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xizor
post Jul 24 2004, 03:20 AM
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i was idly filliping through the man and machine looking for intelligence improving cyberwear or just plain anything that improves intelligence. in short i did not find anything that actually improves the intelligence attribute.

i was wondering if there is any cyberwear or biowear that improves intelligence that i missed.
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mfb
post Jul 24 2004, 03:22 AM
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you missed the Cerebral Enhancer bioware. improves Int by +1 per level, max 2 levels.
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TinkerGnome
post Jul 24 2004, 03:41 AM
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The Encephawhatsits also boosts effective intelligence for certain purposes, in addition to giving you task pool dice for use with int linked skills.
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FXcalibur
post Jul 24 2004, 03:46 AM
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Encephalon helps with learning skills. It's also a favourite of deckers aside from the math SPU.
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Necrotic Monkey
post Jul 24 2004, 03:49 AM
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The Encephelon is a gross example of overcompensation in the name of game balance. The only thing it boosts Intelligence for is in regards to determining how long it takes to improve a skill -- a test that rarely comes up if at all in most games.

The Task Pool and Hacking Pool it grants isn't really worth the Essence or nuyen investment. You can outperform the Hacking Pool with something as simple as a Math SPU 3 and the Task Pool, while a nice boon on occasion, doesn't warrant the cost.

I mean, it's more costly in both areas than a Cerebral Booster, and the CB at least increases your effective Intelligence... that's Reaction, Combat Pool, Astral Combat Pool, Control Pool, Hacking Pool, Perception Tests, Astral Perception Tests, Knowledge Skills, Language Skills (the latter two only if taken during character creation), and etc. The Encephelon pretty much pales in comparison. Cheaper and all-around better... who couldn't ask for more except for maybe a tech junkie or decker with too much cash on their hands and nothing better to do with the Essence?

But yeah, other than the Cerebral Booster, there isn't much else in the game that'll help. Genetech might offer some possibilities, but I don't have SotA:2063 nearby to check.
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FXcalibur
post Jul 24 2004, 03:58 AM
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The Encephalon stacks with the Math SPU's hacking pool, by the way. And reducing karma costs for INT skills is pretty worth it IMHO. YMMV, of course.
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Kagetenshi
post Jul 24 2004, 04:01 AM
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QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey @ Jul 23 2004, 10:49 PM)
The only thing it boosts Intelligence for is in regards to determining how long it takes to improve a skill -- a test that rarely comes up if at all in most games.

Eesh, are you sure? I thought it counted for calculating the karma costs too. Time to reread M&M, I guess.

Genetech doesn't have anything to affect Intelligence, unless I'm very much mistaken. The three physical stats are the only ones that can be upped, and even that is racial max rather than the stat itself.

~J
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Necrotic Monkey
post Jul 24 2004, 04:34 AM
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I definitely recall that Genetech can strip away flaws, so I wasn't sure if there was a similar technique for gaining edges. That's the only reason I mentioned it. I knew there wasn't any direct Genetech option to increase Intelligence by design.
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Jason Farlander
post Jul 24 2004, 05:15 AM
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QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey)
The only thing it boosts Intelligence for is in regards to determining how long it takes to improve a skill -- a test that rarely comes up if at all in most games.

Incorrect. Actually, the Encephalon has nothing whatsoever to do with skill improvement time. There is a line of text that might mislead someone into thinking that:

QUOTE (pg 21 @ M&M)
Encephalons allow a character to learn more quickly.


...but only if that person failed to read (or remember) the very next sentence:

QUOTE
Add the encephalon rating to Intelligence when determining the cost of new skills


Now, granted, one *could* interpret this to mean that the encephalon has no affect whatsoever on skill acquisition/improvement, in that *new* skills always have a flat karma cost of 1. But thats only if you take the word "new" quite literally in that second sentence, which I can't say that I either do or find reasonable.

However, since there is no rule for the amount of time it takes to learn or improve a skill, there is no way that an increased effective intelligence could affect that nonexistant rule... other than to decrease the amount of karma it takes to improve a skill, thereby decreasing the time it takes to do so in terms of the number of runs required.
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Person 404
post Jul 24 2004, 06:08 AM
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QUOTE
However, since there is no rule for the amount of time it takes to learn or improve a skill, there is no way that an increased effective intelligence could affect that nonexistant rule...


They're in the companion. pg. 48-51.
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Necrotic Monkey
post Jul 24 2004, 06:18 AM
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I was misremembering the wording, but it's all semantics anyway. The benefit it provides is still pretty much a null benefit. Even moreso by the actual wording.
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Glyph
post Jul 24 2004, 07:10 AM
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For a cyber-brainiac freak, there is:

Encephalon: underpowered for it's cost and Essense, but adds to Hacking Pool and reduces costs for learning certain skills by effectively raising your Intelligence. Also gives a Task Pool.

Cerebral Booster: Raises Intelligence, and the level: 2 also gives a Task Pool.

Math SPU: improves math skills, adds to Hacking Pool.

Mnemonic Enhancer: raises Language skills, improves rolls to recall information, at the highest level it adds one to Knowledge skills.
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Shockwave_IIc
post Jul 24 2004, 10:20 AM
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QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey @ Jul 23 2004, 10:49 PM)
The only thing it boosts Intelligence for is in regards to determining how long it takes to improve a skill -- a test that rarely comes up if at all in most games.

Eesh, are you sure? I thought it counted for calculating the karma costs too. Time to reread M&M, I guess.

As i Remember it, An Int 6 character with a lvl 2 Encephalon has Int 8 for determining how much karma it costs to raise skills and thus since learning times are based on karma costs (if i recall correctly) reduce's learning times.

Still pales next to Cerebral Booster though.
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Jason Farlander
post Jul 24 2004, 03:52 PM
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QUOTE (Person 404)
QUOTE
However, since there is no rule for the amount of time it takes to learn or improve a skill, there is no way that an increased effective intelligence could affect that nonexistant rule...


They're in the companion. pg. 48-51.

Whoops. Heh... well it makes sense that I missed them, I suppose - I use that book so very rarely I often forget it exists when I go to look for a rule for something.

As a note, I dont really see anything wrong with the encephalon providing bonuses to perception rolls (coprossessing visual data shouldnt be beyond its capabilities) or increasing reaction (again, it speeds up the brain's processing), and I use the 2nd edition version in my games. I adhere to the philosophy that, in most cases, cyberware should be more effective than bioware, but with that whole essence thing as a drawback.
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