So my friend is running a Freaks campaign (basically meaning that all the characters are supposed to be weird or whatever in some way and nearly all of the optional/restricted rules are allowed.) In addition to normal option rules, she wants each character to have some kind of special "Artifact" which should be based on rules she makes up. Basically the players decide on a concept for their artifact, then they sit down with the GM and work out the rules.

Now, normally I love making characters and can come up with a million, however, I have a strong tendency towards awakened characters usually and most of the group (3/4 so far) is comprised of awakened characters this game. So I was trying to think of a good technology freak and artifact idea. The problem I keep running into is that it's easy for me to make a tech freak that is powerful, but difficult to make one that is really that interesting, specifically with respect to a special/game-changing item. The only one with potential that I've really come up with so far is a cyborg character in a humanoid body, with the body being my artifact. Problem is I can't really think of anything that character could do that a cyber-samurai would be unable to do. It's powerful (4 base IP, innate armor) but I don't think it will be that interesting.

So, do you guys have any crazy character ideas? Or possibly ways to make a cyborg more interesting?

Sounds like your friend is trying to do a super-hero sort of campaign.

If you're going to make a cyber-freak of some sort then you've probably got two general options: unusual race, or distinctive style. A centaur with two extra arms would be pretty freaky, for instance. Style can make up for a lot, especially if I'm right about a super-hero sort of idea. I could see doing my El Pollo Loco character in that situation. A big troll with raptor legs and spurs mounted in them. Nasty kick, with the right martial arts

EDIT: I should also add that using the more unusual races is probably a good place to start, cyber or not. I would guess that AIs are out, unless she wanted to allow virtual artifacts. We have a group of bad guys that includes one of those Indian dwarves who also has SURGED with a prehensile tail. Totally tries to pass himself off as some sort of primate all the time.

How about this: an AI whos home node is a Technomancer's brain? The ability to do that would be your "artifact." Play an AI in a metahuman's body with the ability to use Resonance skills as a result.

And that's where deus ended up...

A fragment, possibly.

Artifact idea for a tech-head:

An old-style cyberdeck that's a self-updating, self-programming commlink, just shy of sentience. Has System, Firewall, Response, and Signal of 10, but doesn't appear to have a wireless interface to anyone on the outside. Has to be connected via fiberoptic cable into a datajack, and cannot be operated except via DNI, and thus is immune to conventional hacking. Keeps all programs put into it updated to the most bleeding-edge of Rating 6, strips copyright protection automatically, and can be Ergonomic for any one program at a time (Logic+Software test to change, interval 1 hour). As it actually draws life-force from the person using it, you can upgrade the rating of programs put into it by paying (New Rating)*5 Karma, with no upper limit on a cap (so eventually it could have Rating 20 programs).

As for the character idea, a former otaku who was one of Dunkelzahn's Watchers, whose brain was scrambled by Deus, and is just now coming out of the coma it sent him into several years later. He's a fish out of water, having to reacclimate himself to this new world of wireless Matrix, caught between the past and present. Also, has a moderate case of AIPS, so the wireless signals really fuck with him. The deck was left to him in Dunkelzahn's will, with the wish that he enjoy it when he awaken.

(Probably not that interesting, but the idea caught fire in my head. I don't suppose this is for an online game anywhere? )

Look into these:
Pixie Puncher
Hedgepixie
Ultimate Mundane Climber

An AI, alright. But none of this Technomancer stuff. Naw ... you're an AI sitting in a MilSpec nexus on a satellite. Even if "MilSpec" just works out to 7-7-7-7 (or maybe 6-10-6-6 ... a signal rating 10 would make sense for a comms satellite), before the boosts for being an AI's home node.

Make it a Piloting origin AI, and buy a bunch of drones. Poof, there's your "freak".

...

Especially if the satellite has an orbit-to-ground weapon system or two. Ammunition would be stupendously limited, but ... hehehehe ....

Not if the Orbital Weapons are LASERS.
No Ammo there that does not reload by itself smply by him being up there.

You want to be a technology freak?

Play an AI with a Piloting background in a drone. Specifically, a maintenance drone that some technologically-inclined geek lovingly handcrafted into the form of an R-series astromech droid from Star Wars. (Get creative, don't just go for R2-D2.) Your brain can be a small Nexus (that drone is big enough to carry one,) you have a shitload of tools built-in, and it you freeze your joints, you look like something someone built for a science-fiction convention.

