This text was taken from the Shadowrun 3rd edition preview published on FASA's website. Unfortunately, the unabridged version is no longer available now that Shadowrun is being produced by FanPro.
Race
Characters in Shadowrun may be of one of the five subgroups
of Homo sapiens: the predominant human (Homo sapiens sapiens), elf
(Homo sapiens nobilis), dwarf (Homo sapiens pumilionis), ork (Homo
sapiens robustus), and troll (Homo sapiens ingentis). Non-humans are
known as metahumans, while the five subgroups as a whole (including humans) are
known as metahumanity. As described in the fictional points of view beginning on p.
47, all are human beings, at least according to the geneticists. Racists say
differently.
In the early 2060s, humans are still the most numerous race populating
the planet. Each of the other races are represented about equally, but are scattered
unevenly across the globe. In some places, humans form an extreme minority, but those tend
to be areas where the other races have gathered for safety, protection and isolation.
Humans make up the standard. As characters, they receive no special
Attribute or ability modifications.
Dwarfs are hardier (slightly higher Body), stronger (higher Strength),
and more willful (higher Willpower) than humans. They also have thermographic vision,
which allows them to see radiated infrared (heat) energy as well as the normal light
spectrum (simultaneously). They have a slower movement rate than other races, but are also
more resistant to disease. And yes, they are short.
Elves are more agile (higher Quickness) and more charismatic (higher
Charisma) than humans. They also have low-light vision, which enables them to see clearly
in near-total darkness.
Orks are much tougher (much higher Body), stronger (higher Strength),
less charismatic (lower Charisma), and less acute (lower Intelligence) than humans. They
too have low-light vision.
Trolls are big and nasty. They are a lot tougher (much higher
Body), slower (lower Quickness), much stronger (higher Strength), less charismatic (lower
Charisma), less acute (lower Intelligence), and less willful (lower Willpower) than
humans. They too have thermographic vision, really long arms that give them an advantage
in melee combat, and extremely tough skin with bony deposits that makes them more
resistant to damage.
A player does not have to pay extra to create a human character.
Players who want to play a metahuman (dwarf, elf, ork, or troll) must pay a little extra
for the privilege.
Attributes
In Shadowrun, each character has eight Attributes, or nine, if the character is a magician. There are three Physical Attributes, three Mental Attributes, and two (or three) Special Attributes.
Attributes come into play for various tests, and your Attribute Rating is the number of dice you roll when making such a test.
A character’s Attributes—Body, Quickness, Strength, Charisma, Intelligence and Willpower—represent the raw material that makes up every person: his or her body, what the character has done with that body, and what’s inside the person that makes him or her unique. Because Attributes can be improved during the course of a character’s life, they represent something more than genetics.
Physical
The Body Attribute determines a character’s resistance to outside forces. It represents the character’s cardiovascular fitness and endurance, immune system, how well he heals, how well he adjusts to bioware, his tolerance for drugs and alcohol, and, to some extent, his muscle and bone structure and weight. Low Body could mean a character is skinny and frail-boned, or has bad eating and health habits. A character recovering from a nasty disease or extensive cyberware surgery might have low Body as well. High Body means a character is better fed, tough as nails, has strong bones with some spring to them and an immune system that won’t quit.
Quickness represents a character’s motor reflexes, balance, metabolism, running speed, flexibility and coordination. A character with low Quickness might be a trid potato, have an inner ear disturbance, or might simply have a tendency to freeze up in an emergency situation. High Quickness means that a character has developed agility, fluidity and grace, perhaps through a regimen of running, martial arts or even typing (which builds up manual dexterity).
Strength denotes what a character’s muscles can do. Strength is somewhat dependent on a character’s size and metatype. If your character is a 5-foot-tall, 115-pound human girl, she’s unlikely to possess an unaugmented Strength Attribute of 6. On the other hand, dwarfs have a muscle density that rivals that of reptiles (to reflect this, starting dwarf characters receive a +2 Strength bonus). Characters with low Strength may be small, skinny or slight, or simply too busy to work out. A high-Strength character may be tough and wiry, know how to use her body to her best advantage, work out every day, or simply be fraggin’ BIG.
