Part II: Priorities

  Shadowrun creates characters with a system of priorities. For those of you who have created characters in other role-playing game using random dice rolls, this system may be a bit strange. While it seems confusing at first, you have to believe me when I say that there is no better way to create the character you want. In other RPGs, you may have a great idea for a character and then get a series of crappy rolls. Doesn't matter, chummer: that's what you're stuck with. With Shadowrun, you decide where your character is weak or strong.
  Let's start with the Priority Chart:

  So what does all that mean? Well, let's start with a piece of scratch paper. Write down the following:

A:
B:
C:
D:
E:

  Now it's time to go through and select your priorities. This is where all that precharacter development will come into effect. Now look across at each row and see what's in there. You will notice that Row A is the best of the lot: you have the highest Attributes, highest Skill Points, most money, and highest magical ability. You may choose one item from this row. For example, if you select Attributes at priority A, you could not also select Skills at priority A.
  Let's start by making a character. Let's say that, after reading through the archetype descriptions, I decide that a Street Sam is the character I want to play. I've gone through and worked out their history, appearance and so on. I know that I want them to be physically imposing, relatively weak mentally, and able to blend into a crowd. Knowing this, I decide that this character would probably do best with Skills at Priority A. My list now looks like this:

A: Skills (50)
B:
C:
D:
E:

  So now I know that I will have 50 points of skills; this character will be able to do a lot of stuff well.
  Since Street Sams need cyberware to be effective, I've decided that this one will need a lot of ¥. For this reason, I'm going to make money my B Priority. Looking at the chart, I can now see that the sheet looks like this:

A: Skills (50)
B: Money: 400,000¥
C:
D:
E:

  I've decided that I can't let attributes drop any lower, so now I'm going to make that my third (C) priority. With this in mind, here's what the character looks like:

A: Skills (50)
B: Money: 400,000¥
C: Attributes (24)
D:
E:

  The character is almost done. Now if I wanted him (or her) to be something other than human, I could take up the D priority with that choice. Looking at the chart, this Sammy could be either an Orc or a Dwarf. I've decided that I don't want this character to suffer racial bias, though, so I've chosen to make them human. Also, since the character has no magical ability, it doesn't matter whether the Magic priority is D or E. So my final character priorities are laid out like this:

A: Skills (50)
B: Money: 400,000¥
C: Attributes (24)
D: Human
E: Magic (none)

ATTRIBUTES

  So, there it is. What the hell does that all mean? Well, to start with, we now have 50 points to spread among our skills. I'll get to those in a minute. Equipment is also something that can be done later, so let's just skip ahead to the Attributes. On the same scratch sheet, write down the following:

Body:
Quickness:
Stength:
Charisma:
Intelligence:
Willpower:

  Before we really get rolling with this, I feel I must go into some detail as to what these different attributes mean and what is meant by their range.