Tinker Toy. The elf rigger who falls to pieces at the start of combat.
Literally. All of his cyberlimbs are modular drones (which he then rigs). (Taken as a thought exercise based on a suggestion from an acquaintance who knew nothing about ShadowRun, but was fascinated by the setting)

Bear Who Walks Through Walls. Pacifist bear shifter troll adept who Breaks Stuff. (Admittedly stolen from Bobson)

Alcoholic pixie mage that knows Intoxicate, and the related spell, Fireball. (Admittedly stolen from a mutual friend)

Friend Computer. AI that inhabits a house's central network and "believes" he has hidden turrets in the walls, and constantly threatens the PCs with termination due to treason. (Another thought experiment after having played Paranoia)

Son/daughter/mother/father of one of the other PCs. (Borrowed from the...relationship I currently share with another PC in a GURPS game)

Elephant Ninja. Make the biggest, ugliest SURGE character ever, then make them a stealth adept. (Admittedly borrowed from a friend's Iron Claw one-shot character, who was actually an elephant who could hide in a strawberry patch)

A murloc. You can easily build them with SURGE qualities. Any archetype fits, just be a murloc.

So, a random thought ran through mah head. Have you ever played in a game with this gm? And has this gm ever run a Shadowrun game involving mindflayers, cat people,, or alien mother ships (in the Shadowrun universe? )

A pity it's game policy to disallow certain kinds of magic.

Imagine an Atzlan priest who left town before his embezzlement of funds could be discovered. Now in Seattle he's trying to start a new *Cough* Pyramid Scheme, and trying to avoid using his Blood Magic for fear it may be like holding up a sigh saying "Over Here".

I play a Mech Rigger. He's a Gnome with the cyberware to fit in any space, so he can put microsized rigger cocoons into his mechs. Works as a pixie even better. For mechs there are several self-made solutions throughout the forum and after some income, there are stuff like the Tomino or the aztlan thing from Ghost Cartels.

The most absolutely broken cyborg combination I've learned of over the years involves a Cyborg, A Vampire/hmhvv Brain, and a spirit pact with the aleph society.

Turns out a burnt out vampire can actually bootstrap their Magic back into working again, if they get a different source of it - enough so that they can feed on essence and use it to boost their own attributes as usual.

the result is an absolutely terrifying bloodsucking techno-vampire cyborg mage that's basically as close as you can get to a cyberzombie without actually being one.

The other idea involves abusing cyborgs and surge qualities(fluffed as part of the cyborg manufacture) to make a sort of anti-magical dreadnought. This idea was originally going to be used to support cyborg for a vatican strike team - the brain possesses astral hazing and arcane arrester, but the limited essence makes the range of it limited to just the size of the cyborg, basically. It's since been Aspected to a christian tradition via geomancy, meaning it helps its buddies and their spirits out by being near. At least statwise - the qualities are fluffed as being part of the sanctified robot body.
if you combine it with the above idea - with some Optical(not electronic, it IS an option) cameras wired in, and the astral sight quality(available through surge), its literally capable of punching(or headbutting) spirits with Personal Domain fists.

About the only odd idea I've heard for technomancers involves being a Surged Blond. We're talking Legally Blond levels here, yet strangely competent with computers and has NO idea how they do it - its just natural, hee hee.

The cyborg stuff is incredibly munchkiney, even for my usual caliber of rules breaking things, so I'm not going to derail things by explaining how it works - but I do hope it inspires you to do something neat.

Whether or not the rules even allow that is questionable.

Also, Astral Hazing does not reduce the effects of spells cast into it.

I like the satillite AI, you could manifest yourself as a projected image or utilize hacked technology/drones in the area as your persona. The "threat" to your character is the fact that you are a living persona and your "code" could be harmed during hacking interchanges, etc.

I would define what your program was and build off that. Lazers pew pew

sadly, there are no stats for satellite based laser weapons in War! although they're mentioned right next to Thor, Loki and Freya. Actually I don't think they would work, because I the power needed to overcome atmosphere absorbtion would be enormous.

I'm also a big fan of Sniper Rifle AIs (perhaps something from MilSpecTech) or the technomancer street sam, using Biowire and Acceleration to kick ass and take names.

