/srg/ Shadowrun General - Manaspheres In The Dark

being cheap and cheerful alternatives to having your body chopped up/open?

It leaves you more essence to spend on other stuff that you maybe want more/can't get via Drugs, too

Like large smuggling compartments to smuggle your smaller chummers, if you are a troll and your GM is a good guy

also, only specific effects like boosted REA/INT or additional dice wouldn't stack. At least that's how I read it

So say you crank some Kamikaze but still have reaction boosters. You'd get the other stuff from the drug, for better or worse

According to MissionsFAQ?
You can't.

If you stick to the printed rules?
You can.

I actually prefer the missions way, makes Drugs more of a third way.

There's nothing in the rulebook that says I can't play Daniel Howling Coyote in disguise

Spiritual Pilgrim in Chummer is not working. I'm meeting the requirements (Assensing 4 and Academic Knowledge: Magical Theory 3) and this is the message I'm getting.

Yekka, bug in 5.193.36: Suprathyroid Gland is not in Bioware.

>finally made a mage hunter-killer who can hold their own in combat.

Mysad Samurai OP.

I'm trying to homebrew some Jet Set Radio skates into my Shadowrun game, anyone got any suggestions?

Skimmers?
Skimmers but gear not ware?
Cyberskates?

We already have this stuff, what are you looking for that's not in the gear we have already?

Skates allow you to go 1.5x speed base walk/run, with a pilot ground (3) to double that speed for Body Rounds.
Failure means you fall over and take 2 stun resisted by charisma only (it only hurts your pride.)

Gecko upgrades allow you to ride walls.

Post it on chummer

>Drugs and ware initiative bonuses do not stack
>Missions FAQ
Bingo. If you're not playing at a convention, then Missions based advice is about as RAW as saying, "You can't use Code Of Honour, it's banned."

Not to say it's all bad.

Was looking through the weapons book when I saw the onotari arms ballista and got a really cool idea for a rigger. Trying to think of a way to design a drone my rigger can wear like a backpack. Give it a mechanical arm, a drone rack for some minidrones, and other assorted goodies to make him a gadgeteer of sorts. I suppose I could just fluff it as a proletariat drone that can compact itself to look like a backpack.

Have you tried VeloCity by chance?

You can take Jazz, but the reaction/init bonuses do not stack. So effectively you get only +1 physical limit. Of course, if Jazz's initiative bonus is greater than whatever you get from ware, you can use that instead.

>The synaptic booster cannot be combined with any other form of Reaction or Initiative enhancement.
>any other form
It's pretty explicit.

SYNAPTIC ACCELERATION
This gene augmentation improves the functioning ner-
vous system’s sodium-potassium channel depolariza-
tion and repolarization efficiency, thereby increasing
reaction speed. The character gains +1 to their Initia-
tive rating, +1 Initiative Dice, and a +1 dice pool mod-
ifier for all Ranged and Melee Defense Tests. If a char-
acter has an augmentation that increases their Initiative
or grants any Initiative Dice, synaptic acceleration has
no effect, and they do not regain Essence lost for taking
the treatment.

Retarded nigger says what?

If you look closely, you'll see that people were talking about synaptic boosters, not synaptic acceleration.

Retard.

What's best for hard to detect lethality in close combat? I'm debating between an adept and a biosam.

see
Actually, you fucking kike, they were talking about Accelerator.

See: >Wait. So I can't take Jazz and use a Synaptic booster?
>Wait. So I can't take Jazz and use a Synaptic booster?
>Wait. So I can't take Jazz and use a Synaptic booster?

Idiot.

see
>Wait. So I can't take Jazz and use a Synaptic booster?

So how would you guys talk a new player through making they're character as a GM?

Well, first of all I'll boot Chummer/Chummer5 because that shit is dope as hell
Second: I'll ask what kind of character they want to build. Will they focus on the Astral, Matrix or Physical? Sneaky or Obvious? Support or Main?
Third: Build the actual character. Discuss Attribute and Skill allocation. Go through gear and ware. Round off the character if BP/Karma/Points remain.
Fourth: Fluff discussion. How do they look? How do they act? Are they open to others or closed off? Glass half full, half empty or something else? Where do they come from? What family/friends/acquaintances do they have? How did they become the person they are today? Why do they run? What are their Goals? and other questions. Basically Pic Related
Fifth: Final discussion. What do they see in their immediate future? What would they do for money? What would have to happen that they would retire from running?

