Tailored Pheremones and Spy Cigs Options

[Sombranox]

The latest in odd questions I've had come up at my table.

Page 64 of Arsenal has a Scent-masking Cigarette which applies a -4 mod to all scent-based perception tests and chemsniffers for detecting the smoker for six hours after smoking the cig.

The question that came up with the team's Face is how this odor absorber would affect Tailored Pheremone bonuses (that normally drop detection thresholds to 2 for chemsniffers).

Off the cuff, I ruled that the tailored pheremones and cig effects were both partially neutralized, making the pheremones half their normal rating (rounded up) and making the cig give only a -2 effect when trying to chemsniff for human pheremones (though it gave full -4 for chemsniffing explosives and the like).

Anyone have any suggestions for a better way to handle this?

Another option I thought of was to completely neutralize the tailored pheremones if they smoke the cig, but it seemed harsh to completely wipe out their expensive bioware effect for six hours with a 10 nuyen cigarette.

[Adarael]

That sounds about right, actually.

[CanRay]

Well, depending. Ironically enough, my experience as a Janitor strikes again...

At least ten years ago, there was a Janitorial supply named, simply, "Oder Counteragent". Great stuff! Dilute 100-to-1 with simple tap water, and it kills fairly strong smells. Really strong smells, I suggest doubling or tripling the amount of oder counteragent (I ALMOST had the smell in DUMPSTERS killed with double-strength!). Not masks, kills. No scent at all.

Now, that's based on what we can smell. Most people barely notice pheromones on a concious level, but I'm sure that some of the ciggies are equipped for that. So, in essence, there'd be some brands of them designed to allow for pheromones to get through, some that are designed to stop it, and others that just mask them somewhat but works better against other scents!

All depends on what you buy. And, also, you got to buy all three to be ready for every occasion! Consumerism in Action!

[Mordinvan]

We'd often play with a modified tailored pheromones which could be turned off and on with the use of one to two puffers containing chemical triggers. It took an hour or two to turn them on or off, but it was nice to have the option of NOT seducing the troll ganger if you didn't want to.