Some tips for a Shaman/Decker custom build?

[IzzyFlames]

Hi, I am looking to get back into this game after not finishing it around about when it first released (I got distracted by something else, probably). I can't remember much and, though I'm reading through the Steam guides now, I was hoping for some tips.

I was initially going to go straight Shaman but saw that Custom builds are supposed to be best. Would it make sense in the game lore to be a Shaman-Decker? I know magic-types are supposed to avoid cybernetics as they interfere with their powers. Do Deckers *need* cybernetics or can they get on fine without those enhancements?

Any other Shaman-Deckers kicking about the forum at the moment? I'd love to read some spoiler-free comments on the build. I hope it's a viable one.

[Bahadur KGWP]

The Decker implant jack will count some against you for the Shaman, but mot too terribly. would love to see updates on your build and progress

[Lord Of Dorkness]

Small tip regarding Cyber: Only whole points count towards rising spell cooldowns.

So if you get a cyber-jack, you can get something else that costs 0.5 essence without any further costs character wise.

Oh, and save before any cyber operations. This game is a bit buggy, and there is no in-game way of getting essence back if you get hit with a rounding error.

[IzzyFlames]

Bahadur: I'm dreadful with numbers and such because of a learning disorder, so my character building in any game like this online or off can be quite laughable. If I don't feel too daft about it, I might share though. :)

Lord of Darkness: Thanks for those tips!

*

So, I thought it over, and I can justify why my character would have taken a hit to Essence in exchange for an implant jack (at least for story purposes). I'm thinking of it as something that occurs when my elf is younger, an experimental phase, not looked at well by traditionalist Shamans, but a choice she embraces and doesn't regret.

[colonel.newage]

I really enjoy playing multiclass characters, but, after learning Shadowrun mechanics and balance, I decided to choose a traditional shaman/mage archetype. There were two main reasons: 1) A large risk of becoming a "jack-of-all-trades"; 2) it`s much easier to create a powerful team when everyone knows his role and his place. For example, you concentrate on shamanism/spellcasting, your decker on decking, et cetera

Besides, there are a lot of valueable skills to spend your karma points on: ranged combat, dodge, BioTech and so on. Also keep in mind that a shaman/mage can be called a multiclass character himself.

[IzzyFlames]

I have considered a Shaman/Mage too, as those types of classes always appeal to me in these kinds of games. I actually had to put playing the game on hold* so I might go for that mix instead first. Still want to try an S/D at some point though.

*Don't know why it's such an issue this time around, but I feel like I personally want to know more about the game world history first. I wang to get in-depth about who my character was and what their life may have been like prior to this. The Shadowrun tabletop site and unofficial wikia have loads of info, just not necessarily in a way that is easy for me to process. I'm currently looking for secondhand copies of the core books now.

[colonel.newage]

I completed the whole trilogy with a shaman/mage (elf). Now I also want to try someone tricky, say, a shaman/decker or a mage/street samurai. It may be, for example, a magically active shadowrunner, who suddenly woke up with cyber replacements after another milk run

*Well, Shadowrun is definetely worth the effort

[Lord Of Dorkness]

Originally posted by colonel.newage:

I completed the whole trilogy with a shaman/mage (elf). Now I also want to try someone tricky, say, a shaman/decker or a mage/street samurai. It may be, for example, a magically active shadowrunner, who suddenly woke up with cyber replacements after another milk run :snaggletooth:

*Well, Shadowrun is definetely worth the effort :cyberdeck:

Played a decker/rigger/physical adapt/cyber adapt my first time. Had a ton of fun with that character, even if he felt half at war with himself at times.

Gonna be honest, though, I cheated myself an faux import character from Returns and Dragonfall for that one, since I was playing the whole trilogy in one go, and I'd already heard how stingy Hong Kong is with the money.

Think it would be possible to get that sort of character going legitimatly, to be fair... but you'd basically need a guide, played the game already, and even then you'd probably need a spending spread sheet in your lap the whole game. And even THEN you'd only get some of your last tools online in the bonus campaign.

Anyway, was pretty cool. Dude was just bristling with tools and tricks. Used mostly bio-ware with the exception of the NEXT implant (troll), so think I still ended with 3-4 essence, something.

[colonel.newage]

Originally posted by Lord Of Dorkness:

Originally posted by colonel.newage:

I completed the whole trilogy with a shaman/mage (elf). Now I also want to try someone tricky, say, a shaman/decker or a mage/street samurai. It may be, for example, a magically active shadowrunner, who suddenly woke up with cyber replacements after another milk run

*Well, Shadowrun is definetely worth the effort

Played a decker/rigger/physical adapt/cyber adapt my first time. Had a ton of fun with that character, even if he felt half at war with himself at times.

Gonna be honest, though, I cheated myself an faux import character from Returns and Dragonfall for that one, since I was playing the whole trilogy in one go, and I'd already heard how stingy Hong Kong is with the money.

Think it would be possible to get that sort of character going legitimatly, to be fair... but you'd basically need a guide, played the game already, and even then you'd probably need a spending spread sheet in your lap the whole game. And even THEN you'd only get some of your last tools online in the bonus campaign.

Anyway, was pretty cool. Dude was just bristling with tools and tricks. Used mostly bio-ware with the exception of the NEXT implant (troll), so think I still ended with 3-4 essence, something.

I don`t know why everybody talks about the financial aspect of Shadowrun Hong Kong, I started playing
the trilogy with it, finished it with a small fortune on my account and have never been into any kind of a financial trouble. I believe that the amount of money you need in this game strongly depends on you tactics and skills, and you can always find a nice solution of any problem with your limited resources.

