So, my player wants to play a snake (anaconda) magician shifter.
I've decided that the Anaconda BP cost will be 80.

In the Players companion it says that "Shapeshifters retain all of their powers and weaknesses in
shifted human form except for their Natural Weapon." Does that mean she retains her physical attributes as an anaconda? I presume not? If not, does she have to spend attributes on both the human and the shifter form (like you had to in SR3)? Or does she simply take the difference in bonus away (i.e. as an anaconda she has 11 strength (bought 5 points) but in human form she has 6 strength)?

Also a shifter starts with Magic 1, as she is taking the Magician quality does that give her an additional 1 magic?? (as they also start at 1?)

Thanks again in advance, your help is greatly appreciated.

Her anaconda form is her natural form, the minimum and maximum stats run off that, you buy stats as you would normal.
So to use the anaconda example she would start with 5/11 str and buy up from that, she uses the stat regardless of form.
No the magician quality doesn't increase your magic, worth noting is that shapeshifters can increase their magic and initiate without having any quality.

Uhm... No.

Human physical and Anaconda physical are tracks seperately and raised/effected seperately with karma as well. Mentals remain what they are regardless of form. Some odd physical traits might be present in the human form such as slit eyes or forked tongue ( as examples). Btw, if you do use an Anaconda, look into the Amazonian Tribes and their legends. I don't believe silver is the vulnerable metal of choice for these.

If your GM allows for the BP price to,include magician and or adept in its cost, all the better, but not how we have historically done it.

Beyond that, be innovative. Be dispassionate as a reptile. HUG everyone maybe ( there's creepy sociology there waiting to happen). Make "gerbils as popcorn" comments. If its a magician, get "transform" as a spell and make jokes about " it's how I get lunch". No matter what, never *completely* habitualize in society. Stare blankly at other players, and when you fail to answer their questions as to what you were doing just respond with "sleeping, why? Did I miss something?" Even if you weren't.

I've played a shaper tiger now for literally 20 years of Shadowrun, and without question he remains my all time fave character and the parts of me I get to let out with hm are, IMNSHO, incredibly funny. His favorite phrase to metahumans is (for instance) to call them "lesser species". And recently reminded someone else exactly why he relocated *back* to Vladivostok (the cities patron animal is the Siberian Tiger). But he has his soft spots too, and is just now really starting to figure out AR technologies. He is a known terrorist with Awakened Siberia/Yakut, supports Awakened Rights, and has recently found ways to "communicate" with eCritters, which utterly fascinate him. I literally have never found an end to the discovery aspects of role playing with him. I hope you get to have the same levels of enjoyment.

Emphasis mine. And yes, I know it's not worded properly (would've used "animal" instead of "metahuman" in the section I bolded).

Nowhere in the shifter entry for creating one in Running Wild does it say that there are two wholly separate attributes to track. On top of that, even in the optional rules about different metatypes on page 87 (like Shift (Elf) or Shift (Oni)) does it not say that the physical attributes change and are tracked separately between animal and metahuman forms.

And even drakes aren't built with two separately tracked attributes. When a drake shifts into its non-human form it gains bonuses to attributes depending on the type of drake that it is, but it still has only one set of attributes. I'm not quite as familiar with true drakes.

If you've got something from one of the 4th edition books that definitively says that physical attributes are tracked separately between forms, please do post the source. Otherwise, it sounds like a houserule pertaining to shifters.

I thought they cost 60 BP?! maybe I remember wrong. But GM can do whatever he wants anyways

They don't have to buy physical stats twice. That idea just has no legal backing and is totally made up. An Anaconda-shapeshifter in human form has troll strength. Same for bear shifters. It's called magic. He would presumably transform in a huge muscular human.

Magician quality does not give an extra point of magic.

Regarding the buying attributes thing. Ya know folks, it seems you may be right. That being said however, on pg 87 of Runners Companion (not Running Wild), the section entitled ..
inferred to us here for quite a while now that the attributes of the two forms physically were different. A further reference to differences ...
... Is found under the heading "Augmentations" told us that things were separate enough to warrant the dual price. But, I will yield to the idea of everything is one thing and just say it must have been a leftover from somewhere else, house rule or otherwise.

Regarding Not Always Quite Human, as I understand it this reflects largely the appearance of the shifter in its non-animal form. Save for any special senses and such that the metahuman form may grant that the animal form might not have (like lowlight or thermographic vision), I don't believe anything else is different. Yes, this means a Fox/Troll shifter is really wimpy in troll form compared to other trolls.

Regarding the part from the Augmentations section, yeah, that does suggest the shifter has two bodies, but doesn't mention anything about spending karma to raise two sets of attributes (and don't forget the Logic boosting cerebral booster bioware, its benefits lost in animal form). However, the same is true of drakes in that the augmentations do not carry over into their draconic form. If augmentations were possible in their non-metahuman form (shifter & drake), then I'd wager that the reverse would also be true.

It's also possible it was a 3rd Edition or older version rule, I don't know. The SR4 release is the most serious dive I've taken into this game world, and older versions are sketchy to me at best.

From what I read in the previous post, the cerberal booser would be effective only in the animal form, which is the natural one for the 'shifter.

Ummm, No... Not in 4th Edition. In Previous Editions, you would have ben correct, but in 4th Edition, you do not track seperate Attribute scores. They apply to either form.

Also note that your quote says "abilities" not attributes, a bear shifter with troll form still only have 5 str base but gains thermographic vision, dermal deposits and reach (giving him +2 reach in troll form)
Shapeshifters don't work like D&D one mind, one body, two forms.

Excellent thanks for your answers

My build for ananconda is 80 bp because I have increased a few stats (to match bear)and given the shifter the engulf (earth) innate ability (anaconda form on of course). Also increased its reach (its 11+ meters long ffs!)

I had given to that. I realize over time that a lot of things are "remnants". This is one of those areas where we didn't adjust to the 4th Ed rule because we felt the two forms were exceptionally distinct, and need to remain so. No biggie.

I just remembered something. Swimming Rate??? A snake that big can also operate as a living mini sub to an extent when moving through water.

Good point, maybe 10/20?