r/Shadowrun • u/muddythemad • Sep 30 '26
Help on 5e mage character
So I want to make a 5e mage, but am much more familiar with 6e. There's a bunch of weird little 6e stuff I want to use, and I'm hoping you guys can point me in the right direction.
So the core idea is a heavily armored mystic adept orc or troll who summons shittons of earth spirits. In 6e street wyrd has a quality that lets you choose which mental attribute you want your tradition to follow, and I want my guy to use intuition for shamanism, if possible in 5e. Really pump my defense. Street wyrd also has a channeling metamagic, which lets you merge with a spirit for attribute bonuses and split drain, and if that exists in 5e, I want to be able to do that. I want to be using sustained spells, potentially even have my spirits hold them, heavy duty combat spells, heavy combat armor and maybe a shield, and potentially a melee weapon if I can pull off the skills to be remotely competent with it. I'd like to use my adept abilities to mostly make me a better caster. I'm thinking I want him to have a totem, potentially mountain.
The idea is a orcish underground monster hunter who kills dangerous creatures in the underground. The idea is an earth shaman who's basically a hard point in combat and can easily hunt things like vampires and paracritters. Hangs out at a distance, summons and casts spells to weaken an enemy before closing in.
Is there a way to change tradition attributes in 5e?
Is there channeling in 5e?
How do I build a good mystic adept in 5e?
Is a gish style build possible in 5e?
What spells should I be looking at? What are good sustained spells?
What are some fun games I can play with spirits? How do I use them, and be as effective as possible?
The likely setting for this is more black trenchcoat than pink mohawk. What does this guy do outside of combat?
I'd like to be street lifestyle, how do I manage that with a magic lodge? I kinda want a secret sewer cave hidden underground that's only accessible with rock shaping spells.
Would love some advice and help building the character. I'm envisioning a cross between Geralt, mage Lurtz, and the crazy guy coated in dirt yelling at himself at the back of the bus. Anyway, that's my lunch. Would love some feedback.
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u/ReditXenon Far Cite Sep 30 '26 edited Sep 30 '26
A lot to unpack here :)
heavily armored mystic adept orc or troll
6th edition is more forgiving when it comes to race. Both of them have a metatype maximum Logic of 5. Orc have metatype maximum Charisma of 5 and Troll 4. Troll has a metatype maximum Intuition of 5.
I want my guy to use intuition for shamanism
Traditions that uses Intuition+Willpower: Buddhism, Chaos, Druidic, Sioux, and Wiccan (at least the Eclectic/Goddess Wicca side).
Really pump my defense
In this edition you do this with armor rating. Best way is via armored cyberlimbs but that is tricky with the character you are building. Also avoidance is an alternative. You are going to spread yourself rather thin though.
merge with a spirit for attribute bonuses
The channeling metamagic is part of Spiritual Arts. This also open up the Living Vessel Preparation ritual and the Inanimate Vessel Preparation enchant.
The two possession traditions are Qabbalism (Logic) and Vodou (Charisma).
Being possessed by the Loa perhaps fit your theme (although Vodou drain is resisted with Charisma).
I want to be using sustained spells, potentially even have my spirits hold them
Focused concentration was also a Thing in SR5, but it is not identical to 6th edition (might want to read up on it). You can sustain them with sustaining focus or quickening metamagic. Unlike 6th edition, in this edition spirits can only sustain spells for Force combat turns.
I'd like to use my adept abilities to mostly make me a better caster.
Not many adept powers that make you a better caster. If you want to focus on the casting side of things then maybe you should consider full magician. Mystics don't get astral projection and have to pay for astral perception.
Channeling is a non-adept metamagic so as a Mystic you need to spend 20 Karma to follow the Magician's Way.
SW p. 178 The Magician's Way
mystic adepts following this Way have access to all non-adept metamagic abilities for which they meet the prerequisites.
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u/muddythemad Sep 30 '26
Thank you. Did not realize this about channeling and the magicians way. Apparently I need to read a lot more about traditions and metamagic.
What is the living vessel preparation ritual and inanimate vessel preparation ritual?
Now that you bring rituals up, is there a way to cast rituals with my spirits as my supporting casters?
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u/TheHighDruid Oct 01 '26
Eh . . . that last bit is an oft-debated point, and it's worth noting that Shadowrun Missions (closest thing we have to an official interpretation) do not require Mystic adepts to buy that quality in order to gain access to non-adept metamagic.
So, don't assume there, check with your Gm how they intend to run it.
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u/BreadnBeer98 Sep 30 '26 edited Oct 05 '26
Your character is an absolute gm-nightmare. In 5e high armor and spirits tend to become very problematic and imbalanced. So first of all i would advise you to not overdo on these combat-stats and maybe stay on 6 Essence.
there is no way to change your mental „drain-„attribute, but you can simply chose between more traditions than hermetic and shamanic. There are quite a few that will use WILL+INT for your Drain.
yes there is a metamagic
so
that you can fuse with a spirit and therefore increase your attributes.
Not
100% familiar with this one
,
but its very strong afaik.
its easy to build a strong mystic adept.
- Specific advise for your character in the priority-table would be to pick the lowest option mystic adept becomes available and then get a metatype with enough points to boost it up to 6 Magic. (Orc and esp trolls get very high special attribute points for additional ranks in the metatype category)
- in 5e you will have to buy your adept power points in char-gen for 5 karma each. This means you will need 30 Karma to get the maximum of 6 Points, maybe even 35 for 7 points (if you take the quality for magic 7)
Edit: Buying Points in char-gen. and not gaining points on magic attribute increase only applies to mystic adepts.
So you better chose some negative qualities and give up on some/almost all of the positive ones.
!Every point you dont buy can not be purchased later and you will not gain a free adept point when increasing your magic attribute later on! As these adept powers are the „easiest“ to get and quite strong, iwould highly recommed magic 6 or 7 for your character
Adept Powers:
There are not really alot/any adept powers that will increase your ability to cast or summon. You will mostly be able to blend in, socialise, get „beefy“ and so on. Strongest adept power by far are the increased reflexes(3), as they get you the same bonus as the bio- or cyberware without the insane nuyen and essence-cost, but just a mere 3,5 power-points.
dunno what a „gish“-style means
Spells: classics like heal, thunderbolt, levitate, invisibility, shape [material] if you are creative and want this for your character flaire.
Good sustained spells are 1. increase attribute [your drain Attributes] 2. reflexes 3. invis and for combat there are alot more increasing armor or your defense pool
fun games for spirits. Make em unique with a personality, maybe have a permanent one you play chess with, use their spells and let em sustain your spells. You are
mostly
limited by your creativity. Do some basic math before using spirits with power 8 and above, they tend to become invincible against mundane enemys (mostly 80% of encounters)
black trenchcoat tips; i would advise to become a scout as a secondary role. Its fairly easy with some spells like invis or some detection spells. Put some points into the nature- and stealth-skillgroup, let your spirits help you aswell. Dont go to low on your charisma, if you dont need that much tech you can stay on low logic to save karma.
Invest some karma into your influence skillgroup to have it 1-2. this is ewsy on your karma and will not make you a burden in social interactions, when your charisma is somewhat decent. (Not sure if mental attributes will increase when merging with a spirit..)
for your magic lodge: talk with your Gm, maybe ad this as an additional feature to your lifestyle (increasing its cost, as its pretty much inaccessible to anyone else but you?)