Rulings/Character Generation and Maintenance

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Character Creation

X-Card and Roleplay Safety Systems

The X-Card and similar roleplay safety systems are honored when used and treated with respect and dignity. See The X-Card: A Guide for ShadowHaven GMs and Roleplay Safety Systems for more information.

Approved Books

We do not use any German-exclusive or 2050 content. For specific instructions on setting up Chummer, see Chummer Setup.

  • Assassin's Primer
  • Aetherology
  • Battle of Manhattan
  • Better than Bad
  • Bloody Business
  • Book of the Lost
  • Bullets and Bandages†
  • Chrome Flesh
  • Cutting Aces
  • Data Trails
  • Dark Terrors
  • Forbidden Arcana
  • Gun Heaven 3
  • Hard Targets
  • Howling Shadows
  • Kill Code
  • Krime Catalogue
  • Lockdown
  • No Future
  • Rigger 5.0
  • Run and Gun
  • Run Faster
  • Sail Away, Sweet Sister
  • Shadow Spells
  • Shadowrun 5th edition
  • Shadows in Focus: Butte
  • Shadows in Focus: Metrópole
  • Shadows in Focus: San Francisco
  • Shadows In Focus: Sioux Nation: Counting Coup
  • Splintered State
  • Stolen Souls
  • Street Grimoire
  • Street Lethal
  • The Complete Trog
  • The Seattle Gambit
  • The Vladivostok Gauntlet

† Only sections titled "New Qualities" (BB 11-12), "New Drugs, Toxins and Pathogens" (BB 19-21), "New Spells and Powers" (BB 21-22) and "New Gear" (BB 22-23).

Overview

  • Priority and Sum-to-Ten are the permitted character generation types. Most characters will be built using Standard rules (As opposed to Prime Runner/Street Level). However, it is possible to create characters using the Prime Runner rules (see below).

Character Slots

  • Players are allotted 3 character slots. They may buy additional slots for 10 GMP each. When doing this, post a comment to your /r/ShadowHavenChargen thread with how much GMP you spent.
  • Extralife prime slots are exempt from this limit.

Unretiring Characters

  • Players may unretire a character so long as they haven't filled that slot yet. It isn't required, but it would be more fun if you included a short statement about how the character got dragged back into the shadows after escaping. For some examples:
    • You have 3 standard slots with 2 characters. You retire character #2 and have a 3rd character approved. As long as you don’t have a 4th character approved before unretiring character #2, you may unretire them.
    • You have 3 slots filled with 3 characters. You retire 1 character and submit a new character. Eventually, you retire another character or gain a new slot. You cannot unretire the first character retired.
    • You have 3 character slots and 1 prime slot. You have 2 standard PCs and 1 prime PC. You retire the prime PC and submit a new prime PC. Even though you have kept a slot open the entire time you may not ever unretire the first prime character, since the slot it was occupying has been filled.
  • Essentially, this is intended as a safeguard against people retiring their characters and regretting it, not as a way to allow people to play more characters than would normally be permitted.

Creating Prime Runners

  • Players may purchase prime generation character slots at the cost of 100 GMP for their first purchase. Any additional slots cost an additional 100 GMP which is cumulative. For instance:
    • 1st PG Character Slot - 100 GMP
    • 2nd PG Character Slot - 200 GMP
    • 3rd PG Character Slot - 300 GMP etc.
  • Prime generation slots purchased through our charity events are exempt from this cumulative price. You must always mark on your character's wiki page the source of the prime generation whether that is something like our extra life events or if it was purchased.

Attributes at Character Generation

  • Physical and mental attributes with an unaugmented value of 1 represent severe handicaps. Often, these lead to poor gameplay, overly narrow characters, and/or a quick demise. As such, characters are limited to a single unaugmented attribute of 1, calculated using the full-body average for any cyberlimbs. Only permanent attribute augmentations count. Additionally, players are expected to provide at least some in-game justification at chargen for such a handicap (e.g. the Paraplegic quality, a metagenic defect etc.); these are not just numbers on a sheet.

