It was Caadium who added the last three negative qualities, so it would be especially bad if they worked out poorly for the other player - he would probably be all "It was a decent character until you gave it these flaws!"

TBH, I'm kinda curious as to what the sheet was like before because the tweaked sheet looks like someone just flatly declared "No 1s."

Any changes I made were listed with the post. I've said a number of times that more than a build critique I'd love to see combat mage sample builds. I'd take any that don't use restricted gear for focus, level 2 is fine.

To answer other questions, I and other players have suggested the importance of social skills and well rounded characters; for shadowrun and other games to no avail. I suggested uncouth knowing how bad it is, but also knowing how much of an Asshat the character will be when he plays it, it made sense to at least give him the points for how he wanted to build and how he'll play.

Again, his character is what it is. I will show him a slightly modified version or two, but what I've been looking for are totally different ways to make a combat mage; not just different ways to tweak what he already made. I hope that seeing different approaches will help him make sure he makes a character he'll enjoy. Ignoring the build he began, if anyone has different combat mage builds I can use I'd appreciate them.

Have you considered a build using the [Black Magic] Tradition, and the [Adversary] Mentor Spirit? Sounds like it's right up the alley of "combat-obsessed ass-hat" style play.

And focussing on Manipulation spells for combat (especially Control Actions and Mob Control) plays right into both the ideal of Black Magici (personal, direct power over others), and the Adversary's +2 for Manipulation spells.

Then use Deflection instead of Armor (because it's subtler, and doesn't make you an instant target), Glue Strip for immobilising things (like that go-ganger chasing your car, bwa ha ha), Catfall and Gecko Climb for getting in/out of secure places, maybe Compel Truth ...

Pax, I think Black Magic mind mages may be a bit beyond (more subtle) what this player wants.


Mentor spirits that would fit his playstyle (so he'll roleplay without noticing it) would be Wolf, Bull, Dark Goddess, and Lion. The Enemy + Vendetta insures that this Combat Mage will find combat fairly frequently - frequently enough to keep the player interested. Dodge is sub-par when compared to the greater flexibility of Gymnastics Dodging, but a novice character may not understand that finer point. Explain to the player that Stunbolt has such a low drain code that he can literally cast it all day with little to no problem and it will target the lower of the damage tracks of the enemies - a win-win spell. He can even multicast it with ease if done right. With that focus and his spec, he'll be tossing 19 dice for Combat spells - more if he binds a spirit and uses the Aid Spell favor. I suggest an Intuition tradition, or you can tweak the stats a bit, but otherwise this is pretty solid and quickly done. You could remove Automatics and change it to Assensing, or this character can even take a Magic 5 for 25 more BP of skills/gear/spells.

Personally, I'd go for drain stats of 4 and the Improve Attribute spells for those drain stats, hitting my augmented max for the low-low cost of a -4 (-2 with Psyche) to all Tests - very manageable, but that's a little more of a subtle trick.

EDIT: I drew this character up in about ten minutes, so bear with me.

First of all go for Control Thoughts/Mob Mind. It works way better than Control Actions/Mob Control.

Unless you really need the +2 dice(+2/3 of a hit) go for Combat Sense. It does the same thing as Deflection, but also works against melee attacks and Surprise.

Levitate makes Catfall and Gecko Crawl unnecessary. Especially Catfall is pretty useless. It does not have the benefits of D&D's Feather Fall and has a maximum height.

Drain Code jumps a wee bit, though.


Hmm, a bit more than a 2-ie difference. I really meant, very focussed on Manipulation spells - Specialisation (+2), Adversary (+2), and an R2 or R3 Spellcasting Focus (+R) means a 6 or 7 die difference.


Levitate has a weight limit; Gecko Crawl has a speed limit. Theoretically, since Gecko Crawl is a Physical spell, you could cast it on a motorcycle or car, and drive (slowly) up the side of a building.

Catfall makes you safe for [Magic x Successes] in meters. With Magic 5, Sorcery 6(+2), Adversary, and an R3 Focus, that's 18 dice, averaging ~6 successes. Overcast to F10, it gives a safe fall distance of 60m, or nearly 200 feet. Even in an urban environment, that's a pretty damned long way to fall. Oh, and it DOES have the benefits of "Featherfall" from D&D - within the specified distanc, you're 100% safe. What benefit is it missing?

...

Anyway; don't get me wrong ... Levitate is pretty awesome. But IMO there's still room for other spells to find use.

True, but ordering someone to do something and them doing it effectively is worth the little headache the drain might cause. Just pop some painkillers if necessary. The resistance to Control Actions is pretty annoying.


If you go for the Focus out of CharGen, take a Power Focus. It works for all categories and since only one focus can contribute to the dice pool it is usually the better investment. Also you will never ever get a power focus that cheap again.

Levitate is a physical spell as well, so depending on the motorcycle you would not need more hits than for levitating a person. And then the bike will fly!

Yes, but it lacks any means of controlling the direction.

It's lacking the ability to be cast as an immediate action. If it is not your turn, you hit the pavement.

Before investing in Gecko Crawl and Catfall, I'd rather take spells that do something another spell cannot replicate.

Worth stressing.

Excellent advice and tips from many experts in this thread.

Effort is doomed to failure.

Imagine you give this player the absolutely dream build and character type.

The player is still making decisions as to what the character is doing, in a game where all characters are Glass Cannons.
The Player is not going to have the Character run away.
The Player is not going to have the Character take Cover.
The Player is going to make the Character jump out and make themselves a target even when the Player knows the opposition is at an advantage.
The Player will make the Character enemies, powerful enemies.

No mechanical efficiency and optimization will over come poor Player decision making. And this is a player who has a long history of poor decision making.

Give the Player a nice Character by all means.

Focus on this.

Strategy >> Tactics >> Number of dice and Actions

When I GM, I don't ever worry about the Characters Dice Pools and mechanics because no matter how big they are it will never over come some of the decisions they make.

Thank you for the build Neraph.

A lot of what you say Dire is correct. However, if the guy has the ability to pop off something big and useful if situational issues weren't factored in, and I'll make sure he gets one or two early on, then he can't blame the system or the character when the situation causes different results. He will have demonstrated to himself, and to others, that the character does in fact do what he wanted, and he will have a harder time dragging others away from the game.

I agree that no amount of dice overcomes poor decision making, but with a strong enough build its a lot harder to argue that its because the character is incompetent.

Two score soak dice does help mitigate it, though.

The trouble with the Uncouth negative quality is that it does not do what it should do. Rather than an "asshat", a character with uncouth is someone who will back down just about anybody, because they don't even get to resist social skills.

Now, you wanted builds. The problem is that the other ways you can leverage a mage are either ones that (going solely by your description) the player wouldn't want (detective mage, mage/face), or ones that would be too complicated for him/too overpowered for the campaign (overcasting builds, summoners, etc.).

But here is a quick, dirty build from me, staying within the player's constraints and, hopefully, not too powerful for your campaign. This guy can lob spells, and hopefully survive the experience. Decent initiative and damage soaking ability, multiple initiative passes with his sustaining focus (to use with his increase reflexes spell), and a high Edge, which can help ameliorate bad tactics, at least the first few times.