/srg/ - Shadowrun General

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>Shoot straight
>Conserve ammo
>And never, ever cut a deal with a dragon

Talismonger edition.
Where do you go when you need some magical stuff, or want some objects examined?
Are you a regular customer or do you just follow the mage or adept?

I visit Constantine Aurelius, the eccentric Canadian mage who thinks they are a reincarnated Roman senator. Is permanently annoyed that his home-grown Seattle grapes make shitty wine.

Don't drink his wine. You either wake up wearing a toga with your flaccid dick shoved in a roast pigs head, or you go on a metaplaner trip to randomdiceroll.

I wanted my talismonger to be an Irish lady who's a front for the IRA, funneling money back home. But I wasn't sure if she'd even deal with an elf, or if she wouldn't just send material like foci to the fight instead

>metaplaner trip to randomdiceroll
is that where the dice gods live?

My Talismonger was an owl shaman that was also my mentor. She came to my birthday party, helped me learn Astral Perception. She was a good friend.

It is a land where the only rolls are 1's, and your number's up.

Quick question because I have my game in 3 hours and I forgot to research this: are there any mid or high class restaurants/bars that are friendly to trolls?

In the Seattle area, district doesn't matter

>friendly to trolls?
you mean "cater to trolls/are nice to trolls" or "accept trolls"?
Because I can't think of any of the first but I'm pretty sure there are many of the second as long as the troll is dressed nicely, doesn't smell too bad and behaves
If not and you are (as I think) the GM then just make one up. There's gonna be at least one of the second, maybe even one of the first kind

>Drones can only have armor 3 x their body before becoming encumbered

I hope they work like vehicles in that they're unaffected by stun damage.
They probably do but I want to build a big tanky ass drone with a shield, so I want to make sure it can actually do its job.

Speaking from personal experience working audiotech in a few restaurants around my county, including some real snazzy ones: So long as your troll books their table in advance, most restaurants will go a reasonable distance (specialised seating for one) to make sure your troll is comfortably sat down and enjoying his meal. If anything, they'll be slightly more lenient than other establishments since a troll customer is gonna be asking - and paying - for larger portions of food. Really, your biggest problem is either gonna be trying to get a table without a booking, in which case good luck dealing with the pickiness of whoever's manning the front door, or another customer raising a stink about a troll eating in the same establishment as he is. Either way, a nice suit, a polite tone and flashing lots of cash will get you into most restaurants that your average goob can book a table at with their savings. Once you get to the top-end stuff, it's more about who you know than who you are, but that's more for luxury lifestyles.

Rigger 5.0 also mentions a bar frequented both by Evo junior-execs and employees of metahuman corp Krime, so keep that in mind.

>main battle tanks
>he doesn't know about chunky salsa

its just an example

Problem is a drone isn't going to be able to take things out nearly as effectively as say, a streetsam. Sure you'd hopefully get it out before it gets destroyed but the fact that it's a drone means that it's all or nothing when it goes down.

why not 4 roto drones slaved to a lynx controlled by the rigger backing up the street sam and other beefies.

You're just overcomplicating it. You don't have to spend marks to use the Control Device action. The marks are just a prerequisite, and since you're the owner it doesn't matter.

Additionally, if you're commanding a group of devices you own to all do the same thing, you don't need to split your pool

Since we're talking about drones, can drones with personality eventually develop to the point where they become somewhat self-thinking?
Sorta similar to how Star Wars droids manifest their own personalities and begin thinking for themselves if not regularly memory wiped.

read how AI develop

Was? What happened to her?

So, GMs of /srg/ (all 3 of you)
How do you deal with plots?
Do you deliberately construct an enemy they'll have to fight through runs?
Do you make a big conflict and have the runners decide which side they'll support and how each decision will affect them?
Or do you just throw out some minor runs and see what sticks?

This seems to be more of a general GMing question than a SR specific one.

1) I just make some consistent defense/hazards, if my players manage to avoid them, go them creativity, if they try to trigger each one with their face by beign careless, it's a learnign experience.

2)Most runners will either try to form their own side and try to get what they can out of any given conflict or will ignore it till some side starts paying them, then it's gain vs risk

3) Mostly yeah. But that does not mean that one can't weave in an larger plot into it.

Weekly reminder that the best sort of hacking in 5e is beign a Face with good computer skill.

I craft my plots in a semi-gamey way.
I usually have an overaching plot that will advance and the Players have the chance to interact with it and influence it heavily. The plot in itself has different actors that want different things and the players have free reign to have any impact they so wish on that plot.

Often I try to make player plot coalesce with my plot to create more cinematic scenes. I let them decide what runs they want to take and what objectives they want to undertake and then I find ways to mesh it with my plot over the span of several runs. It usually comes in the form of breadcrumbs my PCs inevitably follow.

All in all it's like a big game of chess put in front of the players, the can take either the whites or the blacks or they can be the hidden hand that moves both.

GM wanted me do draw him a sporty looking runner chick with cosmetic wings like some kind of pixie poseur. didn't specify much about implants so I assumed it had no real visible ones.

