Geist Human Survivor (Mage)

[GM / Malinous]

Geist
Total Cost:
Attributes: 505
Qualities: -10
Skills: 124
Gear: 26
Spells: 55
Total: 700

Attributes [430 points]
Bod: 3 (25)
Str: 3 (25)
Agi: 4 (45)
Rea: 5 (70)
Int: 5 (70)
Wil: 5 (70)
Log: 4 (45)
Cha: 5 (70)
Edge: 3 (15)
Magic: 5[4] (70)


Qualities: [20 points]
30: Mage
10: Mentor Spirit: Shark
20: Will to Live (+2 overflow damage boxes)
10: School of Hard Knocks: +1 to all streetwise skills
(+2 combat spells, water spirits, Wil+Cha test if wounded or wound someone (I assume physical injury). For 3 - successes rounds, will attack wounded/wounder ignoring all risks to self. Rage dissipates if target goes down. May choose to continue attacking body of last victim instead.

-10: Elf Poser
-10: Big Regret: (former prostitute/drug addict--Bliss + Zen-->Psyche-->Deepweed-->horrible experience)
-10: Distinctive Style (See description once I write it up)(+3 dice to learn about/track down character)
-10: Mild Phobia: Astral Projection (-2 die to tests while astrally projecting)
-10: Biased against Elves (Technically I believe it's Int+Wil(0) to back down from a confrontation with elves. I figure that means Int+Wil(0) to back down from a confrontation where it will OBVIOUSLY get me killed or burn a mission or out me obviously biased against elves. If I think I can take that Ahole and he's acting like an Elf-I mean, like an Ass, same thing-why would I ever back down?) :-). (And clearly when he said "nice shoes, those look comfortable," he was insulting my clothing. Frackin' snobs.)
-20: In Debt to the Mob: $10000 (+10,000 character creation, owe $15,000, plus 10% interest ($1,500) per month).
-10: Mild Addiction: (Psyche)
--- most of the surgery was bought from loans from a loan shark. Never quite seem to be able to pay off the debt. Always paid it down and then that last little bit is always outstanding, and just as Banshee almost pays it off, she's enticed by a new upgrade. Can't fall behind. Adapt or die. Kill or be killed. Must be stronger faster smarter. Mostly though, it's about being able to see in the dark and hear a ninja sneaking up behind me.)

Contacts: (10 Points Free)
4/2 Fixer
2/2 Bouncer at a trendy club/shadowrunner hangout.
Obviously I slip him a 50 to get in :-). But the contact lets me skip to the front of the line. The expense tends to limit me to a few visits a month though! Need money!

Active Skills: [124 Points]
10: Athletics Group: 1
------Climbing (Strength)
------Gymnastics (Agility)
------Swimming (Strength)
------Running (Str)
10: Stealth Group: 1
------ Disguise (Int)
------ Infiltration (Agi)
------ Palming (Agi)
------ Shadowing (Int)
10: Influence Group 1
------ Con (Cha)
------ Ettiquette (Cha)
------ Leadership (Cha)
------ Negotiation (Cha)
14: Intimidation 3 (+2 from handgun in addition to normal +2 for weapon or obvious magic)
[Hoping for some of these modifiers p. 131:
--- Character is physically imposing in some way: +1 to +3 (my whole appearance is built on this! Including the really freaky chrome sharks teeth, glowing red eyes, severe visage (with 2000 in surgery to back it up, and hand razors to complete the vicious ensemble)]

6: Blades 1 (+2 cyber implant)(agi)
4: Unarmed 1 (agi)
10: Pistols 2 (+2 Semi Automatics)(agi)
6: Asensing 1 (+2 Aura Reading)(Int)
16: Sorcery 3 (+2 Combat, +2 Combat from totem)(mag)
------- Resist Drain with Wil + Cha (10)
16: Counterspelling 3 (mag)(+2 Manipulation)
4: First Aid 1 (logic)
4: Astral Combat 1 (Wil)
8: Perception 2 (+2 audio/visual)(int)
6: Pilot Ground 1 (+2 Bikes) (React)

