[X] My Assistant

[Ol' Scratch]

The Pain Editor lasts until you deactivate it. It's one of the few bioware implants that has a "switch."

[Espiritu]

So you can keep it active until your ready to collaps via all the stun damage you accruid by over casting spells?

[Ol' Scratch]

Sure.

It's a dumb option compared to a Trauma Damper, though. You get way more bang for your buck with a TD (doubly so since it's not only cheaper, but it takes up less Bio Index and thus less Magic Loss). If you have both, your TD becomes useless while you have the Pain Editor active.

[Espiritu]

Why is it dumb? It basically would let a caster go without an upper limit on stun drain. Basically a combat caster. Why is it a disadvantage in your eyes?

[Ol' Scratch]

It's dumb because the Trauma Damper actually reduces your Drain. Light Drain becomes non-existant. Moderate drops to only two boxes of Light. Serious drops to Moderate, etc.

If you have both as a backup, once you turn the Pain Editor on you lose any benefit the Trauma Damper would grant you. So sure, you can ignore the effect of whatever drain you take with the PE, but you're still going to wrack drain up faster with it.

[Moon-Hawk]

A trauma damper is better if you're casting manageable spells, and when you have very little drain. The TD will help you maintain this state of very little drain. However, once the drain gets up there, while the TD still helps to keep drain smaller, your spell effects really start to suffer. At that point, a pain editor will let you continue to cast to full effect, but since it overrides the TD drain will again accrue at the normal rate, instead of the reduced rate of the TD.
Ideally you'd have both and be able to use the TD to keep the drain away, but once it gets bad switch to the PE, but that's a lot of bioware.

[Espiritu]

Ok...use Trauma Dampener up to a high level and then use Pain Editor to keep you going?

EDIT: Nm, someone at least understand where i was going with that.

[Moon-Hawk]

Sure, if you can afford to get both. You can always leave the PE off and just use the TD, but if you don't mind the bio-hit, having extra options (the PE) is never a bad thing. If you've really, really got to do a good job casting this last spell, and frag the drain, go for it.
In SR2 we always made sure the mage knew a high-force hellblast, just in case. The drain on that beast was a near guaranteed pass-out (considering if you're using it, you're already in deep), but it saved us a couple of times.
Ahhhh, hellblast.

[Ol' Scratch]

I never said the Pain Editor itself was a bad option. I said that compared to the Trauma Damper, it was a bad choice if you only had one to choose from. If you have both, the PE will likely stay off almost all the time.

'Course when I play a magician, I never bother with spells with insane Drain Codes to begin with that I wouldn't have much of a chance reducing at least marginally. Those are just suicide spells.

[ES_Riddle]

Don't think about a pain editor for prolonged periods of casting unless you also have a biomonitor and an image link. Once you hit D stun you'll start overflowing into physical and not even realize it. Pain editor is good for casting one or two spells with ridiculous drain (simultaneous force 10 powerballs at D & M, respectively), because if you try much more you have a decent chance of killing yourself.

[elbows]

When you hit Deadly stun, don't you still pass out even with the pain editor on?

[Bigity]

For some reason, I thought you totally ignored stun wounds (even 10 boxes) with an activated pain editor.

[Kremlin KOA]

nope on deadly stun with a pain editor you are fully active

[Kagetenshi]

The Pain Editor disadvantage is that you still take physical wound modifiers, but you don't know you're wounded save by visual examination.

~J

[ES_Riddle]

[Bigity]

Well, yea, I meant injury modifiers and the whole unconcious thing. :)