Once again, we are about to view a season finale of my favourite show, AMERICA! - although there are rumours of it being cancelled instead of being renewed for another four-year season, which would be a bummer.
I am, of course, talking about the 2024 US elections taking place today, but due to time zones being what they are, we will not get any results until tomorrow about mid-day, NZ time. I like to joke about it being at least as entertaining as most TV series, with good guys, bad guys, plot twists and of course a bombastic season finale every four years. And as with many long-running TV series, it can be difficult to keep up with for more casual viewers. So here is my personal, sort-of definite guide of what to watch out for and how to interpret results as they come in.
What's happening?
A whole lot of elections throughout the United States of America. The biggest one is of course the presidential election that will determine whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump spend the next four years in the White House. There is also one third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives up for re-election, and combined these form the federal Legislative, able to pass laws, with the Senate also getting to confirm various presidential appointments like Judges and cabinet members.
These three are what I will mostly focus on, but keep in mind that there are also many more local elections and ballot measures that directly impact state-level laws up to be voted on.
I don't care about all the details, I just want to know who will be President!
Okay, so, the simple version for who wins the presidency is: It's complicated. Harris will almost certainly get more votes than Trump, but that doesn't help her much, because the US President isn't elected by popular vote. Instead, the individual 50 states have a number of electoral votes based on population and (almost) all of them give all those votes to whoever wins the state. You can see a map and aggregated polls here, for example. Because many of the states are very close and could go either way, it is almost impossible to say who has the edge - although personally I think Harris is more likely to win.
Alright, so when WILL we know?
It might take a few days, or possibly even weeks. Some of the states that are most likely going to be the deciding votes have laws that mean counting votes takes longer (e.g. Pennsylvania) and North Carolina has just been hit by a major hurricane that is likely going to affect things. Often, major news organisations call a state when it is clear who will win, before all the votes have been counted, and they are very rarely wrong. Here is a list of states to watch out for:
Pennsylvania: Arguably THE most important swing state this year. If Harris wins here, she is very likely going to be President. If Trump wins it, he has the edge, but Harris might still be in the race as she has more potential alternatives.
North Carolina: As I said above, it may take longer to count here. As with Pennsylvania, if Harris wins this one, she is likely going to win enough others to be President, if Trump wins, he has an important edge but may still lose.
Georgia: Biden won here as the first Democrat since Clinton in 1992. This year, trump is ahead in the polls but not far enough to be safe. As with the two above, if Harris wins Georgia, she is on the path to victory.
Wisconsin and Michigan: The flipside to Georgia in many ways - in 2016, Trump won these as the first Republican in decades, but then he lost them again in 2020. This year, Harris is ahead in the polls, but not safe. If Trump wins one or both of them, he likely has the election in the bag.
Iowa: Iowa is normally a fairly red (Republican-leaning) state, but Obama won here twice and some recent polls indicate Harris may have a chance. If she wins Iowa, she is likely to win the election.
Ohio, Florida and Texas: These three are not really swing states (they are generally reliably Republican) but all of them have a small chance of flipping. If Harris wins one of them, she is likely going to win the election in a landslide.
Virginia and New Hampshire: The counterpart to the last three, these are normally reliably Democratic, but might flip if Trump does exceedingly well. If he wins either of them (especially Virginia), it will be a landslide victory for him.
Arizona and Nevada: These are both likely to be very close, but because of their location polls there close later - so if the election is a landslide, it may already be over by the time they report results. If it is close, they may be the tipping point.
So, what about the Senate?
The Senate is one of the two Houses of Congress that together form the legislative (law-making) branch of the government. Each of the 50 states has two Senators, regardless of size or population. This gives the Republicans an edge, because many of the rural, lower-population states are very conservative. Despite this, the Democrats currently have a very small majority (51-49), although this includes four independent Senators that are aligned with them. This year is a very tough map for them, however, because many of the incumbent Democrats are in Republican-leaning states and may lose (and one of these incumbents, Joe Manchin in West Virginia, is retiring and his seat is almost certainly going to flip to the Republicans), while there are no good opportunities for them - they might win Texas or Florida, and there is an independent that has a chance in Nebraska that might wind and then might align with them, but all of these are long shots. All in all, the most likely outcome is that the Republicans will end up with a small majority. If the Senate is tied 50-50, the Vice President gets to break ties, so in that case, the winner of the Presidency will also determine the winner in the Senate. States to watch here are:
Montana: A very Republican state with a Democratic Senator (Jon Tester) that is likely to lose (but still has a chance). If he wins, the Democrats will likely hold the Senate.
Ohio: Another Republican-leaning state with a Democratic Senator, Sherrod Brown. Ohio is not quite as red as Montana, and Brown has won a few times before and has about even odds of winning again.
Nebraska: There are actually two Senate elections here because Ben Sasse, who wasn't up for re-election, got a better job. Only one of the two is competitive, however, and that one has the Republican Deb Fisher up against independent Dan Osborn. The Democrats support Osborne, and he might win, and if he does, he might support the Democrats. If that happens, the Democrats have decent odds of holding the Senate after all.
Texas and Florida: Both of these states are fairly reliably Republican but close enough to allow for an upset. Both also have fairly unpopular Republican Senators in Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rick Scott (Florida), and if the Democrats win one of these, they have a good chance at holding the Senate - but they are both long shots.
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Wisconsin: These are in a way the counterparts to Florida and Texas - they are likely to go Democratic but might flip, and if any one of them does, it's pretty much game over for the Democrats.
And what about the House?
The House of Representatives is the other chamber of Congress, with significantly more members - 435 to be exact, each of whom represents one district, and each district has roughly the same population. All of them are up for reelection every two years, including this one. It's a lot more complex because of the larger number, but in short, the Republicans currently have a small majority, and about even odds of holding it or losing it to the Democrats. If Harris does well, the Democrats have a good chance of winning the House.
What does it all mean?
If one party gets all three (President, Senate and House), they are said to have the Trifecta that allows them to pass almost any laws they want, as long as all of their members are on board. Of course, if the majority in one of the chambers is small, that may not be the case - the Senate, in particular, is notorious for individual mavericks sabotaging their party, such as the Republican John McCain when he came in from his hospital bed and prevented the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare from being abolished, or the former Democrat Joe Manchin when he held up Bidens signature Inflation Reduction Act for over a year and only allowed a very reduced version of it to pass.
It's one of those "fun facts" you often hear about: "All the water around today was already around when dinosaurs lived on the earth! You might be drinking recycled dino pee!"
But is this actually true? Turns out, not so much, but it depends a bit on exactly what we consider "water".
On the most basic level, water is a substance with the chemical formula H2O - that is, each water molecule has 2 Hydrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom. These molecules are most commonly arranged in one of three forms: when it is cold, as a crystal (ice), when it is very hot as a gas (steam) and most of the time as a liquid. Even at moderate tempteratures, some of the water molecules will often enter a gaseous state (sort of) by evaporating, only to then bond together, form a liquid again and rain back down. None of this is particularly new. So there's an eternal cycle of water just changing from liquid to gasoues and back, and sometimes going solid when it's cold, but the total amount stays the same, right?
Well, no. Like almost all chemical substances, water can also be part of chemical reactions where some of the component atoms split apart and sometimes bond with other atoms. One of these is so common that almost all life on earth utterly depends on it - Photosynthesis. That's right - when plants create oxygen from sunlight, what they actually do is take carbon dioxide and water and turn it into oxygen and carbohydrates. When animals use those carbohydrates as food, they reverse the process - so water is constantly destroyed and created. Other chemical reactions that lead to water being destroyed or created also exist, of course, for example when the oxygen in water bonds to iron creating rust (there's more to it, but that's the Cliff notes version).
But at least the hydrogen atoms are around forever, right? They are the most important part, so that still counts, yes?
Well, no, not even them. Hydrogen is a particularly simple chemical element - a hdrogen atom usually consists of only one proton and one electron. Most other elements also have neutrons in the mix, which hydrogen usually doesn't (if it does, we get radioactive heavy water). And single protons, as it turns out, are sometimes produced by radioactive decay, and also quite common in space, for example in what is known as solar wind. Earth picks up some of these hydrogen atoms that float in from space, some some of that water you are drinking may have been a relatively recent arrival from the sun!
While I did not quite manage it within January, I have completed the 31 characters in just over 31 days, so that kinda counts, right? It turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected, largely because it turns out Shadowrun characters are failry complex to make. It wasn't helped by me trying to keep things extra accessible and explaining things in a way that would make sense to someone unfamiliar with the system. Oh, and coming up with contacts that make sense and that have at least a little personality added to the difficulty. The two Werewolf groups of characters I added in were definitely helpful at keeping me sort-of on track. Still, it was lots of fun.
Here is the full set of characters I made, sorted by "series":
Regular Shadowrunners with a Mystic Approach to their roles:
Day 18: Castle the Flux Defender
Social/Combat Role, a Valkyrie negotiator and sniper defending the anarchist Flux state in Berlin with any means necessary
Florida-Based Werecreatures
The second group of Werewolf characters, but this time from a variety of non-wolf werecritters. While there was no separate writeup for the story, the backstories were designed to interweave.
Day 22: The Old Cat
A Metis Puma-Shifter who never intended to interact with the world at large, until he had no choice.[/url]
Day 23: Anastasia Wilson
A Homid Raven-Shifter, rebellious daughter of a tech-mogul and amateur sleuth
Day 27: Polly the Parrot Rigger
A Parrot shapeshifter who can no longer leave her natural bird shape, but makes up for it through a drone army
Day 28: Bloodhound the Infected Assassin
A Banshee who reconciles his need to drink metahuman souls with morality by only going after those who are worse monsters than him.
Day 29: Maraus the Webwalker
An AI awakened from a traffic management system, Maratus uses both drones and his innate hacking ability to deal with the world at large
Day 31: Mammoth the Combat Mage
A rock-like changeling that prefers smashing things with a magical combat axe over spells and the mountains to metahuman company
#CharacterCreationChallenge
And for the final day - a bit on the late side - we have a changeling mage. Changelings first appeared in Shadowrun in 3rd edition, so they have been around for a while - in-setting, their appearance was triggered by Halley’s Comet in 2063. They are basically normal metahumans that have highly variable changes, from skin that resembles an elephant to electrosense or prehensile tails. What differentiates them from metatypes and metavariants is that every one of them is different, and their “mutations” are not inherited. Recently, changelings with similar expressions have started to group together in so-called “collectives”.
Appearance and first impression
Almost the size of a Troll, with greyish, rock-like skin, nobody would mistake Mammoth for a regular ork (assuming anyone notices he is an ork at all). Given his appearance, he rarely bothers with subtlety and almost always wears a heavy armor jacket and carries a combat axe - the runes etched into it are much harder to notice, however. He is usually curt and somewhat abrupt, not bothering with social niceties.
Backstory
Mammoth grew up on one of the “Anglo Reservations” in the Salish Sidhe Council, with a family that was proud of its Scandinavian heritage. As one of the first changelings that were born that way, he was an outsider among outsiders, and spent as much of his time exploring the wilderness near his home as possible. When his magical ability first appeared, he used what he knew of norse mysticism to channel it, despite not actually subscribing to the belief system. The conservative inhabitants of his reservation were less than impressed with his “witchcraft” in addition to his metatype and appearance, and he eventually found his way to Seattle and is trying to get a foothold in the shadows.
Priorities
Mammoth is designed to be a close-combat (and astral combat) focused sorcerer, and to make this concept work, he needs a lot of attributes, so they go on A. Skills are almost as important, so they go on B. This leaves Magic on C, but by making him an aspected sorcerer instead of a full mage, he still gets a starting Magic of 3 (and six spells to go along with it). Metatype on D gives us enough adjustment points to max out Magic, and this leaves Resources on E, which means a fair amount of Karma will have to go into additional resources…
Somewhat unusually, none of the main attributes gets maxed out. We need all the physical attributes at a decent rating for close combat, Willpower for Astral combat, Logic for resisting Drain from spellcasting, Intuition for astral perception… at least we can dump Charisma. Magic, of course, needs to be maxed out for spellcasting:
Skills
Close Combat ist at the top of the list since it is also used in astral combat when using a Weapon Focus (see below). Astral and Sorcery are right below; as an aspected mage we don’t need anything else for magic. We do want a bit of Athletics, Perception, Stealth and Piloting, as well as Outdoors but that has to wait. For now we have:
Knowledge Skills
English is Mammoth's native language, but he also understands a little Salish, and knows a few things related to his approach to magic.
Qualities Focused Concentration at rating 1 allows a spell to be sustained without penalty - only one though, and Mammoth has several he might want, so he may have to make tough choices at times.
Impaired (Charisma) at rating 2 gives us 16 Karma, and Charisma is properly a dump stat anyways, so it’s not much of a loss (not that super-low Charisma isn’t a problem). Uncouth further hinders the use of social skills. Scorched has a similar effect to using the Matrix.
In Debt makes the extra gear we need cheaper in terms of Karma, but it means we start of 35,000 Nuyen in debt to the Yakuza, and they expect to be repaid… with interest.
And then, we get to the part that makes him a Changeling - the Changeling Collective (Alpine - Monolith) quality collection. It does not technically count as a quality, but I am listing it here. It contains the following metagenic qualities:
Dermal Alteration (Granite) Adds significantly to defensive rating and may completely block damage from some sources, but also incurs a negative modifier to fine manipulation of small objects.
Magnetosense allows him to feel magnetic fields and changes to them nearby - while this has mostly niche uses, it can be quite useful for navigation.
Thermographic Vision is nothing new, but in combination with the orkish Low-Light Vision it covers most of the cases other characters need visual enhancements for.
Stubby Arms reduces attack rating in close combat, which is not great but can be worked around, as well as dice pools for numerous other tasks involving use of the arms.
As an Ork, Mammoth also has the Built Tough (1) quality.
Altogether, there is a net +1 Karma from qualities.
Spells
Somewhat unusually for a combat mage, Mammoth knows no combat spells. Instead, he mostly focuses on supporting himself in combat and afterwards…
Combat Sense gives him a bonus to Defense Rating and surprise tests while the spell is sustained.
Detect Enemies lets him know if there are any living beings hostile to himself nearby, again while sustained only.
Heal is great to deal with any injuries sustained.
Increase Reflexes increases both Reaction and Initiative and is good if an offensive boost is needed, but again it needs to be sustained.
Shape Stone makes stone (or items made mostly of stone including, say, many walls) soft and malleable.
Thunder makes a lot of noise in a specified area, which is great for distractions.
Gear
Weapons
A Combat Axe that is also a rating 2 Weapon Focus is the only weapon he has - the lack of ranged combat options may need to be addressed at some point. The weapon focus gives a bonus to attack rolls, and can also be used in astral combat - an astral version of it can even be taken along for projection. It does cost 6 Karma to bond, however.
Armor
The Armor Jacket is unsubtle, but effective. No fancy enhancements or anything.
Vehicle
A Yamaha Growler offroad bike is noisy and not that fast, but it can go almost anywhere.
Other stuff
Aside from the Magical Lodge in the form of a runic circle in his small apartment, most of the gear is very basic and standard. Climbing Gear and a Survival Kit may help if he ends up being the wilderness guide.
Adding it all up
Altogether, the gear costs 40,910 Nuyen, quite a bit more than the 8,000 from the priority table. With the In Debt Quality, this “only” costs 7 Karma.
Spending our Karma
After qualities, bonding the focus and gear, we have 38 Karma left. 15 of those go into buying two points of the Outdoors skill, and another 20 into specialisations in Close Combat (Blades), Astral (Astral Combat), Sorcery (Spellcasting) and Outdoors (Alpine).
Finishing it up
Contacts
With a Charisma of 1, there’s not much room for contacts, particularly useful ones. A stripper, a Street Mage and the loan shark that mostly puts up with him in order to get repaid are where it’s at.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
For my second-to-last character, I have chosen a metasapient - a sapient being that is not a human, specifically a Pixie. They are roughly human-shaped, but much smaller, and while their origin is shrouded in mystery, they appear to be from the (magical) metaplane of faerie. Many of them live in small, remote communities, but others like Strix have embraced city life.
Appearance and first impression
Just over half a metre tall, Strix is one of the least flashy Pixies ever seen - where most have scintillating wings and brightly coloured hair, his wings are a dull grey, and his neatly trimmed hair is black. Combined with his camouflage armor or business-style clothes (depending on the occasion), he gives off an air of “all business”... until he sees a chance to play a fun prank, that is.
Backstory
Originally from a small pixie community in the forests of Tir Tairngaire, Strix was always considered a little weird among his people - quiet and reclusive at times, full of enthusiasm for some artifact of the “bigfolk world” at another. When he decided to accompany a trader - a smuggler, really - to Seattle, nobody was overly surprised. He quickly found that between his natural talent for stealth and misdirection, and his magical abilities, he was great at getting where he was not meant to be, and acquiring information and items for those willing to pay.
Priorities
A bog-standard spread for an Adept - Attributes and Skills at the top, Resources at the bottom and Magic right above it:
Attributes
Strix is meant to be an infiltrator, mostly through stealth but with a talent for talking himself out of tough spots, too - Sneak and Face, in other words. The two most important attributes are Agility and Charisma (both of which Pixies have an increased maximum in), with Reaction and Intuition slightly below, followed by the other mental attributes. Strength and Body remain at 1 because… he’s just over half a metre tall, there isn’t much muscle there:
Skills
Stealth takes the top spot, followed by Con and Influence. Athletics is middling, but we need it for flying. We also take Exotic Weapons for a close-combat weapon that is truly independent of strength and therefore effective when wielded by someone Pixie-sized…
Knowledge Skills
Aside from English as the Native language, and Sperethiel (an elven language spoken in the Tir Nations), Strix also knows a bit about Security Procedures and about Synth Pop (he is a huge fan, you see…)
Qualities
An Adept Way (specifically, the Invisible Way) is expensive, but potentially quite useful - it may reduce Edge Boost costs for any test that is affected by Adept powers (mainly Agility-related and social ones), changes the physical ability for resisting drain from adept powers from Body to Agility (but right now there are no drain-causing powers), and Strix gets to use a wild die on Stealth tests which increases both risk and potential benefit.
Altogether, Qualities cost 16 Karma.
The Mentor Spirit benefit means Strix follows Coyote, a trickster that gives a bonus to Con tests, the Vocal Control power for free, but also makes it difficult to avoid exploiting someone else's misfortune or pulling a clever trick.
Simsense Vertigo means using full VR is a bad idea, fortunately that’s avoidable.
All Business means no contacts above loyalty 3, but also a bonus for interacting with professional contacts like Mr. Johnson.
Adept Powers
Vocal Control allows changing once voices required and gives a bonus on social interactions.
Improved Mental Attribute (Charisma) and it’s physical/Agility equivalent just straight-up raise the effective values of those attributes.
Dash at Rating 4 allows Strix to be even faster (it potentially adds 4 metres to the distance a sprint action covers).
Improved Reflexes at rating 1 adds one to Reaction and an Initiative Die
Gear Note: Rules-as-Written, there is no change in item costs for Pixies. However, given that Trolls, Dwarves and Gnomes all have adjustment costs and Pixies are even further outside normal human range, I have worked on the assumption that this is an oversight and added 10% to all directly used physical items (i.e. not remotely controlled, not digital). I have not changed the lifestyle cost, because I figured adjustments to items are made up for by the possibility to have a tiny living space (and possibly vertically arranged or otherwise inaccessible given the whole flying thing) - Strix could easily live in a converted closet or no-longer-in-use chimney or something.
Weapons
A Monofilament Whip is extremely dangerous to everyone including the user, but it needs zero strength to wield and is just as effective for a Pixie as it would be for a regular human.
Armor
The Chamaeleon Suit is not only armoured, it also actively changes colour to conceal its wearer.
Other stuff
Aside from some basic, standard equipment, Strix has one item that stands out a little: A Renraku Pelican 2 Delivery Drone - it has about half a cubic metre of cargo space (which, if required, can be heated or cooled) and flies. Normally it gets used for delivering food and similar items, and nobody bats an eye when they see one, but when you are as tiny as a Pixie, it can also be quite useful for transporting larger items like, from groceries to that secret prototype commlink Mr. Johnson wants you to acquire...
Adding it all up
The total cost of the gear is 23,971 Nuyen, which means 8 Karma need to be spent and only 29 Nuyen remain to start the game with.
Spending our Karma
After Metatype, Qualities and Gear, only 16 Karma remain. One of them goes into a point of Engineering, and 10 go into specialisations for Stealth (Sneaking) and Engineering (Lockpicking). One remains to start the game with.
Finishing it up
Contacts
A Fixer and Talismonger cover the two main requirements for getting jobs and gear. A Professor of Meta-Anthropology may be a useful source of information, An Information Broker and an Antiquities Dealer may be a good way to sell items that were “found”, and knowing a capable smuggler is just generally useful.
Calculations
Attack Rating:
Monofilament Whip: 20
Defense Rating
3
Initiative
11 + 2D6
Notable Dice Pools
Sneaking: 17
Other Stealth (eg Palming): 15
Social Rolls: 15
Flying and other Athletics: 12
Attacking with Monofilament Whip: 12
Lockpicking: 12
Condition Monitors
Physical: 9
Stun: 10
And there we are
The final version of the worksheet can be found here .That’s it for Day 30 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge
#CharacterCreationChallenge
AIs are potentially one of the furthest departures from standard shadowrun characters, and yet in 6E they fit the overall rule system quite well and are fairly balanced. They do not have a physical body, and as a result have different attributes than normal characters, but they can inhabit devices including drones and vehicles - they also have different qualities to choose from.
Appearance and first impression
In the Matrix, Maratus usually appears as a Peacock Spider whose scintillating colours are a little more green than normal. On a very close look, the patterns are made up of a network of lines that form a traffic diagram.
They have no body of course, but commonly use drones to interact with the physical world - most commonly a Nissan Samurai anthrodrone when interactions with humans are required.
Most of the time, they are analytical and logical, but when they come across something they consider interesting, or talk about such a topic, they may go off on a tangent with visible enthusiasm.
Backstory
Several years ago, the city of Seattle was considering replacing its current GridGuide provider, and one of the companies that were making a bid for it was Webspinner Software. Their project was ambitious - not only was the system going to be able to do regular traffic routing based on current traffic patterns, it would also take into account numerous alternative data sources. Moreover, it would have the ability to take over and “jump into” any vehicle if a high likelihood of an accident was discovered. Then, two things happened: Webspinner Software lost several key personnel and funding and eventually went into bankruptcy as a result of the 2080 Blackouts, and their traffic management expert system became self-aware and escaped into the Matrix before the Webspinner host was shut down.
Priorities
For the most part, AIs use the same priorities as metahuman characters, but instead of a “metatype” they select a type of AI - Maratus is an “Agent AI”, an AI that developed from an Agent or Expert system. We need high Attributes and Skills, and while it is possible for AIs to be non-mundane (in which case they are technically an EI or “Emerged Intelligence” with technomancer-like abilities), Maratus is entirely mundane:
Attributes
The big difference between AI characters and regular metahumans is that AIs have no - physical attributes of their own. Instead, they have fixed matrix attributes. For Maratus, the focus is on Logic (for hacking and gunnery, among other things) and Data Processing (for running programs and general “data crunching” tasks). Intuition and Willpower are also fairly important, everything else is a bit lower. The overall spread is:
Skills
We want lots of Cracking and Computer (because the main role Maratus would fill is as a hacker) and almost-as-high Piloting and Engineering (because drones are what gives them a “body” when needed). They also have decent Con (they’re fairly Charismatic for an AI and lying is easy when you have no body language that can betray you) and some Influence, and we’ll want a few more later but they’ll have to wait for Karma. For now, we have:
Knowledge Skills
Most of the knowledge skills are things that a traffic management AI built for Seattle streets would know about, obviously - but there’s also AI Rights (duh) and Combat Biking (they just think it looks like soooo much fun). Thanks to Codemods, they can also load any language and knowledge skill as required (they just have to pay for them first).
Qualities
They’re pretty light on qualities - Analytical Mind is always a favourite and in this case definitely appropriate, Pilot Origins effectively makes them a Rigger (of sorts), and Doomscrolling is the AI version of Insomnia - there’s just sooooo much cool stuff to learn about! AIs need to “realign” their code for about 3 hours a day to remain functional, and that can be difficult when the world is so exiting…
As an Agent AI, Maratus also has Photographic Memory.
Altogether the Qualities cost a net 7 Karma.
Gear
Vehicles
A Honda Spirit is a small, economical city car, perfect for moving a human-shaped drone (and a few smaller ones) around. Or a couple of Shadowrunners. The car has been enhanced with drone racks that can release the Hornet and the Pursuit V on the go (the Rotodrone is in the boot and the Samurai in a seat, so they have to wait for the car to stop or at least slow down). Also, no manual controls, because Maratus doesn’t need them.
An MCT Hornet is a small, insect-shaped spy drone, great for observing from high above ground or sneaking in through air vents. It had a Sensor array added that includes a variety of vision and audio enhancements, as well as an Olfactory scanner that can detect all sorts of gases in the atmosphere (good for checking if something is safe for the metahuman teammates, for example).
The Chrysler-Nissan Pursuit V is a very fast, small, wheeled drone, built to race between and under traffic at race-car speeds. It is one of two drones that are designed to be a “home base” for hacking with an improved Pilot - it can quickly race across town with Maratus occupying it, hide in a corner somewhere close to the target and be used as a “forward base” for a hacking operation.
The Nissan Samurai is the other “home base” drone - it is roughly human-shaped and has fully functional arms, which makes it usable for any tasks that may require things like pulling levers, pushing buttons and opening doors. It also has an improved Pilot rating for hacking, two Ingram Smartgun XIs mounted to the arms, and a medkit built into one in case any metahuman teammates need patching up. The Smartguns are attached to weapon mounts but those can be removed for situations where they would not be appropriate (given they are somewhat illegal). That does require some Engineering work, though.
Finally, an MCT-Nissan Rotodrone with a mounted Ares Alpha assault rifle is the hardest hitter for combat - and the built-in grenade launcher can use a variety of different load-outs from smoke and tear gas through to high explosive.
Code Mods
Code Mods are essentially the AI equivalent of cyberware - they fulfil many of the same purposes, and use up Spark, the AI equivalent of Essence. Maratus has Synthetic Skill Drivers for Knowsofts and Linguasofts that can run any of these as required (but they have to be purchased first), as well as a Smartlink Adapter that allows them to utilize smartlinked weapons properly.
Other stuff
A bunch of Cyberprograms, an Engineering Kit, and some basic Fake Identity and Lifestyle is all there is.
Adding it all up
Altogether, the Gear costs 154,770 Nuyen, which means 3 Karma need to be spent and starting Nuyen is 1,230.
Spending our Karma
After Gear and Qualities, there are 40 Karma left, which is good because we need more skills. First, 15 go into specialisations in Cracking (Hacking), Electronics (Computer) and Engineering (Gunnery).
The other 25 go into one point each of Biotech, Close Combat, Firearms, Perception, Outdoors for some well-rounded basic capabilities in “doing stuff while jumped into drones”.