Oh, and just noticed the "new player" part
Explain to them what kind of game SR is in your opinion. Give them a short summary of events and current state. Tell them where your game lies on the Black-Pink:Mohawk-Trenchcoat graph. Talk them through basic house rules (Chunky Salsa, gas grenades, other stuff) you have. Clear the question whether they fit your game or not. If they want wacky adventures and action scenes and you want to have a grim future where hard decisions have to be made then neither of you will be happy

Oh, and check the first link in the OP Pastebin. It's called that for a reason

That's good advice, sorry I'm very new to this. So when chummer offers to take up additional source books, I'm guessing those are expansions which I could read ahead of time. Are there any in particular that warrant me doing so? Or should I just stick to 5e default for my first attampt at GMing?

As I always say: Running SR with just the core book is like running a marathon with one leg
Possible, but tedious
Personally I only allow books once I've read them and found them to be ok

If you allow all the books then the first thing there you should read are the rules, gear descriptions can be read later. Because small rules may really hurt your shit and you should get a clear view which rules you use, while the descriptions usually are self-contained

So any additional books you would recommend for me to look into? There's so many I wouldn't know where to start.

Run Faster, Run & Gun, Chrome Flesh, Street Grimoire, Forbidden Arcana. Cutting Aces and Hard Targets are good to have I suppose but far less important.
Don't know much about Rigging or Decking so I don't know how vital Rigger 5.0 or Data Trails are considered to be.

Well, my experience lies with 4e but here's what I know
>CRB
duh, get the Master Index version from the Pastebin
>Chrome Flesh
Augmentations, Toxins and other stuff
>Street Grimoire
Stuff for Awakened
>Data Trails
Decker stuff
>Rigger 5.0
Vehicles, Drones and Mod rules
>Run Faster
Various stuff. New CharGen methods (Sum-To-10 and Priority), Metavariants, Metasapients, new qualities. The CharGen methods are nice (they are good if you want specialist characters that grow horizontally rather than vertically), but most people ban metavariants, -sapients and infected. If you take stuff from it you'll be well advised to check it before allowing it
>Cutting Aces
All kinds of spy stuff.
>Run and Gun
Lots of gear of all types, plus new rules and other stuff. This one is IMO always good to take
>Bullets and Bandages
Various stuff about MedTech
>Howling Shadows
Critter book with stats and info about critter augmentation. Too bad the developers don't like runners having pets so no prices or availabilities for any critter.
>Shadow Spells
More spells
>Hard Targets
Various stuff about wetwork, with some weapons, adept powers and spells

Fluff-Wise you should take the stuff from 4e and before. Most important is the Sixth World Almanac (4e), which has the entire history of the setting up to ~2072 and gives an overview of all the various countries. Additionally you have Vice(4e, criminal underworld) and Shadows of [North America/Asia/Europe/...](3e) which has deeper info on the various places

Though some 5e player should look over this

I'll check those out, thanks! I'll probably prioritize them on the basis of what each of my players expresses interest in.

It's good to have the contents of each expansion, explained, thanks!

Can someone explain to me why Chummer isn't letting a mysad take shielding?

You don't have the Art Apoptropic Magic.

To expand on this, at the third initiation grade for Mysad, there is nothing

I managed to get to 4, if you take harmonious defense, the one right after can only be power point, then nothing

Expanding further: I took power point at 1 and 2 is empty

What kind of disguises do you guys use when you have to go hot?

My players are about to take on a motorcycle gang that's bribed a vehicle spirit to help them win street races. Any ideas for how to crank this up to 11?

If the surface area for the purposes of Dikote for a Katana is roughly 500 cm squared, what would be a reasonable estimate for the surface area for a Highland Forge Claymore built for a very large Troll?

