Character Consepts: Mages/Mystics/Adepts

ya know what, shaft manabolt, if we get into some bad mojo we can use the team, or escape, we are going to have our gun after all, and besides control thoughts can be just as wicked, force a baddy to shoot one of his friends and fight for us, as good a spell as you can get pretty much.

so as it stands

B A R S C I L W E M
3 4 3 2 5 4 4 5 1 5 190bp +50

magician 15bp
first impression 5bp
mentor spirit 5bp

sensitive system 15bp
vindictive 10bp
spirit bane (bird) 10bp

spells
improved invisibility
increase reflexes
control thoughts
gecko crawl

skills
stealth 2
influence 3
spellcasting 5
counterspell 3
summoning 2
banishing 2
pistols 2 (semi-automatic +2)

puts us at 370 points, 30 leftover for gear and contacts.

well, we could use levitate instead of gecko crawl and carry more weight if needed

Also, if we still have spell points left to use, then I say get Mob Mind (mass CT) too.

No binding means temporary spirits only, but I guess it makes sense if we are spell focused. I think another point or two in Banishing might be good though if we don't have astral combat or our own spirits to use in a fight. Also, what about assensing? Sure, we can peer astral... but what the heck does it all mean? I say at least 2 points assensing.

If we add perception and dodge 1 (so we don't have to default... which sucks) It's 378.

Maybe it's better to just pick one or two Influence skills? Or drop the summoning all together, and just have the banishing. Maybe he doesn't trust spirits except his mentor?

I think pistols(semi-auto) 1(3) is fine with an agility 4 that's still 7 dice. I see the problem with a sustained Improved Reflex spell, but that's what a sustaining focus is for... unless you play with Tani, which is strange, because I've seen him let other players have foci. Maybe he just didn't notice those?

If we take the 1 point from pistols it looks like this
stealth 2
influence 3
spellcasting 5
counterspell 3
summoning 2
banishing 2
pistols(semi-automatic) 1 (3)
perception 1
dodge 1

Total 374

With a Hacker contact L2 C4 it's 380 20 points for gear.

Gear:

Ares Pred IV (built in Smartlink is nice)
Extra Clip
Hidden Arm Slide
3X Stick-n-shock 10rnds: seems like the character is designed NOT to kill, so thats my recommendation, but reg ammo is a lot cheaper.

Sustaining Focus R3
Glasses + Flare comp, Smartlink, and Imagelink
Earbud (even if you don't get anything else for it, an earbud is supper useful)
Fake SIN 4

Armor depends more on what we want him to look like, I think Actioneer Business Clothes goes best, and then we can drop the Hidden Arm Slide, or get a backup weapon. Never hurts to have two.

If we can afford it: Novatech with Iris Orb for Commlink.

So far, that's a total of 388 and NY4,295 before it goes up again.

i can go with levitate, drain wont be that bad if we can just carry multiple people at once, because we don't have the strength to carry them ourselves. but mob mind carries a heck of a hit for drain (f/2)+4 on a force 4 (max four hits for the spell) thats 6 hits out of ten dice we need to resist, and stun damage does rack up quickly over time. And control thoughts forces an action from the person, so we could force them to tell us the truth, then while we have it sustained make them do whatever else we want, including forget whatever just happened to them, thats why i like it. Besides if we are sneaky enough we won't have to control a mob, just go invisibile or control someone to pull a fire alarm, etc.

so how about a quick change of things:

Stats
B A R S C I L W E M
3 4 3 2 5 4 4 5 1 5 190bp +50

Qualities
magician 15bp
first impression 5bp
mentor spirit 5bp

sensitive system 15bp
vindictive 10bp
spirit bane (bird) 10bp

Spells
improved invisibility
increase reflexes
control thoughts
levitate

Skills
stealth 2
influence 3
spellcasting 5
counterspell 3
pistols(semi-automatic) 1 (3)
perception 2
dodge 2

Contacts
Hacker (2/4)

puts us at 374, Plenty of room for about six more points worth of spells or skills ,I like your idea of not trusting spirits, use the Viking-on-a-norn-spirit-mission story, Most Vikings hate being told what to do any ways. Have me worry about the guns/weaponry department, ive got the arsenal book here, although i like your idea of a ares 4, i was going with that but i was also going to add an extended clip, upgrade to BF and some sort of recoil compensation, it will be a mean little devil once im done with it !!Worthy of A True Viking!! I'm fine honestly.

oh, and i can add a sword to it as well, if you want.

If you drop summoning altogether, then we could aspect him as a sorcerer, and not have the spirit bane. Cost is the same, and it's a -4 to summoning tests, which he wouldn't make anyway. I think I'd rather keep it the way it is though, and just drop summoning, but keep banishing, and just have Perception and Dodge at 1 each, then make sure we have all our gear/contacts and maybe then we can add a skill point or specialization. Like Dodge(Ranged), 'cause lets face it, this guy shouldn't be involved in melee ever.