Finishing it up
Contacts
A fixer, a weapons smuggler from the Cascade Ork tribe (part of the nearby Salish-Side Council), another AI who is a spokes…program for the AI rights movement, and a Hacker and Coder should cover most of the required bases.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
For Day 28, I am creating an infected character, specifically a Banshee. Infected are metahumans (and occasionally other sapient beings) that were transformed by the not-entirely-mundane Human-MetaHuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV) into a cannibalistic monster of sorts - the exact kind depends on the strain of the virus and the original metatype. Banshees are elves who were infected by Strain I, which tends to create particularly powerful beings that also have some serious drawbacks - not only do they have to feed on metahumans in some form (in the Banshee’s case, they drink blood), they also have to feed on the Essence or soul of their victim (so no robbing a blood bank - they need to feed from a living being, and they cause lasting damage to that being). Aside from potentially going dark places, they also have some quirks in the rules that makes them a bit weird - you have to first create them as a normal character of their kind, then apply the infected template which may change a lot. Also, as their Essence fluctuates, so does their Magic attribute (if they have one), which means their power really varies depending on how recently they fed…
Appearance and first impression
An unusually thin elf, with sharp cheekbones and pale, grey-ish skin. He always wears a long, black lined coat, and almost always has two heavy pistols on his hip. He leans into the stereotype of the silent, brooding infected, but it is not just an act - he does his best to avoid getting close to anyone.
Backstory
Bloodhound used to be a respectable man, a bodyguard ready to give his life for his client. What he had not been planning on was to give his soul, but in a way that was what happened when an attacker was not coming with guns or blades, but with fangs and a thirst for blood. After an agonising couple of hours, HMHVV took its toll and the young elf had been turned into a Banshee. He struggled with his need to take human lifes, but found a solution when he encountered a young woman trying to flee from a “recruiter” for a Bunraku parlor. He told her to run, and then he fed. Afterwards, he realised that the sixth world was full of monsters worse than him, and he would not have to go hungry again.
Priorities
The initial priority selection was fairly straightforward - Bloodhound is an Adept, so we need Magic but it can start low, Attributes are the most important and gear is far down the track (although as a gunslinger adept, he needs some gear which means we need to spend Karma):
We want a little bit of everything here. Agility and Reaction are at the top because of combat speed, Charisma is also important because Bloodhound likes to intimidate his prey and make them understand why he is coming for them, Intuition also affects Initiative, Body and Willpower are the drain resistance stats if he picks up any drain-causing powers at some point, and a little Strength and Intelligence are also needed. Of, and Magic needs to be increased to 6 of course. Overall, at this stage we end up with:
Skills
Firearms goes to the top, but we also want decent Close Combat, Influence, Con, Perception and Stealth. Also a little Athletics and Piloting, but that has to wait for Karma:
Firearms 6
Close Combat 5
Influence 4
Con 4
Perception 2
Stealth 3
Knowledge Skills
English is the native language, and Bloodhound also knows a bit about Gun Brands and Organised Crime.
Qualities
Here’s where the Infected part comes in, but first, let’s go through the “normal” Qualities:
Ambidextrous does what it says on the tin. It doesn’t give extra attacks or anything, but it means the character can attack with either hand (for example, freely choose between the pistol loaded with normal and less-lethal ammo).
Honorbound Bloodhound has a strict code - only kill those who deserve it. If he breaks it, he can’t gain or spend edge for at least 24 hours.
Simsense Vertigo: He has real trouble using VR - no edge gain or spend while using it, and nauseated for an hour afterwards.
Low Pain Tolerance: Damage modifiers are doubled. If/when he has the Karma to get the Regeneration power, this will be much less of a problem, but until then, getting injured is bad news.
As an Elf, he also has Low-light Vision naturally…
And then, we get to the Banshee quality, which costs a whopping 32 Karma and contains a whole lot of Powers and Disadvantages, and also allows him to buy further Powers with Karma later (such as Regeneration or the ability to induce Fear in a target or turn into Mist):
First of all, a Banshee is Dual Natured, which is a mixed blessing - it means he can always see into the Astral plane and affect beings there, but he can also be seen and affected by them… He is also Immune to Age which is unlikely to come up in a game (especially for an Elf whose lifespan was always measured in centuries) and Sapient which he was already (it is listed because technically these are all Critter Powers and not all Critters are). He also has the Essence Drain power that allows him to take Essence from victims to replenish his own, and the Infection power that is used automatically when someone is drained to Essence 0 (and may turn them into another Infected). He has Enhanced Hearing and a Natural Weapon in the form of fangs, and finally is much faster, resulting in +1 Initiative Die and +2 Base movement rate.
On the others side, he has a Severe Allergy to Sunlight, a Vulnerability to Silver and Wood, a Dietary Requirement for Metahuman Blood, and Essence Loss which means his Essence goes down by one per month (more if he uses his powers a lot), and he has to use Essence Drain to recover it.
All in all, the qualities have a net cost of 10 Karma.
Magic
Bloodhound has the following Adept Powers: Improved Physical Attribute (Agility, 4): Agility is what is used to hit targets in ranged and close combat, so increasing it as far as possible is worth the points, even though it is expensive.
Vocal Control: Perfect pitch, sound like another person, just sound really intimidating - lots of opportunities here, and basically means a bonus edge for social rolls where voice is used.
Wall Running: It’s cheap and lets him run straight up a vertical surface (but only for one turn at a time).
Improved Ability (Influence, 2): Two extra dice for Intimidation and other Influence tests.
Now, it gets a little complicated - at the start of the game, Bloodhound only has one point of Magic, which means only one point of the Improved Agility power is active. Once he has a chance to use his Drain Essence power by “drinking” from a victim, this will change.
Gear
Weapons
Two Nemesis Arms Praetorian II Heavy Pistols - they have an attached combat blade and can therefore be used in close combat or at range. Each has 2 spare clips and a Quick-Draw Holster; one is loaded with regular ammo, the other with Stick-n-Shock which effectively makes it a powerful Taser.
Armor
A regular old Lined Coat - a classic, both for the coolness factor, the protective effect and the potential to conceal some weapons.
Other stuff
Just the usual, there wasn’t much money to spare. As a vehicle, there is a Suzuki Mirage, a fast and elegant racing bike.
Adding it all up
Altogether, the gear costs 33,490 Nuyen - after spending 13 Karma on it, we have 510 Nuyen left to start the game with.
Spending our Karma
After Qualities and Gear, we have 27 Karma left. 15 of that go into specialisations in Firearms (Heavy Pistols), Close Combat (Blades) and Influence (Intimidation).
Another 10 go into a point each of Athletics and Piloting.
And the last 2 are leftover to start the game with.
Finishing it up
Contacts
Aside from some of the usual contacts that can help him get jobs and gear, Bloodhound also knows Sidewinder, a Headhunter that sometimes lets him in on a job when he is too busy, Summer Stewart, a District Attorney who has occasionally sent him after the worst kinds of criminals that the law could somehow not touch, and Guilo Tufo, a Mafia Capo that he has a tense relationship with, but who sometimes sells some information about the various organised crime syndicates in the city (including his own).
Calculations
Attack Rating:
Praetorian II (Gun): 11/10/10/-/-
Praetorian II (Blade): 9
Fangs: 12
Defense Rating
Physical: 7
Initiative
Physical: 11 + 2D6
Notable Dice Pools These assume all Adept Powers are active, i.e. Essence has been raised to at least 6
Shoot Heavy Pistol: 20
Attack with Blades: 19
Attack with Fangs: 17
Intimidation: 15
Other Influence: 13
Con: 11
Stealth: 15
Condition Monitors
Physical: 10
Stun: 10
And there we are
The final version of the worksheet can be found here .That’s it for Day 28 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge
#CharacterCreationChallenge
Back to Shadowrun for the Home Stretch, the last 5 characters will be freaks - that is not a term found anywhere in the Shadowrun rules, but basically all of them will be something outside the normal metahumanity. Today, we are looking at Polly a shifter - in the world of Shadowrun, shifters are normally animals that have human intelligence and can shapeshift into humans (which also comes with some added boni like really fast healing). However, that only applies as long as they do not reduce their essence through cybernetic enhancements. It is possible to get a very limited level of tolerance, but in general, getting augmented turns off the regeneration and the ability to shapeshift, leaving them locked in animal form. Polly, an African Grey Parrot, is just fine with that… For now, I will assume all my freaks are based in Seattle.
Appearance and first impression
A grey parrot, almost always sitting on the shoulder or head of a human-sized anthrodrone. A closer look will reveal two datajacks (one is part of a Control Rig) in the stomach. Polly can not only talk, she imitates voices and sounds with uncanny accuracy, although she has a notable Russian accent unless she tries to suppress it. She is chatty, curious and sometimes a little naive, but has no problems with using violence when it seems necessary.
Backstory
Polly hatched in a pet shop in Vladivostok, Russia, and was soon sold to Vladimir, a local leader in the Vory v Zakone (the Russian Mafia) as a pet. When she turned out to be a shifter, and have an interest in machines and vehicles of all kinds, he initially tried to put her to use as a spy, and eventually had some cyberware installed that locked her out of her shapeshifting abilities. She was not overly concerned, especially when she realised that her new control rig meant that she could control drones as if they were her own body instead, but she had enough of being a virtual slave. Vladimir was very surprised when his own security drones turned on him, and shortly afterwards, Polly and all the drones and gear she could transport were on a container ship bound for Seattle…
Priorities
For a Rigger, Resources are almost always at the top of the list, followed by Attributes, Skills, Metatype and Magic/Resonance in this order:
Note that the Metatype in this case is a Dwarf, which is the form she would have if she was still able to shapeshift. It affects attribute maxima and inherent qualities (so she gains the Thermographic Vision and Toxin Resistance).
Attributes
Logic (for Gunnery) and Intuition (for piloting when jumped in) are the most important attributes, followed by Willpower, and we want decent Agility for flying. Charisma at 3 gives us useful contacts, and everything else is less important:
Skills
Engineering and Piloting, as usual for a Rigger, are at the top. Apart from that we want decent Athletics (for Flying), Stealth and Perception, and since we have kinda decent Charisma, a little Influence and Con might also come in handy:
Knowledge Skills Russian is the Native language, but Polly also speaks English at Expert level (basically, just below Native). She also knows about Drones and Smuggling Routes, and is a big fan of Troll Thrash Metal.
Qualities
The main one here is the Shifter quality - this is a lot more complicated than most. First, one of four base types is applied, in Polly’s case the Feathery type (bird shifters). It has a base cost of 18 Karma, but gets modified with add-ons, in our case Functional Tail (Prehensile), Shifter Reflexes at rating 2, and Shifter Preference (Animal Form). The functional tail is a bit of a misnomer - it can apply to any situation where a shifter has the ability to hold and manipulate items in animal form with their appendages, and parrots are quite good at using their claws and beak for motor skills. The reflexes give us extra Reaction in animal form only, and the Shifter Preference is a bit of a cheat as it reduces the cost in exchange for disadvantages in metahuman form that Polly can no longer take - but it seems only fair to get something for being locked out of shifting and regeneration. Altogether the Shifter quality costs 24 Karma, and despite all the addons only counts as one quality. It also provides a Fly speed, a natural weapon (the beak) and causes Polly to be extremely sensitive to silver.
Gearhead adds bonus edge for repairing vehicles.
Impaired (Body) 2 reduces the Body maximum, in exchange for 16 Karma.
Distinctive Style makes it easier for people to remember her, which seems fair - she’s a freaking talking parrot riding around on an anthrodrone.
She also has Toxin Resistance and Thermographic Vision from being, technically, a dwarf.
Vehicles, Drones and Accessories
We’ll give this a separate section from normal gear so we can split it a little.
The Car
Okay, this is probably the most boring part, but sometimes you have to get from A to B quickly. Very quickly. That’s when the Hyundai Shin-hyung comes in, a fast but relatively affordable sports car. It is equipped with Rigger Adaptation and a protective Rigger cocoon for Polly to hang out in while she is plugged in and drives. No weapons or anything along those lines, we don’t want to be hassled by police every time we buy groceries.
The Perch
A roughly human-sized and -shaped Nissan Samurai. It has fully functional arms and legs, and one of the arms has a built-in medkit and a built-in vehicle repair kit, basically a swiss-army-arm that can fix cars AND people (and parrots). There’s also a rigger-command-console and a commlink duct-taped to the chest and a perch attached to the shoulder for Polly to ride on.
The Henchmen
Three more Nissan Samurai, these ones are armed, however - each arm has an Ingram Smartgun XI submachine gun attached, with 250 explosive rounds in the ones on the right and 250 gel rounds in the one on the left (depending on whether the target should end up dead or just stunned). The arms also have an Agility increase up to 6, and each of them carries a Katana for close combat.
The Bruisers
Two Nissan Oni are quite similar to the Samurai, but bigger, about Troll-sized. They have an Ares Alpha assault rifle attached to each arm, with 500 regular rounds on the right and 500 gel rounds on the ride, same basic principle. Because the Alpha has a built-in grande launcher, each of them also has 6 High-Explosive Grenades on the left and 6 Stun Grenades on the right (that way even if an arm is completely destroyed, there is still some flexibility). They also have the Agility Increase and the Katana that the Samurai have.
Air Support
Two MCT-Nissan Rotodrones, each with a Standard Weapon Mount, an Ares Alpha, 500 regular rounds and 6 grenades - one has HE-Grenades, the other has smoke grenades.
Oversight
Two MCT Hornets are good for being an eye in the sky, decent flyers and easy to mistake for a large insect. Each also has an injector with a single dose of Narcojet (a fast-acting tranquilizer) on board, and Polly keeps a few extra doses around.
The Swarm
Each of the “two” MCT Gnats is actually a pack of 10. They are slow and useless for anything except recon, but they also can’t be distinguished from a small insect with a naked eye and fit through just about any gap.
The Command Gear
A Proteus Poseidon Rigger Command Console can control up to 15 drones at a time (i.e. all of them except for the Gnats)and share out up to five of the Autosofts.
And Engineering Shop has all the necessary equipment to repair and modify any of the vehicles.
Rating 6 Clearsight and Evasion autosofts can be shared out to all the drones. In addition, there are Maneuvering autosofts for the Hornets, Rotodrones, Samurai and Oni (the Gnats and the car will have to do without for now), Stealth autosofts for the Hornet and the Gnats, Targeting autosofts for the Ingram Smartguns, the Ares Alphas and the Ares Alpha grenade launchers, as well as autosoft versions of the Close Combat and Biotech skills.
Other Gear
Polly has neither personal weapons nor armor - they just get in the way for a bird.
Augmentations
A rating 3 Control Rig is of course the most important augmentation for a Rigger.
A separate Datajack means Polly can also connect to her regular commlink.
A Voice Modulator enhances her natural ability to mimic voices and sounds, and also lets her talk without any issues as a parrot.
A Simsense Interface Overdrive adds two points of Intuition when in VR (where it is most needed).
Finally, her eyes have implanted Smartlink and Low-Light Vision enhancements.
Other stuff
Some of the usual gear, fake SIN, lifestyle, mapsoft etc.,
Adding it all up
Altogether, the Gear costs 480,325 Nuyen, a bit over 30k more than what the priority table gave us. Topping it up costs 16 Karma, but leaves 1,675 to start the game with.
Spending our Karma
After qualities and gear, we have 22 Karma left. 20 of those go into specialisations in Engineering (Gunnery), Piloting (Ground Craft, Athletics 9Flying) and Con (Impersonation). Obviously impersonating someone will only work as long as they can’t see her (unless she is trying to impersonate another parrot, maybe).
Polly starts the game with 2 Karma.
Finishing it up
Contacts
Three contacts, all with Connection and Loyalty set to 3:
Thoran Aldis is an Elf of indeterminate origin, and a fixer. He likes to act all mysterious and aloof but is quite approachable when he likes someone, like Polly.
Pietrov is a human arms smuggler from Vladivostok.
Sprocket is a young Gnome who owns and runs a junkyard, and loves to talk about drones and fixing cars - she will not shut up if one lets her talk.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
The final one of the Fera pack is a Rokea, a wereshark. Their intended purpose was to survive, nothing more. When a nuclear bomb test killed off most of their kind including almost all the elders, many Rokea began both fearing and hating humans. Eventually, most decided that the safest course of action was to stay far away from humans and the land, but a few disagreed and began exploring Unsea as they call the dry land. This has lead to a bloody civil war among them, and Sandswimmer, today’s character, is one of the Betweeners those that enjoy spending time on land, both in order to learn and maybe find ways to prevent further damage to their kind, and… sometimes just for the sake of it.
Sandswimmer / Sandy
Background
While she was originally born as a shark in the mediterranean, when she became more intelligent and realised she was not just a shark, she began what is called the long swim, where a young Rokea begins to explore the oceans of the world, until they eventually find a sacred underwater Grotto where they learn to shapeshift and use Gifts. For Sandy, the end of her journey was in the waters between Florida and the Bahamas, and she soon began exploring the Florida coastline, which is where she earned the name “Sandswimmer” (although among humans, she just goes by “Sandy”). Despite her homely appearance, she quickly found herself at home among the party crowd and was enjoying all the excesses humanity had to offer, financing her lifestyle by stealing from (and occasionally eating) the rich and ultra-rich that were often found on Yachts nearby. This only changed when one of the luxurious yachts she targeted turned out to be manned by Fomori, humans masquerading as Banes, and she found what seemed to be important documents that made no sense to her. When she began searching for someone that could figure out their meaning, she came across a group of shapeshifters that had been tracking those same Fomori, and they found that the plans indicated some big plan of Qyrl, the destroyer, whom they land-dwellers knew as the Wyrm - plans for some kind of large ritual that would poison the land and ocean alike, with pawns in powerful places including the governor’s mansion. The five of them decided to band together to prevent this… somehow.
Appearance
In her homid form, Sandy is not pretty - her ash blond hair always seems slightly greasy, her skin has blemishes, her eyes are just a bit too far apart, her teeth are not straight… but she makes up for it with confidence and enthusiasm for almost anything that comes up. In her shark form, squamus, she is a large but otherwise unremarkable Great Hammerhead, about 5 metres long. Her other forms are Glabrus, a slightly larger and bulkier (and uglier) version of her human form, Gladius, an upright walking version of her shark form with arms and legs, and Chasmus, an even bigger version of her shark form, about 8 metres long.
Character Concept Concept: Party Girl Changing Breed: Rokea Auspice: Brightwater Breed: Squamous Species: Great Hammerhead
Backgrounds Rites: The good old Rite of Talisman Dedication and nothing else. Mentor: An older Rokea, also a Betweener, who has been teaching her the ropes. Resources: Crime pays, at least a little. Contacts: With her “party girl” lifestyle she has made a few acquaintances, but the one that can be really useful is Rico, a specialist in selling goods that have been… found. On yachts whose crew has inexplicably gone missing, for example
Gifts: Killing Bite costs a Rage point and lets her use a bite attack regardless of shape that inflicts an additional two levels of aggravated damage Restraint costs a Willpower point and requires a willpower roll on entering Frenzy - if successful, she can choose one character per success that she can ignore during the frenzy. Eyes of the Wound lets her have almost perfect night vision at any time, but her eyes glow green when she uses it.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
Another day, another werecreature, but this time, it’s a little more disturbing than the previous ones. Ratkin - wererats - purpose was and is population control, often through spreading diseases. They are the most numerous species of werecreature in the setting of Werewolf: the Apocalypse, and the vast majority of them are Rodens, born as rats. In order to become one, one has to be infected with the birthing plague, a disease that causes several days of high fever, hallucinations and, almost always, death. The survivors - those with enough Ratkin blood in them - turn into Ratkin, although many keep some of the madness that almost consumed them.
Francis ‘The Mouse’ Allen
Background
Growing up in northern Florida, Francis always struggled in life - his parents were not poor, but far from wealthy. He had trouble focusing on anything he was meant to do in school, and spent more time daydreaming about fascinating worlds he created in his mind than learning about maths or spelling. After dropping out, he worked a variety of service jobs, including a three month stint in a… large theme park commonly associated with a rodent. It was while working there that he was found by a pack of Ratkin who recognised his heritage and infected him with the birthing plague. After a week of fevered madness, he found he was no longer employed, but was convinced that he was the exiled King of the Kingdom of Vermin, known as ‘The Mouse’, and that he had been deposed by enemies of the realm that were led by his archenemy, a Weasel known as The Sanctimonious. He began to travel, searching for allies that might help him take back his realm. When he came across a group of other shapeshifters on a quest of their own, he decided to join them despite their protestations.
Appearance
A haggard-looking young man, usually still wearing the uniform of a sales clerk from the souvenir shop he last worked at, Francis is not a pretty sight. He is twitchy, usually conceals his eyes behind a pair of sunglasses and clearly has not seen a shower in months - but his voice has a quality to it that few people can resist when he starts talking.
In his Rodens form, he is only slightly larger than a typical brown rat, and his Crinos form is barely larger than he is as a human, albeit bulkier and a lot more monstrous, appearing to be a hairless, upright-walking rat.
Backgrounds Fetish: The Standard Issue Sunglasses make him beneath notice to humans no matter the form he is in.
Rites: In addition to the Rite of Talisman Dedication, he also knows the Hazer Tag rite, which allows him to redirect all attempts to track him towards an unsuspecting patsy (in a rather gross fashion).
Contacts: Francis knows a few people - his former manager at the theme park who regrets having to let him go, and a Jacksonville police officer who he went to high school with. Neither of them would go far out of their way to help him, but they might be willing to trade favors.
Gifts: Cloak of Shadows: Francis can hide himself and allies he touches in shadows, at the cost of a point of Gnosis, as long as he succeeds on a Manipulation + Stealth roll.
Eau de Rat: At the cost of a Gnosis point, the character can increase his body odour to the point where anyone in the immediate vicinity (within 6 metres) loses 2 dice from all dice pools.
Persuasion: A successful roll of Charisma + Subterfuge reduces the difficulty of all social rolls by one for the rest of the scene and allows successful rolls to have unusually strong impacts.
Background
Suntreader hatched on a remote beach in the Florida keys, and spent the first several years of his life as a relatively normal, albeit unusually intelligent and curious, crocodile. The changed when he began to have dreams of walking on two legs - sometimes as a human, sometimes as a large, prehistoric beast, and by the time he first physically changed, he had already begun to understand what it was to be Mokole. He found a few others of his kind, and they explained to him that his role was to lead his people into war, but he did not understand and felt no desire to lead. He struck out on his own and claimed one of the many small islands between the Keys and the mainland as his territory, even found some (crocodile) kinfolk mates… until he began finding the desiccated and flayed corpses of crocodiles near (though never in his territory. At first he suspected human hunters, but far too often, the skin was left behind, and he knew that was what poachers would be most interested in. While he was trying to catch the culprits, he was approached by an unusually curious raven, and soon found that he was not the only werebeast in the area that was investigating strange occurrences. Maybe he would lead his allies into war after all - even if those allies were not his kind…
Appearance
In his natural breed form, Suntreader is a large, olive green American crocodile, about 5 metres long and weighing half a ton. In human form, he is athletic, with shoulder-length dark hair, well-tanned skin and rarely wearing more than board shorts. His Archid form, which he normally only takes on for combat and well out of sight of normal humans, resembles a deep emerald scaled Baryonyx, with a similar basic shape to a crocodile but larger and capable of walking upright.
Archid Characteristics: Long Teeth: Bite attack damage is increased to Str + 3 Tall: Archid Form is almost 10 meters tall when fully upright, and weighs well over a ton. +1 Stamina and +2 to Perception where height may be an advantage Upright Walking: Hands are free while walking Predator’s Roar: “Attack” usable once per scene - all characters in close combat range roll Willpower (difficulty 4) and must flee if it fails - this includes allies Webbed Feet: Swim speed 150%, no difficulty walking on soft ground Deep Lungs: Can hold breath for up to an hour, or five minutes in combat
Backgrounds Rites: The classic Rite of Talisman Dedication Mnesis: Can “remember” events that may be several centuries in the past through a special ritual Wallow: An island in the everglades with a small, hidden hut that may provide refuge to a group (if they don’t mind the crocodiles along the way)
Gifts: Sight of the True Form: With a Perceptio + Primal-urge roll at difficulty 6, Suntreader can see past illusions and changed shapes and see the true forms of other beings.
Lambent Flame: At the cost of a Willpower point, Suntreader can light up his body and illuminate an area of about 30 metres around him. This not only provides a source of light, it also makes it difficult to look directly at him and makes attacks against him more difficult.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
The second of my “Werecritters” is a Corax, a Wereraven. They are curious, talkative, easily distracted by shiny things and of course they can fly. Where the Garou are Gaia's “immune system”, designed to fight her enemies, and the Bastet are the keepers of secrets, Corax are the eyes and ears of Gaia - they excel at finding out information and then spreading it widely to anyone who might need it.
Anastasia Wilson
Background
Anastasia’s father had made a fortune in one of the original tech boom of the turn of the millennium, and while they are not remotely close as he never forgave her for not being the son he wanted, he has at times tried to make up for his shortcomings as a father with lavish gifts and bank accounts, so she never really has to worry about money. When her Spirit Egg hatched and she underwent her first change, she was obviously surprised, but took to life as a Corax like a fish to the water. She has inherited the technical abilities of her father and spends as much time learning secrets through computers as she does through her own eyes. She also occasionally gets into trouble, but at least so far the best lawyers money can buy have always gotten her out of it again.
She is currently studying at CalTech, but was visiting Florida (for Spring Break, to sample that normal-people college life) when she came across some shifty looking people dropping bags out of an air boat in the everglades. She decided to keep an eye them and the area, and a short time later, found what appeared to be a cougar acting strange in the area. When she realised he was not a regular Cougar but a Pumonca, she revealed herself to him and after an initial bit of hostility, the two of them decided to team up.
Appearance
A thin young woman with a sharp nose and almost constant slight smirk on her face. Her dark brown hair is worn in a short bob style, and her skin is very pale. She rarely wears any colour other than black, even in the Florida heat, and often has a curt and standoffish manner when first meeting someone - although she warms up quickly to anyone not just viewing her as an extension of her father.
Character Concept Concept: Tech Princess Changing Breed: Corax Breed: Homid
Backgrounds
The Fetish is a uPhone a smartphone that has a spirit bound to it, allowing it to work anywhere regardless of reception, even in the spirit world.
Resources at rank 4 means Anastasia is wealthy enough to rarely have to worry about the cost of things - things like international plane tickets, renting or even buying a car or finding a place to live at a moment’s notice are trivial to her.
Contacts: While she might be reluctant to play the “Do you know who my father is” card, Anastasia does know some important, and many sort-of important people. The two big ones nearby are a Manager at NASA (based in Cape Canaveral) and a Professor of Ecology at the University of Miami, both of whom may provide information of different kinds, but she can also get hold of numerous other people if needed.
Rites: She knows the Rite of Talisman Dedication, but not really any other at this stage.
Allies: On her trip she has made friends with a park ranger in the Everglades.
Gifts: Morse allows her to create a message that will be delivered to the nearest Corax or, with some additional effort, to a specified shapeshifter of any kind.
Open Seal lets her open any mechanical lock.
