Any role in Shadowrun (at least in SR4, looks like it's harder for some roles in SR5) can be filled with just a few BP/karma. It won't be as efficient as a character who focuses only on this role, but it will do the job most of the time.
Some roles are easier to "multiclass" than others, and Face is one of them. However it's still possible to have a character who focuses only on the facing. For example you can invest in ware/powers/spells and knowledge skill (or knowsofts) to be able to alter your appearance, look like anyone else and even act the part, or you can invest in hacking abilities in order to be able to dig up the dirt or supplement your social engineering.
But to me, playing a Face is more about the approach than about the stats. Many runs can be solved by having the Face get other people to do the job for the team (without paying them, or not as much as the team is payed), and many situations can be solved using social skills (and sometimes a few extra tricks like illusions or drones with loudspeakers and/or holographic projectors). In "Style Over Substance" (link in signature), I've written some stuff to give inspiration for this kind of mindset.
EDIT: The part I had in mind (Shadowtalks are mostly unattributed)
QUOTE
Master of Puppets
I don't like using guns, or any kind of violence. It's highly dangerous, uncertain and
worst of all, tiring. There's always the stealthy way to do things, but that's even more
tiring, having to evade all these surveillance systems and patrols... I prefer to do
things like riggers do: sending someone else to do the job. But since I relate better to
people than to machines, I send (meta)humans rather than drones. I don't hack their
brains, or cast spell at them. I just know how to ask them to do it. And that's what
I'm going to explain to you here. It's not so complicated. All you need to do is think
like a face, prepare like a face, and act like a face.
Thinking like a face: When Mr. Johnson gives you the mission, many people ask
about the physical, matricial and magical security. Then they try to find how to do it.
They ask about physical, matrix and magical security and try to find ways around it.
You shouldn't. What you should ask yourself is “who could do it?”, because you know
who walks around the physical, matrix and magical securities all day long? The people
doing business there.
Let's take a few examples: the classic “steal the prototype” run. Can't you just get
someone who works at the place where it is to send it to another place for one reason
or another? The “investigate this” can sometimes be delegated to the local police or
other people who'd have an interest in knowing the truth (as long as there's no
damage done to the client). Hell, I even did a wetjob by convincing the target to do
something that led to his accidental death.
And that's not just for the mission itself, but for many smaller aspects too. For
example let's say that confrontation with a group is inevitable. Rather than going in
guns blazing, you can send people there (for example cops for a mafia operation or a
rival gang for a gang) or you can find ways to win the fight without fighting it. You can
do this by pretending you've got a huge advantage (illusions can be useful for this) or
if the enemy group is too eager for combat, by making them fight amongst
themselves.
So in all situations ask yourself: “who can I get to do what I need?” and “what would
get him/her to do it?” and finally “how can I do that?”
Prepare like a face
As we've seen, you have to focus on the people. And just like the hacker will probe
the nodes he might have to hack and the mage will make an astral recon on thee
target, you'll have to do some background checks. And just like the hacker or the
mage, sometimes you'll have the time, and sometimes you won't.
If you've got time, try to get the profile of the people you might meet. Two important
things to know are their psychological and social profile. The first is about their
personality: are they introverts or outgoing, are they dominant or submissive, are
they pragmatists or idealists and so on. The second is about the groups they belong to
and how they rate themselves inside that group, what they think of other groups,
which groups they want to be part of and so on. With both, you should have at least
an idea on what's the best approach to adopt. Knowing their story is always a plus:
not only can it help you establish these two profiles, but it can also give you elements
to use to approach them. Look for things they're not proud of. You can use these
either to make him do something as an atonement for it, or to blackmail him.
There are many different ways to get data one someone, but searching the Matrix is
still – in most cases - the fastest and easiest. Some people share a lot about their
private lives on the Matrix, making them easy targets, but that's not the case
everywhere. If they don't but have a SIN, they leave a digital trace nearly everywhere
they go, and parts of these traces are very easy to access with little to no hacking
expertise. Purchases data are both easy to get (shops need to be able to access them
to offer specific advertising) and very useful. With some knowledge (and a good
analysis software) you can easily get someone's psychological and social profile with
just these. If they don't have SIN, things get trickier, and you sometimes won't find
anything at all on the Matrix. In that case, just do it the old-fashioned way by nosing
around his neighborhood or tailing him.
If you don't have time, that's another story. They say not to judge a book by its cover
but that's exactly the best thing to do in a pinch. Seriously, most people don't try to
deceive you with their appearance. Quite the opposite, actually. They'll often try to
affirm their identity as much as possible in their style, from the way they dress to the
way they talk or even walk. Even if they're in a constrained environment (a place with
a dress-code and or where social interaction are following a protocol), they'll try to
express their individuality with some trinket or another. Of if they don't, then it shows
something about them as well. I can't teach you how to gather all the necessary
information just by looking at someone, that's something you need to train. But once
you know how, you can get a pretty good idea of someone's social groups just by
looking at him for a few minutes.
This is less true in the Shadows, and in some higher society circles, where
many people adopt deceiving looks to get an advantage over people who
think they know them.
>>
Act like a face
Now that you know who your target is, it won't be hard to find how to best
approach him. Now it's a matter of using the tools you have at hand. You'd want to
give yourself the appearance that will fit the best. That's when spells, powers,
implants or disguise kits and adaptative clothes come in handy. And then... you're on
your own. There are some many ways to persuade someone, and each case is
different, so I wouldn't be able to give you a complete list on how to speak to
someone.
Unless the person has been warned recently, is paranoid, is expecting trouble,
is used to people like you or is actively looking for cons, he will take him some time to
realize that you're trying to fool him. You can raise your chances by giving him the
impression that whatever you want is in his best interest. So even if you make some
mistakes, don't follow exactly the protocol and so on, the person will think you're tired
or just incompetent before thinking you could be trying to deceive him.
It's a bit like people will check your fake SIN a second time when the first
check has raised an error rather than consider it's a fake. That's because
most of the time, they've got legimitate customers using real SINs, so when
they've got a problem, chances are it's a false alarm rather than a real one.
>>
Unless you're ork.
>>
So keep your calm and don't pull a gun as soon as something wrong happens.
If the shit does hit the fan and the person starts threatening to call security, either
remain calm all along - if you've got a way to explain yourself with security -, or just
leave quietly. Most people don't want the hassle of calling cops/security, if they can
get you to leave, they'll be happy enough. And that's when you can't save the
situation. So keep your calm.
Adepts powers, spells, ware or drugs can help for this, but if you want to go
all the way, you can use a personafix. You'll be completely convinced that
you're who you're supposed to be. The problem is that you can start acting
in the interests of your personafix rather than your own.
>>
Yeah, right... do the job chipped, what could possibly go wrong?
>>
I guess this covers the basics. Once you've mastered this, you can start trying
it with chain reactions: pushing someone in one direction so that he pushes someone
else in another direction and so on, until everything fall into place and you smile in
your chair saying “everything is going according to the plan” (or laugh diabolically if
you're so inclined).
You forgot something crucial in the “act like a face” section!
>>
What?
>>
Take credit for everything that goes in your way even when you're not
responsible for it.
>>