(4) New Orleans by Night (Shadowrun) (Inactive)

Game Master mdt

Well, C2.0 happens almost 5 years down the road, so ... ;)

Thanks mdt! Your take on my runner is spot on. I think it is hard to be a pure MA so if I have the points I'll take some ranged(probally pistol or smg). I've been messing around with the build app so I should have something for you this evening.

If you aren't including Thrown, you should - while it won't get you distance (you might go with archery, if you want to stick pure ungunpowdered adept), it will get you grenades. And grenades, as everyone knows, are pure fun.

Unfortunately, SR3 is a little rough on the combat skill mavin.

All righty - sweet . )

Main specialisation) - Since there are a few of us that primary speak gun, I suppose we ought to come to some sort of agreement on whom gets what. Or at least, that seems to be the easiest way : )

I do adore the 'heavy weapon' skill tree (in 4th ed at least!) because the versatility it offers. (Also cheap chinese off-brand rpgs ...) I would have to look up what my 3rd ed options are, but this is the path I favour.

Thoughts : )?

Secondary specialisation[s]) - Had this been 4th I'd splash some points into Logic and get Demolitions and a bit of Armourer. I am not 100%, but I am fairly sure I saw those when I glanced at the software earlier, so that may still be on.

Additionally I'd think I'll like to get a decent acrobatics/athletics (I think I only saw one of those [athletics]?) skill and perhaps hydraulic jacks for fun shenanigans.

Oooh, another tangentially related question (to weapon specialities) - Where on the super spies to mad max scale of subtlety will you be aiming for in this campaign mdt (black trenchcoat vs pink mohawk I believe the expression is)?

Certain specializations may be more valid depending on which side we are leaning to (and I seem to recall you having a character leaning one direction while the original 'Redline' leant the other!), so that I can adjust my concept a bit towards the more suitable end : )?

Black Trenchcoat for the win!!!

If Ultra-spies is 1 and Mad Max is 10, I vote for about 2.5. We can break out the super mayhem if we need it, but it should be something held for a last resort. At least that's my vote. :)

Demolitions is a choice; for heavy weapons, you want (deep breath) Assault Rifles (for, err, assault rifles), Gunnery (for vehicle-mounted weapons), Heavy Weapons (for direct-fire gunpowder/railgun weapons), Laser Weapons (if you think you'll ever be able to afford one), and Launch Weapons (for rockets and missiles). Unfortunately, you need a build/repair (B/R) skill for every skill there is; Heavy Weapons B/R, Launch Weapons B/R, etc. Fortunately there IS a straight-out Armor B/R, and doubly-fortunate Demolitions acts as its own B/R skill.

My personal advice? Get Demolitions, then get contacts to supply the rest - 15k will get you an armorer, a technician, and a mechanic, enough to supply all your nasty 'big mayhem' needs. Having a demolitions girl would be great, though.

Understand, though, that ARs are pretty much not fraggin' concealable. (A 2 or 3 just don't do it, y'know?) SMGs are (marginally), so if we're going to be intruding and we get caught at all, well - an AR is going to mean fighting. And get a silencer/suppressor!!

@Assault Rifles - Yeah. Those have always been the sorta sad middle ground where in my opinion, if you are going loud, you might just bring a vindicator or something else with a bit more *pow* (which would be 'Heavy Weapons' I assume?).

@Build/Repair - Hmm. Armourer in 4th is mainly 'I can maintain weaponry' and 'I will properly attach this mod/attachment/sight without destroying anything' and not really building things from scratch. Buut if those applications are merged into one skill per weapon class, I guess I might have to pick some up?

Or mayhaps attaching a laser sight is not *uh* a task that requires one to throw alot of dice at it in 3rd, like 4th ed :P?

@Demo - Glad to hear that it seems to govern it all, as those are actually things I'd like to be able to put together! But quick question just to be sure; disarming them are the same skill yes (miiiiiiiiiight come in handy eventually .... :P)?

@Main weapon classes - Hmm so lets see. For a more wild game, simply Heavy/Launcher would be viable. Gunnery seems more like a rigger thing, and even if we are going full pants on heads, emplaced weaponry aren't that common (or fun, given that you are stuck in one spot!). But realistically Discreet Weapon/Heavy/Launcher is the most logical choice.

