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View Full Version : Please Help me make my First Shadowrun (4th Edition) Character



Conners
2008-08-30, 09:57 AM
As the title states, I would like help in creating my first-ever Shadowrun fourth edition character. One could easily see from this that I'm new to Shadowrun, and I am. (I have an amount of experience with DnD 3.5 and 4th ED, by the by.) I have just finished reading all the fluff and basics of the book, and am about to go over the character builder rules. Before I make my character, however, I'd like to know how to avoid: 1) Leaving too large a chink in my armour, thereby getting me killed in the first combat. 2) Making general nub mistakes, such as trying to make a Magician-Techonomancer multi-class. 3) Being broken in a way that could cause trouble (whether through getting me killed or through cheesing off the DM/other-players).

For those of you experienced in the Fluff of Shadowrun: I'd appreciate it if you looked over my character background and told me where it doesn't match in with the Sr universe, or how Corporation X seems to better suit the back-stabbing position of Corporation Z in the the story, etcetera.. Here's a basic overview of it:

Accessing subject file-data.... ....... ..... Data loaded:
Name: Lucas Rathford. Nationality: United Canadian and American States. Meta Race: Homo sapiens sapiens. Sex: Male.
Age: 24. Date of Birth: 15th of February 2012. Occupation: Special Operative, Ares Corporation. Martial Status: Single.

Accessing subject biography file....... .... ...... File loaded:
Lucas Rathford was born in Clarkstown, New York State, United Canadian and American States, in year 2012, February 15th.
At the age of 12 in 2024, he was enrolled in the New York Military Academy, graduating at the age of 16 eight months early*.
On February 20th, 2030, Lucas Rathford enrolled into Ares Special Military College at age 18, for a full six-year scholarship.
Four years through the scholarship, his skill came under the recognition of the President of the College, Terry Walker, and the
student was offered a two-year scholarship with an experimental division--Spartan 2,000. He accepted this and was tutored
specially under trainer Wong Jinxing, with twenty other students.

Three months before the end of the second year of the Spartan 2,000 scholarship -- at 10AM, September 13th, 2036 -- the
Spartan 2,000 division was called out to aid in subduing a group of meta-human terrorists. Due to multiple complications,
Spartan 2,000 was left to engage the terrorists alone. Regardless of a successful plan which decimated the enemy forces,
the division was overpowered by the sheer number of terrorists, and were forced to retreat after losing 13 members of the
division. In their retreat, their air-transport was damaged by enemy fire, crash-landing four hundred metres short of the
designated base.
Only three of the Spartan 2,000 members survived, two of them dying in emergency treatment. Lucas Rathford was the
sole survivor of the mission, but he too would soon die from his injuries. Wong Jinxing, after hearing the disastrous report,
committed suicide at 9PM, September 18th--the exact reasons unknown. Having never kept any documents on his
training methods, nor any assistants in teaching, Ares Corporation was at a loss as to how they would imitate the
greatly successful (despite the bitter outcome of the mission) training regime. The only other people with suitable
knowledge of the training methods would be the students of Jinxing themselves, and all except for one were deceased
--the surviving student in critical condition and unable to speak.

Seeing no other alternative, Ares Corporation ordered that Lucas Rathford be placed in the prototype deep freeze
hibernation-capsule, suspending him till they could find a way to cure his injuries. The process was successful and Lucas
was properly suspended at 3AM, September 19th 2036.

End of biography. Loading extra message.... ..... ..... Message loaded:
Greetings to whomever in the future obtains this message. I have frozen this Ares Corporation special operative so as to
stabilize his wounds until proper treatment for his condition is available. His name is Lucas Rathford, and he is the last
surviving member of the Spartan 2,000 project. His life is of top-priority, he may be the key to making our military
services the best in the world without question--on no account let Mr. Rathford die or fall into enemy hands.

Written by Dr. Nathan Flux.

