Character Creation

Character Creation
Aspects
Shadows of Fate characters will have six Aspects by the time character creation is finished.
Those are:
1. A High Concept - This is your Archetype, generally. This is the thing your character is. When your Fixer calls someone for a job, your High Concept Aspect is probably what you're listed as in his phone. Dwarf Rigger, Elven Discple of the Paths, Former Troll Pit Fighter, Best Face in the biz. If you're going to be something other than Human, it's usually called out in your High Concept. Races are Aspects that provide access to a specific Stunt, but the Aspect costs nothing have.
2. A Trouble - Just like in Fate Core, this is something your character is dealing with that can't be taken care of easily.
3. Backgroundn - Where did you come from? Who were your parents? What was your early life like? Did you live a neo-tribal life after the Great Ghost Dance, so now you are Never Lost in the Wilderness? Are your parents movers and shakers, were you Born with Silver Spoon in Your Mouth? Did you see your parents murdered in front of you, and now you're consumed with a Burning Need for Vengance? Pick one Aspect based on how your character grew up.
4. Adult Life - What did you do before you started running the shadows? Are you a Former Company Man or a Former Police Detective? Did your street sam Work for some unnamed government Alphabet Agency or See too much in the Euro Wars? How did your decker get his cyberdeck - was he a Gifted Prodigy or Get Sick of the Corporate Life? Maybe something bad happened to drive you into the dark, maybe you were Betrayed or you Had Nowhere Else to Go? For Magic-using characters, between Background and Adult Life, they need to pick up the Aspect Awakened, when you first gained access to manipulate Mana. Usually this will have another Aspect tied to it, like Was on the Dean's List at MIT&T or maybe, for a Physical Adept, it happened when you Killed someone in a Fight Pick an Aspect that represents your entry into Adulthood or past life.
First Shadowrun - Co-starring with: - As Fate Core. Shift character sheets to the person next to you. Both of you gain an Aspect in this stage, based on the story of your first run together.
Second Shadowrun - Co-starring with: - Once more we shift, everyone gets someone new to co-star with an both get a new Aspect based on this second run.
This allows PCs to start with several Aspects to draw on and compel from and with each character having a pre-existing relationship with two other characters at the table. I believe this best represents the opening of the campaign - PCs will know each other and be able to vouch for each other as they come together to work together for the first time.
Refresh
Everyone starts with 10 Refresh. This is reduced by taking Stunts. There are no free stunts in my Hack. Players may take up to seven Stunts if they wish, though I'm expecting most people to end up with five refresh and five stunts
Skills
Characters, per FATE Core, start with the Skill Pyramid. One skill at Great (+4), two at Good (+3), three at Fair (+2) Four at Average (+1) Everything else at Mediocre.
There are two Exceptions to this.
1. Computer In order to advance Computer beyond Mediocre, the character must have the Decker Aspect. Everyone knows how to use computers in 2056, there's no real difficulty in it, nothing that would require a roll greater than 0. Anything beyond that is the realm of the experts, who use the Code of the Matrix to do things normal users can't even dream of. Can you hack the FBI? I sure can't, but someone with Computers: Average can - even if they probably shouldn't.
2. Sorcery and Conjuring In order to raise Sorcery or Conjuring above Mediocre - in order to be able to interact with these skill in any meaningful way - the character must be Awakened. Normally, characters are assumed to be Mediocre (+0) in any skill they do not possess. In this case, characters are not considered to have a score in these skills at all, unless they are Awakened. There should be no reason why a mundane character should ever make a roll with these skills.
Here is our Skill List:
Athletics
Body - Physique by another name
Biotech
Burglary - which includes Electronics. The knowledge to break into any secured facility or safe.
Computers
Conjuring
Contacts
Deceive
Demolitions
Empathy
Etiquette - Rapport, renamed.
Expertise - takes the place of Lore. Your expertise within your given field.
Fight
Investigate
Notice
Provoke
Lifestyle - Resources, renamed.
Shoot
Stealth
Will
20 Skills. Using our Skill Pyramid, your character will have ranks in 10 of these 20. Our PCs are, as is usual in Fate, pretty competent individuals.
Stunts
Stunts cost one refresh each. Rather than create an extensive list of cyberware, my choice is to ask the question, "What do you want your character to be able to do?" and use that information to craft Stunts as appropriate.
I have, however, decided to create some Stunts that players can choose. These stunts are tied to racial Aspects, so only members of that Race can select the following Stunts.
Human - Lucky: Once per scene, when spending a Fate point to alter a roll, you may instead of re-rolling or adding to, change all of your blanks to pluses.
Troll - Strength and Size: You gain +2 on any rolls that involve your Strength or when using Body to overcome any physical obstacle your tremendous strength and might can be applied to. You also have dermal armor, which reduces all incoming stress you receive by 1. If you reduce stress to 0, your opponent still gets a Boost to use against you.
Ork - Tough and Fierce: While not as strong as Trolls, Orks are stronger than any other race and receive a +1 to Strength related rolls, as above. In addition, Orks are stereotyped as being quick to anger and aggressive. When you choose to play into that sterotype (or if you just plain are the stereotype) you gain +2 to Provoke rolls to intimidate or harass someone.
