Shadowrun: For Us It Was a Tuesday [OOC]
Actually, magical healing is worse off than technological healing for low-essence characters. Page 287 and 288 go into the penalty as part of the discussion on Healing magic.
Basically, with magic you reduce your spellcasting pool by the formula (current Essence - max Essence by metatype (usually 6)). Which means that if you have Essence 2 and are getting a Heal spell, the caster is at -4 to cast it. If you're in a hospital, the doctor is at -2. The difference of course is that healing technologically takes time and money. Spell is zip-bang-you're-outta-here.
Also of note: Awakened and Emerged characters (mages and technomancers) have sufficient systemic weirdness that mundane healing is at -2 for them. Save a heal spell for the mage!
Basically, with magic you reduce your spellcasting pool by the formula (current Essence - max Essence by metatype (usually 6)). Which means that if you have Essence 2 and are getting a Heal spell, the caster is at -4 to cast it. If you're in a hospital, the doctor is at -2. The difference of course is that healing technologically takes time and money. Spell is zip-bang-you're-outta-here.
Also of note: Awakened and Emerged characters (mages and technomancers) have sufficient systemic weirdness that mundane healing is at -2 for them. Save a heal spell for the mage!
CanadienneBacon
Explorer
Just poking my head in here to say I haven't started a lick of character generation, at least not other than to read the links provided in this thread. I *will* carve time this weekend to start drafting a character. I know I'll need help, but I'll at least put in a good faith effort to get as solid a start as I can absent the rulebook.
I just finished my character in Chummer.
Man, I hadn't tried to make a technomancer in 5th Ed before, and it's a lot tougher to make a good one than it is in 4rth!
But I am pretty happy with what I wound up with.
Finalizing contacts and knowledges, but here's a few highlights of the stats:
[sblock=Priorities]Attributes A, Skills B, Resonance C, Metatype (human) D, Resources E. I then spent 4 karma to buy some nuyen for gear.
[/sblock]
BOD 3
AGI 4
REA 4
STR 2
CHA 3
INT 5
LOG 6
WIL 5
EDG 2
RES 6
Superbrain. This plays into the character's delusion, as I'll explain in due time.
Qualities:
Codeslinger (Hack on the Fly) - This adds 2 to my chosen form of getting marks on Matrix opposition; a significant bonus.
Natural Hardening - Technomancers are vulnerable to Matrix damage, this makes me harder to hurt by raising my Firewall by 1 for damage resistance.
Photographic Memory - Basically an RP quality I picked to reinforce my delusion.
SINner (UCAS national) - My character has a name, a history, and a life she may not want to despoil. This will make it harder to avoid.
Active Skills: Even with priority B, my skill list is fairly small and TIGHTLY focused. This is because hacking is a brutal business, involving many rolls. Getting your dice pools as close to maxed out as is feasible isn't powergaming; it's a necessary precaution. This is especially true for Technomancers, who cannot use programs to give themselves situational bonuses.
Compiling 5
Decompiling 5
Registering 5
This is my skill group purchase.
Computer 6
Cybercombat 3
Electronic Warfare 6
Hacking 6 (specialized in Hosts)
Perception 2
Pistols 3 (specialized in semi-automatics)
Sneaking 1 (specialized in Urban)
Software 6
A special note: Hacking 6, specialized in hosts, combined with her Codeslinger quality, gives her a dice pool of 16 to hack host systems on the fly. This means that the character is very, very good at getting into unauthorized systems, mucking about in them, and then leaving. She is NOT particularly good at battling countermeasure programs or security hackers. Her tactic of choice is to attempt to avoid notice entirely, and she has a number of ways to do so at her disposal. In particular, she has a Technomancer toy called a Complex Form that lets her raise her 'sleaze' Matrix attribute, making her harder to detect (and boosting her Hack on the Fly pool even MORE).
I may fiddle with her Electronic Warfare skill...it might be a tich higher than it needs to be.
Gear
1 month of Low Lifestyle...she is po' and lives like it.
Rating 2 fake SIN - This won't hold up under scrutiny. Getting a better one will be a pretty major goal in-character.
Armor - Chameleon suit (with chem protection, nonconductivity and thermal damping all at rating 2), and an armor vest. The chameleon suit is her main work outfit. She is semi-decent with her gun, but like hacking, her primary goal in meatspace combat is to keep out of sight. Thermal damping means even thermographics have trouble spotting her. This is important, since to do her job right she often needs to be in full VR and unresponsive to the real world. The armor vest is for situations where she needs protection and can't afford to be too obvious about it.