OOh and bonus question: Tazers, which skill do they use? Their own?

Also cyber implants like razors? They are their own skill too? (These are sorta cool, I must admit. But not really *that* practical if one are to walk trough a scanner ...)

Tasers actually use the style of weapon they're in - most of them use Pistols. Cyber Implant Weaponry (or cyber implant combat) is the skill for spurs, razors, etc. You take (IIRC) a penalty to your target number if you have to default, but hey, if you have a high enough attribute ... ;)

LMGs vs ARs: LMGs of all sorts are big, bulky, and eat ammo like popcorn. You bring them when you're going to assault a place and don't expect to have to run far or fast, or if/when you need the range. ARs are for more tactical work. On a build, I'd get ARs at 4+, and Heavy Weapons at 2-3 at best.

Armorer / B/R: It's normally assumed you can perform basic maintenance on any weapon you have the weapon skill for. Build/repair actually enables you to fix a damaged weapon or create (though not design) a weapon from scratch, i.e. a design. Cannon Companion has the rules for all that stuff, but honestly, you pay your Armorer a few bucks, and he does the job. Get B/R for your primary bang-bang if you have to, but efficiency argues for pushing your skills to at least a 3 or more if you can. (Advice I really need to take; revision will be upcoming. :P )

Demolitions: Hm. Actually, a thought just occurred to me, so I had to go check it. Man and Machine has the chemistry rules ... a quick read-through says that yeah, Demolitions does the B/R job for explosives as well. You also use Demolitions to defuse, but just remember that you may well need Electronics to help, especially if the thing is inside a case ...

Some issue with the background. In general, they don't freeze the assets of a murderer, a murderer still gets to use their resources to mount a defense. The fact he's on the run would still not cause them to freeze the assets, as they can use his resources to track him.

However, if he's also been accused of fraud, then they would freeze his assets as soon as they could get an indictment against him. So you might want to add that to the backbround, to account for the loss of assets.

Finally, the life insurance policy for the mother would still pay off, but not to the father, to Ashley. However, with the father out of action, and a question about who killed her, the insurance would withhold payment pending the eventual criminal outcome, or until compelled by a court. So that would be potential money he could look forward to down the road (although it probably won't come up in game).

I realize it's not clear from the simple background that I wrote, but there are other reasons his assets were seized. The government can, and often will, seize all assets of a suspect on the run. Especially if that suspect has the means to travel. Is it strictly legal to do so? Perhaps not, though it's rather easy to justify *now*, nevermind in a future dystopia. Though in this case, I meant to imply that the father's enemies had manipulated things to seize the assets and make it easier to hunt down both Ashley and his father.

As for life insurance, sure, Ashley could get that. If he were willing to walk into the corporation run by people that are almost certainly behind framing his father. And then wait months for their lawyers to determine that he had no involvement in it.

The main take-away is that there are a ton of reasons why he has no money and no where to turn. I'm willing to leave most of those behind the scenes details to you (my character doesn't know precisely what's going on), and I'm also willing to work some of them out. (Since GM'ing is time intensive and spending tons of time on one of eight character's background is never fun for everyone). :)

Just let me know what ever else you need. I'll make a separate post for group fitting in.

I'm all about more stealth than boom. I'm an old-school black hatter, though in my "old age" I've become more tolerant of pink mohawks sneaking into my games. ;)

As for weapons specializations, Ashley's not going to be much of a factor there. He'll have a pistol, but by no means will he be an expert.

Is anyone planning on being a sniper-ish type? With eight runners we can probably afford to put people in advantageous positions. With a drone or even a watcher spirit as a spotter, you'd be good to go. For that I'd recommend a sports rifle for regular work. They aren't all that concealable, but in CAS they aren't abnormal. (Obviously some places we won't be able to carry them, but that's true of any weapon in that case.) And keep the sniper rifles for when we really need to pull out the heavy weaponry. Sports rifles in the hands of a dedicated shooter do comparable damage. And shots from stealth when the target doesn't know they're coming are about as lethal as it gets in SR.

As for background connections, Ashley will need some reason the group has him along. His skill set is useful, and I'm flexible as to who/why someone would bring him in. He's got every reason to want to work with ya'all, at least.