Mental
Charisma is a nebulous attribute. More than just looks, Charisma represents a character’s personal aura, self-image, ego, willingness to find out what people want and give it to them, and ability to recognize what he can and can’t get out of people. A whiny demeanor, a me-first attitude, or an inability to read body language or subtle hints are just a few traits that can give a character low Charisma. A character with high Charisma might simply enjoy entertaining others, may honestly want to help people and develop friendships, or may be all flash and fun with whomever is it today. A high-Charisma character might deliver jokes at the right moment, have a sexy way of carrying herself, or command respect because her timing is always impeccable.
Intelligence represents a character’s perceptual and analytical abilities, memorizing ability and raw brain power. It denotes how fast a character learns, adapts or remembers. Low Intelligence does not mean stupidity; instead, it might denote a character who discounts things too quickly rather than seeing how he might use them. Such a character may not think beyond the moment, may be easily distracted, or may simply rely on instinct rather than intellect. High Intelligence, on the other hand, means a character can keep track of several things at once, integrate old memories with whatever he’s working on now, and apply general principles to specific problems. Such characters notice small details and learn fast—they may not have gone to school for years and years, but if someone competent explains something to them, they’ll get it.
Willpower keeps a character going when he wants to give up, or enables him to control his habits and emotions. Willpower determines whether or not a character is going to take charge of his life. A character with low Willpower might defer to other people when big decisions are being made, for example. A high-Willpower character is more assured and possesses a never-say-die streak. Such characters go down to the monowire because that’s exactly the fragging point.
Special
Essence is a measure of life force, of a body’s wholeness. It represents the body’s cohesiveness and holistic strength. Things that are invasive to the body, such as cyberware, reduce Essence. If a character abuses his body repeatedly with chemicals, toxins or even just negligence over a long period of time, he may lose Essence as well. Long-time drug addicts and chipheads who have done permanent damage to their system have lost Essence. When Essence declines, Magic declines by the same amount.
Magic is a measure of the ability to use magic, and of the body’s attunement to the mana that flows through our plane. Those with strong Magic Ratings are able to handle powerful magic and mana manipulation. Those with weak Magic Ratings are more sensitive, and more easily drained by the use of magic. Those with no Magic Rating have no magical capabilities and are tuned out from the magical realms. Serious damage to the body and invasive additions such as cyberware reduce Magic Rating.
Reaction determines how quickly and how often a character can act under pressure. A character with good reflexes will have a high Reaction. The Reaction Rating is the average of Quickness and Intelligence, rounded down.
Sam has a character framework in mind, though he’s still working out the details. He decides he wants to play an ork investigative journalist. As journalists rely on their social traits, the Charisma penalty orks receive will make it tough, but that also means that charismatic orks aren’t too common, making his tough-as-nails ork willing to kick hoop.
Attribute Ratings
Care must be taken to distinguish between natural, unmodified Attribute Ratings and those augmented by cyberware and magic. Generally, augmented ratings are listed in parentheses after the natural rating, such as 4 (6).
During character creation, Physical and Mental Attributes have maximum ratings based on Rating 6 plus or minus racial modifiers, depending on metatype. The Maximum Attribute value for each metatype is equal to 1.5 times this figure. See the Racial Attribute Limit Table, p. 245. These maximums refer to unmodified Attributes—cyberware or magic can raise Attributes beyond the racial maximum.
Note that the Attribute increases a physical adept receives through the Improved Physical Attribute power (p. 169) and other powers are treated as natural, not augmented, ratings.
All characters have a starting Essence Rating of 6. Cyberware implants and improperly healed damage reduce this rating. No character may start with an Essence greater than 6. Under basic Shadowrun rules, characters can never have an Essence of 0 or less. If they do, they die.
If the character can use magic, his Magic Rating starts at 6, but is equal to the Essence Rating, rounded down. So, a magician with an Essence Rating of 4.5 has a Magic Rating of 4. A character who cannot use magic has no Magic Rating.
HUMAN ATTRIBUTE RATINGS
| Rating | Description |
| 1 | Weak |
| 2 | Underdeveloped |
| 3 | Typical |
| 4 | Improved |
| 5 | Superior |
| 6 | Maximum unmodified human |
Initiative
Initiative is the method by which the order of action taken within a single Combat Turn is determined. Initiative is based on a character’s (augmented) Reaction, plus a character’s Initiative dice. To determine the Initiative total, the dice are rolled and added together along with the character’s Reaction. The number determines which order characters go in during each Initiative Pass (see Combat, p. 102). This is not a test, so the Rule of Six does not apply to the dice rolls.
