The Physical Adept Reexamined

“We do our best to disprove the fact, but a fact it remains; man is as divine as nature, as infinite as the void.”
— Aldous Huxley

Credits

The author would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this article:

Paolo Marcucci - For convincing me I should write it in the first place.
Lulu - For always making me aware of my limitations
Sheldon Rose - Owner and Proprietor of Trish the Dish, the world’s first M&M slinging physad
Lightfinger - My co-author, friend and old running buddy

Legal Disclaimer

Shadowrun is a Registered Trademark of FASA Corporation. Original Shadowrun material Copyright 1994 by FASA Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used without permission. Any use of FASA Corporation’s copyrighted material or trademarks in this file should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.

Political Correctness Disclaimer

The use of the masculine pronoun within this article (such references as his or he) to refer to physical adepts should by no means be taken as an indication that the author believes all physical adepts to be male. It is merely a function of convenience and readability to use the masculine pronouns of his and he rather than his/her or he/she each time such a reference is made. If you dislike the author’s use of the masculine pronoun to refer to both genders, please feel free to substitute he/she or his/her for all such references.

Introduction

As a gamemaster and long time player of Shadowrun, I have been somewhat disappointed in the treatment of the Physical Adept as a character archetype. Utilizing just the rules from the Shadowrun version 2.0 basic book the physical adept is far less powerful than a street samurai, and this gap in ability becomes even more dramatic when compared to your average mage.

With the release of several supplements specifically targeted for both mages and street samurai, the physical adept has become even more of a pale comparison to his fellow runners. While the advent of initiation and new powers via grimoire and awakenings has helped the physical adept, it has never really addressed some of the key weaknesses inherent in his design.

One of the largest problems with the physical adept under the original rules is the “power curve”. At beginning levels the physical adept is very under powered in comparison with the other archetypes. After a few levels of initiation, however, the physical adept can become a lethal combat machine with few equals. This new system is designed to make the physad more powerful at startup, and less powerful than a physad generated under the old system after several levels of initiation.

These are optional rules, and if you wish to play a physical adept based on these rules you must of course gain the approval of your friendly neighborhood gamemaster. Please note that these rules are not meant as an addition to the already existing rules of physical adept character creation, but rather a replacement for them. If you wish to use these alternate rules it is recommended that you utilize them as a complete rule set, as a combination of these new powers with powers listed in already published supplements could lead to a very unbalanced character archetype.

All of the powers in the original rules and other supplements have been reexamined and altered to fit within the new parameters for the archetype and maintain both playability and game balance. If a physical adept power is not discussed or mentioned within this article it was the feeling of the author that it was simply not a power within the scope of the physad archetype and would possibly lead to an unbalanced character concept, and thus it was discarded.

Gamemasters using these variant rules are encouraged to monitor the development of new physad characters carefully. While the rules are structured to attempt to avoid abuses in certain areas, no rule system can prevent all potential abuses. Thus it is up to the GM to review the character sheet of any physad (or any player for that matter) and disallow any combination of powers that would tend to unbalance the game.

Designers Notes

The purpose and intent of this article is to reexamine the physical adept as a character archetype, and to address some inherent problems with in his current design. Using all of the supplements available for Shadowrun, the average street samurai usually has initiatives in the high teens to mid twenties. The average mage usually works out to be about the same, and the average physical adept usually winds up in the single digits to low teens.

The mage and street samurai both have the advantage of range. They can hit their targets from greater distances and have better base damage potentials than that of the physical adept. So what is the physical adepts advantage? Simply put, skills. The physical adept can achieve levels of skill that are virtually unattainable to the other character types in the campaign.

The problem with this becomes fairly obvious after the physical adept is allowed to initiate. As a starting level character the physical adept is slow and lacks much of an advantage over his fellow character archetypes. After a few levels of initiation, however, the physical adept can become a very unbalanced character on the opposite end of the spectrum. By concentrating his abilities in one combat skill, the physical adept can soon be rolling as much as 15 to 20 dice without the use of combat pool on an opposed skill test.

This ability allows the physical adept to become far too powerful in relation to the other characters within the campaign. But one cannot limit the physical adepts power potential without first addressing the subject of the power curve as a whole. This rule system was designed to make the physical adept faster and less vulnerable as a starting character, but less powerful after several levels of initiation.

A few things to remember about the potentials of our faster physical adept. The physical adept is the master of close combat. As such, when he attacks his opponent in melee combat his opponent is granted a counter attack regardless of his initiative, and the opponent still may act normally on his next initiative. The ranged weapons used by most physical adepts have a much lower damage potential and much lower ranges than that of a street samurai or mage, and those projectile weapons that do have good damage potentials are large and bulky weapons that cannot be concealed or fired from cover easily. Imagine trying to walk into your local bar with a Ranger-X longbow under your longcoat.

What about physical adepts that do use guns? What about them? The new limits on skill enhancements and the lack of access to such cyberware as smartgun links make these adepts far less effective with guns than a street samurai. Thus it is possible to improve the physical adepts speed and potential as a starting level character and not effect game balance, and to limit his potential after initiation so that he is still more balanced with the other characters in the campaign.