Full Body Average

  • For the purposes of determining "full body average" for Agility and Strength when cyberlimbs are involved, the average is determined using each limb and your torso (natural attribute). Cyberskulls should be disabled when setting up Chummer.

Metatypes and Metasapients

  • AI are not permitted for PC use.
  • The optional rules for playable free insect spirits (DT 32) will not be used. At all.
  • Pixies are not permitted for player use.
  • Orks and Trolls are able to use their tusks and horns as “bioweapon implants” per Chrome Flesh Pg 120-122. These attacks can be made at normal +2 accuracy.

Logic Maximum

  • Metatypes with maximum Logic less than 6 in source material are adjusted to have maximum Logic 6.

Shifter Attribute Improvement

  • Increasing the higher value of an attribute between the metahuman and animal form will also increase the lower one for free. Karma costs are refunded retroactively.
      • Example: A bear shifter has 6 Strength in bear form and 3 in metahuman form. By increasing the bear form's 6 Strength to 7 and paying the appropriate cost, he may upgrade the metahuman form's Strength from 3 to 4 for free.

Contacts

Latent Awakening/Emergence

Mundane PCs may pay karma to Awaken or Emerge post-gen. The karma costs are extreme.

  • Latent Awakening/Emergence:
  • Cost: Special
  • Requirements: Mundane, at least 1 essence
  • Not everyone Awakens or Emerges early. Such was not the case for you, though you always had the spark within you. The cost for this quality is variable, with a base value of 155 karma. Then, add the karma cost of the quality you are buying (5 for Aware, 15 for Technomancer or Aspected Magician including Explorer, 20 for Adept and 40 for Magician or Mystic Adept). Next, add an amount based on your current essence:
  • 5 karma if you have 6 essence.
  • 15 karma if you have 5 essence.
  • 30 karma if you have 4 essence.
  • 50 karma if you have 3 essence.
  • 75 karma if you have 2 essence.
  • 105 karma if you have 1 essence.

Finally, if you are now a mystic adept, you may pay 5 karma per power point you gain. You may gain up to current essence power points this way. Any mundane-only qualities are lost with no benefit. Any net Ascension Rewards over standard run RVP add to the cost of this quality at 1 RVP to 1 karma. After purchasing this quality, you have a Magic or Resonance score of 1 and follow all normal rules for the new quality henceforth. Any skills or spells need to be purchased separately.

Infected

  • We allow ghouls, vampires (including the sukuyan variant), gnawers and banshees, bandersnatches, goblins, dzoo-noo-qua, fomóraig and grendels on ShadowHaven. PCs are not sterile, so your teammates may be extra cautious around you.
  • For all infected PCs, optional infected powers may not be bought at chargen. You may buy your first optional power immediately following your first run.
    • The cooldown for optional infected powers is 2 months (unchanged from RAW).
  • Strain 1 infected cannot take State of Purity.
  • We allow loup-garou under the following conditions:
    • Loup-garou must be implanted with at least a rating one adrenaline filter (DT 163), and must leave it on at all times.
    • Loup-garou are considered to be at the peak of their cycle on the run before they pay rent.
  • Essence lost from ware reduces the maximum essence they can store. (as per raw)
  • Strain 1 can not take 6 or more essence worth of ware. (i.e they have the same capacity for ware as non-infected)
  • Magic lost to essence loss from ware can not be regained with the methods from RF 141, and has to be raised normally.

SURGED, Shifters and Extreme Body-Modders

  • We acknowledge that SURGElings/shifters/extreme body-mod characters run up against other Internet subcultures, but this community is not a place to explore such things. You should have an understanding of the lore, ramifications and limitations of each type of character. Please contact Shadowhaven Chargen for resources regarding the nuanced lore of the SURGElings, shifters and extreme body-modders. We would like your help in having these types of PCs represented in a way that enriches the ShadowHaven living campaign.
  • ShadowHaven no longer bans player characters intended to look like bug spirits, either through SURGE or body-modding. PCs may have Insectoid Features or have biosculpting to look like bugs. However, be aware that the general populace will want to kill you.