• Body: This is how tough your character is. It's also a rough estimate of how tough they are, both in absorbing damage and fighting off colds, diseases and poisons.
  1. A Body of 1 suggests someone who is very sickly. They often have colds, they may be hospitalized, they are generally thin and weak and unhealthy.
  2. A Body of 2 is someone on the low end of average. While they aren't hospitalized, they are usually suffering from some malady. They don't have good stamina and it's unlikey they lead an active lifestyle.
  3. A Body of 3 is your average joe. This is a person that eats well enough that they aren't in a steady process of decline, but they wouldn't be considered an athelete. They are average in size and shape.
  4. A Body of 4 is someone who takes care of themselves. This is a person who regularly eats right and makes an active attempt to keep in shape. While they aren't a professional athelete, they are in good shape.
  5. A Body of 5 is someone who is probably a trainer of some sort. They are very active in their lifestyle. They are in good shape and will tend to be a bit denser (muscle-wise) than your "normal" person. This person could be a marathon runner or similar athelete.
  6. A Body of 6 is amazing. As a human, this is as good as it gets. A professional boxer or marathon runner could be here. These people can take amazing amounts of punishment and have incredible stamina.
  7. + A Body higher than 6 is simply inhuman. These are folks that draw attention to themselves with their durability and force of physical will.
• Quickness: Quickness measures the character's coordination and reaction timing. Low Quickness suggests someone who doesn't get out much or do things. They could be physically unfit, wheelchair-bound, or even lacking such things as eyesight or body parts (legs, arms, etc).
  1. A Quickness of 1 suggests someone with a severe physical disability; something that prevents them from moving. It could be someone who suffers from constant dizzy spells or simply someone who's extremely uncoordinated.
  2. A Quickness of 2 is someone that's slightly less coordinated than average. They tend to be accident prone or just plain slow.
  3. A Quickness of 3 is completely average. This person is neither quick nor slow. They have average eye-hand coordination.
  4. A Quickness of 4 is impressive. The person is fast, both of foot and reaction-timing. While not amazing, this person is likely to win a footrace with your average joe.
  5. A Quickness of 5 is where the character really starts putting themselves above the crowd. They are likely to be faster than most of the people they meet and will have incredible eye-hand coordination.
  6. A Quickness of 6 is amazing. This person is probably an olympic-class sprinter or missed their calling as an old-west gunslinger. This person is very likely the fastest person that they know.
  7. + A Quickness higher than 6 is almost unbelievable to perceive. This person is almost certainly "twitchy" and is very, very fast both in movement and action.
• Strength: Strength measures the pure physical abilities of your character. How much they can lift, how "heavy" their punches are, and so on. Strength, combined with Body, should give you an excellent idea of what you physically look like.
  1. A Strength of 1 suggests a person that does very little of a physical nature. They may be in shape, but never do weight training or lift anything heavier than a pencil. Unlike Body (above), this does not necessarily mean that they are sickly, it simply suggests that they are physically very weak.
  2. A Strength of 2 is lower than average. This is a person that might have natural strength, but never really utilized it. Maybe their muscles have atrophied from sitting at a desk too long. Maybe they don't get out much. Maybe they never really do anything to increase their strength.
  3. This is pretty average for a human. Basically, you can lift reasonable things (boxes of paper, small machinary, etc), you can carry a reasonable amount of equipment and so on. You don't have bulging muscles or Abs of Steel.
  4. With a Strength of 4, you're starting to get pretty strong. People may comment on the size of your muscles or what shape your in. If you're in an office, you'll usually be the person that people ask to help them move something.
  5. If that "something" from the example above is a block of solid concrete, this is the person they would ask. This is a person with extremely powerful muscles. They're used to being about to move just about anything out of their way and probably have to work out a lot to maintain this level of Strength.
  6. This is professional weight-lifter time. This is a person that is very strong and can do amazing things with that strength.
  7. + Any human with a Strength higher than 6 is practically inhuman. These guys can move things that are simply unbelieveable to your average person. Everything about this dude (or dudette) screams "heavily muscled."
• Charisma: This is a measurement of how others perceive your character and possibly how they perceive themselves. This is their "presence," if you will. Charisma is not necessarily looks. A person can be bad looking, but still have a magnatism that draws people to them. Of course, if your Charisma is higher than 3, you are probably good looking (force of personality only goes so far).