Oh, secondary skill set: Because Ashley doesn't have a whole lot of background in making people like him (or needing people to like him) he won't start out as much of a Face. He'll have the natural charisma to be able to do it, but not a whole lot of skill. Probably some etiquette given he's had to work with people from all sorts of backgrounds. He knows how and when to keep his mouth shut, which is a start. So if someone wants to be a Face, I won't be stepping on their toes. And depending on what they want to do with their character, Ashley can grow into a good support character for them and not outshine them at their main skill.

Delmar will specialize in driving, with some skill in drones, unless the group thinks drones should be his main concern. I just did not originally see him as a drone jockey, but as a vehicle guy who sometimes uses drones. That is not to say he will not have any drone skill...I was thinking a split of a 6 for main vehicle, 4 for 2 other vehicle types and a 4 for drones (skill points). His main vehicle would include a number of spy and surveillance drones, with maybe 2 combat drones (one ground and one air).
What does the party (and DM) think? Oh, and I was envisioning my character's style to be that of a 1950's rockabilly roadster. So think slicked back pompadour with side burns and a handlebar mustache. He has 2 full sleeves of tats (mostly 50's pinup girls and t-birds) and smokes a pipe. I was thinking that "Roadster" was his CAS military cll-sign, but today he goes by the moniker HepCat. Too much??

About B/R and efficiency, yes it's more efficient to let the NPCs handle all the B/R. As long as you've got access to them. Remember, you won't always have that access. Also, I went with 123 build points so people could go somewhat skill happy and pick up skills they wouldn't normally have. So if you want to go Gunbunny mad weaponshop owner, go for it. :) I'm sort of seeing Lessah's character a bit like Rally Vincent from Gunsmith Cats.

As to level of bang vs sneak, Gunsmith Cats is probably a good example. The ideal should probably be 1 on a run, but it could go all the way up to 10. The noisest I've had in a game is an assault on a cargo ship where the Rigger ended up using a naptha flame thrower on 2000 barrels of diesel he'd just shot with his LMGs.

The result, of course, was flaming barrels of diesel raining down for 8 blocks all around, a failed drive check as the assault vehicle went through the cloud of flames, and a crispy deep fried rigger. A player objected that diesel didn't explode like that. My response was, diesel doesn't normally explode like that, but, when you heat it to 1500 degrees farenheit inside of an enclosed container in less than 15 seconds...

On the 1 to 10 scale, I'd say you're probably looking at a 3-4 on average. And it never hurts to have a heavy weapon specialist who's underutilized 60% of the time.

@Daniel - I think he'll get along fine with Cowboy, as both are a century out of date. :) Specializing in Drones vs Vehicles isn't about the skills, they are the same skills for both. Driving vs Piloting.

Where it comes down to is where you spend your money. If you're specializing in vehicles, most of your cash is going into two or more vehicles designed for different work. An RV for out of city work, a large van or bus for inner city work. With several secondary vehicles for various types of jobs.

A drone specialist probably has one vehicle that's pretty nicely outfitted, and spends most of his cash on a drek hot remote control deck and drones drones drones.

Excellent! =)

1) Yes, I plan on leaving much meat there, so bio will find a way in. The biggest expense will be Wired reflexes, and I don't plan on doing melee, so I won't be replacing the arms. I'll start working on specifics so we can start throwing more solid concepts around.

2) @everyone: Who's the face man? Someone's gonna hafta take the hit and but points into Cha and Negotiation. Suki already said she'd be dipping a toe into it, but it'll help if someone tries to max. I'll do it (if only to differentiate myself from Suki *heh*) but if someone else is going with that concept already, that's more than fine.

2.5) Most of us should have try to take at least one Etiquette. That way we'll have them all covered. ^_^

3) SMGs are really versatile, so I was planning on speccing in them, with stealth. I'll have the nuyen to invest in a tricked-out sniper rifle, so I can take the raven's nest when we can get one.

Well I would want at least 2 vehicles...one as a sort of command vehicle, and the other more specialized (or sporty). I could also work the the rest of the teams vehicles, as I intend to burn a bunch of skill points in B/R skills. So I guess I was to be in the middle...a couple of nice vehicles and some drones for backup...just not an army..lol. I was also thinking about acting as a spider for any buildings we have to crack...saving the decker from the task of monitoring cameras and security..but I need to read up a bit more on that...