Knowledge Skills: (24 points free)
Street: (intuition)(+1 to all)
3 Local Gangs
3 Law Enforcement/Security Agencies
3 Local Organized Crime Syndicates
3 Local Vice Industry (Gambling, Drugs, Prostitution, BTLs)
3 Local Club/Music Scene
3 Local Shadowrunning scene (runners with reps, fixers with reps, runner hangouts)

Interests: (Intuition)
3 Street Drugs:

Languages:
N English
3 Spetheriel

SPELLS: 55 Points:
5: Stunbolt
5: Heal
5: Analyze Truth
5: Improved Invisibility
5: Levitate
5: Power Bolt
5: Physical Mask
5: Fear (As per Confuse)
5: Mass Fear (As per Mass Confusion)
5: Fix clothes (fixes rips, tears, and stains/cleans the clothes)
5: Cleanse Self (equivalent to taking a shower, washing your hair and brushing your teeth - so not a makeover like makeover, and doesn't actually improve health like healthy glow).

Total Gear Cost: $75,000 (65,000=26 points), 10,000 from Mob

2000: Alphaware Rating 3 Cybereyes (Capacity 12, 0.32 essence)
_____Eye Recording Unit
_____Image Link
1500: Alphaware Flare Comp [1]
2000: Alphaware Low Light [2]
2000: Alphaware Thermographic [2]
2000: Alphaware Smartlink [3]
6000: Alphaware Vision Enhancement 2 [2]
2000: Alphaware Vision Magn. [2]
___50: Skinlink

500: Rating 1 Cyber Ears [4 capacity, 0.2 essence]
_750: Dampener [1]
3000: Audio Enhancement 2 [2]
___50: Skinlink

12,000: Alphaware Ultrasound [0.24 essence]
___50: Skinlink

1,800: Alphaware Retractable hand razors [0.16 essence]
$6,000: Alphaware Rows of Razorsharp Teeth [0.08 essence]
2000: cosmetic biosculpting to reduce facial fat, giving it an even more skeletal and hungry look (subtle), bone white skin, white hair.

2,600: 1 month 11 Point Low Lifestyle (10 is default)
-1 Network Bottleneck [Just to make the Technomancer itchy]
+1 Medium Entertainment
+1 Medium Security
Rest: Low

$8400, Avail. 8
Novatech Airware running a custom OS
Response 3, Signal 3, System 3, Firewall 6
Analyze 3, Browse 3, Edit 3, Command 1, Scan 1
Encrypt 3 (Avail. 6)
Agent 3 (Avail. 9)
*Hits commlink to try to make it run faster* "Need an upgrade. Time for another job."
+$50: skinlink
+100: skinlink has a hardwired physical on/off switch.

5,000: White Leather Outfit: (6/5 total)
______Shirt: 1/1
______Pants:1/1
______Vest: 1/1
______Matching Lined Coat (-2 conceal): 3/2
$2125: Walther Sakura Kompact w/ smartlink ($600)
-------- -1 concealability bonus, light pistol ranges
-------- 5P, -1 AP, 9(c),
-------- Skin Linked
-------- 4 spare magazines, 40 rounds of ammo
-------- Custom Look 2: Ivory and chromed to look like a mixture of high tech and bone with maybe a small stylized drop of bright red blood near the barrel, to go with some powder burns on the end of the barrel to show it's well used and personal +$1000 [+2 intimidation]
-------- Silencer ($200)
-------- Heavy Barrel ($400)
-------- Personalized Grip ($100)
-------- Concealable Holster (75)
_400: Fake License 4 (handgun), tied to
4000: Fake SIN, 4
_75: Rating 1 contact lenses w/ Image Link. Used primarily to display data from my commlink. I only wear one, in my left (non-shooting) eye, because I don't like wireless!
_150: Tag Eraser
_600: NLJD Rating 6 (Bug detector)
6500: Suzuki Mirage
_600: Medkit 6

__50: Subvocal Microphone
_250: High Quality Earbud (30 R3+20 extra), match my skintone, Rating 1 Select Sound Filter





Things to Get:
+1 agility
Suggestion
Death Touch
Limited Versions of Stunbolt (fetish!)
Stim/trauma patches
better ammo

[GM / Malinous]

Okay, I think it's done. A few things that need to be improved, possibly made sure I'm not wrong.