What do you guys think and what could make it even more shadowrun-ish

Sorry for the bad picture btw

How badly am I screwing myself over if my main means of defense is a Cavalier Deputy or other 7P heavy pistol?

Pic unrelated.

Other design I've been working on for comparison

google glass style buillshit is always good
do you think you'll ever actually use it? If the answer is no, then it's ok.

That looks like a cross between roadhog and a porn star.

Those are pretty good, you got no ink pen to make it pop more. Too bad the pic quality is shit

...

What if spells were more open ended instead of each spell being a specific effect, and getting more hits lets you do more with it?

For example, some pyro can just fuck with heat instead of getting flamethrower, fireball, ignite, and napalm. He rolls one hit and he can raise the temperature in the room a few degrees. If he gets a lot of hits he can make any of the fire-themed spells or something like that.

Or a dude that messes with his body can mess with his attributes like the spell with a low number of hits and flat out become other critters with a high number of hits.

read file names I see... you almost make it sound like it's a bad concept

tfw the only reason you are alive is because the decker managed to brick 2/3 of the enemy guns
Street sams are though but 8 guys firing full auto at you is a litlle bit too much

Mages do not need more versatility, nor do they need to be encouraged to twist spell effects to apply in ways they shouldn't.

>Not having 51 Damage Resistance pool
Come on man.

I probably should've added "aside from the obvious game balance issues" to my question so that the immediate answer wouldn't just be shooting it down and nothing else.

What input are you looking for then? Because outside of comments on the balance and implications of it there's only how to implement it, which I have no interest in because I think its a bad idea.

>Not using the magic finger spell to fondle people's junk while they're discussing serious stuff

It's not a great idea because it essentially makes lower magic mages worthless. If your spell effect depends on number of hits you lose the whole idea of mages doing big Force spells at the cost of their own body.

I do think that maybe they should group spells together more isntead of creating this mess of a spells list.

Thoughts on how it would be implemented are exactly what I'm looking for. Good thing you're not the only person who posts on /srg/ then.

I'm sure there is at least one other person here who hates vancian magic as much as I do.

That grouping thing is really my bigger concern. I always hated when spells do very specific things.

The spell that goes out of its way to say that it has problems with fine control, and you're going to use it on peoples junk? Not the best plan.

But Shadowrun doesn't use vancian magic.

One of the "rules" or whatever of vancian magic is that spells are each a specific effect.

In Shadowrun Flamethrower is just a stream of fire and Fireball is just a ball of fire, and you can't just make one into the other. You have to learn both spells separately.

Fulfilling one criteria of a thing when there is multiple criteria, does not make a thing that thing.

Well then what should I call it, enlightened master of going off topic to correct people on shit no one else cares about?

Predefined spell effects? You know, actually saying the thing you dislike about the Shadowrun spell system, rather than using a word that means describes a range of things that not everyone is guaranteed to know about since this is a Shadowrun thread and Shadowrun doesn't use vancian magic?

Also on the note of implementation, you would have to completely change the spell casting system, probably making it a two roll system, which will further complicate it on top of the additional complication that such wildly varying spell effects would produce. Its also a massive change to the lore of the world, do you have any plans on addressing that?

lol hell no

The game has enough crunch as it is. I was never going to actually do anything it was just an idea that popped into my head and I was wondering what others thought of it.

most ez modo optimized character to play in SR5e?

I want to make a cyborg ninja type of character, stealth and melee combat focused, what qualities and implants are a must, I'm pretty new to SR, and there's seem to be a lot of books so I don't want to miss on the good shit.
Also what do you recommend for FUN implants?

5E btw.

Mystic Adept

Synthacardium, Muscle Toner, 570 Cyberschlongs

Well than that's easy. The long is its a bad idea, it would further complicate things, likely cause balance issues both internally to awakened characters and between awakened/nonawakened characters, requires extensive work to implement and it doesnt mesh with the preexisting in world explanations of magic.

Short version, Bad idea, ultimately fixes nothing and takes too much work.

Used Wired Reflexes 3

how do you build one, what does it do?

Easy mode as in powerful, or easy mode as in little work to make or use?

How does touch spells work, do you literally just touch the guy you want to kill?
Can you combine it with a punch or a weapon attack?

both when possible, if not then the former.

Basically yes
The closest mechanical way to do so is as multiple actions, which means splitting your dice pool, so its a bad plan without house ruling.

Adept, high reaction, intuition and agility, get improved reflexes 3, combat sense and improved ability automatics. Its about as easy as you can get it.

With no limb replacement:
Muscle replacement at 4 with Restricted gear
Wired Reflexes or Synaptic boosters at 2 (Remember that WR can stack with reaction enhancers so if you have low Reaction it might be a good idea.
Dermal plating and some cybereyes.

That's your typical cyberware sam build. Very low essence but you cover the basics.

You can check out cyberarms if you like the flavour of em', they add a lot of utility if you kit them properly, plus they add armor and Physical boxes.

Bioware thought, you'll get a lot more bang but not at chargen because your buck is limited. Synthcardium, Reflex records, Suprathyroid gland, muscle enhancer/toner.

if you want to go raiden, go cyberware.

