“The first rule of Club Club is everything is a club.” -Big Caper, Your Friendly Neighborhood Ork Bouncer
Ivy Mike
People over-complicate things. There’s wrong and there’s right, even in the shadows. Show respect, protect those who can’t protect themselves, and beat the living fuck out of anyone who thinks the previous two are optional.
Ivy Mike would think of himself as a modern Paladin, if he wasn’t such a thug. The son of an exiled, cancer ridden Tir Na Nog noble, Ivy strives to live up to an ideal hollow even in the home country he can never know. IM’s natural optimism and exuberance are tested by the shithole he lives in.
His inner nobility is undercut by his natural love of nasty, nasty fighting. Disdaining overly formal styles for a more vicious approach, Ivy Mike has learned the joys of beating people senseless for fun and profit. He prides himself on being able to hurt people with unusual things. Things not necessarily made as weapons.
He grew up surrounded by crippling poverty, his father’s bitter rage, and legends of noble elven warriors. Ivy Mike dreams of being an ascendant hero. Life is not obliging him.
You can check out his sheet here.
Using Ivy Mike
Some characters are built for subtlety. Ivy Mike isn’t really in their number. He’s a straight forward brawler made fun by the contrast between his natural optimism and the depressing world he lives in.
It should be noted that while he favors a sledge hammer, his skills allow him to use most anything hard enough to survive being used to beat someone.
I’ve used an adept power from Shadowrun 4’s Street Magic book on page 179. Nimble Fingers gives a +1 bonus on palming and makes Insert Clip, Pick up/put down object, Remove Clip, and use simple object free actions. If you don’t want to port such things, feel free to swap it for a level in Attribute Boost Strength.
IM’s big weakness is, sadly, accuracy. Because he focuses on weapons with naturally low accuracy, he can’t do too much damage without spending a little edge extra. This does have the benefit of giving him lots of room to play with called shots, however.
Compensating for that, though, is his helmet. With 6 points available for + Armor accessories and using the Most Important House Rule in R&G, Ivy Mike can make himself quite a bit harder to hurt. When kit up for a fight, he’s got form fitting body armor under some regular clothes, with an armored Jacket, and his Green Man-themed Ballistic Mask. This combination gives him a hefty 16 armor. 18, when his mystic armor Qi Foci is on.
If you want to use him as a NPC keep his Code of Honor in mind. He doesn’t hurt women or children and reacts badly to those who do. His ability to Riposte effectively from many attacks allows him to be an effective counter to melee-focused characters. Have him use push the limit when doing so. If wielding his sledge hammer while doing it, he’d be rolling 21 dice without a limit. Especially have him do so when he has initiative ending in an 8, 9, or 0 which allows him to keep his number of actions solid.
Creation/advancement notes
This is my second experiment with creating a character heavily skewed towards attributes and away from skills. I got the idea from a guy I play with and it seems to work out pretty well. Despite his awful skills, he has enough to manage one overwhelming skill and a few solid ones.
Basically, since it’s easier to raise skills than it is to raise attributes, it makes sense to go light on them if you can spare it.
Ivy Mike got his name from the testing of the world’s first Thermonuclear device. A 85-ton, 10-megaton son-of-a-bitch. It’s a badass name and needed to be used. Ivy Mike’s actual name is some nigh-unpronounceable creole of Sperethiel and Gaelic. He’s accepted no one wants to speak his actual name.
I imagine his Astral Beacon quality comes from his emotions being large and flaring. He isn’t really a subtle person. And he legitimately doesn’t understand people who try and make things more complicated than they are. If he was a SR4 Adept, he’d almost certainly be a Way of the Athlete instead of a Way of the Warrior adept. IM is all about the joy of using his body rather than winning fights.
