So I'm a newbie and I don't know much, but I'm learning.
I'm trying to make a character to use in a group that has already started a run.
The GM is allowing me 50 extra BP since I'm starting late and it will allow me to catch up with the rest of the group.

What types of unique characters could I make? Something that isn't overdone but is still useful for a group?
Please explain any skills, qualities, items, etc that you mention.
Thank you.

The sky's the limit, really.

1) What do you want to play? A triggerman, a cyborg, a thief, a wizard genius, a computer guy, a wheelman, a kung-fu expert? Some mixture of two or three of those? Come up with a rough idea, a character from a tv show or movie for inspiration, or something like that. That'll narrow it down a whole, whole, lot.

2) What else has the team got? It's hard to say what's useful for a group, without knowing what that group needs.

The problem is that I have no idea what I want to play. A lot of stuff sounds cool, but I don't know what to pick. I want to be strong, but I don't want to copy-paste a min/max thing like trollbow. I want to be unique, but I don't want to be so outlandish that I'm overall useless.

I asked what the team had, but I don't really remember what he said. I believe he did say that everything was pretty covered though, so I can play around with whatever I wanted.

Have you talked to the other players? Or did you inform yourself over the available 'archetypes'? Such as ... Rigger, Hacker, Street Samurai, Shaman, Mage, Adept, Mystical Adept?
If not, I'd suggest that's the point where you want to start. Maybe think of a background first and then stat the character up?

honestly if your very new.. id stay away from magic for the first game or two. it can be a little complicated specially to new players. if your just wanting someone to tell you the best type to play for a new char. Goodluck, id say play something you know, if your good at talking in RL play a face/combat guy. lol. i always say SR4 is amazing because its so OPEN to what you can play, but, that is also a curse as you can only play a small part of all there is. id suggest going combat/assassin ninja. relatively easy as you mostly will just be killing things and breaking into stuff quietly and efficiently. as for what weapon to use? i went pistols.. but go with your fav.

No, I haven't met the other players yet. I only recently met the GM online. When we were talking he mentioned something about a gaming session, I inquired and he told me about how he GMed for a shadowrun group that was partly in person and partly online. I've always wanted to try tabletop RPGs so I jumped at the chance and asked if I could join.
I loosely know the archtypes, but they don't sounds interesting to me. If possible, I'd like something that doesn't exactly fit an archtype.


No, Raiden, I don't want to be told what's the best, I'd just like suggestions on something interesting you don't see everyday if that's possible.
I was kinda planning to steer clear of magic too.
I'm a bad talker irl, so no face for me.

Once I get in contact with my GM again I'll ask about the group some more and see if I can get in contact with them too.

Well if the problem's that there's a lot out there that sounds cool, why don't you pick two things. Then choose one you want to be able to do really well, and sub specialize in the other one. For example, say you're interested in combat and social contexts as well. However if you don't want to be just another Street Sam with negotiation choose something else like an Elf-Go ganger combat adept so you get access to a high charisma for cheap and adept powers to boost both combat and social rolls. Throw in the Ares monosword aswell cause who the hell isn't sick of using katanas'.

The great thing about shadowrun is that you're not picking classes.

well, Id suggest specializing in about 2 areas maybe 3, since SR punishes players who spread skills out to much. (rewards high number rolls) as for a suggestion, try out something like a Private investigator, it would be a mix of combat,stealth, and some face like stuff. (such as interrogation) most of your dice pools would be around 10-13, unless you specialized in one area more then the other two. plus, Ijust like the char concept, good luck on your run. wish i could find one lol

I just looked up go ganger.
That sounds neat.
Would it be possible to have a go-gang that rode on something similar to roller skates? Like some kinda futuristic super skates?
It'd be fun to roll around on skates, slashing with a sword.

Heh, that was my first decker's icon in the Matrix, called him "Data Skater".

You've been sort of handed a gift in that the GM has told you that the important roles are covered. That gives you plenty of room to experiment. I tend to agree with others that you should find two hats to wear and that you should avoid magic until you're more familiar with the mechanics and the background/fluff surrounding magic.

If you end up going Go-Ganger who has matured to Runner status, I would look at a hybrid hacker/rigger sort. If the hacking role is already covered, you don't have to be competent in all aspects of hacking and if you add in rigging abilities then you can focus on things like spoofing and signal capturing.

It'd be fun to roll around on skates, slashing with a sword.
There's inline Skates sure, but there's something even cooler :
Skimmer Disk !
If You have modular Cyberlegs You can "snap off " your feet and replace them with Hover Disc
I guess this could make Your Char kinda unique

with a Hoverdance
Medicineman

How much are skimmer disks?
What's a hoverdance?
I'm sorry, I don't know many terms. I tried to google, but couldn't find anything.

