Shadowrun - Optimizing my Free Spirit

Selvagor · Post by **Selvagor** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 4:01 pm

Hello. This is my first Character for Shadowrun and I need your advise to optimize it. English is not my native langage so I'm sorry if I made some mistake. The plan is to play a Free Spirit with possession who can sneak anywhere. His magical tradition would be traditionnal sorcery (drain with WP and INT). I plan to use confusion to help me with possession (Is it possible?). With Psychokinesis, I could move myself if I possess an object. Concealment and Astral Chameleon give a lot of malus to see me.

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RACE&#58; Free Spirit 250 BP

ATTRIBUTES &#40;90 BP&#41;
Body&#58; 2          00 BP
Agility&#58; 2       00 BP
Reaction&#58; 2      00 BP
Strength&#58; 2      00 BP
Charisma&#58; 2      00 BP
Intuition&#58; 4     20 BP
Logic&#58; 2         00 BP
Willpower&#58; 4     20 BP
Magic &#58; 5        30 BP
Edge&#58; 4          20 BP


ACTIVE SKILLS &#40;72 BP&#41;
Spellcasting &#58; 6     24 BP
Counterspelling &#58; 4  16 BP
Assensing &#58; 4        16 BP
Dodge &#58; 4            16 BP


KNOWLEDGE SKILLS &#40;18 FREE SP&#41;
As you want

LANGUAGES SKILLS
English&#58; N

QUALITIES &#40;+30 BP&#41;
Astral Chameleon     5 BP
Some bad quality   +35 BP

Gear
An Artnwerre, basic trained, prepared as a vessel with an armor ? He could be useful to the team even when I don't possess him. Not much BP left to buy things and I can't realy keep on me.

Spell &#40;18 BP&#41;
Heal
Stun bolt
Mind Probe
Greater invisibility
Levitate
Influence 

Spirit Power &#58; 4
Possession
Concealment      2
Psychokinesis    0.5
Realistic Form   0.5
Confusion        1

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 4:05 pm

Uhm . . i don't think player character Free Spirits gain spirit powers . .
not so sure though . .

Seerow · Post by **Seerow** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 4:34 pm

Just throwing this out there, but free spirits are objectively a ridiculously terrible option. If this is your first character, do yourself a huge favor and just play a mage of a normal race. If you want spirit powers, use Conjuration to summon a spirit to use them.

Korwin · Post by **Korwin** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 8:31 pm

The free spirits as written in RC are way underpowered or way overpowered (with group connections + pacts = free Karma).

If we ignore the free karma pacts...
There may be some small hope of having an viable Char. if you Powergame the system to the breaking point and if the other players are militantly minimizer.
Not shure about that, I'll belive it when I see it in play.

Selvagor · Post by **Selvagor** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:35 pm

My other idea was a pixie mystical adept. But I found hard to build it.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:54 pm

Pixie Close Combat Adept has been proven to be insanely effective.
Also, it's insanely silly too . . BONUS! ^^
look here for example:
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?s ... peed+hedge
also, there was one about superspeed the hedge-pixie or something . .
basically, insanely fast flying pixie . .
also, they make perfect thieflings too . . er, windling thifs . . or whatever.
small, concealable, and can fly up several stories to break and enter where other people could not . .

even if there may not be much more to dumpshock sometimes, but you can be sure they find silly ways to min/max stuff for fun and profit sometimes . .

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:29 pm

My advice to any group would be to just stay the hell away from Runner's Companion. That book is a mess and while it can certainly be used to create decent characters I've yet to see a compelling argument that the book makes the setting better.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:39 pm

As far as i understood, the book does not try to change the setting.
It tries to give the players more options to use in the same setting.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 1:52 am

Yeah, and it does that by giving you official rules for things that people want to be, which is really sad and unfortunate because those rules are often very, very bad.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 9:26 am

That i am ill equipped to debate i am afraid.
Me and my whole group of geeks rejected SR4.

Korwin · Post by **Korwin** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:45 pm

Selvagor wrote:My other idea was a pixie mystical adept. But I found hard to build it.

First question needs to be: what kind of adept?
Pure or mystical adept?
Figthing-, steahlty- or face-adept or an combination?

Pixies make brutal magicans or mystical adept.
I myself dont like pure adepts, I prefer some cyber/bioware in my adepts.
Bad idea as pixie.

So what kind of adept.

As to RC as a whole, its a mixture of great and crap options and as such rewards system mastery.
But its not that hard to spot the trap options. Would I prefer an better Book? Shure!
But since Frank doesnt want to touch SR with an 5 ft. pole, I dont think we will get anything soon.

Maybe AncientHistory wants to try a second time?

Selvagor · Post by **Selvagor** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 11:37 am

Thank you for your answers. In fact I will play a pixie magician from vodou : good drain stat and nice choice of spirits (gardian, man, guide, task...). And astral projection will be really usefull.

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RACE&#58; Pixie 35 BP

ATTRIBUTES &#40;180 BP&#41;
Body&#58; 1          00 BP
Agility&#58; 3       00 BP
Reaction&#58; 3      00 BP
Strength&#58; 1      00 BP
Charisma&#58; 7      40 BP
Intuition&#58; 6     40 BP
Logic&#58; 2         00 BP
Willpower&#58; 7     40 BP
Magic &#58; 5        40 BP
Edge&#58; 3          20 BP


ACTIVE SKILLS &#40;112 BP&#41;
Spellcasting &#58; 5     20 BP
Conjuring &#58; 5        20 BP
Binding &#58; 4          16 BP
Counterspelling &#58; 4  16 BP
Assensing &#58; 4        16 BP
Dodge &#58; 4            16 BP
Perception &#58; 2        8 BP
Some social ? stealth ? Other ?

QUALITIES &#40;+10 BP&#41;
Magician             15 BP
Astral Chameleon      5 BP
Mentor &#40;Adversary&#41;    5 BP
Some bad quality    +35 BP

Gear &#40;30 BP&#41;
An armor when I'm in primate form ? which one ?
2 focus 3 sustaining &#40;Manipulation&#40;shape change&#41; and Health&#40;reflex&#41;&#41;
1 focus 2 power

Spell &#40;30 BP&#41;
Heal
Fix
Increased Reflexes
Stun bolt
Mind Probe
Improved Invisibility
Levitate
Control Thoughts
Orgasm
Shape change &#40;to buff my physical attribute&#41;

- Can I use astral projection and tell my spirit to possess my body and command/buff him from my astral form ?

Korwin · Post by **Korwin** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:18 pm

Not shure how astral chameleon interacts with cloaking (? Verschleierung in German), but I would prefer earased anyway.
Depending on how much time you are in your natural form an higher reaction migth be advisable.
From an powergaming perspective surge (+1 WP) is never an mistake.
Infiltration looks superior to invisibility with your racial power.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 5:13 pm

- Can I use astral projection and tell my spirit to possess my body and command/buff him from my astral form ?

Yes.

You could also have it possess a doll instead, which might be safer.

-Username17

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:17 pm

Verschleierung==Concealment Power.
No idea how these two interact either.

Possessing your own body is only helpfull if you are in a scene with shedim who would simply get in and drive away with your body otherwise or you are in a scene where you are needed on the astral but your body needs to remain mobile . .

UmaroVI · Post by **UmaroVI** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:22 pm

You do have the severe problem that you are completely fucked if you ever have to do something while not in ape form, or if you get stuck in a Background Count. Remember that BGC decreases foci ratings too so at 3+, your foci go poof.

One point on the Shapecheese - it is debatable whether you can actually buy armor sized for an ape. If your GM allows it, you are probably OK. If not, Shapechange into a Human (which is totally legal and even supported by the FAQ) instead.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:02 pm

or . . you know . . get armor for your pixie-form . .
mystic armor adept power. armor spell.
form fitting full body suit.
PPP-System.
Soft-Weave-Armor.
You can get a surprisingly large ammount of Armor into a pixie without problems . .

UmaroVI · Post by **UmaroVI** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 11:23 pm

Yeah, but not a 1 body pixie.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 12:31 am

That, and the Armor spell isn't worth karma or book space. It's too obvious and ham-handed for use as a general walking around buff and too passive and ineffective to be an in-combat problem solver. A Magician is well within their rights to expect more from a spell that requires sustaining and incurs a F/2+3 Drain value-- 3+ extra Drain is the weight class where you can expect to get to do "Alright, let's get some shit done" effects, like Trid Phantasm, Increase Reflexes, Physical Barrier, Shape Metal and Mob Control or Mob Mind. The nicest thing I can think about Armor is that a Manipulation Sustaining Focus isn't a bad purchase in general.

Mind you, all of that is even before getting into the part where UmaroVI was talking about the problems the character would face when dealing with Background Count, a situation in which the Armor spell is obviously not going to be working at full capacity. It's merely stating the obvious to say that this sheet is very flimsy when it's not running around as an invisible monkey.

Selvagor · Post by **Selvagor** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 11:26 am

I will probably buy an armor for the pixie and some kind of vest to protect me when I'm human or primate.

About the 1 body, I don't want to buy 2 body for 10BP (or 3 body for 35BP) when I can do it later for 6 karma (I'm right?). It's a waste for me. Sure I can be in trouble with BGC but I had to make choice (what should I replace to gain more body ?). I know my weakness and for now, I don't think my GM know them (like me, she's not an expert of the system). With some kharma, I can be a little magic independant.

Korwin · Post by **Korwin** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 3:43 pm

The Karma cost got Errata'ed. But if you use the old ones its 6 Karma.
(A reason to keep using BP's instead of Karma or use Karma Gen from the beginning...)

But I honestly would'nt go for Body and Armor with an Pixie.
I would use the Concealment power and Infiltration and high Reaction and Acrobatic to (hopefully) not get hit.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 4:43 pm

At Body 1 I'd pretty worried about being gassed, infected, standing back up (although 7 Will helps a lot in that regard), being targeted with Physical spells, subdued or submerged in water as well though. Body isn't an amazing attribute by any means, but it does help protect you from a wider variety of things than just ranged attacks. Obviously a Body of 2 isn't a game changer in that regard, but the fact that pixies are so geared towards all-or-nothing builds like this is yet another reason why I prefer to just straight up ban Runner's Companion. Pixie builds are often kind of a shitty thing to spring on an inexperienced GM and beg lots of questions about how inconspicuous the group is or whether a pixie can handle a particular object.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:57 pm

The Pxie-Puncher, Pixie-Healer and Superspeed the Hedge-Pixie would probably work reasonably well . .
Or as i said: Breaking and Entering. The Troll-Climber could climb up and get in, the Pixie just flies. Maybe a bit of hacking too, seeing how you don't need any ware for that . .