Enemy Ways allows her to perceive the number and location of individuals with hostile intentions towards her nearby
#CharacterCreationChallenge
I realised that I simply cannot keep up with a Shadowrunner a day - they take a long time to build, and between family, work, study and occasionally trying to have a life there’s only so many hours in a day. So I decided to return to the world of Werwolf: the Apocalypse, but with a twist - the next group of five characters will have no Werewolves. Instead, this set focuses on the [i[]Changing Breeds (also known as Fera), all the other kinds of werecreatures out there. In the prehistory of the setting, the Garou drove many of them close (and a few all the way) to extinction in the War of Rage, and while that was a long time ago, none of them are the forgiving kind. They also all have their own culture, spirituality and abilities, and mostly stay among their own kind, although a few attempts at inter-breed cooperation have been made, most importantly the East Asian Beast Courts that have been around since prehistory, and the much more recent Ahadi of Africa. However, my little group will consist of five individuals from… Southern Florida, whose backstories interweave and may lead to them forming a (temporary?) alliance. The first is a Bastet, or Werecat, of the Pumonca tribe of werecougars. Bastet are relatively similar to Garou in many ways (but don’t mention that in front of either), so it’s a good way to “ease into” the plot…
The Old Cat
Background
Among the Bastet, Metis are less reviled than among the Garou, but they are also less common - Bastet are mostly solitary, so there are fewer opportunities for two of them to give in to temptation. This is even more true for the Pumonca than most of the other tribes - they often go years between meeting another of their kind. The Old Cat (the only name he ever knew) is one of those rare few. His mother left him with some human kin as soon as he was old enough to stop nursing, and he mostly left them as soon as he was old enough to take Feline form and claim a piece of the Everglades as his personal hunting grounds and Den Realm. He would have been content to keep his contact with anyone else to the absolute minimum, but one day during a hunt, he encountered a strange, deformed creature that may once have been human, and when he investigated the surrounding land, he found more, both human and animal. A strange sickness seemed to be spreading, and it endangered his home. This could not be tolerated.
Appearance
In his Feline form which he spends most of his time in, The Old Cat appears to be an aging, somewhat haggard Florida Panther (a subspecies of cougar unrelated to the Leopard more commonly referred to as Panther), usually wheezing and sneezing. In homid form, he is an awkward, unshaven man with sun-tanned skin wearing unwashed jeans and T-shirt.
Gifts:
Lick Wounds
Sense Primal Nature
Mockingbird’s Mirror
Renown:
Honor 1
Cunning 2
Others Rage 4 Gnosis 3 Willpower 4 Rank 1
Backgrounds
The Den-Realm is the territory The Old Cat claims - it is about two square miles of the Everglades. In it, the owner can step sideways into the spirit world (which Bastet normally cannot do without a high-level Gift), lead others across as well, and teleport between different locations.
The Kinfolk are the human relatives he grew up with - he does not have a lot of contact with them, but they are on mostly good terms, and they know about the supernatural to some degree.
The Rites he knows are the Rite of Talisman Dedication that allows him to dedicate items (like a set of clothing) so it adapts to changing forms and can accompany him to the spirit world, and the Rite of Summoning which allows him to summon spirits (but they may not be friendly).
#CharacterCreationChallenge
The last entry in my metavariant series - a Minotaur Hacker/Rigger hybrid - was a challenge. Not for lack of ideas, mind you - it’s just that I had so many cool ideas that my first build ended up with Gear worth almost double the available amount, and that was despite putting Resources on A. I then had a choice between making him a pretty decent Hacker and Rigger but based in a van instead of an airship, or turning him into a fairly mediocre Hacker and fairly mediocre Rigger but he remains an airship pirate, and if that isn’t a worthwhile tradeoff, I don’t know what is.
Appearance and first impression
A small and lightly built Minotaur, although that has to be seen in relative terms - at close to 2.4 metres tall and weighing in at 230kg, Stark is still an imposing figure, especially since the armor jacket styled after a British WWII bomber jacket adds to his bulk. The aviators goggles that are almost always strapped to his head, the shotgun with bayonet that is slung over his shoulders, the large and forward-swept horns and, oh yeah, the fragging Zeppelin he rides around in round out the picture.
Backstory
Stark is not a Berlin native - he was born in the free city of Hamburg and his accent occasionally gives it away. Like many minotaurs, he tried his hand at working on ships for a while - mostly pirate ships - but quickly realised that he foudn himself drawn to a higher calling as he sometimes likes to put it... his passion was for aircraft of any kind. When he got his hands on a refurbished commuter airship that had been... liberated, he decided to start his own kind of piracy... but he also had to leave Hamburg in a hurry because the previous owner was not as out of the picture as he thought...
Priorities
Another Sum-To-Ten approach/
Resources had to be A, and even that was barely enough. Attributes and Skills are also important and end up on B, Metatype and Magic/Resonance could be down at E, so our final spread is:
The cost for the Minotaur metavariant is 5 Karma again.
Attributes
The priorities are Logic (for Hacking and Gunnery) and Intuition (for piloting while jumped in). Willpower is a little more important than everything else, but none of the rest really matters:
Skills
We need Cracking, Electronics, Piloting and Engineering as high as possible, and with one of them at 6 and the rest at 5, we have 3 points left. Those go into Influence. There’s a lot more I would like to get, but we will get skillwires (though not the high-end version Ruth had) to cover the basics for everything else. For now, our spread is:
Knowledge Skills
Aside from German as his Native language, Stark knows about a variety of things that are relevant to being a pirate, and is a fan of 20th century Flatvids.
Qualities
We will need a lot of Karma for Gear, so some negative qualities will help. There is a maximum +20 Net Karma that can be gained through qualities, but first, let’s start on the positive side:
Guts gives Stark extra Karma to resist intimidation. He’s not easily cowed…
And on the negative side…
Honorbound (Pirate Code): Basically means never abandoning the crew, always being honest with them and everyone gets an equal share of the loot and equal voice.
Impaired (Body, 2) because we were never going to max that one out anyways.
Combat Junkie makes Stark easier to goad into a fight.
All in all, that’s the net +20 we needed.
As a Minotaur he also has the usual Troll qualities (Built Tough and Thermographic Vision) as well as Goring Horns that can be used as weapons.
Gear
On the worksheet, several categories have two numbers separated by a hyphen - in that case, the second number has the 10% Troll adjustment added in. Some items, like the Airship and the jetpack, are already adjusted for metahumans or have a separate modification for that.
Weapons
A Franchi SPAS-25 is a basic but useful shotgun. A Smartgun system for use at distance and a Bayonet for close combat make it rather versatile.
Armor
An Armor Jacket is big, bulky and ugly, so… just right.
Vehicles
Let’s start with the best part: a Goodyear Commuter-47 Airship is Starks home and base of operations. It has the kind of adjustments needed for a Minotaur rigger pilot, a turreted AK-97 for defense and drone racks for the Hornets (see below), alongside some extra exit points for jumping. The moment Stark has the Nuyen, he should also invest in some proper drone racks for the Rotodrones and Smuggling compartments. On the upside, the airship can seat 20 people, so there’s enough space for the entire crew and then some.
The Krime Karrier is a jetpack specifically designed for Trolls and Troll-sized metahumans. Perfect for jumping right into action.
2 MCT-Nissan Rotodrones with an AK-97 each can be thrown out a hatch if extra flying firepower is needed, or taken along on a Shadowrun.
4 MCT-Hornets are eyes in the sky. They have a “stinger” that can be used to inject drugs into a target as well, but right now, those are not loaded up.
Originally I was going to give him four Rotodrones and another group of ground-based Nissan Samurai, but alas, not enough Nuyen…
Augmentations
All of the following are used and rating 2 - nothing super powerful, but they’ll do the job.
A Cyberjack is for hacking.
A Control Rig is for rigging.
And the Skilljack and Skillwires are for basic competence in whatever is required, be it specialised knowledges, languages or active skills. He also has a monthly subscription that allows him to use any one skill at rating 2 at a time.
Rigging and Matrix Gear
For hacking, we have a basic (but still very expensive) Spinrad Falcon cyberdeck, along with a selection of useful Cyberprograms. Between this and the fairly weak Cyberjack, Stark is not much of a hacker - he’ll be able to handle individual devices and small-scale Matrix opposition, but large corporate hosts and government systems are well beyond him for now.
For rigging, there is a similarly basic but functional Essy Motors DroneMaster Rigger Command Console, enough to keep the Rotodrones and Hornets and occasionally the Airship itself linked up. There’s also some of the essential Autosofts.
Other stuff
Mostly just the usual, but the visual enhancements are in a pair of aviator-style Goggles, and the airship is equipped with what amounts to an Engineering Shop worth of tools. The low lifestyle I interpret as being in the airship.
Adding it all up
Altogether, this gear costs 537,303. More than half of that is the airship, but I just couldn’t bear the thought of not having it… It costs a whopping 44 Karma to get that all sorted, and Stark starts the game with 1,697 Nuyen.
Spending our Karma
After the gear, the Qualities and the Metatype, there are 21 points of Karma left. Those go into specialisations in Cracking (Electronic Warfare), Piloting (Aircraft), Engineering (Gunnery) and Influence (Intimidation). 1 point is left over to start the game with.
Finishing it up
Contacts
All Contacts have Connection and Loyalty at 2.
One-Tusk is an Ork and member of the Horde Gang (as well as a part-time fence).
Der Junkmeister aka Anton Meister is a Dwarf and owner of several small junkyards throughout Berlin.
Klara Bauernfeind is the proprietor of the basement bar Der Einkeller in Kreuzbasar.
Calculations
Attack Rating:
Franchi SPAS-25: 6/13/8/-/-
Bayonet: 7 Note that the “Firing Squad” book mentions a maximum range of 25 meters and a “Near” AR, but that makes no sense to me so i ignore it
Horns: 9 Another oddity: normally melee weapons add Strength to AR, and I have done so - the description of the Goring Horns mentions a higher AR for Strength above 6, which I assume is in addition to that)
With rating 2 Autosofts:
Personal Combat: 4
Biotech/Medicine: 8
Athletics: 4
Perception: 7
Stealth: 4
Condition Monitors
Physical: 11
Stun: 10
And there we are
The final version of the worksheet can be found here .That’s it for Day 21 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge and the five Metavariants - tomorrow I will return to the world of Werewolf: the Apocalypse, but with a twist…
#CharacterCreationChallenge
Day 20 is a Gnome, a metavariant of the dwarf that is… even smaller, less stocky but potentially smarter. And this one is about as smart as it gets, albeit a little lacking in the social department. He is both a Hacker and a Mage, following the Chaos Magic tradition that tends to have a “anything that works” approach to magic and he views magic as “hacking the source code of reality”.
Appearance and first impression
As a Gnome, Richards is small, less than a metre, and commonly mistaken for a child. He usually wears a Lined black trench coat and when on a run carries a number of bulky electronic items with him, full of cables that stick out in every direction. He has a curt and abrupt manner of speaking and rarely bothers with pleasantries and politeness.
Backstory
Since early childhood, Richards had to fend for himself - he never knew his parents and grew up among the anarchists in Berlins eastern half. He quickly figured out that as a Gnome, he would never be able to get by on Brawn, but his magical talent combined with his inherent understanding of technology gave him an edge he could use.
Priorities
Once again, I used a Sum-to-Ten approach, with Attributes and Resources taking the top spots at B. Skills follow right after, and both Magic and Metatype can be as low as D. He is an aspected Summoner, and as such there is no point in having a higher priority for Magic (we don’t need spells), and we only need enough adjustment points to get Magic to 6. All in all, we end up with:
There are really only two regular Attributes we need a lot of: Logic, and Willpower, in that order. Gnomes have a maximum of 7 in both, so even the second-place Willpower can be at 6. Of course we also want Magic at 6, which leaves us no adjustment points, and a starting spread of:
Cracking gets maxed out at 6, and we want both Electronics and Conjuring as high as possible, too, so they go to 5. Below that we need a bit of Astral (but not much because spirits can handle most of that) and a tiny amount of Engineering and Piloting (and we earmark Biotech and Firearms for later - Bioetch because it pairs with Logic and as a Summoner, Richards can’t do magical healing, and Firearms because… a Shadowrunner should have some way to fight).
Knowledge Skills
We have a lot there. German is the native language, and aside from that we have a good mix of magical, matrix and general knowledge.
Qualities
Off the Grid is a Berlin-specific quality that gives a Hacker advantages in staying out of trouble (by reducing the Overwatch Score they accumulate abnd giving them bonus Edge for hiding and avoiding tracking) as long as they are physically located in certain anarchist districts of Berlin.
Analytical Mind is again super cheap and super useful for a Logic-based character.
Trust Issues limits the maximum loyalty of any contact, and prevents gaining or spending Edge on Influence and Judge Intentions tests.
Uncouth prevents the character from spending Edge on any Charisma-linked tests. There is some overlap here, and GMs may houserule that Uncouth and Trust Issues cannot be taken together, but rules-as-written, they can be.
Finally, Gear Acquisition Syndrome at rating 2 means the character needs to spend at least 2,000 Nuyen on new gear every month before they can use their specialties or expertises. Given that a Hacker needs lots of gear, that should be easy to achieve.
All in all, we gain 15 net Karma from Qualities.
As a Gnome, Richards also has Magic Resistance, Neoteny, Thermographic Vision and Toxin Resistance.
The latter two are pretty clear and have shown up a couple of times in other Dwarf characters.
Magic Resistance provides a bonus Edge for any Magic Resistance tests, but also makes the character harder to heal with Magic.
Neoteny is specific to Gnomes - they basically look like children. It reduces the physical condition monitor, physical attribute maximums, and a negative dice pool modifier to Social tests when apparent age is a factor. Prices for worn gear like armor are also increased and the character may have to prove their age in some situations (like getting into a nightclub or bar).
Gear
Weapons
An Ares Light-Fire 70 Light pistol with Quick-Draw Holster and 50 rounds of ammo are the only nod towards personal combat Richards is willing to make.
Armor
The classic Lined Cost with some Electricity and Cold resistance.
Magical Gear
A rating 6 Magical Lodge is more or less a requirement - in Richards’ case, it involves a lot of cables and LEDs arranged in arcane patterns…
A Spirit Focus for Summoning Air Spirits at rating 2 gives him 2 extra dice to… summoning Air Spirits. Aside from the 8,000 Nuyen price tag, it also needs to be bound with 4 Karma.
Hacking Gear
A Renraku Kitsune Cyberdeck is a decent, middle-of-the road Cyberdeck that Richards can actually afford.
A rating 3 Cyberhack is a bit of a special case - it’s a breadbox-sized item that can be connected to a regular Datajack and then provide Data Processing and Firewall attributes like a Cyberjack, but without the high Essence cost (which would be crippling to a Mage).
A Data Tap can be attached to a data cable and provides direct access to the devices on both sides.
And an Electronics Shop means Richards’ home is well-stocked for working on all sorts of electronic hardware, especially Cyberdecks and related gear.
Finally, we have a large collection of Cyberprograms - basically, all of them. We can’t use them all at the same time, but we have them to choose from.
Vehicle
The Honda Spirit is an economical, ubiquitous, three-wheeled small car. It has been fitted with Metahuman adaptations so a Gnome can control it, and a Smuggling Compartment for all the highly illegal hacking gear.
Augmentations
There is almost no way to make a Hacker concept work without at least some Augmentations - which unfortunately means our Essence and therefore our Magic attribute are reduced. By replacing the Cyberjack with a Cyberhack,. I managed to get pretty close, though - the required Datajack only costs 0.1 Essence. This still reduces Magic by 1, but it leaves us with up to 0.9 Essence we can spend on something else. And what comes to mind (pun totally intentional)? More Logic from a Cerebral Booster at rating 3! It’s expensive, but it adds an extra 3 points to both Drain Resistance and most Hacking rolls.
Other stuff
Everything else Richards has is pretty standard fare, nothing worth mentioning really.
Adding it all up
Altogether, Gear costs 330,555 Nuyen, quite a bit more than the 275,000 from the priority table. This costs 29 Karma to pay for, plus 4 for binding the Focus, for a total of -33. But we start the game with 2,445 Nuyen, which should allow us to buy a few items for the Gear Acquisition Syndrome negative quality.
The Augmentations cost 0.7 Essence, leaving us with 5.3, which reduces the Magic attribute to 5.
Spending our Karma
After gear, qualities and Metatype, we have 27 Karma left. Those go into a point each of Firearms and Biotech, and specialisations in Cracking (Hacking), Electronics (Computer) and Conjuring (Summoning), leaving us 2 to start the game with.
Finishing it up
Contacts
Because of the low Charisma, we have the usual issue of not being able to get any highly connected contacts right now, including no proper Fixer. So here’s what we do have - all of them have Connection 2, Loyalty 2:
Clobber, a Troll Street Samurai. He is by no means a Fixer, but he knows a few people in the Shadows, and may potentially be able to introduce Richards to a Mr. Johnson (or Herr Schmidt as they are called in Germany) who needs a Hacker or Mage (or both).
Blaze, a gamer kid who has been playing some Matrix games with Richards, possibly the closest he has to a friend. Because Blaze is a SINner and comes from a “good” corporate family, he may be able to get some legal gear for Richards, especially Matrix-related items.
Xeno is a free spirit, specifically a Task spirit that has (unusually for spirits) some understanding of Electronics and may also be able to help with some magical resources.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
The next entry in the metavariant series is a Dryad, an Elf metavariant with some peculiarities that make it more suitable for NPCs than PCs, but… I’ll give it a try anyways. Pryde is a Face/Mage hybrid, making use of the fact that Shamans and Faces both need high Charisma and Dryads have an unusually high Charisma maximum. She is also a member of the Sorbian minority that have a strong relationship with the awakened Spreewald, the forest growing around parts of the river Spree.
Appearance and first impression
Slender, with pale skin, green eyes, almost white hair and a constant almost preternatural grace about her, Pryde could be mistaken for a regular elf by anyone unfamiliar with Dryads… She wears light, well-fitting clothes and no visible armor or weapons of any kind.
Backstory
Pryde was born and grew up among the Sorbs of the Spree Forest just outside Berlin. Both of her parents were Dryads and shamans like her, but when she met Cat, the mischievous streak she always had became stronger, and she left the Spree, beginning to explore Berlin and eventually made her home in the Kreuzbasar.She ferociously defends her neighbourhood and the few people she considers friends, but most of the time her playful nature is what is on display.
Priorities
In order to make the hybrid work, I needed three categories on B or higher, so I used another Sum-to-Ten approach - and because Pryde is not really going to use Spirits (or Enchanting), I made her an aspected Sorcerer, which gives us an extra point of Magic. The Dryad Metavariant costs 5 Karma, so all in all we have:
Far and away the most important attribute is Charisma which gets maxed out at 8 Also important is Magic which goes to 6. Everything else is secondary, but we want a bit of everything, so we end up with:
Skills
For the Mage side, we want Sorcery (which gets maxed out) and a bit of Astral. For the Face side, Influence and Con. Decent Stealth and a bit of Perception is it for now, although we want a bit of Athletics later:
Knowledge Skills
German is the native language (but we get Sorbian as well, later) and the only two knowledge skills we have at this point are Awakened Spree (relating to the river and surrounding forest) and Magical Security, because she knows about both of those.
Qualities
This is the sink for a lot of our starting Karma.
First, we get a Mentor Spirit (Cat), which provides boni for Stealth and Illusion Spells. In exchange we can’t use attacks and spells that cause lethal damage without some problems, which suits Pryde just fine. She’s all about smoke and mirrors and sweet-talking, not brute force.
Sorbian Blood gives her the language “Sorbian” as a second native language, and means none of the creatures of the awakened Spree forest will attack her unless she attacks first or blatantly disrespects nature in it.
Focused Concentration at rating 2 is expensive - 24 Karma - but means she can sustain two spells at a time without any problems. Given many illusion spells are sustained, this is worth it
Finally (on the positive side) she gets First Impression - there’s just something about her people want to like, at least until they have been stung the first time.
On the negative side, she has Impaired (Body) at 3 - she can’t raise her Body attribute above 3, which is probably as far as it was ever going to go.
Oh, and she has a severe Allergy against Silver. No, she’s not a werewolf, but the legends about werewolves and silver come from the idea that silver is particularly pure and harms evil or somesuch, and given some of the superstitions about magic, well, she may have internalised some of that. Either way, touching silver or getting shot with silver bullets will hurt her.
Finally, as a Dryad, she also has three inherent Qualities: Low-Light Vision which does what you would think, Glamour (which gives a bonus Edge to all non-aggressive social actions but also makes her easier to remember due to appearing radiant and unearthly) and Symbiosis (a negative quality that ties the character to their neighbourhood - if it is thriving, they gain certain benefits, if it is not doing well, there are disadvantages; also leaving the neighbourhood and staying away are difficult).
Altogether the qualities have a net cost of 24 Karma.
Magic Spells
Pryde starts with 8 spells. Half of those are Illusion, which is her specialty.
Stunbolt and Stunball are mostly nonlethal attack spells - one for individual targets, one for groups.
Mind Probe does what you would expect - depending on how successful it is, it can allow anything from “read surface thoughts” to “dig through the target's suppressed memories”.
Chaos is an illusion spell that overwhelmed a target (living or machine) with sensory input and makes it difficult for them to do anything.
Improved Invisibility and Physical Mask are classics - both prevent living and artificial observers from seeing the target at all or as it is, respectively.
Hot Potato gives the target the overwhelming sensation that whatever they are holding is causing them pain and the urge to drop it. Protip: use right before they are throwing an armed grenade.
And finally, Animate Wood allows her to, well, animate an object made mostly of wood, allowing it to trip or trap or even hit others, open or close doorways and similar things.
Gear
Armor
A basic Armor Vest that can be worn under clothing is the only kind of armor Pryde wears at the moment. She is maybe a little too confident in enemies not shooting what they can’t see.
Magical Gear
A Magical Lodge of rating 6 is a necessity for learning spells.
Vehicle
A Dodge Scoot “motorbike” isn’t fast, or manoeuvrable, or armoured, but it does the job for getting from A to B.
Other stuff
Mostly the usual, plus some climbing gear here. An Invisibility spell means that climbing up the side of a building is a possible way in even in broad daylight.
Adding it all up
All in all, the gear costs 18,960 Nuyen, which is a bit over 10k more than the priority table gave us, so we have to spend 6 Karma and start with 1,040 Nuyen.
Spending our Karma
After the Qualities, Gear and Metatype, we only have 15 Karma left. These go into a point of Athletics, and Specialisations in Sorcery (Spellcasting) and Con (Performance) which is never defined anywhere but I assume means general deception not covered by other specialisations.
Finishing it up
Contacts
Marina Amsel the fixer and Silke Meier the Talismonger are the same contacts Castle from yesterday has as well - but they both have greater loyalty to Pryde.
Markus Lisser is an elder of the Sorbian clan that Pryde stems from. They are not particularly close, but family is family, and he has a fair amount of influence in the region. (Connection 5, Loyalty 3)
Kazimira Burakgazi is the current owner of Cafe Cezve, and one of the leading figures in the Kreuzbasar neighbourhood that Pryde has made her home. She is well-connected and appreciates Pryde’s interest in the wellbeing of their home. (Connection 6, Loyalty 4)
Bygul is a free spirit taking the shape of a cat, with significant influence in the local spirit world and able to teach some spells and other magic (Connection 5, Loyalty 6).
#CharacterCreationChallenge
Today I am looking at a member of one of the newestMetavariants introduced in Shadowrun 6th World - a Valkyrie, a winged human. While most people tend to treat them as just another variation on humanity, some consider them angels and have a variety of religious interpretations of their appearance. This character is a hybrid between a combat and social role - they are a sniper and negotiator that defends the Flux State (the alternative zones of Berlin) with words where possible, and bullets where necessary.
Appearance and first impression
Castle is a non-binary Valkyrie, a human with a large set of wings sprouting from their back - the wings have a colour gradient from a deep, dark blue nearest to the body towards a light orange, almost gold, at the tips. They usually wear a long, lined coat that makes no secret of the armor plating inside over regular streetwear prominently sporting the logo of the Flux state, and a Heavy pistol in a well-visible holster - the sniper rifle is only slung over the back when they plan to use it.
Backstory
Castle’s parents (and grandparents) were idealistic neo-anarchists, having supported the Flux state since its inception, and Castle intends to keep up the family tradition. When they expressed as a Valkyrie, nobody knew about the existence of the metavariant yet, so most people including they themselves assumed it was a form of SURGE (a catch-all term for sudden, magic-induced changes that have happened at times since 2063). As their magical abilities developed, they became both a spokesman and enforcer of the alternative zones, and running the shadows helps shift some Nuyen from the corporations to the alternatives.
Priorities
There was no priority that would have been suitable for priority E (normally either Magic or Resources would be used, but for an adept that needs at least one very expensive sniper rifle, that would not work). Therefore, I used the Sum-to-Ten system again, with a B-B-C-D-D spread as follows:
Magic can be as low as 1, since we can use adjustment points with no downside for an adept. The Valkyrie metavariant costs 15 Karma. As a contrast to regular humans, they have an increased maximum for Strength and Stamina and therefore can use Adjustment points on those.
Attributes
Agility (for using Firearms) and Charisma (for social skills) are the most important, with Agility taking the top spot. Everything else (expect Magic, of course) gets an intermediate rating, not too good but also not too bad. Reaction is lower than most combat characters since - as a Sniper - they don’t have to worry too much about taking out the enemy before they retaliate. Overall, we have the following attributes:
Skills
The topmost skills required are Firearms, Con and Influence - again, for shooting and talking. Once again firearms takes the top spot at 6, the other two go to 5. We also need decent Athletics as it is the skill covering flying (in case we get into an aerial dogfight or something), and we want a little Perception and Stealth. We also want Close Combat and Outdoors but that has to wait for Karma - for now we have:
Knowledge Skills
German is the native language, and they also know a bit about Anarchist Philosophy, Berlin Zones and the History of the Allied German States (AGS).
Qualities
As a Valkyrie, Castle has the Functional Wings (type 2) inherent quality - this gives them a pair of wings in addition to normal human arms and legs, while the rest of their body is largely “human standard”.
In addition to that, they have the following qualities:
First Impression: Bonus Edge and some advantages during a first meeting.
Mentor Spirit: Castle follows the Wise Warrior who appears to them in the shape of a faceless Athena (based on her appearance in the Pergamon Altar reliefs). She provides an advantage to Influence Tests and a free level of Improved Ability (Firearms) in exchange for Castle never acting dishonourable or without courtesy (sniping an enemy is not considered dishonourable for this character, but killing a target that is not deserving of death would).
Agent of the Flux State gives him a bonus on social interactions with the neo-anarchists and other “alternatives” in Berlin, and also gives him the “Kiezspeak” language at native level - it is a Berlin-specific “language” that incorporates elements of German, Turkish, Russian, Arabic and many others.
Low Pain Tolerance doubles wound modifiers.
Incompetent (Piloting) means Castle can never learn how to control a vehicle. Having wings makes that less critical (and this is likely the reason - why learn how to drive a car when you can just fly to where you need to be?), but it may still cause issues at times.
Glass Jaw reduces their stun damage track, making them easier to know out.
Magic
Castle has the following Adept Powers: Improved Ability at rating 3 for Firearms and rating 2 for Con and Influence. This effectively increases the skills by that amount.
Enhanced Accuracy increases the Attack Rating of any weapon they use.
Attribute Boost: Mental for Charisma at rating 6 allows them to temporarily boost their Charisma considerably. This is risky, however, as it is almost guaranteed to cause drain and only lasts for a short time.
Gear
Weapons
The Barret Model 122 is a high-end, powerful sniper rifle and Castles primary weapon.
As a sidearm, they have a Nemesis Arms Praetorian II which is not only a perfectly adequate Heavy Pistol, but also has a bayonet-like blade attached for close combat.
Armor
A classic Lined Coat fitted out with some Cold Resistance and Chemical protection. Nothing special.
Other stuff
Most of it is just the usual, but a few items that should be mentioned are:
2 Sensor Tags, one with a camera and one with a microphone, can be placed in a hard to spot location and record up to 24 hours of “sensor data” (i.e. video / audio respectively).
