Shpadoinkle
2016-04-16, 07:57 PM
My updates to this thread are going to be daily (or so. I might forget once or twice.)
This post is pretty much just detailing most of the mechanics of the game. If you don't care about that you can skip it.
THE PLAYER CHARACTER
You can play one of three archetypes, but for the most part this only affects what you start with. You can start as a samurai or even a shaman, get a Datajack, specialize in Computers, and spend all your time in the matrix if you want. The only major thing of note that your starting choice affects is whether you can ever use magic or not- shamans can learn magic, samurai and deckers can't.
http://s22.postimg.org/j21tju51t/1_1.png
Samurai
The warrior archetype. Samurai start with Hand Razors (cyberware), a crappy pistol, a medkit, and some useless grenades. Though to be fair, all grenades in this game are useless for combat.
http://s22.postimg.org/nle25cmxd/1_2.png
Samurai starting stats.
http://s22.postimg.org/niu6iij9t/1_3.png
Decker
The thief archetype. Starts with a Datajack (cyberware), a lame pistol, and two medkits. Deckers are able to "jack in" to the Matrix (basically the not!internet) and create a digital avatar in cyberspace, with which they can then mess around with computer systems, doing things like disabling security, cancelling alerts, planting false information, and stealing data to sell. To be honest I don't like messing around with the Matrix much.
http://s22.postimg.org/txt7f6pzl/1_4.png
Decker starting stats.
http://s22.postimg.org/9vjiwjztd/1_5.png
Shaman
The mage archetype. Note that unlike most other RPGs, Shadowrun makes no distinction between "white" and "black" magic, or however you want to refer to them. Any magic user can learn any spell (provided of course you have the cash,) and spells have levels that affect how powerful they are, and, in the case of things like buffs, how long they last. Furthermore, there are no magic points in Shadowrun. If you have the stats for it and doing so doesn't cause any drain, you can literally cast spells all day. Shamans start with Mana Zap level 3, Rockskin level 3, and Heal Wounds level 1.
http://s22.postimg.org/44tcitrtd/1_6.png
Shaman starting stats.
ATTRIBUTES, SKILL, AND KARMA
- ATTRIBUTES
Body - Basically your innate physical defense before armor is factored. Max it for everybody.
Quickness - How fast you walk (only in combat though) and how fast you attack. Max it for everybody.
Strength - Affects damage done with melee attacks and grenades, but as I mentioned above, grenades are useless. If you've got someone specializing in tearing the bad guys up with Spurs then max it for them, but if you're sticking with guns or magic you can ignore it.
Charisma - Affects fast-talk success, hiring prices for runners, run payment, and how much stuff costs at most stores. Really only matters for Joshua, so max it on him and leave it alone for everyone else.
Intelligence - Accuracy and attack speed, and affects about everything you do in the Matrix. Max it for everybody.
Willpower - Also affects accuracy, and defense against mana-type damage, as well as 'drain' when casting a spell (higher = less drain.) 'Drain' is Mental damage caused by trying to cast a spell beyond your abilities. You'll eventually want to max this for everybody, but mages should max it first. Everybody else can pretty safely ignore it until everything else important is maxed.
Essence - Basically your "soul" or "humanity." This starts at 6.0 for everybody and can never be raised, only lowered, and it's lowered by installing cyberware. Aside from that, your Essence also affects how well magical healing and buffs work on you- the lower your Essence, the less is healed (if anything) and the shorter buffs last. This can get it down to 0.1, but not lower. See the Cyberware section for more details.
Magic - Magic is equal to your truncated Essence, and affects how much power you can put into your spells. So if you have cyberware that drops your Essence to 3.8, then your Magic will be 3, and you'll only be able to cast spells at up to power level 3, even if you know a higher level. So in other words, go easy on the cyberware for your magic users (if you get them any at all.) Some guides advise that you NEVER EVER get cyberware for your mages, but personally I don't use spells past level 4, so I think getting a couple things for your mages isn't going to be the end of the world.
- SKILLS
Sorcery - How good you are at casting and resisting spells. Invest in this for your magic users; samurai and deckers can't learn this skill at all.
Firearms - How good you are at shooting the bad guys. Note that there are three specializations in this field. If you have, say, Pistols at 4, and Firearms at 1, then you'll attack with a skill rank of 4 whenever you're wielding a pistol, but if you switch to a shotgun or SMG then you'll be a lot less effective. The advantage of specializing is that it costs less karma. If you're going to specialize I suggest you do it in pistols, as they're the most versatile and therefore the most useful in my opinion. Shotguns are extremely powerful but don't hold much ammo, and can't be silenced (firing an unsilenced gun inside a corp building will instantly set off an alarm,) and SMGs aren't necessarily bad, but they automatically fire in bursts of 3 and almost never seem to hit all three times, so they essentially have only about one to two thirds the ammunition capacity they say they do. SMGs also tend to be lacking in power.
Melee Combat - How good you are at punching people to death. Having a few ranks in this is a good idea for samurai and deckers, just as a backup in case you run out of ammo at a bad time, but magic users can ignore it.
Throwing - How good you are with grenades. Who cares. Ignore it.
Computer - How effective you are at doing stuff in the Matrix. Pump it it for your decker, and for everybody else it's useless.
Biotech - Determines success when using a Medkit (see the Equipment section.) You'll want to have one character specialize in this, but you don't really need more than one to do so.
Electronics - Basically lockpicking, also effects how good you are at operating computer terminals (which is different from actually jacking into the Matrix.) I personally don't think it's worth investing in because you can buy a Maglock passkey (skeleton key) that automatically opens all the doors you'll need to get past, and while messing around with terminals can be handy it's never actually necessary.
Reputation - Notoriety. You'll need to get this up to at least level 4 for Joshua in order to complete the game, but on anybody else it has no effect. Affects run payment and hiring prices for runners. Additionally, as far as I can tell, once Joshua gets it to 6 or higher (or complete certain plot events) you'll occasionally get attacked by Renraku strike teams, who are some of the strongest enemies in the game.
Negotiation - Affects run payment, hiring prices, and how much most stuff costs. Nice to have, since it can save you A LOT of nuyen over the course of the game, but not essential.