Drakes and Changes to Drake Mechanics

You may have a drake character. Additionally, the following changes are made to drake powers:

  • The timer to pick up new drake powers of 5+ karma is 2 months instead of 3 months.
  • Hardened Scales now costs 16 karma instead of 6.
  • The draconic tradition remains banned for PCs (see below why).
  • Transcend Form does not benefit from either Drake Hardened Armor or Drake Mystic Hardened Armor
  • Armor can be purchased that can shift with you between metahuman, drake and Transcended Form uses.
    • The cost is 50% higher than normal for all armor and armor accessories besides chemical seal.
    • The chemical seal armor modification's cost is 400% higher instead of 50% higher.
    • The armor is obviously able to change size/shape from a cursory visual inspection.
  • Latent Dracomorphosis is unbanned. To become a drake, you will pay another 70 karma. In addition, to gain an awakened quality, further karma costs are required, with details in the Latent Awakening section.
  • Drake powers are available to be purchased starting the first run after a character has shifted into drake form.
  • Drakes may use any weapon type in drake form. Your hands change shape and size with the transformation, so personalized grip will only work in one form (and penalize the other).
  • Drakes may not be in thrall to great dragons. This makes the draconic tradition unavailable to them.
  • Characters with the Prototype Transhuman quality may not be drakes.
  • The buff to adepts with no augmentations does not apply to drakes.
  • Drakes are immune to HMHVV. They cannot take Carrier or any of the HMHVV qualities. Infected characters or carriers of HMHVV cannot ever have Latent Dracomorphosis or any of the drake qualities.

Skill Specializations

  • You may purchase a specialization with skill points even if the rank (or ranks) in the skill were purchased with karma.

Initiations and Submersions

  • Initiations and submersions are not permitted at chargen.
  • One initiation or submersion may be completed after chargen, but before your first run.

Paradigm Shift

  • Rather than being a metamagic, paradigm shifts are performed by paying the same amount of karma one would ordinarily have to pay to initiate. Thus, an uninitiated mage must pay 13 karma, while an IG5 mage must pay 28. This does not increase initiate grade or the cost of future initiations. As part of this process, the mage will lose any current traditionalist benefits, if appropriate, and gain any new ones they qualify for based on IG and tradition, as appropriate. They no longer benefit from their current lodge and their reagents are out-of-tradition and thus count for only half, barring special circumstances. Fetishes, spells, foci and bound spirits (including ally spirits) will remain. If there are any inconsistencies or questions about the process, contact a member of the ShadowHaven Council with your concerns.
  • Note that this process does not require formal approval, though it should still be noted on your wiki page. This can only be performed during downtime, or with explicit GM approval.

Required Contacts

Minimum Age of PCs

  • ShadowHaven has minimum ages for PCs. With the exception of shifters and cyborgs, ShadowHaven PCs have a minimum age of 18.
  • The metahuman form of shifters is minimum age 18.

Submission Cool Down

  • To prevent the ShadowHaven Chargen team from being overwhelmed, there is a 1 week waiting period between approvals of a player character. Once your character has been approved, we ask that you wait 1 week before submitting another character for review.

Sexual Themes

  • We as a living community and leadership recognize that Shadowrun as a game and setting explores dark/mature themes. The ultimate bounds of what is acceptable will always be subjective based upon group and GM. In the case of our community, we strive for a standard that takes the setting material seriously and allows for the exploration of grittier themes while considering the comfort of the maximum amount of people.
  • To this end, submitted characters may not solely be vehicles for the exploration of sexual themes. This includes character art. Of note, cropped versions of hardcore or softcore pornography remain unacceptable after cropping due to their "bedroom eyes" quality. Discretion lies with the ShadowHaven Chargen staff.

