Test Run - Shadowrun: Run Faster - Flint Ironstag

It's been some time since the last character generation system tested here.  Time to rectify that with a look at the Shadowrun 5th Edition supplement, Run Faster.  The supplement introduces a number of new options for characters, including a lifepath system to bring a character up from childhood to shadowrunner.  To see how it works, I'll create a new character, Flint Ironstag*, with the intent of making him some sort of street muscle.  First, as always, concept, already started above.  Flint will be a troll, with the idea that he's /the/ muscle of a team.  He's the one people turn to when a door needs to be kicked down.  From there, I'm open to ideas.  However, the idea is that Flint is from the streets of Seattle.  More after the break.

Next, since the lifepath method is a point base, let's mark down the 750 Karma that Flint will start with.  He then spends 90 Karma to be a troll.  He does get quite a bit for that investment, including dermal deposits giving him Armour of 1 when wearing normal clothes, natural thermographic vision, a +1 to his reach, and a doubling of Lifestyle costs.  Not everything about being a troll is a benefit.  Flint also has the following starting abilities:

Attributes:
  Body 5
  Agility 1
  Reaction 1
  Strength 5
  Willpower 1
  Logic 1
  Intuition 1
  Charisma 1
  Edge 1
  Essence 6.0

With metatype out of the way and 640 Karma left to spend, the next step is nationality and sub-region.  Each package available costs 15 Karma, so it's just a matter of what feels right for the character.  With Flint, who is supposed to be from the streets of Seattle, UCAS as the nationality is the obvious selection.  For sub-region, there's two possibilities, Seattle or SINless.  The latter fits Flint better.  He gets a +1 to Agility and a number of skills, listed below, and has 625 Karma left to spend.  I`ll only show the changes in the stat block until the end; it`ll get long otherwise.

Attributes:
  Agility 2

Active Skills
  Computer 1

Knowledge Skills
  History 1
  Seattle 1
  UCAS 1

Language Skills
  English N
  Spanish 1

The first Life Module now comes up.  Each one costs 40 Karma and represents what life was like up to age 10.  The most obvious choice for Flint is Street Urchin, giving him a boost in Body and Willpower, some new qualities, and new skills.  Flint's time on the streets harmed his education; instead of being untrained, he is unaware and can't try to use a Technical Skill or an Academic or Professional Knowledge by default.  He also doesn't trust anyone, always moving so that he can't be found, and has traumatic flashbacks.  Some leftover Karma may go towards buying these qualities off; Flint may not be a wanted addition to a team with them.  After this first Life Module, Flint has 585 Karma left.

Attributes:
  Body 6
  Willpower 2

Active Skills
  Close Combat Group 2
  Perception 1
  Running 1
  Sneaking 1

Knowledge Skills
  History 1
  Seattle 4
  UCAS 1

Language Skills
  English N
  Spanish 1

Qualities
  Paranoia (7)
  Flashbacks (7)
  Toughness (9)
  Uneducated (8)

Flint now gets to live through his teen years.  He's still on the streets at this point.  There's two possible entries that work for him here - Gang Warfare and Street Kid.  All the packages cost 50 Karma, so Flint will have 535 Karma left,  There's a small problem appearing; Flint is getting two drawbacks that he already has - Paranoia and Uneducated.  Paranoia has a second level, which I'll boost the existing drawback to, but Uneducated has just the one level.  Flint also gets a Criminal SIN; he's had run-ins with the law.  Because Flint is getting the Blades skill, the Close Combat group is now split up into its components.