-KARMA
Karma is how the game handles advancement, and is gained in three ways: Advancing the plot, killing stuff, and completing runs. Advancing the plot gives you the most at once, but obviously you can only do that so much, and the further you advance in the plot the more difficult it becomes, so it's not really a reliable way of earning more, it's just a nice bonus when you do. Every two dozen or so enemies you kill will also net you one Karma- this is just going to amount to a minor bonus every now and then. Your main form of earning karma is going to be via doing shadowruns. What type of run you do, as well as who you're doing them for, affects how much karma you earn.
The karma cost for raising an attribute is what the new score of that attribute would be (i.e. raising Body from 4 to 5 costs 5 karma, etc.) For skills, the cost is double the new score (raising Biotech from 5 to 6 costs 12 karma, etc.)
CYBERWARE
Cyberware is basically cybernetic hardware (and software) grafted onto and into your body. Obviously, this means it can't be stolen or confiscated by Lone Star, but it IS pretty expensive. The numbers in parentheses are the Essence cost.
- Cybereyes (0.2) - Basically makes you more accurate, especially against invisible enemies (of which there aren't many.) Cheapest at Council Island Hospital.
- Datajack (0.2) - Allows you to enter the Matrix. The Decker archetype starts with it, and all the deckers you can hire have one already, so there's never any need to buy one. Not that it matters, but this is cheapest at Little Chiba in Redmond Barrens.
- Dermal Plating (0.5/level, max 3) - Raises your Body stat by 1 per level. Good buy for everybody. Cheapest at Seattle General, in Downtown Seattle.
- Hand Razors (0.1) - Not really worth it, since Spurs are better and not much more expensive. Cheapest at Dr. Bob's Quickstitch Clininc in Puyallup Barrens.
- Muscle Replacement (1.0/level, max 4) - Raises your Strength and Quickness by 1 each per level. Pretty nice, but I prefer other stuff. Cheapest at Seattle General.
- Smartlink (0.5) - Allows you to use a Smartgun system. I understand this is better than a pair of Smart Goggles (which do the same thing,) but I don't know by how much. Anyway, it's a good buy for anyone regularly using pistols or SMGs. Cheapest at Wire-Masters, Renraku Arcology.
- Spurs (0.2) - Wanna tear stuff up? Spurs got your back. Better than Hand Razors. NOTE- If you already have Hand Razors and then buy these, the Hand Razors will get overridden, meaning it only costs 0.1 Essence to upgrade, but the final cost is still 0.2 either way. Cheapest at Dr. Bob's in Puyallup.
- Wired Reflexes (2.0/1.0/2.0, max 3) - Makes you attack faster - MUCH faster than a few levels of Quickness or Muscle Replacement. And yes, the essence cost for this is weird. The first and third levels cost 2.0 essence each, but the second only costs 1.0. I don't know why, but I'm not complaining. NOTE: DO NOT get a third level of this if you're getting it for a character who's going to ever be using melee attacks! This will trigger a bug that causes the character to die in a single hit, no matter what armor they have, how much health they have, or how much damage the attack would normally inflict. Cheapest at Wire-Masters in Renraku Arcology.
Anyway, my advice for getting cyberware is this:
- Samurai: Spurs (0.2,) Cybereyes (0.2,) Dermal Plating 2 (1.0,) Wired Reflexes 2 (3.0,) Smartlink (0.5,) Muscle Replacement 1 (1.0.) This will cost exactly 5.9 Essence.
- Decker: Assuming you want one longterm: same as Samurai, except replace Spurs or Cybereyes with a Datajack. If you're only hiring one for individual runs like I do, then I prefer to just have them get Wired Reflexes 2 (3.0) and a Smartlink (0.5) along with the requisite Datajack (0.2.)
- Mage/Shaman - Some people will tell you to NEVER get cyberware for your magic users, but I don't think it's that bad since I almost never use spells above level 4 anyway. Personally I like decking my magic users out (when I use them) with a set of Cybereyes(0.2) and level 3 Dermal Plating (1.5), which still leaves them with a Magic score of 4, which is plenty to finish the game with no problem.
MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT
- Combat Sense Spell Lock - Basically makes all your magic more effective. Get the level 4 one from Merlin's Lore in the Renraku Arcology, the lower levels aren't worth the cost.
- Electronic Kit - Raises your chance of success at bypassing maglocks, as though your Electronics skill were a couple levels higher than it actually is. Get it at the Crime Mall in Puyallup Barrens. Not nearly as good as a Maglock Passkey, but a hell of a lot cheaper.
- Fetish - Absorbs drain from casting a spell. Not worth it in my opinion, since it's only usable 10 times and it takes up an inventory slot; I prefer to just set my spells so I don't take drain from casting them.
- Maglock Passkey - Basically a skeleton key that opens any maglock of the key's rating or lower (i.e. a level 3 passkey will let you open level 1, 2, or 3 maglocks.) EXTREMELY USEFUL. Basically eliminates the need to invest in the Electronics skill. Save up for the level 5 version, the lower ratings aren't really worth the money.
- Medkit - Restores both Mental and Physical health with each use; the amount healed is affected by the user's Biotech skill. Have one character invest in that skill and carry around a few of these and you'll be able to survive a lot.
- Power Focus - Makes all spells cast by the bearer more potent. EXTREMELY useful for magic users. Save up for the level 3 version.
- Protection Talisman - Reduces all types of damage the bearer takes. Very useful, but only usable by magic users.
-Smart Goggles - Allows the bearer to make use of a Smartlink. Supposedly not as good as getting the actual Smartlink cyberware.
- Spell Focus: Increases the potency of the associated spell (i.e. Heal Spell Focus makes your Heal spell stronger, duh :B) I almost never use these, but if you really wanna squeeze the most out of your magic I guess it couldn't hurt to pick one up for the appropriate spell(s). If you do, get the level 3 version.
- Stim Patch - Restores 20% mental health to one character. Useful early on, but they quickly become obsolete thanks to Medkits and someone with a decent Biotech (level 4 or so) skill.
- Trauma Patch - Same as a Stim Patch, except it restores physical health.
- Universal Ammo Clip - Stock up on these or else your guns aren't going to do you any good. You can buy these just about anywhere, but they're cheapest at Ares Weapon Emporium in Redmond Barrens.