Dwarf - Stubborn and Clever: You gain +2 on Will rolls to resist someone asking you to do something you don't want to do or to change your mind about something. When working with machines or building something, Dwarves gain +2 on their Engineering rolls.
Elf - Quick and Charismatic: You gain +2 to Notice when determining who goes first in Combat and a +2 to overcome Social Obstalces
What's not covered in the Stunts: The stunts are meant to represent the things each race is especially known for. Not every Troll is going to be super strong, but if you pick the Troll Stunt Strength and Size, we know your troll is. Just like every Elf isn't Charismatic, or not Every Human is Lucky. Furthermore, Every Elf can see in Low Light conditions as if it was day, and Dwarves and Trolls share Thermographic vision, letting them see in the dark. What happens if you choose not to pick up Strength and Size for your Troll, but you're in a situation in which having Troll strength would be useful? You can still pay a Fate Point to call upon your Troll Aspect - Trolls are big, and do tend to be at least as strong as the strongest Human. Having the Stunt gives you access to that part of being a Troll all the time, for no Fate points - you chose to spend Refresh on it instead. Not taking a Racial Stunt will not limit your character, it just means your character doesn't fit the stereotype.
Post about Stunts
Stunts
The Madness of No Lists - Other than the racial Stunts listed above, I've decided to refrain from creating a list of pre-made stunts. You could easily take each individual piece of Cyberware and turn it into its own Extra or Stunt. I've decided, due to how much work would be involved, to decline from doing that. Instead, the question "what do you want your character to be able to do, or what would they be really good at?" will determine how Stunts are crafted for the character.
Example: Human Street Samurai
What do I want my Street Sam to be able to do, what is he good at? He should be good at shooting. I want him to have some cyberware that makes him stronger, faster and tougher. These are really the cornerstones of the "Samurai" in Shadowrun. Let's model some stunts!
There's a well-known piece of cyberware that helps with Shooting - the Smart Link. As a stunt, the easiest thing would be to stick with the straight +2 to Shoot rolls, that would be fine, but let's also add something to it that gives our cyberware more impact than just a bump to a roll.
Stunt: Smartlink You may use Shoot to create the Aspect Target Lock on a target. You gain a number of Free Invokes on this Aspect equal to your shifts on this roll. You may share this aspect with anyone else on your team who has the cyberware to process it, they do not share in your free invokes.
Now, let's work on Stronger:
Stunt: Cyberlimbs One or more of your limbs has been replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic. You add +2 to any rolls related to your strength and when using Fight, you inflict one stress on all ties, along with a Boost.
Faster:
Stunt: Wired Reflexes You have superconducting fiber-optics replacing some of the major portions of your nerve trunks. You may always go first in a Conflict, if someone else has a Stunt or Extra that allows them to go first, you use your Notice skill as normal to determine turn order. In addition, you may spend a Fate point to take another action during your turn. If someone else has this ability, turn order is determined by Notice, as usual
and Tougher: but
Stunt: Subdermal armor You haignve semi-flexible armor plating under your skin. You reduce all incoming Stress by 1 and once per scene you may ignore a Mild Physical consequence.
There's four stunts that I feel really nails what I want this character to be able to do. There's another 2 or 3 stunts left over to flesh out anything else the player would like. Things like cyberspurs can be included in the cyberarm stunt (I feel they are, with the ability to do stress on ties, but I could be convinced otherwise) or made into their own stunt if the effects warrant. The point is to leave the Stunt/Extra creation up to player and GM so that they can sculpt the effeect to match the idea. If I wanted my cyberlimbs primarily for smuggling, the Cyberlimb stunt I would create would have different wording and a different effect than the one above.
These Stunts are also Aspects that can be Invoked or Compelled, as well, if something having to do with them arises in the story.
As a brief aside, cyberware is hackable by a decker. We'll get to that when we get to the Decking Rules.
Example: Ork Gator Shaman Magical Stunts! Once again, "What do you want your character to do, what is special about them?"
I want a Shaman who is tied to Gator, who is good at sneak attacks and has a big bite on his combat spells.
Stunt: Gator Totem As a follower of Alligator, you gain his ability to hide. Any spell you cast that can be described as an Illusion gains a +2 Benefit. Any Aspects you create with your illusions are harder to detect than normal - +1 level on the Ladder. So, if you create a Good illusions Aspect Invisibility, your tie with Gator makes that Aspect resist attempts to see through it as if it was Great.
Stunt: Attacking from Surprise Just like Gator, you prefer to close in on your prey. When take them down with one savage attack. Anytime you can attack someone who does not know you are there, you add +2 shifts to your damage roll. Once per scene when doing this, you may spend a Fate Point to "stage up" a Consequence - Mild to Moderate, Moderate to Severe, Severe to Taken Out.
It is My Very Favorite Spell A generic stunt that gives +2 when using your Very Favorite Spell, whatever that happens to be. In this case, we have a named spell, Fireball for instance. Usually, we keep spells unnamed, using the Four Actions to determine what the mage is attempting and using Aspects to describe any lasting effects. In this particular case, this tells us this Mage loves to cast a particular Spell and when they do, they get a bonus.
That's the idea. Stunts are tailored to the character, rather than forcing your character to adopt something with a static bonus.