Troll dermal armor, Question for the rules lawyers to decide Options

[Rabidcoconut]

I have a question on how the trolls free dermal armor works, it shows +1 body after the racial modier for body (+5) on the table under character creation. Now does this mean that they get the +5 and then an additional +1 for having the dermal armor, or is the dermal armors modifier already calculated into the +5?

And how would upgrading to a dermal 2 or 3 work for a troll, would they have to get their natural stuff removed or can they stack implanted dermal with their natural one?

[Wireknight]

The general consensus is that, first off, the dermal armor is after racial modifiers, so a troll with initial Body of 3 would possess Body 8(9) after racial modifiers and dermal armor are factored in. As far as compatibility, I believe that it is compatible and cumulative with any form of augmentation, even orthoskin and dermal sheathing, which are incompatible with cybernetic dermal plating.

[Glyph]

The troll combat mage was one of the examples of character creation, and they gave him a Body of 6 (1 point plus the 5 point racial bonus) - on his sheet, it is listed as 6 (7). The mercenary and sprawl ganger both have Body-increasing cyberware (bone lacing and dermal plating, respectively), and in both cases it is cumulative with their "natural" dermal armor.

So by the rules, Wireknight is right on both counts.

[hyzmarca]

remember, Troll Dermal Armor is considered augmentation. It give a dice to damage resistance but there are cases that require an unaugmented body test. Chemicals and pathogens come to mind. Dermal armor adds nothing to an unaugmented bod test, naturally.

[Slump]

Don't healing checks also use unaugmented body?

[Nemo]

That is correct. The Dermal Armor (natural and artifical) help against Poisons and Toxins that have a contact-vector or injection-vector.