What about a Fomori "Anti-mage"
a mystic Adept that specialises in Anti-magic and who can toss 12-15 Dice in Anti-Magic for Himself and for His Chummers too (Plus He's Fomori)
I call him Boulder ('cause of his Totem Mountain) but You could call him 'Brocken' (no, not broken )
But he has no Granite Skin.
He's Freeclimber and earns some Money with pictures of Landscapes (in his Offtime,when not on a Run)

With a Dance in Colorado
Medicineman

You currently in Colorado Medicineman?
Or are you just Dancing like you WISH you were in Colorado?

no, Im not in Colorado
(I thought the City of Boulder is in Colorado, Mindy & Mork told me so)
If I ever come to Colorado I would really like to Meet you then (If its ok for You )

HougH!
Medicineman

Boulder is indeed in Colorado. Missed the reference.
Mindy is cool, but that Mork is rather odd. You should stay away from him.
Hey, works for me.

How does your group fit on the pink mohawk/mirror shades spectrum?

We Are generally more towards the Mirror-Shades end of the spectrum. Sometimes, however, we unleash the Mohawk. After all, It occasionally becomes a moral Imperative.

Here is a rough fomori magic-resistant tank build:



The build works out to 737 karma in karmagen (assuming eratta version), if you use that system.

I just finished my build, which looks very close to the one Glyph posted. We are thinking quite in the same way, I have to admit (or maybe it is so similar, because there IS a quite optimal build for a combat character) I went for adept with astral hazing (it´s all for the options) and skipped muscle augmentation and bone density for a rating 2 synaptic accelerator to be not so invasive. He has “only” body 9 and strength 8, but at least he´s quick.

Ah, before I forget it: Hoka Hey Medicineman, I totally stole your name-proposal. Thank you for that. My GM was absolutely impressed about this char. (Granite Shell, elongated limbs, called Brocken) and he is looking forward to see him in action. I think he is even happier than I am. ^^

Try to upgrade your adept to a mystic adept.

This way you have the option to claim the metatechnics Cleansing, Filtering and the skill Counterspelling. Counterspelling gives you more dices against spells and Filtering allows you to ignore Background.

I don’t think you will have the karma/BP for everything or anything, but maybe later if this character survived some runes.

The problem is, that i already took Surge 3 for Celerity, Elongated Limbs, Metagenetic Attribute (Agility) (15BP), Adept (5BP) and Granite Shell (15BP that went over the free amount i have with SURGE). There are no 5BP left that I would need for Mystic Adept. Of course I could skip Celerity and the limbs and go for Surge 2 instead….hm….dunno.

I always thought that the positive and negative metagenetic qualities from SURGE, do not count against the quality limit (BP/Karma) of the character creation.

Chummer operates this way and Dormant Metagenetics (RC S.74) would ignore it anyway.
Use Chummer and ask if you can use the karma character creation system (RC S.41)

They don't... However, the Changeling Quality itself DOES count towards the Limit (so 15/35). The qualities under the Surge quality do not, however.

I beg for pardon. I chose the wrong words …

“I always thought that the positive and negative metagenetic qualities you have to take, if you chose any level of SURGE, … “

You are right... They do not.

With regards to the "Joker/Harleyquin" character, I'll partially agree with you. Every runner must be sufficiently reliable that you can expect them to complete the run, without causing any more mayhem and bodycount than required. However, I believe that it is possible to play a somewhat unpredictable character in a manner that retains a level of the feel of the "parent" characters, but still can act as serious runners.

If you read up on the Joker character from DC Comics, the Joker is a tough as nails, genius, sociopath. He's got high level skills with chemistry, he understands explosives, and he apparently also likes heavy weapons. He's also immune to various forms of gas and poisons, including his own "Joker Venom". And depending on which source you look at, he might be pretty good in an unarmed fight as well, though sources describe him as anything from at best average and up to expert. He's got no problem killing people as required, and he's got a few trademark items like an acid squirting flower (custom exotic weapon anyone), a high voltage buzzer (beefed up shock gloves anyone?), a big revolver that sometimes shoot a flag that says "BOOM" (how about a revolver where you load it up with random bullet types and then fire them in a random order? Modified Bullet Select modification anyone?). He likes knives, and I believe he's also used some playing cards with razor sharp edges (custom shuriken anyone?).