Face might be a good fit for our resident anachronism too, Cowboy Roy. Especially if he's going to stick to not being cybered/biowared/etc at the start.

Being a rigger taking over a building requires on site access and for it to be wired up for rigged control. If it is, you can take over the entire building, but if it's not, it won't work. Decker's worst nightmare is a building set up to be controlled by a rigger, as the rigger's network is usually separate from the matrix, and from the rest of the building's wiring, so it's like having to hack two systems at once, while physically on site, while someone with no concern for being hacked is throwing both black IC at you and making coffee pots explode next to you while sending drones down your shorts from behind...

I thought a deckers worst nightmare was a stone castle. With moat. Filled with lava. :P

I'll get to the sensible replies later this evening, a bit preoccupied at the moment : )

Nah, nobody wants the decker in that case, as there's nothing inside it worth hacking. :)

His princess was in another castle anyway :-)

I have some of the basic crunch on my character...can I send you the NSRCG file? I still need to work on vehicles and drones. Also, for the group, I was going to have a garage, with living space in the back. So anyone who wants to pitch in for a place.....

That's another question, do you want to start as a group, or several smaller groups that get pulled in, or as singletons meeting in character for the first time, or some combination (X, Y, and Z already run together, A, B, and C do as well. A knows Y, B knows P, and Q is a new face).

For those who want to send me 'this is what I have so far' you can either drop a link here, or drop me a PM with a link.

I'm going to be busy today, if someone has time to go through the discussion so far and do a name/primary/secondary type thing it would be helpful.

Yeah, I can't imagine a decker upset that they're sitting back at the office drinking soycaff while everyone else does the work and still getting paid. Now, if they weren't getting paid...that's another story altogether.

I'm all for starting in small groups that get connected by a Fixer. It tends to feel more organic than everyone coming up with some weird past coincidental connection to each other.

@Face - Build wise, I'm not sure if I could fit it. In addition to the combat-thingies I would like a bit of Logic as mentioned earlier, as well as some more fringe skills.

But I *could* try, but I'm afraid it would end up as a master-of-none-mediocre-at-all character, especially since I'm not used to squeezing optimal amounts of juice from the system :P

@Etiquette - This however seems like a plan. It's always nice where everybody has some 'my people' they can talk to!

@Tasers - I'll have to look into it closer then, but this (pair with whatever weapon my taser of choice would use as a skill) might be a nice goto 'on the run' weapon.

I have two sub-questions about it however - how prominent are electro-insulated armour and is there still (err earlier I guess?:P) that taser that uses darts (and has a workable clip size)?

All tasers use darts, and the default in the core rule book is a pistol with a magazine of four darts.

Electro-insulated armor isn't super common, but any combat armor is all but immune to tasers.

Woah, this exploded all of a sudden. First of all, thanks for accepting me!

I've been thinking, and browsing a bit through the generation program, and with the Number of build points, Roy's hitting the attribute maximum and skill maximum, if he's a mundane human, leaving not a lot of room for improvement later on, as the GM hinted.

I had a small WIP with an PhysAd build, 50/50 for social and combat. Looks pretty fair, and still has plenty of skills. Not knowing jack about technology leaves a lot of points.

As for his role, I do see him as a dedicated face, while more than capable of holding his own in combat. I will probably specialize the Negotiation in Bargain, due to his background as a trader. Also a bit of Etiquette, specializing in Tribal, because of some past experiences with Wichita.

Long story short, as soon as we leave the big town, he's got ya covered. In the town, he's just there when a bit of good ol' entrepreneurial spirit or negotiations are needed, and he can cover for the non-combatants when the sammies start operating.

He'll need a professional's help to check his mail, however.

@Taser - Oh yes that is true. I was probably thinking of the wireless one (as in no connecting wire between the darts and the gun), the Yamaha Pulsar (which in 4th ed is really nice since it is SA instead of SS).

I guess I really *should* find the 3rd ed books and start looking for myself ... I think they are in a crate somewhere at my friends house, so I don't think he would mind, and I'll try to steal/borrow them tomorrow if I can.