(1) I believe all cyberware has DNI (it says so in the book). This means there's no reason to leave the wireless on. So mine is off.

(2) In order to communicate with my commlink, my cyberears, ultrasound sensor, and cybereyes have skinlinks, as does my commlink.

(3) To protect my skinlinked gear from most hacking, my commlink's skinlink has a hardwired on off switch. If I want to communicate with my cyberware, I turn it on, but it's by default Off. (I can see wanting to share feed from an ultrasound sensor, and I need a way to upload recorded audio/video). I guesstimated a price, mostly throwing all my money at it. I have other fudge-factor items I can move money from. The concern was someone hacking into my gear via my commlink.

Antonio just bought a second R1 commlink with no wireless capability, but I think this solution is more elegant.

To allow for some AR, I have a wireless contact lense in my non-shootin' eye. I figure a complex action to remove a contact. Especially since my eyeball is made of steel.

(4) I'm not sure how cyberware internal defense would work, but it's all alphaware with whatever defenses I can load on it (I have a Firewall 6, and it's all alphaware which I think means a higher rating).

(5) my outfit is custom designed. I can get better stats with stuff in the book, I just wanted the design with a certain look and flavor. It's actually worse than a lined coat over the steampunk line :-p. And I paid as much as buying the steampunk and business suit line combined.

(6) 2000 is the max for 0 essence biosculpting, I think what I wanted to do with it (in my facebook post I'll migrate over here) fits the description. But I paid top end to cover any details :-).

(7) I dumped a lot of points into cosmetic stuff and can rearrange money. I'm assuming my eyes can switch between pale blue and glowing red at a whim. I'm not actually crazy, and I understand the need to not look like a freak all the time. If I close my mouth and don't give a toothy smile (I personally don't really show teeth when I smile :-p) I just look hungry and ambitious and maybe scary (charisma 5!).

(8)My interpretation of shark is probably a tad different from the book, but I think I'm within the spirit of the thing especially if you look at actual cultures with a Shark totem. Obviously a shark doesn't care that it's dorsal fin breaking the surface builds drama and fear and has no interest in posturing, but that's certainly critical symbolism of sharks to us people!

(9) technically I made up phobia as a disadvantage. But -2 dice whenever astrally projecting combined with a general unwillingness to use a very powerful asset seems like a pretty big (and fair) handicap, for a lowest-cost-possible disadvantage :-).

(10) CRAP, I forgot assensing. Need to fix that.

[ehren]

Alfaware has a device rating of 4, I believe. But, you can subscribe them to your PAN, so they will fwd all requests to your 'link. Which means that a hacker has to get past your 'link's firewall to get to anything else.

[GM / Malinous]

Yeah, unfortunately any halfassed hacker can get through an R3 firewall 6 commlink, so better to just not have there be any wireless connection at all 99% of the time. Even if it costs me a couple hundred nuyen to skinlink :-). Even if it makes you a touch more vulnerable to microdrone repeaters. Probably.

[GM / Malinous]

I forgot assencing, but obvious thing to do with 50 points:
Edge 4
Agility 5
Ranged anti vehicle/drone spell.

Alternative is:
Cracking group 2
Hacking group 2
Ranged anti-vehicle spell
Ditch Oxygenate
Ditch Dockwagon
Add 15,000 in gear.

[GM / Malinous]

Paid $8400 for my link.

3,000: 4/4 Transys Avalon 'Link (8)
4,000: 4/4 Custom OS (-)
600: Analyze 4, Browse 4, Edit 4, Command 2 (-)
1,000: Firewall 6 (3000-2000) (-)
3,000: Agent 3
4,000: Attack 4
4,000: Armor 4
4,000: Exploit 4
4,000: Spoof 4
---------
27,600