Lots of problems with this one.

1) I'd like to debate the vampire brain idea.
2) Optical cameras are a no.
It's good that you realize it though.


1) Yes it does; it's not questionable.

2) Huh, you're right. It affects Magic rating, wards, foci, sustained/quickened/anchored spells, and I've always just assumed it also worked against spells that were cast into it also.

No, it's not yet been decided, wether or not HAZING can be geomancied.
Especially on persons, seeing how they are mobile and Geomodding is applied to places . .

My latest character is a magician with the burnt out addiction quality. He has an overwhelming sense of guilt, and so continually bombs his body with mind-altering drugs. He specializes in magical manipulation, and begins to get feelings that 'reality', as it were, isn't real, and his way of proving that it is, is to change it. Unfortunately, this only compounds his feelings of both schizophrenia and guilt, as he's afraid that he's changing reality on everyone, or that everyone is currently in his mental-state, and if he wakes up or sobers up, they'll all disappear. When in combat, he'll augment his reality-altering spells with reality altering drugs, thus increasing the 'wierdness' of the altered reality states he creates. When not in combat, his mental state fluctuates, but still being a generally good person, he's been known to nearly knock himself out by casting massively large mob mood spells, magically demanding the crowd be 'generally happy'.

So expensive karma-wise...

Yes, but so cool. I want to do it, but I've yet to have a game where it'd be viable (or heck, yet to have a stable game for that matter).

FWIW, I did a techno command and control guy using Biowire and Acceleration as a bad guy in a recent game. It was an interesting concept, even if a major tactical error on my part as GM (in hindsight, it was not the best place to park his vehicle...) cut the experiment short before really giving it a fair shake.

Dronomancer, smartlink CF, tacnet CF, and a nasty team working with him.

Try a full-cyber-replacement catgirl optimized for athletics?

How about a hispanic Minotaur addicted to skateboarding?

Elvis?

All I could think of was El Diablo from Generator Rex. He doesn't skateboard though.

Oh, the rules ALLOW it perfectly fine, as Astral Hazing makes a background count of 4 and geomancy doesn't require a physical location, only a ritual.
The real question is whether your GM is sane or not.

The real purpose of being a walking aspected domain is to stand next to your awakened mage buddies and their spirits, tho.
For a cyborg with arcane arrester, object resistance, and the vehicle mod that raises their OR, you're basically spell immune.


It actually does, but in a roundabout fashion. The last sentence: Background count also affects astral visibility, (p114) which affects both assensing and astral combat. Since we know from the core book that mages suffer vision penalties to spell casting, if they happen to be using astral perception to target you, they're probably going to be taking the penalty.





Also special machinery for a mage sight system works, since a brain still has optic nerves to connect to. Maybe even eyeballs.

I kind of stole the idea from a mage in our game who had a Mage Sight Security System hooked up inside of a vehicle. Being able to provide counterspelling from within the riggers van was basically awesome.

Play a cybered lesbian elf ninja stripper adept (with a chameleon Dermal Sheath).

He asked for crazy ideas, not standard

I'll let you have this one. It has to do with how creatures with essence loss have special rules for losing magic. Basically if you have low essence and high initiations, you can not burn out.
the second part is what powers you lose when you burn out - anything but natural weapon and enhanced senses goes away.

A sidenote on Regeneration - any vampire type with Essence Loss/Essence Drain also has regeneration. They are allowed to take implants, but only delta.
Which is important when you consider interaction with the CCU. The rules concerning it are a bit contradictory, and depending whether you consider publishing order(augmentation was before arsenal, so arsenal is 'newer') It can either be a few things. Either its a deltaware piece of gear(which meets Regeneration's requirements), or its a vehicle mod with an accessory(price and availability in arsenal) that happens to need a good hospital and a medicine 20 test. (in which case, its not ware and doesn't fall under the Regeneration's requirements). Its a very technical and pedantic distinction, but delta ware and a delta clinic are not precisely the same thing - a delta clinic IS capable of doing lesser surgeries(see Medical Providers, augmentation), and isn't forbidden at creation - only delta[i]ware/i] is entirely forbidden - you just can't meet the Availability test at start, but its not a Flat Out No like betaware and adapsin it.
Either way, its compatable with Regeneration. The CCU description in augmentation is pretty damning, in that" it should be considered delta grade". The main debate is whether the newer rules supercede that, because you can't actually acquire one with the rules in augmentation - its just missing.