@Face - I guess that is covered then. Nice : )

Ranger, does this mean that you'll be using mostly Revolvers for that "Classic" feel?

Selachii will obviously be the Tech Head (pun unintended), with his secondary focus being where the Electronics meets Data. I'll try to get him to have some decent Social, as opposed to the Virtual-addicted hikkomori, though perhaps a light addiction might work for him. Depending on how prevalent AR is, it isn't out of the ordinary to be connected constantly. If I do it right, he won't be entirely out of his element when not plugged in, so as not to stand out, but he is by no means going to be a force of personality.

I'm thinking Tasers and Concussions, with a pistol for those necessary circumstances. Getting an arm with a 'Deck in it is a bit prohibitive at start, I think... or a C2 deck, but that's waaaaay later, I suppose. I'm still poking at the "Purist" idea and how to apply it. I am liking the idea of a cyber hand with a taser in it, though-- hmm, I'll need to get some martial arts in to apply that effectively-- if just as a holdout.

I'm fine with the "small group" start, since compartmentalizing things seem to be the most efficient way.

Yeesh, I need to keep a scorecard on the side. Don't suppose we can get the list of people (and maybe a link to their app!!) in game info, mdt?

The Pulsar does exist in SR3 and uses darts, but its availability puts it out of our reach at game start.

In any case. For hooking together ... hm. Who's the one who kept in contact with his family? Is that Listener, or is that Selachii? Anyhow, I'd hook him up with Old Roy, Roy having been a friend of the family. (If that was Listener, then a friend of the father or family, the grandfather maybe, getting hooked in to help him figure out what's going on.)

... hm. Actually, that's a good trio - Roy, Roadster, and Listener. Listener is in trouble, Roy's the old family friend who's come to help him out, and because Roy's old Army, he can hook Roadster in by the Army network: 'who do you know who could help me out'?

Hm. I need to make a list. I can probably actually tie all the newbies together, and the experienced runners could already be a crew ...

Note that for Selachii, unless mdt changes this, Augmented Reality does not yet exist. VR is where it's all at. Sure, we can look up information with hand-helds and stuff, but such are turtles - this is the Matrix the way it should be, where Deckers (and otaku) can casually grease any slowpoke gotta-move-your-fingers turtles.

AR is being worked on, but doesn't exist. I'm heading to the airport now. Will post more tonight/tomorrow

Shadow Old Hands:
Cloudy - Gaming Ranger - Male Human - Physical Adept Martial Artist/Connected Man - maybe Street / Criminal (OC) etiquette?
Selachii - Me'Mori - Human Male - Neo-Anarchist Decker / Electronics, Matrix Etiquette
Redline - Lessah - Female Human/Elf - Gunbunny Chaos Girl, ARs and heavy & launch weapons, perhaps street etiquette
Shugyōsha - Wyrm - Female Elf - Tactician Street Samurai (Run & Gun), Pistols & Edged Weapons, Backup Face, Backup Rigger; Corporate Etiquette
Wraith - Atlas - Female Human - Street Samurai Cyberzombie Wannabe, SMGs & Sniper, maybe street / gang etiquette.

New To The Shadows:
Cowboy - Lion Cleric - Male Human/Elf - Cowboy Anachronism Survivalist, general face
Listener - Aptinuviel - Male Human - Former Government Wage Mage, probably Etiquette (Magical)
Roadster - Daniel Stewart - Male Human - Rigger, maybe military etiquette?

Correct me if I'm wrong on anything, especially 'new to the shadows' placement, but I'm pretty sure that's all accurate.

Currently working out the character so I'm still flexible on quite a few things. One main theme I'm going with is *very* low resources since I've never actually done that with any character and especially not a mage. The lack of foci are definitely going to hurt any offensive power this character will have.

On the other hand, I don't plan on going with a whole lot of offense. I'll be along to counter hostile magic/spirits, deal with magical security, and handle magic "issues". He'll also have Heal, though this will be much less useful in this group than in some, given most of the group will have heavy cyberware (or so it appears.)

But, as I said, I'm pretty flexible. We can put a whole lot of bullets on target, so I don't think we need another person for that. But just about anything else is malleable.

