I'm trying out shadowrun for the first time with the 5th edition. I had played video game versions of shadowrun before and have read the setting. I am very fond of the shaman class. I love the aspect of summoning creatures and healing.
So here is the help I require. I am trying to make a character that focuses on summoning and healing. A shaman elf. I wanted to avoid the archtype listed in the book. The Bear Shaman, but he is very similar to my character in terms of totem. So here are my questions...
1) What ideas do yah'll have to make this character unique and such?
So far I have named him. Adahi East. He is married to another player character and tends to be quiet and thoughtful compared to his energetic and sporadic wife. He was brought into the shadows because he had a great capacity for healing people and people started to take him along for the ride to keep themselves alive.
2) Priority Spread I have heard that I should have magic as priority A or metatype as A. What do you guys think?
3) I wanted to bind some spirits and spend karma to become initiated. Is this worth it?
Post by marsuniversity on Dec 3, 2013 18:30:49 GMT -8
Always glad to see some new Shadowrun players. I know I'm fresh to the board, but I've been running the game since late 3rd edition, so maybe you'll find my ramblings here useful.
1) The important thing I think is coming up with something that would be fun to play for you, but I usually try to get my characters to figure out what they were before they became for-profit criminals. You're talking about someone who has a lot of capacity as a magical healer. There's a lot of profit in that for someone who works in the public sector, so I'd consider why you would have gone to the shadows (after all, with a fake SIN, your elf could retire from the private sector very wealthy). Since he's married to another PC, is it possible that he's been tempted into a life of crime by his love interest at the time, giving up a promising doctoral career, and now he's over his head? If you don't like that angle, maybe he had a falling out with "the system" in a previous career; Shadowrun being Shadowrun, he could have experienced betrayal by a superior, seen patients die due lack of SIN/funds, or lost a compatriot due to some failing of the faceless system (very possible with military medics or Doc Wagon personnel).
For an example, if I were looking to play something along these lines (elf shaman with a healing totem and married to a team member), I'd probably start as a former member of one of Tir Tairngire's many shadowy orders and organizations (like the Ghosts) who lost most of his team on a failed assignment and was unable to help them with traditional medicine. This led to a long bout of depression, where he awakened into his powers and gained his mentor spirit. If you want to avoid Bear specifically (and keep the bonuses), the book suggests Protection and Strength as alternative concepts. Keeping with the Tir background, I'd probably pick out a Celtic deity associated with either of these or healing (with GM approval). A quick search through Wikipedia gives up Alaunus (healing and prophecy), Vindonnus (a hunting and healing god), and Sulis (a nourising life-giver and bringer of curses). Any of those are throwing up ideas for character outlook to me (and your totem should flavor that, unless you constantly want to be fighting against it, which is also an option), and it really depends on exactly how I want the character to be played. Finally, he spent years as a street healer in Seattle before patching up a runner who he would later marry and follow into the shadows... That's just an outline though, and you can flesh that out further before/during play. Like I said, make sure its something that sounds fun to play for you.
2) This really depends on whats most important to you, and how powerful/experienced of a magician you want to be out of the gate. Personally, if going for a potent spellslinger, I'd put Magic as Priority A (always drop what you see as your primary focus - gear, magic, spells, etc. - into your A slot if you want someone as good as possible at what they do, unless you have an odd build in mind). If you want to be an elf, you can go as low Priority D for Metatype (in 5th), but I wouldn't set that any lower than C there; that'll give you an elf with 3 points for Edge (Edge 4 total), and I can't overestimate the importance of edge. I'd use Priority B for either Attributes or Skills (whichever you see as your character's focus), but I'd lean towards Attributes from a power build standpoint, as you're going to get more out of those than Skills, generally.
3) Bound spirits and initiation are always useful. However, I'd consider just buying reagents now and binding spirits after character creation. (And buy as many reagents as you can, for that matter, my mage player is just now discovering how universally useful they are in this edition.) It isn't guaranteed then, but you also aren't using karma up here (and you're missing out on a possible roleplaying opportunity). Check with your GM though, if they want to drop you right into the action (or you're looking at a con or one-shot game), binding might be preferable here. Initiation is expensive in terms of karma, a major roleplaying bit for the Awakened in Shadowrun, and I'm not sure if its available during character creation from a quick scanning of the rules for 5th. For any and all of those reasons, I'd skip it myself, but I have had players take initiation in higher-powered games in previous editions and be happy with that selection. Again, ask the GM's thoughts, because they may have a whole session in mind for anyone wanting to initiate.
