Hiyas!

Got the new Shadowrun 4th Edition (and like it so far ), but there are some open questions, which I hope someone can clear up for me:

1) Skill Groups - Specialization - While it's clear, that you cannot specialize a Skill Group, the question still arises, whether you can specialize in one individual Skill out of a Skill Group (i.e. learn Firearms Skill Group and then take a Specialization in Pistols). Is that possible (with BP / Karma / both)?

2) Skill Groups - individual Skills - Can you pick up a Skill Group *and* raise one Skill out of it individually during character creation (i.e. learn Firearms Skill Group at 4 and then raise Pistols Skill to 5 - with BP)?

3) Skill Groups - individual Skills - When you raise an individual Skill out of a Skill Group with Karma, the Skill Group no longer exists. Is it possible to join the individual Skills together again, as a Skill Group, if you raise all the other Skills seperately, so they all have the same Rating once more?

4) Cyberware - Cyberlimb Armor - In what way does the Cyberlimb armor interact/stack with worn armor (i.e. Armor Jacket)? Does it make a difference, how many Cyberlimbs a character has? What if a character has multiple Cyberlimbs with different armor ratings? The rulebook does not go into any detail about this.

5) Cyberware - Reaction Enhancers - Do Reaction Enhancers and Wired Reflexes/Synaptic Booster work together? How about Reaction Enhancers and magically enhanced reflexes (Adept Power / Spell)?

6) Cyberware - Skillwires / Activesoft - What's the point of Rating 5 Skillwires, if there are no Rating 5 Activesofts? Anything apart from raising the maximum total Rating (2x Skillwire Rating), i.e. allowing 2x Rating 4 and 1x Rating 2 (or somesuch)?

7) Second Firearm - Dice Pool / Modifiers - When exactly do you split the dice pool, or in other words, which of the following abilities/items (hope I havn't missed any noteworthy ones) would be counted as modifiers and not split (i.e. applied to both rolls)?

7a) Skill Specialization
7b) Improved Ability (Adept Power)
7c) Reflex Recorder

That's all for now. Thank you!

Bye
Thanee

1: As soon as you Specialize one Skill in the group it is no longer a Group. The only way to make it a Group again is to remove the Specialization from the Skill, which is free. But it costs you another 2 karma to reSpecialize a skill, and the second time you remove a Specialization from that Skill you will not be able to add a Specialization again.

2: No.

3: Yes, as long as there are no Specializations. See #1.

4: There are threads about this, threads that I only skimmed and did not post in.

5: The Reaction increases stack I think. There is likely someone better qualified to confirm that the magic stacks with the cyberware, but I don't see anything to suggest it doesn't. Remember though it cannot exceed the racial augmented maximum.

6: You can have more total Activesofts active at one time.

7: My understanding is that you calculated the entire pool with all modifiers, so everything on the list. Then split it. But I could be wrong there.

7c: I don't think laser sights or Smartlinks work when you are firing from both hands. Not even in just one of the two hands.

EDIT Did you edit out laser sights or Smartlinks from that list, or am I going mad?

1&2) The rules aren't specific, but I say no to both. The rules for breaking a skill group apart into individual skills are, to my knowledge, only present in the "advance with karma" section. For all purposes, a skill group is something completely different from the skills involved. It gives you dice for those skill tests as though it were the skill, but for all intents and purposes, you don't have the skill itself. Thus no specializations.

3) Yes. I wonder what happens if you have a specialization in one, though. No clue.

5) I say yes. Reaction enhancers only indirectly add to your initiative score by raising the stat. Some spells (for instance) add straight to initiative. Those wouldn't stack, but reaction enhancers should.

7c) Reflex recorders add straight to the skill now, if you check the errata. EA doesn't add to combat skills.

1) It is possible after character generation, with Karma. But it will split up the skill group.

2) No

3) Yes

4) Doesn't say (perhaps something to point out for the next errata?)