Attributes:
  Body 7
  Reaction 3
  Willpower 3

Active Skills
  Firearms Skill Group 1
  Blades 4
  Clubs 2
  First Aid 1
  Leadership 1
  Perception 2
  Running 2
  Sneaking 2
  Unarmed 2

Knowledge Skills
  Seattle 6

Qualities
  Black Market Pipeline (10)
  Criminal SIN (10)
  Paranoia (15)

The next Life Module listed is Further Education.  Flint will bypass these modules; he's not going to get into higher education with no schooling at all during his younger years.  This brings Flint to Real Life, starting at the tender age of 17.  Each module in Real Life costs 100 Karma.  Flint can take more than one, but can only take each one the one time only.  He can't take Shadow Work multiple times.  The first module he takes is Ganger; he's still part of a street gang, now a more senior member, leaving him 435 Karma.  Flint has hit the maximum level for his Blades skill.

Attributes:
  Strength    6

Active Skills
  Cracking Skill Group 1
  Firearms Skill Group 3
  Blades 7
  Computer 2
  Demolitions 1
  Disguise 1
  Escape Artist 1
  Hardware 1
  Heavy Weapons 1
  Palming 1
  Perception 3
  Pilot Ground Craft 1
  Running 3
  Software 1
  Sneaking 3
  Survival 1

The last module Flint will take is Shadow Work, with the Street Samurai sub-module.  This should turn Flint from violent street thug to professional runner.  Street Samurai get a boost to Blades, which Flint will place into Unarmed instead.  Flint is now looking very competent in the field of applied violence.  At the end, he has 335 Karma left over, to buy gear and fill in gaps that exist.

Attributes:
  Body 9
  Agility 3
  Reaction 4

Active Skills
  Gymnastics 1
  Negotiation 1
  Perception 5
  Pilot Ground Craft 2
  Running 4
  Sneaking 4
  Swimming 1
  Unarmed 5

Knowledge Skills
  Safe Houses 3

Qualities
  Code of Honour (15)

With the 335 Karma remaining, it's time to fix a few things.  First, getting rid of Flint's Paranoia and Flashbacks costs 22 Karma, leave 313 remaining.  The negative Qualities add up to over 25, so Flint spends 8 more Karma to get rid of Uneducated, leaving him 305.  Logic, Intuition, Charisma, and Edge need to be bought up from the default of 1; each will be set to 3, or average, costing a total of 100 Karma, leaving 205.  Flint's strength is a little low for troll street muscle, so I'll bump that up to 8 for another 75 Karma, leaving 130.

That still leaves gear.  Run Faster has gear packs, with both Karma and nuyen costs.  The first pack Flint takes is the Basic Runner Pack, for 5 Karma, getting him the minimum he needs to get around on the streets.  Next, he takes the Classic Samurai Pack, getting him a katana and /The Art of War/ among other items for 1 Karma.  The Smartgun Pack, costing 1 Karma, gets him a pair of guns for his use.  For armour, Flint grabs the City Slicker Pack for 1 Karma.  For cyberware, Flint starts with the Advanced Razorboi Pack, getting him a pair of cyberspurs for times when fists just aren't enough, for 6 Karma and 0.6 Essence.  He takes the Advanced Speedboost Pack for the wired reflexes, costing 75 Karma and 3.1 Essence.  The Bioware Beef Pack gets him muscle augmentation, because sometimes, you need to be stronger than most trolls, for 31 Karma and 0.4 Essence.  For Lifestyle, which will cost him double because of size, he takes the Street Rat Pack for 2 Karma and the Lowlife Pack for 2 Karma, leaving him 6 Karma to get contacts.  However, none of his packs provide a smartgun link, which costs 4000 nuyen or 2 Karma, leaving just 4 for contacts.

Flint Ironstag is one big fragger.  His role is to be the combat specialist and the guy to stand between the team`s mage and anyone trying to harm him or her.  Geek the mage, and there's an angry troll who will walk through a hail of bullets to return the favour.  The final character sheet is below, with all the gear, cyberware, and skills gained through the above process.  I could have gone with a pack that gave him dermal armour, but he'd lose his natural armour.  Between his high Body, his natural armour, and his Toughness quality, Flint should survive anything physical tossed at him.