Just my thoughts, and I'm not the strongest GM from a crunch standpoint that I've met in the Shadowrun community, but there you go.
Wow i can't tell you how helpful that was! Thank you so much. I really enjoy the bits about the character background. The celtic theme is amazing too.
Personally I don't want to be a potent spellslinger. I see him more like the doctor from Firefly the more I think about him. The game is a one shit which may turn into a campaign if it goes well. We have a lot of people who want to play and we are splitting into two teams with two different GMs.
Post by marsuniversity on Dec 5, 2013 14:23:08 GMT -8
No problem. Shadowrun has a lot of moving parts in both the crunch and fluff and it sometimes helps just to hear someone else's thoughts on a character to solidify your own. Using Simon from Firefly as character inspiration is a really good idea, and I think really fits with the idea of a "fallen in with thieves" runner background.
Good luck with your game, I hope everyone has a great time and it becomes a fulfilling campaign for everybody that's interested.
I've not played 5th edition yet. In earlier editions though I have found the priority system to be too rigid for my taste. You might want to try a build point system or so. That way your shaman can be more versatile. I agree with mars university about the background and reasons for why you are doing what you're doing. Another thing to make your shaman unique is qualities and hindrances. There are lots of them usually and you can be anything from a claustrophobic to a hunted man ( which would fit into the Tir Ghosts background as a reason for running the shadows if you want) or many different possibilities. I've found more ways in that to make my character unique. Plus it's fun playing your disadvantages. Initiation is a great thing. I'd really save that though for when you've earned some karma and gotten to know your character. You might find that you want to buy new awesome spells first or improve that skill you seem to use often. For me a Shadowrun character is on a journey to greatness and , while he can play with more powerful chars easily without causing problems, character creation is merely a tiny part of your character's development. Good luck!
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You don't have to be a Shaman (read: Cleric) if you don't like the Totem/Mentor Spirits presented. Besides Shamans tend to have issues with their Totem when binding Spirits (Bear don't like you enslaving his brethren).
Uniqueness in a Shadowrun Character... develop a little backstory. If you can get your hands on a PDF of the SR4 Runner's Companion book, there's a great resource in the first chapter (hell that whole chapter is great for players) called the Character Quiz. Whenever I'm about to start GMing a SR game, I ask the players to find a blank spot on their sheet and to jot some of the answers to these questions down. It's 20 questions long, but some of them you can gloss over. While there has not been any development for SR5 in regards to the different kinds of Traditions toward Magic, check out SR4's Street Magic. In there you will find other Paths of Magic to help flavor your spellslinger. With a name like Adahi East, you could easily make a Hebrew Qabbalist or a follower of the Islamic Tradition. The rules could easily port due to the similarities of SR4 and SR5, but check with your GM. Otherwise, use a Hermetic Mage template with the flavor of the Path/Tradition.
Speaking of which; you could go Hermetic Mage quite easily, and still do loads of Summoning/Binding and Healing without the nuisance of your 'God' dictating how you should go about biz.
The Priority System is a lovely monster, it forces you to make hard decisions. I would ask the GM what kind of feel he is going for. If he wants to do gritty street level, take Magic at B for a Rating of 4; this will make your character powerful but not over the top right out of the gate with room to roleplay before Initiating. If he does not have a game style in mind, then go Magic at A for that Rating 6; but you will find it takes a lot more to improve from there as you can only go up via Initiating.
Initiating is good stuff, but honestly focus on creating the characters personality before going for it. In game it is supposed to be like going for an Advanced College Degree; not a simple undertaking. Initiate Level 1 is like getting your Associates, 2 your Bachelors, 3 your Masters, 4 Doctorate, etc etc. So try to give it that appropriate level of weight in game; don't just look at it as I spend xx Karma and now I get cool shit.
Oh, and to the above poster; Shadowrun 5th Edition has no Point Buy System.
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