I'm getting there.  I have a couple of things put to the GM, am working on formatting and then spending money.

Just finishing up spending. Made a Technomancer and a separate decker build to see which one I liked better for the character.

Ooh. Sounds like I'll have to pick up Forbidden Arcana next time I get a chance. :)

In reply to Cheshire (msg # 263):

Decker, for protecting our shiny, delicate electronics :D

Will do.

Was only messing Cheshire, go with whatever you like best. No use having a character you're not happy playing

So, quick recap, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Graff Micro Designs swiped some sort of info off our Mr J or his company. We're to get into the GMD facility & trash the storage with a possible bonus if we retrieve said info?

Pretty much. Though why Mr. Johnson thinks nobody there ever heard of the concept of data backups is a bit of a mystery. This alleged mission is so pointless Winter is just going along out of curiosity for what Mr. Johnson is really up to.

IRRC, Johnson claimed they have sniffer agents out hunting down copies of the info. We're going after the offline storage.

In reply to FreeMason (msg # 270):

That's correct. Your Johnson is already handling any off-site backups; he only needs you to take care of the data they have on-site.

Crap. I lost my wheels in the transition to 5e.

Can't give anyone a ride to the site, sorry!

I snagged public transport with my lifestyle. Not having wheels might hinder us if we need a quick escape. Ah well.

I’ve respec’d Cheshire into a Decker/Rigger Hybrid. Will have wheels for everyone. Don’t worry about that.

Cool beans. I can't remember, did we get as far as having a workable plan? If so, can someone jog my memory? If not, I'd like to suggest we take it to Discord to try to avoid getting bogged down & killing the game.

Figured I'd post out here as we've been running custom stuff and exceptions by one another:

I was planning to run Drifter as a non-spellcasting full mage Shinto Shaman, who focuses on spirits but doesn't bind them.  However, 5e doesn't really allow that, as it has *very* different rules for unbound summons:

                 6e                                   5e
Max Summoned     (Cha)                                1
Time Available   Sunrise and Sunset                   Sunrise or Sunset
                 (12-24 hours)                        (0-12 hours)


Would you guys be up for allowing a 5-10 point mastery quality that trades off ability to bind for using 6e summoning limits?  Or even half of it?  Maybe something like:

Spirit Friend (Master Quality)
5-10 KARMA
You are an ally to clean spirits of all kinds as you never use the Binding skill except as a knowledge skill.  Your reputation among spirits is such that spirits desire to spend time near you.  You may have a maximum number of unbound spirits equal to Charisma/2, and if a spirit has been with you 6 or fewer hours when the sun crosses the horizon it remains willing to serve you until it crosses the horizon a second time.  If you ever bind a spirit or destroy a clean (non-insect, non-toxic) spirit on its home metaplane, this becomes a negative quality which can be bought of for twice the original cost after atonement has been made.


As a side note, if you guys are okay with this, I would not double-dip by taking the Shaman disadvantage.

I don't mind myself. I guess that's something that should be worked out with the DM? I'm afraid I don't have much experience with rules for spirits, and my character is pretty much the opposite, all spellcasting and no summoning.

@Freemason:
No plan as far as I know. Ele was arguing for a brusque assault (to avoid giving the target time to recruit after Jhonson's obvious display) but we have now moved on to the next day.

@Drifter:
Um, the 'only one spirit per domain' is a long-standing game balance for shamans being able to summon 'for free'. You would probably have to up that to a 20-pointer and make it 'one extra spirit' rather than half-cha. Or, if you want lots of spirits, play a Hermetic. But yeah, up to the ST.

In reply to Ele (msg # 278):

Regarding spirits: Yeah, I was surprised when they changed the number of unbound spirits in 6E. I don't necessarily have a problem with it, given the restrictions Drifter added--it kinda makes sense to me. My thought was that the quality should deal with either one restriction or the other (the number of spirits or the sunrise/sunset limitation) but not both, and that the cost should be 10 KP instead of 5.

Also, if you guys would rather assault immediately instead of having time for legwork, I can accommodate that.

In reply to GM (msg # 279):

That would be my preference, not sure if the other players disagree or just don't care.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:51, Mon 28 Sept 2020.

I kind of fear that we should have done that right away after the meeting with Mr. Johnson. But even if we are going in without a plan, it would be nice to first at least narrow the target to a building, instead of randomly wandering around the complex. I do have a tentative plan on how to learn that or possibly more, just waiting for feedback from the GM before I post. Unless someone else already had more luck doing the legwork?
This message was last edited by the player at 11:28, Mon 28 Sept 2020.

Assault is fine in the sense we are actively going to be heading in once we find what building it’s in.

@Winter - see my reply.

@all - Unless I'm missing something, I feel like you spent maybe two hours planning offsite after the meet. So, 0400-ish is the earliest you could make your move. If you want to move at 0400, that's wiz by me...

I have no formal training in ritual sorcery, but can muddle through fairly ok-ish.

Excellent, we can boost the range of the spell even more then. If we are going through with this, of course.

Er, sorry, I admit Shadowrun is not the system I'm most familiar, not by a long shot, so I may be missing something vital. Here is how I see the situation, we cast the ritual far, far away from the target. Unless someone is already watching us, they are none the wiser about it. Then we use the spell to take a look inside the barriers right from there, kilometres away. By spell description, whoever casted the barrier gets no warning about the probing.

It could be argued that the point from which the spell gives sight is still visible in astral, but keeping it low force and using reagents instead to get enough hits to pass through the barrier could then hopefully make it less obvious to detect. I think.

What am I missing?

Also, if there is some other way for us to learn where the server is, I'd really like for us to do so. Going in without even knowing which building we are supposed to hit strikes me as suicidal. I guess we could abduct an employee or two and mind probe / interrogate them? Or do something from cyberspace (I know next to nothing about that part of the game)?