I'd recommend an Edgebunny. Basically a human generalist with high edge. You're kinda average at most things, but you hold in your hands six to eight giant fuck you piles of dice you can add to any check.

With that many points, you want to decide between being two paths of greatness:

Adept - which is hollywood action hero mode, but will eat up at least 50 points.(adept quality for 5, magic 5 for 40, maaybe 25 more for magic 6. Maybe 5 for a mentor spirit and probably 10 for a way of the adept). Adepts are very flexible, and their powers can be used for basically anything from fighting, going faster, punching harder than guns, being super perceptive or an incredibly smooth socialite. They're flexible, but you kind of have to choose a direction to focus in unless you really know how to cherrypick or shore up your weakness with cybertech.

Speaking of cybertech! That's the other way. If you're not magical, chances are you want some ware. Some stuff is generally good all around - cybereyes, initiative passes, datajacks - and other stuff is more for specialist tasks like seduction or not dying. Muscle Toner is almost always useful.

For what its worth, hacking is fairly inexpensive in terms of BP - most of its money and a few skills - but I'd probably recommend against it because the rules are a headache and need a good GM to sort through.


If you want to be Generally Awesome, I'd recommend going for high Agility - its used in basically everything shooty and sneaky, with some focus on Reaction since it helps you not die and also drive cars.


So yeah. Human or elf, high edge, high agility, maybe adept or born rich for loading up on good gear.

the second biggest piece of advice i can give is to look through the Runner's Companion quality section, and look for background qualities that grab you as interesting, intriguing, and that contribute something to your backstory. There's a wealth of potential and ideas there that just aren't present in the main book's qualities. Its good food for thought when you don't know what to make.

Skimmerdisc are a Part of the Cyberlegs.
You need the Book Augmentation for this.
There are Skimmer Disc, Water Jets (so you can speed up in/under Water)
You could also install Hydraulic Jacks in Your Legs to jump High & far (very,very High and even farer )
I think that two pimped Cyberlegs could be ....quite Your Shtick


A Hoverdance.... ?
Well thats my personal Quirk.
I often "dance " in my Posts

with an explaining Dance
Medicineman

@Rallaa: Do you know what kind of characters the other players are playing? Maybe you could ask the GM about it. That would be quite useful to know that your character won't be doing the same stuff that someone else has already covered.

Bye
Thanee

And if you don't really care for the feel of full on pimped out cyberlegs you can get cyberfeet, and get them with implemented retractable in line rollerskates. Or atleast you used to be able to in 3rd ed (On the plus, cyberware is so much cheaper in the 4th)

The problem with Skating is that there's no skill for it. It basically just improves your movement speed (by 50%). Many agree that only one such improvement can be had on any one character. So you could just as well take that quality out of Runners Companion that makes you faster.

Or, talk to your GM about some custom skating rules. But with nothing ruleswise to support it, i wouldn't go for it.

How do you other guys handle it? Is it just another application for the "Running" and "Gymnastics" skills? I dont think every skater should be a runner and avid dancer automatically. Did you introduce a "skating" skill? What attribute is it linked to? I can see reasons for all of Strength, Agility and Reaction.

The skater idea has come up since 3rd edition at least. Strange that it hasn't been ruled yet.

The problem with Skating is that there's no skill for it.
thats not quite right.
There is Running and You could ask Your GM to allow skating or rollerblading as a specialization
and mere Cyberfeet don't have enough Slots for cyberskates let alone the other Gimmicks
I did mention complete Legs for a reason !
Complete modular Legs mean Cyberarmor,a Cyberholster, Hydraulic Jacks,interchangeable Cyberlegs,Skimmer Disk,gekko Feet,Water jets and a whole lotta Fun.

Many agree that only one such improvement can be had on any one character.
which many ?
I don't know of any "many".
By RAW all movement enhancement can be combined for a Synergy Effect
@Rallaa
by RAW means
Rules As Written


with a Fun Dance
Medicineman

Sure it is
well it has been for quite some time in quite some Groups.
I never had any Problems with GMs (neither at conventions nor at Home )
accepting a skating Spec for Running.
There is no Need ImO for a Houserule

with a running Dance
Medicineman

I mentioned running, and i still think it's in no way related to skating. But yeah, it would be the most RAW solution.



Page?
I don't think it's even defined whether you add up the bonus (as is done with cyberware) or apply it one after the other. So i think it's most sensible to just cap it at one improvement. Also, to prevent people from running faster than cars can drive, we both know this

Speaking of speed, i found that strictly defined distances are generally not very present at my tables. We are not playing a table top game with floor plans and figurines i guess. If it's done differently at your table, you might want to go troll if you want to be a fast skater, because those do have the highest base movement speed in the book.