Long term, he’s probably going to be moving towards picking up Arnis De Mano to get Multiple Opponent Combat(Defender has defended), Two-weapon-Style Attack, and Two-Weapon Style Defense. Then picking up enough arcana to initiate so he can make out his improved reflexes. So many martial arts options give new uses for initiative nothing else really makes sense
Ivy Mike- Sledge Hammer Adept
A Attributes 24
B Magic – Adept Magic 6, one R4 active skill
C Race – Elf (3)
D Skills 22
E: Money 6k
“The first rule of Club Club is that everything is a club.”
Karma: 25
-7 Natural Athlete
-4 Ambidextrous
-7 Martial art and maneuver (Bartitsu; Called Shot(Disarm))
-5 Mentor Spirit(Eagle)
+15 Code of Honor
+10 Astral Beacon
+0 Allergy (Pollutants, mild)
-10 for 20k in money
-6 to raise sneaking to 3
-8 to bond w/ Qi Focus
-3 Carry Over
Attributes 24
B 5
A 7(8)
R 4(6)
S 5
W 4
L 3
I 5
C 3
E 4
Initative: 11+3d6
Defense: 12
-Riposte: 7(+2) Clubs + 6 Reaction +1 Combat Sense: 14(+2)
Armor: 12 Armored Jacked +2 Ballistic Mask + 2 Form Fitting Body Armor + 2 mystic armor: 18
Soak: 23
Skills 22
-Clubs (Improvised) 6(+2) +8 Agility +1 adept = 15(+2)
-*Gymnastics 4 + 8 Agility + 2 NA = 14(+2 Jumping)
-Running 2 +5 Strength +2 NA = 9
-Perception 1 +5 Intuition + 2 Eagle = 8
-Unarmed 2 + 8 Agility
-Automatics(Machine Pistols) 1(+2) +8 Agility = 9(+2)
-Throwing Weapons 2 +8 Agility = 10
-**Etiquette 2 + 3 CHA = 5
-Negotiation 1 + 3 CHA = 4
-**Sneaking(Urban) 3(+2) + 8 Agility = 11(+2)
-Palming 1 + 8 Agility = 9
*= Free from magic
** = Raised with Karma
Knowledge Skills 16
-Sprawl life 2
-Area Knowledge 2
-Tir Na Nog Lore 4
-Sperienthiel 2
-(Area) Gangs 3
-Street Fighting 3
Adept Powers 6:
-Enhanced Accuracy(Clubs) .25
-Critical Strike (Clubs) .5
-Improved Physical Attribute (Agility 1) 1
-Improved Reflexes 2 2.5
-Light Body 2 .5
-*Combat Sense 1 –
-**Nimble Fingers .25 (SM pg 179)
-Danger Sense 2 .5
-Improved Ability(Clubs) 1 .5
**If you’re using our Combat Virtuoso power, he drops Enhanced Accuracy (clubs) and Critical strike (Clubs) for Combat Virtuoso(clubs). Giving him a hefty 7 limit with improved weapons.
*Free from Mentor Spirit
** = From SR4’s Street Magic
Gear: 26000
-Sledge Hammer 40
-Stun Staff 1000
-Ultimax 70 800
-Concealable Quick Draw holster 275
-Gecko Grip 100
-Force 4 Qi Focus( Mystic Armor 2) 12,000
-Fake SIN R1 2,500
-Form Fitting Body armor 1,300
-Customized Ballistic Mask 300
*Note: Styled after the Green man
-Gas Mask 200 [2]
-Trodes 75 [1]
-Ultrasound Sensor R3 300 [1]
-Low-light Flashlight 25 [1]
-Armored Jacket 1000
-Fire Resist 6 1500
-Nonconductivity 6 1500
-Squatter Lifestyle 500
-Meta links x5 500
-Respirator R6 300
-Chain Mail 900
885 left
Contacts 9
-Kroc, One armed Troll martial Artist Bartender. 4/2
-Skippy, newbie fixer 1/2
Power Walking In The Darkness: The Unofficial Shadowrun Blog 