Last Campaign's talismonger was dug out of archives of old games: Emmanuel Goldstein, Jewish Stereotype and golemicist.

"Oy vey, goyim! Velcome, velcome! Please, look around. You want some schlitz?"
"Bubbolehs, hide me! My mother is coming to visit! Let me stay at your safehouse!"
"I give discounts for payments in gold!"
"You wanna read my copy of the protocols, goyim?"

I'm not complaining desu.
...
Dammit, now I'm trying to figure out what all the other hypothetical pornoverwatch characters would look like. Some (dva) it's not so hard. Others (bastion) I'm at a complete loss.

You lack imagination.

You seriously can't imagine a pornstar version of a robot that can turn into a giant phallus shaped minigun?

Well now I'm imagining it. I kinda wish I wasn't desu.

your mind is way too pure, user-kun

Quick, someone post the 4A cock-samurai.

>Narco + Nephritic Screen 6
>Narco-Enhanced Kamikazi
>+2 Body, +2 Agility, +3 Strength, +2 Willpower, +2 Physical limit, +2D6 Initiative Dice, High Pain Tolerance 3 for 1d6 x 10 - 6 minutes
Is this a viable alternative to Wired Reflexes or Synaptic Boosters for a streetsam at chargen? I kind of like the idea of beefing up on combat-stimulants and absolutely fucking shit up, addiction be dammed.

What don't people like about bows? There was some talk about them yesterday, and I looked online, but what I mostly got were ways to improve Bows instead of ways that bows were not meeting expectations.

>cyber eyes

>What don't people like about bows?

Mostly that they are very resource intensive to get them comparable to even the dinkiest of assault rifles. They are novel and they do have situational uses. They are silent, their ammo is retrievable (and thus reusable) and tougher to track through forensics. Plus they aren't as heavily policed since they are "sport" weapons. However a character who has the strength to use any bow that is worth a damn would be better off using literally any actual firearm since their strength allows them to better resist the effects of recoil.

Bad damage
Bad rate of fire

Just get a gun.

-slow to fire without GM permissiveness and buy in
-expensive per shot at high ratings or with non-standard arrows
-require what's almost an exotic skill
-usually need high strength for DV
-a firearm can do everything a bow can, cheaper, easier, faster, with no rules questions

Two simple actions to load and fire, gotta have 10 STR to even get close to being as effective as firearms, alternate arrowheads aren't great, and you don't really get a lot of choice or versality for the skill-investment, whereas the various firearms-skills all give you a pretty decent selection of goodies.

It's not *terrible* with the right build, they're silent and ammo is reusable most of the time but you're still gonna be seriously gimped compared to firearm users. Only invest in it if you're seriously dedicated to the flavor and don't mind being lagged behind the gunslingers in your group. Not terrible as a flavorful ranged-backup for an Ork or Troll melee adept, mind you.

Two extra dice to your shooting is pretty hard to argue against m8.

Sorta, the problem is that this is only good for one, maybe two combats per run.
The stun damage from the crash effect will screw you.

>stun damage from the crash effect will screw you

Pain editor?

Stun damage is my main concern, yeah. Our party's Decker has 9 dice for biotech skills and is planning to carry along a decent supply of medkits, stimpatches and the stuff, so we're hoping that'll take the edge off the crash until our sammy can afford pain-editors as mentioned.

Well they're cool and you get implanted smartlink bonus. Plus a plethora of other cool vision mods you have all the time.

Any must-have/mandatory qualities for a Decker besides Codeslinger and Overclocker?

>gotta have 10 STR to even get close to being as effective as firearms
wait, aren't most melee modifiers positive ones instead of all the negative ones firearm gets

If I remember right, If your character charges at a guy, the melee attacker gets a +2 for charging while the ranged defender gets a -2 for trying to hit a moving target. Additionally, the melee attacker gets bonuses for stuff like outnumbering and weapon reach

When I was GMing it for a short bit, I really just gave them a job and sat back. There was a running kinda central plot and that required a few scenes to be fit in, but otherwise I had kinda schedules for roughly when/where people would be. In general I try to make my games feel as though if the party weren't around the world would just continue on without them, and I especially did that with Shadowrun,

What's your runner's street name, /srg/?

steve

Dorkula. He wanted everyone to call him deadeye, but he dresses up like dracula and no-one likes him, so that wasn't going to happen.

Way to memorable.

Consort. I'm the joygirl Face from a couple threads ago.

See, I like the Cuba writeup. Gives you lots of local flavour, lots of plot hooks, an idea of the people and contacts - so why was it jammed into Hard Targets? It's not even tangentially related, like War and Bogota.

They put out a rewrite of SWA with stuff like that through it and they'll go a long way to making people think they're not huffing paint thinner anymore.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.

In 5e can you have all your skills at the max or is it only one at max like with attributes?

You can have multiple skills at max at character creation in 5e. Like other editions though, your ability scores can only have one maxed out.

My team reads these threads, but I can tell you past names. Good ones include Wolfmother; Silver Samurai boku no Kokoro, The Silver Wind, Trust Issues, Back Problems, and Wastrel.

My team reads these threads but I don't even give a fuck. Peaches is my handle.