Page?
Description of the 'ware or Surge effect.
The Devs made sure to write down what isn't compatible ( f.E. which Reflexboost/enhancement)
and there is no Mentioning of any of these NOT being compatible (nowhere)

So i think it's most sensible to just cap it at one improvement.
THAT(Your Opinion) is something that I can totally understand but its not RAW
My Opinion is that the Movement Rules by itself are to high (especially walking) and I would rather have it changed
but thats what Houserules are for

I don't think it's even defined whether you add up the bonus (as is done with cyberware) or apply it one after the other.
the Default is that any similar Bonus will be added.
so +50% for Skates and +50 % for Raptorlegs (or for Surge) results in + 100 % Movement
Celerity would add another 50%

Also, to prevent people from running faster than cars can drive, we both know this
Wellll.... You can get mischievieous(especially with a surged Troll or one with Raptorlegs & Skimmerdisk)
But most Groups (like Yours) aren't into Floorplans and exact Movement Rules .

@Ralaa
don't worry when You don't understand very much.
It takes quite some time to get accustomed to the Rules
and some time more to Min/Max

He who dances for quite a while
Medicineman

We weren't until someone made a street sam and now we have to work it out down to the last inch .

Thanks, everyone, for your replies.

Medicneman, I really like your suggestion of cyberlegs. I think I might go with that. Do you have a suggestion on what I can do to go with that?
Like, will I benefit most from using guns or should I do some guns + some melee?

But what kind of jobs could I plausibly perform besides something like package courier?

Also, does anyone know a good online database where I could look up and read stuff? Or would it be best for me to get the books?

I would suggest guns as melee only really shines when you specialize. Second I would suggest looking through Umaro's improved archetypes to get a sense of what works well together to help with your own character (although if your friends have the pdfs I would suggest looking through them).
Umaro's Archetypes

Thanks, Shortstraw

I'm trying to find the option to have skimmer disks in my cyberlegs on chummer, but I can't find it.

Here you can buy the PDF rulebooks online: http://www.battlecorps.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=28_187_84

They are at a fair price ($15 for the SR4 Anniversary core rulebook, and $12 for the five big supplements: Arsenal, Augmentation, Runner's Companion, Street Magic, Unwired).

Bye
Thanee

Our group has:
Four magicians (all combat oriented), two adepts (combat oriented)
A demolitions/heavy weapons specialist, a hacker and a rigger.

And the GM has multiple characters that include:
a face, a technomancer hacker, two more adepts, and a shapeshifting magician as well


I decided to go with the cyberlegs and retractable skimmer disks.
In his story, he's the son of a corp CEO that spends his allowance on synthetic cyberlegs and other enhancements. His parents don't mind at first, they thought it was just a hobby of his, but then he started dressing like a street punk and would go out late at night. And the straw that broke the camels back, he became an ork poser and starget hanging with an ork go-gang.
They disowned him and now he's trying to make it on his own, dropped from a life of luxury to the low lifestyle he can scrape by doing whatever jobs he finds.
He's not a complete idiot though. He learned a lot of social skills from his father and has quite the silver tongue.

Sound good so far?

What about he didn't become an Orkposer but a full Fledged Ork in his late Puberty (maybe with 14 Years)
this is still possible.
His Parents (maybe racist ,maybe japanese, maybe both ) threw him out to live on his own.
So He "plundered" their Bank Account, went to an illegal Clinic and got his Cyberlegs there.He than hang out with the Ork Gang (which could be a cool Group connection) but it wasn't enough for him so he now tries to become a Runner
and earn lots of Money
(I would advise You to get obvious alpha Legs and to maximise them for Capacities and raise the base Attributes which is expensive)
OK, the rest of the Group is Awakened(Magical) and the GM has even more Awakened. the whole Settings seems very magic oriented....Hmmm,well.... what about Your character being NOT YET awakened .
There is one pos.Quality (latent Awakening) with which you can become Mage or Adept (or mystical Adept) later in the Game.
This could be the reason why the other Chars are interested in Your Char sticking around with them.
They will surely become a magical Group sooner or later and your Char should be able to enter too (later, as soon as he's fully awakened)
If You like this Idea and get the positive Quality late Awakening make sure that your charakter keeps at least 3 Essence Points !!
both Alpha Cyberlegs will cost You 1.6 Essence Points and You might want some 'ware to make You faster or tougher
which'll cost even more Essence.
If all the other Chars are Combat oriented
You also need some Combat Skills, but if You concentrate more on Acrobatics (Le Parcour ) You'll have your own unique Spotlight

with a Dance in the Spotlight
Medicineman

That's a good idea too, but the group doesn't have a dedicated face it seems, so I think I wanna fill that roll with him being charismatic. And with pretty much all of them being combat oriented, they don't really have anyone that can deal with police or above board stuff. That's where my character can be of use.
My idea was that he learned a lot from his father when he comes to social interaction for personal gain.
I really want him to be born an elf and become an ork poser too.
Could that work? A charismatic ork poser face?

