Day 2: Spartacus the Anarchist
#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
Body 2
Agility 6
Reaction 4
Strength 2
Willpower 4
Logic 4
Intuition 3
Charisma 8
Edge 4
Magic 6
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
Con 5
Influence 6
Stealth 3
Firearms 3
Electronics 1
Perception 1
Piloting 1
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.
Calculations
Attack Rating:
Fichetti Tiffani Needler: 10/6/2/-/-
Ares Viper Slivergun: 14/10/8/-/- (with Smartgun modifier included)
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
Condition Monitors
Physical: 9 (+ 4 overflow boxes)
Stun: 10
And there we are
The final version of the worksheet can be found here. That’s it for Day 2 of the #CharacterCreationChallenge
Published at NZDT