I am running a game that started off with the bastism of fire adventure in the book. Well, now all the characters have some clue about whats going on, have been to the nether world etc. I had a new player join the group and thought it might be ok to have some weirdos in the group (I started off with no magic or non contempory characters) she wanted an abomination. I hadnt played one before so I decided that this was ok.
These guys are freaking crazy.
She's bullet proof, She can fly, she can fry peoples brains by looking at them, and she has a helix ripper....my god. her hideous appearance and short supply of wit dont really hinder her that much, and the moment she gets some exp she'll buy transformation and be a-ok.
The other charaters (a jouranlist template who wants to be an insurance agent, a thief, a ninja and an ex special forces whose signature weapon is a knife (av 13 WITH the bonus) are a little jealous.
the question. are there any draw backs to being an abomination? they dont even have to make mutation checks.
otherwise...my players just met the prof and became dragons. I might allow them to make new characters who are also members of the dragons and lose the weakies.
A sorceror can make a summoning check against a difficulty of WIL to make an abomination do as they say, or run away, or whatever.
This can be very bad news.
I don't think the abomination is that unbalanced, because the Arcanogear has a higher chance of going wrong than anything else, and the right Kung Fu can really cause trouble for them.
Part of the problem is that the other characters are not combat specialists, and mixing the two can be sometimes make the less fight-orientated feel redudant.
Run the occasional session where the non-combat skills are to the fore. The players may have to just get used to the fact that a 15AV schtick-loaded character surrounded by 14s and 13s is going to be the powerhouse behind their fights. There's plenty of action for everyone.
If she didn't take Damage Immunity: Sorcery (and its darned tough to buy after chargen), then as Queex pointed out any Sorcerer with the Summoning schtick can turn her into their private little meat puppet in a heartbeat.
Picking up Transformation also presents some problems. For one thing, the basic transformation schtick requires several shots to transform (I think the default is 6 shots?) which gives you some time for GMCs to put the hurt on her. Also, none of her creature powers will work in her new form unless she buys another schtick in Transformation... you can extend this to any arcanowave devices, because the Helix Ripper isn't something you can hide.
Other than that, take the party outside of Hong Kong and start applying those negative Juncture Modifiers.
Abominations also attract a lot of unwanted attention. First, assuming the abomination originally came from the 69 juncture, Lotus Sorcerers (the Summoning schtick has already been mentioned) may have an interest in tracking her down. The Buro/Architects are going to want to track her down even more. The Pledged/Ascended are also going to want to hunt her down X-Files/"What you saw was Venus"-style, particularly if she's done anything really weird out in the open where the tabloids can see. The Guiding Hand will automatically attack abominations just on principle (Natural Order or Backlash of the Turtle should KO that Helix Ripper). And if she's particularly violent, the Jammers may want to recruit her (and they don't particularly respond well to the concept of "No").
Personally, I'd probably stick a "Demon Hunter" GMC on her tail to give her a hard time... a Magic Cop hell-bent on vengeance would probably work well, but a Supernatural Cop (http://www.innocence.com/fengshui/house-rules/supernatural-cop.html) with Damage Immunity: Creature Powers + Arcanowave might work better.
An abomination without transformation is that what the names says: a demon, something not only ugly, but unnatural, inhuman. If you are playing only in the Netherworld, then it may be ok, otherwise it is a dead abomination, because she cannot hide between people. In 69, 1850, 1996 und 2056, the abomination will be hunted to death when she is spotted.
Oh, and don´t forget the summoning-schtick, juncture modifier ... and the almost revolutionary possibility, that violence is not always the answer, even and sometimes especially in an action rpg.
I think everyone else might have covered this, but to chuck in my tuppence ...
The Abom without Transformation is going to be impossible to move in public - too big/ugly/foul to pretend to be anything but a hideous demon. And it might be immune to bullets, but Ascended pacification teams would pack just about anything - flamethrowers, napalm, white phosphorous, high-voltage electric weapons - and also Dragonsbreath flame/thermite rounds for shotguns. And you could rule that "immunity to bullets" doesn't include rockets, bazooka shells, grenades and so on. And you can get some lovely belt-fed 40mm grenade launchers these days, especially if you're Ascended. They can load direct-fire shaped charges, too ...
The rest of the characters given should be godlike in any stealth situation - they're all sneak specialists - the Abom's going to be shafted in anything which involves operating in public at any point. So meets in public places, covert operations in cities, etc - all impossible for it. And then, leave HK and start getting Juncture Mods ...