Help with a Shadowrun build

[Zanthy1]

Hello! New player to shadowrun 5e (most recent edition), getting some concepts in order before our first session of character building (probably in a few months). My idea is to play a mostly non-combat role. here it goes:

A scientist, probably human, who absolutely hates some of the other races (trolls and orcs specifically, maybe even dwarves and elves, haven't decided how racist he will be). The general idea is that he is an evil/mad scientist who takes after a couple of other characters from some other mediums. I want him to be mostly like mayuri kurotsuchi from the bleach series (captain of the research and development unit), with an obsession with plagues and explosives, and with a little Mordin Solus from mass effect (I kind of want to make something akin to the genophage). The final concept I'm not sure where i got it from, but I want him to also be a ventriloquist who has a somewhat creepy doll with him most of the time, that is of course rigged with explosives or poison gas. The key though, is that non of the plagues/poisons he creates and uses on others can affect him, he never makes something he is not immune to.

A note: I have never played shadowrun before, and have only briefly looked over the corebook and will be doing more as time goes on. Any ideas of tips you can give are greatly appreciated! Feel free to PM them to me as well!

Thanks!

[comicshorse]

First question : which edition are you playing with ?

Until we know that there's a limit as to what help can be given. In the most general terms Shadowrun is a game of corporate espionage and sneaking into places where you aren't meant to be. No matter how cool you're character if you can't help the rest of the group accomplish this you are going to be doing very little.
I'd think, from you description, that a Rigger would be your best bet. Riggers cybernetically link to drones and vehicles to use them better than any non Rigged operator ever could. Of course Drones can be any shape you want, you can make the Doll capable of moving on its own and load it with a dart gun and toxin reservoir if you want

Hatred of other races is a big thing in Shadowrun with the Humanis Policlub being the most frequent political/terrorist group associated with this. This isn't something I can really recommend as you are effectively playing a futuristic neo-nazi here.I'd suggest having a long talk with the GM and the other players (particularly if one of the others wants to play a metahuman) before you include that bit of background

There's various bits of Bioware and Cyberware that can make you resistant to disease and poisons but again that depends on the edition you are using

[JustIgnoreMe]

The most important thing to remember in character creation in every edition of Shadowrun:

If your character isn't useful, your character doesn't get jobs.

A character who doesn't play well with others will get a bad reputation at best, and a bullet in the head at worst.

[Zanthy1]

First question : which edition are you playing with ?

Until we know that there's a limit as to what help can be given. In the most general terms Shadowrun is a game of corporate espionage and sneaking into places where you aren't meant to be. No matter how cool you're character if you can't help the rest of the group accomplish this you are going to be doing very little.
I'd think, from you description, that a Rigger would be your best bet. Riggers cybernetically link to drones and vehicles to use them better than any non Rigged operator ever could. Of course Drones can be any shape you want, you can make the Doll capable of moving on its own and load it with a dart gun and toxin reservoir if you want

Hatred of other races is a big thing in Shadowrun with the Humanis Policlub being the most frequent political/terrorist group associated with this. This isn't something I can really recommend as you are effectively playing a futuristic neo-nazi here.I'd suggest having a long talk with the GM and the other players (particularly if one of the others wants to play a metahuman) before you include that bit of background

There's various bits of Bioware and Cyberware that can make you resistant to disease and poisons but again that depends on the edition you are using

Most recent edition, like the idea for the puppet

[Anymage]

I'm a little worried this game will crash and burn already. SR is about making a team of professional criminals who work well together. Never mind how your character concept is far better suited to a solo character (possibly protagonist if the medium works with a solo protagonist, much more likely this bioweapons guy will be an antagonist); having everybody make their characters on their own and bring them all to the table blind is just asking for problems. Too much risk of people having overlapping roles and competing for spotlight time, of leaving core roles unfilled, of having major personality conflicts right out the gate (a racist in a largely meta party, someone who likes blowing **** up in a sneaky party, etc), differences in expected optimization levels, and all sorts of other pitfalls.

Some parts of your character can be pretty flexibly applied. The ventriloquist dummy, for instance, could just as easily serve a rigger (it's one of his drones), a hacker (who looks like the dummy any time he's on the internet, including that being his avatar when he makes a call), or a magician (who uses the dummy because magicians are weird). It's even very likely that you could get ventriloquism listed as one of your knowledge skills (which can include hobbies) as opposed to the more costly active skills.

Still, I'm going to quote wikipedia as to SR archetypes. Ask how you want your character to contribute to the team first. (And again, if you're smart, get everybody to brainstorm characters together.) Smaller details are a lot easier to fill in after the big picture has been sketched out


Although the skill system is freeform, certain combinations of skills and equipment work well together. This combination of specialization in skill and equipment is known as an archetype. The most notable archetypes are street samurai, characters who have heavily augmented their bodies with cyberware and bioware and focus on physical combat; adepts, characters who have magical abilities that increase their physical (and sometimes mental) combat abilities; faces, highly charismatic characters who specialize in negotiations and social manipulation; hackers (deckers), experts in electronic surveillance, security, and augmented/virtual reality monitoring, combat and response; riggers, who augment their brains to achieve fine control over vehicles and drones; and magicians, who cast spells and can view emotions and call spirits from astral space. In Fourth Edition, with the setting change, deckers are replaced by hackers, who manipulate computer networks with augmented reality via ubiquitous commlinks; they also tend to take over the rigger's role.

