Got a 4e game coming up, and I'm filling the role of party face, and face-breaker. Focus is on being a tough guy but the party needs some one to do the talking, and their characters are too anti-social and or paranoid to fill the role. Concept is a heavily augmented Oni, Ork metavariant. Low-to-mid level Yakuza enforcer. Game is set in Seattle and he's associated with the sect of Yakuza who are begrudgingly accepting metahumans. He's ethnically Japanese and takes pride in working with the Yakuza, sharing their values on tradition and honor. He's strong, and determined, but also has a soft side for the lower caste and children. He's the type of guy who'll leave a dish of food out for the stray cats, after a night of breaking people's limbs for failing to repay their yakuza debts. He enjoys drinking, smoking, fast motorcycles and karaoke. As long as you stay on his good side (and his employer's) he's a nice guy to have around. Gregarious and kind, if a bit short tempered some times.

Build 400 BP
Metavariant : Oni [-25]
Attributes: [-200]
Nuyen: 250,000 [-50]
Positive Qualities: Bilingual [-5], Made Man [-10], Restricted Gear x3 [-15]
Negative Qualities: Moderate Addiction: Nicotine (gets edgy with out his cigs)[+10], SINNER (Criminal record. Street Racing, Fighting/Assault charges in Japan) [+10], Thrill-seeker [+5], Vindictive [+10]

Body: 6 [-20]
Agility: 5 [-40]
Reaction: 3 [-20]
Strength: 5 [-20]
Charisma: 4 [-30]
Intuition: 4 [-30]
Logic: 2 [-10]
Willpower: 4 [-30]

Augmentations
Wired Reflexes rating 2
Muscle Toner rating 4
Tailored Pharamones rating 3
Bone Density rating 2
(Might drop Muscle Toner down to 3, and take Suprathyroid Gland to raise agi, one and boost the other physicals stats).

Remaining nuyen for gear, guns and lifestyle.

130 BP to spend on contacts and skills. Aiming for Influence group of around 3. Automatics and Dodge will be the two 5s, followed by pilot ground vehicles at 3 or 4. Some unarmed and basic perception.

Its been a long day so if my math is off feel free to let me know. I'm not 100% on the augs. That's an awful lot and leaves me with very little essence. I'd love some critique and or ideas on how to improve/optimize this guy.

TLRD; Street Samurai with a minor in face. What can I do to optimize his augmentations? Are my attributes alright? Whats some good gear i should consider?

.Addiction to Nicotine is not valid By RAW..(BBB p.93.." Nicotine, coffee and sugar do not count" )

Ah ok thank you. I'll switch it to some illegal drug like Cram or something.

..i would upgrade Will to 5 (point from AGI . i think AGI 8 is enough... (Resist Addiction/ Vindictive/Thrill Seeker),Guts-Quality ??
..giving points from STR to Reaction ( 5(7) ) and add Muscle Augmentation lvl 2..
..Dropping Bone Density, ( getting it in game) using money and bp's to somethig else..( rent,car,good commlink etc..)

..as Oni u are qualified to take metageneti qualities wo/ SURGE. instead vindictive / Thrill seeker/ Criminal SIN ( Changing it to regular Sin)
Impaired Attribute ( permanently decrease max Body 9 (13) to ( 8 (12) ), Impaired Strenght 8 (12) to 7 (10)..those are permanent qualities and can NOT be bought off .. (From Rummer's Companion p.118) ( 5 BP each)

..Made Man...(IMOO) needed too much time to worrk for Yaks.. ( i hope investing for Sleep Regulator)
..Notariety is pretty high right from a start ( Addiction + Criminal Sin..)
.
.ask Your Gm about Cybersuit (saves money and essence) (add. datajack,ears and eyes as Cybersuit, if GM allow add Wited reflexes ( if enough money and GM allow Reaction Enchanter lvl 1/lvl 2 )
..Decent vehicle ( Hyundai Shin-Hyung)
..2 suits.. 1 for Generic Meetings, 1 for High Class Meetings w/ Extrra Mods and Parts.