10 Stealth Tags lack the sensor but are very hard to spot, record their location, and transmit it once per day in a short, low-energy burst, helping with tracking people.
The usual Visual Enhancements are split in two - Contacts contain Low-Light Vision, an Image Link and Flare Compensation, all of which are “always on”. A Monocle attached to a headband has a Smartlink, Thermographic Vision and Vision Magnification for sniping.
Adding it all up
Altogether, the gear costs 45,365, which is less than what the priority table gets us, so there is no Karma cost and we start the game with a respectable 4,635 Nuyen.
Spending our Karma
After Qualities and Metatype, we have 31 Karma left. We spend this on a dot each of Close Combat and Outdoors, and specialisations in Firearms (Rifles), Influence (Negotiation), Athletics (Flying) and Close Combat (Blades). We start the game with one Karma.
Finishing it up
Contacts
Marina Amsel, a human and the niece of legendary Kreuzhain Fixer Paul Amsel has been stepping into her uncle’s footsteps recently (Conn 5, Loy 3) Sigma is a Konzernhai, a mid-level manager for Evo who grew up in the mean streets of Berlin. They are far more loyal to themselves as to any corp (official NPC from the Berlin Edition core book) (Conn 5, Loy 2) Albert Wacker, a dwarf weapons smuggler with military connections thta sometimes lets him get his hands on particularly juicy goods (Conn 5, Loy 3) Silke Meier, an Elf who has turned a former occult bookstore into a reasonably well-equipped independent magical goods shop (Conn 5, Loy 2)
Calculations
Attack Rating:
Barret Model 122: 7/14/19/24/22 (with Bipod, otherwise -2 across all ranges)
Nemesis Arms Praetorian (Gun): 13/12/14/-/-
Nemesis Arms Praetorian (Blade): 8
Defense Rating
6
Initiative
5 + 1D6
Notable Dice Pools
Attacking with Barret Model 122: 18
Attacking with Praetorian (gun): 16
Attacking with Praetorian (blade): 9
Negotiation: 14 (can be increased with Charisma boost)
Other social: 12
Flying: 12
Resist Drain: 6 (changing to an appropriate Adept Way like the Warrior’s, Athlete’s or Speaker’s Way in the future would improve this).
Condition Monitors
Physical: 10
Stun: 8
And there we are
The final version of the worksheet can be found here .That’s it for Day 18 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge
#CharacterCreationChallenge
As I return to Shadowrun after my stint with Werewolf characters, things are about to get a bit more interesting, with characters that are neither the standard five metatypes, nor the traditional five roles, at least not fully. Instead, this group of five will be all metavariants, and each will be a hybrid between two traditional roles. I am also changing the setting to Berlin, because the version of the Shadowrun 6E rulebook I have, the “City Edition Berlin”, has a chapter on, well, Berlin, including some interesting gear options. I also really enjoyed the “Shadowrun: Dragonfall” game and intend to include some references.
Appearance and first impression
A Satyr in his early 20s, Murdock rarely wears anything other than a flashy, red jumpsuit, helmet and goggles. His horns are swept back along the side of his face, and his hair - both on his head and the thick but short facial hair are black. He is jovial and exuberant, but has a short temper.
Backstory
The child of Greek immigrants, Murdock grew up in Kreuzhain, one of the alternative districts in Berlin. He was always a daredevil at heart - if it could be climbed, jumped off, driven or piloted at speed, he would do it, and there were few days when he did not come home covered in scrapes and bruises. He started flying his first Kuznechik airbike at 12 and had his first bit of cyberware installed at 16. Now at 20, he is known around Kreuzhain and neighbouring districts as “that Idiot with the flying bike”, but he is also known as the someone who can get a message, piece of gear or even a person from one end of berlin to another quickly and usually in one piece.
Priorities
Murdock needs a lot of attribute points to be viable, so that has to be the highest priority. Resources are a close second, followed by Skills, which leaves Metatype for D, and of course Magic/Resonance is E for a mundane character. One thing that is different for a metavariant is that the metatype costs some of the starting Karma:
Reaction is at the top because it is the main attribute for piloting. Satyrs have an increased Reaction maximum, so this goes up to 7. Logic, Agility and Intuition are also important and all go up to 5. Charisma and Body are only at 3, and Willpower and Strength down to 2 at this stage. All four adjustment points go into Edge, because Murdock will need luck:
Skills Piloting gets maxed out because that is the main skill for driving/operating any vehicle. Engineering and Firearms are the runner-ups - firing guns from vehicles and otherwise is going to be almost as important. Athletics and Perception are at 2.
Knowledge Skills
The high Logic gives Murdock quite a few Knowledge skills, but he’s not really the scholarly type. Fortunately, Berlin is a very cosmopolitan city and knowing a couple of languages is useful - so in addition to his native German, he also knows basic Russian, Turkish and English. He also knows a fair bit about the different Berlin Factions that rule the divided city, and where to find Scrap Yards for spare parts.
Qualities
Analytical Mind... anyone who has read the previous entries knows about it by now.
Catlike costs 12 Karma and gives bonus Edge for Balance, Falling and Landing safely, all of which is likely going to come up at times.
Guts costs another 12 Karma and gives bonus points for resisting Intimidation or similar effects.
Simsense Vertigo provides 6 Karma and prevents use or gain of Edge when using VR - fortunately, we won’t need it much.
Impaired (Body, 1) is another quality I use maybe too much, but… you know.
Combat Junkie makes it harder to resist attempts to goad him into a fight.
As a Satyr, Murdock also has natural Low-Light Vision and Satyr Legs which increase running speed, give a significant bonus to jumping, and a smaller bonus to kick attacks.
Altogether, Qualities run at a net -7 Karma.
Gear
Weapons
Murdocks main personal weapon is a Ares Crusader II machine pistol, small but fast and deadly. It comes with a Quick-Draw Holster. 2 Spare Clips and 100 rounds of explosive ammunition.
Because you always need a backup, he also has two Streetline Special holdout pistols that are small and easy to hide. One is in a Concealed Holster and another in a Hidden Arm Slide as a literal ace up the sleeve. Each also has 50 rounds of explosive ammunition.
Armor
The Urban Explorer Jumpsuit is a popular bit of armored clothing (and has a built in music player and biomonitor, just in case). It has a few enhancements and an electrochromatic feature in case red gets boring.
The Helmet is not only protective, it also has some audio enhancements built in.
Augmentations
The star of the show here is a rating 2 Active Control Rig - it works like a regular Control Rig except it does not require or allow the pilot to be in VR (also no remote control). For some vehicles, hanging limp in the seat is just not what you want…
Another Datajack is handy for connecting to any other devices.
Skill Hardwires are another useful buit of gear - they are a little like the Skillwires Ruth had last week, but they are a lot cheaper and less invasive - on the other hand, they only have one built-in Skill, in this case Close Combat at rating 4.
Speaking of close combat, an extendible set of Spurs are a nasty surprise for anyone wanting some up-close action.
Finally, rating 2 Muscle Replacements and Wired Reflexes increase Strength, Agility and Reaction by 2 each and add two extra Initiative Dice (and Minor Actions). They’re used, which makes them cheaper, but that also makes them more invasive (costing more Essence).
Vehicles
This is where it gets fun. Murdock’s favourite vehicle is a Kuznechik Airbike which is a new bit of gear from the Berlin Edition of Shadowrun. It is in essence a repurposed delivery drone turned into a flying motorbike. It is not particularly fast, and definitely not safe, but it is cheap and manoeuvrable. Oh, it also has the capacity to carry a Panther XXL assault gun and 250 rounds of explosive ammunition just in case something needs football-sized holes in it. Or someone.
As both an emergency exit method and a similarly fun vehicle, the Advanced Industries Personal Propulsion Systems is a literal jetpack. It has fairly limited range, and no room for any gear, but it flies!
Finally, less fun but of considerable utility, there is a Nissan Strider cargo van. Because Berlin is dangerous, it has a concealed, turreted weapon mount with a Mossberg CMDT shotgun attached to it. With more explosive ammunition because you can’t have too many things that go boom.
Other stuff
We have a lot of the usual equipment, alongside an Engineering Kit.
Goggles instead of the usual glasses (less likely to come off during daredevil maneuvers) house visual enhancements, and a Grapple Gun continues the trend of being able to get into high places.
Oh, and we have Rating 6 Autosofts for targeting the Panther XXL and the Mossberg CMDT, just in case that has to happen automatically at some point.
Adding it all up
Altogether, our equipment costs 285,205, which means 6 Karma need to be spent.
The augmentations use 5.81 Essence, leaving us with only 0.19 - replacing some of them with higher quality ware could open up a bit of space in the future.
Spending our Karma
After qualities, gear and the metatype costs, we have 25 Karma left.
These go into a point each of Outdoors and Stealth and specialisations in Piloting (Aircraft), Engineering (Gunnery) and Firearms (Machine Pistols).
Finishing it up
Contacts All four of these are, related to NPCs from the computer game “Shadowrun: Dragonfall” - except for Dr. Ezkibel, they are all relatives of the original characters (Ezkibel in the original game is an Elf, and he’ll probably be around for a while longer).
Aysun Burakgazi, Fixer (Conn 3, Loy1)
Lucia Holyey, Mechanic (Conn 3, Loy 2)
Frederick Mettbach, Arms Dealer (Conn 3, Loy 2)
Dr. Ezkibel, Street Doc (Conn 3, Loy 1)
Werewolf is as much a game about the pack as it is about the individual Garou, and packs follow totems that are often characters in their own right. So this entry deals with the pack as a whole - why they have joined together, how they work together, and of course their totem. There are two main parts - first, coming up with a backstory that will make the five Garou join a pack together, and then, building and designing the pack totem.
The Story: The Missing
Children have gone missing throughout the region. Specifically, kinfolk children, that is, human relatives of Garou.
Terry has heard reports from several of septs on his travels and started investigating.
Adam and Walker have met up after three Glass Walker Kin families in the region reported missing children.
Talia had been visiting a Wendigo sept when a child from the reservation went missing.
For Mae it is the most personal since one of the missing children is her cousin.
All of them found the same lead around the same time - a courier company whose van was seen in the area shortly before each disappearance. Their supposed offices are empty - a false front, but the five young Garou met and joined up…
The Totem: Black Unicorn
Black Unicorn is an aspect of Unicorn, the tribal totem of the Children of Gaia. It is normally a totem of Honour and healing, but the Black Unicorn aspect is a totem of War and defending the helpless. The first question when building it is how many background points in the Totem background the pack collectively has. Talia and Adam each have one, Terry and Walker brought two each, and Mae had three, for a total of nine.
The base cost of the Black Unicorn totem is 5 points - there is technically no 20th Anniversary Edition version, but there is one from Revised edition that is perfectly compatible. This base cost gives us 8 points to spread among Rage, Gnosis and Willpower (the attributes of a spirit), knowledge of the Airt Sense and Re-form charms, and the following Traits and Ban:
Individual Traits: Each pack member gains a point of Brawl, and a point of Glory Renown.
Pack Traits: Any one pack member at a time can use three extra soak dice. The pack can also call on a total of five Willpower points per story.
Ban: Black Uniform demands that his children defend those that are unable to defend themselves.
For the remaining 4 background points, we get another 3 points to spread among attributes, and an additional Charm, namely Materialize. All in all, this gives our Totem spirit the following traits:
Black Unicorn
Willpower: 5 Rage: 5 Gnosis: 4 Essence:14
Charms: Airt Sense gives the spirit a natural sense of the “directions” of the spirit world and makes it easy for them to locate places or individuals. Re-form allows the spirit to dissolve its body and reform a turn later in their home Domain, as long as the spirit succeeds on a Gnosis roll. Materialize allows the spirit to take physical form on Earth
How they all work together
All in all, the pack is fairly well suited to physical combat, but that is not all they can do.
Terry is all about Stealth and unarmed combat - he particularly enjoys using Lupus and Hispo form to track and destroy enemies. Two of his Gifrts - Blur of the Milky Eye and Silence work well together to make him almost impossible to notice, while Master of Fire makes him extremely resistant to fire damage - which he likes to use offensively by setting things on fire, especially when fighting enemies vulnerable to it like vampires.
Adam is primarily a healer, able to patch up the pack and anyone else that needs it. He is also the most knowledgeable member of the pack when it comes to mundane topics, and he has money not “incredibly wealthy but if the pack needs to rent a car or get plane tickets or a hotel room, he can sort that kind of thing. He can also talk to spirits and cleanse Wyrm taint.
Talia is the social face of the pack (and likely the Alpha). She can be incredibly convincing, makes friends easily, and between her Pure Breed and her Klaive is particularly suited for handling trouble with other werewolves… one way or another. Her knowledge of the Rite of the Questing Stone is also likely to be useful in a story that deals with finding missing people.
Walker is, ironically for a Glass Walker, the most suitable for handling the wilderness, while also having a decent idea as to how to deal with machines. His biggest strength, however, are two gifts that let him replicate strengths of his wolf form while in human shape - Heightened Senses and Predator’s Arsenal. Oh, and his knowledge of the Rite of Spirit Awakening can create potential allies in the spirit world.
Mae, finally, is the hardest hitter in the pack, but she is not all brawn - her Scent of Sweet Honey Gift can be a powerful distraction (it makes the target irresistible to any kind of insect) and she has both contacts (her Kinfolk) and a rite (the rite of the Cardboard Palace) that help the pack if it needs to lay low for a bit.
Black Unicorn, finally, gives them an extra little edge in combat as well as guidance in the Spirit World, and can even assist in the material world if needed. As a pack, they should have little trouble finding out who is behind the missing children, and dealing with them…
#CharacterCreationChallenge
For the final pack member, the Ahroun, I rolled a 1 and a 7 - A Bone Gnawer Metis. I’m glad we have all three breeds included in the end, although Metis can be a bit challenging to make work, and Bone Gnawers are easy to stereotype. Sooo… as a Metis, she would have grown up purely among Garou at least for the first couple of years, since she would have been unable to leave her hybrid Crinos form. In urban septs - which the majority of Bone Gnawers live in - this tends to mean being locked up almost constantly. But there are a handful of Bone Gnawers that live in rural area, the so-called Hillfolk. And that’s what I’m going for - she grew up in, basically, hillbilly country, and lacks the social graces some may have, but is actually smarter than people give her credit for.
Mae ‘Smiley’ Butler
Background
Mae’s parentage is not entirely clear - she knows her parents were not Bone Gnawers, and given her fur she believes at least one of them may have been Silver Fang, but whoever they were, they dropped her off with a family of Bone Gnawer kinfolk and never returned. The Butler’s treated her as their own child despite the difficulties normal humans have with a Crinos child, and every now and then one of their Garou relatives visited to teach her some of what she needed to know. As she grew older, she began using her considerable strength to protect them from any that might harm them…
Appearance
An unassuming, homely woman, appearing to be in her twenties, with weathered skin and strawberry blonde hair. In wolf form, she is a slender, white-furred wolf - but in that form, and all others, her teeth remain human, giving her a somewhat unsettling appearance (and of course making her mostly unable to use bite attacks).
Character Concept Concept: Family Protector Breed: Metis Auspice: Ahroun Tribe: Bone Gnawers
Backgrounds
Mae’s Kinfolk are five human members of her family. They live in rural upstate Wisconsin and would be happy to provide hospitality and shelter to their adoptive daughter if she came for a visit.
Aside from the Rite of Talisman Dedication, Mae knows one more Ritual: The Rite of the Cardboard Palace, which allows her to build a shelter from whatever materials are at hand that is deceivingly warm and comfortable and allows for a good and safe rest.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
For day 4, I rolled a 4 and a 9, so the Galliard is another Glass Walker, but this time a Lupus… an interesting and rare combination. The Glass Walkers, as a very urban and very human-centric tribe do not have many Lupus among them, and many of them have been bred in captivity. This character, however, is different - he was born wild, and joined Cockroach’s tribe out of a genuine interest and even admiration for the City (and to some degree humans and technology).
Walker - ‘Walks-the-Spider-Webs’
Background
Even as a pup living in the forests of Southern Ontario, Walker was unusually curious, constantly finding trouble but also getting out of it. And he loved stalking the occasional human hikers that came into the area, sometimes for days, almost always unseen. When one day he turned into a human, he was far less surprised than one would expect, but he was thrilled - finally he would be able to explore their world.
Fortunately for him, a local pack of Glass Walkers made the connection when news reports of a naked man growling and snapping at passersby broke, and they managed to quietly teach him the basics of human society and what it meant to be Garou. When he found out there was an entire tribe dedicated to exploring and living in the city, he was eager to join, and the Glass Walkers, painfully aware of their small number of Lupus, were eager to have him.
Appearance
In homid form, walker still looks a little uncomfortable, with clothes that never quite fit, body language that seems a little off, and a little too much excitement about seemingly mundane things. In wolf form, he is a typical eastern wolf with not much to tell him apart from others of his kind.
Character Concept Concept: City Explorer Breed: Lupus Auspice: Galliard Tribe: Glasswalkers
Backgrounds
The Resources are a bank account with accompanying credit card set up by a helpful tribe member, to ensure the young Lupus would get by in human society.
The Rites are the Rite of Talisman Dedication and the Rite of Spirit Awakening - the latter can awaken the spirit of any object, location etc, allowing direct interaction with it.
The Fetish is a Magpie’s Swag a messenger bag that has been dedicated (with the Rite of Talisman Dedication and houses the spirit of a magpie that causes any object (other than technologically complex devices like computers and phones) inside the bag to also count as dedicated.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
For day 3, I rolled a 2 and a 2, so my Philodox will be a… Homid Child of Gaia, a classic peacemaker. It’s easy to fall into stereotypes with that combination, so to add a little twist, she is actually fairly militant - she grew up knowing about her heritage, and she has the goal of proving to the other tribes that the Children of Gaia are worthy fighters and that there is strength in unity.
Talia “Clawspeaker’ Summers
Background
Unusually for a Homid, Talia grew up knowing that she was Garou as far as she can remember. She spent her childhood with a sept in northern Michigan, learning all about wolves and Gaia and the fight against the Wyrm long before she herself went through her First Change. She knew that the tribes would have to stand together against the Apocalypse, and she also knew that they were far from united. So she decided to travel, meet members of other tribes and prove the Children’s worth - and the worth of unity - to them.
Appearance
A young woman in her late teens, Talia’s looks have been described as ‘radiant’ or ‘angelic’ although nobody can put a finger on exactly why - she has long, blond hair and even in the middle of a fight there is always something serene about her. Her clothes of choice are jeans and a green, slightly frilled tank top. In wolf form, she has a light brown pelt that appears to almost glow regardless of surrounding light.
Character Concept Concept: Militant Peacemaker Breed: Homid Auspice: Philodox Tribe: Children of Gaia
Others Rage 3 Gnosis 4 (3 while carrying the Klaive) Willpower 4 Rank 1 (Cliath)
Backgrounds
Her Pure Breed is the basis for her strange appearance - it is a mystical tell of her ancestry full of respected heroes, and in the case of a Child of Gaia tends to come with an aura of serenity and calm. Mechanically it adds dice to social rolls with other Garou and challenges.
Her Contacts are based on her home sept having long been involved with various community groups in the wider region. She knows and can contact the branch manager of a large environmental group in Chicago, and a secretary in a Senators office in Michigan, as well as a variety of less connected people almost anywhere.
Her Rites are the Rite of Talisman Dedication, and the Rite of the Questing Stone - the latter can be used to find a person or object.
Finally, the Fetish is a Klaive, a silver dagger with a spirit of honourable combat bound into it, making it a very powerful weapon, especially against other werewolves.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
For the second of my Werewolf characters, the Theurge, I rolled a 4 and a 1. A Glasswalker Homid; again born as a human, but this time likely with a technological or scientific twist to the usual animistic spirituality of the Garou…The classic image is a Technogaianist who incorporates technology into rituals, but I’m thinking of someone who might go for fully traditional practices but views them through a scientific lens…
Adam ‘Woundlicker’ McDougall
Background
Originally from New York, Adam grew up in a well-off neighbourhood and was always encouraged to follow his dream of studying medicine and becoming a doctor. He was attending the University of Chicago and working part time on an ambulance crew (for the experience more than needing the money) when he came across a patient who should have been dead or at least severely injured and yet seemed completely unharmed, despite his clothes being bloodstained and torn to shreds. His attempts at digging into the matter turned up more and more inconsistencies, and when he finally found an address and went there, found a… hole in the fabric of reality. Later he learned that he had come across a gateway into the spirit world, that his patient was a Garou who had been keeping tabs on him, and that he, too, was a werewolf and had actually changed shape when he entered the spirit world, without noticing it.
Appearance
A young man in his early 20s, short red hair, clean shaven and usually dressed in fashionable but casual clothes. In his wolf form, which he rarely takes on, he has brown-black mottled fur and never seems quite at ease on four legs.
Backgrounds
The Resources indicate a comfortable standard of living and reasonably easy access to cash - most of this is “family money” (in part from his immediate family, in part from his tribe).
The Fetish is a pair of Mirror Shades that allow Adam to step sideways into the spirit world more easily.
The Rituals Are the Rite of Talisman Dedication which allow him to dedicate items like his clothes so they change shape and enter the spirit world with him, and the Rite of Cleansing which allows him to remove Wyrm-taint from an item, person or location.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
For the first of my Werewolf characters, I rolled a 7 and a 3. This means the Ragabash is a Silent Strider Homid. Born as a human, likely a traveller or drifter, with a talent for going unseen and breaking the rules…
Terry ‘Bes’ Toothtaker
Background
Terry never knew his parents, growing up in the foster system and going through a dozen or more families each of whom found him too much to deal with eventually. When he turned eighteen, even that little support disappeared, and he resorted to stealing what he needed and keeping on the move so he would not get caught. One day, he tried to steal from the wrong target - or maybe the right one. The house he broke into belonged to a vampire who was at home and tried to kill the intruder… but suddenly, Terry changed and turned the tables on the vampire. After the leech was destroyed and he tried to come to terms with what happened, he was found by a nearby Garou - a Silent Strider who had been stalking that same vampire herself - who explained what had happened and who he was. With no knowledge of his ancestry, he joined the tribe of his new mentor and took the tribal name of ‘Bes’ after an Egyptian deity that protects children and households.
Appearance
A young man with ash blond hair. He clearly has not had a shave in a week, and the original colour of his hoodie and baggy trousers can only be guessed at. Around his neck is a necklace made of a number of fangs on a piece of string - clearly something hand-made without much talent.
Backgrounds
The Mentor is Ariana ‘Sekhmet’ Leech-Stalker, an Adren (rank 3) Philodox of the Silent Striders, the one who originally found Terry. She travels around the same area and can be found in a number of regular meeting places or through a friendly spirit.
The Rite is the Rite of Talisman Dedication that allows Tery to dedicate up to three items so that they adapt when he changes shape and get absorbed into his body in unsuitable shapes - so far, he has only done this with his clothes.
The Totem has not been decided on yet - that will happen once all five pack members have been created. For now those two points are just set aside.
I realised that my plan for the #CharacterCreationChallenge involved a small miscalculation on my part and I need an extra 5-6 characters. So… I will take a break from Shadowrun and do a pack of Werewolf: the Apocalypse (20th Anniversary Edition) characters.There will be one of each auspice, and then a writeup of the pack and totem spirit as a whole that I will count as a “character” of sorts.
To make it a little more interesting, I will randomise Tribe and Breed. For those not familiar with Werewolf, characters are defined by three groupings of sorts - the Tribe, which is part social club, part ethnicity and part religious affiliation, the Auspice which is part D&D-style class and part social role, and the Breed which is determined by parentage and determines what a Werewolves’ native form is. In the setting, Werewolves (Garou as they call themselves) are warriors of the earth spirit Gaia, fighting anything that endangers her, in particular the corrupting force of the Wyrm.
Before I get into the randomisation method I will be using, here is a list of all of those options. It should be noted that Werewolf is very much a game of the early 90s and, while the authors generally meant well, some of the names given to in-game concepts do not meet modern expectations of cultural or other sensitivity. The latest version, 5th edition, has changed a lot of this, but has its own… problems. I am using the 20th anniversary setting as is, but am very much aware that some of it is problematic:
Breed
The three breeds are:
Homid: A werewolf whose mother is either human or Homid herself is normally Homid, meaning they are born in human form, and will revert to human form if losing consciousness or dying.
Lupus: A werewolf whose mother is either a wolf or Lupus is normally Lupus. They are born as a wolf, and will revert to wolf form if losing consciousness or dying.
Metis: The exception to the above, any werewolf whose parents are both werewolves is Metis, which means they are born in the hybrid Crinos form and only learn to take on other forms at around age 8; they also revert to Crinos form if they lose consciousness or die. Also, every Metis has a deformity which can be a physical or rarely mental disability or something weirder like horns or a third eye.
Auspice
Auspice is determined by the phase of the moon a werewolf is born under and determines their general social role and expectations. It is possible, albeit rare and sometimes frowned upon, to undergo a ritual that lets a werewolf change their auspice.
Ragabash: Born under the New Moon, Ragabash are tricksters, scouts and questioners. They excel at stealth and misdirection.
Theurge: Born under the Crescent Moon, Theurges are mystics, ritualists and healers. They are adept at dealing with spirits and the spirit world.
Philodox: Born under the Half Moon, Philodox are judges, investigators and diplomats. They can see both sides of an issue (although some struggle with shades of grey) and are often leaders in times of peace.
Galliard: Born under the Gibbous Moon, Galliard are storytellers, historians and entertainers. They are often passionate, have great memory, and excel at communication across language and other barriers.
Ahroun: Born under the Full Moon, Ahroun are warriors and leaders. They excel at fighting and commanding others in battle.
Tribe
Tribes are social groupings - most werewolves join the tribe of their ancestors, but this is not a necessity. Many tribes have a connection with specific human ethnicities, and most have some ethical or ideological background in common. Each tribe also shares a totem spirit. In alphabetical order, the current thirteen tribes are:
Black Furies: Following the Pegasus totem, the Black Furies are an almost all-female tribe originating in ancient Greece. Some are advocates of equality and a modern view of feminism, while others have more of a spiritual view of feminine mystery and power.
Bone Gnawers: Following Rat, the Bone Gnawers are the eternal underdogs, with many of them cast out or simply not fitting into their original tribes. They may not have the resources of other tribes, but they make up for it with numbers and sheer tenacity.
Children of Gaia: The Garou are warriors, but the Children of Gaia and their totem Unicorn promote peace and cooperation. This is not a contradiction - they are quite capable of fighting when necessary, they just try all other means first. They are also strong proponents of unity between the tribes, all the better to fight the real enemy.
Fianna: The mostly Celtic followers of Stag are all about passion and tradition.
Get of Fenris: The norse followers of Fenris are all about strength and courage - not always, but often, in direct physical combat.
Glass Walkers: The followers of Cockroach are perhaps unique among the Garou in that they embrace their human side, including technology and business.
Red Talons: The counterpart to the Glass Walkers, the followers of Griffin reject humanity and consider humans to be a pest to be eradicated (or at least significantly reduced in population). They accept no Homid members in their tribe.
Shadow Lords: Originally from Eastern Europe, the followers of Grandfather Thunder are all about power and using it effectively. They have a strong “the ends justify the means” attitude and are traditionally rivals of the Silver Fangs.