Play down the penchant for unnecessary killing and blowing stuff up a bit, and what you have sounds like a runner to me. The gas used need not be the lethal kind as default. Get some genemodifications going for various types of gas, and the character could be tossing KO type gas grenades left, right and centre, whilst he is immune to it himself. Grenades don't need to be fragmentation type or similar. Default bullets used need not be lethal ones, but could be a mix of gel, stick-n-shock, and capsule rounds with different contact type non-lethal poison (and possibly even a blank or two). Explosions can be tailored to cause as much collateral damage as possible, or to look spectacular (Hollywood movie type) and distracting, but not all that destructive. And as for the heavy weapons...well, sometimes things just go that far south...

Also, the character ought to be willing to run against pretty much anyone and anything, be it megacorp, mafia, gangs, the police, or possibly even a dragon.

By my numbers you could just drop Celerity and you'll have the 5 BP to go Mystic Adept.

Naaa, doesn´t work. Celerity is i the 15BP "combo-package" you pay off with the edge SURGE 3 (15BP). I would need to drop qualities for 10BP to drop SURGE to rating 2 (10BP). So celerity and elongated limbs would need to go.

get rid of the Elongated Limbs !
They're not worth the Trouble !

Hmmm, Mystic Adept.....
Do you expect a "long Time developement with this Char ? (a campaign that lasts for Years with dozens of Missions and lots of Karma ?)
Because developing a mystic Adept is ....cumbersome as he's an even bigger Karmasink than a Mage or pure Adept.
If you don't need to go mystic adept I'd advise you not to do it .
Astral Hazing....
besides being a " Arschlochkind" you're limiting yourself.
Astral Hazing is bad enough without your Char being awakend
but an awakend Arschlochkind/Astral Hazer.... is like being a one-Legged guy in an asskicking Competition
(with Hamorhoids ! ).
Its Your Char and your Fun but I'd advice you not to choose Astral Hazing

HokaHey
Medicineman

I always plan the development of my chars on a long-term-basis. In this respect, i am obviously quite optimistic. It takes me so long until a have the inspiration for a char i might like to play, therefore i have to plan them this way. ^^
Also, since there is the possibility to play mystic adepts, i have never played anything else, so i am used to a very slow progress. ^^ The only thing that has changed, is that i now try to create chars that are instantly playable, so that i

a) have fun playing
b) survive the time needed for development

In the past i rather had super-specialized "class-cannons", that hit the floor more often than i can count. Now i see magic more than a benefit, that pays out over time, but is not needed to run in the shadows. So no casting/summoning-focused chars anymore, i now use to play adepts (or in this case a bio-adept-combo) that will get his magic skills over time. Current status: I took mystic adept instead of adept, skipped granite shell for it, used the now available points to raise magic to 4 (2 left after bio), and logic from 2 to 3. I think now he can start. ^^

Metatype: Fomori
Body: 9
Strenght: 8
Agility: 5(7)
Reaction: 5(7)
Willpower: 4
Intuition: 4
Charisma: 1
Logic: 3

Magic: 2
Edge: 4
Essence: 4,3
Initiative: 9(11) + 1(3) Phases

Unarmed Damage: 4S
Natural Reach: +2

Gifts:
Surge 3 (Celerity, Elongated Limbs, Metagenetic Agility)
Mystic Adept

Handicaps:
Surge (Astral Hazing)
Allergy (Mycoprotein, light)
Spirit Bane
Poor Self Control (Combat-Monster)
SINer (regular)

Close Combat: 4
Athletic-Skill-Group: 3
Firearms-Skill-Group: 4
Infiltration: 3
Sneaking: 3
Heavy Weapons: 5
Etiquette (Military): 2
Perception: 4
Throwing Weapons: 3
Bladed Weapons: 4
Outdoor-Skill-Group: 1

Bioware:
- Synaptic Accelerator 2
- Synthacardium Rating 3
- Muscle Toner 2

Some knowledge skills, nothing important.

Contact:
- Fixer (4/3)

Equipment:
nothing special. Combat Axe, Ingram Smartgun, Ares Predator, Enfield, some regular and EXEX ammo, middle-class commlink without updates, etc. Fake SIN rating 4 with several licences.

I think this is playable from scratch and because there are only a few leaks I have to close, I can put aside some karma for magic stuff.