WEAPONS AND ARMOR
Okay, I'm actually not going to detail all the weapons and armor in the game, because there are a lot of them and I don't have the patience, but I will explain the basics, and point out a couple items that are of particular note.
Guns have three ratings: Ammo, damage, and power. Ammo is how many shots you get per clip. Damage is how much damage they do, provided the shot actually penetrates the target's armor (if any.) Power is penetrative power, how good the gun is at busting through armor.
-Predator Heavy Pistol - You can buy this at Ares Weapon Emporium in Redmond Barrens as soon as you've got the cash for it- assuming you leave your Negotiation skill at the starting level, it'll be 675 nuyen. You'll make that much eventually, so save up for it, it's really not very much. Medium damage, which is the best you can get in a pistol, high power, 15 rounds per clip.
- Frag Grenades - Like all grenades these are useless for combat, but Frag Grenades specifically can be used for blowing open Maglocked doors (for some reason no other variety of grenade will work.)
Armor has two ratings: Guns and weapons. "Weapons" refers to stuff like punches from ghouls and gang members.
- Armor Jacket - A bit on the pricey side (around a grand,) but the best legal armor you can get, and the best you can get before prices start really ramping up with the Light Combat Armor.
- Lined Duster - I really only mention this because of the in-game description; it claims that this armor lets you conceal illegal weapons, but I've never actually seen this happen. Might be interesting if it did, but since it doesn't this armor seems to actually be completely worthless.
- Light Combat Armor - Runs about 10 grand a pop, but it's the second best armor you can get. Start saving up for this once you've got a steady income. However, it's illegal (for civilians) to posess, so if you get arrested you'll lose it.
- Heavy Combat Armor - The best armor in the game, but it costs 30 grand per suit. Obviously, this also is illegal. I don't consider it three times better than the light version though, so I usually stick with that unless I'm just swimming in spare cash.
SHADOWRUNNERS
It is in fact entirely possible to finish the game solo, but it's much faster and easier if you have a couple hired buddies backing you up. Generally you'll want to hire people to compensate for areas you lack in, but there's nothing necessarily stopping you from playing a shaman and hiring another couple shamans, or playing a samurai and blowing and slicing stuff up with a couple samurai buddies... or you could even theoretically play a decker and hire another couple deckers to... tag along and just kinda watch while you do the hacking yourself, since actually doing stuff in the Matrix is a solo activity. Consequently I prefer not to play a decker, and not have one on my team full-time, only occasionally when I need their skills for something specific.
Runners adjust their prices based on a few factors; your Charisma, your combined Reputation and Negotiation skill levels (they're simply added in this instance; having 4 Reputation and 4 Negotiation is the same as having 8 Reputation and 0 Negotiation,) and, if they've worked with you before, whether previous runs with you were successful or not. Note that "unsuccessful" includes both you dismissing them before the run is completed, and you letting them get beaten unconscious and abandoning them (leaving the area) before reviving them (leaving with a runner unconscious will also automatically remove that one from your team.) You can gauge, generally, how a runner feels about working with you by their responses (and prices) when you ask about hiring them.
Finally, you can hire runners for a single run, or you can hire them to be your buddy for life for ten times the price of a one-off.
ANYWAY, these are the hireable runners and where you can find them. The links go to their starting stats. Note that if you upgrade a runner's stats, change his equipement, or install cyberware, then dismiss him (or complete the run, if you hired them for a one-off) he'll keep those changes
MAGIC USERS
- RICKY (http://s22.postimg.org/ghjocefip/Ricky_starting_stats.png)
Dwarf; Rat Shaman; found in Jackal's Lantern, Redmond Barrens
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Well, he's inexpensive, and he knows Stink 3, Flame Bolt 1, Invisibility 1, and Rockskin 2.
My opinion: Ricky is... kinda awful, to be honest. On the plus side you don't even have to leave Redmond to hire him, meaning that as soon as you can scrape together 115 nuyen he's happy to tag along. He CAN be good if you invest in building him up, but that goes for any runner, and others give you better starting material even if they are a lot more expensive. On the plus side, he's the only dwarf magic user in the game, giving him an advantage over everyone else in that his max Willpower is 7.
- TRENT DELISARIO (http://s22.postimg.org/5kicnmsr5/Trent_starting_stats.png)
Human; Mage; Found in the Space Needle, Downtown Seattle
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Flame Dart 2, Heal Wounds 2, and Rockskin 3. He'll also give you the number for Prof. Jefferson (for free, even) if you ask about it.
My opinion: Not terrible but not great, either. I prefer Ricky as an early-game magic user, and you can hire him earlier and cheaper.
- WALKING BEAR (http://s22.postimg.org/e67u300lt/Walking_Bear_starting_stats.png)
Orc; Bear Shaman; Found in Friendship Restaurant, Council Island
WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Mana Zap 1, Mana Storm 4, Sleep 3, Heal Wounds 2, Confusion 2. She also, for whatever reason, has some levels in Firearms and Melee Combat. I guess she was a samurai before she found her calling as a shaman.
My opinion: She's a better magic user than Ricky or Trent, but I'm just not that big a fan of her. Hire her on if you feel like having an orc tagging along frying stuff.
- FREYA GOLDENHAIR (http://s22.postimg.org/sfl8qaj9t/Freya_starting_stats.png)
Elf, Mage; Found in Club Penumbra, Penumbra District
WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Mana Blast 3, Hellblast 3, Super Barrier 2, Invisibility 3, Sleep 4, Heal Wounds 4. That 6 in pistols also means she's pretty good with that Predator she packs.
My opinion: Not a big fan. She's a great mage, yeah, but... I dunno. Honestly, if I want to have a magic user on the team fulltime, I prefer to hire Ricky right off the bat and build him up. That's just my preference, though. Also note that because she likes to hang out in Club Penumbra between runs that Joshua will have to have a Reputation of 4 before you can even get in.
SAMURAI
- WINSTON MARRS (http://s22.postimg.org/d1rk2uia9/Winston_starting_stats.png)
Troll; Samurai; Found in Big Rhino, Penumbra District
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: An Allegience Shotgun, a 4 in Shotguns, a 4 in Melee Combat, and the fact that he's a troll. Winston gets some sickening bonuses to his Body and Strength scores for being a troll- specifically, they cap out at 11 and 10 respectively, BEFORE cyberware (remember that these sats cap out at 6, barring cyberware, for humans.) He's also fairly inexpensive and the only requirement (besides money) for being able to hire him as your buddy for life is that you get Michael's stuff from Stoker's Coffin, then head to the Penumbra District. Furthermore he comes without any cyberware installed, meaning you can gan get him wired however you want.
