Has the runner with personnel motivation laying in the destruction of the paranormal been overdone?

-CM

No I don't think so. I've never run into a runner who has the ability (and the personnel) to motivate his staff simply to go out and kill paranormal critters.

However! There is the paranormal Bounty Hunter schtick, which has been done from time to time, but has the problem that a lot of runs don't actually -use- Paranormal critters to have a personal vendetta against to make it a viable running character. A decent -cover- perhaps, as you can legally get a lot of guns and armor, but said guns and armor are usually tracked to high heaven which makes them useless, on a run.

Well, mostly useless.

As Paranormal Bounty Hunters don't typically have to run the shadows (They are paid professionals typically with SINS and the like) since they are probably a tax deductible expense for the corporation (If said corporation even has to pay tax... hmmm food for thought. If you are born, live, and die in a corporate building, on corporate land, do you actually have to pay taxes? Hence all you'd ever have to do is die...)

You know, to be honest, I'd never even considered the semi-legit Professional Paranormal Bounty Hunter.  Though, now that you mention it, that doesn't sound like a half-bad angle.  That's something to dwell on.

-CM

The more and more I contemplate the concept of a Holy Crusader of Paranormal Smash +3, the more and more I'm thinking it'd require an awakened character to pull off.  Which is, potentially, turning me off to the idea.

I mean.  Chrome and big guns can only get you so far, even with the dumbed down confusion power.  I might be able to find a happy medium, but it's looking doubtful.  Unless any of you out there have any insight into the subject matter?

-CM

Critters resistant to machine guns, grenades, and rockets only come along a few times a decade...  A mundo would do fine as a parahunter as long as he specialized in big, loud, destructive weapons.  To make that guy into a workable shadowrunner though he'd have to have a few screws loose, since as Green said if you were a professional you wouldn't need to shadowrun.  A criminal past or mental instability that prevents legal firearms and gainful employment might work, or you could be a disgraced professional who accidentally blew up a bus full of orphans or something.  You could also be a wannabe amatuer fueled by a role model, even a simstar or game role model.

Tear's right that not many critters shrug of good old fashioned slugs or grenades or rockets, etc. However my biggest problem is why a paranormal bounty hunter would need to run the shadows at all. It just doesn't make sense, especially since if you were tagged at all, you'd have even more to risk (Such as your hunting liscence, your legit guns, etc) I don't think you'd need to be an awakened character, you would want to dump some points into willpower however. Besides, that confusion power never goes off if you kill it before it can move!

Need to run the shadows?  To avenge his dead parents, of course!  And to meet hot goth chicks that wear black trenchcoats and stiletto heels.  Um.  I thought that was kind of standard fare for why everyone else did?  Right?

-CM

(Fleshing the concept together on paper.  Might post the pseudo-finished concept, later.)

My character is a dwarf private investigator. He actually does legit work (with a fake SIN) most of the time.

He dips into the shadows when work is slow, or if a really lucrative job comes up.

I think work might be slow a lot I know the more 'business' oriented concepts are not as prevalent in the new system as it's going to be ran. Why would a PI be doing work in the barrens for example? Nobody really worth investigating living out there and all. From what I understand, the new game is going to be more based on the 'ShadowRunner' perspective not '2070 life' perspective tho it will have an impact?

Just food for thought and something to plan for.

Maybe I should've been a bit more specific.

Basically my PI is ex Lone Star. He specialized in surveillance and detection, while he also did normal detective work (which is why he PI's now; its the only real use he's found for his skill sets). Think spying, sting operations, shadowing, recording incriminating conversions, etc.

You've seen the show Cheaters? Well, he investigates infidelity, locates missing items (or people), snoops on folks if contracted for it, does "freelance work" for security companies/news agencies, etc.

Work indeed might get slow. Or the shadowrun might just pay 10x what the lady next door wants to pay to watch her husband who's been "working" a lot of extra hours lately.

I want to use the legit work to describe what my character does during some or even a lot of his downtime between runs. (Though my character always considers the runs to be downtime between casework!)

The dwarf might be in the barrens snooping on a drug dealer. Maybe someone's lost child hit the Barrens to hide out from mom and pop while he hits the BTLs hard. Lots of possibilities. Plus some shadowwork might be even semi-legit.

I assume a P.I. would have a nice network of Lonestar contacts, in addition to some infiltration, and social skills...

...Which can always come in handy in the world of Shadowrunners.

-CM

Definately CM. I'm not saying a PI turned Runner is a bad thing, just saying that in the current focus for the new game, then to have a more 'sin friendly' character type like a PI might be harder to work into things. Those jobs, so pesky, if people had real jobs they wouldn't need to run normally

Word.  I read you loud and clear.

And in other news, I think I'll be incorporating a criminal SIN into this anti-paranormal concept of mine.  A clear disadvantage and concept building facet, in addition to being an easy explanation of why being legit isn't an option.

-CM

You know...I once played a Troll Rigger, doctorate in Aerospace Engineering, Masters in Mechanical Engineering. Was fired from Federated Boeing because, well, he made the Human Engineers uncomfortable. Oh..and he kind of got blamed for safety issues with one of their small planes, because he pointed out the problems...

The character actually ran a small fabrication business for custom personal aircraft(i.e.,  under the old rules, he had a Facility, not a workshop). He ran, though, because...well..he wanted to TEST his stuff out...not the stuff he sold to legitimate clients, but the stuff he sold to Runners...When a runner would ask 'Can I depend on this working?' he could LITERALLY reply with 'I would, and have, staked my life on that design.'

Hey, now that's a pretty cool concept right there.

Kudos.

-CM