Hi,

I'm the teacher of a roleplaying-class in a danish school. The season has just started and I've decided that we're going to play Shadowrun. We had our first session today and it seemed like they catching on pretty good. We played Cyberpunk 2020 last year and this year I wanted to try a game that accomodated their rather "cinematic" approach.

The problem is that I haven't got the time or the inclination to make characters for all of them, so I wondered if any of you people feel like making one or more characters for them....just the number-crunshing bit. I'm GM and I don't mind munchin-characters as long as they abide by the creation rules. Number-crunch away!

The rules are:
1. No albinos (it's a silly rule)
2. Maximum 6 points of edges and flaws. They doesn't need to balanced.
3. Building points: 123.
4. No initiation at character-creation.
5. No metahuman variants.

The award is to hear the tales of your creation as it is played by a 14 year old with me as his gamemaster. I'll post resumees of the sessions in here as the game progresses.

The characters they want to play are:
John: Human Stealth Mage
Daniel: Elven Stealth/Covert Ops
Mikkel: Elven Face/Fixer
Jesper: Elven Elementalist(fire) Mage
Mikael: Dwarven Rigger
Janus: Human Decker
Rene: Human Street Samurai
Peter: Human Face/Fixer

Feel free to ask any questions; and thanks


Adhoc

Role-Playing class? Can I transfer?

Wait a sec, you're getting paid to teach RPGs to people???

Where do I sign up?!?!

I'll be back with a few stat sets.

First, John (feel free to change what doesn't seem right):
He can and will get past any security. By stealth and sorcery when possible, by blatant explosions if nothing else works:


And now, a professional liar: (Peter for those who want to fill in the empty slots before duplicating results)

Which books should we consider to be available when designing these chars? The core rules, Man & Machine, Magic in the Shadows, Cannon Companion, State of the Art: 2063?

I have dibs on the sammie!

Compulsive -1 : Compulsive Do-it-yourselfer when competent
Sensative Neural Structure - 4
Distinctive Style -1 : always wears the neo-anarchist logo somewhere, made from bits of stolen corp property (a bit of ballistic thread, or some snatched paint)


edges:
2 for exceptional attrib S
4 for aptitude bow

30 points for resources

+5 Q +1B +5S + 6R +2d6 Init - 600k
l4 bioware muscle aug and toning
Enhanced Articulation 40k (+ 1 die to all physical action tests)
suprathyroid gland 50k (+ 1 signature)
l2 wired reflexes alpha

Alpha Replacement cyber eyes . 16 ess 44k total

mounting:
thermo .16
lowlight .16
imaging 3 electronic : .08
microscopic vision : .08

+smartlink2 with rangefinder alpha

5.2 bio index 3.08 ess


total, 655k

estimated 50-80k for weapons

735K


+140k permanent low lifestyle with 40% extra for thryoid costs
+ 70k for machine shop, micro machining, and chemshop

945K

58 for attribs..

Body 4 +1
Quickness 4 +5 ->9
Strength {5 + 5 bioware} 10
Charisma 5
Will 4
Intelligence 6

Reaction 12 + 3d6
Combat pool dice 10

31 skill

5 (7 spec) projectile weapons, bow
5 (7 spec) edged weapon, katana
6 demolitions
5 ettiquette
5 b\r- bows
5 athletics

30 knowledge skill points

6 toymaking
5 (7 spec) stone work, obsidian
6 chemistry
6 machining
6 fletching

9 Language points

6 English
dialect 3 ( engineering +3)

Bow Tn mods
-3 baseline (SL 2 + Aptitude)
{-1 for Long
-2 for extreme}
or
{Shift TNs three range categories down}

weapons
Ranger X bow, str min 10. (str +4)M
arrows with Obsidian shelled explosive heads (+ 2 Damage level (flechette style damage after armor piercing, and 2 micron edge for obsidian), + 2 power) (using mono fil rules... halve impact armor for resist, but double barrier ratings)
Dikoted Obsidian Katana (Str+4) D (2 micron edge equivalent to monofil whip + Dikoting)
Caltrops loaded with C4, (Depleted uranium core, lead shell, creates a self-forging fragment and launches it upward at mach 4 or so. (Target's Body +6 )D
(as it obviously pulverizes the leg completely)

This is a revision of my standard character, slightly decrazified. All the weapons are based on actual weapons theory, function properly in the real world, and have actually been over-costed. This char also aims to get a hold of a security helmet containing vision mag, so that he can exploit the one loophole the FAQ left.... (as you can't really call a visor a scope...)

final request. don't shoot me for posting this please?