My opinion: His starting stats are good but not stellar, but you can hire him from practically the beginning of the game, so if you hire him for life he's going to be gaining Karma at the same rate Joshua is. Personally I like having him focus on Melee Combat, Biotech, and Firearms. Get him decked out in cyberware and he'll destroy pretty much anything you point him at.
- ILENE TWO-FISTS (http://s9.postimg.org/hu5qoeqf3/Ilene_starting_stats.png)
Human; Samurai; not hireable at the beginning of the game (once she is she'll be found in the Jump House, Redmond Barrens)
WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Wired Reflexes 1, Muscle Replacement 1, and Hand Razors. Unfortunately, she starts with no gear beyond her cyberware.
My opinion: If you decide to hire her be sure to upgrade her Hand Razors to Spurs right away. Anyway, she's pretty good, though she pales in comparison to Stark, and still has 2.9 Essence left over (2.8 after Spurs) if you want to get some more cyberware for her.
- STARK (http://s22.postimg.org/qdkrc1lap/Stark_starting_stats.png)
Human; Samurai; not hireable at the beginning of the game (once he is he'll be found at Underground 93, Puyallup Barrens)
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Well, he's wired to the teeth (possibly literally, in this case,) with Cybereyes, Spurs, Muscle Replacement 1, Dermal Plating 3, and Wired Reflexes 2. He also has a pair of Smart Goggles. Finally, once he's available he's always completely free to hire, no matter how many times you dismiss him, let him get clobbered, or fail a run.
My opinion: Stark's pretty great, and you can recruit him fairly early once you've got some decent equipment (see the section 'Saving Stark.') If you're not playing a samurai and you don't want to invest in getting Winston decked out, having Stark along is pretty good instead (and even if you are playing a samurai and/or do have Winston, more firepower and someone good with Biotech never hurts.)
DECKERS
- PETR UHEVR (http://s22.postimg.org/o56kupe6p/Petr_starting_stats.png)
Dwarf; Decker; Found in The Wanderer, Puyallup Barrens
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Practically nothing, as he's a decker with a freaking 2 in Computers. The ONLY advantage he has over the other deckers you can hire is that the only cyberware he has is a Datajack, so you can customize his cyberware loadup (almost) completely.
My opinion: Waste of money, don't bother.
- PHANTOM (http://s22.postimg.org/8dbk7nt3l/Phantom_starting_stats.png)
Elf; Decker; Found in The Frag Grenade, Renraku Arcology
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Level 1 Wired Reflexes and a datajack. Also Hand Razors for some reason.
My opinion: Decent decker, but Rianna's better. On the other hand, Phantom only charges about half as much.
- RIANNA HEARTBANE (http://s22.postimg.org/6horwi49d/Rianna_starting_stats.png)
Elf; Decker; Found in The Matchstick, Downtown Seattle
WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: She's (initially) the best hireable decker, with level 2 Wired Reflexes and a Smartlink installed to boot. She's also not terrible with that SMG of hers.
My opinion: Good for Corp runs against Renraku and expert Matrix missions once you've built up her Computer skill and invested in a good cyberdeck (though to be fair, you could say that for anybody- Rianna just has a headstart on everyone else,) and a couple other specific instances, but I don't really have much use for her (or deckers in general) outside of that.
SPELLS AND MAGIC STUFF
Quick note: I really don't like or use magic all that much outside of a couple specific instances, so this section might be slightly biased, but if you want to try it out don't let me discourage you. I fully acknowledge that magic can be both extremely powerful and incredibly useful, but it's just not my style.
Also, I've mentioned 'drain' above. Drain is the result of casting a powerful spell without the skill or willpower to master it properly- in game terms, you take some Mental damage if you cast a spell at too high a level. This can be negated with fetishes, which you can buy from most magic stores.
- SPELL DESCRIPTIONS
- BARRIER - Creates a magic wall that can't be moved through, but CAN be shot through, and spells can penetrate it as well. I actually never use it, but it can be useful against Hell Hounds.
- SUPER BARRIER - Basically Barrier, except it blocks everything. Not bad as a last-ditch emergency measure.
- CONFUSION - AoE; Lowers the target's accuracy. Not bad if that's what you're looking for.
- STINK - Lowers target's accuracy. Only affects one target, but has a better success rate than Confusion, and the effect seems greater.
- HEAL WOUNDS - Restores physical health. Cast it at a level that doesn't cause drain and you can have your entire party at 100% physical health all the time. Very useful.
- SLEEP - AoE; Knocks targets unconscious, and also apparently does Mental damage. I've heard it's useful against Hellhounds, especially after whipping out a Barrier, but I've never really used it.
- ROCKSKIN - Raises one target's defense for a while. Okay I guess.
- INVISIBILITY - Not as useful as you might think, since corp cameras can still see you, as well as most paranormal enemies (like Hellhounds.) It DOES, however, work against most security guards (provided you haven't tripped an alarm.) See the 'Secrets, Tricks, Exploits, and Cheats' section for pretty much the only time I ever use it.
- MANA ZAP - Does a small amount of mana-type damage to one target. I don't know why this is even in the game, considering Mana Blast is better in every way.
- MANA BLAST - Does more mana-type damage to one target than Mana Zap.
- MANA STORM - Creates an explosion of mana-type damage, affecting everything in the area. I can't recommend it, since you'll almost invariably be blasting your allies and yourself with it as well.
- FLAME DART - Basically Mana Zap, except stronger and it does physical-type damage.
- FLAME BOLT - Basically Mana Blast, except stronger and it does physical-type damage.
- HELLBLAST - Again, basically Mana Storm, except stronger and it does physical-type damage.
So, why use the electrical mana spells when the fire spells do more damage? Because armor doesn't protect against mana damage. Early on this isn't going to be noticeable, but later, when you're regularly going up against Renraku strike teams and such, it's going to be a significant difference. Also note that Hellhounds are practically immune to fire, so you'll want to have a couple levels in Mana Blast for your spellcasters (or a decent gun.)
