Shadowrun: Best Negative Qualities?

[radmod]

Alright, so we will be playing Shadowrun 4, I believe with all the books. I'm a complete newbie at it.
We have a Street Samurai, a Technomancer, and either a Face or Magician of some sort. Since it doesn't matter to me what I play, playing a Gunslinger Adept was mentioned. It sounds interesting though lacking in activity outside of combat. Perhaps other suggestions (400 pt. build)?
From what little I've determined, on paper the sample GA from the book looks pretty good (13 dice on attack). So I've decided to take it and perhaps modify it a bit. One thing I'm looking at is taking negative qualities (I would have 20 pts. available). I see little reason not to do it.

So, what are the best (e.g. least harmful) negative qualities? I was considering Uneducated but I don't know how important the Knowledge skills would be. Likewise, I'm not sure about Uncouth. Another Idea I had was taking multiple Incompetencies, primarily Artisan, Teaching, and/or Leadership. Any thoughts?

Also, how really important is Essence? For an Adept, sure, since it affects their powers, but others?

 

[darjr]

Debt. Or starting debt.

 

[radmod]

And how does one incur debt? Is this a negative quality in the non-core book? From what I've read you can't incur debt in the core rules. You can only spend your bps you have available; unless I'm missing something.

 

[darjr]

Sorry, I'm still a newbie to shadowrun 4th.

'In Debt' is in the book "Runner's Companion", it's anywhere from 5 to 30 BP.

It seems hugely fun. And it's a built in hook.

 

[Thanee]

From what little I've determined, on paper the sample GA from the book looks pretty good (13 dice on attack).

13 dice for combat, if it is your primary focus, isn't really that hot. It's ok, but not great.

Without stretching, a beginning char (human) can easily have 5 Agility, 5 Skill, +2 Specialization, +2 Smartlink, and that's without anything special, like Agility enhancements, or Adept Powers.

Of course, if you will play that game for a while, and you are using the standard Build Point variant for character creation, it is better not to specialize in the beginning, but rather acquire Skill Specializations from your first Karma awards.

So, what are the best (e.g. least harmful) negative qualities?

It's the wrong way to think about it. It is, of course, quite natural to look at it that way, but you should make your weaknesses part of your character. In the end, it is much more fun that way. You should pick stuff that gives your character an interesting twist, while not being completely debilitating.

Another Idea I had was taking multiple Incompetencies, primarily Artisan, Teaching, and/or Leadership. Any thoughts?

It's pretty bad form to do that, and many GMs will simply disallow taking Negative Qualities that have no impact whatsoever on the character.

Also, how really important is Essence? For an Adept, sure, since it affects their powers, but others?

Essence mostly limits how much cyberstuff you can have. As you mentioned, it has impact on Magic (and Resonance) as well. And it also makes healing more difficult. But Essence, as an Attribute, isn't really used.

Loss of Essence makes you less human, more inhuman, colder, less emotional, less caring. But there are no real guidelines or rules. It can be roleplayed appropriately, if the players want to, or not. Most just ignore its impact on the personality of the characters, I guess, because of the lack of guidelines of what Essence 1 or 2 actually means.

Bioware is great for Adepts, BTW. The Synaptic Accelerator 2, for example, while pricey, only 'costs' 1 Magic for a +2 Reaction/Initiative and +2 IP enhancement, which costs a lot more in Power Points (2.5 IIRC).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Tilenas]

Essence mostly limits how much cyberstuff you can have. As you mentioned, it has impact on Magic (and Resonance) as well. And it also makes healing more difficult. But Essence, as an Attribute, isn't really used.
[...]
Bioware is great for Adepts, BTW. The Synaptic Accelerator 2, for example, while pricey, only 'costs' 1 Magic for a +2 Reaction/Initiative and +2 IP enhancement, which costs a lot more in Power Points (2.5 IIRC).

That's the biggie with essence. If you only lose 0,1 of it, you immediately lose a power point, your most valuable resource as an adept. So, if you're gonna get wired, I'd recommend you take something that costs less essence than the corresponding power costs PP, like the synaptic boosters.
I'd rather not spend essence on anything other than that, because any Sam/Hacker/Rigger/Face can get it without the repercussions of lost essence (aside from negative effects on healing, of course). Also, since essence is always rounded down, make sure you spend full points of it, rather than fractions.

 

[FoxWander]

This probably comes too late to help you since you've probably started your game already, but I thought I'd share what I took for my adept character in a game our group just started.

My character is more focused on being a thief with adept as a secondary path. I have Missile Mastery and Power Throw so I never have to worry about being caught weaponless and don't have to try and sneak around while toting an arsenal of guns. I also took Eidetic Sense Memory and Multi-tasking so I'm always cool, calm and never miss anything.

Anyway- you were asking about "good" negative qualities. You could just squeezing more points out of the system, but it's easy to find stuff that suits a concept so the limitations, while still being actual limits, don't feel quite as bad. I took a Geas of daily meditation in order to maintain my mental discipline. It's tied to the memory and multi-tasking, so without it I'm not as focused as I should be. I also took Poor Self Control: Thrill seeker, since I'm modeling some of the personality on Parker from Leverage. I'm also Scorched and a SINner, which seriously gets in the way of being a thief, but it fits the backstory. That backstory also gives me a Vendetta against the corp that got my mother killed because of technical flaws in their vehicle grid system. So plenty of stuff with actual game impact and hooks for the GM. Hope that helps.

 

[Runewind]

Spirit Bane is an interesting one. It's not real debilitating to someone who's not astrally active, but can still cause some issues for you. For example, my character in my group's current game, Locke, really pisses off water and watcher spirits, which typically causes issues for our group's mage, which effects my character in a less direct manner, but still finds its way into just about every other session.

Also, being incompetent in a relevant skill can be quite fun. You have to find ways to cope with the inability to perform a task expected of someone in your position.

Can't do electronics for ? Just blow the damned maglock apart.