That's actually pretty far.
Did the math wrong, could afford $38400

So:
5,000: 5/5 Custom 'Link (12)
5,000: 5/5 Custom OS (-)
2,500: Analyze 5, Browse 5, Edit 5, Command 5 (-)
+$500: Firewall 6 (3000 - 2500) (-)
---------
13,000
3,000: Agent 3
5,000: Exploit 5
5,000 Stealth 5
5,000 Defuse 5
5,000 Biofeedback Filter 5
1,500: Attack 3
1,500: Armor 3
500: Encrypt 5
500: Scan 5
---------
37,000
500: REality Filter: 5
1500: Decrypt 3
1500: ECCM 3
1500: Medic 3
1500: Sniffer 3
1500: Spoof 3
1500: Track 3
--------
46,500
Close!
Need to find 4 or so more points.
I could double my debt to the mob . . . ? :-p

[GM / Malinous]

Okay, ditching clubs would get me to 48,400
Not enough to up a single program :-p.
1900 should be enough to get trodes woven into my hair though :-p.
And can probably find another interesting piece of gear or two :-p.

First priority will be specializing hacking in exploit.
You can play a hacker who does nothing but exploit, right?

[GM / Malinous]

Oh, depending no the rules set (defensive rolls?) and assuming Spencer makes someone decent at hacking:
Strongly considering reaction 5, intuition 5 (10+1d6 initiative = guaranteed 2 passes)
Replace oxygenate with ranged anti vehicle/drone spell (may not be such a spell, not sure if ram covers both, in which case, power bolt).

[GM / Malinous]

Hmm, 25 more points:
- DocWagon
- +10 Biased against Elves (Closet Elf Hating Elf Poser, I like it).
[The threshold really needs to be 1, not 0. It's not a real Disadvantage if it's 0!]
- +10 Even More In Debt to the Mob.
Frees up 24 points, Ditch Clubs, and GTG.
Specialize something.
And leaves me with . . . I can get a second month of lifestyle!
And get magic up to 5[4]. I don't think a magic of 3 is enough to cut it :-p.

[ehren]

Have you updated your 1st post with your current #s?

[GM / Malinous]

Not yet, still fiddling around with it and it's a real chore to update the gear until its all finalized :-).
and I need to figure out if I can actually hurt drones/vehicles with power bolt. I think I can.

I update the point total at top when I update everything, so as long as it still says 650, I haven't updated.

It's looking like
(25) Intuition 5
(25) Reaction 5
(25) Magic 5
(0) Replace Oxygenate with Power Bolt
(-10) even more in debt to the mob
(-10) biased against elves (they did kill my parents what with their racism and all. Damned racists.)
(-2) (money saved thanks to the mob)
(-4) (ditch clubs)
(-2) (ditch Docwagon contract?)
(2) (specialize in something?)(or ditch aura reading specialization and get astral combat 1).
(1) A second month of low lifestyle (drop the cosmetic surgery down to $3400 to cover the difference)
---------
50 Total

[GM / Malinous]

Another possible Edit if I can convince Ehren to let the flavor edit fly:
(+10) mild addiction to psyche. I'd plan to make sure it's a real issue - roll weekly as it were, and if I get it, use it the instant I can even remotely justify it, not save it for when it's useful. Should be a disadvantage, afterall ;-). You never really "get over" being an addict.
(5) FEAR (Confusion)
Use the EXACT same rules as confusion, but instead of "wildly conflicting emotions" they just suffer from one, particular emotion. It shouldn't change the way the spell is used at all, but it fits the character better.
(5) Mass Fear (confusion)
Exactly like Mass confusion game rules, but as per above.

One way I think about using it a lot is for intimidation.
Normally, my magic does nothing for me - obvious magic does NOT stack with my hand razors.
Same bonus.
But Confusion (or, Fear) is a dice pool penalty.
Magic is really easy to see (defense is Log + Wil, so you need a minimum of Force 4 to get even 1 net hit remotely reliably) but in this context, the whole point is the target knows you used magic.
They just don't know what the spell did . . .
The effect is -1 die to all tests/per success (I assume not resistance tests, alas, so it wouldn't affect spell resistance, although intimidation and gun shots are opposed tests, not resistance tests (the body test is a resistance test) as near as I can determine. So useful nonetheless!

