Attribute limits vs. Gear limits, A specific rules question Options

[Dragon835]

Hi Everyone!

I'm new to 5th Edition, but not to Shadowrun. I've been playing 1st thru 3rd for decades. I gave 4th a pass, but I'm smitten by the (very similar) 5th Edition.

That said, I have a question about one specific example. On pg. 47 of the PDF version, the example given with Takouba using his shotgun brings up a point that I either have misunderstood, or disagree with. To paraphrase, it says that once a weapons accuracy limit exceeds his physical limit, the higher accuracy limit is now what the player uses as the maximum number of allowable hits.

I'm confused by this, and here's why. It would seem (to me at least) that no matter how accurate a weapon may be, a character can only shoot so well. For example, if a young man were to purchase a modern high performance sport motorcycle, he can only ride it to his ability, not the exceedingly high potential built into the machine, i.e. his physical limit is still his limit even though his equipment has much higher limits.

Can someone please explain or give me another example?

Thank you very much in advance!

Tim

[Sendaz]

Well the young man in question is only going to have so much stat and skill in riding the vehicle and yes you would be correct in thinking his physical limit is his baseline limit for most such endeavours .

Items, vehicles, weapons with higher accuracy just operate better and as such he can achieve more out of using it. Maybe the bike has a smoother steering system, a pilot assist for making some turns or other forms of guidance, all of which is reflected in the higher limit/accuracy. He still has to use his own skill and stats for the dice, but he can claim more hits rolled through using the better device. The flipside is also true, if you were using a beat up clunker with bent steering and other defects, it would have a low limit and even if you had many dice, the device limit trumps your natural limit and you can only use some of your hits.

The book only had so much room for examples so there is only so much to compare too. As the splat books come out there will be more stuff to compare against for this.

[Dragon835]

Sendaz, that's a good point. Thank you for the quick reply. What you said about mechanical aids makes sense... a more accurate weapon in Shadowrun can actually help someone overcome their own limitations, just like binoculars do in a sense. And something I forgot... the character is still rolling his own dice, his own attribute+skill, and so any hits he scores technically are his, and this weapon only helps him achieve greater use of his own abilities.

I'm glad you brought that stuff up!

Tim

[RHat]

There's also the fact that you don't need to be strong or tough or fast to react to fire a gun - that might effect things after the shot, but not the shot itself. Particularly large weapons may be a different case.