This post is pretty much just detailing most of the mechanics of the game. If you don't care about that you can skip it.
THE PLAYER CHARACTER
You can play one of three archetypes, but for the most part this only affects what you start with. You can start as a samurai or even a shaman, get a Datajack, specialize in Computers, and spend all your time in the matrix if you want. The only major thing of note that your starting choice affects is whether you can ever use magic or not- shamans can learn magic, samurai and deckers can't.
http://s22.postimg.org/j21tju51t/1_1.png
Samurai
The warrior archetype. Samurai start with Hand Razors (cyberware), a crappy pistol, a medkit, and some useless grenades. Though to be fair, all grenades in this game are useless for combat.
http://s22.postimg.org/nle25cmxd/1_2.png
Samurai starting stats.
http://s22.postimg.org/niu6iij9t/1_3.png
Decker
The thief archetype. Starts with a Datajack (cyberware), a lame pistol, and two medkits. Deckers are able to "jack in" to the Matrix (basically the not!internet) and create a digital avatar in cyberspace, with which they can then mess around with computer systems, doing things like disabling security, cancelling alerts, planting false information, and stealing data to sell. To be honest I don't like messing around with the Matrix much.
http://s22.postimg.org/txt7f6pzl/1_4.png
Decker starting stats.
http://s22.postimg.org/9vjiwjztd/1_5.png
Shaman
The mage archetype. Note that unlike most other RPGs, Shadowrun makes no distinction between "white" and "black" magic, or however you want to refer to them. Any magic user can learn any spell (provided of course you have the cash,) and spells have levels that affect how powerful they are, and, in the case of things like buffs, how long they last. Furthermore, there are no magic points in Shadowrun. If you have the stats for it and doing so doesn't cause any drain, you can literally cast spells all day. Shamans start with Mana Zap level 3, Rockskin level 3, and Heal Wounds level 1.
http://s22.postimg.org/44tcitrtd/1_6.png
Shaman starting stats.
ATTRIBUTES, SKILL, AND KARMA
- ATTRIBUTES
Body - Basically your innate physical defense before armor is factored. Max it for everybody.
Quickness - How fast you walk (only in combat though) and how fast you attack. Max it for everybody.
Strength - Affects damage done with melee attacks and grenades, but as I mentioned above, grenades are useless. If you've got someone specializing in tearing the bad guys up with Spurs then max it for them, but if you're sticking with guns or magic you can ignore it.
Charisma - Affects fast-talk success, hiring prices for runners, run payment, and how much stuff costs at most stores. Really only matters for Joshua, so max it on him and leave it alone for everyone else.
Intelligence - Accuracy and attack speed, and affects about everything you do in the Matrix. Max it for everybody.
Willpower - Also affects accuracy, and defense against mana-type damage, as well as 'drain' when casting a spell (higher = less drain.) 'Drain' is Mental damage caused by trying to cast a spell beyond your abilities. You'll eventually want to max this for everybody, but mages should max it first. Everybody else can pretty safely ignore it until everything else important is maxed.
Essence - Basically your "soul" or "humanity." This starts at 6.0 for everybody and can never be raised, only lowered, and it's lowered by installing cyberware. Aside from that, your Essence also affects how well magical healing and buffs work on you- the lower your Essence, the less is healed (if anything) and the shorter buffs last. This can get it down to 0.1, but not lower. See the Cyberware section for more details.
Magic - Magic is equal to your truncated Essence, and affects how much power you can put into your spells. So if you have cyberware that drops your Essence to 3.8, then your Magic will be 3, and you'll only be able to cast spells at up to power level 3, even if you know a higher level. So in other words, go easy on the cyberware for your magic users (if you get them any at all.) Some guides advise that you NEVER EVER get cyberware for your mages, but personally I don't use spells past level 4, so I think getting a couple things for your mages isn't going to be the end of the world.
- SKILLS
Sorcery - How good you are at casting and resisting spells. Invest in this for your magic users; samurai and deckers can't learn this skill at all.
Firearms - How good you are at shooting the bad guys. Note that there are three specializations in this field. If you have, say, Pistols at 4, and Firearms at 1, then you'll attack with a skill rank of 4 whenever you're wielding a pistol, but if you switch to a shotgun or SMG then you'll be a lot less effective. The advantage of specializing is that it costs less karma. If you're going to specialize I suggest you do it in pistols, as they're the most versatile and therefore the most useful in my opinion. Shotguns are extremely powerful but don't hold much ammo, and can't be silenced (firing an unsilenced gun inside a corp building will instantly set off an alarm,) and SMGs aren't necessarily bad, but they automatically fire in bursts of 3 and almost never seem to hit all three times, so they essentially have only about one to two thirds the ammunition capacity they say they do. SMGs also tend to be lacking in power.
Melee Combat - How good you are at punching people to death. Having a few ranks in this is a good idea for samurai and deckers, just as a backup in case you run out of ammo at a bad time, but magic users can ignore it.
Throwing - How good you are with grenades. Who cares. Ignore it.
Computer - How effective you are at doing stuff in the Matrix. Pump it it for your decker, and for everybody else it's useless.
Biotech - Determines success when using a Medkit (see the Equipment section.) You'll want to have one character specialize in this, but you don't really need more than one to do so.
Electronics - Basically lockpicking, also effects how good you are at operating computer terminals (which is different from actually jacking into the Matrix.) I personally don't think it's worth investing in because you can buy a Maglock passkey (skeleton key) that automatically opens all the doors you'll need to get past, and while messing around with terminals can be handy it's never actually necessary.
Reputation - Notoriety. You'll need to get this up to at least level 4 for Joshua in order to complete the game, but on anybody else it has no effect. Affects run payment and hiring prices for runners. Additionally, as far as I can tell, once Joshua gets it to 6 or higher (or complete certain plot events) you'll occasionally get attacked by Renraku strike teams, who are some of the strongest enemies in the game.
Negotiation - Affects run payment, hiring prices, and how much most stuff costs. Nice to have, since it can save you A LOT of nuyen over the course of the game, but not essential.