Banned Organizations for PCs

  • Player characters may not belong to any organization that seeks the mass-killing or genocide of any metatype, nationality, religion, the Awakened or the Emerged.
  • No runners may be active law enforcement.

International Runners

Runners may be internationally located. Yes anywhere in the world. This may increase their issues in getting to jobs in Seattle. What follows are the thematic and mechanic considerations to living outside the Seattle sprawl where most jobs take place. These also apply when moving to other international locations, so long as they are not harder to get to than Seattle. Trust your GM, trust the process.

Lifestyle Makes Travel Easier

  • High lifestyle has free jet rental and free international commercial flights.
  • Luxury lifestyle has free jet rental with staff.
  • Private jets tend to have much fewer customs interactions and inspections.
    • There is still room for GMs to intercept a private jet if something extreme happens, but no one is inspecting a private jet in the typical case. Especially one with a corp sinner on board and flying under a corp license.

Contacts Can Facilitate Travel

  • Those with the smuggler aspect can help in the vast majority of cases.
  • Those with aspects like “VLOT pilot” have access to vehicles to facilitate travel. Contacts can lend those vehicles or fly them themselves.
  • Fixers can arrange travel via a networking test to find a smuggler.
  • Your runner will have to arrange and pay for these services, letting your GM know before hand that this is a consideration is good etiquette.
  • A group contact can transport a runner anywhere they operate for free.
    • For example, an Ancient member can travel to the following cities freely: Boston, New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, England, France, Germany, Spain, and Tir Tairngire.
    • This has the typical downside that the group knows what you are doing. See the group contact rules.
    • Influence can be expanded via “stronghold runs”, contact thematics to make arrangements for your group to establish a new stronghold and unlock a new city.
    • In some cases, a group may be willing to transport a group member’s whole team. The group member stakes their reputation in ensuring the team’s decent conduct.

Advisements

Lifestyle Location Advisement

  • If your character's primary lifestyle is located outside of the city the mission takes place in and you lack a rail pass that is connected to the mission city, you will likely incur transportation fees and fatigue before runs, at GM discretion. The cost of a plane ticket between two cities is half the distance between the two cities in kilometers plus 100¥.
    • Seattle is connected, via rail, to San Francisco.

Social Skills Advisement

The ShadowHaven Council has ruled to officially recommend, but not require, at least 4 Etiquette dice. Having low dice pools in Etiquette can lead to difficulties on runs. The Council will be unsympathetic if negative events happen in a run due to a low Etiquette dice pool.

Maintaining a Character

Burning Edge

  • On ShadowHaven, characters remain playable after burning edge on most runs. This does not mean there is no hardship in a near-death experience, but players should be able to run with their character again with scars from their experience which are not overwhelming, should they choose to continue to run.

Gaining Positive Qualities and Buying Off Negative Qualities

  • Players are allowed to purchase positive qualities and buy off negative qualities, outside of character generation. However, you must post in the quality purchasing thread.
  • Most qualities do not need approval, you simply need to post that you bought it in the thread and a justification for why you bought it, but some do.
    • Qualities that require approval are approved by members of the Thematics Team. They also have veto power over all quality purchases. Below are qualities that must be approved by members of the Thematics team, which is subject to expansion, or by a GM after a run:
      • Made Man (RF 148)
      • Chosen Follower (FA 35)
      • Any Infected Quality (RF 136-141)
      • SURGE I-III (RF 101, 103, 109, 111-123)
      • Solid/Legendary Rep (RF 149)

Training Time

  • Training time for attributes, skills, martial arts and specializations is removed.