Each character starts off with 1D6 base Initiative dice. Various types of cyberware and magic may add more dice. A character’s total Initiative dice is listed in parenthesis following the base number, e.g., 1D6 (2D6). In other words, this character has two Initiative dice (2D6), one up from his base.
In the Matrix, a decker’s Reaction and Initiative are modified only by Response Increase circuitry in their deck (see The Matrix, p. 207). No other forms of Reaction or Initiative modifiers (other than injury modifiers, p. 126) affect the character while in the Matrix.
While rigging, riggers receive only the modifications given them by the vehicle control rig (see Vehicles and Drones, p. 130) they are using. Characters with a datajack who are driving a vehicle equipped with a datajack port receive a +1 Reaction bonus while driving. No other Reaction or Initiative modifiers apply except for injury modifiers.
In astral space, base Reaction for magicians is equal to their Intelligence. Astrally projecting characters get 1D6 Initiative dice in astral space as well as a +20 Initiative bonus. No other Reaction or Initiative modifiers apply except for injury modifiers.
MAGIC
There are few who would argue any single event in the known history of Earth is more significant than the return of magic. One morning the world woke up and the rules were different. The boundaries of existence changed and life had to be relearned. The world had Awakened. Some people have the ability to tap into the powers of the Awakened world and use to them to do magic (see Magic, p. 158).
In Shadowrun, any character with a Magic Attribute of 1 or more is considered Awakened. Those with no magical ability (a Magic Attribute of 0) are known as mundanes by the magical. Awakened characters who use magical skills are called magicians. Awakened characters who focus their power inward to enhance their bodies are known as adepts.
Magicians come in two types. Full magicians can tap into the full range of abilities of their chosen tradition, while aspected magicians focus on a specific aspect of their chosen tradition.
Magicians are characters who have their Priority A allocated to Magic during character creation. Adepts and aspected magicians have Priority B allocated to Magic. For more information, see Creating a Shadowrunner, page 54.
Magicians frequently use Sorcery to manipulate mana and form spells (see Spellcasting, p. 181) and Conjuring (p. 184) to summon spirits and elementals (see Spirits and Dragons, p. 260). Both spellcasting and conjuring, as well as other magical activities, cause a magician fatigue, called Drain.
Magicians follow one of two traditions of magic. Whichever path the character chooses, it is for life. There is no going back.
A character who chooses the shamanic tradition is a shaman (see p. 162). Shamans receive their magic through their link with the outer world of nature and the inner world of emotion, will, and faith. Their link with nature is personified by a spirit-figure, called a totem, which exemplifies the shaman’s beliefs.
A character who chooses the hermetic tradition is a mage (see p. 167). Mages see the universe as patterns of force and energy they can control with complex symbols and formulae of power. Hermetic magic is more intellectual, relying on observation, theory, practice and precise execution, rather than intuition and improvisation. Mages are scholars and often have elaborate libraries and equipment to assist their work.
Adepts have their own unique path, known as the somatic way. Adepts are concerned with the harmony and perfection of body and mind, focusing magical power toward that end. Adepts can do little that does not directly involve the body, but it is usually enough.
The path of magic the character follows affects how spells are learned and what kinds of spirits can be summoned. It may also impose requirements on how the character acts. The choice colors the character’s outlook, relationships and motives in studying magic.
Each type of spell or spirit has a Force Rating that begins at 1 and increases as its power increases, chosen by the magician and limited by his abilities, time and money. The Force acts like a Skill or Attribute Rating in tests.
Race and Magic
Being a member of a metahuman race or a magic user has a big impact on any character, and any metahuman or magic-using character’s background should reflect that impact. If you’re playing such a character, think about how these conditions affect your character’s life. Ask yourself, when did the character realize that he was different from most other people? Was the character born in a predominantly human town, or in Seattle’s ork community? If the character is a mage or shaman, how does he or she view magic? Is he experiencing Drain because channeling energy has burned him out or because his totem thinks he shouldn’t be casting powerballs so often? Are his Killing Hands really the hate of his ancestors focused on his enemies? The answers to these types of questions help determine how your character works in the game.
