I was just wondering what everyone thought of when they think Adept. I always though of adept as kind of like neo from the matrix, minus the flying part.

Same here, but I also thought of adepts as Jet Li and Jackie Chan-type characters, with outlandish stunts and stuff.

I think of something between all of the free people, and the agents, from the matrix (minus Neo once he becomes "the one").

Or for those of you who are anime fans Vash from Trigun.

I agree, Vash = way of the gun adept.

Probably because I always play off-the-wall adepts, but I don't have an instant mental image of an adept.

Except, perhaps, highly specialized.

-Siege

yeah that's always the image i get, someone jumping around doing crazy stunts and fighting like 8 people at once and not getting anything worse than a bloody nose like neo, jackie chan or jet li

Ninjas.

Two ninjas.

Yu Ominae or Jean Jaquemonde from Spriggan for general combat, Oboro from Spriggan for Unarmed/Killing Hands combo with Delay Damage occasionally tossed in, or Koichi Moroha for Killing Hands/Distance Strike combo.

~J

Physads look like Tadashi Yamashita. Each and every one.

Yeah, the characters from Spriggan are a good example. I don't really have a clear image that comes to mind though, because adepts can be quite different..

I don't think of Neo, but that's just because the character has no personality.

Used to be that the general stereotype of adept was the martial artist/Bruce Lee one- things like the archetype from the main book being armed with pointy sticks and a couple billiard balls with not a gun in sight didn't help.

Adepts are generally my favourite type of characters. I don't really have an exact mental image, more like a general one- that of their being super charged humans as it were. I tend to go for adept street sam types so that generally comes to the fore, although those bloody martial artists are hard to shake. Variety is what really come to mind most, examples like past PC's that had a blues singer with Improved Ability: Guitar as a side-skill/interest or the ex-merc with Improved Ability: Mortars.

Generalists. A little reaction, a little IA:Skill, a little Imp. Attr., a little sensory enhancement. And, of course, Pain Resistance.

Initiates get enhanced centering (plus centering and masking metamagic) and improvements to the above.

Adepts can be anything... that's one reason I'm not happy with the canon powers list, because they're all understandably combat oriented. I think sota 2064 may change this...

but for me, one of my favorite "stock adepts" is the cyborg ninja from MGS. I call the cyborged adepts razor angels and they've become almost an archetype in some of my campaigns. The brutalized veteran who has pushed onward in pursuit of his art even though his talent is locked behind geas, or the unbeaten monk who, frustrated with the frailties of flesh, has pushed himself beyond the meat he was born with.

First thought. What type of adept.

I have seen 2 played. One was mine and he came of as a troll from the barons without an assessing test you wouldn’t be able to tell he was magical.

The other was based on buffy

Generally I assume that without assessing there is no way to tell the difference between an adept and somebody that is just that good (and has wires & bio). Pick another archetype from game or movie as the basis for personality, looks and style (or make something up).

Adept dose not come with a pre-packaged style the way heretics and shamans often do.

Edward

Gramaton Cleric from Equilibrium. Definately a Way of the Gun adept!

A lot of comics/movie examples come to my mind when I think of Adepts...a little bit of Wolverine (enhanced senses, high recuperation rate, resistance to toxins), Daredevil or Elektra (Frank Miller's, not that stupid Jenny Gardner character) (once again senses, absolute body control and enhanced martial skills), Bullseye or the psychokiller in Desperado (Danny Trejo) (for Missile Mastery), of course all those kick artists we love to see in movies from Bruce Lee to Jet Lee or steven seagal (nah...just kiddin' chummers), Matrix characters, Blade or that katana-totting asian guy in Blade 2, Bale's Equilibrium Cleric Preston,..
But I agree with people who said that all Adepts are not Bruce Lee lookalikes...think about an Athabaskan or Inuit survivalist with Traceless Walk, Temperature Tolerance, Improved Throwing Weapons (Harpoons), enhanced senses (smell, glare resistance), Pain Resistance...who uses his powers as a guide for smuggler rings, or as a tribal vigilante...definitely not the standard bushido freak...I think that many characters can be woven around the Adept generic concept...
Then again it's true that many powers lean towards the ninja-infiltrator type (Cat Fall, Traceless Walk, Improved reflexes, Improved Skills...) but don't forget that one of the best bolchoï dancer is an Adept while some are highly talented sculptors or athletes...you could imagine a Nascar Adept for non-rigger leagues...of course those are not the ones we see around the table, but it helps break the stereotype...

I think of modern day athletes who are freakishly above the norm and multiply by a factor of _magic_

All the ninjas in the Dark Angel adventure are pritty much adepts, and trolls.

I tend to imagine modern day olympic target shooters and/or archers when I think if IA adepts. I suppose they must have geased their powers with the "must use silly looking optics/bows" geas. Still, the look of focus on their faces makes me think magic.

I tend to think of adepts as Street Sams of a different path. Some noncombatant things that are nice about an Adept are astral projection and aura read as a B&E team this allow them to avoid some of the nasties waiting in astral land. As body guards this help to avoid the same astral baddies laying in wait for your boss, when your mage gets distracted.

Astral perception, you mean? No canon way for a physad to astrally project.

~J

A lot of anime characters. Really. Most of them. Any main character of an action anime.

Jet Li's characters in "The One", come to mind for me.

Well of course like everyone else I only think of Norse Berserks with double bitten battle axes when I think of Adepts.

Hang on that might just be me.

Yoda, Obi-wan, Darth Maul, other Jedi.

Yu Jiaolong (Zhang Ziyi's character in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
Nameless (Jet Li's character in Hero)

I still hated that movie.

I wonder what the Taiwan government thought of it, for that matter.

-Siege

Which one? CT, HD? or Hero?

Edit: Thought it might be that one. You got to remember it is a Confucius values kinda of thing, the rights of the individual does not hold much water.

Hero.

-Siege

What do I think of when I hear adept? Anyone from any film ever who's shown superhuman ability in anything pretty much sums it up :o)

I mean, Blade and any Jet Li char are easy ones, but I think a lot of main characters in a lot of hollywood films can fit the 'adept' arctype as well - and a lot of video games. One of my players made a 'Max Payne' style adept. Didn't work out too well, but any runner who's mere name has a silent voice saying "in the neck" after it ain't right :o)

I'm definately looking forward to SOTA 64.

I think, probably the best example of a Physad, would have to be Ethan Hawke's character in the movie Equilibrium. If you haven't seen this then rent it.

A masterful warrior. One who moves with grace and power that no cyberware can replicate. An Olympic Athlete capable of things only seen in fiction or on film.

Cheers

QM

actually, the best example of a physad is Fred Ward as Remo Williams in the movie of the same name.

Tylor Durdan.....

What I can't think fo a crazy white boy?

But really I do not think of adept as people like out of matrix, I think of them more as people Like Hiro,Batman,DD,Jayne.... People who are people but just totatlly hardcore.

Kung Fu Soccer,

POW!!