Besides that, I wanna use his cyberlegs+skimmer disks for high speed movement and give him unarmed combat along with some gun skill to round him out.


What is the cost to get retractable skimmer disk implants and can you get them in alpha quality?

If You want to become the Groups Face ,combat orientated and acrobatic
thats to Much..... butter spread over too much Bread !

I really want him to be born an elf and become an ork poser too.
Hmmm, never heard of before, but why not ?

Could that work? A charismatic ork poser face?
It could work but you have to dedicate a lot of Points (for Attributes, Skills and 'ware)
into that Social Part.There'll be only a few Points left over for Acrobatics, and Fighting Skills

What is the cost to get retractable skimmer disk implants and can you get them in alpha quality?
You don't need them in Alpha. they replace Your Feet(Plug in/Plug Out System)
You should at first get the Augmentation Book !
because You should work out those Cyberlegs for Yourself as there's so many Add Ons and You have to decide for Yourself which ones to add/install
Working List:
Choose Race (Elf ,Check)
Choose Attributes (don't forget Edge)
Choose pos & negative Qualities
(Late Awakening, Orkposer,.....)
Reserve 50 BP (250.000 ¥ ) for 'ware
Choose active Skills
Choose Connections (OrkGang *,Fixer,Streetdoc or Clinic )
Finetune the Char with leftover Points
Choose Equipment (Cyber & Bioware,Armor,gun,Bike,Fake SIN & Licenses,Lifestyle)
* If they find out You're an Elf they'd hate and chase You to finish You off
that means You can be blackmailed if someone finds out

He who dances for Himself
Medicineman

Dont forget to enable all the necessary books you wish to use for chummer. otherwise >.> well meh. (its under tools, in options)

Thanks Raiden!

Are skimmer disks the same thing as cyber skates?

if your father was a CEO and your looking for some nice gear/augmentation, go for the born rich and restricted gear qualities. that R4 toner is very nice, also there are bioware enhancements that actually boost your social skills IE tailored pheromones, just dont get caught with them. hell, dont forget to grab at least 1 extra IP :3. save about 2-3 essence if you want to go laten awakened, if not, cyber and bio yourself out. (wish being the son of a CEO would NOT have been to terribly hard to do :3. me, for the group your in you could be the magically inept badass lol

I count 9 PCs plus your char. Sounds like a big group to me.

'
well not all runner groups have to be small, their is power in numbers after all. and seems to me that they partake in their far share of gunfights/combat. so Im guessing 9 people helps out even more there. the more the merrier in my book. ( of course... there IS a limit, but 9-10 people would still be ok in my book, makes for higher probability of laughs)

In-world such a team is totally ok, but i found that more than 4-5 players just slow the game down immensely. _Especially_ in combat. But oh well, YMMV.

I was playing with 7 people before, and its not that it slows it done from my perspective, its just that, when in combat, to make it challenging for a group that size, you have to add more enemies, which means, more rolls, on both sides. its not moving any slower, its just there is more to go through, and we were laughing half the time so it was fine XD.

Actually with that many BP... and a bent toward being a face. You could go technomancer or adept.

I'd advise staying away from mystic adept or magician. But adepts are pretty easy to work with. Especially if you're willing to mix cyber/bio and magic.



BP rules, you'd have 220 to go towards attributes, more to go towards edge/magic/resonance. Plenty left for skills and equipment, you're in great shape.

Another good option is just go simple street sam. Besides skimmer disks there's also raptor legs which are pretty cool for a street sam type. You can do cyberskates on them as well. (not quite as fast as skimmer disks... but the legs provide a bonus to kicking damage and gymnastics dodge tests for avoiding getting shot while closing with the sword).

Toss on some synthacardium and you got a first rate gymnastics dodge monkey even if you only put 1 rank in the athletics group to start (or only advance gymnastics... but I think you want the run skill as well to move fast.).

Ork's a good pick for a ganger for a lot of reasons including RP.

You may want to ask if you could generate with normal 400BP and than get 100 Karma afterwards

If you want some kind of "freak" based on your cyberlegs you could go for an arm-less runner (work with your GM for a negative quality thats appropriate). He would of course have his fair share of problems in the world, but would also have all the reasons in the world to have the best legs available. You would still be very effective in melee combat (kicking the shit out of them. with spurs.) and could also implant some shotgun or the like in your legs for shooting action.

Sounds like fun to me!