How does Astral Hazing work with environmental background counts? Is it cumulative, like if you're in a place that normally makes magic harder you make it even harder still, or is it its own thing where if you theoretically went somewhere where magic was even worse than the field you generate, you would actually be generating a field of comparatively better conditions?

Specifically, I want to make a changeling who's an ancient egyptian animal-headed human thing, and I was thinking of fluffing astral hazing as them having a connection to the underworld and leaking its astral atmosphere into the world through their body. The idea of that actually being an improvement in extreme conditions would fit better with that, but perhaps that's not how it was intended to work?

Chummer, as with most of CGL's stuff:
Wing it
Wing it like the majestic eagle you are

If you're going by RAW, it basically sets the Background Count around you to 3, always.

I'm about to run my first real Shadowrun game, and I have a couple questions, if those more knowledgeable would oblige.

1. One of my players is playing a shaman, and likes to min-max. Is there any specific spell/spirit cheese I should be looking out for?

2. I'm running the 5th season Missions, much of which takes place in the Chicago Containment Zone. The books say that the CZ imposes -2 to all magic actions (default background count) and -2 to all Matrix actions (Noise rating 2). Is it really necessary to gimp spellcasters and deckers right off the bat, especially with this being our first time playing?

>Is there any specific spell/spirit cheese I should be looking out for?
Spirits
Just Spirits

Spirits are very powerful, but if your player is playing as a shaman, I don't believe he gets access to the most powerful kinds (Guardian, Man, etc.), so I guess just watch out for general spirit use/abuse.

Alright, thanks people.

Hard to detect like 'can get close without being noticed' or 'leaves little trace'?

>forbidden arcana

No. If they want to play an alchemist or use one of those Mentor Spirits then maybe, but the rest of it is just jerking off over the most stuffed archetypes. There's more than enough in core and SG for adepts and mages.

By RAW you're creating a set BC of 3, always. By RAI you make the area worse, like you're generating noise. You aren't aspecting it to anything, you just have a general negative effect on mana.

Whichever one has a finger compartment with a monowhip in it.

I'm back for more, chummers!

What are some rules that y'all just don't care enough about to use? Things that if the GM just made some shit up instead no one would care?

Even if the background count for a whole city is 3, you acclimate to that, and then you only need to worry about brief, isolated, and atypical incidents, or more smaller and more persistent situations.

>How does Astral Hazing work with environmental background counts?
Independent overlapping shapes.

A question for the famous runners: What are you famous for?

Once had a decker who would hijack KSAF broadcasts to speak truth to the masses. People loved 'the Other Weatherman', even if they never really acted on what he said.

>mysad samurai has 25+ blades dice

This is beyond overkill.

I'm looking mostly for can get close without getting noticed, and then being tough enough to leave.

Post the character?

Trying to make a Ex-Urban Brawl Star, famous for winning a championship

I'd go biosam, personally. Discreet 'ware that can go anywhere, bone lacing, platelet factory and orthoskin are good armour/ways to keep standing that an adept can't have, and doesn't get fucked up by background counts/people spotting your fetish in the astral. Make sure to get Agile Defender. Also, have a visible datajack - it's useful 'ware, and it explains everything in an assensing test which gets less than 4 hits, because all they know is you have less essence.

Plus, cool shit like hidden poison glands/stingers. Make sure to check out geneware. Nacro/Nephretic Screen are your bread and butter for initiative- Cram/Psyche or Kamikaze, depending on how you want to do it, or see if you can get a gland to produce a custom combat drug (obviously needing GM approval).

Bioadept.

Unless you disable the house rule that you don't need to initiate into Arts, metamagics with Art requirements are filtered. Toggling the option to hide items you can't take and attempting to take the appropriate item should tell you why you can't take it.
Suprathyroid is 20R. It's being filtered by the availability limits. Take restricted gear or untick the checkbox to hide items over your limit. Hrm. Can't replicate it. Can you confirm the karma/base values of the skills for me or upload a copy of the character? Skill requirements test your LearnedRating, not the dicepool.

Excellent taste per usual.

Yekka, can you address

My gm said to reflect our 4e character's skills to just double whatever was on our sheet when we converted;

Is this wise?