Hrm, swords... I don't know. They aren't "sneaky" in my opinion. They draw a lot of attention, and they aren't useful in tight spots. I like the idea of the modern Viking, I don't think a Viking would pass up a gun for a sword. It's all about power! He'd want a big shiny one, like the Ares Pred IV

Careful with the gun mods, they have high availability, and can jack your gun availability above 12

actually acording to arsenal, its only the accesories that ramp up the availability, you go by the rarity of the mods, considering they are limited by slots, not the mods already installed into the guns. Since you are suposed to do that yourself, or have a buddy do it for you, which i think we are going to need especially for ammo concerns, although i like the idea of a modern Viking.

but i think we should just drop banishing (wouldnt aspect make us take a -4 to banishing anyways?), considering magic can hurt spirts just fine, go with the aspected and drop spirit bane, but i would like to at least keep dodge at 2, because at the moment we would only have 5 dice to dodge with, and our guy cant exactly take a bullet well at the moment.

Thus far:

Stats
B A R S C I L W E M
3 4 3 2 5 4 4 5 1 5 190bp +50

Qualities
magician 15bp
first impression 5bp
mentor spirit 5bp

sensitive system 15bp
vindictive 10bp
aspected sorcerer 10bp

Spells
improved invisibility
increase reflexes
control thoughts
levitate

Skills
stealth 2
influence 3
spellcasting 5
counterspell 3
pistols(semi-automatic) 1 (3)
perception 1
dodge 2

Contacts
Hacker (2/4)
armorer/shop owner (2/4)

374 total

I meant keep banishing and spirit bane as an alternative to Aspected, and on double checking, Aspected Sorcerer is only a 5BP bonus...

Now we definitely need an offensive spell to handle spirits though. So I'd say put Mana bolt back in.

What would the Armorer/Shop Owner be for? (I assume gun shop?)

Maybe a Black Market Fence would be better, then he could get you in touch with the right people to buy from, not just one type of gear. Also, he'd know about people who do mods, sell mods, and all that stuff.

aspect can be taken as either 5 or 10bp giving either a -2 or -4 to whatever you happen to suck at, your right on the black market fence, that way we can go directly to the source to sell something we happen to pick up on the trip, like how Sariel picked up those two sliver guns. i added the manabolt to the spell list, am working on armament, armor, and gear. Your right on the earbuds, i\'ll add subvocal as well. Should we name our Gun, as far as i can remember most viking families named their families weapon and passed it down through generations?

thus far:

Stats
B A R S C I L W E M
3 4 3 2 5 4 4 5 1 5 190bp +50

Qualities
magician 15bp
first impression 5bp
mentor spirit 5bp

sensitive system 15bp
vindictive 10bp
aspected sorcerer 10bp

Spells 15bp
improved invisibility
increase reflexes
control thoughts
levitate
manabolt

Skills 100bp
stealth 2
influence 3
spellcasting 5
counterspell 3
pistols(semi-automatic) 1 (3)
perception 1
dodge 2

Contacts 12bp
Hacker (2/4)
black market fence (2/4)

Weapons

• ares pred 4
  
• extended clip (18 bullets total per clip)
  
• large modification (to allow it to fire in burst fire, which would either give us +2 damage, or - 2 for them to dodge)
  
• personalized grip (-1 recoil)
  
• Silencer (-4 perception)
  
• Hidden Arm Slide
  

currently goes for 4950 nuyen,

• 5 clips of gel rounds (S substitutes for P) (90 rounds, 18 rounds each clip)
  
• 5 clips of regular rounds (90 rounds, 18 rounds each clip)
  

450 nuyen

Armor

• Actioneer Business Clothes (use concealed holster to hold extra ammo)
  
• securetech PPP system (designed to be worn under the clothes)
  
• leg and arm casing (1+/1+)
  
• vitals plate (1+/1+)
  
• bumps our total armor rating to 7/4
  

2050 nuyen

Gear

• Glasses + Flare comp, Smartlink, Imagelink, and thermographic link
  
• Earbud
  
• Fake SIN 4
  
• fake license 4 (concealed carry)
  
• middle x2
  

25,210 nuyen (5-6bp)

382-3bp total
(it looks like we have some extra room, this is everything we NEED, we can still upgrade our armor if you want, and i haven\'t added a vehicle yet either, or much in any form of investigative tools, etc. I want your opinion on things thus far before we go any further.)

Stick-n-shock are better than gel rounds. It's electrical damage, so if they are wearing metal armor, they don't get any armor bonus, and they have to make a Willpower Test or passout. I love electricity! Side note: That's why the lightning bolt spell has such a high drain Threshold.