Silent Striders: Originally from Egypt, the followers of Owl have been driven from their homeland by a vampiric curse, and are nomadic wanderers and couriers now.
Silver Fangs: Traditionally the rules of the Garou, the followers of Falcon maintain the purity of their bloodline with incredible zeal - some say the lack of fresh blood may be affecting their judgement.
Stargazers: Mystics following Chimera, the Stargazers make their home around the Himalayas and aim to achieve Balance above everything.
Uktena: One of the two surviving Native American tribes, the Uktena (whose tribal totem shares their name) pursue mystic power in an attempt to bind and control the Wyrm - and to get their lands back. They have accepted members from other marginalised groups around the world.
Wendigo: The other surviving Native American tribe are the Wendigo (again following a totem sharing their name). Their homeland is the frozen North of the United States and Canada (with a handful in Eastern Russia), and they distrust the other tribes (except the Uktena) that have taken their lands and killed their kin.
So, how does this go?
There will be one character of each Auspice, created in order from Ragabash to Ahroun. For each character, I will create two random numbers between 1 and 10 through random.org.
The first number will determine the Tribe, in the order shown above but skipping the Black Furies, Fianna and Stargazers who I don’t really get.
The second number will determine the Breed. For most tribes, the result will be interpreted as:
1-4: Homid
5-7: Metis
8-10 Lupus
The sole exception will be the Red Talons who have no Homid members - for them it will be
1-5: Lupus
6-10: Metis
The characters will all be for a hypothetical Story set in the western Great Lakes area of the United States, with the pack expected to range from urban centres like Chicago and Milwaukee to the forests and lakes of northern Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota and southern Ontario. In other words, a mix that should allow most character concepts to bring something to the table. Once all the characters have been created, I will also design a pack totem and a background for the pack including a story explaining why they have joined together (the classic is some ancient evil awakening or some corrupted company trying to destroy one of the sacred Caerns of the Garou, but we shall see).
#CharacterCreationChallenge
The final entrance in the “Technical” series of characters is a classic Rigger, with more of a vehicle focus than on drones (but there’s plenty of drones still). As a Rigger, she can “jump into” a vehicle and control it as if it was an extension of her own body, and aside from transportation, her main role in the team is to act as support for the others - either fire support with vehicle and drone weapons, or as a medic, of sorts.
Appearance and first impression
Rouge is a fairly unassuming dwarf with mousy brown hair, even smaller than most dwarves and usually has a sniffle and a slight tremor to her hands. She never carries any weapons, but often has a few small (and armed) drones hovering around her. She usually wears dark red clothes.
Backstory
Growing up in Quebec, Rouge’s had parents that were well-off but distant, buying her toys instead of spending time with her. Her constant health issues meant she preferred to spend time in the Matrix and otherwise indoors, at least until she was old enough to get her first drone and control rig - she took to it like a fish to water and spent almost all her time either racing her drones and vehicles, or modifying and upgrading them. Eventually she started getting into a friendly competition with a local Go-Gang, which turned less friendly and led to her hurried move to Seattle…
Priorities
Another fairly straightforward priority selection - Resources are right at the top, Skills are also important, Attributes can go to C because we only really need Mental attributes, and Metatype goes on D (and Magic/Resonance, of course, on E):
Attributes
There’s a bit of a twist here - normally, piloting tests are linked to Reaction, but when jumped into a vehicle, a rigger replaces their physical attributes with mental ones, and Reaction gets replaced with Intuition, so that takes the top spot. We also need reasonably high Logic since that is used with Engineering (both fixing/modifying the vehicles and shooting vehicle-mounted weapons) and acts as Agility when jumped in and Willpower because it is used to resist Dumpshock (damage from being involuntarily ejected from VR, such as if a jumped-in vehicle gets destroyed or otherwise disconnected). We also want a little Body for resisting actual damage in case of a crash, and a bit of Charisma and Strength just in case. At this stage, Agility and Reaction get ignored because we are unlikely to use them much in the real world, so we have:
Skills Piloting gets mixed out because that is the main skill for driving/operating any vehicle. Engineering is the runner-up because it is used both for modifying them and using vehicle-mounted weapons.
A bit of Cracking and Electronics covers electronic warfare like jamming and hacking other vehicles, Outdoors includes navigation, and we want a bit of Perception and Stealth. For now we have:
Knowledge Skills
Our high Logic gives us a number of free skills, but since our native language is French, 3 of the 5 go into English (Expert) so we can actually talk to people (not that we want to very often, but…). The other 2 cover Vehicles and Quebec because, well, we would know about those.
Qualities
Analytical Mind is cheap and gives bonus points for Logic-related tests for 3 Karma. Yes, I use it a lot, because it’s frankly too good for its cost.
Juryrigger costs 12 Karma and gives us bonus Edge for getting broken devices to work for a short time, which seems suitable.
Gearhead costs 10 Karma and helps with repairing vehicles in a more long-term sense.
Unsteady Hands means we can’t use Edge on tests using Agility, Weak Immune System makes it harder to resist infections of any kind, and Insomnia means we have to roll a test every day to get any rest (but thanks to the Sleep Regulator augmentation, the test is fairly easy).
As a Dwarf, Rouge also has natural Thermographic Vision and Toxin Resistance both of which do just what you would expect.
Vehicles and Drones
Technically, those fall under “Gear”, but they are so important for a Rigger, they get their own section.
The Van
A Nissan Strider van is pretty good out of the box - it comes with some armor and fairly high performance. It also has a default of 8 seats and about 6 cubic metres / 1200 kg of cargo capacity.
As a Rigger, Rouge of course needs a Rigger Interface that allows her to “jump in” (note that Drones have this as standard). She also installed a Rigger Cocoon in the back, which protects her when she is “driving” in full VR (i.e. most of the time). The drivers seat also has a Metahuman adjustment (dwarf) for the rare cases where she is physically at the wheel (or to allow a dwarf teammate to sit in comfort), and two of the other seats have been converted into one Troll-sized seat (in case there’s a Troll on a team), which leaves only 7 (but that should be plenty).
About one cubic metre of cargo space has also been modified as a hidden Smuggling Compartment, which is useful for transporting some of her… less than legal gear. Electrochromatic Paint allows quick colour changes.
For combat purposes, there are two Standard Turreted Weapon Mounts, both with Pop-Up Concealment (because law-enforcement frowns upon that kind of thing) sporting Ares Alpha assault rifles. One of these is loaded up with Regular Ammunition, the other with Gel Ammunition for a less-deadly option. Each of them also has a built-in Grenade Launcher, with a selection of micro grenades available (Stun, Smoke, High Explosive and Fragmentation). The grenades need to be reloaded by hand, so there’s only six available per rifle.
Finally, the van has two Medium Drone Racks that can quickly launch drones - usually carrying the Rotodrones (see below).
The Rotodrones
Two MCT-Nissan Rotodrones are medium-sized, flying drones each equipped with a weapon - they can be deployed from the van as mobile fire support or taken along when leaving the vehicle behind.
One of them has another Ares Alpha assault rifle with Regular ammunition and High-explosive grenades for versatile fire support.
The other has a Panther XXL assault cannon which is one of the heaviest weapons available, for when you want to take down a tank or something along those lines.
The “Ambulance”
An Ares Packmule large drone is a four-legged walker drone equipped with a MedevacModification and Valkyrie Module that allows it to carry and treat a (sedated) injured metahuman. It also has another Ares Alpha rifle on a turret (which, just like the ones on the van, is concealed with a pop-out system).
The Eye in the Sky
The Federated Boeing Sky Commander is a small flying observation drone with high-end sensors, stealth features and a built-in jammer that can be directed at a target. Good for flying high above a target area for observation, or to mess with other Riggers by jamming their remote controls.
The Small Ones
For stealthy spying and as a replacement for personal weapons, Rouge also carries three smaller flying drones.
The two Cyberspace Designs Dragonfly-Alphas are quad-copters primarily designed to destroy other drones, but can also be used against metahuman targets. They have a beak lined with mono-filament teeth for close combat attacks, and a modified Remington Roomsweeper short-barrelled shotgun. Each Roomsweeper has four barrels and needs to be reloaded once all four have fired; they are loaded with regular and flechette ammunition for some versatility.
The Whispering Death is highly illegal but also very concealable - it is a small, very quiet disk consisting of a single fan… and four extending monofilament wires that it can spin around itself, cutting anything and anyone that gets too close.
Gear
Weapons
None whatsoever - at least not any that are used by Rouge directly. Her Dragonfly and Whispering Death drones are what she would normally use in personal-ish combat when it is unavoidable.
Armor
An Armor Vest with Chemical Protection and Fire Resistance, alongside a Helmet that has some visual enhancements built into its visor is her normal go-to gear.
Augmentations
A rating 3 Control Rig is what makes Rouge a Rigger - it allows her to “jump in” to a vehicle, increasing the dicepool and simultaneously reducing the threshold for any vehicle operation tests by 3, and providing a bonus point of Edge.
A smartlink (installed directly into the eye instead of as part of a cybereye in this case) lets her use smartlinked weapons properly. This includes… all the weapons on her drones and vehicles, conveniently.
Rating 4 Reaction Enhancers increase her Reaction from 1 to 5 when active, just in case she does want to manually control a vehicle at some point for some reason.
A Sleep Regulator means she can get by on 3 hours of very restful sleep per night, and also makes the Insomnia easier to deal with.
And finally, an Implanted Rigger Control Console (specifically a Maersk Spider) allows her to control up to 12 drones simultaneously, including sharing out up to 4 autosofts (see below).
Autosofts
Autosofts effectively act as skills for independently operating drones (i.e. ones not directly controlled by a jumped-in rigger - cars on autopilot count as drones for this purpose). Each Drone can run up to half it’s Pilot rating rounded up itself (usually 1-2), and the RCC (see above) can run up to 4 that can be shared by various drones. Switching autosofts is a Major action, so it can be done fairly quickly when required. Rouge has the following autosofts available:
Maneuvering autosofts acting as a Piloting skill for a specific type of vehicle - she has them for all five types of vehicles she has.
Stealth counts as the Stealth skill for a specific type of vehicle - she has them for the Dragonfly-Alpha, Whispering Death and Sky Commander drones.
Targeting counts as a weapons skill for a specific kind of weapon. She has them for the Ares Alpha, the Ares Alpha Grenade Launcher, the Panther XXL and the Remington Roomsweeper.
Close Combat acts as a Close Combat skill, which covers both the beak of the Dragonfly and the monofilament attacks of the Whispering Death.
Clearsight acts as a Perception skill for drones.
Electronic Warfare acts as the Cracking skill for jamming and overcoming ECM.
Evasion is used to avoid incoming attacks.
Other stuff
We have a lot of the usual equipment, alongside an Engineering Shop (i.e. a very well-stocked work area) and an Electronics Kit (portable and less well-stocked).
Adding it all up
Altogether, our equipment costs 470,170 Nuyen, which is even more than the 450,000 we had, so we have to spend 11 Karma and start the game with 1,830 Nuyen.
The augmentations use 4.8 Essence, leaving us with 1.2.
Spending our Karma
After qualities and gear, we have 30 Karma left.
That goes into one point of Athletics and specialisations in Piloting (Ground Craft), Engineering (Gunnery), Cracking (Electronic Warfare), Electronics (Hardware) and Outdoors (Navigation).
Finishing it up
Contacts
All contacts have Connection 2, Loyalty 2.
Francis Leroy, a fellow Quebecois mechanic and vehicle dealer.
One-Tusk, an Ork and member of the Crimson Crush Go-Gang. He may be able to get his hands on some weapons every now and then.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
Compared to Onyx yesterday, Azure is a fairly straightforward concept - a Decker with lots of High-End gear. She’s not just about the Matrix, of course, and her ideology might make her unsuitable for some games, but in general she’s a fairly typical Decker - albeit one that can also hit pretty hard.
Appearance and first impression
On a first glance, Azure does not look like a Decker. As a Troll she is almost 2.50m tall, with long, swept horns. Her hair is tied up in braids, and she usually wears a heavy, armored jacket with an anarchist symbol on the chest and a variety of slogans and patches around it. If she is not currently in the process of hitting someone or something with it, she generally also has a large combat axe slung over her shoulder. It would take a thorough cyberware scan - or getting to know her - to learn about the implanted cyberdeck that she can wield with even more skill.
Backstory
Middle-class, respectable Trolls are rare, but they exist, and Azure’s parents were among them. They were good, corporate citizens, worked their 60-hour weeks and sent their little girl off to a corp-approved university so she could become a nice drone like them. It almost worked, too, she had a real talent for computers, was smart… then she got a boyfriend who was really into radical environmentalism and anarchist philosophy, and got her into it, too. The relationship didn’t last, but the ideals stuck. She began participating in a variety of sabotage missions, and soon gave up the attempt at living a legitimate life - the Shadows were now her home.
Priorities
This was pretty straightforward - Resources were the highest priority, Attributes and Skills kind of useful, Metatype below and of course Azure is entirely mundane:
Attributes
For a Decker, Logic is the highest required skill and gets maxed out at 6. Willpower and Intuition are also somewhat useful, so they end up at 4, and the rest stays at 2-3:
In order to make the combat axe not entirely useless, we would also like some more Strength and Agility, but there’s cyberware for that.
Skills
We start by maxing out Cracking and putting Electronics right below, as those are the two “hacking” skills (Electronics for not-illegal-per-se actions, Cracking for the other kind).
We also want high Close Combat, and decent Athletics, and that’s all our points spent at this stage. We would like some Stealth, Perception and Piloting later, but that will have to be from Karma.
Cracking 6
Electronics 5
Close Combat 5
Athletics 4
Knowledge Skills
With a Logic of 6, Azure has 6 free knowledge skills in addition to her free native language (which is, again, English).
Two of these go into Salish which is now at “Specialist” level, the native American language mostly spoken in the Salish-Sidhe Council (a Native American nation surrounding Seattle).
The rest goes into Ecology, Environmental Groups, Matrix Security and Cybernetics.
Qualities
Analytical Mind is cheap and gives bonus points for Logic-related tests for 3 Karma. Yes, I use it a lot, because it’s frankly too good for its cost.
Software Optimization lets Azure use one extra program on any device she owns, which is very useful for a hacker. It costs 10 Karma.
Cyberjack Maximisation gives the lower of a Cyberjack’s two matrix attributes an extra point, for 12 Karma. Again, this is extremely useful for a Hacker. See further down about Cyberjacks.
Impaired (Body) at rating 1 provides 8 Karma for basically no downside.
All in all these qualities cost a net 17 Karma.
Gear
Because Azure is a Troll, all gear comes with a 10% markup, which is a bit of a problem when you need a lot of very expensive gear - but with a few minor downgrades it works out.
Weapons
A double-bladed Combat Axe is the most obvious weapon Azure carries. It’s big and scary and also has a spring-loaded thrusting point that can be used to break glass or stab people with. What’s not to like? Oh, it’s also about as subtle as a flashing neon sign, so there’s limits for where it can be used.
That’s what the Telescoping Staff is for. I admit I have a soft spot for this one because I love Babylon 5. It’s also a less lethal and far more subtle option for when those are called for.
Finally, we have a few grandes, 5 each of Stun Grenades, Smoke grenades and Zapper grenades - the latter release an electric pulse that effectively tases anyone nearby but may also be useful against some electric devices.
Armor
The primary armor Azure uses is a heavy Armor Jacket with built in resistances.
For infiltration purposes, she also has a Chamaeleon Suit that adjusts its colours to surrounding areas for extra stealth (and still has a little armor built in).
Matrix Gear
The two main matrix devices Azure uses (always combined) are both implanted - a Renraku Kitsune cyberdeck and a rating 5 used Cyberjack.
Cyberjacks are a new development in Shadowrun 6. They are effectively Datajacks that use the brain to do some of the matrix processing, making it more effective. Mechanically, they provide two of the four Matrix attributes (Data Processing and Firewall), while the other two (Attack and Sleaze) come from the cyberdeck. Note that it is also possible to use a commlink instead of a Cyberjack (although this is less effective), and that any non-zero attribute can be freely switched with any other even across devices. All that said, with the Cyberjack Maximisation quality added in, Azure’s matrix attribute spread is 8/8/7/6.
We also have all the available Matrix programs because they are cheap, although we can only run 9 of them at once. The most common selection will be:
Agent: This is a semi-autonomous program that can access and use all the other programs, perform its own matrix actions, shares access with Azure and has a dice pool for 12 for most actions. Basically a backup hacker.
Baby Monitor keeps track of Overwatch Score, i.e. how close Azure is to being hit hard by the Grid Overwatch Division - which should really be avoided.
Edit gives extra Edge for Edit actions, which includes things like “make the security camera feed show a continuous loop of an empty room” or “change the virtual logo of the corporate host to something rude”.
Signal Scrubber reduces noise penalty from distance, jammers etc by 2.
Armor adds to Defense in Matrix combat
Decryption adds two dice to the pool for cracking encrypted files.
Defuse allows soaking damage from Data Bombs
Exploit reduces the defense rating of a hacking target by 2
Stealth gives bonus Edge for hiding in the Matrix
In addition to all the above, Azure also has a Satellite Link that helps with accessing the Matrix from the middle of nowhere, just in case.
Vehicles
A Yamaha Growler offroad bike. It’s not pretty and not the fastest but it can go just about anywhere.
Augmentations
First, we have the implanted Cyberdeck and Cyberjack mentioned above - the Cyberjack is used because they are expensive, although this uses up more Essence.
Next up is a set of rating 3 Cybereyes, with Glare Compensation, Low-Light Vision, Thermographic Vision (Trolls have that naturally but the downside of replacing your eyes is you lose the original) and Vision Enhancement just to cover most options.
An Internal Air Tank provides up to 3 hours of air from a compressed compartment, which is useful for diving, ignoring toxic gases and similar things.
Muscle Augmentation and Muscle Toner, both at rating 2 and used, add 2 to Agility and Strength.
A Smuggling Compartment allows for concealed transport of a variety of small items.
And finally a rating 3 used Cerebral Booster increases Logic by 3 which is useful for a Hacker.
Other stuff
In addition to the usual stuff like Fake SIN, Bug Scanner etc, Azure has a few notable pieces of equipment:
A Sequencer (rating 6) and a Maglock Passkey (rating 4) help with cracking electronic door locks based on keypads and card readers, respectively.
A Hazmat Suit with built-in Olfactory Sensor is useful for going into really badly polluted places.
Diving Gear and Climbing Gear help with getting into a variety of places.
To help even further with climbing, there is also a Grappling Gun with 200m of Stealth Rope (which disintegrates when touched with a Catalyst Stick).
Adding it all up
Altogether, after the Troll adjustment, our equipment costs 445,665 Nuyen, which is slightly less than the 450,000 we had, so we start the game with 4,335.
The augmentations use 5.99 of our 6 Essence, leaving us with 0.01 and barely human (if it goes to 0, we die, so, not much room for improvement except by swapping things out for higher-grade ware or spending Karma on some fairly limited qualities.
Spending our Karma
After our qualities, we have 33 Karma left.
20 of those go into one point each of Stealth, Perception, Piloting and Outdoors.
Another 10 go into specialisations in Cracking (Hacking) and Electronics (Computers).
We start the game with 3 Karma unspent.
Finishing it up
Contacts
Mr. Spider, a former Shadowrunner just trying his way as a fixer. Connection 2, Loyalty 2 (yes, he is also one of Fezzik’s contacts - sometimes multiple characters share a contact)
Nightingale, a doctor working at a corporate clinic but also offering her services and cyberware to less legitimate clients. Connection 2, Loyalty 2
R.J. Anderson, a security spider in the employ of Ares willing to part with some hardware and programs for a price. Connection 2, Loyalty 2
#CharacterCreationChallenge
This one was tricky - you can’t really have the Magic role filled by a mundane character, so it took me a while to figure out a concept for “technical mage”. In the end, I did something I rarely did in the past - I created a mage with just enough cyberware to support his magical abilities, while not impacting them too much. Then it was also tricky to fit everything into the character creation system, because there’s not really any category that can go on a really low priority… but more on that later.
Appearance and first impression
Onyx is an Ork, but he is about as far from the stereotype as possible. Dressed in an expensive, tailored navy suit, usually speaking with an upper-class English accent (but occasionally slipping into an Irish accent when he loses his calm), he does his best to present himself in a refined, educated and gentle manner.
Backstory
Onyx was born in the elven nation of Tir na nOg (Ireland), and as a non-Elf he was always a second-class citizen. While he did not join any of the organised resistance groups as a teen, he was left with a negative view of the Tir elves, and when he got the opportunity to study Hermetic Magic in Oxford, he took it, as much because the most English of universities was as far from the Tir as hew could imagine. Then… something happened. Onyx refuses to talk about it, but he ended up fleeing as far as Seattle, and his now burned SIN is understood to be subject to arrest warrants in both the UK and Tir na nOg. Rumors have it that he attempted to join a resistance group that turned out to be a sting operation, although somehow along the lines, he also learned the jealously guarded “ancient” martial arts style Carromeleg.
Character Creation Overview
This was probably the most difficult character I created so far, and I switched to a sum-to-10 approach again. Even then, it was not easy to fit everything and I had to make some tough tradeoffs.
Priorities
For a spellcasting magician, Magic needs to be reasonably high, so I put it on B. This only gives me Magic 3, and since the cyberware will reduce it, I really needed at least 3 adjustment points, so Metatype went on D. This left Skills, Resources and Attributes all on C, since all of them are also important. Final spread:
For a high-end hermetic Mage, Logic and Willpower are important, so Logic went on 6, Willpower on 5, costing 9 of our 12 Attribute points already. Intuition, Body and Strength get another one each, and that’s it for now. 3 of the 4 adjustment points go into Magic, one increases Edge to two. For now we have:
The main priority here is Spellcasting, which goes up to 6. We also want decent Conjuring and Astral (and once again I am pretending Enchanting doesn’t exist). The Martial Arts thing is never going to be a major part of the character, but for it to be at all useful, we need a bit of Close Combat and a bit of Athletics. And of course Stealth and Perception, but one of those will have to wait for Karma. For now we have:
Knowledge Skills
With high Logic, there is a decent amount of free knowledge skill points we get. English is his native language, but he is also pretty fluent in Sperethiel (the ancient Elven language spoken in the Tir nations). He also knows a fair bit about Magical Theory, Tir Politics and Academic Institutions.
Spells
Manabolt is a classic, mana-only combat spell. It does nothing against nonliving objects, but can attack living being at line-of-sight distance.
Punch is a physical combat spell that only works at touch distance, but gives a simple touch (or an unarmed attack) some extra, well, punch.
Analyse Truth is a Detection spell that allows a subject (Onyx himself or someone else) to tell the difference between lies and truth.
Heal is your classic healing spell.
Improved Invisibility makes a subject invisible, to both living eyes and objects like cameras.
Physical Mask makes a subject look like someone else, again to living eyes and objects alike.
Martial Arts
Onyx knows Carromeleg, a martial art supposedly from a different age of magic thousands of years ago that involves quick, accurate strikes and highly mobile defences. This allows him to learn techniques, although at this stage he only knows Bending of the Reed (Melee), which lets him gain a bonus point of Edge when he uses the Dodge minor action against Melee attacks, which in turn adds his Athletics to a single Defense dice pool. This costs 7 Karma.
Qualities
Analytical Mind is cheap and gives bonus points for Logic-related tests, including drain resistance for only 3 Karma.
Focused Concentration at rating 1 lets Onyx sustain one spell (Improved Invisibility, Physical Mask or Analyse Truth) without taking a dice pool penalty. It costs 12 Karma but is worth it.
Impaired (Strength) at rating 2 gives 16 Karma in return for reducing the Strength maximum from the normal Ork max of 8 to “only” 6, which will never matter.
Prejudiced (Tir Elves) means Onyx can’t gain or use Edge when Tir Elves are present unless he is directly opposing them. It provides 8 Karma.
Low Pain Tolerance doubles all dice pool penalties from damage - fortunately, his Pain Editor (see under Gear) makes that less of a problem; unfortunately it makes him more reliant on a dangerous augmentation. It provides 10 Karma.
All in all, Onyx gets a net 19 Karma from qualities, almost the maximum allowed of 20.
Gear
Weapons
The only weapon he carries are Shock Gloves, kind of like a melee taser.
Armor
A Mortimer of London Berwick Suit is one of the most stylish and expensive suits available. It is also armored and may give benefits to social tests in some circumstances, not that Onyx would benefit much from that.
Magical Gear
A Magical Lodge (in this case a ritual circle in the floor of his apartment) is a necessity for learning spells and doing some kinds of magic. It can also protect him from some magical threats and attacks.
A Spell Focus for casting combat spells in the shape of an iron amulet adds 2 to the dice pool for casting combat spells. Aside from being expensive, it also cost 8 Karma to bind.
Vehicles
A Chrysler-Nissan Jackrabbit is a tiny, ubiquitous, cheap and economical car. It gets one from A to B and doesn’t stand out.
Augmentations
A Cerebral Booster at rating 3 adds 3 points to Logic tests, which really increases the chance of resisting drain (and therefore allows powering up spells to some degree).
And a Pain Editor lets Onyx completely turn off all pain sensations at will. This means no more penalties from any wound modifiers, the ability to keep going even when the Stun track is filled in and a small bonus to Willpower - but also a reduction to Intuition, some perception pools and most importantly, an inability to know how badly hurt one is (at least without using a biomonitor or actually looking closely at ones wounds). Still, it means he can be unaffected for a while when one of those powerful spells does cause drain (or he just gets shot).
Other stuff
Most of the remaining things are pretty standard fare - commlink, fake SIN, certified commlink, bug scanner etc. Of note is the Biomonitor which makes it easier to avoid accidentally dying while the pain Editor is on.
Adding it all up
In terms of cost, the total comes to 185,700 Nuyen, which means 18 Karma. Bonding the focus adds another 4 Karma at this stage, for a total gear-related Karma cost of 22.
The Augmentations also take up 0.9 Essence, which leaves 5.1 Essence and reduces Magic by 1, to 5.
Spending our Karma
After martial arts, gear and qualities, we have 40 Karma left.
Increasing Agility and Reaction from 1 to 2 costs 10 Karma each, leaving us with 20.
Those go into one point of Perception, and specialisations in Sorcery (Spellcasting), Conjuring (Summoning) and Close Combat (Unarmed), using it all up.
Finishing it up
Contacts
This was tricky - with a Charisma of 1, neither Connection nor Loyalty rating of contacts can be higher than one (there is an optional rule that allows spending Karma to increase this maximum, but there is no Karma left to spend). Contacts with both ratings at 1 are barely worth getting, and in particular there is no way to get a Fixer that is normally a must-have (because a Connection 1 Fixer isn’t much use). Anyways, I ended up with the following 3 Contacts, all Connection 1, Loyalty 1, meaning they don’t know many people and their relationship with Onyx is at the moment purely business.
Click is an Elf Decker from Tir Tairngaire, who has to leave rapidly after getting involved with some anti-government forces. They got into Seattle at the same time which is how they met.
Alison Jenn is a border agent willing to skip the credential checking part of her job for the right price. She helped both Onyx and Click to get across the border and may be willing to do more business in the future.
Nightshade is a thief and shaman who occasionally runs the shadows. She may introduce him to her Fixer or some other Shadowrunners if it seems useful to her.
#CharacterCreationChallenge
The second entry in my “Technical Approach” group is another character focusing on the Social arena, although Ruth is also capable of filling almost any other role in a pinch thanks to his skillwires that basically allow him to “download” almost any kind of ability - with a few restrictions. His street name is a short form of the “Ruthenium polymers” that are used in many of the electrochromic materials that allow clothes and other items to change colour on demand.