  1. A Charisma of 1 is someone that is truly hideous to behold. This is a person that people (consciously or unconsciously) avoid. It could be because the look horrendous, smell bad, or just have a presence of evil around them.
  2. This is someone who blends into the crowd. They are unremarkable and may even be ugly. Of course, they could just as easily be loud, obnoxious, or have horrible acne or a lisp. Something about this person is just annoying enough or disharmonious that people try to avoid eye-contact and conversations.
  3. A Charisma of 3 is average. You're just another face in a sea of faces.
  4. A Charisma of 4 suggests that you are pleasant to be around. You may not draw a crowd, but people will tend to stay around if you talk to them or pay more attention to you. You may be exotic or have a funny personality. You may have some striking, noticeable trait that makes people pay more attention to you.
  5. A Charisma of 5 suggests that you have a bit more than just personality going for you. You are probably good-looking or exotic-looking enough that people try to get near you. You may draw a crowd when you speak or walk into a room, depending on why your Charisma is this high.
  6. Supermodel time; when your Charisma is a 6, you are a beautiful person. People are drawn to you and listen to what you say, even if that happens to be nothing at all. You are regularly hit on at bars and you likely have one or two stalkers that you may or may not know about.
  7. + A Charisma higher than 6 may be a bit of a distraction. People are so taken with you that they group around you and are drawn to you. If you are a shadowrunner with a Charisma this high, you really, really should come up with a good reason: these people do not blend in easily.
• Intelligence: This is both a measure of brainpower and how well you perceive the world around you. People who are very smart, but tend not to pay attention to what's going on around them will have an average Intelligence. Likewise, someone who sees everything, but is stupid, will have an average Intelligence.
  1. An Intelligence of 1 is pretty slow, both in how you react to things and how you think. It may take you several minutes just to reach the wrong conclusion. You may not realize that something has happened until long after it's been said and done. You aren't smart.
  2. An Intelligence of 2 is still not great. Either you just are not bright, concepts come difficultly to you, or your just do not pay attention to what's going on around you.
  3. With an Intelligence of 3 you're pretty average. When a car honks, you look around. You can pick up on concepts if they're explained to you and you generally "get it." You may not be the smartest person alive, but you're not a dumbass. You're average.
  4. An Intelligence of 4 suggests that you're a bit more aware of your surroundings, or that you are fairly book-smart. You are what most people would consider "bright."
  5. With an Intelligence of 5, your mind is constantly in motion. You may seem to be aware of everything going on around you, or you may put things together very, very quickly. You are possibly "brilliant."
  6. With an Intelligence of 6, your perception of the world around you is amazing. You can see things most people miss, you put things together so fast that the rest of the human race may seem a bit dim to you.
  7. + Intelligences higher than 6 suggest something beyond simple brilliance. You are a genius or have an inhuman, almost prescient view of what's going on around you.
• Willpower: As Body measures your physical toughness, Willpower measures your mental toughness. This is also a measure of how stubborn you are, so take note!
  1. A Willpower of 1 suggests someone who is a pawn. You have no desires of your own, you always do what others tell you. You are a pawn with little or no desire of your own.
  2. A Willpower of 2 is someone who's possibly introverted and rarely takes a stand on anything. These are people that are easily pushed around. This is your average wage-slave.
  3. With a Willpower of 3, you are fairly average. You may take orders, but you have your limits. As long as you aren't in a heavy competition of wills, you should break even in arguments.
  4. You are strong-willed. While not quite bull-headed, you're used to getting your way. Your desires are your own and there are not many people who tell you what to do.
  5. With a Willpower of 5, you have a great deal of mental staying power. You get your way far more often than not and will often pursue an argument even if it's clear you lost it. You are very difficult to control and it's unlikely that someone could convince you of something once you have made up your mind. Mind-controlling you is a bitch.
  6. At 6, your Willpower is high enough that most mages won't try to coerce you in a mental manner. You are bull-headed, but, with a high Intelligence, could also mean that you are extremely logical. You will always seek to exert your opinions or thoughts or feelings on the group.
  7. + This is an unnaturally high Willpower and anything over 6 suggests that you might be able live after death on strength of belief alone.