Data disc finished. Would you like to replay? (y/n)
"No"

Would you like to eject data disc? (y/n)
"Yes"


With that, an old fashioned DvD disc slots out of the computer, a scientist with the Ares logo removes it, entering it into a pocket. "So... what do you think?" he asks.
"I don't see any reason we shouldn't trust the data," another scientist, this one of a higher rank, replies, "and if it is true, then we better get him up and in order ASAP."
"This, 'Spartan 2,000' project, is it really that important? I've never heard of it."
"Hah! Of course not, you would've still been in high school at that stage, and certainly not one of Ares Corporation. This project was THE revolution we needed to make our slogan, 'if it isn't Ares corp., it's not military' into a bitter reality for the competition. Damned be the second crash for not letting us find this sooner!"
"All right, I'll de-freeze him."
"Wh-what!? No, no, no, no, no, no, no NO!! What are you doing you incompetent idiot!? Don't you see that he's frozen because of fatal wounds?"
"I--I was about to call the medical lab."
"WAIT till they get here. In fact, get a team to scan this freezer in case there are any faults after all these years. Do NOT release him till everything is checked and read, understand?"
".... Yes Dr. Voldviski."
"Good... now snap to it!"

Later... "Have the organs finished cloning?" Voldviski questions a medical-lab doctor.
"Yes sir," the doctor answers, "though we may need to use some cyberware, if we want the subject to reach full combat-fitness."
The Russian scientist, in return, sends a venomous glare, "And WHAT -- Dr. Charlton -- if the cyberware harms the paitient and he is lost to us?"
"I have considered that possibility," Dr. Charlton states, unthreatened, "which is why I have opted for Alphaware to be specially brought in."
"Alpha? Why not Deltaware?"
"Such equipment is highly experimental, Dr. Voldviski, and it would not do well for the company to be seen using such equipment before it is fully tested."
"....... Fine! But if he becomes a soulless shell of metal, you're taking the blame!" With that, the scientist storms off, and Charlton gets back to his work.

Later still... "Oooohhh....... Gauuuuh..... My head...." Lucas Rathford moans, speaking for the first time after "waking up". "I feel so stiff... and why's everything so hot...?"
"Calm down Mr. Rathford," says one of Ares corp's representatives, sitting in a chair just by Lucas' bed.
"Wha...? Who the hell are you and why do I feel even worse than when we crash-landed...?"
"My name is Ralph Cunningham, and it certainly IS a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rathford."
Lucas pauses a moment, trying to see the strange man's face through his now un-blurring vision. When he can finally see, he doesn't like the face, or the eyes--he especially doesn't trust someone always smiling, who calls you "Mr. Rathford" every time.
"You can call me, Ralph if you like, Mr. Rathford, it doesn't matter to me either way since almost everyone here calls me plain-old Ralph anyway," Ralph babbles, laughing as though he was making a good joke.
"So... 'Ralph'," the newly awakened Lucas begins, coldly, "who are you and where am I? This doesn't look like the infirmary of my base..."
"A military infirmary?!? Oh no, oh no Mr. Rathford! We couldn't have such a valuable member of Ares Corporation such as yourself be subject to anything but the best medical treatment. Especially considering the, err... severity of your, um, 'medical status'."
"Ralph... Skip the pleasantries and answer my damned questions."
"Ah, oh yes, Mr. Rathford, just like we had guessed you to be--straight to the point and no nonsense! Hahahah... hmm *cough*. Well, you see Mr. Rathford--"
"For God's sa--just call me Luke, OK?"
"Ah, yes, Luke! Of course. Well, where was I? Oh yes! As I was saying -- Mr. 'Luke', that is, hahah -- that due to your critical condition, we had to move you to better facilities. However, there, uh, mustn't have been adequate equipment for treating you... so you were, *cough-choke*, frozen..."
".... I got, 'cold in the waiting room' frozen, or I was, 'in an Arctic icecube' frozen?"
"You were, umm... *cough* frozen into suspension."
".... 'Suspension'?"
"Yes, um, Luke. You've been asleep for a long time now..."
"Long time? How long? Eight days? Three months? Four hundred years?--how God-d***ed long!?!?!"
"Well... let's see: You were put to freeze back in 2036.... so, well...."
"'Back in'...? What do you mean, 'back in'? How far back?"
"The current year, Luke, is 2070... so, it would appear you've been asleep for, ummm... 33 years and two and a half months... I'm, TERRIBLY sorry for the inconveniences this will cause you."
"..........."
"Don't worry though, Luke. The Company looks after its valued workers, and you are among them. We'll see to it you're back on your feet with no trouble!"
".....M-my sister... what about her?"
"Huh? Oh, yes.... we um, thought you might want to know about your relatives so we did a check and, *cough*, all your closer-related relatives have died over the past years..."
"...................."
"Your sister in particular actually died not long after your freezing. In 2039 during the, 'Night of Rage'. It wasn't anything too violent--a car crash. She is supposed to have passed away painlessly......... ...... ....... Luke?"
Zapping into an upright position, Luke regurgitates violently over the end of his bed. After doing this for several minutes, he falls back onto his pillows, breathing hard, and desperately--rubbing his face with his metal ar--. "Wha-wh----AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" he screams, Ralph ordering the medical team to come in immediately. It takes the whole team -- of eight people -- ten minutes to restrain Luke, with his new mechanical arm, and even when they do succeed, they have to use a sleeping drug before Luke goes wild again. He stays asleep for several hours...

