Zombies PCs in 4. ed Shadowrun?

[Starshade]

Well, i know a pair who like the SR world, just have never RPed at all. Im interested in finding some nice Stories/sourcebooks in 4. ed who could help start with.

On other hand, maybe the base book is ok enough for rookies?
I know one likes the idea of playing a virus infected half zombie: imagine a shadowrun ish version of blade, just half human, half ghoul. A half zombie as first character. -_-

Any sourcebooks in 4. ed covering that? Or perhaps other unusual, but good balanced PC player characters fitting for gameplay who could interest them?

[Swordguy]

Check the 4e rulebook for HMHVV. There's a strain that makes people into vampires, and one that makes them into ghouls (which in SR are effectively zombies that happen to not be dead) - and many ghouls retain their intelligence. They just happen to eat people. That makes it decent for a PC.

I could tell you where to find the rules for playing an HMHVV-infected character under SR3 rules, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait for someone else who knows SR4 better than I. Sorry.

[Tsotha-lanti]

SR4, Runner's Companion for HMHVV types and the resultant metahumans (including the orcs, trolls, elves, and dwarves inflicted by their respective HMHVV strains). Also the third time of human HMHVV sufferer: loup-garou. The Companion also includes rules for playing all these (although I'm not sure if vampires are actually playable, what with being so powerful).

[Lost Demiurge]

Actually, vampires work out pretty well. All those powers come at a steep cost of 100 build points.

I've been testing it out... Until you get some experience in, you're actually a little weaker than the typical specialized runner. True, you've got some neat tricks but that allergy to sunlight can suck, you run into wooden weapons occasionally, falling into deep water's a pretty troublesome risk, and headshots can put you down just like anyone else. You show up as a vampire in the astral, and in most cities, there's bounties for infected. Small ones for ghouls, pretty hefty ones for vampires.

If you want to play something like a zombie, I'd recommend going for a ghoul. Just either be prepared to disguise it, or clear it with the rest of the PC's beforehand. Ghouls are scary, and runners carry really big guns and tend to err on the side of buckshot.

[comicshorse]

Not to mention how the rest of your team will feel about running with a guy who looks on them as " happy meals on legs " :smallsmile:

[NPCMook]

I had a player want to run a drake character once, so I told him there was a group that believed that being a drake was a disease and would hunt him to cure his disease, by reducing his magic score to 0.

Runner's companion adds so many fun options. Alternatively you can pick up Augmentation for playing a Cyberzombie.