All the rules are taken into account? You're really exposing 14-year-olds to all of Rigger 3, MIJI, and so forth?

~J, sadistically considering taking a shot at the rigger

how's that sammie look? too broken?

I'd drop Demolitions and give him a gun skill, probably Assault Rifles or SMGs. Most people think guns and sword when they think sammie, and with the bow skill covering the pistols aspect, a FA weapon is in order, me thinks.

I kinda agree...but at the same time, I sort of feel that with a FA weapon you lose some of your honor, and to a certain degree betray the character... in essence this is a traditional samurai, updated with cybernetics and forged into a magnificent if slightly inefficient killing machine.

On the other hand, if he's going to be used by a beginner, I think maybe you're right and he should have some support for the heavier weapons in life. Something with an actual FA function, but not a heavy weapon under the rules, as those have innumerable complications. or you can go with

Ares Sharkfin assault carbine

4.65kg

11 S burst.

conceal 7

six compensation

gas vent l 4
no FA
improved FCU 1 (.25)
barrel reduction
bullpup
personal grip
ceramic 1 (+2 for mad)
smart link 2 external

weight decrease -2kg

593 BpV

2965 avail 8/40 days street index 4

I recommend some FA weapon though, as the bow will kill anything you'd use the sharkfin on.

I guess I'll take Daniel. I'm thinking of making an adept, although it might be a bit tight fitting in all the necessary skills. We'll see.

Okay, here's what I have. He's loosely based on Ghost from the old Infiltration Challenge thread.



Still working on the gear. Anyone have any ideas? Should I only be spending 20k on gear instead?

ruthenium sneak suit. the scanners make it expensive, but it's very worth it. always buy a coat to go with your armor, even if it won't apply, layering wise. it improves concealability and can be cinched up to keep it from making noise. rappelling gear. grappel stick. com device with decryption software. high-bandwidth com device with a dataport jack to allow a decker to remote insert via limited penetration ops. a little c4, it's cheap and very very useful, not just for eliminating targets. besides, it's hard to get once you hit the street. grenades, particularly flash grenades and white phosphorous. Nothing gets security's attention like a fire on the other side of the building. maglock breaker. In fact, take some cute flaws, and up your resources.

then get clean metabolism bioware (eliminates distinctive smell), enhanced artic. an alpha body compartment for a fingerprint scanner rating 6, an alpha datajack, and an alpha knowsoft link. Geas and rock on off.

I'll take Mikkel then, the elven face/fixer.
But, with the human face/fixer in the same team, i'll make it a little more street-spirit. (I'm good at that )

Editing ASAP
EDIT

Elven face/fixer
Pacific -2
Dependent NPC -2 (family)
Amnesia -2
[those two are for the GM, just ways to involve the player fast and coming with a big shock after a few run, make the background to fit in your campagn]
Connected +3 : Buy
Good Reputation 2 +2
Good Looking & Knowing It +1


Body 4
Quickness 5
Strength 3
Charisma 8
Intelligence 6
Willpower 6

Etiquette/Street 5/7
Negociation/Bribe 3/5
Intimidation/Mental 2/4
Interrogation/Verbal 2/4
Submachine Gun 3 +1
Cyberimplant/Oral Slasher 2/4 +1
Athletics 3 +1
Stealth 3 +1
Computer 3 +1
Electronics 3 +1
Electronics B/R 3 +1
Lockpicking 3 +1

Safehouse location 3
Seattle Underground 3
Gang Identification 4
Fences 4
Mechanical traps 3
Humanis Policlub 3
Gambling 5
Great names in the Shadows/Seattle 2/4

English/Citspeak 2/4
Japanese 3
Spanish 3
Italian 2


Oral Slasher + venom Sack (for last resorts)
smartlink 2 (if he's not fast, he can shoot straight)
Enhanced Articulation (cause that's great)


For the gear, I would say some SMG custom, some armor like camosuits, some B&E, and anything you want.
I would save 100.000 for contacts, and take something like 10 level 1, and 5 level 2.