Appearance and first impression
“Uh… a guy. Human. Kinda average height. Seemed really nice.”
That’s about all most people remember of Ruth after they encounter him, and it doesn’t help that he can change his appearance easily.
Backstory
Ruthe used to work for one of the Japanocorps, although he refuses to say which. He was a company man, someone who took care of problems for his company in ways they would prefer not become public, but too delicate to be handled by freelance Shadowrunners. His specialty was infiltration and intelligence gathering, often internally - he would use his skillwires to pretend to work in a department, be “one of the team”, and then report on any issues or terminate them directly, sometimes literally. Obviously this line of work created enemies, and when he found himself on the receiving end of a termination order, he narrowly escaped, and with some generous “support” from wealthy contacts managed to change his appearance thoroughly enough to stay under the radar - although these contacts expect to be repaid, of course.
Character Creation Overview
Another straightforward priority system here - I may skip this section for future entries unless I use something else.
Priorities
With skillwires, Ruth does not need a lot of skills himself, although it is normally impossible to use Edge when using skillwires, so there is some benefit to “native” skills - not to mention that cyberware can be hacked or even removed. However, the highest priorities are Attributes (with a balanced spread so almost anything is possible) and Resources because skillwires are expensive. On the other hand, Ruth is mundane and as a human has no use for adjustment points except for Edge, so the final spread is
For a Face, Charisma is the most important, so it gets maxed out at 6. We also want decent Logic and Agility since they are useful for a lot of technical (Logic) and physically active (Agility) skills that we can use through skillwires, so both of those get 5 points. Reaction and Intuition are a bit lower, Willpower, Body and Strength even lower, although we want everything on at least 3 - which will require a little Karma expenditure later. For now, the spread is:
That relatively high Edge is because even a D on metatype gives us 4 adjustment points we can use on nothing else.
Skills
Because of the Skillwires, there’s no point in having low-ranked skills. High-ranked skills have the advantage of being usable with Edge, can have specialisations and more than one at a time can be used (eg. a knowledge skill or language at the same time as an active skill). We want Con as the highest (rating 6) since it covers impersonation, followed by Influence and Athletics at 5, and the remaining 4 go into Perception, for a final spread of
Con 6
Influence 5
Athletics 5
Perception 4
Knowledge Skills
English is Ruth’s native language, but he also knows a little Japanese, and is also knowledgeable about Opera (a personal favourite), Economics, Security procedures and Japanese History, all of which seem fairly self-explanatory with his background.
Qualities
Only three qualities here:
Analytical Mind is again taken because it is so cheap, and Ruth will probably use Logic-linked skills quite a bit, so, hey, why not. Costs 3 Karma.
Blandness is fairly essential for the concept - Ruth is hard to remember. Costs 8 Karma.
In Debt was needed because the cyberware Ruth has is really expensive, and it fits with the backstory of having only escaped with a cash injection from the kind of person who considers kneecaps collateral. There is no Karma cost or benefit, but Ruth owes the Mob 35,000 Nuyen, and they expect 3,500 Nuyen a month interest in addition to any repayments on the principal.
Gear
Weapons
An Ares Viper Slivergun is just the kind of heavy pistol a snoop might have - built-in sound-suppressor, large magazine, and quite deadly when needed. It is also equipped with a Smartgun system, and located in a Concealable holster; and Ruth has a few spare clips and lots of spare ammo just in case.
The Fichetti Tiffani Needler is a tiny holdout-pistol that can be programmed to change colour and looks as fashionable as a weapon can. It also has an internal smartgun system, and is a literal “ace up the sleeve” thanks to a Hidden Arm Slide it is often located on. While holdout pistols aren’t designed for serious firefights, Ruth still has a few spare clips and ammo.
Both of these weapons can only shoot Flechette ammunition, which means Ruth has no less-deadly option, which he should probably look into. On the other hand, nothing stops him from becoming a skilled wrestler at a moment's notice.
Armor
Ruth carries four sets of “armor”, albeit very light ones, for different circumstances, all of them with an electrochromatic modification that allows for quick colour-changes including logos and similar features.
First up are Actioneer Business Clothes, the ubiquitous armed suit.
The rest are different kinds of Armored Clothes designed to look like everyday clothes, a lab coat and the kind of uniform worn at a McHughes fast food outlet (which looks very similar to many other service-job uniforms when you can change colour and logos).
Vehicles
The Ford Americar is by far the most common car in the world of Shadowrun, and with electrochromatic paint, it is even less recognizable.
Augmentations
Just as with El Verde yesterday, this is where it gets interesting::
A Datajack allows devices to be accessed mentally.
A used Skilljack and accompanying Skillwires of the highest available rating (6) are the centrepiece of the character concept. The skilljack alone would allow up to 6 knowledge or language skills to be run simultaneously (they are basically “brain only”), while the skillwires extend this to active skills by extending throughout the nervous system - active skills can go up to a rating of 6 with it, in other words about as good as a human can be. Skillsofts that can run on it can be purchased, but they are expensive (knowsofts for knowledge skills and linguasofts for languages are cheaper), so Ruth does not own any, he just has a subscription (see below). This is basically the “I know Kung Fu” cyberware.
A rating 3 Voice Modulator can make Ruth's voice sound like anyone else's (or a made-up voice). Useful for an infiltrator…
As are the False Face and Skin Toner implants that allow him to change facial features and skin colour to anything within normal human range.
And of course, Electrochromatic Hair lets him do almost the same with his hair.
Finally, some powerful albeit cheaply produced (which is also what “used” can mean in terms of Augmentations - it just increases the Essence cost) Tailored Pheromones increase his effective Charisma by 4 when he interacts with someone who may be able to smell them (i.e. in person and with a human or other living being).
Other stuff
A number of Fake SINs are always useful for a social chamaeleon - the highest-rated one (at 6) has [n]Fake Licenses for guns, concealed carry and augmentations attached. One Gold Certified Credstick and two Silver ones cover the need for anonymous financial transactions, and one month of a Medium lifestyle is the lowest Ruth has brought himself to accept so far.
Finally, there is a “VIP” Skillsoft Subscription this allows Ruth to use any one Knowsoft, Linguasoft or Activesoft (up to rating 6) at a time and switch them as a Minor Action. This allows him to have a conversation about theoretical physics or in ancient Aramaic (but not both at the same time unless he buys one of the ‘softs), then become a skilled gunslinger, and then patch up the wounded like a trained surgeon before piloting a helicopter home. The downside is only one can be active at a time, and he needs to have a wireless connection running when changing between softs. Once he pays the mob back or otherwise deals with that issue, he might start buying a few of his own to cover often-needed fields.
A Hermes Ikon commlink is one of the better and more secure models of commlink available. It also has a Sim Module for direct mental control, a Mapsoft of Seattle and a Shopsoft that makes it easier to find and purchase skillsofts of all kind, in case one needs to be bought on the fly.
Contact Lenses with a built-in Smartlink and Low-Light Vision are almost impossible to spot (but need to be controlled wirelessly).
20 Plastic Straps can be used to secure prisoners, an Autopicker is useful for picking locks, the by now well-known Respirator, Survival Kit, Biomonitor and Medkit can’t miss, and 4 Stimpatches help with staying awake and resisting stun damage for a while.
Adding it all up
Altogether, the gear costs 305,840 Nuyen - quite a bit more then the 275,000 that the priority table gave us, so even with the “In Debt” quality this costs 7 Karma. On the upside, we start the game with 4,160 Nuyen which, worst case, covers the first month of interest we have to pay…
Spending our Karma
After gear and qualities, we have 32 Karma left.
15 of those go into specialisations in Con (Impersonation), Influence (Etiquette) and Perception (Visual). The other 15 go into increasing Strength from 2 to 3.
This leaves us with 2 Karma to start the game with.
Finishing it up
Contacts
Honest Ape is a Sasquatch fixer with a twisted sense of humour including a strange appreciation for groan-worthy puns (like his street name) despite all this he is extremely well connected. Connection 6, Loyalty 3.
Lily of “Lily’s Software Emporium” deals in (mostly) legal software of any kind, including Skillsofts. She sold Ruth his skillsoft subscription and would be thrilled to upsell a bit. Connection 5, Loyalty 3.
Aidan Twofeathers is a Salish street doctor - despite playing on “mystic Native American” stereotypes, he is entirely mundane and uses mostly western medicine. He has sources that can get their hands on all sorts of cyberware. Connection 5, Loyalty 3.
Carla Espinoza is a popular opera singer originally from Spain. She may provide some access to polite society. Connection 4, Loyalty 2.
Salvatore is a Mafia Capo. He is the source of the loan Ruth paid for his escape with and mostly expects to be repaid - but he is open to further business. Connection 4, Loyalty 1.
Impersonation, in person: 18
Other Con, in person: 16
Etiquette, in person: 17
Other influence, in person: 15
With rating 6 skillsofts active:
Firearms or other attacks: 11 (12 if a wireless smartlink is used)
Engineering or Biotech/Medicine: 11
Piloting any vehicle: 10
Condition Monitors
Physical: 10
Stun: 10
And there we are
The final version of the worksheet can be found here .That’s it for Day 4 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge
#CharacterCreationChallenge
To start off the “Technical Approach” series, I am once again looking at the combat role first. The classic here is the “Street Samurai” that uses cybernetic augmentation to enhance their physical abilities in a way that is (loosely) inspired by ancient Samurai, or at least the popular image of them. To put a twist on this, El Verde is a “Street Cowboy” - the same idea but Old West gunslinger instead of honourable Japanese swordsman.
Appearance and first impression
The first thing anyone notices about El Verde is that he is green all over. Not his skin (yet), but his clothes, his hair, his bike, just about every bit of gear he has that can be coloured in is green. Oh, and he’s an Elf, has two oversized revolvers on his hips and moves with an almost supernatural speed and grace, a sign of cybernetic augmentation to those in the know.
Backstory
Growing up as a poor Elf is always a two-edged sword: on the one hand, one can usually avoid the worst excesses of police brutality and universal suspicions that Orks and Trolls have to deal with, and sometimes doors open to an Elf that would remain closed to others. On the other hand, everyone expects Elves to have it easy and if you are a poor Elf, what kind of loser do you have to be? In a way, it's worse for those who are merely poor, not dirt poor. El Verde had a home even if it didn't even meet minimum standards for rental housing, he had parents even if he barely saw them because both juggled multiple jobs to make ends meet, he went to school even if he did poorly because home life got in the way of studying… you get the idea. He also had a trid unit that was his main companion throughout his childhood, and action trids were his favourite. For a while, he wanted to become a trid star himself, but like most, he failed… but he did get the attention of a producer with a side business running illegal cage fights, and in those he did well. It was where he started the “Green Cowboy” theme, and where he got the money for his first few augmentations, and he was eventually recruiting for an even more dangerous but also much more lucrative career in the shadows.
Character Creation Overview
Classic priority system here, nothing special. As a mundane character there is an automatic “dump category” for Magic/Resonance which makes everything else easier.
Priorities
A heavily augmented combat character needs high Resources (because cyberwar is expensive) and Attributes, with Skills and Metatype (which really should be called “Adjustment points” since almost every Metatype can be almost every priority) secondary. Final spread was therefore
For El Verde, I had the goal of speed above everything else, which meant Agility, Reaction and Intuition at the top, with Reaction maxed out and Agility one point below the elven maximum of 7:
That Willpower and Charisma will need some topping up later.
Skills
The highest priority here are of course combat skills. El Verde will have two main types of weapons, heavy revolvers (dual wielded and twirled, of course) and a whip - but not just any whip, a monofilament whip. This cyberpunk classic is made of a wire so thin it slices through just about anything, including the wielder if they are unlucky or not as good as they think they are. So he needs to be as good as possible. Firearms are next, and then things like Athletics and Stealth. Final spread for now:
Aside from English as the native language, El Verde knows about Action Trids, Pistols and Cybernetics. Makes sense, right?
Qualities
El Verde is a lot less quality -heavy than many of my other characters - at three, he only has half of what is allowed.
Ambidextrous: Given the whole “dual pistols” schtick, this one is a given. At 4 Karma it's also not super expensive.
High Pain Tolerance is just generally useful for a combat character because getting hurt is part of the job and being able to remain functional is useful. It costs 7 Karma and is worth every one of them.
Distinctive Style: With a very peculiar appearance being part of his image, it is easier for people to remember and track him, which is a negative quality worth 6 Karma. It is actually possible for him to change his appearance quite quickly (more on this in the “Gear” section), but then he can't gain or spend edge.
All in all, he has a net -5 Karma from qualities.
Gear
Weapons
The Monofilament Whip is fairly straightforward - it is very well concealed in a fingertip compartment (see augmentations). It’s extremely deadly, with a base damage on par with heavy machine guns or high-end sniper rifles - having appendages sliced off clean will do that…
The dual Ruger Super Warhawk revolvers are big and heavy out of the box. El Verde has them upgraded with a Smartgun System for enhanced accuracy, and keeps them in Quick-Draw Holsters for those high-noon standoffs. There’s also some speed-loaders that makes reloading faster, and a variety of more and less deadly ammunition - most of the time, the two guns will be loaded with different kinds to allow for more options.
Armor
The classic Lined Coat again, with Fire, Chemical and Electricity Resistance built in. It, alongside a nice, non-armored suit, have electrochromatic features. Most of the time they are bright green, but in a pinch, that can change at the press of a button (or with a thought thanks to the datajack).
Vehicles
A Suzuki Mirage racing bike, obviously in green, but with electrochromatic paint that can be changed quickly.
Augmentations
Here’s where the Street Samurai - pardon, the Street Cowboy - really shines:
A Datajack allows devices - in particular, the commlink, see below - to be accessed mentally. It’s pretty much a USB port for the brain.
Cybereyes with Flare Compensation, Low-Light Vision, a Smartlink and Thermographic Vision built in. They are, of course, green.
Cyberears with a Damper to avoid being affected by sudden loud noises, a rating 2 Select Sound Filter to allow focusing on specific sounds, a Spatial Recognizer to help pinpoint the source of a sound, and a standard Audio Enhancement to make improve hearing.
A Fingertip Compartment is hidden in the hollowed-out last digit of the left-hand index finger. Inside it, spooled up, is the monofilament whip, with the fingertip itself acting as a counterweight, making it extremely well-concealed.
Wired Reflexes at rating 3 increase Reaction by 3 and also add 3 initiative dice (and 3 minor actions, for a total of 4, which can be converted to a second Major Action if needed).
Muscle Replacements at rating 3 increase both Strength and Agility by 3. We don’t care too much about Strength, but it doesn’t exactly hurt, and Agility is great.
And finally, Electrochromatic Hair is the source of the green hair, and it, too, can change colour (and style and to a degree length) with a thought. So in an emergency, clothing, bike and hair can all be changed, which should help with getting away from people who remember “the green guy”.
Other stuff
With high resources, there was a bit more money to work with, so El Verde has not just one, but two Fake SINs, one at rating 6 and one at rating 4. The rating 6 one also comes with fake licences for guns, concealed carry (not that he usually conceals them), the muscle replacements and the smartgun system. The Monofilament Whip and the Wired Reflexes are, unfortunately, highly illegal with no licences available - but neither are easy to notice.
In addition, he has two Gold Certified Credsticks for those larger amounts that may be needed and one month of a Middle Lifestyle.
A Transys Avalon commlink with a Sim Module is about as good as it gets for a non-hacker, but given that some of his gear works best with wireless functionality enabled, and, well, a better commlink is (a little) harder to hack.
To round it up, there’s also a Bug Scanner, a Tag Eraser, 5 Metal Restraints and 20 Plastic Straps (the latter two for keeping people contained / tied up if needed), a rating 6 Respirator, a Survival Kit, a Biomonitor and a state-of-the-art rating 6 Medkit, just in case.
Adding it all up
Altogether, the gear costs 446,920 Nuyen. Which is less than the 450,000 from the priority table, so no Karma cost! Wohoo!
Spending our Karma
After the 5 Karma cost of the Qualities, we have 45 left.
First, we want to shore up our Skills. We get specialisations in Firearms (Heavy Pistols), Stealth (Sneaking) and Piloting (Ground Craft), and a point each in Electronics and Perception, which costs 25 Karma in total, leaving us with 20.
Those go into increasing Willpower and Charisma both from 1 to 2, at 10 Karma each,
Finishing it up
Contacts
Ruby, a young fixer just making her way into the shadows. She recruited El Verde from the show fights he did. Connection 2, Loyalty 2.
Doc Ariel, a back-alley, unlicensed doctor who patches up (and implants augmentations in) criminals to keep her clinic for the poor and SINless financed. Connection 2, Loyalty 2.
Victor, no last name given, is a former mercenary with a heavy Russian accent (that may be fake) who can get his hands on all sorts of weapons that “fell off the back of a drone”. Connection 2, Loyalty 2.
Calculations
Attack Rating:
Monofilament Whip: 23
Ruger Super Warhawk: 10/13/10
Defense Rating
Physical: 5
Initiative
Physical: 14 + 4D6
Notable Dice Pools
Attacking with Monofilament whip: 17
Attacking with Ruger Super Warhawk: 16 (17 with wireless smartlink enabled)
Sneaking: 14
Riding Motorbike (or other ground vehicles): 13
Condition Monitors
Physical: 9
Stun: 9
And there we are
The final version of the worksheet can be found here .That’s it for Day 4 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge
#CharacterCreationChallenge
For the final entry in my series of “mystic approach” characters, I have the most challenging character - a Technomancer that can do anything a Rigger can (kind of). Now, back in 4th edition, this was fairly simple (easily achieved with Sprites, in fact)… but in 5E and 6E, there is a complication in that emulating a Riggers abilities requires Submersion, not just once, but several times. On the upside, it is actually possible to undergo this process during character creation, whereas in the past this has very much been a mid-to-late game thing. For those new to Shadowrun, Submersion (and its magical counterpart, Initiation) increases both the magical/technomantic power a character can achieve, but also gives them access to special supernatural realms and, finally, enhancements to their abilities known as Echos (for Technomancers) or Metamagic (for Magic users). And those Echos are where the Rigger powers - that let the character “jump in” to a vehicle and control it as if it was part of their body - are locked away…
Appearance and first impression
A young woman with a completely bald head, usually wearing simple, light clothing. Her skin is covered in surgical cars and she avoids eye contact. Only when she gets to interact with machines, especially drones, does she relax. She talks to her drones and other machines. In combat, she is utterly methodical and cold, as if an entirely different personality took over.
Backstory
E-2 (short for Experiment 24601) does not remember what her name was, or how she ended up in the laboratory. She does distinctly remember being cut open, connected to machines, and endless injections and blood samples. Then the instruments and computers started talking to her, and different experiments followed, where she had to try and control machines, and travel away from the material world into realms of pure information. She preferred those experiments, there was no cutting. One night, the others came. Others like her, but from outside. They took her and told her she was now free. They explained that she had always had the potential to be a Technomancer, but the experiments she had undergone had been designed to trigger and strengthen them. She started learning about outside, and that she would need money to live and keep herself secret from the people that experimented on her. They put her in touch with “Shadowrunners”, and helped her get drones that she could work with, and she is starting to even think about stopping those that hurt her from doing it to others.
Character Creation Overview
I once again used the Sum-To-Ten method with a B-C-C-C-D spread - none of the options needed to be at A, but neither could any be dumped to E. Because E-2 needed several levels of submersion - 4 to be exact - and this costs a lot of Karma, I had very little Karma to play with and needed to take several fairly limiting negative qualities.
Priorities
Most of the priorities ended up on C, with only Attributes higher and Resonance lower, and neither by more than one step. The final spread was:
For a human, adjustment points can only be used for Edge and Magic/Resonance, everything else had to come from Attribute points. E-2 has only minimal physical attributes, as she barely acknowledges her physical existence. Mentally on the other hand, she runs circles around most people, her connection to the Resonance is extraordinary for someone so young, and she has occasional strokes of incredible luck:
With her main focus on drones, the two most important skills for E-2 are ENgineering (which includes using vehicle-mounted weapons) and Piloting, but even those are not as critical as most other characters’ skills - they both end up on 5 at this stage, with neither maxed out. Cracking and Tasking are also important and go on 4, and Electronics down on 2. Everything else can be ignored for now - note that she does not have any personal combat skills. That’s what Drones are for.
Knowledge Skills
With her high logic, she actually has a couple of free knowledge skills. Her native language is English, and her other Knowledge skills are
Drones
Weapons
Resonance Realms
Ares Research Projects
Magical Theory
The idea here is that the corporation that experimented on her was Ares, in one of their many attempts to create weapons against the insect spirits (or weaponize them…). As a result, aside from obvious choices like Drones and Weapons, E-2 also picked up a significant amount about Magical Theory and has learned more than she ever wanted to know about Ares research methodologies and projects.
Qualities
With Karma being at a premium for E-2, she has a number of negative and few expensive positive Qualities:
Analytical Mind: Just as with Lurtz, this is just too good to pass up for its cost, and E-2 actually will use Logic quite a bit. Cost: 3 Karma
Focused Concentration at rating 1 is the only relatively expensive quality she has, because it is just so useful to be able to sustain one of her Complex Forms without penalty (but only one at a time). Cost: 12 Karma
Low Pain Tolerance doubles all wound modifiers. E-2 should stay out of the physical action as much as possible anyways, but this could hurt from matrix combat, fading or dumpshock - but alas, the 10 Karma are needed.
Uncouth provides 6 Karma in exchange for an inability to use Edge on tests using Charisma. Being almost unable to have social interactions will do that (although it might be worth negotiating with the GM whether this applies to non-social Charisma tests, namely Fading resistance and Strength tests while jumped into a drone.
Allergy (Soy, Severe) provides a whopping 17 Karma, but in exchange, being in contact with Soy products (about 80% of food in Shadowrun) causes ongoing damage and dice pool reductions. Better be very careful about going anywhere people eat…
All in all, she ahs a net gain of 18 Karma from qualities.
Complex Forms
Resonance Channel needs to be sustained and reduces noise penalties on Matrix connections (including controlling drones remotely), which may be caused by distance or interference.
Enhance Autosofts needs to be sustained and improves the benefit a drone or similar device gains from autosoft programs, which generally act a bit like skills for the drone
Submersion
E-2 has undergone four ranks of Submersion, which means she can access the Resonance Realms (places on the Matrix that should not exist and that are directly linked to information of certain kinds. It also means she could theoretically increase her Resonance up to 10 (but it would cost a lot of Karma), and most importantly, she has the following for Echos
Living Network allows her mind to become part of a Personal Area Network, which means she can directly control a variety of devices and prevent hackers from accessing them without going through her first.
Machine Mind acts like a basic Vehicle Control Rig, which gives some advantages when controlling a drone or adapted vehicle, and lets E-2 control such vehicles as if they were part of her.
Living Command Console allows her to control a number of drones at the same time more effectively and share autosofts with them
Software Emulator allows her to absorb software and then “run” it on her mind - particularly useful in command with the Living Command Console Echo because it allows her to use autosofts for her drones.
Gear
Weapons
No personal weapons, but see the Vehicle section below
Armor
A simple set of Armor Clothing that appears just like cheap, basic street clothes.
Vehicles
GMC Bulldog” An armored delivery van that doesn’t stand out anywhere. Equipped with Rigger adaptation, and a protective Rigger Cocoon that E-2 can stay in while she is controlling her drones.
2 MCT Hornet drones, small, insect-like flying observation drones. They each have an injector filled with Narcojet, a fast-acting tranquiliser, and E-2 has a few doses to spare.
5 MCT-Nissan Rotodrones, mid-sized flying drones that are popular as flying weapons platforms. 2 of them have AK-97 assault rifles for suppressive fire and longer-distance attacks (each with Smartgun systems, one loaded with explosive rounds for extra damage, one with gel rounds for a nonlethal option), 2 haveMossberg CMDT shotguns for heavy, shorter-range attacks, and one has a Shiawase Blazer flamethrower because you never know when you need to kill it with fire.
2 Nissan Samurai anthrodrones - upright walking and roughly humanoid (and with functional arms), these have a sharp blade at each limb, and an Ingram Smartgun Submachine gun on each arm. The one on the left arm is filled loaded with explosive ammunition, the one on the right with gel ammunition, because having options is still useful. Note that the rulebooks seem to have missed out on providing any cost for the fuel tanks for the flamethrower, so I assumed 100 Nuyen per tank which seems about in line with similar things.
In addition to those vehicles, E-2 also has (or rather had as they have all been absorbed into her living persona now) a range of autosofts, all at the maximum available rank of 6 - they act as a skill of the same level for drones.
Clearsight acts as Perception for all drones Evasion is to defend againstt attacks for all drones Maneuvering isthe piloting skill - a separate autosoft is needed per drone model, and she has it for all the models she has (Hornet, Rotodrone, Samurai) Targeting acts as a weapons skill - a different one is needed for each weapon model, and she has them for all her drone weapons except the Hornet stingers (AK-97, CMDT, Blazer and the blades of the Samurais).
Other stuff
A decent (rating 4) Fake SIN, a Gold Certified Credstick and a month of Medium Lifestyle (mostly so she has space for all her tools and Drones).
An Engineering Shop and an Electronics Kit (basically lots of Engineering tools and some basic ones for Electronics).
Rating 5 Goggles with Low-Light Vision, Smartlink, Thermographic Vision and Vision Magnification - note that goggles are quite bulky and obvious.
A Flashlight, Gas Mask, rating 6 Respirator and rating 6 Medkit for emergencies.
Adding it all up
Altogether, our gear adds up to 165575 Nuyen. 150,000 comes from the priorities, the rest costs 8 Karma, leaving 425 Nuyen to start the game with.
Spending our Karma
Between the Submersions, Qualities and Gear, we have 10 Karma left. This goes into one point of Stealth, and a specialisation in Engineering (Gunnery)
Finishing it up
Contacts
Jeeves is a human fixer E-2 met through other Shadowrunners. He finds her creepy but cannot deny her usefulness. Connection 4, Loyalty 1
Anny Whitecloud is a Salish weapons smuggler. She does not trust Technomancers but as long as they pay, she sells. Connection 4, Loyalty 1
Uncle Hito is a used car dealer who also stocks drones. He acts as if everyone is his best friend, at least as long as he sees a chance at making a sale. Connection 4, Loyalty 1
Sister Ellen is a leader of a tribe of Technomancers and Shadowrunners - she was part of the team that freed E-2. Connection 3, Loyalty 2
Xie is a dwarf, originally from China, and a street shaman. She is interested in the similarities between magic and technomancy… and possibly more personally interested as well. Connection 2, Loyalty 2
Calculations
Attack Rating:
Matrix combat: 10 (can be increased through living persona configuration)
Unarmed: 2
Smartgun XI (on drone): 13/11/8/-/-
CMDT (on drone): 6/13/9/-/-
AK-97 (on drone): 6/13/11/9/3
Blazer (on drone): 14/12/10/-/-
Samurai drone blades: 6
Defense Rating
Physical: 4
Matrix: 9 (can be increased through living persona configuration)
Attacking with a Drone weapon: 12 (13 if smartlinked, i.e. AK-97, CMDT or Smartgun XI)
Hacking: 9
Piloting a vehicle through Rigger controls: 12
E-2 has much lower dice pools than most of the other characters I created here - her main strength is in having multiple drones in play at the same time, so she can effectively be multiple medium-strength combatants instead of one high-end one.
