Hi,
Ok abit of a rambling question here, i am newish to shadowrun and i have a very sucsefull Trol shamon but i have now opted to go for something different!

so it struck me! lets play a non magic character in a race i have never played.... street sam was out ( everyone else was playing one) GM dont like deckers and riggers ermmm 'i know!' Weapons specalist and lets make it an ork! PROBLEM never played one ........ any help would be appreciated as i dont realy know where to start with it, i normaly play magical caracters and fancyed a change!!!

thanks[/FONT] Torz

What kind of weapon specialist are you thinking of? Similar to the archetype presented in SR3?

What sort of background do you see your Ork coming from? Ex-mercenary? Organized Crime? Gangs? Or even white middle-class suburbia?

Useful skills that Street Sams normally don't have:
Demolitions
Weapons B/R
Gunnery/Heavy Weapons/Launch Weapons
Any Technical Skill

Look for ways to complement your group while also maintaining a distinct identity. Try to craft the character so he isn't "just another chromed gunbunny" like the Street Sams in your group.

thanks for that, i am thinking of going for ex - special forces something like that. i have specialties in demolitions, heavy weapons and pistols. The group im playing with are all realy experience and i want to have something that can work well with them. we have a Adept, street sam x3, combat mage and a face. i have given the ork knowlage of the ork underground and seatle sewers amoung many and was thinking of giving it some kind of background to do with the underground and some sort of doggy stuff as there are some realy good edges and flaws!

Go for what the rest of the group lacks. (Though when I hear "everyone else is a sam", the first thing I think is "FACE!!"). Max out one weapon skill at 6 and keep 2-3 kinds of firearms at a respectable level so you can pick up and use everything. (I find Rifles 6, Pistols 5, Smgs 4 makes for a decent marksman). Might not be so important if your GM hates vehicular combat, but gunnery is very nice and often overlooked.

I'd also reccomend getting a good complementary skill suite. Stealth/athletics/car springs to mind. And build/repair skills for one or two classes of firearms. Don't be too concerned with having a billion skills at high levels, but spring for versatility. It's sort of hard to give relevant advice when we don't have a personality/background and/or an idea of what the rest of the group can to work with.

You'd probably want 200-400k worth of resources for a few gadgets. Skills are more inportant than abilities here, since you'd probably want versatility. Smartlink-II is mandatory, but most other ware is optional, really. Though you'll probably want spring for some reflex boosting and possibly skillwires or some nice cybereyes with vision magnification and ultrasound. Rangefinder and grenadelink is also nice if you want to be a little destructive. Needless to say, Quickness should be high, as should INT as your firearms and B/R depend on them.


[Edit]

Right, assuming 50 skill pts:

Rifles - 6
Pistols - 5
Assault Rifles - 4
Edged Weapons - 4
Gunnery - 5
Demolitions - 5
Pistols B/R - 6 (want it high, so you can default during downtime)
Stealth - 6
Athletics - 5
Car - 4

Or:

Rifles - 6
Pistols - 5
Assault Rifles - 4
Edged Weapons - 3
Gunnery - 4
Demolitions - 4
Pistols B/R - 6
Stealth - 5
Athletics - 4
Etiquette - 3
Electronics(Security Systems) - 2(4)
Car - 3

Both would make for a decent jack of all trades. If marksman isn't what you're after (The ranger arms is a brutal weapon with the right ammo), shuffling everything around or dropping rifles to boost other skills or get computer would work too.

thanks peeps you have confirmed some of my ides for the character, i have not done alot of runs as i was only introduced to it last year. i had a realy good carachter i played in live roalpaly and i tended to play stuff like warhammer and 40k. i must admit i love shadow run and i know keeping charictors alive is hard but would like to develop something to work with. I have been looking at the cannon companion and man and machine but do any of you have any surgestions for stuff on history and the mass change of 2021? as i think it will give me a better understanding. sounds silly but i find you can play a character better if you knoe its history ( oh i'm not a drama student......... i'm a scientist!)

torz