Choice of metatype also impacts minimum and maximum physical and mental abilities. Each receives certain advantages, and possibly disadvantages. There are five main metatypes: dwarf, elf, human, ork, and troll. Technomancer: Resonance 3, 1 complex formĪdept: Magic 4, one Rating 2 Active skillĪspected Magician: Magic 3, one Rating 2 Magical skill group Magician or Mystic Adept: Magic 3, 5 spells Technomancer: Resonance 4, two Rating 4 Resonance skills, 2 complex formsĪdept: Magic 6, one Rating 4 Active skillĪspected Magician: Magic 5, one Rating 4 Magical skill group Magician or Mystic Adept: Magic 4, two Rating 4 Magical skills, 7 spells Technomancer: Resonance 6, two Rating 5 Resonance skills, 5 complex forms Magician or Mystic Adept: Magic 6, two Rating 5 Magical skills, 10 spells Start jotting down some ideas on your character's background and history, and that will help you make priority decisions later. You would need a high priority in Resources. Perhaps your character is wealthy, and a lot of his 'talent' comes from what he has bought. If you have in mind a very skillful character, make sure to put a good priority in Skills. For example, if you want to play a troll, you have to assign a priority high enough in the Metatype column to allow trolls. You do not have to assign all your priorities right now, but you need to start thinking about the kind of character you want to play and what you will have to spend to build it. During character creation, and throughout the game, you can improve various things using Karma as well. By the end, you will have assigned a priority level to each aspect, with no duplications (i.e., you cannot have two B priorities). The Priority Table shows what you can get for each aspect at each priority level. Likewise, there are five levels of priority: A (highest), B, C, D, and E (lowest). There are five aspects needing a priority: Metatype, Attributes, Magic or Resonance, Skills, and Resources. Or the character may have just gotten out of jail and be eager to see what she can do with the skills she learned and the connections she made on the inside.Ĭharacter generation is based upon a priority system (see table below). The character may have grown up in a street gang, and he sees shadowrunning as a way to get out of the gutter. It’s not unusual for a bounty hunter who collects pelts of paranormal critters or tracks down fugitives to engage in a little shadowrunning to supplement his income.

There are second-generation runners, born to the life and learning the skills of the trade from their SINless parents. Or a former corporate headhunter forced out of the megacorporation by an ambitious rival and now using his negotiating savvy and deal-making skills to survive the shadows. The character may be an ex-soldier from a national government looking to use her combat skills on the streets. You may start with an idea of what sort of character you want to play and some basic background concepts. This is just a starting point, the one you create will be uniquely yours. The links below provide snapshots of character types you are most likely to find in the shadows. All characters start with 25 Karma they will use later to improve themselves.

Shadowrun character sheet 4e