Oh, as for etiquette, it will probably be Listener's only social skill to begin with but he'll be rather good at it. And I almost certainly won't be specializing. The character, while not amazing at being a good friend, will be really good at fitting in to whatever new social group he's found himself in. Which, I'm guessing, is how he managed to find himself in this particular group.

But yes, Listener is quite new to the shadows. (And human.)

For magic, I recommend stunbolt and manabolt (and maybe powerbolt if you really need it) just because I can't imagine a mage working for a government agency NOT having them, and of course Heal - or maybe just Treat, since that'll help with the drain side for you, and how often are you NOT going to have access to us within an hour of us being shot up? For the social side, sounds like he might have the Edge 'Friendly Face'.

The confusion about the human/elf part was the fact that the original submission was for an elf. Will edit.

For Shugyōsha, what the GM's stated for specialized gear means she'll get to have a fairly decent list of contacts. Given the above list of street veterans, we may have just had a semi-successful run during which our rigger and mage spooked, cut and ran, and got blown off the road / out of the air / out of the water by an AVM or two, which means we're looking for a new set. Having an additional combat-capable face (Cowboy) would be useful as well, and if/since they come as a trio ... ?

Shadow Old Hands:

Cloudy - Gaming Ranger - Male Human - Physical Adept Martial Artist/Connected Man - maybe Street / Criminal (OC) etiquette?
Selachii - Me'Mori - Human Male - Neo-Anarchist Decker / Electronics, Matrix Etiquette
Redline - Lessah - Female Human/Elf - Gunbunny Chaos Girl, ARs and heavy & launch weapons, perhaps street etiquette
Shugyōsha - Wyrm - Female Elf - Tactician Street Samurai (Run & Gun), Pistols & Edged Weapons, Backup Face, Backup Rigger; Corporate Etiquette
Wraith - Atlas - Female Human - Street Samurai Cyberzombie Wannabe, SMGs & Sniper, maybe street / gang etiquette.

New To The Shadows:
Cowboy - Lion Cleric - Male Human/Elf - Cowboy Anachronism Survivalist, general face
Listener - Aptinuviel - Male Human - Former Government Wage Mage, probably Etiquette (Magical)
Roadster - Daniel Stewart - Male Human - Rigger, maybe military etiquette?

This is a good plan for the Etiquette. Anyone have any problem with taking their assigned etiquette?

@Lessah: Is this good? You take Street and I'll take gang?

Also, it looks like we've gto one primary Face and at least two secondary. In that case I might dump it a little to make me a better sniper. ^_^

'Street' pretty much -is- 'gang', but then again, there's some differentiation depending on who you're dealing with. Everyone should have at least a 4 in the etiquette they specialize in, because it may fall out that you have to be the one they negotiate with, because they won't talk to someone who don't speak their 'language'.

Had a second thought - preferred lifestyles. Shu has a kid (and a babysitter/nanny contact!!) and she's a corp sort, so she's keeping it Middle-plus at 7000/mo. (She bought her BOB-storage place lifestyle outright for 6k or so.) What sort of lifestyle are the rest of us looking at needing to keep up? This'll help the GM determine how much cash he'll need to pay us. (And no, while I might crash at someone else's place for a night or three, I'm not going to go in on a lifestyle together - learned my lesson on that one in Seattle. ;) )

I'm unclear what you mean by "assigned etiquette". In SR3 you can take the skill Etiquette. You can also specialize. If your Charisma is low, there's a lot of incentive to specialize. But for some characters it's much better to stay a generalist. This is because specializing *lowers* your general skill.

I think maybe people are confused with Shadowrun Returns mechanics in which people must have a specialization in order to be capable with etiquette with certain groups? In SR3 you can specialize in just about any group you can think of. And you can get *very* specific if you really want.

With that said, Listener will be more than capable of handling his "assigned" etiquette of Magical. :) Negotiation with them will be another matter entirely.

As for lifestyle, I'll be going with Low for now. Though I'm sure he'd prefer better lodgings once he's got a job. Or at least regular-ish income.