Delivery Time and Gear Acquisition and Upgrading

  • Delivery time while in-play on a table remains unchanged. GMs are free to and encouraged to allow immediate or near-immediate purchases of items at or below 12 Availability, including illegal items, assuming the PCs are not under undue time pressure. GMs are free to truncate any other delivery time on their table as they deem fit.
  • Delivery time while not in-play on a table is immediate. A successful or tied availability test indicates that the player may add the item to their character's sheet immediately for the appropriate cost. In the event that a character fails a test, they must wait twice the normal delivery time for that item before they may try again to acquire that item through the same vector. In this case, a vector is a particular PC rolling Negotiation against availability to acquire an item (note, one cannot roll Negotiation to get gear for another PC outside of a run) or an NPC rolling their appropriate gear acquisition roll as outlined in our Contact Rules. For example, a character who wishes to acquire an item with a RAW delivery time of 2 days may roll their Negotiation themselves to acquire an item. If they fail, they may not attempt to roll for that item themselves again for 4 days. They may, however, still have an appropriate contact attempt to acquire it before that time. For these purposes, time is tracked in real time.
RAW Delivery Times
Gear Cost Cool down
Up to 100¥ 6 hours
101 nuyen to 1000¥ 24 hours
1001 nuyen to 10000¥ 2 days
10001 nuyen to 100000¥ 1 week
More than 100000¥ 1 month
  • Gear at or under availability 12 can be purchased without rolling or paying a finder's fee.
  • You cannot purchase items with availability above 19, unless it is upgradable (i.e., has a rating). Exceptions:
    • You cannot purchase foci over availability 19, even though they are otherwise upgradable and have a rating.
  • Items beyond availability 19 may be obtained as run rewards with Thematics approval.
  • The Awakened or Emerged may only gain a chance to purchase deltaware as a run reward for semiprime or prime runs.
    • For mundane PCs, there are no restrictions on getting deltaware.
Upgrades
  • You can upgrade (paying only the difference in cost) anything that has a rating, as well as commlinks, cyberdecks and rigger control consoles and any cyberware or bioware. You must still make the availability roll for the upgrade.
  • When upgrading a SIN using our upgrade rules, one may also upgrade the licenses attached to that SIN without making an availability test for each license. Only one test, for the base SIN, is required.
  • Items with capacity may have new things put into the capacity without needing to rebuy the item. If this changes the availability of the item and/or it has its own availability, roll against the highest new availability. Notably, this extends to cyberlimbs and armor.

IRL Timers and Backdating

  • Things with IRL timers may now be backdated to their earliest possible qualifying date so that you cannot miss your timer. For example, if your mundane PC has been in play for 6 months, but only taken 1 mundane ascension, you may take two more ascensions (treating them as having been taken at their earliest possible date).

Initiations and Submersions

  • Initiations remain linked to real-life passage of time, however, the timeframes differ from RAW. An Awakened character may initiate after chargen, but time progression for future initations starts after the first run is completed.
  • This does not require a roll and does not take any time, but costs the normal amount of karma.
  • The second initiation for a full magician or mystic adept may not be undertaken until 6 real-life weeks have passed from the first initiation, requires no time or roll and costs the usual amount of karma.
    • Each additional initiation adds an additional 2 weeks to this timer. There is no upper cap on how long one must wait before initiating again. Other types of Awakened must wait half as long as magicians and mystic adepts, but must still pay the normal karma cost.
    • This means the formula for how long after your previous initiation you must wait in order to initiate again for mystic adepts and magicians is (4+2*(Current Initiate Grade)) weeks.
    • For all other forms of Awakened, the formula is (2+1*(Current Initiate Grade)) weeks.
  • Submersions, as per RAW, have no roll required, no time and no cooldown.

Ordeals

  • Characters who undertake a qualifying run for an ordeal within 1 week before or after an initiation or submersion may refund 10% of the cost (rounded down) of a single initiation or submersion. No other discounts on the karma cost initiations or submersions, regardless of source, are valid, and this discount may not be stacked multiple times.
  • Karma discounts for ordeal runs (initiation/submersion) do not count against RVP. The discount is more than made up by the danger inherent in a solo run.