I don't want to be a Party Pooper ,but....
You need 35 Karma to raise Your MAG to 4
than another 38 to Initiate and raise Your MAG--->5
so you spent nearly 75 Karma to have an effective MAG of 1
another 46 Karma for MAG--->6 (Initiate 2)
120 Karma for an effective MAG of 2
ImO a really (!!) bad Idea
If You insist on your Char having an awakened aspect, why don't You choose latent awakening and talk to your GM,
maybe he can develop a campaign(or an adventure) that resolves around your awakening.

You could still save some Karma to get rid of Astral Hazing and for your awakening....

with a better Dance
Medicineman

Ah, sorry. I should have told you, that we increase attributes with a multiplier of 3, not 5. So the costs are somewhat "ok". And i went for mystic adept, so that i can learn geomancing - filtering...whoopey, the lost 4 PP´s are back on track. ^^

OK, so its a little bit cheaper, but nevertheless (ImO) a waste of Karma)
You can't use it unless your MAG is at least 5 and you initiate.
I think latent awakening is stll the better choice,
but I don't want to spoil your Char.If its ok for You to waste time and Karma ist ok for me too


Whmmmmm

and.... ,it still makes no sense to me.
but nevermind.
You don't need to convince me
Its Your Char and your Game
(I just try to help making him better)



HokaHey
Medicineman

You just need Mag 3, 3 initiate (Cleansing, Filtering, and whatever you like. PP or Shielding I guess are the best choices) and some levels in Counterspelling.

You have a background count of 4. With Filtering you do a Mag + Counterspelling [4(Background)-3(Initiate level)] test. And TaDa, for Mag turns no Background for you, for you only. The other awaken characters will still hate you.

THAT is the point. Being fully capable and beating the crap out of other awakened at the same time.^^ The problem was, that i had to to it this way. If i would have taken dormant genetics, the GM would have chosen which negative quality i would get. This was too unsafe. So i need to take it at character creation and with 2 PP left you don´t get very far. Therefore 2 Essence in Bioware and et voilá, un Troll-extraordinaire. ^^

@Medicineman: i really appreciate your criticism, because it is constructive. In any other case i would have agreed with you, but this was a fully conscious decision. I hope my GM appreciates it, too. ^^

I thought it over and I think according to RAW you can't initiate at all !!
your natural max MAG is 4 (because of bioware) which is reduced to 0.
But You can Initiate to the level of your MAG only.
so with MAG0 you can Initiate 0 levels....
so even if you would raise your MAG from 2 --->4 it won't do you no good

with NO Dance
Medicineman

Yeah, this is questionable. I already asked this question (i think in the astral hazing topic???) and the answer was, that you can still initiate, because initiation relates to your "real" magic attribute, not your "adjusted". It might get trougble with some rites, but all the other stuff (may it be raising magic e.g.) should work. I hope my GM sees it ths same way.

Background Count modifies your magic attribute and does not permanently reduce your magic attribute. Yes, it maybe that you cannot use any magical abilities, if the background count is too high. But should the GM rule that learning something about yourself and magic is a magical ability, you can just pay another mage to accompany you and clean up your background, and you will be just fine.

No, you don't need to downgrade the level of the SURGE quality. Runner's Companion, page 73: "Metagenetic qualities chosen in this fashion do not count toward the 35 BP cap on qualities, as long as they remain within the totals defined by the Changeling quality. If the player chooses Metagenetic qualities with a total BP value greater than the given thresholds, the excess cost or bonus BP count toward the character’s normal limits for qualities." Just the total BP cost of metagenetic qualities matters, not how the individual qualities... fit within the 10/20/30 BP thresholds. So...

Positive Qualities: SURGE 3 (15) & Mystic Adept (10) = 25 BP

Metagentic Qualities (must take 30 BP worth) : Elongated Limbs* (5), Metagenetic Attribute (20), Dermal Alteration: Granite Shell (15) = 40 BP spent from your required 30 BP

* Or Celerity, as Medicineman suggested.

Grand total : 25 BP from Positive Qualities + 10 BP from excess Metagenetic Qualities = 35 BP spent on Positive Qualities

If you just went Adept & SURGE 3 (Metagenetic Attribute & Granite Shell), you've spent 25 BP for Positive Qualities. If you went with Adept & SURGE 2 (Metagenetic Attribute & Granite Shell) as you think you must do, you've now spent 30 BP for Positive Qualities instead.