  So now that we know what each number means and what it all ends up looking at, let's go back to our Sammy. So I know that, as a Street Sam, he will have to be tough, so a high Body is suggestable. I also said that his physical abilities would be high while his mental abilities would be...not so high. Add to this that I want him to blend into a crowd and it starts to flesh out the character before a single number is written down. Now I just need to adjust the numbers so it match my description. With that in mind, I look at what Priority C gets me for Attribute points. Turns out that it's 24. Just putting down the average per attribute, we come up with something like this:

Body: 4
Quickness: 4
Stength: 4
Charisma: 4
Intelligence: 4
Willpower: 4
(24 Attribute points/6 Attributes = 4 each)

  Of course, a "4" in each attribute isn't quite what I described, is it? So let's start playing with that. Okay, we know he's tough and blends into a crowd, so let's take a couple points of Charisma and dump it into his Body. Now it looks like this:

Body: 6
Quickness: 4
Stength: 4
Charisma: 2
Intelligence: 4
Willpower: 4

  But that's still not quite good enough. Is our guy really strong-willed or is he used to taking orders? I think that he'd be average in that aspect, since he's a merc an not actually in the military, so let's knock his Willpower down one and raise his Strength by one. Now he looks like this:

Body: 6
Quickness: 4
Stength: 5
Charisma: 2
Intelligence: 4
Willpower: 3

  So now we have a guy that's pretty close to what I described. He's still brighter than the average bear, though, which wasn't quite what I had in mind. In short, he's too smart. Let's dumb him up a little. Also, does he really need a Body of 6? Let's shift that over to Quickness. He should look like this:

Body: 5
Quickness: 6
Stength: 5
Charisma: 2
Intelligence: 3
Willpower: 3

  Since I happen to really suck at math, let's check my math and make sure that our Sammy still has 24 points of Attributes: 5+6+5+2+3+3 = 24. Golden! So there he is. A quick description of the character above would be a work-out freak: someone who spends a lot of time lifting heavy objects at a gym or at his "job." He also has the reflexes of a cat and very good balance. He's not easily pushed around, but he'll follow orders. He's smart enough to figure things out on his own, so he can act independently if necessary. He's just average enough looking that people will tend to not notice him at all, maybe even avoid him to a certain extent.
  Now we can do the fun stuff and rip him out with cyberware with our 400,000¥! Of course, that can wait until after we figure out our skills.

ACTIVE SKILLS

  Of course, the point of taking Skills with my first priority was to make this character something of a Jack-of-all-trades. While he's skilled combat-wise, he's a bit ignorant in other areas. Let's give him a little knowledge in Biotech, so he knows a little about anatomy. Plus, he doesn't know how to drive a vehicle, so let's give him a skill in Bike and Car. Add to this the ability to Negotiate, Interrogate, and Etiquette in both the Streets and Corp, we end up with this:

Edged Weapons:
Pistols:
SMGs:
Computer:
Electronics:
Gunnery:
Unarmed Combat:
Biotech:
Bike:
Car:
Negotiate:
Interrogate:
Etiquette (Corp):
Etiquette (Street):

  So there's the skills. I know that I have 50 points to spread among these 14 skills, so that averages out to somewhere around an average of 3 points per skill with 8 points left over. Just for argument's sake, let's set it up that way, so my skills would now look like this:

Edged Weapons: 3
Pistols: 3
SMGs: 3
Computer: 3
Electronics: 3
Gunnery: 3
Unarmed Combat: 3
Biotech: 3
Bike: 3
Car: 3
Negotiate: 3
Interrogate: 3
Etiquette (Corp): 3
Etiquette (Street): 3
Points left over: 8.

  So let's take a look at my character description and see what I think he would be good at. Clearly, the guy would be a great shot, so his weapon skills are going to be pretty high. I also figure that this guy is used to working alone or in small groups, so he'd have to be able to get the best deal and also overcome his natural tendency to fade into the background. From this, I can say it's reasonable that skills like Pistols, SMGs, Katana, Negotiate, and the Etiquette skills would be higher. Let's go ahead and put those 8 extra points to use:

Edged Weapons: 5
Pistols: 5
SMGs: 3
Computer: 3
Electronics: 3
Gunnery: 3
Unarmed Combat: 3
Biotech: 3
Bike: 3
Car: 3
Negotiate: 4
Interrogate: 3
Etiquette (Corp): 4
Etiquette (Street): 4

  Not bad, but it's still not quite where I want it. Computer needs to be higher and I want him to kick ass in shooting and hand to hand. Does his Bike and Car skill have to be that high? If he gets in situations where he needs to drive, he can always hire a rigger. I also don't see him in too many situations where he'll need to interrogate people, so that skill can probably drop, too. Let's look at the new skills:

Edged Weapons: 5
Pistols: 5
SMGs: 4
Computer: 5
Electronics: 3
Gunnery: 3
Unarmed Combat: 5
Biotech: 3
Bike: 2
Car: 1
Negotiate: 4
Interrogate: 2
Etiquette (Corp): 4
Etiquette (Street): 4

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS

  Now that's pretty good. Now we have Knowledge Skills. Unlike Active Skills, there aren't really a list of skills for Knowledge. Unlike Active Skills, which uses the priority system to determine points, Knowledge skills use your intelligence. To find out how many Knowledge points you have, take your Intelligence and multiply it by 5. Checking out my Sammy, I see he has an Intelligence of 3, so he'll have 15 points to put into Knowledge Skills. This is where his history really comes into play. So, let's see: he's a merc, so some knowledge of Tactics would be good. Did he cook professionally? Sure, why not, so we can give him a skill in Cooking. Does he read and write? Probably. Let's make him interesting and give him a skill in Classic Literature. Maybe he's also a gun-toting wacko. Maybe he follows new weapons. We'll give him a skill in Weapon Theory, also. Does he live in the slums? Maybe Gang Identification? That's a good start, so let's throw down those skills. So let's see, we have:

Combat Tactics:
Cooking:
Classic Literature:
Weapon Theory:
Gang Identification:

  Not bad, not bad. Let's just make it 3's down the lot of them:

Combat Tactics: 3
Cooking: 3
Classic Literature: 3
Weapon Theory: 3
Gang Identification: 3

  Like before, we can now adjust it so it better fits the character's personality.

Combat Tactics: 4
Cooking: 2
Classic Literature: 2
Weapon Theory: 4
Gang Identification: 3

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  Now we can deal with the final Skill category: Languages. You can figure out how many points you have in languages by multiplying your Intelligence by 1.5. Just about any language you can think of is applicable, including slang and lingos. Since our guy here deals mostly with corps, we'll give him a Corp Lingo. Since he deals with the streets, we'll give him a Street Lingo. Japanese might be a good one. With an Intelligence of 3, he's only going to get 4.5 points (which is really just 4 since we round down). His languages come out looking like this:

Corp Lingo: 1
Street Lingo: 2
Japanese: 1

  Now all that's left is to go out and buy gear for our guy. Since all the relevant gear is listed in the SR books, I'll let you do that part. Now you just need to clean up his attributes and skills and put them onto a character sheet.

THE POOLS

  Shadowrun uses a system of Dice Pools that you can add to certain skill rolls for additional successes. Oddly enough, these pools coincide with each of the major archetypes. For fighting/combat types, you have a Combat Pool. For deckers, roaming their way across the Matrix, they have a Hacking Pool. Magic users have a Spell Pool. Riggers, with their vehicles, get a Control Pool. Of course, you only get Pools which apply to you; if you can't cast spells, you don't get a Spell Pool. If you don't have a VCR, you don't get a Control Pool. And you get the picture. Here's how you figure them out:

Combat Pool: (Intelligence + Quickness + Willpower)/2
Control Pool: Reaction + (2 x VCR Rating)
Hacking Pool: (Intelligence + MPCP Rating)/3
Spell Pool: (Intelligence + Willpower + Magic Rating)/3

  Pools are always limited by the skill that they are rolled with. For example, if you are shooting a pistol and have a Pistol Skill of 4, you could only roll up to 4 dice from your Combat Pool in addition to the 4 you get for the skill, even if you have 6 dice in your combat pool. Casting spells is the same way. If you have a Sorcery Skill of 4, you can only use up to 4 dice from your Spell Pool. Dig? Let's move on to the last bit, which is figuring out what your Reaction, Essence, and Magic is.