1. Actioneer Business Clothes ( w/ Carrbon - boron Infusion) ( From Attitude),R6 Chemical Protection
FFBA ( Full) w/ R6 Nonconductivity
Shin guards w/ R6 Fire Resistance
Leg & Arms casings
Forearm Guards w/ R6 Insulation
Vitals Protection w/ Carbon - Boron Infusion

Armor: 15/!13 ( counted as 12/12)

2. Mortimer of London Suit Jacket w/ carbon - boron Infusion
Mortimer of London Shirt w/ R6 Chemical Protection
Mortimer of London Trousers
FFBA (Full) w/ R6 Nonconductivity
Shin Guards w/ R6 Fire Resistance
Leg & Arms Casings
Forearm Guards w/ R6 Insulation
Vitals Protection w/ carbon Boren Infusion

Armor: 15/13 ( counted as 12/12)

Restricted Gear is usually not worth it, unless you'll be too poor to upgrade 'ware in-game (although that is far more common than it should be). And if you're going to take it, go for better reflexes instead of muscles. The muscles take way too much essence.

I'd agree with going for Suprathyroid Gland, probably in-game. I don't think restricted gear will let you get a piece of availability 20 gear, talk to your GM.

You might at least want to start statting out skills before you determine how high you want stats. If you aren't going to be the face, you've spent a huge percent of your starting resources (44/270 so far is over 16%) on a secondary skill. If you can afford taking the charisma skillgroup at 5, you've done well (12 dicepool is usually a good starting level for a primary skill, and you can get another 1 skill, 1 stat, and 2 spec, so you aren't maxed out yet).

Looking at your background, Code of Honor might make more sense than Vindictive or Thrill Seeker (although that's a fun terrible quality), but that's just based on your description of taking care of the weak. I can't find the book for that right now, so someone will have to check to see if there is a Code that fits your character.

..Muscles take too much essence? M.Augmentation 0.2 e/ rating.and even that is halved if cyberware essence lost is greater / and it is to him..
..by RAW Skill Groups are limited to R4 in charc.creation..

I've never taken Addiction on one of my characters before, so I never noticed that. However, that's an extremely dumb rule.

Hang on, I'm going to look this up in the rules. Ok, SR4A Core Rules, p. 93, "Addiction"...

"A character with the Addiction quality is addicted to alcohol, drugs, BTL chips, or a similar substance with a detrimental effect on the character’s health (note that nicotine, caffeine, and sugar do not count)."

Cigarettes don't qualify as highly addictive and highly harmful?! BULLSHIT!

Thanks for pointing that out - so that I can correct this in our House Rules.

I think they should have clarified it in as harmful in a short period of time. Smoking a single cigarette won't cause a heart attack, but smoking a crack pipe might.

Also what does cigs do? Cause cancer. Big whoop... get new lungs.

Tell that to the good friend of mine who died a few years ago. He was a long time smoker who died of brain cancer. New lungs wouldn't have saved him.

I'm sorry for your friend, and I was not trying to make light of anyone's death So again, I apologize.

Now if this world had the technology of Shadowrun earth, he could have had that cancer cured with no real problem. Might have been expensive, but he could still have had it fixed.

Muscle replacement is 1 essence per point. Bioware is much less essence than muscle replacements. 15k and 0.4 essence for standard bioware (+1 agi and +1 str), vs 5k and 1.0 essence standard. Even alphaware (best starting) cyber is 0.8 essence (double bioware) for 10k (2/3 the cost). Cyber is supposed to be cheap and more available. The only benefit is, if you are determined to max out strength and agility at chargen, you only need one restricted gear to bump both stats. You only get +1 point (max 16 availability, and it's 5 avail per point) with cyber or bioware.

I also mis-remembered, and you can take max tailored pheromones at chargen.

As for addictions, when your lifespan is measured in months instead of decades, long-term problems like disease isn't a concern. Running: Live hard and leave a beautiful corpse.