Now, lets go over what happens when you get Cyborged. Your Essence is left at 0.1, and resonance and magic are set to 0.(on a tangent, there's an exploit to get ware afterwards by having an essence hole before/as you are being CCU'd due to mandatory ware removal.)

So a vampire at magic 0 kinda sucks. They don't really have any special abilities.

But if they get Magic AGAIN, then they have options. If a vampire cyborg somehow manages to do it, and have a Magic rating again, then their critter powers start working again and they're back in business. Namely, they can Essence Drain and have Essence Loss again, which we want.
There are two ways to do this. The most fluff friendly is an Aleph Society pact - for those of you who don't know, its a magical group/society that promises to be able to help burntouts. And they can. The spirit in charge of the group forms a pact, and actually lends its OWN magic to burnt out mages instead of their own - it also means their magic rating varies depending on how much mana is available at any given time.(from 1 to 6) I think details are in the DG, but sadly, costs aren't given, so its up to a GM to shoehorn it into spirit pact rules. There's also the nasty downside of a spirit extorting you for karma.
But it opens up a second possibility. Possession spirits. In a possession, the spirits Mental and Special attributes are explicitly used. (this is why a technomancer that is possessed has no Resonance) Note that this includes both Magic and Essence.
So a possessed vampire cyborg just extends the exsanguination tube, snacks on essence, raises its own, and spends some Essence to boost their Magic stat, and voila, they are back in business.

You have to re-buy a lot of stats, but it should be doable.
It's also worth noting that Endowment Shenanigans(endowing endowment to spread other powers around) can be used to give both Essence Loss and Essence Drain to other beings, so there's alternate ways to get it back and raise your own essence above 0.1

You could get a Magic Pact to get the process started again. The issue I have is with the actual Essence Drain mechanic: on page 77 of [i]Runner's Companion, it states that the maximum Essence you can Drain is equal to twice your maximum Essence. Since your maximum has been reduced to 0.1 you would not be able to drain any more than up to 0.2 Essence.

Also, blood has nothing to do with Essence Drain - only physical touch of some sort must happen for the Power to be used. A vampire can literally Essence Drain someone to death with only its pinkie toe touching the person (as long as that contact remains for the few minutes required). A lot of people confuse their Dietary Requirement and their Essence Drain ability.

While blood doesn't have anything to do with it, I like it as a horrifying thematic. Basically i'm saving this one for when my group manages to deserve a blood magic cyberzombie thrown at them.

Nice catch on the max essence, however - as long as you have 1 initiation grade, you can have a magic of 1 with an essence of 0.1 or .2

For a Vampire-Brain . . would you fill the Jar with Blood? O.o

A Rogue AI that uses a DocWagon SRT as its body....


I think I might make this for giggles......

And stahl gets the theme we're going for here!

Technical Fairy First Class

Mr Flibble as mentor spirit?

Thank you, very much. Now I need to go and watch Red Dwarf.

Oh no I forced you to go watch one of the best comedies of all time I'm a forum mutaqua.

But my computer's CD drive is fritzing and won't recognize that it exists, so I can't, is the problem! (no normal DVD player, either.) And I only have Back to Earth anyhow, which, while awesome, doesn't really sate the need for a marathon run of the boys from the dwarf.

And it isn't like Friendship is Magic where the entire run is in 1080p high quality on YouTube. Or, for that matter, at all on YouTube.

What's the deal with the vampire brain in a jar?

I thought they lost maximum essence from implants, rather than current essence, due to that drain thing.

Brain-Jars don't really care what your essence is, it becomes 0.1

Could pretend to be a brain-jar being used as a super computer who happens to run shadowrun bio-drones on the side for funsies. Could even be located inside of a mil-sat device and express your self through your hacked drones. Could even utilize a lazer to present a hologram occasionally . I'd imagine a brain in a jar gets bored often.

http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/121.html
Nuff said
Oh, also: Godwyn, albeit by accident

I still have to make the Troll Physical Adept that names all his firearms and sleeps with them in rotation like his own personal harem.

"Oh buddy, Big Bertha is tomorrow, Bubba loves Big Bertha!"

Ain't his name Jane?

Not quite:
http://images.cheezburger.com/completestor...29034345204.jpg