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DBear2
2020-06-14, 04:11 AM
My DM has decided to start to bring our current D&D campaign to a close. My group was asked if we would be interested in playing Cyberpunk 2020 once it does. There will be about 3 or 4 of us playing. I'm going for a corporate. There is also a fixer and a solo so far as well. Last person hasn't chosen class yet. As my first time playing Cyberpunk 2020 I am in need of assistance in creating my corporate character. Not asking for a, "Hey. Who has the most broken character build for a corporate they could give me?" But advice for creating a decent underhanded, smooth talking, good looking, backstabbing future CEO.

So. Who has any thoughts that they could share to help me out?

Oh. And we're using all the books, too. Chrome 1, 2, 3 and 4. The core book. Blackhand's street weapons 2020 and the night city book. Although I'm pretty sure that the night city book is just giving some more details to the city, the businesses, and all of the inhabitants. In short there are a lot of customizations. So what have you guys built before? What road do you think i should take? Cybernetic recommendations? All of it. I want to build a character similar to what i mentioned. A smooth talking backstabber who uses underhanded tactics to climb the corporate ladder straight to the top. And look good doing it.

I was also thinking about combat. An expert martial artist who specializes in small bladed weapons. Or an expert in marksmanship, weapon of choice being pistols. Cause you know. Concealable. Also intelligence in stock market, accounting and some minor dodge and escape, hide and evade and lastly intimidate and persuasion.

Actually. Come to thunk of it what do you think of the character that i have in mind? Your thoughts? Does this sound good? What could i improve or add? What kind of cybernetics would be good for the build? And what else do you think can help? And how would i go about improving when i level up? We are starting at level 1 so nothing too crazy yet. Also we do have a max to our starting stats. I think it's 5 or 6 max on our stats so we have room to improve and character development.

Anonymouswizard
2020-06-14, 05:30 AM
Corporates IIRC are meant to be faces and bankrollers, they fill a similar but opposite role to fixers (who can get the illegal stuff, while a Corporate can get the expensive and questionably legal stuff). You're not a Solo, you're not going to be a combat monster, so it's probably best to load up on COOL and EMP, maybe some APP (although you can just buy that with €), and maybe some TECH if the fourth player doesn't go for a Techie. REF and Body Type are the combat stats, but that isn't your speciality so you can let it slide.

On optimising for combat: if you want to do this go for a Solo. As I remember their Combat Sense gives them a bigger boost to Initiative than you can get with cybernetics, which considering how lethal FNF is means in a one on one fight a Solo with pumped REF and good Combat Sense goes first, shoots you in the head, and walks away.

If you just want to hold your own with your average member of a street gang, you want for REF, investment in a combat skill,a weapon that'll take them down within a single round, armour in case you miss, and the initiative boosting implant of your choice. Maybe integral armour, and if you've got the skills for it implanted talons serve as a concealable backup melee weapon.

Also get some utility implants, you'll be thankful for air filters when the target is protected by poison gas. But not too much, you probably still want enough EMP to come off as a reasonable person.

Altair_the_Vexed
2020-06-14, 07:03 AM
...
On optimising for combat: if you want to do this go for a Solo. As I remember their Combat Sense gives them a bigger boost to Initiative than you can get with cybernetics, which considering how lethal FNF is means in a one on one fight a Solo with pumped REF and good Combat Sense goes first, shoots you in the head, and walks away.

If you just want to hold your own with your average member of a street gang, you want for REF, investment in a combat skill,a weapon that'll take them down within a single round, armour in case you miss, and the initiative boosting implant of your choice. Maybe integral armour, and if you've got the skills for it implanted talons serve as a concealable backup melee weapon.
...

What the wizard said - with extra emphasis on the advice for combat. If you want to be good at combat, don't play anything other than a solo. Friday Night Firefight is nasty. The only way to not be killed once the bullets start flying is to kill everyone else first - and you won't manage this because you're not a solo.

So concentrate on making sure the bullets don't fly in the first place. Or don't be where they're flying.

rax
2020-06-14, 06:18 PM
Eh, I partially disagree with the previous posters.

In CP2020 your effectiveness in any situation is a function of your stats, skills and gear (including cyberware). The only thing that's unique to Solos is the Combat Sense special ability, which, as others have stated, tends to ensure that they get to act first.

REF and BODY are the most important combat stats (COOL can be useful in some situations as well). If you roll well or are given a large enough point buy budget, Solos are by no means the only characters that can have high values in these stats. (If everyone is limited to 5 or 6 in their starting stats, a Solo won't be massively superior in terms of combat stats anyway.)

Skills are a limitation to begin with, but once the game starts, any character can invest IP to become an expert marksman or martial artist. A combat oriented character will likely have more skills to begin with, but if you invest in INT and REF, you should have enough pickup skill points to allow your character to begin with a decent level in one or two combat skills. If there are skill limits similar to the stat limits in play, this is another area where everyone will end up close enough in starting skills that the Solo's only advantage will be going first.

Gear is a matter of money and connections, and the right gear - guns/ammo/cyberware - can make anyone deadly in combat. Ask your GM what the baseline equipment of your opponents will be like. If they're all rocking lots of cyberware, smartguns, heavy armour, and assault rifles or better, you know you'll need the same to compete. If it's more of a kevlar vest and pistols/SMGs environment, you can get off much cheaper.

In short, you can - if you want - make a character that's competitive with a Solo in combat in terms of skill, survivability and damage output. The only place you'll always lag behind is rolling for initiative. The solution to that is to make sure you've got Solo bodyguards of your own, making use of cover, and/or stacking armour so that you can soak lots of damage.

The rules for stacking armour in the CP2020 2nd ed make it a rough choice to stack three layers of armour (the maximum), but if you're the paranoid type, you can get far with SP 10 skinweave and SP 6 subdermal head and torso armour. None of these affect your stats and thanks to the stacking rules your character will end up with SP 15 on his torso and head (the worst places to be hit) and SP 10 on his limbs. SP 15 combined with a decent body type modifier will let you bounce stuff up to heavy pistol rounds in the torso and head - naked. This is also a fairly cheap solution in terms of cash and the humanity cost (HC) is quite low as well. Skinweave and a decent kevlar suit will do much the same job if you want to keep HC down.

Really, your biggest issue as a "face" character is that you need carefully manage your HC when purchasing cyberware. HC reduces your EMP by 1 for every full ten points you accumulate, so if you load up on too much cyberware, your main social stat is going to take a serious hit. This is also why you should be careful about getting too much cyberware that boosts social skills - the +1 or +2 you're getting can easily be eradicated by the drop in EMP from installing the cyberware in the first place.

For equipment, pretty much all my characters get a cybernetic E-book. For 140 eurodollars you get +2 to any INT/TECH roll. Your GM will likely nix some uses, but that's basically like getting +2 to two stats that include the widest range of skills. To use it, you'll need a neural processor and interface plugs, but that's basic cyberpunk cyberware anyway. Other than that, just flip through those Chromebooks and you'll find plenty of stuff that can give you a leg up on the competition...if you can afford it. :smallwink: