Hey, I've decided against my mage idea, and am going with an Adept.. a Troll Adept..

I was hoping I could get a bit of help fleshing my char out etc.

Background: Used to work as security for a minor Corp, where his higher than average intelligence and the trollish stigma made him effective at keeping people off balance, or getting them to back down (as well as damned hard to kill).

Now, I havn't figured this bit out yet - Either he faked his own death after wtinessing something the Corp had done, OR he was left for dead by the corp after a large fight. (Hence the reason he has no SIN).

Personality wise, he is highly intelligent and strong willed, but lets others do the talking (unless it's coming to intimidating someone), in battle he prefers to get into close combat (but can hold his own in a firefight), and often steps in front of party members (especially mages) to shield them.

Stats:
Bear in mind this is including the adept powers of:
Improved Body (4)
Improved Quickness (2)
Improved Reflexes (2)

And the Edge:
Bonus Attribute Point (Body)

Body: 16 (17 with Dermal Armour)
Quickness: 6
Strength: 8
Charisma: 1
Intelligence: 4
Willpower: 6
Essence: 6
Magic: 6
Reaction: 9
Initiative: 3

Skills:
Language:
English - 4
Japanese - 2

Active:
Pistols - 6
Athletics - 6
Athletics (Escape Artist) - 5(7)
Throwing Weapons (Grenades) - 5(7)
((Plus one more primary weapon skill, waiting till I get hold of CC before deciding))

Knowledge:
Gang Identification - 4
Local Neighbourhood - 4
Corporate Security - 4
Secirity Devices (Detection measures) - 3(5)
Architecture (Corp) - 3(5)

Thats all I've got worked out so far, any advice/ideas?

Also, could someone tell me how learning Adept Powers works? Can you use Karma to increase them directly, or do you increase your Magic stat like normal and that gives you an extra point of AP?

Shouldn't your Athletics (Escape Artist) be 5 (7)? When you specialize at chargen, the main skill goes down by one while the specialization rises by one.

Increasing Adept Powers depends on whether you use the Initiation rules in MitS or not. If you are just using the core rules, you can purchase new Power Points for 20 Karma each after chargen. If you are using MitS though, it is recommended that you don't use the SR3 system of buying Power Points.

Ok, edited for the specialisations.

I was thinking of maybe dropping Architecture and putting in Corp Procedures.
What system does MITS use for PP?

initiation

First, I would specialize in a certain type of pistol.

Second, your description of the character says he likes close combat yet you have no melee fighting skills.

Just suggestions...

I havn't got any close combat skills there cause I'm waiting till I look at Cannon Companion before deciding what kind of weapon to specialise in.
Ditto for specialising with a pistol, I'll look into that.


Also, what do people think of the build overall? Workable?

I'd lower body and raise strength and quickness. And Charisma. I'd reconsider those adept powers, too.

Adepts are good in certain areas. If you only want higher physical Attributes and a decent initiative, you would actually be better off playing a cybered character. For instance, if you took dermal sheath: 3 and ceramic bone lacing, you would get +5 to your Body and get 4 points of impact armor and get +3 to the power of your unarmed attacks. Overall, a sammie is better for overall speed and toughness. Adepts are better as either specialists or quirky generalists.

If you do play an adept bodyguard, play to an adept's strengths, such as: Killing Hands to be much more effective against magical threats such as spirits than most mundanes; Emotion Sense to be able to "read" the people around you, and so on.