Skills
Areas of knowledge or technique are known as skills, which have ratings that are used to carry out tests. Skills define what a character knows and can do. They range from Active Skills such as Unarmed Combat, to certain sets of Knowledge Skills such as Biology. See Skills (p. 81) for a complete listing. A character’s skill rating represents the number of dice rolled by that character when making tests using that skill.
Skills are rated on a scale similar to the Attributes, where a Rating of 3 represents competency in a particular skill. Beginning characters cannot have a base skill rating higher than 6.
A specialization represents a focused field of training or education in one aspect of a base skill. For example, a character with Pistols Skill can specialize in Remington Roomsweepers, improving his ability when firing that specific heavy pistol, but his skill with other types of firearms will be less in comparison. A character need not specialize. See Specialization, p. 82, for more information. Beginning characters cannot have any specializations higher than 7.
Certain skills, called Complementary Skills, allow a second skill to enhance a test made with another skill. For more details, see p. 97.
Gear
Gear is stuff the character owns. Gear includes a runner’s trusted sidearm, his nightclub clothes and corporate drone disguise, her micro-transceiver tuned to the team’s encrypted frequency, his battered Eurocar that he bought hot from the local gangbangers for use as a getaway vehicle, her ancient Celtic wristband made of orichalcum that serves as a spell focus, and the ubiquitous pocket secretary with speed dial programmed for all his contacts. The list of available gear appears in the Street Gear chapter, p. 270. Beginning characters purchase gear with a pool of money available only during character creation. Once the game starts, anything a character wants to buy he’ll have to buy with money he earns. Welcome to real life, chummer.
Some gear has ratings, beginning at 1 and increasing with the capability and sophistication of the item. In addition to cost, gear usually has an Availability, which is a target number used to determine how readily and quickly the item can be obtained. There is also a Street Index factor, which is the multiple to the price for buying the item on the black market. Most items also have a Weight, for determining encumbrance, and a Concealability, which is the target number for Perception Tests to notice the item when carried.
Weapons have a Damage Code that tells the player how much damage they do. The code consists of a number and a letter. The first number is the Power Level, which indicates the difficulty of offsetting damage from such a weapon. The letter indicates the Damage Level (Light, Moderate, Serious or Deadly) that the weapon inflicts. See Combat, p. 114, for further explanation of how this code is used.
As with Attributes and skills, let your character’s background suggest appropriate gear when allocating resources. Characters should not be able to pull money and gear out of thin air—they should only possess items they can plausibly pay for and obtain, based on their backgrounds.
Cyberware
Various technological implants, organ modifications, and structural enhancements to the metahuman body that are collectively known as cyberware can improve a character’s Attributes and abilities. Certain cyberware makes it possible for a character to carry out extraordinary actions, such as datarunning in the global computer Matrix, using a vehicle control rig to control a vehicle by thought alone, or moving three times as fast as normal thanks to wired reflexes.
Because implanting cyberware in the body is an invasive procedure, cyberware has an Essence Cost to install. The metahuman body has limits, and so only a certain amount of cyberware can be installed before the body runs out of Essence and dies. Cyberware is particularly damaging to the magically active, as their Magic Rating is dependent on their Essence. Some burned-out mages, who have lost a bit of their Magic from accidents, drugs, or deadly wounds, attempt to compensate for their weakened magical ability with more cyberware. This path is a rapid downward spiral, and more than one such runner has found himself unable to cast any but the weakest spells.
The more cyberware a character has installed, the more "inhuman" they become. Overly-cybered characters tend to become a bit detached, and the empathy between them and other metahumans suffers for it. While many pieces of cyberware are so common as to be unremarkable anymore (cybereyes, datajacks), visible cyberware still has a startling effect on many people, especially if there is lots of it. This tends to impede social interactions when cybered individuals are involved. See Cyberware and Social Interaction, p. 193.
Many pieces of cyberware are considered to be security or military-grade, and thus are restricted from the public or outright illegal. This includes most pieces of cyber-implant weaponry, high-level wired reflexes, and so forth. Sporting ’ware like this can get a character heavily fined, jailed, or worse. This tends to make travel difficult for some, as most airports and border checkpoints scan for cyberware. Security companies have invented several methods of forcibly restraining people from using various implants.