[ehren]

I'm ok with those spells. I do believe that power bolt will work against vehicles, but so would wreck

[GM / Malinous]

Yeah, my issue with Wreck is that it appears that Wreck [Drone] and Wreck [Vehicle] are two different spells. [Other examples are Demolish Gun and RAM DOOR.

WAs a little unclear since there's the whole armor stun no damage but no resistance roll anyways.
It looks like the SR5 rule is just:
Vehicles, barriers, and drones all have body(or structure) + armor now.
Not sure how they compare to the old ratings.

p. 466 SR5 for drones.

I was thinking a 0 body drone was really easy to destroy - but it's not actually.
I need to do 8 damage, which means it takes me on average THREE ACTIONS to kill a body 0 drone.
(Need to do 8 + 1/2 Body damage, damage is Net Hits, and max hits is (Force).

Vehicles are p. 463:
Doddge Scoot is 4,
racing bikes are 5
Harley-Davidson is 8 (MAN, those things are TOUGH)
3 wheel commuter cars: 8
10 for sprots cars
11-12 for sedans
12 for most trucks
OH, and condition monitor is 12+1/2 body.
Yeah, I would have serious trouble killing a truck. It would take, like, a minute! [18x3 seconds].


ALSO:
The index is wrong: object resistance is p. 197, not 296.
I was going to say advantage: human! Because a computer wouldn't think to check 196. But let's be honest, something in my past probably programmed me to say "hey, typos happen a lot, when you see a typo, try small changes to the number!" :-).

A TIRE, however, is only body 2 (normal tire);
Oh, the rules for shooting out a tire are entirely
"Make a called shot, the gM will arbitrarily rule on the effect based on damage. Destroying a tire is -2 to vehicle tests."
I would guess it would be Powerbolt v. Structure (2 for a normal tire or windshield, 3 for ballistic glass or a run flat). Need a DV at least equal to structure to destroy it. (That's how destroying barriers works).

So to destroy a runflat, I need 3 net hits. Not bad!
(A pistol on the other hand needs to do 3DV . . . has to fight the armor of 4! So (given that a pistol is 8P, against a tire, would generally need 2-4 hits to shoot out the tire (Damage resisted by 3 bod + 6 armor]. /random.

[GM / Malinous]

Okay, I think he's finalized now.
(1) I did customize my handgun from Arsenal. But I'm using standard ammo.
(2) 2000 is the max for non-essence biosculpting, which seemed about right, my appearance is on the extreme of human normal, but it's within the realm of what I could theoretically just *say* my character looked like that--, so it seems about right. So I lumped the skin color and hair in with the 2000.
(3) customization for most things seems to cost $100 (including level 1 firearm customization and personal grip); so I dropped the cost for the physical wireless on/off signal on my commlink to $100-I was desperately squeezing pennies. It doesn't seem that unusual - since I noticed that simsense modules also use physical switches for the cold/hot transition as a safety measure, so it's something designers consider!

That still leaves me with a lot of money spent on pure cosmetics :-).
My character cares a lot about image and street rep.

Also picked up heal. Definitely planning a scenario where some elf pisses me off so I shoot him in the kneecap. Wait a couple minutes. Use first aid. Use some magical healing. Tell him to get over it.

Final NOTE:
I'm not clear on how to specialize intimidation. It seems like every form of intimidation I can think of being *me* is some combination of physical and psychological - it 100% revolves around WHAT I am, not WHO I am (which seems physical, but is arguably mental, but it's the threat of physical force--note that torture is a different category, although merely inflicting pain is not necessarily torture - cutting the back of someone's hand to draw blood hurts, but it's not really torture if the threat is "I will rip you to shreds, and I know the sight of ones own blood is often VERY psychologically powerful . . . but mostly relying on my menacing nature . . .

In other words, I'm not sure if intimidation can be specialized since every single act of intimidation I engage in will be both physical (backed by a physical threat) and mental/psychological (the teeth and eyes are more psychological than actual force). Of course, the customized handgun is a mixture as well . . .

(PUre physical intimidation is the giant troll. Pure mental intimidation is "I look like a corporate CEO. Obey me or suffer the unspecified vague threat of my wrath in the future." or "I am just that much smarter than you, you'd better do what I suggest." I'm somewhere in between. . . )