That's definetly not the same level that the human face, but he will be more Jack of all trade, which is good in the streets.
And for the gear to get first, I would say Mnemonic Enhancer 3, for the low cost and avaibility, comparing to the pheromones. And, besides, a +1 for all Knowledges, +3 for linguo, and -1 karma pts for developping skills, that will do quite a difference for a new character.

I'm sure there's a lot of potential I left out of my stats for the human face. He's basically a high set of socail skills, a few edges, 945,000 in contacts and a heavy pistol.

Just as a note to Adhoc, I did not count free contacts with either of the number sets I provided, so they should each get another 2 level 1 contacts of whatever type makes sense. I also wasn't sure of a good set of knowledge skills for the face. He has 25 points to divvy up, I'd suggest psychology, and some specialized to organizations that may prove helpful.

Is there anything desired for Mikael past "Dwarf Rigger"?

~J

I'll have a go at Jesper's mage. I'm not sure if you meant a fire elemental mage or a fire elementalist, so I'll give you both versions (the elemental mage is far less limited, if you ask me).

First, the fire elementalist:



Now, the fire elemental mage:

Edited my post.
here are a few notes.
He's not a face as we're used to see, better think of it as a street-face, someone the gangs/dealers/other streetguys go visit when they need something that cannot fall of the truck.

hey adhoc? are we allowed 6 total edge and flaw points or six points of each?

I just love he nuclear-propulsed caltrops !

And you forget one thing, Austere, as a human, he can't have Strenght 10 with bioware, max 9.

On the dikoting of obsidian:

Sure, I don't see why you can't dikote obsidian. Makes sense. But bear in mind dikote only adds to an object's hardness, it doesn't make it *absolutely* hard. You pit a thin diamond film over something as brittle as obsidian, and it'll become only about as brittle as hard porcelain.

Which is to say, it'll still shatter when you hit someone with it. That first shot'll be a beauty, but anything past that...

Not to digress too far, but can one dikote weapon focus, or would that throw off their purity?

I dunno about all the other stuff, but there is no way a "micron edge" would use monofilament rules for damage. First off, I seriously doubt that obsidian, even dikoted, could ever hold a micron edge, let alone keep is for more than one strike with a blade. Secondly, a microns-thick edge has nothing on monowire. That stuff is on the nanometer scale when it comes to thickness, on the order of a hundred to a thousand times sharper. You're dreaming if you think you can duplicate that effect with dikoted obsidian.

The finest surgical scalepls in use today have hand chipped flint and obsidian blades. Their cutting edges are a single atom thick. They're also not resuable in the least.

Sargasso: I would allow it before enchanting, but as a super highly processed material, it would be a bitch to make it work.

I wouldn't allow it after the fact.

ummm they blow up once they punch in. it's pretty simple to rig.
as for my rules-fu I apologize if the char is a lil glitched in that respect, his initial build was not (he had both exceptional and bonus).... I'll go fix that now.

we could argue about the legality of the weapons all day, but as noted, he can build them himself, so one way or another he ends up using them. As such, the game rules HAVE to model them.

the problem is that it doesn't model the fact that they're about 1000x sharper than normal arrows, and that obsidian DOES flechette when it blows up. basically you've launched a monomolecular tipped arrow at someone, it rips into them, then the charge in the arrow blows up, flechetting it.