Physical Adepts & Cyberware or Bioware

Physical Adepts are magical beings by nature. To the Physical adept, his life flows from his magic. It defines who he is and his place in the universe. While a mage or shaman feels the magic of the universe and manipulates it to his will, the physical adept’s magic is inherent to his own being. As such, any cyberware or bioware implanted within a physical adept costs double the listed essence or body. Also, such intrusions of the physical adepts magical nature have a dramatic effect on the adepts ability to use his powers. Any cyberware or bioware implanted blocks the flow of the physical adepts natural abilities in the same arena, as cyberware and bioware are completely incompatible with physical adept powers in all cases. Thus a physical adept with enhancements to his firearms skill would lose those bonus skill points if a smartgun link were installed. Since the smartgun link affects the physical adepts ability to fire the weapon, it blocks any and all magical powers the physical adept may have in the same arena. Please note that while the physical adept no longer has access to these powers, he may not regain the magic points he spent on the power that is not functioning and spend it elsewhere.

Another good example of this is reflex enhancement. If a physical adept purchased cyberware or bioware that gives any bonuses to reaction whatsoever, any magical talent he had that also served to improve his reaction is now useless and does not function. In short, using cyberware or bioware in a physical adept is on the whole a very bad idea. It simply doesn’t work well with their magic and often does far more harm than good.

The Physical Adept Mindset

Being a physical adept is more than a job or a listing on a resume, it is a way of life. The physical adept is as much a function of his magic as any mage, and it is expressed in everything he does. The physical adept has spent years perfecting his skills, honing his body and his mind to achieve a desired goal.

His magic is very personal, and not something to be taken lightly. It allows him to perform fantastic feats of skill and daring, and permeates his entire being. Physical adepts in general are usually dedicated to a certain cause or goal. Many dedicate themselves to mastering a single weapon or skill, others may dedicate themselves to protecting or serving a variety of individuals, groups or causes. No matter what the physical adept dedicates himself to, rest assured that his dedication can be anything from a slight obsession to a fanatical devotion.

It is often this dedication that leads others to seek out the physical adept, as purpose and dedication are a rare thing in the world of 2058. Physical adepts come from a wide variety of traditions and backgrounds, but all have a definitive focus and dedication to some cause or goal.

There are two basic types of physical adept traditions. The Tradition of Animal and The Tradition of Man. Those that follow the Tradition of Animal have an animal totem, just as a shaman does. The totem grants the physical adept certain abilities, and also certain restrictions. The physical adept emulates his totem as much as possible, and his totem serves as the guiding factor in his life. As with shamans, this is not so much a question of the physical adept choosing the totem as it is the totem choosing the physical adept.

Those that follow the Tradition of Man are somewhat different. The Tradition of Man is usually a group of physical adepts that have dedicated themselves to a particular cause or goal, and recruit and train young physical adepts for this purpose. One very good example of a Tradition of Man are the Paladins of the Tir. They are charged with the duties of protecting the nobility and sovereignty of the Tir nation. As such they focus and hone their magical abilities to suit this purpose. Any physical adept that does not follow a The Tradition of Animal is assumed to follow a Tradition of Man. While many of the Traditions of Man are groups of physical adepts, some Traditions of Man are simply an individual physical adept that does not follow an animal totem, and has a personal goal or cause to which he has dedicated himself.

Some of the various traditions are listed below, with the advantages and disadvantages to each tradition. The physical adept wishing to purchase a tradition must do so by paying the listed number magic points. This allows the physical adept a good basic package and a few left over magic points to further customize his character. Note that if the physad wishes to improve any powers already listed in his tradition, he may do so at simply by paying the difference in cost between the level in the tradition and the new level, and this applies to Reflex Enhancement as well, but does not alter the increased cost of improving Reflex enhancement through initiation. This allows the physad to customize his character and allows for greater flexibility within the traditions.

Example: A player is designing a new physical adept named Growls Too Much, a physical adept that follows the Tradition of Bear. As such he gains Reflex Enhancement Level 1. The player pays 3 of Growls too Much’s magic points for the Bear Totem, and decides he’d like to increase Reflex Enhancement to level 2. Since Level 1 Reflex Enhancement costs 1 point, and Level 2 costs 3 points, the player must spend 2 points of magic for this increase. Later on in the campaign Growls to Much initiates and wants to save his magic points to spend on Reflex Enhancement Level 3. He now needs to spend 5 full magic points to improve from Reflex Enhancement 2 to Reflex Enhancement 3.

The Tradition of Animal

Physical adepts following the Tradition of Animal have a totem, just as a shaman does. The totem guides his life, and is the source of his power. Each totem gives the adept a certain number of standard abilities, and costs a set number of magic points in return. Along with the advantages of the totem powers listed, the Totem Adept also receives some disadvantages from his totem.

It is important to note that while the Tradition of Man is based on a group of physical adepts training together to achieve a desired goal, the Tradition of Animal is based on personal relationship between the adept and his totem. The two are not, however, mutually exclusive. It is possible for an adept to follow both a Tradition of Animal and a Tradition of Man simultaneously. The player must purchase both traditions when his character is first created, and pay the magic points for each.

It is not possible to follow more than one Tradition of Man or one Tradition of Animal. Traditions must also be purchased at character creation, they cannot be purchased using magic points gained from initiation.

Example: Dave decides he would like to make a new character that is a physical adept. After reading through the traditions, he decides that he would like to play a Wolf Adept, and that his adept was also a former member of the Sioux wildcats. So he chooses two Traditions, that of Wolf and Sioux wildcats. The wolf tradition costs him 2 points, the Sioux wildcats cost him 2 points as well. He now has all of the abilities listed for both traditions, and has 2 points left over to customize his character.

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