No.

Why?

When you have plus 20 dice its not about winning, its about winning with a back flip slam dunk.

Because it doesn't add up.

There was a bit of discussion on it in the last thread.

Can you give me the Cliff's Notes

No.

It might be fixed in the latest commit, but I couldn't replicate the problem you were having precisely.
Tl;dr even Harlequin was limited to six dice in 4e. The official conversion guide recommends you convert 6 to 10, but given the scope of the changes from 4e to 5e and the amount of character concepts that have radically changed in their viability, let alone the different qualities that are available, I'd suggest just asking your GM to start over from scratch as prime runners. That way you can keep the concept of your character without being lashed to skills and mechanics that you wouldn't have picked if you'd known there were alternatives.

Lets say you had 6 in a skill from 4e
This means 12 in current edition
Or being one of the few best in your field.
With 12 in Cybertechnology you are the guy who is developing unique deltaware prototypes.
12 in Unarmed Combat means you are almost on Ip Man level. It means there is only 1 guy in the world who is better than you.
It simply does not translate

Does anyone know where I can get my Hands on german rulebooks?
I know the pastebin in the OP has some, but it seems to have not been updatet recently.

From your friendly local game shop, probably.

I think US do actually sell PDF versions of them, too.

>With 12 in Cybertechnology you are the guy who is developing unique deltaware prototypes.
Nah. With a 12 in Cybertechnology, you're an extraction target for making Chrome Flesh's "murky future" a reality. Poly-functional auto-adaptive cyberware, personally customised cybersuites, etc.

>Poly-functional auto-adaptive cyberware, personally customised cybersuites,
Extra arms

Lets not get too crazy, man.

Also;
>It means there is only 1 guy in the world who is better than you.
People get confused over each natural maximum, as though that's where the actual limits lie.

After you factor in Aptitude for 13 max skill, augmented skills, magically enhanced skills, etc - then you can start looking at the related attribute. Exceptional Attribute, Genetic Optimisation, Metagenetic Expression, etc. Then dice pool modifiers - qualities and gear.

The only reason these don't exist right now has nothing to do with the rules as written, but peoples' interpretations.

>Nah. With a 12 in Cybertechnology, you're an extraction target
Chummer, you're an extraction target way before that. Rank 12-13 guys are at the level where megas would risk war over their control.

I was taking only pure skills in consideration.
Since a skill 6 human can enhance and specialize to 12 yes but so can the rating 12 skill human. It would actually be easier for the 12 cybertechnology researcher to get himself upgraded with ware than for 6 cybertechnology assistant

Chromewolf,
Was framed for nervegassing kids, but was later proven innocent.
European Pitfight champion.
Designed the Steel Raptor fighting style which was a fighting style focused around cybernetic legs with spurs, grappling hook in the arm and in general high-speed tackles.

Complete fucking shit in still standing fights, but nothing survived a charge.

Well, one could just start making more attacks rather than hitting limit over and over.

/shrug

High priority extraction target.

>megas would risk war over their control
I don't think that's as common as you seem to.

>It would actually be easier for the 12 cybertechnology researcher to get himself upgraded with ware than for 6 cybertechnology assistant
Which is fine if all I were talking about was augmentation. It's not. What I'm talking about is "there is only 1 guy in the world who is better than you".

While the topic is on skill 12/13; it's also curiously easy to get a sensei at that skill rank.

Well fair enough
The fluff and mechanic break apart there, I have to admit

RAW, spurs go in arms. Foot blades are for legs.

There are a handful of these individuals in the world, they create entire new techniques and technologies. Whoever gets to pick the fruits of their creation is going to make a serious profit. So yes, it might just be worth risking war over.

Why do non-run skills like cybertechnology suck so bad in actual play?
Like, you'd think you would be able to bodge together some MAD SCIENCE arms, but it isn't a thing I think.

Because of the efficiency of bulk and teamwork.

Even as far back as 1e (possibly 2e), it was better to buy then make, despite what the fluff said.

I forget the exact example I saw, but it was something like a few months and a few times the cost to make a deck that hung with the slightly-better-than-worst crowd.