5) Initiative enhancements can not be stacked. I don't see any problem with allowing the Reaction enhancement of these things to stack however, as augumented Reaction is tightly caped at natural value x1.5 anyway.

6) I don't know

7) Tricky question. You could go by the clearafications in the latest errata concerning what enhancements are covered by the skill cap. If you did this, everything that specificly gives a bonus to certain tests is applied after the split, and everything that enhances a skill is applied before (the later would include reflex recorder and adept imp ability, the former would be specialization).

Here is one of them.

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=11500

Sometimes you have to increase from the default 30 days to pick the threads up. This forum is nearly a year old, and the SR4 rules were made public 6 months ago. So it is important to increase that time frame to catch all the wisdom, and accompanying garbage.

Yep, I think it was similar, havn't looked into my old Shadowrun books for a while.

Bye
Thanee

I'd like it if a guy with only 1 cyber arm (like the lone-star lieutenant) could get an extra point of armor from that. I may still go with making armor an expensive, grade-less enhancement that gives you 1 point of armor per replacement.

Well, a Rating 4 armored Cyberarm would grant exactly 1 point of B/I.

Bye
Thanee

I think that's too expensive. I read a bit in the thread Brahm provided, and some people there argue that you should be able to give your metal body bad-ass armor if you can get slim layers of cloth with like 5 points of armor.

Yeah, realistically, a full conversion cyber-body should have way better armor than a flesh-body with some fashionable armored jacket. It's like a walking tank.

But then again, there is also the balance side of things...

Realistically, a cyberarm should also not be weaker than a flesh-arm (Str 3 max without cybertorso seems really low). Should probably be limited to the character's regular ability score, or the races unaugmented maximum.

Bye
Thanee

We went over the skill groups question a bit during our character creation. Your answers are in the book, just not all in one place. We had to hunt a bit, which I don't feel like doing this instant, but here is the gist of it.

There is no reason why you would need to regroup said skills to reform a skillgroup. The point of the skillgroups is just to give you an economical way to start your character off with those skills, and to improve those skill cheaper than it would cost individually. That is the only function of the skill group. If you want to raise a skill from a skill group higher than 4 and/or specialize it just do it. After the skills are at level 4, there is no need to have them grouped any more anyway.

And another question concerning Skillwires:

Do you need a Datajack to load skillsoft, or do you simply upload the skillsoft wireless into them?

Can you load any amount of skillsoft into them (and just switch between them as a Simple Action then, having no more than 2x Rating active at a time)?

Bye
Thanee

Another question about Counterspelling:

Is there any limit to the number of people you can protect, or can you just protect anyone within LOS?


Also...

Is the 1 BP per Force bonding cost for foci (regardless of type) correct? It seems rather cheap.

Bye
Thanee

This general thread seems like a good place to ask a question I have.

1. Say you are in the seemingly rare situation of shooting a guy with no armor with flechette ammo, which has an armor value mod of two - does that unarmored person then get to roll two armor dice?

2. Say you shoot the same t-shirt clad gentleman with a sniper rifle - does the -3 armor modifier have any effect on the perforation of his narrow torso?

My house ruling was no to both questions, but I'm curious as to 'public opinion'

I definately thought 2 was more certainly a "no" then one - the negative modifier is a bonus for armor that is overkill on people.

yeah, but you're still going to shoot the occsional sleeping person. . . hmmm, does mystic armor work in your sleep. . .

I don't think a ballistic flechette is going to be stopped by mundane clothing. An eight-grain flechette isn't going to stop for a t-shirt or pants, probably not for anything that wouldn't stop at least a .22 bullet. I don't think I go for the argument to reality here...it honestly seems like they just had the following conversation: "What about people wearing no armor whatsoever?" "Ahh...they're idiots" "yeah but what if Johnson is paying them to kill idiots?"

IIRC, SR flechettes are supposed to be *bundles* of flechettes, not just a single one. Your guess is as good as mine how this is gonna work in a Raecor Sting and still be effective.