Special Attributes

  There are three Attributes which are considered "special." These are stats that regularly affect the game, but are not as tangible as Strength, Charisma, or those Attributes. These attributes are Reaction, Magic, Body Index, and Essence. Essence and Magic are fairly easy to figure out. If you selected Magic as your A priority, then your Magic Rating is 6.
  Your Essence is automatically 6, but reduces as you add cyberware. Your Essence can not fall to zero or you die. There's also a sanity bit, which I'll get to in a second.
  Your Body Index is how much Bioware you can have. The upper limit is your unmodified Body Attribute (of course, that doesn't consider race, so a Troll can have more Bioware than a human, for example).
  Sanity is an important part of the game and I like to use it as a role-playing indicator. I'll post the table below. Here's a listing of the different Special Attributes and how you figure them out:

Essence: 6 (- cyberware)
Body Index: Body (bioware cannot exceed this number)
Reaction: (Intelligence + Quickness)/2 + 1d6 (base)
Sanity:(Base Charisma + Base Intelligence + Base Willpower + Base Body) x (Essence x 2.5) x .5

Sanity

  This is a house rule, so if you're a GM and don't want to use any kind of rules for sanity and essence loss, look away now; you've been warned.
  For anyone still reading, I'll assume your curiosity's gotten the better of you or you actually think this is a good idea. It has always been suggested in SR books and novels that people with loads of cyberware (ie. little Essence left) tend to be very cold, inhuman, or sadistic. While this was always an unspoken (unwritten?) rule, I decided to actually make a stat for it. You figure it out thusly:

  (Base Charisma + Base Intelligence + Base Willpower + Base Body) x (Essence x 2.5) x .5

  Once you have this number, you can consult the chart below. Naturally, the higher the number, the more stable you are. This will give your average person a score of 6 (all Attributes at 3 and an Essence of 6). Here's how it works out:

The Sanity Table
Sanity	Result
19+	You are a highly stable individual. You are also full of life. When you walk into a room, it lights up and people turn to follow the vitality you bring. You get a [(Sanity)-7] bonus dice to any Social die roll.
17-18	You are very well adjusted and have few emotional problems. You are practically empathic. You gain 2 extra dice to any Social Skill roll.
15-16	You are very well, mentally. You have excellent control over your emotions and you're good at reading people. You would make a very good politician. You gain 1 extra die on Social skills.
12-14	You are fairly balanced. You have your problems, but you can deal with them. You have the occasional emotional outburst and you may misread what someone's trying to tell you, but all in all, you're normal.
8-11	You're still pretty normal, but you may be a bit distant when dealing with people. If your social skills are good, you may be able to hide this feature of your personality.
4-6	No hiding it now: you are generally distant when dealing with other people. In short, you don't really understand people anymore. You get a +1 penalty on Social skills.
1-3	You are what most people would call a "cold fish." You don't relate real well with people and you don't especially like being around them. This comes across when you are dealing with people and this conveys a +2 to your Social target numbers.
.5-.99	Things are bad for you. People kind of disgust you, in a way. Why the hell can't they get with the program and get some 'ware? What's wrong with them? Can't they see that this is the future? They're revolting bags of liquid and bones all encased in a thin sack of flesh. Nasty. Oh, and you have a +4 to target numbers on Social Tests.
.25-.49	You just reach out and touch them and they die. How disgusting! Why even bother with them? You might want to "thin the herd" a bit. After all, there's simply too many of these human-things walking around. Who's going to stop you? Forget about Social Tests and Skills - no amount of ability will hide the fact that your humanity is more or less shot.
.1-.24	You may have blank spots in your memory and you are barely hanging on by a thread. When in "stressful situations" (as determined by the GM), you must make a Willpower (6) test to retain control. Otherwise, you freak out and start killing things.
<.1	You're insane. At any moment, the GM can take your character over as an NPC. You don't try to save yourself in a fight. You won't help other people...ever. You have no human empathy at all. You are dead to the world.

  And that sums up the priority system and the basics on attributes and skills. Again, for more detail, you will have to buy (or borrow) the Shadowrun rules book.
  The next section will give you a little more detail on the races of Shadowrun, both those you can play, and those that are a little more obscure (but known). For any of the "non-normal" races, you will need your GM's permission before you play them.