[Lord Of Dorkness]

Originally posted by colonel.newage:

I don`t know why everybody talks about the financial aspect of Shadowrun Hong Kong, I started playing
the trilogy with it, finished it with a small fortune on my account and have never been into any kind of a financial trouble. I believe that the amount of money you need in this game strongly depends on you tactics and skills, and you can always find a nice solution of any problem with your limited resources.

...You get that's kinda the exact point people are making, right?

Certain character types, like, well, riggers, deckers & shamans have by design a lot of money sinks in exchange for their power. You can pour as much karma as you want into rigging, for example, but at a certain point that cheap old thing you started with is just flatly obsolete, and no amount of a few more stats points is going to help you in actual combat. If your wallet is ga

Certain other characters on the other hand, like street samurai for instance, have essence as their limiting factor. Cyber ware is, for the power it offers, pretty dang cheap in 'raw' money... but your soul simply can only be flayed so much before you either die, go insane, or have to start swearing loyalty to mega-corps to get access to higher grade cyber/bio ware.

The money thing is kinda like... low, medium or high magic settings in D&D. There's nothing wrong with a low magic setting, they can outright be a lot of fun...

But some character types simply weren't designed with low magic settings in mind. Fighters, for instance, are heavily dependent on finding new, better gear as they become higher level and thus face nastier threats. A Fighter with a bog-standard mundane sword is simply not going to keep up when he's level 20 with that same sword... but his mate the wizard is flinging six different flavors of fire-ball thanks to one spell picked at level up months ago and meta magic.

To be frank, if your GM lets you roll your favorite style of barbarian with a big smile on his face, and then unveils his big balls & nobles plotting courtly intrigue campaign with one fight every ten hours.... well, then that GM is a bit of a ♥♥♥♥.

If you got a big warning at character creation that the HK campaign is so stingy and people were actually allowed to plan for that, I doubt we'd have had even a tenth of the complains.

[colonel.newage]

Originally posted by Lord Of Dorkness:

Originally posted by colonel.newage:

I don`t know why everybody talks about the financial aspect of Shadowrun Hong Kong, I started playing
the trilogy with it, finished it with a small fortune on my account and have never been into any kind of a financial trouble. I believe that the amount of money you need in this game strongly depends on you tactics and skills, and you can always find a nice solution of any problem with your limited resources.

...You get that's kinda the exact point people are making, right?

Certain character types, like, well, riggers, deckers & shamans have by design a lot of money sinks in exchange for their power. You can pour as much karma as you want into rigging, for example, but at a certain point that cheap old thing you started with is just flatly obsolete, and no amount of a few more stats points is going to help you in actual combat. If your wallet is ga

Certain other characters on the other hand, like street samurai for instance, have essence as their limiting factor. Cyber ware is, for the power it offers, pretty dang cheap in 'raw' money... but your soul simply can only be flayed so much before you either die, go insane, or have to start swearing loyalty to mega-corps to get access to higher grade cyber/bio ware.

The money thing is kinda like... low, medium or high magic settings in D&D. There's nothing wrong with a low magic setting, they can outright be a lot of fun...

But some character types simply weren't designed with low magic settings in mind. Fighters, for instance, are heavily dependent on finding new, better gear as they become higher level and thus face nastier threats. A Fighter with a bog-standard mundane sword is simply not going to keep up when he's level 20 with that same sword... but his mate the wizard is flinging six different flavors of fire-ball thanks to one spell picked at level up months ago and meta magic.

To be frank, if your GM lets you roll your favorite style of barbarian with a big smile on his face, and then unveils his big balls & nobles plotting courtly intrigue campaign with one fight every ten hours.... well, then that GM is a bit of a ♥♥♥♥.

If you got a big warning at character creation that the HK campaign is so stingy and people were actually allowed to plan for that, I doubt we'd have had even a tenth of the complains.

I like the way you decribed it, it can easily become a part of a guide or some kind of a FAQ project for newbies, but it`s not what I was talking about. I meant, first of all, your own skills as a player, tactician and team leader. Your character is not a lone wolf, he is a part of the shadowruners team, and, moreover, he is a team leader. When you decide how to invest your money or your karma points, you should keep in mind what impact it`s going to have on your whole team`s effectiveness. While planning another run, stats and weaponry were my least concerns. I concertrated on medkits, trauma kits, healing spells, spirit summoning stuff et cetera to make sure everyone returns home in one piece. And during the run I concentrated on how to get tas much tactical advantage as possible (and then how to collect all the trophies and all the paydata available).Where to put a lightning barrier, when to explode that barrels and so on.

Limited recources tend to enhance your creativity, don`t they?

P.S. This game is neither too hard, nor unforgiving if you are aware of your actions, In fact, it was surprisingly easy to beat it on a "normal" level. It was my mistake to choose it for my first playthrough.

[voidlight]

I played the whole trilogy as shaman/decker. The build I went with used custom to start with the minimum points in shaman to summon a spirit, then everything else in decker (and gun skill of choice). This meant I was effectively a decker, but I also had the ability to pull spirits from the environment (they'd only last one turn, but still can be a game changer at the right moment) and use my totem power since you get that from the start. I chose the one that heals allies around you of the damage they last suffered (bear I think). Super broken haha. Didn't use any spells or anything, so I could basically install all the cyberware I cared to and never notice the effects since I had such minimal magic power anyway.

As for lore, my head cannon was that the guy was born magically sensitive but never really took to it or spent time cultivating the skill since he was way more into the decking scene. So he can do a bit of razzle dazzle but feels weird doing it and only does it if he has to.