Edit: Just as a note, having a 4 in even a specialized Etiquette might be tough for some characters. That means buying up Etiquette to 3, then specializing. Which presupposes, at least, a Charisma of 3, unless they want to waste build points on a skill. (Because why spend 2 points to increase one skill when you can spend 3 and increase both charisma and that skill?) Of our eight characters I imagine that at least one will dump their charisma. I'd actually be disappointed if *no one* does. ;)

I need some build help/advice should I use money for contacts or edges for contacts. Right now I am leaning toward money. Extra level 2 contact cost 10,000 vs. 5 edge points. (that's halve my wealth or half my edges).

Lifestyle: low (2 months) squatter x2 (2 months) =2,400
Contacts: level 2, level 1 = 15,000

Is 2,600 enough for a physical adept to by equipment? (I think so but am not sure).

Anyway I will use the edges freed up on:
toughness (3), will to live(1), Adrenaline Surge (2), High Pain tolerance (2), Quick Healer (2).
(undecided on flaws looking at tec aversion ones and compulsions)

Combined with Adept powers:
Improve senses: Low light vision, thermo vision, enhanced hearing, improved scent (1), Killing Hands Med (1) Improved STR[2] (1), Improved Body [2] (1), resistance to pathogens(1), Resistance to toxins (1).

I see him as a mix between Han Solo/ Peter Quill [starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy] (attitude) and Wolverine (toughness, awareness)

I will spend 30 (60 points) on Attributes S6 (8), Q5, B6(8), C3, I6, W4

This will leave me with Attributes 60 + Adept 25 + Resources +5 (60+25+5)= 90 leving me with 33 points to spend on skills.

So what are the problems with the build am I missing anything, is there a better way to go about doing it?

I highly recommend not getting Adrenaline Surge. It can be alright, but if you really plan on doing hand-to-hand combat, you're better off with actual Improved Reflexes. More passes are always good, and the +1 TN is a killer. If it were just perception TNs that would be rough (but okay), but to Combat Tests? That's deadly for a character that's planning on doing them. Improved Reflexes is expensive, but it's pretty much a tax for keeping up with the combat characters in the game. More passes are the way to win.

In general, Improved Attributes tend to be expensive in terms of magic points but if you're dead set against 'ware, they're what you have to go with. Attribute Boost is also viable.

Improved Ability is really where adepts shine. Most street sams can get really high attributes, but since you don't roll attributes with skills it's slightly less useful to increase them than in 4/5th edition. (Still good, just not *as* good). You have no way to drop combat TNs (like smartlinks can drop TNs) but you can roll a *lot* of dice. I recommend Improved Ability (Unarmed Combat).

Then again, if there are attributes that mean anything to melee adepts they are strength and body. Also, Combat Sense is *really* good. Again, expensive, but good.

If you really want to be hyper-effective in close combat it's generally better to be a Troll or at least go with a bunch of cyberware. But! And this is a big but, there are a ton of cool things that melee adepts can do that no one else can do. So I'd stray away from worrying about doing a ton of damage (you won't compete with dedicated cyberware users or Trolls) and move more towards the cool stuff. Nerve Strike, for example, is an interesting way to incapacitate targets rather than doing straight damage.

Oh, also note that each level of Improved Attribute that brings you over your racial maximum costs a full point not a half point.

@Etiquette - I'm not sure how they work in 3rd ed, but I can pick streets (was thinking in the direction of vandals/activists or perhaps even eco terrorists)

@Strength - Hmm. Were those electrified subdermal implants (or ortoskin or something) that allowed you to zap people on touch available in 3rd ed?

I know they are a quite nice melee option, since they have fixed damage and thus reduces your reliance on strength. Monowhips also have a fixed damage I think (all this in 4rth ed of course!).

Managed to get a hold of the core book. And I noticed Heavy weaponry is on Str, Launcher is on Int and most others are on Quickness. Hmm 4th ed ran all on Reaction (or possibly agility?).

This may have the unforeseen drawback of splitting my atributes further, but on the bright side, it would probably improve my chances to stab someone :P

A popular house rule was to make the close-combat STR attribute combat skills optionally based off QKN. Heavy Weapons, however, relies more on muscling a big weapon onto the target (as it were), while Launch Weapons have to do with anticipating your target.

GR, I personally wouldn't go in with a L2 contact in addition to the two L1s you get. As well, forego Improved Scent for flare compensation. Otherwise, what Apti says is good advice.