Nor does the special ammunition of the Barrett M121 model the fact that they should crack open light APCs with ease. Nor does the armor system model the fact that someone wearing Heavy Security Armor with a Helmet should take less damage from a shotgun shot round at 90 meters than someone wearing thick winter clothing.

Them's the rules.

As for the realistic side of things, them being that sharp wouldn't matter much. At the rate soft body armor technology is improving now, the arrows would be shattered against any armor -- you'd want a much harder point. Once the explosive charge goes off it's no different from any explosive arrow.

Interesting claims. Where is it stated how sharp a standard Ranger-X arrow is in SR? Therefore, how can you tell what sharpness multiplier to use?

Dikote adds one to power and one to damage level of regular arrcows. Make the obsidian arrows the same with a chance of doing 2 damage levels lower and passing through an unarmored target. Any impact armor negates this chance and ensures that the arrow will shatter. Toss in a bit about the shreds being able to do additional damage if not removed magically or by a skilled madic.

Keep in mind that this would be a house rule, and any GM can forbid it just as any other house rule. A GM can even whim that the obsidian arrow heads do less damage than a regular arrow and can't be reused. GM whim overrides whatever you think you know about physics.

An arrow isn't an "edged instrument", so it should get only +1 Power from Dikote, no extra DL.

AE, it is if he uses a broadhead and not a "target bullet". Even so you can still get spiral-edged "target bullet" points for arrows (increases the spin, doncha know).

Bugger, didn't the rule book first. But I'd have to a broadhead is edged, anyway we're still a bit housey at this point

Good point, a broadhead is edged. It's a separate arrowhead option, though, and quite counterproductive to armor penetration. For comparison against obsidian arrows, non-edged arrowheads are probably better.

I just assumed the obsidian arrow heads were broadheads. I don't understand how he would have enough space/material from a target point.

Oh, leaf/inverse heart broadheads have quite a fine point to pierce tough hide/leather, so a variation on this design.

A flat-cross section point that widens slowly at first to maintain armour penetration, the micro-delay explosive head housed in the wider base then fires mono-filament/obsidian particles in a open-choke shotgun effect through the new hole in the armour?

Using an arrow and arrow heads much more room for specialist effects. Ultra-light arrows are hollow carbon-fibre tubes with an aluminium core. Replace the alu-core with something nasty?

...was going to reply in depth, but we've hijacked this thread enough. Time to give it back to Adhoc, and take the obsidian arrow stuff elsewhere.

For those who lost track, let's list which roles already have stats.

I put some numbers for John and Peter.
Zenmaxer may have put together stats for Rene.
Eyeless Blond did most of the stats for Daniel, I think gear purchases are still needed.
GenoSicK worked out Mikkel.
Glyph made two versions of Jasper.

Then we started arguing if Zenmaxer's character design was legal.

This leaves:
Mikael: Dwarven Rigger, claimed by Kagetenshi but not yet completed
Janus: Human Decker

without any numbers yet.

I'm working on a few variants for Mikael, varying in complexity.

~J

The decker's a bit of an odd one. Should we give him a deck to start off with, or be a little controversial and forgo the deck and just make him a techie-type until he finds a deck in-game? The main issue here is that, unless the GM allows both Masking Mode *and* the optional rule allowing Hacking Pool to be used to increase DF, noone with a starting deck will be able to do any of the really interesting stuff that a decker should be able to at least attempt, like Matrix Overwatch, spoofing the security cameras, etc.

Check out man and machine. Give the decker a cranial cyberdeck, along with the classics: headware memory, math spu, etc. even if it's a bad cranial deck, it will remain a useful backup forever.

Oh, right, the gear! Almost forgot about that. I'll wrap that up later on this afternoon, if noone else gets to it first. That ruthenium's a very good idea, although the cyber/bio perhaps not so much; I can't think of a power I'd want to geas, even if artwinkulation's a good thing to get.

One thing I might consider, though, is putting a talisman geas on the Improved Reflexes to get another .75 PP to spend. Do you thnk that would be a good idea?

Why is Elf 15 points all of a sudden?

~J