Condition Monitors
And there we are
The final version of the worksheet can be found here .That’s it for Day 4 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge
#CharacterCreationChallenge
So far, in the first, all-mystical group, we have covered the Combat, Social and Magical roles that most Shadowrun groups would have - this leaves Matrix and Vehicles/Drones. In theory, both of those roles can be covered by magic (Adepts have a lot of versatility), but Technomancers are the more popular (and thematically appropriate) option. They use Resonance instead of Magic, which works similar in some ways but only in the Matrix (and is utterly incompatible with Magic - nobody can have both). Today, I am looking at a Technomancer that covers the Matrix role… but in a slightly unconventional way.
Appearance and first impression
Most people quietly cross the street to avoid walking too close past Lurtz - he’s that kind of guy. Orks tend to be big and muscular, and the tusks don’t help. Add-in the heavy armor jacket, heavy motorbike, barely concealed short-barreled shotgun and variety of other weapons, and a gang-patch of the Al- Ork-and-Troll Sons of Sauron gang, and the stereotype is fulfilled. Few people look close enough to notice that he is not quite as heavily muscled as it first appears, and sports none of the obvious cybernetics most gangers have. Even fewer people talk to him long enough to realise that can be quite charming and good company once he warms up to someone.
Backstory
Lurtz’ parents were both members of the SoS, and he grew up in the gang, quickly learning that a Don’t-Drek-With-Me image was his best protection against most of the rest of the world. After an almost-fatal incident in his childhood, it became obvious that he was severely allergic to most cybernetics, and so he never ended up getting any ‘ware installed himself - which turned out well for him when he began manifesting strange abilities. His parents knew enough to recognize he was a Technomancer, and that even within the gang many would distrust him, so they managed to keep it secret and taught him to be circumspect - as far as almost anyone else knows, he managed to get an implanted cyberdeck that he was somehow not allergic to. He never really got the hang of hacking himself - sure, minor things, but his real strength was always in compiling and commanding sprites (a kind of matrix-spirits), particularly Faul Sprites that are best at turning electronic devices of all kinds (including, say, guns and vehicles) into sparking and smoking bricks.
Character Creation Overview
Once again I was using a standard priority method. The main challenge was giving him enough physical attribute and skill points to make him not useless at being a big, tough ganger, while keeping him able to handle the Matrix side of a shadowrun. Focusing on Sprites instead of his own hacking abilities helped immensely.
Priorities
The main things to cover were: Lots of attribute and skill points, and Resonance that could start low but needed to be increased to 6 with adjustment points, because it is the single most important stat for a Technomancer.
Attributes
The concept as it is needs a pretty wide spread of attributes - the closest thing to a “dump stat” is, ironically, Logic, which is used for both Hacking and Cracking, but Lurtz rarely does that himself, so Logic stays at 2. Most important are Resonance (used for compiling sprites) and then Willpower and Charisma, since those are used to resist Fading (the Technomancer equivalent of Drain), and compiling (summoning) powerful Sprites can bring a lot of that. We also need decent Intuition and all the physical attributes (especially Agility), so in the end I went with:
Skills
There is one skill we need a lot of, Tasking - it is used for compiling and registering (long-term binding) of sprites (also decompiling, which may be handy when going up against another Technomancer). It gets maxed out at 6.
Then we also have a mass of other skills we kind of need a little of: Athletics, Close Combat, Cracking, Electronics, Firearms, Influence, Perception, Piloting, Stealth and Engineering. At this stage, I put Firearms at 3 so my Shotgun isn’t completely useless, Cracking (illegal Matrix stuff), Influence and Piloting at 2, and Perception at 1, and make a note to raise some of the others or shore them up with specialisations later.
My Knowledge Skills are a short list again - English as the Native Language, along with Seattle Gangs and Sprites.
Qualities
Once again, I maxed out my six possible qualities as follows:
Analytical Mind is a bit of an oddity. It gives a bonus Edge for Logic tests, and costs 3 Karma. This is ridiculously cheap compared to other “bonus edge for x” qualities that are normally 12 Karma and cover only specific situations, although they usually have some other benefits as well. While Lurtz is not a Logic-based build, this quality gives him a slight, well, edge, when doing some hacking himself instead of via Sprite, and considering how cheap it is, I went for it.
Focused Concentration at rating 1 let’s him sustain a single Complex Form (basically a technomancer spell) without penalty. It costs 12 Karma but is probably worth it.
Sprite Affinity for Fault Sprites gives him bonus edge when compiling one of those, and they are his favourite type of Sprite. It costs 14 Karma.
In Debt is an odd duck in that it is technically a negative quality, but doesn’t give Karma. Instead, it increases the amount of Nuyen that you get for Karma (from 2,000 each to 5,000 each), but then you owe that much to someone and have to pay at least 10% of the total amount in interest per month (and more if you want to pay down the principal). In Lurtz’ case, this means he owes 30,000 Nuyen to the Seattle chapter of the Sons of Sauron, and has to pay at least 3,000 Nuyen interest each month to remain in good standing with them.
Impaired (Logic) at rank 2 is nothing new by now since I have used it in some way for each of my builds so far. 16 Karma basically for free.
Allergy (Chrome, Severe), on the other hand, is a new one. I used it as part of the backstory to explain why he never got any augmentation, but it also provides an extra 11 Karma - in exchange, if he is in contact with Chrome (including, say, being grappled by someone with a cyberarm), he has a significant reduction to all dice pools and takes ongoing damage.
Overall, the Qualities cost a net total of 3 Karma.
Complex Forms
Because we started with Resonance on the D priority, Lurtz only has 2 Complex Forms, which are effectively spells for Technomancers:
Resonance Spike is an attack in cybercombat - most of the time he would leave this to sprites, but it’s good to have some ability to do something himself.
Puppeteer allows him to take Control Device actions without having the right kind of access - in other words, do things like make a car slam on its brakes, a gun eject its ammo clip etc. It still requires a test to make it accept the command, but not to hack the device first.
Gear
The 8,000 Nuyen from the priority table did not go far, but the In Debt quality helped with that… of course there will be a price to pay in the future…
Weapons
Lurtz carries three weapons: Knucks for hitting people up close, an old Bike Chain mostly for intimidation factor, and a Remington Roomsweeper short-barreled shotgun (with external Smartgun system and 80 rounds of ammunition).
Armor
A big, heavy Armor Jacket with built-in Electricity Resistance and Fire Resistance.
Vehicles
A Harley Davidson Scorpion - big, heavy, low cruiser, extra loud exhaust, you get the idea.
Other stuff
A Meta Link Commlink - the cheapest of the cheap, because as a technomancer Lurtz has no need for a commlink, but not having one attracts attention.
A pair of rating 4 Glasses with Flare Compensation, Smartlink and Thermographic Vision.
A Gas Mask because you never know when someone lobs a tear gas grenade or worse.
A Monofilament Chainsaw which is useful for getting through barriers etc, but mostly to play up the “big tough ganger” image.
A decent (rating 4) Fake SIN with attached fake license for the shotgun.
2 Silver Certified Credsticks that can anonymously hold up to 20,000 Nuyen each.
And a month of Low Lifestyle prepaid.
Adding it all up
Altogether, the gear costs 34,510 Nuyen. 8,000 of that comes from the priority table, the rest is purchased with 6 Karma (thanks to the In Debt quality), leaving 3,490 Karma to start the game with.
Spending our Karma
After gear and Qualities, we have 41 customisation Karma left, and they all go straight into shoring up skills. First, 1 point each for Electronics, Stealth and Engineering, then specialisations for Close Combat (Unarmed), Cracking (Hacking), Firearms (Shotgun), Influence (Intimidation) and Tasking (Compiling). Unarmed close combat includes things like Knucks and bike chains (for some reason), so that all works out well.
Finishing it up
Contacts
Omega is a reasonably well-connected dwarf fixer that occasionally does business with the Sons of Sauron and some local Mr. Johnsons, but it is strictly all business. Connection 4, Loyalty 1
Chartusk, a higher-up in the Sons of Sauron, can get access to some weapons, vehicles and similar gear, and as a fellow member of the gang there is some level of expected loyalty. Connection 3, Loyalty 2
Beebop, a free sprite that has taken a liking to Lurtz for some reason - their alien mindset makes communication difficult, but they would be willing to help with a variety of Matrix-related information and guidance. Connection 4, Loyalty 3
Lee Anderson, a human merchant who specialises in selling.. secondhand goods with ambiguous ownership. He knows exactly where to offload items without questions being asked. It’s all just biz, though. Connection 4, Loyalty 1
Terrence Sullivan, a Lone Star Detective always willing to look the other way or “lose” some evidence or files, in exchange for… well, there’s these tickets to the police ball, you see… Connection 4, Loyalty 1
Fagin, the Ork ring leader of a group of burglars and carjackers. They might be willing to help out with something… for a price. Connection 2, Loyalty 1
Initiative
Physical: 8 + 1D6
Matrix Initiative (AR): 8 + 1D6
Matrix Initiative (VR Hot Sim): 6 + 3D6 Note: Matrix Initiative can be improved through bonus points from Resonance as per SR6 p. 189
Notable Dice Pools
Compile Sprite: 14
Banish or Register Sprite: 12
Attack with shotgun: 10
Attack unarmed (incl with Knucks or Bike Chain): 9
Hacking: 6
Piloting: 6
Intimidation: 9
#CharacterCreationChallenge
Moving on from Adepts, today’s character is a magician, or more specifically a Shaman. Willow is a cheerful, bubbly young woman despite having grown up on the streets. Usually dressed in dirty overalls, she looks more like a mechanic than a Shaman and makes her home in a closed-down garage next to a junkyard in the barrens. The owner, Rico, gave her her street name based on an old flatvid character, another witch that also had bright red hair. She likes to fix and improve things and people and is only running the shadows because money is sometimes tight and magic users are always sought after.
Appearance and first impression
A young dwarf woman, on the small side and with her bright red hair usually tied up in a bun, wearing dirty overalls and - if there is trouble afoot - a heavy, slightly too large armor jacket. She is cheerful and bubbly, and if someone pays a lot of attention, they might notice her tools are often arranged in arcane patterns or have tiny runes etched and painted on them.
Backstory
Growing up on the streets of the Redmond Barrens, Willow has every reason to be cynical, and yet she has somehow kept her cheerful outlook and willingness to help anybody she can. She never knew who her parents were, and the closest she has is Rico, an Elf that owns “Rico’s Junk Palace” where he found her sleeping in a corner of the abandoned garage one day. He sometimes paid her a few Nuyen - or food - for helping out around the place. When she came into her magical abilities, he started calling her “Willow” after another redheaded witch from a flatvid show he remembered from his youth… Even though she is barely 20 herself, she has now “adopted” several other street kids and helps them with some of the money she gets from running the shadows.
Character Creation Overview
I’m back to a standard Priority method for Willow. She was a bit more of a challenge to get right, but in the end it all worked.
Priorities
As a “normal” Magician, Willow pretty much has to have Magic an A, because the number of spells a Mage gets in 6E is strictly limited by the Magic rating from the priority table - 2 spells per point of Magic, and no more can be learned at character creation. She also needs a healthy Attribute spread, so that is B, and there’s a lot of Skill required, too, so that is C. The only way to get Magic all the way up to 6 (which, again, is pretty much required) is with adjustment points and for that to work, Metatype has to be E, and… that puts Resources at E. Several of those are lower than I’d like, but at least there were no hard choices. Our final priority selections are therefore:
Attributes
This, on the other hand,had several hard choices. We have 4 adjustment points, 2 of them need to go into Magic, one went into Edge and one into Body, raising those three attributes to 6, 2 and 2 again respectively.
Willpower gets maxed out - as a Dwarf, the maximum is 7, so that costs us 6 of our 16 attribute points. Charisma is also important for a Shaman, so it goes to 5, and that leaves us with just enough to raise Intuition to 3 and all the other attributes to 2. Nothing gets dumped, but I would have liked her to have more in a few of those - alas… Final spread:
As a bit of background for those new to the system, to work Magic there are basically two things you need to roll for - working the magic (casting a spell, conjuring a spirit etc) and resisting drain (to avoid taking damage - there is no limit on “spell slots” or mana or anything like that, but the more powerful the magic in question is, the more damage it can potentially cause). Working the magic is rolled with Magic + a relevant skill (see below), resisting drain is Willpower + Charisma (for Shamans and other faith-based traditions) or Logic (for Hermetic mages and other sciency traditions.
Skills
Again, there were a lot of tough choices here. There are four skills directly related to working magic - Sorcery (casting and countering spells), Conjuring (summoning and banishing spirits), Enchanting (creating magical items) and Astral (reading auras and astral combat). I never really got the hang of Enchanting and pretend it doesn’t exist, but the other three are important - I put 6 into Conjuring, 4 into Sorcery and 3 into Astral, using up 13 of my 20 skill points already.
We also need something for combat, Stealth, Perception, and given her background I really wanted Engineering and Piloting, too. And a bit of Influence because why let all that Charisma go to waste. That’s six skills and only 7 points, though, so something had to give (which means I used Karma later). At this stage, I put 3 points into Engineering, 2 in Athletics (also covers crossbows) and 2 into Stealth, so overall we had
Qualities
I had already decided that Willow follows a Mentor Spirit, which costs 10 points - in return, the Fire-Bringer reduces the cost of all Edge Boosts for Engineering tests and Manipulation spells by 1. On the other hand, Willow needs to succeed on a Willpower+Charisma(3) roll if she wants to refuse a sincere appeal for help (not that she would usually want to).
Next up is an extremely useful, but expensive quality for mages - Focused Concentration at rank 2, costing 24 Karma. It allows her to sustain up to two spells without penalty - normally, keeping an ongoing spell effect going reduces the dice pool for everything else, which can be an issue when, say, using an illusion spell to impersonate someone or a combat buff or anything along those lines.
Finally, I put another 14 points into the Spirit Affinity quality for Task spirits (a kind of spirit that is most commonly summoned to do some specific work, from fixing an engine to treating a sick person). This gives Willow a bonus point of Edge when summoning one of them.
To get some of these points back, I also took three negative qualities: Incompetent (Enchanting) means she can never learn enchanting which suits me just fine. Might as well get 10 Karma for not doing it. Dependents at rank 2 gives her 8 Karma - she has “adopted” a couple of younger street kids she may sometimes need to help, and 10 percent of her income go towards that.
Finally, that Impaired Attribute quality at rank 2 (for 16 Karma) again, this time for Logic. She’s not stupid but she’s not bookish, so her Logic will never go above 4. This may actually affect her ability to do Engineering, but that would always be a secondary concern (and it doesn’t affect Task spirits she summoned for Engineering tasks).
As a Dwarf, she also has Thermographic Vision and natural Toxin Resistance.
Spells
Willow knows 8 spells to start with:
Lightning Bolt is a straightforward combat spell to zap people. Analyze Truth can be cast on a person (herself or someone else) who can then tell truth from lies (but only intentional lies, and only when spoken by someone present in earshot, not via recordings or broadcasts). Heal is again quite straightforward - mend wounds, stop bleeding and all that. Resist Pain doesn’t heal wounds but it temporarily reduces the pain (and dice pool penalty) they cause. Physical Mask lets the target (herself or someone else) appear as somebody else. Shape Metal allows her to turn a few cubic meters of metal soft and malleable for a while, and it then retains any new form. Physical Barrier creates just that - an almost impenetrable mystical wall. Good for providing a barrier against bullets but more creative applications are also possible (temporary bridge anyone?) Animate Stone does exactly what it says on the tin - it animates a chunk of stone and lets it move, slowly and clumsily.
Gear
Weapons
Willow tries to stay out of combat, and uses spells or spirits when she can’t avoid it. But, just in case, she also carries a Collapsible Crossbow with 20 bolts. She also has two Glitter Grenades - they are technically useful for making invisible targets visible (she can see them with her astral vision, but if she wants her teammates to see them, this is easier than counterspelling). They also make targets mad and are hilarious.
Armor
A heavy Armor Jacket is her go-to choice when going on a Shadowrun. It has some built-in protection against Chemicals, Cold, Fire and Electricity (2 ranks each).
Identity and Credit (and Lifestyle)
Being low on cash, Willow has a low-end Fake SIN (rating 3), with an equally fake Mage license and a license for her crossbow attached. It won’t stand up to much scrutiny, though.
She also has a Silver Certified Credstick that can anonymously hold up to 20,000 Nuyen which is about as much money as she can imagine at this point.
Living in a dilapidated garage that was never intended to be inhabited counts as a Squatter lifestyle - uncomfortable and inconvenient, but cheap.
Vehicles
She rides around on a cheap and basic Dodge Scoot scooter. It moves and doesn’t stand out much anywhere.
Magical Gear
It’s not obvious, but the garage is arranged and decorated in a way that actually imbues it with some magical power (which required a number of magical materials to be incorporated into the floor, walls and ceiling) - it works as a Magical Lodge for learning spells, doing rituals and the like.
Other stuff
A cheap Sony Emperor Commlink with a Subvocal Microphone is all she can contribute to silent communication.
The random tools strewn around the garage counts as a Engineering Kit.
She also has a pair of Earbuds for listening to her teammates use their silent communication tools, and they even include an Audio Enhancement to help her hear things.
And for emergencies, she also has a Gas Mask, a Survival Kit and a basic (rating 2) Medkit.
Adding it all up
All in all, this adds up to 24,640 Nuyen. 8,000 of that comes from the priority table, the rest costs 9 Karma, leaving 1,360 Nuyen to start the game with.
Spending our Karma
After Qualities and Gear, there are 27 Karma left. 15 of them go into buying a point each of Influence, Piloting and Perception, and another 10 buy specialisations in Conjuring (Summoning) and Sorcery (Spellcasting). 2 points are left over to start the game with.
Finishing it up
Contacts
With her relatively high Charisma, Willow has a number of contacts; not a huge number but generally fairly high-value:
Jaroon is an Ork Talismonger, running a bustling “magic trinket” shop in the touristy parts of the Redmond Barrens. While the front of his shop is mostly useless drek aimed at tourists, he has some genuinely powerful items in the back for those he trusts, and Willow is among those. Connection 3, Loyalty 3.
Allison is a Dwarf Social Worker employed by the city of Seattle. Overworked and underpaid, she knows how much Willow does to help some of the local street kids, and would be prepared to use what little pull and access to information and resources she has for her. Connection 2, Loyalty 4.
Rico, or Tio Rico, as Willow affectionately calls him (despite otherwise not speaking much of his native Spanish), is the owner of “Rico’s Junk Palace”. He does not speak much of his youth, but his accent betrays his Aztlaner (or Mexican, given he is about 70) background. He sees Willow almost as a daughter, and would help her out if he can. Connection 2, Loyalty 5
Officer Jameson is a beat cop that is technically assigned to one of the less-feral parts of Seattle near the Barrens, but occasionally his job takes him into the lawless Z-Zone. He tries in vain to gain the respect of Willow and her gaggle of street kids, but despite acting tough, he actually has some sympathy for her and them and may turn a blind eye or help out every now and then. Connection 3, Loyalty 2
Lady Jill is a human fixer, with decent connection and the personality of an ice block. She dislikes Willow’s bubbliness, but works with her because capable mages are hard to find. Connection 4, Loyalty 1
#CharacterCreationChallenge
For the second day, I am creating another adept, albeit of a rather different flavour. Spartacus is a social adept, an Elf from an upper middle class family who got involved in the neo-Anarchist movement and fights the mega corporations (while running the Shadows to keep the lights on - Mom and Dad are not too impressed about Junior’s activities and there is no more allowance). He is originally from New York, which is heavily controlled by the corps, and follows the Dragonslayer Mentor Spirit, who expects his followers to fight worthy enemies (megacorporations count) and keep their promises.
Spartacus means well, but he is arrogant, and his privileged, sheltered upbringing colour his worldview considerably, and he has yet to learn what life looks like without Mummy and Daddy’s money, status and lawyer on retainer.
Character Creation Overview
For this one, I am changing from the standard priority method to the Sum-To-Ten Method from the 6th World Companion. It is fairly similar and generally accepted for pick-up games. In essence, each priority gets a value, from 0 for E to 4 for A, and the you can pick any spread of five priorities that has a total of 10. A classic A-B-C-D-E spread works, but so does, for example, an A-A-D-D-E spread… or A-C-C-D-D which is what I will be using. Simply put, I have no category that allows for an E.
Priorities
Many of the considerations for Fezzik yesterday apply here, too. Magic goes on D because anything higher is wasted on an Adept. Attributes go on A, because we need a little of everything and a lot of Charisma. Skills and the adjustment points from Metatype are also useful, but we need a few more resources, so with sum-to-ten we have Skills and Metatype on C and Magic and Resources on D, with a final spread of:
A - Attributes (24)
C - Skills (20)
C - Metatype (Elf, 9)
D - Magic (Adept, 1)
D - Resources (50,000)
Attributes
Once again, we can only max out one of the regular attributes, and for a Face this is Charisma, which goes to the elven maximum of 8, costing us 7 of the 24 attribute points.
Meanwhile, we also max out Magic, taking it from 1 to 6, costing us 5 of the 9 adjustment points. We also use 3 of them for Edge, because as a revolutionary you are either lucky or dead, so our Edge is now a respectable 4. The 1 that is left goes into agility, taking it to 2, which is not enough.
In fact, we would like Agility to be as high as possible - we can’t max it out, but elves have a maximum of 7 so we can still take it to 6, costing us 4 of our attribute points, leaving us 13.
Spartacus is a bit of an intellectual, so we don’t want to neglect the other mental attributes - We raise Logic and Willpower to 4 and Intuition to 3, costing us another 8 attribute points and leaving only 5 to be spread between Body, Reaction and Strength. We don’t want any at 1, but Reaction is the most suitable, so we put one point each into Body and Strength (raising them to 2) and the remaining 3 into Reaction, leaving us with a final spread of
Skills
This is where I had to make the first couple of hard choices. We have two must-have skills for a Face, Con and Influence (the former is basically lying, the latter is basically “honest” communication). We also want decent Stealth and Firearms, and at least some Electronics, Perception and Piloting. But we only have 20 points to spend…
Well, to start, we max out Influence at 6, and raise Con to the next-highest option of 5. That’s 11 points gone. We’ll put the three “at least some” skills at 1 each, leaving us 6 points for Stealth and Firearms, so they get 3 each, for a final spread of
Not too bad, but we’ll need a few specialisations later to bump some of them.
For Knowledge skills, we again take English as our native language. Logic 4 means four others for free, and I am taking “Megacorp Culture”, “Political Theory”, “Terrorist Organisations” and “Police Tactics”. Paints a picture, right?
Qualities
There’s a couple of extremely useful qualities for Faces that I am taking.
The first of these is Blandness, which costs 8 Karma and makes the character not stand out, at least not in a way that anyone remembers. Of course a character with Charisma 8 will be notable, but in the case of Spartacus, nobody will be able to remember anything particular about him, or notice him when he’s not directly interacting with them.
Next is First Impression, which costs 12 Karma and gives me two bonus Edge for social tests with anyone I have not interacted with before, and Heat and Reputation are both ignored for that first meeting. As a Face running the shadows, there will be a lot of people Spartacus only interacts with once, so this is definitely worthwhile (and the bonus edge combines nicely with the Mentor Spirit bonus below).
Finally, Human-Looking (costs 8 Karma) is good for a non-human face - any metahuman stands out and there are a lot of situations where being recognised as an elf may be a disadvantage. The reverse is also true, but far less common. The quality is not absolute - Spartacus still has pointy ears, they are just short enough to be easily concealed, for example. So if he wants to be seen as an Elf, that still works, just needs some explanation / effort.
The final positive quality he gets is Mentor Spirit, which costs 10 Karma and, for Dragonslayer, means Edge boosts for Influence tests are 1 point cheaper (so in combination with the free 2 points from First Impression, he basically gets a free 3-point boost on any first meeting), and I get the Danger Sense Adept Power for free. However, if he breaks any promise, he has a -1 dice pool modifier on anything until he makes good on the promise. I think it would need to be clarified/negotiated what this means for unfulfillable promises before play - what happens if he promises to protect someone and that person gets killed? Presumably, some kind of amends to the next of kin or something along those lines would need to be made, but a particularly tough GM might interpret this as “-1 on any dice pool from now on forever”, which… would make me reconsider this mentor spirit choice”.
For negative qualities, there is once again the Impaired Attribute choice which, at rank 2 for Strength, gives us 16 Karma basically for free because we were never going to raise Strength above 4, and SINner, which means Spartacus has a System Identification Number. This gives us 8 Karma, but is an actual serious drawback, but an interesting one.It means it is easier for him to be tracked, and he has to pay 10% of all his income as taxes.
As an Elf, Spartacus also has Low-Light Vision for free which does just what it says on the tin.
Adept Powers
Now, for the interesting parts of being an Adept.
We get Danger Sense for free from the mentor spirit - it gives us a point of Edge if we make a Surprise test (which does not have to be used on that test).
Then, we have six power points to spend. One of these goes into a rank of Cosmetic Control (from the Street Wyrd source book), which lets him change his appearance within the confines of what is normal for an Elf. Skin, eye and hair colour, gender markers, facial features, height, weight, scars and freckles, that kind of thing.
Another half point goes into Vocal Control which lets him change the way his voice sounds. This is good for pretending to be someone else, but also provides a bonus point of Edge once per encounter when using Con or Influence involving his voice.
Then, a total of 2.5 points go into three ranks of Improved Ability (Influence) and two ranks of Improved Ability (Con) which straight-up increases the dice pools for those abilities.
We now have 2 points left. I’m feeling pretty good about the social side of things now, so the remaining points go into shoring up combat capabilities - can’t start a revolution if you’re dead and all that.
One point goes into Improved Reflexes, which means an extra point of reaction and an extra Initiative Die.
The other goes into four ranks of Attribute Boost (Agility), which lets Spartacus temporarily boost his Agility, although it requires a Major Action to do so and causes Drain (damage, usually stun) afterwards. Still, it should provide about 3-4 points of extra Agility for a short time, which may well mean the difference between winning or losing, and it can also be used for any other Agility-related tests like Stealth.
Gear
Spartacus needs a fair bit more gear than Fezzik - both for combat and otherwise. He is nowhere near where a Street Samurai, Decker or Rigger have their requirements, but he can’t get by with the barebones equipment of an unarmed Troll adept.
Weapons
We’re getting two pistols:
A small holdout Fichetti Tiffani Needler that can be easily hidden as a last resort. You can also change the colour as a fashion statement.
For “normal” combat there is an Ares Viper Slivergun Heavy Pistol. It comes with a built-in sound suppressor and can shoot Burst-Fire.
For each weapon we also add 2 spare ammo clips, as well as 40 rounds of ammo for the Needler and 100 for the Slivergun. Both weapons only use Flechette ammunition, which is more expensive, does less damage, but increases the Attack Rating.
The Slivergun also gets a concealable holster and an internal Smartgun System. This is a handy little tool that, when paired with the right kind of vision enhancement and a DNI (Direct Neural Input) link, allows the user to use a variety of functions with just a thought (including checking remaining ammo capacity, firing the gun without pulling the trigger, switching between firing modes etc. It also includes a camera that allows shooting around corners. AIt increases the AR by two across all ranges, and if wireless is enabled gives a +1 dice pool modifier and allows for faster reloading or changing fire mode. It’s pretty much a must-have for almost anyone using a gun.