Weapon - Browning Ultra Power. Not as nice as the Ares, but is cheaper and uses a laser sight which she can use instead of a smartlink which she can't. Oh, she could get a smartlink on her eyewear, but it doesn't provide any mechanical benefit over a laser sight unless it's actually an implant...and it costs a LOT more. No backup weapon. Had to give that up for my other cool stuff. This could be a bad thing.
Other
A Sony Emperor commlink. What, you say? A commlink? Can you not simply access the Matrix with YOUR MIND? Yes. But a living persona is fairly easy to tell apart from a device persona for anyone doing Matrix Perception. Being recognized as a technomancer takes away a lot of the advantages of being one, so it's nice to have the option to masquerade.
Contact lenses with Flare Compensation and Low Light Vision. Two things everyone needs, be they from natural abilities, cyberware, or gear. Other visual enhancements you can take or leave, but those two will almost always be handy.
Subvocal microphone. This is good because it's wireless enabled, letting her use it without actually speaking even a little bit.
Trodes. They're handy for connecting to systems that have no wireless access. The trodes can be connected to a fiber optic dataport, then be set to wireless access, creating an 'opening' in a closed system that the team has secured. This is otherwise very difficult for technomancers to do.
Electronic paper. She can access it wirelessly, using it to draw pictures, write, or whatever she wants...without even so much as having it in her hand. Quite useful, potentially.
Stealth tags. Good for tracking meatspace targets in the Matrix, which is very useful for her. Slap a tag on someone, and that little node shows us everywhere they go.
Sensor tags. Even better, because that little node has a microphone or a camera (only one sensor per tag, half and half) that lets us listen in. Or she can put cameras around her hideyhole, so she can 'see' around her body while in VR.
Low light flashlight. Because seeing is believing.
Slap Patch (Stim 3). As a technomancer, she will be taking Stun damage sometimes just from using her abilities, or taking Matrix damage. The stim patch can't correct that damage, but it can help keep her on her feet if she's taking a combination of normal physical stun (which can be stimmed away) as well as biofeedback stun (which cannot be).
What delusion, you ask? You've read all this time, and now you're curious?
...
Maybe I should wait for that until we start playing.
Man, I hadn't tried to make a technomancer in 5th Ed before, and it's a lot tougher to make a good one than it is in 4rth!
But I am pretty happy with what I wound up with.
Finalizing contacts and knowledges, but here's a few highlights of the stats:
[sblock=Priorities]Attributes A, Skills B, Resonance C, Metatype (human) D, Resources E. I then spent 4 karma to buy some nuyen for gear.
[/sblock]BOD 3
AGI 4
REA 4
STR 2
CHA 3
INT 5
LOG 6
WIL 5
EDG 2
RES 6
Superbrain. This plays into the character's delusion, as I'll explain in due time.
Qualities:
Codeslinger (Hack on the Fly) - This adds 2 to my chosen form of getting marks on Matrix opposition; a significant bonus.
Natural Hardening - Technomancers are vulnerable to Matrix damage, this makes me harder to hurt by raising my Firewall by 1 for damage resistance.
Photographic Memory - Basically an RP quality I picked to reinforce my delusion.
SINner (UCAS national) - My character has a name, a history, and a life she may not want to despoil. This will make it harder to avoid.
Active Skills: Even with priority B, my skill list is fairly small and TIGHTLY focused. This is because hacking is a brutal business, involving many rolls. Getting your dice pools as close to maxed out as is feasible isn't powergaming; it's a necessary precaution. This is especially true for Technomancers, who cannot use programs to give themselves situational bonuses.
Compiling 5
Decompiling 5
Registering 5
This is my skill group purchase.
Computer 6
Cybercombat 3
Electronic Warfare 6
Hacking 6 (specialized in Hosts)
Perception 2
Pistols 3 (specialized in semi-automatics)
Sneaking 1 (specialized in Urban)
Software 6
A special note: Hacking 6, specialized in hosts, combined with her Codeslinger quality, gives her a dice pool of 16 to hack host systems on the fly. This means that the character is very, very good at getting into unauthorized systems, mucking about in them, and then leaving. She is NOT particularly good at battling countermeasure programs or security hackers. Her tactic of choice is to attempt to avoid notice entirely, and she has a number of ways to do so at her disposal. In particular, she has a Technomancer toy called a Complex Form that lets her raise her 'sleaze' Matrix attribute, making her harder to detect (and boosting her Hack on the Fly pool even MORE).
I may fiddle with her Electronic Warfare skill...it might be a tich higher than it needs to be.
Gear
1 month of Low Lifestyle...she is po' and lives like it.
Rating 2 fake SIN - This won't hold up under scrutiny. Getting a better one will be a pretty major goal in-character.
Armor - Chameleon suit (with chem protection, nonconductivity and thermal damping all at rating 2), and an armor vest. The chameleon suit is her main work outfit. She is semi-decent with her gun, but like hacking, her primary goal in meatspace combat is to keep out of sight. Thermal damping means even thermographics have trouble spotting her. This is important, since to do her job right she often needs to be in full VR and unresponsive to the real world. The armor vest is for situations where she needs protection and can't afford to be too obvious about it.
Weapon - Browning Ultra Power. Not as nice as the Ares, but is cheaper and uses a laser sight which she can use instead of a smartlink which she can't. Oh, she could get a smartlink on her eyewear, but it doesn't provide any mechanical benefit over a laser sight unless it's actually an implant...and it costs a LOT more. No backup weapon. Had to give that up for my other cool stuff.
This could be a bad thing.Other
A Sony Emperor commlink. What, you say? A commlink? Can you not simply access the Matrix with YOUR MIND? Yes. But a living persona is fairly easy to tell apart from a device persona for anyone doing Matrix Perception. Being recognized as a technomancer takes away a lot of the advantages of being one, so it's nice to have the option to masquerade.
Contact lenses with Flare Compensation and Low Light Vision. Two things everyone needs, be they from natural abilities, cyberware, or gear. Other visual enhancements you can take or leave, but those two will almost always be handy.
Subvocal microphone. This is good because it's wireless enabled, letting her use it without actually speaking even a little bit.
Trodes. They're handy for connecting to systems that have no wireless access. The trodes can be connected to a fiber optic dataport, then be set to wireless access, creating an 'opening' in a closed system that the team has secured. This is otherwise very difficult for technomancers to do.
Electronic paper. She can access it wirelessly, using it to draw pictures, write, or whatever she wants...without even so much as having it in her hand. Quite useful, potentially.
Stealth tags. Good for tracking meatspace targets in the Matrix, which is very useful for her. Slap a tag on someone, and that little node shows us everywhere they go.
Sensor tags. Even better, because that little node has a microphone or a camera (only one sensor per tag, half and half) that lets us listen in. Or she can put cameras around her hideyhole, so she can 'see' around her body while in VR.
Low light flashlight. Because seeing is believing.
Slap Patch (Stim 3). As a technomancer, she will be taking Stun damage sometimes just from using her abilities, or taking Matrix damage. The stim patch can't correct that damage, but it can help keep her on her feet if she's taking a combination of normal physical stun (which can be stimmed away) as well as biofeedback stun (which cannot be).
What delusion, you ask? You've read all this time, and now you're curious?
...
Maybe I should wait for that until we start playing.
Last edited:
Deuce Traveler
Adventurer
I expected a little bit of a longer character generation period because most of the players are new to 5th edition. I'm going to start looking over the characters after Sunday and give my inputs.
CanadienneBacon
Explorer
I ordered Shadowrun 5e today. Book'll be here March 11.
[MENTION=4936]Shayuri[/MENTION], you've got a ton on your plate. I'm working with Forged Fury, who--as it turns out--is also a Shadowrun player, to draft a PC. He offered out of the blue to help, and I accepted. Why he didn't put in for this game is beyond me, but I'm happy to be working with him.
[MENTION=4936]Shayuri[/MENTION], you've got a ton on your plate. I'm working with Forged Fury, who--as it turns out--is also a Shadowrun player, to draft a PC. He offered out of the blue to help, and I accepted. Why he didn't put in for this game is beyond me, but I'm happy to be working with him.
CanadienneBacon
Explorer
Did we settle on a city?
DT, what source material can we use for character creation?
DT, what source material can we use for character creation?
Deuce Traveler
Adventurer
I can only check characters from the 5e sourcebook, but if you want to use other aids from the same publisher (Catalyst Game Labs), I'm ok with it IF someone here also has the same supplement and is willing to help me checking out the build. We won't settle on a city for this run, and I'll make the adventure as generic as possible. This is so we can get a feel for the characters and decide on a city after if we decide to move from a one-shot to a mini-campaign.
CanadienneBacon
Explorer
So I was Googling Shadowrun handles and came upon this rock band name generator.
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