Name/Alias: Bob Johnson (oh, wait) / Flint Ironstag
Metatype: Troll
Age: 24
Sex: M
Nuyen:
Total Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 1
Public Awareness:

Attributes:
  Body 9
  Agility 3
  Reaction 4 (6)
  Strength 8 (10)
  Willpower 3
  Logic 3
  Intuition 3
  Charisma 3
  Edge 3
  Essence 1.7

Initiative: 7+1D6 (9+3D6)
Matrix AR Initiative: 7+1D6 (9+3D6)

Inherent Limits
 Mental 4
 Physical 10 (12)
 Social 4

Physical Damage Track: 13 boxes
Stun Damage Track: 10 boxes
Overflow: 8 boxes

Active Skills
  Cracking Skill Group 1
  Firearms Skill Group 3
  Blades 7
  Clubs 2
  Computer 2
  Demolitions 1
  Disguise 1
  Escape Artist 1
  First Aid 1
  Gymnastics 1
  Hardware 1
  Heavy Weapons 1
  Leadership 1
  Negotiation 1
  Palming 1
  Perception 5
  Pilot Ground Craft 2
  Running 4
  Software 1
  Sneaking 4
  Survival 1
  Swimming 1
  Unarmed 5

Knowledge Skills
  History 1
  Safe Houses 3
  Seattle 6
  UCAS 1

Language Skills
  English N
  Spanish 1

Qualities
  Black Market Pipeline - Gang Leader (10)
  Code of Honour - Code of the Ronin (15)
  Criminal SIN (10)
  Toughness (9)

Contacts (Connection/Loyalty)
  Gang leader (3/1)

Cyberware
  Datajack
  Muscle augmentation (2)
  Retractable spurs, one per arm (Reach 1, Damage 13P, AP -2)
  Smartgun link
  Wired reflexes (2)

Gear
  Lifestyle:
    Low (1 month prepaid)
    Squatter (4 months prepaid)
  Katana x2 (Accuracy 7, Reach 2, Damage 13P, AP -3)
  Wakizashi (sword) (Accuracy 6, Reach 2, Damage 13P, AP -2)
  Tanto (combat knife) (Accuracy 6, Reach 1, Damage 12P, AP -3)
  Bokken (club) (Accuracy 4, Reach 2, Damage 13P, AP 0)
  Knife (Accuracy 5, Reach 1, Damage 11P, AP -1)
  Ingram Smartgun X (Accuracy 4/6, Damage 8P, AP -, Mode BF/FA, RC 2, Ammo 32c)
    with two spare clips, Gas-Vent 2, integral smartgun, integral sound suppressor
  Ares Predator V (Accuracy 5/7, Damage 8P, AP -1, Mode SA, RC -, Ammo 15c)
    with one spare clip, integral smartgun
  Ammunition:
    200 rounds regular SMG
    30 rounds regular heavy pistol
  Armour Vest (AR 9)
  Lined coat with chemical protection (2) (AR 9)
  Armoured clothes (AR 6)
  Kimono (50¥)
  Fake SIN (3)
  Renraku Sensei commlink
    Mapsoft (Seattle)
    Datasoft (The Art of War, The Book of Five Rings, The Tale of the Henke, assorted samurai writings and poetry)
  Micro-transceiver
  Silver credstick
  Glasses (1) with image link
  Earbuds (1) with sound link
  Metal restraints
  Ten plastic restraints
  Backpack (20¥)
  Flashlight
  Respirator (3)
  Respirator (1)
  Survival kit
  Medkit (3)
  Cybernetics kit

Flint is a lot more rounded using this method than I would have created using the normal priority system.  He may not be good at cracking through a computer system, but he can try to help the team's decker.  Best part of the process?  I would want to play this character.  He has enough interesting hooks, such as being stealthy and having skills that make him more than the wall-of-meat the original intention was.

* MST3K`s riffing of Space Mutiny and its many names of David Ryder is a surprisingly useful source of street names. though mostly for wall o'meat type characters.