon mods? I was envisioning twin guns with swirls of red and yellow flowing within the ruthenium reflection when held. I was going to buy a silencer to attach later. Didn't know what to put so I bought gecko grips. Are there better contacts I could have? Is there any gear that I should obtain that would help me initiate close quarters fighting? I know I haven't posted the fluff but I was wondering what you guys would say about this character. I hopefully didn't miss any rules this time. The goal is to be good but to be true to the ideal of the character even if it means missing out on a die or two.

Yeee-eesh! You don't want to be "too powerful", but you want to start with 4 IPs? Honestly, if everyone else at the table is new, drop it down to Improved Reflexes 2 (or even 1, depending on the number of IPs your running mates have). Given your criteria, I would use the power loadout of Astral Perception (only because your GM requires it, because frankly it sucks hard)(1), Improved Reflexes 2(3.5), Killing Hands(4), Critical Strike 4(5), Elemental Strike (Electricity)(5.5), Penetrating Strike 2 (because you want to be able to hurt people wearing armor, right?) (6). This gives you an Unarmed Strike that does 9(P or S) with an AP of -2, and you have the option to do electricity damage if you choose for the extra suck or suck effect and additional AP. You also have 3 IPs and the ability to get murdered by spirits and mages on the astral plane (Seriously, why is he requiring this? You're a sitting duck on the astral.)

If 9 damage on your physical attacks is too much for your sense of "not overpowered", I would actually drop the Kung Fu before I got rid of any of the adept powers.

If your GM isn't enforcing those available books like the list was written by FastJack himself, I would strongly suggest asking him if you can use Way of the Adept, written by our very own, very awesome Critias. (He posts on these boards quite frequently. His work is damn good, and if you ever have a question about WotA, he's been more than willing to answer them. Can't get much better than that.)

If he does allow it, I would recommend picking up the Warrior's Way quality. That would let you pick up Killing Hands, Critical Strike, and (most importantly) Improved Reflexes with a very nice 25% discount. If you combine that with a gaes (from Street Magic) for Improved Reflexes, you can get a very *very* nice 50% discount on your most expensive power. You could then use the gained points to branch out into more things like Enthralling Performance, Voice Control, Nerve Strike, Combat Sense, or Mystic Armor.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I'm not really an expert on PhysAds, so someone else might be able to refine my advice or even just chuck it out the window in favor of better stuff, but I think this is a pretty solid base to start with. If you need anything else, I'm usually around.

Edit: By the way, slap a smartlink in your contacts and some fragging external smartgun systems on your Cherry Blossoms, for Puck's sake (see what I did there?). There's no excuse for that, because you won't *always* be dual wielding, and they're painfully cheap. That's all I got for now.

Edit2: Oh yeah, By the way! Welcome to Dumpshock, Chummer!


~R~

So, wait...let me get this straight. You're a bad-ass Yakuza that punches people really well and have a dragon theme?

So...you're Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima?

Thank you for replying. I didn't really think about how powerful IPs would be. I will ask my GM about what level would be best. As far as I know, critical strike gives more and more consistent damage than penetrating strike for the same value. If I come across a highly armored opponent then I would "charge up" and do shock for half impact.

I think she required astral perception because as a drake I would be dual natured when in drake form. There was also something about the mage being unable to do it? The idea is basically I should be able to see the astral while in human form and killing hands would let me fight magical beings that are partly in the physical. I don't care for it much either but it is a nice handicap. Otherwise I will ask her again about it.

I know this guy is a pretty standard physical adept. It would be nice to have way of the adept but she explicitly disallowed that book. She looked at my last character who had everything on the cheap and went "Nonononono and no."

Again, thanks for the comments. I will talk to the gm about what I should do with the characters powers.

And to CrystalBlue, pretty much yeah.

Wha has me wondering is the 'Juda' quality - either it will never enter into play (which means it's free points) or it's a potential 'game over' button depending on who the character's really working for. Note that having the PC as an active yakuza has the potential to send other PCs away or restricting their options - no run against the yaks or for their ennemies. And fror a non-yak character a real concern about offering the yaks a supersize handle for blackmail.

If the whole party is made of yakuza members or sympathizers, the latter isn't a problem, but the 'Juda' defect remains a potential problem.

I'd have to agree here. Judas + Made Man could make for a pretty fast, and powerful, Enemy negative quality (i.e. the Yakuzas).

There's some fleshing out to be done, story wise, for why you have particular skills and what not. For example, his Stealth group: how did he become so skilled in infiltration and shadowing?

What role did he play with the Yakuza? Strong man? Interrogator? Bodyguard? What sorts of crimes did he run with them?

When did he realize he had magic? Is he registered? I don't see any fake SINs in the gear?

He's very tough, but only of average strength, despite being very trained in martial arts (3 qualities + skilled and specialized). Why isn't he more physically fit? Has he let himself go of late? Does he just have a slight frame, and thus has had to overcompensate with skill/training?

Poor self control (Vindictive)/Dependent (girlfriend): is he abusive? Controlling? What's that relationship like?

You might get a different answer on WotA if you make a mock-up build to present, but make sure *not* to funnel your extra points into more combat awesomeness. If, from the previous example, you use the points you saved by using a way to purchase Enthralling Performance and Voice Control instead of 4 more levels of Critical Strike, you could point out to the GM how the points you saved allowed you to make a more realistic, well-rounded character. Even if you *can't* use WotA, see if you can get a gaes for Improved Reflexes. A 25% discount is nothing to sneeze at on a 2.5 PP power.

As for Critical Strike vs Penetrating Strike, the latter is a good way to increase your damage by smaller amounts. While CS might be the more mechanically "powerful" of the two options, PS lets you do more *consistent* damage, even to people with higher ratings of armor...but then again your point about just using Elemental Strike against those targets is quite valid.

Anyway, the character looks like you'll be able to accomplish the goals you set out to accomplish one way or another. Let us know how it goes, and good luck in the shadows, Omae.


~R~

I should have been more clear about the Judas negative quality. It was actually recommended to me by the GM herself. And I agreed that it would be interesting to roleplay, giving him a darker side to his somewhat capricious attitude toward things. She and I will flesh out that quality together so don't worry about it too much.

It is a very good point that being a Yakuza and having Made Man might influence what missions we would do and what kind of enemies we might make. I will bring this up with the gm. And Eratosthenes' questions are a huge help to me. I had an idea of the character's backstory but I hadn't even considered half of what he brought up.

And thank you to everyone. All these comments mean I can develop a better character and the campaign will be more fun for the whole group.

I actually have a Yak Made Man in the group I'm GMing for right now. It's certainly made things...interesting. Depending on what rengo you're a part of, it can have implications far beyond just "Don't run on the Yaks". My player refuses to take any runs against MCT that do more than X amount of damage, and will in fact actually anonymously notify them of imminent danger. Because he runs in Seattle, but is Made by the Watada Rengo (which is on the outs in the UCAS), most of the other Yaks in his city are actually his enemies, so he's been working with the Vory to help bring them down. It's a dangerous path to walk, but he has the full support of the Japanese rengo, he has the supplies (if not the manpower) to do quite a bit of damage.

So remember to have fun with it, not every Yak (or every Gumi) is the same.


~R~