My. God. I had no idea it'd get like this. Thanks guys. For my actual char, I'd probably be using less 'ware, no magic, no bio. More grit than munch, but thanks to you guys I now have a better idea of the possibilities. I think I figured that with only priority B in Resources I could get about 16-17 soaking dice, which isn't too bad with some armor thrown in.

The idea was for actually two trolls, immigrants, who don't speak much English and are running the shadows to send money home to their ma. Now I've just gotta figure out his bro. How sneaky can a troll be?

Zeel: Don't forget that Ghouls lose 1 essence, dropping you right back where you started. Also, phenotypic alteration only raises the RML, it doesn't actually allow you to put any more attribute points into it at start.

Nice try, though. I think mine might be as far as you can push it and still be strictly legal-- munchkinous, but unarguably canon. I invite anyone who wants to borrow that layout to have fun; it's one hell of a one-trick pony.

Uberjoel: I just happened to be working on my "generic troll" setup today. I'll post him here for your perusal.

Name: "Generic Troll #23"

Body 12 +4 12(16)
Quickness 5 0 5
Strength 11 0 11
Charisma 1 0 1
Intelligence 4 0 4
Willpower 4 0 4
Essence 6 1.27
Run Mult. 3
Magic -2 0 0
BioIndex 0 0 3.4
Reaction 6 (2) 6 (
Init. Dice 1 (1) 1(2)

Active Skills
Clubs(STR) [6]
Off-Hand Clubs(STR)/Riot Shields [4/6]
Shotguns(QCK) [5]
Projectile Weapons(STR)/Pull Bows [4/6]
Athletics(BOD) [4]
Pistols (QCK) [1]
Stealth(QCK)/Sneaking [2/4]
Etiquette(CHA) [1]

Bioware:
Suprathyroid
Orthoskin 2
Enhanced Articulation
Calciotonin Synthesis

Cyberware:
Titianum Bone lacing
Smartlink 2
Flare comp (Retinal mod)
Wired Reflexes 1

Edges/Flaws
Incompetence: Pistols -2
High Pain Tolerance 1: +2

As you can see, he's devestating in melee combat; standard loadout is a riot shield in the off hand and stun baton as primary. That way, he best exploits the shield penalty in his favor, adding +2 to his opponent's TN's while being able to reduce his via Reach. The pull bow skill becomes truly evil when combined with a Ranger-X bow and dikoted EX-Explosive arrows; his arrows can shoot through armored vehicles.

And speaking of armor, his BVD armor (Armor rating when wearing normal underwear) is 2/2. We add FFBA 3 and an armored jacket to this, and we have a street layout of 9/5, with no penalty. For our "Sublety not required" missions, we add the aforementioned Ballistic shield and a security helmet* for a total loadout of 13/8. You will be losing combat pool at this point, but you hardly need it; I've successfully soaked 17D hits using straight body.

*Yes, I know you can't start with a security helmet. However, you can pay down the availiability, so for a measely 3,125:nuyen: you'll have an availiability of 2, easily done in game.

Aptitude: Stealth helps with theft or alertness, but is not that useful for sneaking, which is an open test. For sneaky characters, my favorite two Edges are Blandness and Poor Link.

A troll's main disadvantages in sneaking are his size and higher Signature to be detected by sensors. But a troll can start out with a 6 in Stealth just like anyone else. Ruthenium or camouflage suits help, as well as thermal dampening.

A mundane can start with an effective Stealth of 10 - skillwires + CED: 3 + enhanced articulation, although I personally dislike using skillwires for core character competencies such as etiquette and stealth.

An adept can start with 12, of course, using Improved Ability/Stealth. They also have powers such as spell shroud, sixth sense, and traceless walk which are useful.

Mages can use invisibility and stealth spells, or have a spirit use its concealment power on them (if a shaman). Also, spells like oxygenate (to breathe underwater) or levitate (to fly) can get them into hard-to-reach areas, while spells like alter memory or influence can be used to cloud the minds of security personnel, or even subvert them into helping you.