Cyberware can be quite expensive, especially if it is illegal. Black clinics operate in the shadows, providing ’ware and installation services for hefty fees. Many of them offer used cyberware, and will pay for bodies that sport still useful implants. Corporations and governments operate their own high-level clinics, far from prying eyes. Depending on a character’s background, there should be some explanation as to how the character obtained the cyberware she has, what she had to do to get it, and perhaps who she still owes for it. It should be noted that many, ah, employers, are not against removing ’ware installed in former employees.
A higher grade of cyberware known as alphaware is publicly available. Alphaware is more Essence-friendly than standard cyberware, but is more costly as well.
For a complete listing of various pieces of cyberware and their effects, see Street Gear, p. 296.
CONTACTS
Contacts are non-player characters (NPCs) that gamemasters can use to make Shadowrun games richer, more unpredictable and more exciting for players.
Contacts are vital in Shadowrun. These are the people a character knows who can reveal information important to the character’s work, legitimate or not. Contacts are the purveyors of perhaps the most vital commodity of the 2060s: information. Need to know who’s doing what to whom? What the latest street rumor is? Where a special piece of gear can be found? Ask a contact.
Contacts acquired during character creation are "paid" for with money available only at that time. Money spent at this stage represents the footwork normally required to hunt down a contact, establish a working relationship, and develop some degree of trust. Contacts acquired in this manner are dependable within reason. Treat them well, play them straight, and they can be trusted. A character will not get anywhere in the dicey world of Shadowrun if he doesn’t trust anyone, and so a starting character is assumed to have developed a working relationship with a contact.
Contacts come in levels. A Level 1 contact is your basic acquaintance, who may or may not be helpful. A Level 2 contact is more of a friend; they’re likely to do things for the runner and maybe even stick out their necks a teensy bit. A Level 3 contact is a hardcore friend who will go down for the runner if necessary.
All characters start with two free Level 1 contacts, and they can buy more during Character Creation. It is also possible to acquire contacts during the game, but only through roleplaying. Characters cannot "buy" contacts once the game begins; they have to earn them the hard way.
For more information, see Contacts, p. 253.
Lifestyle
During character creation, the player must "purchase" the character’s starting lifestyle. Lifestyle determines how well the character lives and it eliminates the worry of daily expenses like food, laundry, phone bills and so on. To maintain a lifestyle once the game begins, the character must pay a certain amount of money (based on the lifestyle) per month. If the character fails to pay up, he finds himself living at the next lowest lifestyle. Lifestyles are covered in detail on p. 239.
It is possible for a character to purchase more than one lifestyle at a time, and may even be smart to do so. The additional lifestyles would represent the investment the character has made into creating and sustaining safehouses, private storage spaces and so on. For shadowrunners, having that alternative place to crash when on the lam, or having that backup set of Ingram smartguns stashed in a secure spot, can mean the difference between life and death.
Condition Monitor
The record sheet includes the Condition Monitor, which consists of two tracks. The Physical Damage Track displays wound damage and shows when the character dies. The Stun Damage Track shows fatigue and stun damage and indicates when a character falls unconscious. See Damage and Healing, p. 124, for more information.
Equipment like vehicles and cyberdecks also have Condition Monitors to track the amount of damage the object has taken.
Karma
There is one other term Shadowrun uses to describe characters. That term is Karma, the numerical representation of a character’s accomplishments (see Karma, p. 242). It is the equivalent of experience, awarded to characters at the end of adventures. Karma comes in two separate values: Good Karma and Karma Pool. When Karma is awarded to a character, a certain percent of it goes into Good Karma, which can be used to improve skills and even Attributes. The rest goes into the Karma Pool. The character can use the Karma Pool to do better in tests or to get out of trouble.
Good Karma is intended as a sort of cosmic "brownie points" for characters, rewarding them for performing good deeds and investing time and energy into certain aspects of their personal development. Likewise, the Karma Pool is a representation of a character’s accumulated luck. This system encourages a heroic attitude in players, although Shadowrun has room for opportunistic and amoral characters as well.
Finishing touches
The finishing touches on your character are created by a biographical sketch. A biographical sketch combines all the bits of background you’ve created for your character. Tell the gamemaster as much as you can about the character. This is your chance to go crazy. It’s your character, so he or she can have whatever history you want—no rules, priorities or numbers to worry about.