However, the archetypes are not character classes: the player is allowed to cross boundaries. Restrictions are not imposed by the system itself, but by the player's specializations. Because character-building resources are limited, the player has to weigh which game resource he wants to specialize in and which he has to neglect. This allows high character customization while still ensuring that characters are viable in the setting.

(There's also a slight twist on the hacker/rigger archetypes who can somehow mystically control the internet with their brains instead of needing tech and software to do it for them, but they're just a different way of doing essentially the same job.)

[Lord Torath]

I'm going to echo Comicshorse here. Your character does not strike me as a team player (although I must confess I am not familiar with Bleach, or Mayuri Kurotsuchi, so I am quite happy to be proven wrong). Metahumans are very common choices for Shadowrun players, so you should expect at least one, probably two, and maybe even three others on your team. Orcs and Trolls are favorites because of their high toughness and strength. If your character can't work with them, he's not going to be part of the team for long. Johnsons (the job providers) generally want to hire professionals, not loose cannons. They want to hire people who will do the job, the full job, and nothing but the job. Teammates want someone who has their back, and will not create unnecessary complications in the middle of a run.

Some generic recommendations: lowlight/thermal/ultrasound goggles (20x magnification). You can always see. Plus, your face is obscured, so you're less likely to be identified. If you're a magician, note that you cannot cast spells through your goggles though, if using lowlight/thermal/ultrasound to see your target. Magnification can be optical, though, so if that's all the vision aid you need, you can still cast spells through it.

If you're an Adept with vision enhancements, or have cyber eyes, or some other reason you don't need the goggles, get a mask. As Elastigirl said, "Your identity is your most valuable possession. Protect it."

[Rain Dragon]

Well, echoing what others have said but adding that I think the concept can be executed in a way that adds to rather than detracts from the experience.

An issue in the bleach series with Kurotsuchi which comes up often (trying to remain spoiler free just in case) is he's a wild card/loose cannon because he plain doesn't care about anyone else, just himself and his goals.

Playing that exactly though is not necessarily fun for the other players as has been mentioned, so how can it be tuned so your character can work in a team?

Some of my suggestions to add to the base you've got;
- your character needs a lot of resources to achieve goals, but outside being born rich it's going to take a lot of work. The Shadowrunning way of gaining vast wealth is almost always more efficient with others, which is why your character has the team's backs (it's a means to an end). On that point as well, reputation is extremely important in the Shadows, so a bad rep from betrayals will hurt your bottom line too much to consider,
- your character under the surface has a major reason for the behaviour and obsession with plagues and explosions that is surprisingly human. This can be used to explain why your character is Shadowrunning and allowing for the team to be exceptions to a rule of 'couldn't care less about others',
- chat with the other players a bit before and/or during chargen so you know whether the theme is going to work against their characters too much or not. If they're all playing characters who'd have serious issue with your character then the point where they discover and tensions arise might be the point where the game becomes considerably less enjoyable for someone and that's rather unfortunate. It's possible that with some tweaks, this can be avoided entirely, so it's best to know early. =)

[comicshorse]

If the characters obsessed with plagues and poisons and if the GM is up for it, you could go full evil and run him as a Toxic Shaman ( a magician who gains power by spreading poison and pollution to kill and despoil the earth)

P.S
On second thoughts unless the whole party is playing evil 'Runners or you're prepared for this to be a Dark Secret that will get you killed by the rest of the group, this is probably a very bad idea

[Misereor]

As just about everyone already said, don't build a character that's a chore for others to play with.

That said, science is awesome and an interesting thing to base a character on.
Chemistry and biotech can be used for influencing people, breaking and entering, blowing up stuff, knocking out guards, destroying evidence, indiscriminate mass killing, selling drugs, healing, and whatever else your creative mind can come up with.

There are also plenty of ways to avoid accidentally killing yourself with your homemade compounds.
10 karma advantage Natural Immunity, chemical glands that produce antivenom, various augmentations and clothing, asthma inhalers with antidote, etc.

Filling your puppet collection with various interesting chemicals should almost be a given.
One that quietly distributes mind altering substances that you (and hopefully your team) are immune to.
One that quietly distributes chemicals that kill the sense of smell of guard dogs.
One that explodes and sprays black, magnetized paint, killing all sensors in range.
Hitting someone in the face with a doll that says "mama!" and then blows up, covering them in a mix of burning napalm and thermite, is of course also an possibility, although slightly less creative.


And that's just one or two skills.
For filling up, I would probably go with a face type role and reserving points for one or two combat skills.
I've never watched manga, but your guy seems more like an intelligent manipulator than a charmer. So besides must haves like Negotiation, something to aid in his discrete role as a support type character. Probably Bluff and Impersonation, combined with a disguise kit or a friendly magician who can cast illusions. Maybe some type of voice box augment to complete the deception.
That and a false suitcase bottom filled with chemicals (or maybe a prostethic leg with internal storage volume) and you could make a pretty mean social-based infiltrator/assassin/saboteur.

[JustIgnoreMe]

I just had an Arcology flashback.

I've not read the book, obviously, but when my team got trapped in the Arc (Renraku Arcology: Shutdown for 3rd Ed), there was an encounter with a doll drone. Google suggests that it wasn't just my GM making things up, they seem to be a canon part of the run.

Obviously that was two editions ago, but if they existed then I'm sure someone has statted them for 5th Ed. Worth looking for to get stats for your dummy.