-KARMA
Karma is how the game handles advancement, and is gained in three ways: Advancing the plot, killing stuff, and completing runs. Advancing the plot gives you the most at once, but obviously you can only do that so much, and the further you advance in the plot the more difficult it becomes, so it's not really a reliable way of earning more, it's just a nice bonus when you do. Every two dozen or so enemies you kill will also net you one Karma- this is just going to amount to a minor bonus every now and then. Your main form of earning karma is going to be via doing shadowruns. What type of run you do, as well as who you're doing them for, affects how much karma you earn.
The karma cost for raising an attribute is what the new score of that attribute would be (i.e. raising Body from 4 to 5 costs 5 karma, etc.) For skills, the cost is double the new score (raising Biotech from 5 to 6 costs 12 karma, etc.)
CYBERWARE
Cyberware is basically cybernetic hardware (and software) grafted onto and into your body. Obviously, this means it can't be stolen or confiscated by Lone Star, but it IS pretty expensive. The numbers in parentheses are the Essence cost.
- Cybereyes (0.2) - Basically makes you more accurate, especially against invisible enemies (of which there aren't many.) Cheapest at Council Island Hospital.
- Datajack (0.2) - Allows you to enter the Matrix. The Decker archetype starts with it, and all the deckers you can hire have one already, so there's never any need to buy one. Not that it matters, but this is cheapest at Little Chiba in Redmond Barrens.
- Dermal Plating (0.5/level, max 3) - Raises your Body stat by 1 per level. Good buy for everybody. Cheapest at Seattle General, in Downtown Seattle.
- Hand Razors (0.1) - Not really worth it, since Spurs are better and not much more expensive. Cheapest at Dr. Bob's Quickstitch Clininc in Puyallup Barrens.
- Muscle Replacement (1.0/level, max 4) - Raises your Strength and Quickness by 1 each per level. Pretty nice, but I prefer other stuff. Cheapest at Seattle General.
- Smartlink (0.5) - Allows you to use a Smartgun system. I understand this is better than a pair of Smart Goggles (which do the same thing,) but I don't know by how much. Anyway, it's a good buy for anyone regularly using pistols or SMGs. Cheapest at Wire-Masters, Renraku Arcology.
- Spurs (0.2) - Wanna tear stuff up? Spurs got your back. Better than Hand Razors. NOTE- If you already have Hand Razors and then buy these, the Hand Razors will get overridden, meaning it only costs 0.1 Essence to upgrade, but the final cost is still 0.2 either way. Cheapest at Dr. Bob's in Puyallup.
- Wired Reflexes (2.0/1.0/2.0, max 3) - Makes you attack faster - MUCH faster than a few levels of Quickness or Muscle Replacement. And yes, the essence cost for this is weird. The first and third levels cost 2.0 essence each, but the second only costs 1.0. I don't know why, but I'm not complaining. NOTE: DO NOT get a third level of this if you're getting it for a character who's going to ever be using melee attacks! This will trigger a bug that causes the character to die in a single hit, no matter what armor they have, how much health they have, or how much damage the attack would normally inflict. Cheapest at Wire-Masters in Renraku Arcology.
Anyway, my advice for getting cyberware is this:
- Samurai: Spurs (0.2,) Cybereyes (0.2,) Dermal Plating 2 (1.0,) Wired Reflexes 2 (3.0,) Smartlink (0.5,) Muscle Replacement 1 (1.0.) This will cost exactly 5.9 Essence.
- Decker: Assuming you want one longterm: same as Samurai, except replace Spurs or Cybereyes with a Datajack. If you're only hiring one for individual runs like I do, then I prefer to just have them get Wired Reflexes 2 (3.0) and a Smartlink (0.5) along with the requisite Datajack (0.2.)
- Mage/Shaman - Some people will tell you to NEVER get cyberware for your magic users, but I don't think it's that bad since I almost never use spells above level 4 anyway. Personally I like decking my magic users out (when I use them) with a set of Cybereyes(0.2) and level 3 Dermal Plating (1.5), which still leaves them with a Magic score of 4, which is plenty to finish the game with no problem.
MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT
- Combat Sense Spell Lock - Basically makes all your magic more effective. Get the level 4 one from Merlin's Lore in the Renraku Arcology, the lower levels aren't worth the cost.
- Electronic Kit - Raises your chance of success at bypassing maglocks, as though your Electronics skill were a couple levels higher than it actually is. Get it at the Crime Mall in Puyallup Barrens. Not nearly as good as a Maglock Passkey, but a hell of a lot cheaper.
- Fetish - Absorbs drain from casting a spell. Not worth it in my opinion, since it's only usable 10 times and it takes up an inventory slot; I prefer to just set my spells so I don't take drain from casting them.
- Maglock Passkey - Basically a skeleton key that opens any maglock of the key's rating or lower (i.e. a level 3 passkey will let you open level 1, 2, or 3 maglocks.) EXTREMELY USEFUL. Basically eliminates the need to invest in the Electronics skill. Save up for the level 5 version, the lower ratings aren't really worth the money.
- Medkit - Restores both Mental and Physical health with each use; the amount healed is affected by the user's Biotech skill. Have one character invest in that skill and carry around a few of these and you'll be able to survive a lot.
- Power Focus - Makes all spells cast by the bearer more potent. EXTREMELY useful for magic users. Save up for the level 3 version.
- Protection Talisman - Reduces all types of damage the bearer takes. Very useful, but only usable by magic users.
-Smart Goggles - Allows the bearer to make use of a Smartlink. Supposedly not as good as getting the actual Smartlink cyberware.
- Spell Focus: Increases the potency of the associated spell (i.e. Heal Spell Focus makes your Heal spell stronger, duh :B) I almost never use these, but if you really wanna squeeze the most out of your magic I guess it couldn't hurt to pick one up for the appropriate spell(s). If you do, get the level 3 version.
- Stim Patch - Restores 20% mental health to one character. Useful early on, but they quickly become obsolete thanks to Medkits and someone with a decent Biotech (level 4 or so) skill.
- Trauma Patch - Same as a Stim Patch, except it restores physical health.
- Universal Ammo Clip - Stock up on these or else your guns aren't going to do you any good. You can buy these just about anywhere, but they're cheapest at Ares Weapon Emporium in Redmond Barrens.
WEAPONS AND ARMOR
Okay, I'm actually not going to detail all the weapons and armor in the game, because there are a lot of them and I don't have the patience, but I will explain the basics, and point out a couple items that are of particular note.