  • Nine Paths of Enlightenment (SG 140), Asceticism (SG 141), Familiar (SG 142), Hermit (SG 142), Sacrifice (SG 142) and Thesis/Masterpiece (SG 142) initiatory ordeals are banned.
  • Metaplanar Quest (SG 140) and Deed (SG 141) require a run focused around them.
  • Geas (SG 142) requires explicit Thematics approval from the Thematics Head or one duly deputized by the current Thematics Head.
    • Geas must also be noted on the PC's wiki page in a separate section so GMs can easily interact with them.

Medical Needs and Downtime

  • All health is restored at the end of a run, unless the GM tells you the run occurs in the same pocket universe as the previous run.
  • Cyberware, bioware, geneware and other augmentations requiring surgery or vat time are installed instantly, without the need for healing.

Downtime Edge

  • If edge is used during downtime, it can be regained after the start of the next run. That is, you start with the lost edge but start regaining it with normal rest in play. At the end of a run, all edge is regained.

WFTM / WFTP

After a run, you may convert karma into Nuyen (Working for the Man), or vice versa (Working for the People) at a ratio of 2000¥ to 1 karma. This can be done up to 5 times per run. For example, your initial rewards for a run are 7 Karma and 10,000¥. You Work for the Man, converting 5 karma into 10,000¥, making your final rewards 2 Karma and 20,000¥.

In any case, you must document this in the paperwork channel on the Discord server.

Character Development Points

  • Contacts can be purchased and upgraded via CDP, a new system which encourages story-driven character growth outside of core competencies. CDP (Character Development Points) are a new run reward separate from RVP. It can be used to upgrade knowledge skills and buy or upgrade contacts. It may not be used for any other purpose. GMs should feel free to suggest CDP expenditures to reflect lessons learned and contacts made during a run. Players can work together and contribute CDP to a public contact to globally boost that contact’s Connection Rating. For the purposes of awarding contacts on a run at GM discretion, the GM may convert RVP from the run rewards into CDP at an exchange rate of 1 RVP = 2 CDP. This may be used for buying or upgrading contacts in accordance with the contact rules.
  • Players will receive 2 CDP per run. This can be increased with Thematics approval for low payout (for example hooding) or failed runs.
  • CDP can alternatively be spent on knowledge skills, at a rate equivalent to karma. While not required, it is considered tradition to spend some CDP on knowledge skills which reflect the runs your character has been on, showing things learned over their career.

Resubmit Rules

Voluntary Resubmit Rules

  • At any given time, a player may choose to resubmit an approved character for a respec or full rebuild. The resubmitted character must go through the approval process again. The character can keep run rewards from one previous run it was on, before the resubmit. It loses all other run rewards, initiations, metamagics, post-gen gear etc. GMP invested into the character is not refunded. A character may be resubmitted as a prime-gen character should the player have an open prime slot.

Triggered Resubmit Rules

  • Occasionally, the rules on ShadowHaven may change. This could be due to the release of a new book, recognition that a mechanic is problematic, introduction of new house rules or a new ruling. When this happens, council may allow full or partial resubmits for some or all characters. A player may (or occasionally must) elect to resubmit a character. The resubmitted character must go through the approval process again. The character may keep *all* prior run rewards (whether they are karma, nuyen, constrained purchases of gear, contacts, etc.). All GMP invested into the character may be freely reassigned to the same character. GMP does not need to be spent at the time of the resubmit, but it may not be transferred to another character, player or spent on non-character purchases (such as an additional or prime-gen character slot). A character may not be resubmitted using a different character generation scheme (normal or prime-gen).
  • Any event which allows for triggered resubmits will be called out explicitly in the post. It will specify which characters are allowed or mandated to do so and any other constraints attached to the process.

Permitted Minor Changes

  • Sometimes, purchases are made due to a misunderstanding of the mechanics behind it. Minor changes, such as requesting to change a specialization out or swap a spell for a different spell, may be permitted. These are handled on a case by case basis. Please open a leadership ticket for the Council to consider.
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