Dumpshock Forums > Revisted Archetypes, 5e style

ElFenrir

Aug 6 2013, 04:27 PM

I've been deciding to blog up some archetypes, and figured I'd post them here as well. I've liked to go back and revisit archetypes, namely the ones whom have been lost to time, only 5e style. So trying to keep with Archetype style(not completely twinked to the gills, room to grow, etc), I decided to redo the Merc, the Detective, the Elven Mage(from Sprawl Sites), and the classic Burned-Out Mage from SR1.

First the Merc: My idea here was that over the years, we’ve had Merc archetypes of human, ork, dwarf(all in 1e and 2e), and troll(3e), but never an elf; so I decided to make this guy an elf to round it off.

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Next up, the classic, no-cyber, no magic Detective. Disadvantaged, sure, but I missed this Law and Order-esque archetype.

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Here's the Elven Mage: and these days she won't die from a stiff breeze with the old Body of 1 they insisted on giving the poor girl for some reason.

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And finally, the ol' Burned-Out Mage. With 5e's spellcasting rules, though-he can only have a number of spells up to 2x his Magic rating...which is 2, which means he only gets 4 of his 10 spells, which kinda sucks-the old version had that huge pile of spells that he was terrible at casting, and I felt that fit the character. Ahh well-I did what I could. I can see him digging into Alchemical Preparations in game...(I get the feeling he can start with 4 of each spells, alchemical preps and rituals, but I can't quite get the wording on that...if so, then he's totally getting some Alchemical Preps on top of it.)

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I had to say these were pretty fun and I think they'd end up quite playable as archetypes.

Aberrant

Aug 6 2013, 05:20 PM

Ok, just wanted to chime in and say these are awesome.

quentra

Aug 6 2013, 05:24 PM

The old-school detective...That was my first Shadowrun character. Hell, it's pretty much the main dude I play. (Well, human and a teensy bit of chrome after a few near-death experiences.)

ElFenrir

Aug 7 2013, 05:48 AM

QUOTE (Aberrant @ Aug 6 2013, 01:20 PM)

Ok, just wanted to chime in and say these are awesome.

Thanks.

Working on the side on a 5e take on the Rocker now and might end up doing that old Tribal Warrior from Sprawl Sites as well at some point. Those both hadn't been seen in awhile.

And yeah, the Detective was always a neat concept-not the most powerful or anything and even admittedly at a disadvantage-but still really cool and I think still fitting in the game. I think it's cool the Occult Investigator was added, but the Detective had a charm.

Critias

Aug 7 2013, 07:15 AM

*thumbs up* Looks cool!

...I really need to figure out what the heck I'm throwing together for GenCon.

Wakshaani

Aug 7 2013, 08:20 AM

QUOTE (Critias @ Aug 7 2013, 01:15 AM)

*thumbs up* Looks cool!

...I really need to figure out what the heck I'm throwing together for GenCon.

I have some suggestions. I know a guy.

As for teh archetypes, it can also be fun to go back, reverse-engineer the archetypes to see what arrays they went with. The rebuild them with teh same array using SR5 rules. The merc, for instance, is one of teh few Skills A guys. I dig that. (In terms of race, the Elf Merc hasn't been seen before, but neither has the Troll. I need to put together a Troll Merc for general perusal.)

ElFenrir

Aug 7 2013, 08:35 AM

QUOTE (Wakshaani @ Aug 7 2013, 04:20 AM)

I have some suggestions. I know a guy.

As for teh archetypes, it can also be fun to go back, reverse-engineer the archetypes to see what arrays they went with. The rebuild them with teh same array using SR5 rules. The merc, for instance, is one of teh few Skills A guys. I dig that. (In terms of race, the Elf Merc hasn't been seen before, but neither has the Troll. I need to put together a Troll Merc for general perusal.)

Actually, the Troll Merc was in SR3.

He was called the 'Mercenary', but he was a troll. He was the guy that looked like Santa Claus.