I only listed adrenaline surge as an option if you're going non-cyber/non-adept, as it's the only way to get multiple passes (unless you ahve a friendly mage/shaman/voudoun who's willing to cast spells before combat).

I probably won't be going with a ton of house rules on the character builds themselves, as the program doesn't really handle house rules, and I want to keep this simple for the newbies/new to 3rd ed.

House rules on other stuff in game will likely come along.

@PS - one thing for Cowboy to do would be to take all that extra money if he doesn't go magical/cyber and dump them into contacts. The guy who has friends in all the oddest places... Great idea for a face...

It can, but you need to know how the data files work. ;)

(Is about to write questions about chargen, throttles the thing.) When will you be going to create the campaign and link this in?

Later this week, I'm winding down after spending all day travelling. I left the house at 3PM CST, had my flight run late 45 minutes, got to Charlotte, and the next flight was 2 hours late. I got to the hotel at 3AM EST. So 11 hours of travel.

Yeesh!! Go sleep or something!!

Did some quick research - Modern New Orleans and Metro Maps. Might come in useful for people, for neighborhood names and such.

Right. I've been travelling a lot, and I'll be heading for my own 11 hour travel in a couple of days, so I'll put this out now.

Was originally thinking about the elf bit, but I've always thought that elves were starting from 2012. If I'm wrong with that, I'll definitely go with that.

I wasn't really thinking about that much money to start. A military background was another thing I thought about. A tiny bit of chrome to start isn't too unreasonable, military minimums and whatnots. Maybe the reflexes later on, but not to start.

Money and contact-wise, probably not starting with a lot of the former. Investing in contacts would be good, a couple of old buds or family friends. As for the muscle car, it's another thing I'd get later. He's pretty much running away with the clothes on his back at the start.

I'm definitely interested in the 'new guys' working together, but I can't come up with anything right now. Maybe Roadster being called to pick him up at a bus stop somewhere, after the running away. We can work on it.

If your character was born in 1995 (ish), he'd be about the right age to spike and change in 2012. So there is that.

Also, there's always the Aztlan invasion of Texas in 2035. Texas secedes and then comes back the next year after failing to its territory back.

I'll try to think of some reason to connect with the new guys, but it might be better to get a mix. Maybe?

Delmar will have a place, most likely a garage with living quarters in the back. I am looking at owning 2 vehicles to start with. A utility van and a sportier vehicle (car most likely). The van will probably turn out to be the command vehicle for the group, and will house a couple of spy drones, as well as some defensive capabilities (popup micro turrets, attack drones, etc).

Delmar is only 28, and has been in New Orleans for about a year, and a shadowrunner for a couple of months (once the money from the gangers he killed ran out). He burned his old id and carries a fake SIN (this is where he found his Fixer contact). He has been the wheelman for a few small runs, and is basically still trying to make a name for himself.

Having been a bootlegger, he has pretty good knowledge on crossing borders and such. He is heavily cybered, but mostly with headgear (RCD,VCR, Cybereyes)

Just a note, as this often get's confused.

There was no 'change' for elves and dwarves. They were born that way. UGE (Goblinization) only applied to orc and troll subtypes. Goblinization still happens, but it's much rarer, and usually around puberty.

Trolls & Orks have much shorter life spans, although those who goblinize seem to live longer (those years spent as human). Some of the original goblinization victims are still around, and have outlived their grand children, as a case in point.

If Cowboy goes elf, that's fine. He'd look in his 30's or 40's. Elves live a good 200 years, so he'd be middle aged. Still an anacronism, but not as much as just a 70 yo human.

@Daniel - I personally recommend against cranial decks or remote decks. They do have the advantage of being hard to take away, but they are also nearly impossible to upgrade, and require surgery (brain surgery) to upgrade. If you want a remote control deck that's hard to steal, I'd suggest a cyber arm replacement, and then put the deck in the arm. It's much easier to upgrade/swap parts out of an arm than it is your skull. And the essence loss is about the same. Also, on cyber eyes, remember, the cyber eye can 'absorb' some additional essence loss (that is, if you have the replacement, you can get IR or UV for free. I forget the exact amount it can absorb, but I think it's about 0.2 or 0.5).