Guns have three ratings: Ammo, damage, and power. Ammo is how many shots you get per clip. Damage is how much damage they do, provided the shot actually penetrates the target's armor (if any.) Power is penetrative power, how good the gun is at busting through armor.
-Predator Heavy Pistol - You can buy this at Ares Weapon Emporium in Redmond Barrens as soon as you've got the cash for it- assuming you leave your Negotiation skill at the starting level, it'll be 675 nuyen. You'll make that much eventually, so save up for it, it's really not very much. Medium damage, which is the best you can get in a pistol, high power, 15 rounds per clip.
- Frag Grenades - Like all grenades these are useless for combat, but Frag Grenades specifically can be used for blowing open Maglocked doors (for some reason no other variety of grenade will work.)
Armor has two ratings: Guns and weapons. "Weapons" refers to stuff like punches from ghouls and gang members.
- Armor Jacket - A bit on the pricey side (around a grand,) but the best legal armor you can get, and the best you can get before prices start really ramping up with the Light Combat Armor.
- Lined Duster - I really only mention this because of the in-game description; it claims that this armor lets you conceal illegal weapons, but I've never actually seen this happen. Might be interesting if it did, but since it doesn't this armor seems to actually be completely worthless.
- Light Combat Armor - Runs about 10 grand a pop, but it's the second best armor you can get. Start saving up for this once you've got a steady income. However, it's illegal (for civilians) to posess, so if you get arrested you'll lose it.
- Heavy Combat Armor - The best armor in the game, but it costs 30 grand per suit. Obviously, this also is illegal. I don't consider it three times better than the light version though, so I usually stick with that unless I'm just swimming in spare cash.
SHADOWRUNNERS
It is in fact entirely possible to finish the game solo, but it's much faster and easier if you have a couple hired buddies backing you up. Generally you'll want to hire people to compensate for areas you lack in, but there's nothing necessarily stopping you from playing a shaman and hiring another couple shamans, or playing a samurai and blowing and slicing stuff up with a couple samurai buddies... or you could even theoretically play a decker and hire another couple deckers to... tag along and just kinda watch while you do the hacking yourself, since actually doing stuff in the Matrix is a solo activity. Consequently I prefer not to play a decker, and not have one on my team full-time, only occasionally when I need their skills for something specific.
Runners adjust their prices based on a few factors; your Charisma, your combined Reputation and Negotiation skill levels (they're simply added in this instance; having 4 Reputation and 4 Negotiation is the same as having 8 Reputation and 0 Negotiation,) and, if they've worked with you before, whether previous runs with you were successful or not. Note that "unsuccessful" includes both you dismissing them before the run is completed, and you letting them get beaten unconscious and abandoning them (leaving the area) before reviving them (leaving with a runner unconscious will also automatically remove that one from your team.) You can gauge, generally, how a runner feels about working with you by their responses (and prices) when you ask about hiring them.
Finally, you can hire runners for a single run, or you can hire them to be your buddy for life for ten times the price of a one-off.
ANYWAY, these are the hireable runners and where you can find them. The links go to their starting stats. Note that if you upgrade a runner's stats, change his equipement, or install cyberware, then dismiss him (or complete the run, if you hired them for a one-off) he'll keep those changes
MAGIC USERS
- RICKY (http://s22.postimg.org/ghjocefip/Ricky_starting_stats.png)
Dwarf; Rat Shaman; found in Jackal's Lantern, Redmond Barrens
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Well, he's inexpensive, and he knows Stink 3, Flame Bolt 1, Invisibility 1, and Rockskin 2.
My opinion: Ricky is... kinda awful, to be honest. On the plus side you don't even have to leave Redmond to hire him, meaning that as soon as you can scrape together 115 nuyen he's happy to tag along. He CAN be good if you invest in building him up, but that goes for any runner, and others give you better starting material even if they are a lot more expensive. On the plus side, he's the only dwarf magic user in the game, giving him an advantage over everyone else in that his max Willpower is 7.
- TRENT DELISARIO (http://s22.postimg.org/5kicnmsr5/Trent_starting_stats.png)
Human; Mage; Found in the Space Needle, Downtown Seattle
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Flame Dart 2, Heal Wounds 2, and Rockskin 3. He'll also give you the number for Prof. Jefferson (for free, even) if you ask about it.
My opinion: Not terrible but not great, either. I prefer Ricky as an early-game magic user, and you can hire him earlier and cheaper.
- WALKING BEAR (http://s22.postimg.org/e67u300lt/Walking_Bear_starting_stats.png)
Orc; Bear Shaman; Found in Friendship Restaurant, Council Island
WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Mana Zap 1, Mana Storm 4, Sleep 3, Heal Wounds 2, Confusion 2. She also, for whatever reason, has some levels in Firearms and Melee Combat. I guess she was a samurai before she found her calling as a shaman.
My opinion: She's a better magic user than Ricky or Trent, but I'm just not that big a fan of her. Hire her on if you feel like having an orc tagging along frying stuff.
- FREYA GOLDENHAIR (http://s22.postimg.org/sfl8qaj9t/Freya_starting_stats.png)
Elf, Mage; Found in Club Penumbra, Penumbra District
WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Mana Blast 3, Hellblast 3, Super Barrier 2, Invisibility 3, Sleep 4, Heal Wounds 4. That 6 in pistols also means she's pretty good with that Predator she packs.
My opinion: Not a big fan. She's a great mage, yeah, but... I dunno. Honestly, if I want to have a magic user on the team fulltime, I prefer to hire Ricky right off the bat and build him up. That's just my preference, though. Also note that because she likes to hang out in Club Penumbra between runs that Joshua will have to have a Reputation of 4 before you can even get in.
SAMURAI
- WINSTON MARRS (http://s22.postimg.org/d1rk2uia9/Winston_starting_stats.png)
Troll; Samurai; Found in Big Rhino, Penumbra District
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: An Allegience Shotgun, a 4 in Shotguns, a 4 in Melee Combat, and the fact that he's a troll. Winston gets some sickening bonuses to his Body and Strength scores for being a troll- specifically, they cap out at 11 and 10 respectively, BEFORE cyberware (remember that these sats cap out at 6, barring cyberware, for humans.) He's also fairly inexpensive and the only requirement (besides money) for being able to hire him as your buddy for life is that you get Michael's stuff from Stoker's Coffin, then head to the Penumbra District. Furthermore he comes without any cyberware installed, meaning you can gan get him wired however you want.
My opinion: His starting stats are good but not stellar, but you can hire him from practically the beginning of the game, so if you hire him for life he's going to be gaining Karma at the same rate Joshua is. Personally I like having him focus on Melee Combat, Biotech, and Firearms. Get him decked out in cyberware and he'll destroy pretty much anything you point him at.
- ILENE TWO-FISTS (http://s9.postimg.org/hu5qoeqf3/Ilene_starting_stats.png)
Human; Samurai; not hireable at the beginning of the game (once she is she'll be found in the Jump House, Redmond Barrens)
WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Wired Reflexes 1, Muscle Replacement 1, and Hand Razors. Unfortunately, she starts with no gear beyond her cyberware.
My opinion: If you decide to hire her be sure to upgrade her Hand Razors to Spurs right away. Anyway, she's pretty good, though she pales in comparison to Stark, and still has 2.9 Essence left over (2.8 after Spurs) if you want to get some more cyberware for her.
- STARK (http://s22.postimg.org/qdkrc1lap/Stark_starting_stats.png)
Human; Samurai; not hireable at the beginning of the game (once he is he'll be found at Underground 93, Puyallup Barrens)
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Well, he's wired to the teeth (possibly literally, in this case,) with Cybereyes, Spurs, Muscle Replacement 1, Dermal Plating 3, and Wired Reflexes 2. He also has a pair of Smart Goggles. Finally, once he's available he's always completely free to hire, no matter how many times you dismiss him, let him get clobbered, or fail a run.
My opinion: Stark's pretty great, and you can recruit him fairly early once you've got some decent equipment (see the section 'Saving Stark.') If you're not playing a samurai and you don't want to invest in getting Winston decked out, having Stark along is pretty good instead (and even if you are playing a samurai and/or do have Winston, more firepower and someone good with Biotech never hurts.)
DECKERS
- PETR UHEVR (http://s22.postimg.org/o56kupe6p/Petr_starting_stats.png)
Dwarf; Decker; Found in The Wanderer, Puyallup Barrens
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Practically nothing, as he's a decker with a freaking 2 in Computers. The ONLY advantage he has over the other deckers you can hire is that the only cyberware he has is a Datajack, so you can customize his cyberware loadup (almost) completely.
My opinion: Waste of money, don't bother.
- PHANTOM (http://s22.postimg.org/8dbk7nt3l/Phantom_starting_stats.png)
Elf; Decker; Found in The Frag Grenade, Renraku Arcology
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: Level 1 Wired Reflexes and a datajack. Also Hand Razors for some reason.
My opinion: Decent decker, but Rianna's better. On the other hand, Phantom only charges about half as much.
- RIANNA HEARTBANE (http://s22.postimg.org/6horwi49d/Rianna_starting_stats.png)
Elf; Decker; Found in The Matchstick, Downtown Seattle
WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE TABLE: She's (initially) the best hireable decker, with level 2 Wired Reflexes and a Smartlink installed to boot. She's also not terrible with that SMG of hers.
My opinion: Good for Corp runs against Renraku and expert Matrix missions once you've built up her Computer skill and invested in a good cyberdeck (though to be fair, you could say that for anybody- Rianna just has a headstart on everyone else,) and a couple other specific instances, but I don't really have much use for her (or deckers in general) outside of that.
SPELLS AND MAGIC STUFF
Quick note: I really don't like or use magic all that much outside of a couple specific instances, so this section might be slightly biased, but if you want to try it out don't let me discourage you. I fully acknowledge that magic can be both extremely powerful and incredibly useful, but it's just not my style.
Also, I've mentioned 'drain' above. Drain is the result of casting a powerful spell without the skill or willpower to master it properly- in game terms, you take some Mental damage if you cast a spell at too high a level. This can be negated with fetishes, which you can buy from most magic stores.
- SPELL DESCRIPTIONS
- BARRIER - Creates a magic wall that can't be moved through, but CAN be shot through, and spells can penetrate it as well. I actually never use it, but it can be useful against Hell Hounds.
- SUPER BARRIER - Basically Barrier, except it blocks everything. Not bad as a last-ditch emergency measure.
- CONFUSION - AoE; Lowers the target's accuracy. Not bad if that's what you're looking for.
- STINK - Lowers target's accuracy. Only affects one target, but has a better success rate than Confusion, and the effect seems greater.
- HEAL WOUNDS - Restores physical health. Cast it at a level that doesn't cause drain and you can have your entire party at 100% physical health all the time. Very useful.
- SLEEP - AoE; Knocks targets unconscious, and also apparently does Mental damage. I've heard it's useful against Hellhounds, especially after whipping out a Barrier, but I've never really used it.
- ROCKSKIN - Raises one target's defense for a while. Okay I guess.
- INVISIBILITY - Not as useful as you might think, since corp cameras can still see you, as well as most paranormal enemies (like Hellhounds.) It DOES, however, work against most security guards (provided you haven't tripped an alarm.) See the 'Secrets, Tricks, Exploits, and Cheats' section for pretty much the only time I ever use it.
- MANA ZAP - Does a small amount of mana-type damage to one target. I don't know why this is even in the game, considering Mana Blast is better in every way.
- MANA BLAST - Does more mana-type damage to one target than Mana Zap.
- MANA STORM - Creates an explosion of mana-type damage, affecting everything in the area. I can't recommend it, since you'll almost invariably be blasting your allies and yourself with it as well.
- FLAME DART - Basically Mana Zap, except stronger and it does physical-type damage.
- FLAME BOLT - Basically Mana Blast, except stronger and it does physical-type damage.
- HELLBLAST - Again, basically Mana Storm, except stronger and it does physical-type damage.
So, why use the electrical mana spells when the fire spells do more damage? Because armor doesn't protect against mana damage. Early on this isn't going to be noticeable, but later, when you're regularly going up against Renraku strike teams and such, it's going to be a significant difference. Also note that Hellhounds are practically immune to fire, so you'll want to have a couple levels in Mana Blast for your spellcasters (or a decent gun.)