((The story in this tab is the long version of the events after what has happened thus far. If you just want a basic outline so as to tell me what should be changed so as to match Sr, then please skip this tab and read the text under it.)) "....Uuuhh...wwhaa?"
"Good morning, Mr. Lucas."
"Oh... God.... please, don't let me go through this again... This is all a nightmare, right?"
"Unfortunately not. I'm Dr. Charlton, the one in charge of your recovery."
"M-my arm... please don't tell me i-it's--"
"Cybernetic...? Mr. Lucas, please remain as calm as you possibly can--the procedures of 'defrosting' you, along with repairing your body, have caused your emotional state to become unstable. Don't worry this is NOT permanent, and will subside with a week's rest or so." Lucas tried to sit up to study the new face, but he found himself restrained.
"DON'T worry," the doctor repeats soothingly, "I will remove your restraints now if you like, but I strongly recommend you keep them on till you.... adjust." He seems to be different from the last creep, and his face looks trustworthy.
"I rust my bed is--"
"Clean? Don't worry, that's been sorted out too... though I would've preferred it to be Ralph, over the bed." Charlton flashes a joking smile, and Luke laughs at the first GOOD joke he's heard in a while.
"So... it's not all some sick nightmare, or joke?"
"I'm sorry... but this is reality. Make CERTAIN to keep calm, or I'll leave you tied up there."
"Heheh, sure this metal arm can't rip through these bondages?"
"Normally, yes. However, I deactivated it just in case you'd try that." The two stare at each other for a moment. Then, they burst out into laughter! Luke broke into hysterics after a few minutes, and Charlton had to give him calming pills.

A week passes. "You seem to be adjusting quite well," Dr. George Chalton comments, "keep this up and they'll make you get to work straight away."
"Probably better than being stuck in a hospital room all day," Luke smiles, "still, will I really be of much use considering how many years I am behind?"
"....They have told you about your new occupation, haven't they?"
"I've been promoted?"
"In a way... You remember Master Wong Jinxing?"
"He's dead too, right...?"
"I'm afraid so... Sorry for having to be the bearer of bad-news but--the reason you were encapsulated rather than left to *cough*die, is that your trainer.... he committed suicide after the mission failure."
".....Oh, God no..."
"I'm sorry... You can let out your emotions if you need to, now, the effects of the surgery and hibernation have passed."
"I-I'll be fine.... so what does this have to do with my new occupation?"
"Bluntly? You're Master Jinxing's replacement. He didn't leave any notes about his training methods, and had no assistants, so the only way of recreating his training regime was to get one of Jinxing's students to show us how they were taught. You are the only living student Ares corp. knows about, so that's why you are here today."
"......Some f****** medical plan, huh...?" Luke's face is contorted as he twists the blankets, ripping them with his mechanical left arm.
"Don't get your blood pressure too high... I know that Ares has pretty well messed your life up just because you could be useful, but at least you're alive for that fact. As soon as we get the clearance I'll show you around the city-sprawl. You might like it." George turns to leave to let Luke think over things.
"Hey..." Luke interrupts his exit, "thanks, for everything you've done. I would probably have flung myself out a window if I had someone like Ralph talking with me through the past week."
"Don't worry about it," the Doctor grinned back. "After all, I've been getting paid a full surgeon's salary just to sit around and cheer you up." Again, they both laughed, and George Charlton left to continue his actual work.
((The abridged:))

Dr. George Charlton is put in charge of Lucas, instead of the greatly unsuccessful Ralph, and they become close friends (I think I'll make Charlton a contact for Lucas).