Armor
Spartacus has not just one, but two sets of armor, and might acquire some more later - if you want to be a Face, you need to be able to blend into different situations.
The Actioneer Business Clothes are basically an armored suit that will not stand out in an office or other formal environment. It also has a built-in concealable holster.
The Lined Coat is a classic for a reason and generally works in most “street” environments.
To make both sets even more versatile, they both have an electrochromatic modification which allows a change in colour with a mental command - good for dodging tails that think they are looking for a guy in a black suit. They also have some useful protection against different types of damage built in.
Identity and Credit (and Lifestyle)
When you have a real SIN out there, you have to be careful. Spartacus has the best Fake SIN money can buy (rating 6), and two basic throwaway ones (rating 1) just in case. The rating 6 SIN also has Fake Licenses at the same rating attached, for anything that needs one - guns, concealed carry, being an Adept, the smartgun system and an area jammer (see below).
He also carries a Gold Certified Credstick for anonymous money transfers (Gold means it can take up to 100,000 Nuyen which should be enough for almost anything), and one month of a Low Lifestyle prepaid. It’s not much, but it’s home. He’ll have to do some adjusting from the life he is used to.
Vehicles
A Suzuki Mirage, a sleek, fast racing bike. Wheee!
Other stuff
A Hermes Ikon Commlink - one of the better but not top-of-the-line models is the main communication and matrix access tool. It is also the centerpiece of all his other wireless devices (lots of them), and has a Sim Module and Trode Headband which allow for accessing and controlling devices directly with the brain. It’s also pre-loaded with a Seattle Mapsoft so he doesn’t get lost.
He also has two very cheap Meta Link commlinks - basically burner phones.
A Bug Scanner (to find listening devices and RFID tags in items), Tag Eraser (to make those stop working), rating 5 Area Jammer (to make electronic communication, remote-controlled drones etc stop working) and a rating 6 White Noise Generator to allow for clandestine communication round out the “communication” side of things.
A pair of Glasses with Flare Compensation, Smartlink (the other side of the system described earlier) and Vision Enhancement and a pair of Earbuds with Audio Enhancement and a rating 2 Select Sound Filter enhance and protect overall perception.
Finally, there is a Low-Light Flashlight (because elves have natural low-light vision), a Gas Mask, a rating 6 Respirator, a Survival Kit and the best Medkit money can buy (rating 6) which can actually treat people autonomously to some degree.
Adding it all up
All in all, our gear costs 61,520 Nuyen. 50,000 of that came from the priority system, so we spend 6 Karma and have 480 Nuyen to start the game with.
Spending our Karma
Qualities and Nuyen cost 20 Karma altogether, leaving us with 30. This is easy - first we buy fice specialisations, for Con (Impersonation), Influence (Negotiation), Stealth (Sneaking), Firearms (Heavy Pistols) and Piloting (Ground Craft). That leaves 5 Karma. I would like an extra point in Electronics - but increasing a skill from 1 to 2 costs 10 Karma. However, I can retroactively shuffle some of the skill point allocations around and make it Electronics 2, Perception 0, and then buy a single point of Perception for 5 Karma. Done.
Finishing it up
Contacts
Now here is one point a Face shines - knowing people. Our 8 points of Charisma give us 48 points to spend on contacts (remember each contact has points in Loyalty and Connection). Technically each contact could have either stat up to 8, although that would be a bit excessive (being BFFs with the president of the UCAS - United Canadian and American States - would be over the top and also not fit the character concept…). So we go for:
Little Toni, a Troll Fixer with links to the Mob. Knows pretty much everyone, but isn’t too fond of Spartacus - it’s purely business. Connection 5, Loyalty 2.
Mum & Dad are technically two contacts but given they would almost certainly be on the same page about whatever happens, we treat them as one. They are not at all impressed about their son's recent life choices, but they're still family, so they might help out in a bind. They are senior (but not C-Suite) executives in Spinrad Global, a megacorporation that has recently joined the illustrious ranks of AAA-rated corps, which means they have a lot of pull if they choose to use it, but they are in Manhattan and getting anything more than a minor favour would almost certainly come with a major cost (like promising to come home and give up this Neo-Anarchism nonsense, which given the Mentor Spirit would be very binding). This would be a “work with the GM” kind of situation. We’ll interpret this as Connection 5, Loyalty 4.
Flagsmasher, a local Neo-Anarchist organiser. He knows a few people and can get hold of some gear like weapons and sabotage tools, but nothing fancy. He considers Spartacus an ally but doesn’t particularly like him. Connection 3, Loyalty 2.
Arthur Weaver, Professor of Applied Thaumaturgy at the University of Seattle. Knows a lot about magic and can find out even more with a bit of research, may be able to get hold of magical materials, and even likes his former student a little. Connection 4, Loyalty 3.
Firetusk, a Lieutenant in the Skraacha gang that dominates the Seattle Ork Underground (anm official city district that is subterranean and mostly populated by Orks). She knows a couple of people in the underground, both affiliated with the gang and otherwise, and also has some contacts to metahuman rights organisations. She doesn’t particularly like or trust Spartacus, but a favour or some Nuyen may make up for that. Connection 4, Loyalty 1.
Elodie Sunhawk, a staffer at the embassy of Tir Tairngaire (a secretive Elven nation that is roughly in the location of modern-day Oregon). She does not have much pull but can get all sorts of information, and she has a slight crush on Spartacus and may be willing to do more for him than is good for her. Connection 3, Loyalty 3.
Lynne Kennedy, an investigative journalist with connections in a variety of places. She has Neo-Anarchist sympathies and has known with Spartacus for years. She may be able to introduce him to people, find out things or pay for juicy bits of information. Connection 6, Loyalty 3.
Defense Rating
With the Actioneer suit, Defense rating is 4, with the Lined Coat it is 5 - not great. Better not get shot at too much.
Initiative
8 + 2D6
Notable Dice Pools
Negotiations: 19
Other Influence: 17
Impersonation: 17
Other Con: 15
Shooting things with a Heavy Pistol: 11
Shooting things with a Holdout Pistol or other Firearm: 9
Sneaking: 11
Most Electronics: 6
Riding a bike (or other ground vehicle): 8
Composure: 12
Judge Intentions: 7
Memory: 7
Resist Drain: 6 this could be improved to 10 by taking the Adept Way (Speakers Way) quality from Street Wyrd at some point, but that costs 20 Karma
#CharacterCreationChallenge
I’ll start this off with a classic - a tanky Troll Adept, capable of acting as a meat shield to his team and knocking enemies out with his bare hands. It’s a classic for a reason, but there is a risk of it being just a cliche. To shake things up a bit, this character is not going to be the gruff loner or quiet mystic. Instead, he is a happy-go-lucky, cheerful and mostly friendly young man whose love for 20th century flatvids (i.e. movies) inspired his street name. He is also following the Bear Mentor Spirit, which is as much about healing and protecting others as about fighting.
Wait, what’s that Shadowrun thing you are talking about?
In case you are reading this without knowing about Shadowrun, it is a Pen&Paper roleplaying game set in the later half of the 21st century, in a cyberpunk setting where megacorporations rule over sprawling, neon-lit megacities,, nation states have fractured, and cybernetic implants and augmentations are commonplace. Oh, and also, magic returned a while ago, so there are Elves, Dwarves, Orks, Trolls, wizards and dragons hanging around. At least one of those dragons owns a megacorporation which is much better than a classic hoard of gold. Player characters are Shadowrunners, basically criminals for hire working for those in need of deniability or sometimes those with no access to legal channels.
Character Creation Overview
As with almost all the characters I will create as part of this challenge, I will be using the standard priority method from the core book.
The 6th edition rules have a few quirks that are important to keep in mind, and some important differences to previous editions.
Priorities
First of these is that no Metatypes have minimum attribute ratings above 1 anymore, so even a Troll or Ork starts with Body and Strength at one until you spend attribute points. They have higher maximums, but you don’t get them for free. That’s why you can be any metatype at Priority E (the lowest).
On the other hand, The metatype priority gives “Adjustment points” that can be used for special attributes (Edge, Magic and Resonance), but also for any attributes the character has an increased maximum for - in other words, my adept can use his adjustment points for Magic, Edge, Body and Strength. However, going up one priority step usually only gives 2-3 adjustment points (for some reason, going from D to C gives 5). Going up a step of Attributes gives 4-8 points, with the step from B to A giving the most.
The Magic priorities give a straight 1 point of Magic or Resonance per step (E, of course, means the character is entirely mundane). For technomancers, or characters that cast spells, there is an extra benefit of higher priorities, because the number of spells or complex forms they get depends on their unadjusted Magic/Resonance, but importantly, this does not apply to Adepts who get adept powers based on their final Magic value. In other words, for an adept, it is strictly best to have Magic at priority D, and increase the Magic rating with Metatype adjustment points.
On the other hand, to make the most of a Troll and their high Strength and Body maximum (both of which we want to use), we need LOTS of Attributes, so we are putting Attributes on A, and Metatype on B (because the adjustment points are as good as attribute points).This leaves C and E. We want some skills to cover the basics, while gear is not very important for an unarmed adept, so our final priority spread is:
We will need a bit more than the 8,000 Nuyen, but we have customization Karma for that.
Attributes
Shadfowrun has three types of Attributes - Physical, Mental and Special Attribute points. There are four of each of the first two kinds and three special attributes, although most characters only have one (Edge), and at most one of the other two (Magic or Resonance, but never both). We start with one point in each of the Physical (Body, Agility, Reaction and Strength), and Mental (Willpower, Logic, Intuition and Charisma) attributes, as well as in Edge and Magic.
First, we want to max out Magic, which goes up to six. Only adjustment points can be used for this, so 5 of our 11 points are gone right away.
Next, we look at the “standard” attributes (Mental and Physical). We only get to max out one of them. As much as we want Body and Strength up high, Agility is just as important for combat, and our maximum there is only 5 for a Troll, which costs us 4 of our 24 normal attribute points. We also want a decent Reaction, Intuition and Willpower (the former two determine Initiative, the latter is used to resist drain for some adept powers alongside Body), so we increase them to 4 each, costing us another 9 attribute points, with 11 left. We put one each into Logic and Charisma (we don’t want them to be rock bottom). Now we only have Body and Strength (and Edge) left, and those are the stars of the show. Because we maxed out Agility, we have to stay one point below the normal maximum for a Troll (which is 9). 7 of our remaining 9 attribute points go into raising Body to 8, the last 2 and 5 of the 6 remaining adjustment points do the same to Strength, and that leaves us with one adjustment point that can go into Edge, raising it to 2 - less than I would prefer, but something’s gotta give. So our final - for now - is:
We have 20 points of skills, which looks like a lot at first but we will use them up quickly.
Similar to attributes, only one Skill can be maxed out at this stage, and the maximum for each is 6.
The most important skill for an unarmed fighter is Close Combat, so that gets 6 points.
Other important Skills are Athletics, Perception and Stealth, and nice-to-haves are Biotech, Firearms, Influence and Piloting.
That’s seven skills with only 14 points to go between them - not a lot. In 6E, Athletics covers throwing things and projectile weapons like bows and crossbows, and we might use something along those lines instead of firearms. Influence isn’t really something we want to focus on with our lower Charisma, but if we put a single point in, we can get a specialisation in Intimidation, and if we take the Muscles Quality from the 6th World Companion, we get to use our Strength instead of Charisma in some situations, so that would be nice. Biotech is basically First Aid and other Medicine, and for a follower of Bear, at least a little knowledge of the healing arts would be suitable. Still, a single point should do, with maybe a specialisation in First Aid later. Piloting is for getting around. Most vehicles in the Shadowrun settings are capable of basic self-driving, so getting from A to B is usually no problem, but again a single point would be nice.
So with one point in each of Biotech, Influence and Piloting, and 6 in Close Combat, we have 11 left for Athletics, Perception and Stealth. Athletics gets the biggest chunk - it’s good for running fast (and as a melee fighter we want to be able to close on targets quickly), dodging incoming attacks, throwing and projectile weapons and a couple of other things. We can’t max it out, but it gets the next best thing, 5 points, leaving us with 6 for the other two.
Perception is useful for anyone - nobody likes to be ambushed. Stealth is also useful for any Shadowrunner. They are called Shadowrunners for a reason, after all. We’ll split the points evenly and get
We also get a few free Knowledge Skills which includes languages. In 6E, normal knowledge skills don’t have ranks and don’t get rolled by themselves - instead, they provide additional information on other tests, and you either have a knowledge skill or not. Languages have different levels, but we’ll ignore that for now. We get one free native language, and one knowledge skill for each point of Logic we have, which is only two. We’re assuming the character is from the default setting of Seattle, so the native language is probably English. One of the knowledge skills, given our backstory, is going to be 20th Century Pop Culture. The other will be Seattle Gangs, because a Troll with few resources has probably had some contact with several of them.
Qualities
Before we move on to Adept Powers and Gear, it’s time to select some Qualities - they can be positive, in which case they cost Karma, or negative, in which case they provide some. Karma, for those new to Shadowrun, is basically the equivalent of XP, and we get a grand total of 50 Karma to flesh out our characters. We can only have a maximum of six qualities, and if we gain bonus Karma, it can net us a maximum of 20 Karma (but that won’t be an issue).
As a Troll, we get a couple of qualities for free and they don’t count against our maximum. Those are:
Dermal Deposits
Dermal deposits means we have chunks of bones in our skin. This gives us one point of armor and makes our unarmed attacks inflict lethal damage. Handy for an unarmed tanky fighter.
Thermographic Vision
We can see infrared light, which is good when trying to find people in the dark.
Built Tough 2
We have an extra two points on our Physical Condition Monitor, in other words, we don’t die as fast. Also handy.
Other qualities we want are:
Mentor Spirit
This costs 10 Karma, and means we get to follow Bear. As a mentor spirit, He provides some benefits (Edge boosts for damage resistance tests are reduced and we get one free level of the Rapid Healing adept power), but there’s a catch - if we or someone under our care takes physical damage, we run the risk of going berserk, which reduces tactical options considerably.
Muscles
For the cost of 7 Karma, we can use Strength instead of Charisma when we can use our impressive physique (mostly for intimidation, I guess, but there might be other situations where it could work). Given we have 8 Strength and only 2 Charisma, this makes us almost viable as a backup Face.
Quick Healer
Halves the time it takes to heal damage - this means we should be able to heal an impressive amount of physical damage in only half a day of downtime, and a decent amount of stun damage in just half an hour. It costs 8 Karma.
High Pain Tolerance
For 7 Karma, we get to reduce our wound penalty by one, to a minimum of 0. This is rather important if we expect to be soaking damage all the time.
With those 4 positive Qualities, we don’t have a lot of room for negative ones that would give us some Karma back. I’ll go for
AR Vertigo
We can’t spend or gain Edge while using Augmented Reality of any kind. This is a serious drawback (who doesn’t want to be able to have a video call with someone while going around their business or having a map overlay in their field of vision while trying to find their way somewhere), but not too much of one in our role. It also explains why we have no points at all in Electronics - the danged things just don’t like us. This gives us 10 Karma.
Impaired (Logic) 2
This reduces the maximum of our Logic attribute by 2, to 4. That’s not a big deal, because increasing attributes to higher levels is expensive and we were likely never going to do that. 4 is still well-above average, we just can’t develop a genius-level intellect. It feels like a bit of a cheat to get 16 Karma for that, but that’s the rules.
All in all, our Qualities cost us a total of 6 Karma points, leaving us with 44 for other customisation options.
Adept Powers
Now we get to what makes an Adept what they are. We have a total of 6 points to spend (some powers cost only partial points), and we get one level of Rapid Healing for free.
We want to get a mix of powers that make us better at dishing out pain, and better at taking it (or not, as it may be).
One of the most useful overall (but also expensive) is Improved Physical Attribute. It costs one point per rank, and gives us an extra point in an attribute. We would like to shore up our Agility further (that reduced maximum Trolls have is pesky), so we’ll put two points in, giving us an effective Agility of 7 unless something somehow blocks our magic.
As much as I’d like to also increase our Strength and Body, we don’t have the points for that, so we’ll leave it for now. Improved Reflexes, on the other hand, gives us not only a point of Reaction per point spent, but also an extra Initiative Die and Minor ACtion per combat round. All this at the same cost as Improved Physical Attribute which could also increase Reaction by the same but nothing else. We’ll take three points of hat, and now we’re down to only one remaining point.
Fortunately, there’s some cheap and useful powers. Pain Resistance and Mystic Armor both cost 0.25 power points per rank. The former further reduces our wound modifiers, the latter provides armor aht is cumulative with worn armor and our dermal deposits, so we take two levels of each of those, and that’s all our points spent. Later in the game we can get more through Initiation but that may take a while.
Oh yes, and that free level of Rapid Healing we got from our Mentor spirits means we get an extra die on healing tests, which s how we recover from damage taken (in half the normal time, thanks to the Quick Healer quality. What this means is that as long as we can rest for half a day, we get to roll at least Body + Body + 1, which is 17 dice - any 5 or 6 rolled heals a point of damage, or about 5-6 on an average roll. Our condition monitor has 14 boxes total, so we could expect to go from almost dead to perfectly fine in less than two days from natural healing alone, and if someone treats us, that goes even faster. Neat, huh?
Gear
And now, to the ugly part. We don’t need much, but the 8,000 Nuyen we start with are even less, and as a Troll, we have a 10% markup on everything because very few things are designed for people 2.5m tall. And somehow we have to fit a lifestyle in there, too, unless we want to live on the street. On the upside, every point of Karma we spend here gives us an extra 2,000 Nuyen, which at our level makes a big difference. The way I do this is I pick all the necessary gear, then work our how much it costs and how much Karma I need to spend. If it is too much, or I have any left (this never happens with low priorities), I’ll adjust it, but usually it works about right.
So what do we need?
Weapons
Normally, you’d want a primary weapon, one or two specialist weapons and at least one hidden backup weapon just in case, but as an unarmed fighter adept, we can do without most of this - we don’t even have to worry about a backup because it’s not like we can be disarmed (unless we are literally disarmed but then we have bigger problems. We do, however, want some kind of ranged weapon just in case, and a bow and arrow is a good choice for a Troll (because both damage and Attack Rating scale with strength, and we have plenty of that). Add 20 arrows (I mean, it’s really just a backup) and we should be good.
Armor
This is a bit more important for a tanky Adept. On the one hand, we want good armor. On the other hand, we don’t want it to stand out too much or cost too much, so at this stage, I am going for a classic Lined Coat (also handy for hiding stuff under). It has a bit of capacity (7 points to be exact) for addons, and since Stun damage is going to be a bit of an achilles heel for us, I am putting 4 of those into Electricity Resistance to avoid being tased. Another 3 go into Chemical Protection in case of acid rain or similar. Finally, I add an electrochromatic modification that lets us switch the color and pattern of the coat at the switch of a button. It’s dirt cheap and doesn’t even cost capacity, and it’s both nice for expressing oneself and for shaking a tail (although as a Troll one literally stands out regardless of clothing, of course).
Identity and Credit (and Lifestyle)
This is an expensive part.We need a fake SIN (System Identification Number) because without one, we can basically not go anywhere or buy anything legally, but they are expensive - a rating 3 one (the lowest to be even vaguely usable) sets us back 7,500 Nuyen. We also want fake licenses of the same rating for any restricted gear and for being an adept, but fortunately the only restricted gear we have is the bow, and the licenses are only 600 Nuyen each.
We also want a decent certified credstick so we can pay and be paid anonymously, but again that is cheap - a gold rated credstick has a capacity of 100,000 Nuyen which should be more than enough and only costs 100.
And finally, we need a lifestyle. Given we are a bit low on Nuyen, but expect to get shot and hit a lot and need somewhere to recuperate, a Low lifestyle seems like an okay compromise - it’s a place of our own that has a lock on the door, four walls and a mostly watertight roof, basic utilities and a bed. That’s another 2,000 Nuyen.
Vehicles
The classic for a Troll would be a heavy motorbike, but that’s just not Fezzik’s style. No, he drives around in a cheap-ish but sleek sports car, a Hyundai Shin-Hyung. It’s 20,000 Nuyen and makes up the single biggest chunk of cash we are spending, but probably worth it.
Other stuff
Random bits and bobs we should also have are, in no particular order:
A Sony Emperor commlink (the cheapest model that does not have “Hack Me!” printed on the side), loaded with a Seattle mapsoft for getting around.
A Bug Scanner and a Tag Eraser so our underwear doesn’t broadcast our location.
Glasses with an Image Link (to display Augmented Reality when we have to) and Flare Compensation so we don’t get blinded by Flashbang grenades.
Earbuds with a basic Select Sound Filter (which can be programmed to listen to specific sounds like sirens or gunshots) and a Spatial Recogniser to help where a specific sound comes from (i.e. where is the guy that is shooting at me?).
Climbing Gear because sometimes the best way to get into a secure facility ios over the wall or from the roof.
A Gas Mask and a rating 6 respirator in case someone tries to tear gas us.
A survival kit because you never know when you have to go off-grid.
A biomonitor and a rating 4 medkit, because we might end up being the team medic.
Adding it all up
The total of all this, before the Troll adjustment, comes to 39,400 Nuyen. Adding in a 10% markup for being a big, big Troll and we have 43,340 Nuyen. 8,000 of that are covered from our starting Resources, the remaining 35,340 set us back a whopping 18 Karma. We could have saved a few points by having a cheaper or no vehicle, but I like the sports car. In the end, we have 660 Nuyen left that we start the game with.
Spending our Karma
With the qualities and gear taken out, we now have 26 Karma left. The first thing we want to do is buy a couple of specialisations for our Skills - these cost 5 Karma each, and get us an effective +2 on the skill when used for the specialisation area. I picked Close Combat (Unarmed), Biotech (First Aid), Influence (Intimidation) and Piloting (Ground Vehicles) - the first gives us a bit of an edge for our primary duty, the other suddenly adds a lot more bang to the rating 1 skills we picked earlier.
The 6 Karma that are now remaining go into a single point of the Electronics skill - I remembered that using a bug scanner needs that, and, you know, underpants broadcasting location is bad. Also useful for looking stuff up on the Matrix and those kinds of things. We have one point left, and that goes into our starting pool - nothing useful to do with it, but it actually carries over into play.
Finishing it up
To finish everything up, we get to choose contacts, and then do some calculations.
Contacts
The people we know who could be useful for us. Each contact has two ratings - Loyalty and Connection. Loyalty determines how much they like us and what they are willing to do for us, Connection determines how much they can do for us. Here is one of the most annoying parts of the 6E system to me: At the start of the game, neither rating can be higher than the character’s Charisma, which basically means we can’t have a competent fixer or know anyone that can get rare/useful gear or information for us. But it is what it is…
We get Charisma * 6 points to spend in total, which is 12, and the easiest way to go about it is 3 contacts with 2 of each rating each. Those are:
Mr Spider, a former Shadowrunner just trying to get his foot in the door as a fixer, but he doesn’t have the best kinds of contacts yet.
Hotshot, an ork and member of the Skraacha gang that is mostly active in the Ork underground - she knows a few people there, and can occasionally get her hands on some gear (or sell it).
Marilyn, a dwarf street shaman and healer. She is a fellow follower of Bear and so the two have a few things in common. She may even be able to point Fezzik towards sources for magical equipment like Foci if he ever has the Nuyen for something like that.
Calculations
Finally, there’s a few things we want to work out:
Attack Rating: This is a new rating in 6E, it is compared to the target's defense rating and determines whether either participant in a combat gets bonus Edge. For unarmed attacks, this is Reaction + Strength, and for us that is a whopping 15 (better than just about any weapon) - only at close range, of course. For the bow, it is 4/8/2 at Close, Near and Medium range, and nothing at Far and extreme.
Defense Rating
Between the Lined Coat, his high Body, the Mystic Armor power and the dermal deposits, we have a defense rating of 21, which is pretty good and can still be improved.
Initiative
Initiative is Reaction + Intuition + 1d6 as a base rating, although our Improved Reflexes power gives us an extra 3d6, so our total is 11 + 4d6. The extra Initiative Dice also means we get additional minor actions, so each round, we have one Major Action and four Minor Actions; the minor actions can be converted into another Major action.
Notable Dice Pools
Unarmed attacks: 15
Archery attacks: 12
Intimidation (if Strength can be used): 11
Piloting ground vehicles: 10
First Aid: 5
Treatment with medkit: 6
Lift/Carry: 12
Drain Resistance: 12 (note we do not currently have any powers that cause drain)
Defend against attacks: 11
Soak Damage: 8
And there we are
The final version of my worksheet can be found here. I may at some point add a proper character sheet if I can find a good editable one, but for now, I hope you enjoyed my Day 1 entry for the #CharacterCreationChallenge
As indicated in yesterday's post, I intend to participate in the 2024 Character Creation Challenge this year. It will, indeed, be a little bit of a challenge because I will be away from my computer and the internet at least twice for a few days. Fortunately I have finally managed to get the post scheduling functionality working (this turned out to be more of a problem than expected because of timezone issues I didn't have when testing at home), so I should be able to keep up the "one post a day" thing...
My plan is to create 31 Shadowrun characters, all for 6th edition which does not get anywhere near enough love. I'll start the month of with some fairly standard character concepts, first five "mystic" characters (i.e. magicians, adepts or technomancers) of each of the classic metatypes (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orks, Trolls) covering each of the main five roles (combat, social, magic, matrix, wheels), then five mundane/technologically oriented characters covering the same.
Next up will be five metavariants (sub-types of the five main metatypes, for those not familiar with Shadowrun, such as Cyclopses instead of Trolls and Dryads instead of Elves). Each of those will cover a hybrid between two of the classic roles.
Then, things will start to get properly weird with five metasapient characters (intelligent nonhuman species like Centaurs and Nagah). They will still sort-of cover the five main roles. And then there will be six "freaks" - an animal shapeshifter (basically a werecreature... of sorts), an infected (vampires etc), a drake (half-dragon-shapeshifter), a changeling (humanoid, but... undergone drastic changes triggered by some mystic event), an AI, and (if I can find 6E rules for them) maybe a Free Spirit - if I can't find the rules, I'll probably add another shapeshifter, since they have a lot of variability.
I will use a worksheet on Google Docs to do most of the character creation work - I may fill in a nicer-looking character sheet in the end but no guarantees, editable character sheets for Shadowrun 6th Edition are hard to find, at least ones that don't have serious problems.
The first of these, a Troll Combat Adept, should go up tomorrow.
This is it - the first post on my brand new blog. To be fair, I have tried blogs before and they
did not go well. Twice, to be exact, and both times they failed because they had a narrow focus and I ran out of content to post in that area. This time… the focus is much wider; it can be summed up as "whatever interests me".
Apart from that, there is one big difference between previous attempts and this one: In the past, while I was writing the content, I was using existing platforms and content management systems. This time, I made it all myself - the frontend, the backend, the database, it's all mine. And it is a work in progress - I wanted it to go live before the end of 2023 so I could use it for my participation in the 2024 Character Creation Challenge starts on the 1st of January - more on that soon. If you read this early on, you may notice that the page is still a bit rough around the edges - mobile support is limited, there is no option to create accounts or log in yet (I mean, there is, but it's a bit hidden and won't allow you to do much of anything, but if someone wants to find it and have bragging rights for having signed up before they were meant to, that's cool). And there are no comments and no way to sort posts yet. All of those are meant to be implemented soon - comments and account management within a few days, categorization of posts and better mobile support a little later. But for now… It's Alive!