Do you really need the license? He's got Control Thoughts, He should be able to get by. But, we've got points to spare, and it's one less chance to screw up. So keep it. If we need that NY400 for some odd reason, then dump it. Also, unless you are planning on only playing this with Tani, go ahead and factor in the NY30,000 for a Sustaining focus 3 or 20k for R2.

That's 4 ~ 6 points for a total of 386 ~ 389, and one less -2 for spell casting/drain tests.

But, you can't buy all those mods for you glasses. the SR4 book clearly states that those availabilities stack, and the total you have there is 14.

Strike that last comment! I thought you had Low Light AND Thermographic.

gel rounds are cheaper, halve any armor they come against, and they completely knock the person out depending on the damage. Would a stick and shoot deal 5s damage per round? If that be the case, than we would deal 5s times 3 stun damage if we hit the guy with all three rounds on burst mode, move it to wide spread so he can't run. Rules say its good, and we are thinking of modern silencers, in the future, the could be little clip on gaskets, and besides that would mean it just has to slide further up the arm. Figure your gun is 6 inches long, a modern looking suppresor is also six inches long, my forearm is about a foot and a half.

Also, I've always thought the idea of a silencer on a gun that is on a hidden arm slide was a bit ridiculous. Silencers aren't short, and neither is a large pistol. The arm slide would have to be on your upper arm to keep the silencer from showing. So can ANYONE tell me if the rules say it's not allowed?

Stick-n-Shocks deal 6S damage -1/2 impact (unless metal, then it bypasses armor) and electrical damage requires a Body + willpower (3) test, or the target is incapacitated.

and its 30k for a sustaining (3) focus, damn mind, i was thinking of two focuses, but you only need one.

Your forearm is 18" long? How freaking tall are you?! That's insane dude! You'd have a size 18 shoe!

your right, stick is better, burst fire would add +2 to the stun damage instead of physical ,that and if you can pull off the called shot, you could fry some of their electronics too, hehe

my bad 10 1/2 forearm, but still they make suppresors that are between 2" and 6" for almost every kind of gun, and they are consistently getting smaller.

I'm willing to suspend belief that a 6' tall guy with arms that are about 3~4" thick can have a 4X2X6" wide gun strapped to his arm, under a normal fitting coat sleeve (which might have 1" diameter leeway) And I don't think they make 3" silencers for big-arse hand guns, but I'll let that go. It's not in the rules, so don't worry about it.

Let's get back on topic. Where are we point wise? I know S-n-S is a bit pricey, and with that many it might make a difference.

we are at 389 with 3340 left to add to that amount. Like i said we can add a car and upgrade that, or upgrade our armor, or more contacts and better stats, or whatever pretty much we want.

for this page:

Stats
B A R S C I L W E M
3 4 3 2 5 4 4 5 1 5 190bp +50

Qualities
magician 15bp
first impression 5bp
mentor spirit 5bp

sensitive system 15bp
vindictive 10bp
aspected sorcerer 10bp

Spells 15bp
improved invisibility
increase reflexes
control thoughts
levitate
manabolt

Skills 100bp
stealth 2
influence 3
spellcasting 5
counterspell 3
pistols(semi-automatic) 1 (3)
perception 1
dodge 2

Contacts 12bp
Hacker (2/4)
black market fence (2/4)

Weapons

• ares pred 4
  
• extended clip (18 bullets total per clip)
  
• large modification (to allow it to fire in burst fire, which would either give us +2 damage, or - 2 for them to dodge)
  
• personalized grip (-1 recoil)
  
• Silencer (-4 perception)
  
• Hidden Arm Slide
  

currently goes for 4950 nuyen,

• 5 clips of stick and shock rounds (S substitutes for P) (90 rounds, 18 rounds each clip)
  
• 5 clips of regular rounds (90 rounds, 18 rounds each clip)
  

450 nuyen

Armor

• Actioneer Business Clothes (use concealed holster to hold extra ammo)
  
• securetech PPP system (designed to be worn under the clothes)
  
• leg and arm casing (1+/1+)
  
• vitals plate (1+/1+)
  
• bumps our total armor rating to 7/4
  

2050 nuyen

Gear

• commlink: Novatech Airware OS: Iris Orb
  
• Glasses + Flare comp, Smartlink, Imagelink, and thermographic link
  
• Earbud
  
• Subvocal Microphone
  
• Fake SIN 4
  
• fake license 4 (concealed carry)
  
• middle x2
  
• Sustaining Focus (rating 3)
  

55,660 nuyen (11-12bp)

388-9bp total

Unless the GM allows alternative rules, then having 7 ballistic armor will create an issue. We've only got a body of 4, so we will end up with armor encumbrance.

Also, if we have all that extra armer stuff, why isn't the impact going up? I'm not going to read through all the armor rules. I don't feel like it ^)^

And the extended clip rules say round up right? so shouldn't it be 19? 15/4 = 3.78 or 4 15 + 4 = 19. Of course, 18 is divisible by 3... so you don't have to worry about single shot BFs...