Luke's training is refreshed with a quick week's lesson, so as to get him used to the changes in technology, along with his new parts.
After the training's completion, they have Luke speak with several experts, the purpose being for them to help him remember the exact details of Wong Jinxing's training regime. Unfortunately (for Ares Corp, at least) Luke's memory is hazy from the freezing process--as well as the fact he's unsure whether he should disclose what he remembers, considering the untrustworthy nature of the company thus far.

Bored, Luke snuck in with some security guards, hired to go out to a Shiawase building that was likely to come under attack from Shadowrunners. Shadowrunners do come, and Lucas -- after stunning one and pinning them down -- is shocked to find the Shiawase Building Manager givving the order to exterminate the Shadowrunners, without question. The person Lucas just subdued is blown to pieces...
Thinking the idea of killing the so greatly outnumbered and overpowered Shadowrunners as pure murder, Luke hangs back from the fighting and tries to block his hearing from the sounds. The guards believe themselves to have killed all the intruders, and are making a quick non-thorough sweep--not noticing the lone surviving 'enemy' hiding among some crates. Lucas sees him/her, and manages to help him/her escape, killing a Shiawase officer (in self defence) in the process. Having gone so far, Lucas decides against going back to Ares Corporation, continuing life as a Shadowrunner with the one he saved.

((And.... I guess that's it.))

Coming down to the crunch, here's what I have on the basics of Lucas:

Since Luke isn't for a specific campaign, I'm assuming the basic 400 BP for him.
Lucas is Human. Homo sapiens sapiens.
I don't think Lucas should have any magic or technomancy.
Lucas is a trained soldier, so his preference is pure combat. Mostly with guns, but he should be -- at the least -- decent in CQC (preferably, he should be very good with hand-to-hand).
Due to how much more advanced and complicated technology has become while he was asleep, Luke could have Logic as his dump-stat.
His left arm is Cyberware (Alphaware if at all possible).
Luke has an amount of cultured bioware. I don't know which bioware goes best with what, so please suggest the best set-ups for a Street Samurai like Luke.
I don't know how useful Edge is, so I can't really formulate an opinion on it.

I was thinking about taking these qualities, by the way:

Good

Ambidextrous: The Lucas does not suffer any modifiers for using an off-hand weapon. When using two weapons at once, however, Luke must still split his dice pool. -5 BP
Luke is right-handed, but his left arm is the cyber one. He often forgets to use his improved left arm, having to swap his pistol to it constantly.

Blandness: Individuals attempting to shadow or physically locate the character through social means or in even slightly crowded settings receive a –2 dice pool modifier on all tests made during such attempts. The modifier does not apply to magical or Matrix searches. -10 BP
While not really bland in appearance, Lucas was considered old-fashioned even back in year 2,030. Wearing regular clothes (the type which hide his metal arm if he can get them), and adorning no tattoos or piercings, Luke has little in distinguishing traits compared to most 2,070-dwellers.
This isn't too necessary a trait.

[Insert Any Necessary or Useful Traits]


Bad

Simsense Vertigo: -2 dicepool mod to all tests when interacting with AR, VR or simsense. +10 BP
Luke is completely new to this kind of stuff, often commenting how it makes his head spin.

SINer: Has a SIN, and though it's not in use now, it can be troublesome. +5 BP
One of the first things Ares corp did was to get Lucas an updated SIN. He doesn't use it now (except when it can be useful), but it could lead to problems...

Uneducated?: Characters with the Uneducated quality are considered
“unaware” in Technical, Academic Knowledge, and Professional
Knowledge skills they do not possess, and they may not default on skill tests for those skills. The GM may also require the character to make Success Tests for ordinary tasks that the typical sprawl-dweller takes for granted. Additionally, the Karma cost for learning new skills or improving existing ones in these categories is twice normal (including at character creation), and the character may never learn skill groups belonging to these categories. +20 BP
This would stimulate the fact Luke is new to the extra-modern world. However, I don't know how disabling this could be, so I won't take it if you point out that it would get him killed or make him useless 70% of the time.


Thanks heaps to everyone here... you guys are always so helpful :smallbiggrin:.