I'm doing less reverse-engineering and more 'what I'd see how they'd be built.' The Rocker that I'm almost finished is a very different take but, IMO, she just HAD to be done this way. (However, I could see trying to reverse-engineer being fun; the Merc would be a Skills A Human, the Tribesman an Attributes A Mundane Human, etc. My plan for the Tribal Warrior is to make him an Ork, actually.)

Wakshaani

Aug 7 2013, 08:40 AM

QUOTE (ElFenrir @ Aug 7 2013, 02:35 AM)

Actually, the Troll Merc was in SR3.

He was called the 'Mercenary', but he was a troll. He was the guy that looked like Santa Claus.

I'm doing less reverse-engineering and more 'what I'd see how they'd be built.' The Rocker that I'm almost finished is a very different take but, IMO, she just HAD to be done this way. (However, I could see trying to reverse-engineer being fun; the Merc would be a Skills A Human, the Tribesman an Attributes A Mundane Human, etc. My plan for the Tribal Warrior is to make him an Ork, actually.)

Good point on the Troll Merc! I have them all slotted in my notes, but I always forget the guy. SR3 is when the arches went "Humans? Oh we don't need any of *those* guys..." and that always felt off to me. I'd love to do up an Elf Merc, however. She'd be more professional and high-class than the general scummy Shadowrunner type. Probably wearing a beret. That always classes up teh joint.

ElFenrir

Aug 7 2013, 08:42 AM

I admit my prettyboy Elf Merc up there-he's a different style-he's more of the heavy-hitting, heavy handed, heavy-lifting, mighty, more specialized style, rather than a high class, super-pro, more slick, more balanced stats lots of skills(Demolitions, sniping, Gunnery, skills that aren't even combat oriented like Electronic Warfare, Survival, Piloting and Navigation) type(with light ware-the original Merc had *very* little cyber-Wired and a Smartlink. There is definitely room for both types. Your idea sounds like more of the 'jack of all trades' type where my guy is more of the obviously 'hurt the enemy very hard' heavy infantry type, though not useless in other ways.) Btw-The count in the SR3 book was 3 humans, 3 Orks, 4 Dwarves, 3 Elves, and 3 Trolls...which isn't that bad of a split compared to now, which has 4 humans and only 2 dwarves-part of the reason why I made the Detective a Dwarf.)

Another fun fact about the mercs-the Dwarf Merc likewise had very high Skills; they were B, which back in those days were as high as you could take them for a Metahuman, and he was also lightly cybered, so indeed I went on a different path with my beefy Elf fellow there of 'heavily cybered, will roundhouse kick through the front lines while the Skill Monkey Mercs do the planning, piloting, sniping and carpet-bombing.'

[Btw, that elf I made is exactly what I wanted with that elf picture on a cycle in mind.

]

ElFenrir

Aug 7 2013, 09:30 AM

And sorry for the double-post, but I bring you the SR5 Rocker.

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Yeah, this one was mad fun.

craftomega

Aug 7 2013, 01:34 PM

Oh shit. I was going to ask for this, this morning, you beat me to it. Are all these Archs going to be FAQ friendly?

ElFenrir

Aug 7 2013, 01:51 PM

FAQ friendly? Like if you're curious about something about one of them? If you mean book-legal they're made as 100% standard starting characters, full Availability/Bonus Karma capped rules followed as per normal.

ElFenrir

Aug 8 2013, 09:12 AM

Okay, this one was sorta 'By Request.' I've heard of this archetype(3e, actually) being a bit of a stumbling block, and rightfully so; it's the Combat Decker. Managed to pull it off-and pull it off without any used 'ware, even.

(For the record, I also went above to the Rocker and changed the addiction to Novacoke. Because, well, rockers.

)

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I don't think I forgot anything with him. I think he holds up pretty well to the old archetype despite deck and 'ware costs. I decided to move this one up, despite not having done the Formal Tribal Warrior from 1e yet.

Makki

Aug 8 2013, 09:40 AM

Love the burnout