Alright, I first asked for some advice about how to build a SURGE changling PC (http://community.livejournal.com/shadowrun/231715.html) a few weeks back, but it became a slightly higher priority a week or so ago when a friend of mine managed to fry his feathery shaman that he'd had since SR3 by critically glitching on a summoning test--the resisting Drain part (as for what he need a force 15 beast spirit for, I didn't ask).

So when I mentioned my little project to him, he all but begged me to finish it up in the relatively near future. So here it is; whaddaya think? (C&P)

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SURGE effects: BP cost 5 (10 for Awakened/Resonant/Non-human characters)

Effects are applied after primary character construction, during gamemaster approval. Player may ask for a reroll ONCE, and may not then choose the effects from the first roll—if they want a reroll, they’re stuck with the consequences.

And, just to make it completely clear: THIS IS FOR NEWLY GENERATED CHARACTERS IF THE PLAYER WANTS TO PLAY AS A CHANGELING, NOT FOR CHARACTERS THAT ARE ALREADY IN USE. There, now that that’s out of the way…

Initial Roll 1d6
1-3: Positive Effects; go to Positive Effects Table
4-5: Negative Effects; go to Negative Effects Table
6: Package Deal; Go to Package Deal Table

Positive Effects Table
5d6 Roll:
5. Additional Arms: Roll 1d6: 1-3 two extra arms, 4-6 four extra arms.
6. Altered Hand Structure
7. Astral Sight
8. Roll 1d6: 1-3 Claws; 4-6 Talons
9. Dermal Deposits
10. Electric Organ
11. Fangs
12. Feline Eyes
13. Gills
14. Have Fun! (Make something up)
15. High Frequency Hearing
16. Horns
17. Roll 1d6: 1-3 Improved Scent; 4-6 Improved Taste
18. Improved Vision
19. Long Tail
20. Low Frequency Hearing
21. Marsupial Pouch
22. Natural Venom
23. Prehensile Tail
24. Raptor Eyes
25. Resistant to Pathogens/Toxins
26. Retractable Claws
27. Satyr Legs
28. Supple Body
29. Ultrasound Sense
30. Wings


Negative Effects Table
4d6 Roll
4. Altered Eye Color
5. Altered Skin Coloration
6. Astral Hazing
7. Carapace
8. Chronic Osteocuspus
9. Critter Spook
10. Roll 1d6: 1-3 Cyclops; 4-6 Decreased Vision
11. Roll 1d6: 1-3 Decreased Taste; 4-6 Decreased Scent
12. Dual Natured
13. Have Fun! (Make something up)
14. Feathers
15. Pointed Ears
16. Quills
17. Scales
18. Slow Healer
19. Third Eye
20. Tusks
21. Unusual Hair
22. Roll 1d6: 1-3 Unusual Ears; 4-6 Unusual Nose
23. Vestigial Tail
24. Roll 1d6: 1-2 Webbed Hands; 3-4 Webbed Feet; 5-6 Both.


Package Deal Table
1d6 Roll
1: Roll for two effects from initial table.
2: Roll for three effects from initial table.
3. Roll for four effects from initial table.
4-6: Themed Packages. See Themed Package Table.

Themed Package Table:
Players may deselect up to TWO starred (*) effects from a Themed Package if the gamemaster allows it.
1d6 Roll
1. Bird: Feathery Wings, Talons, Raptor Eyes, *Decreased Taste (Sugars), *Decreased Scent (3), Feathers, *Unusual Nose (Bird Beak), *Long Tail (with tail feathers).

2. Bat: Membrane Wings, *Unusual Hair (fur), Ultrasound Sense, *Unusual Ears (Top of sides of head, pointed Auricles), Fangs, Supple Body, *Long Tail (Skin, with attached membrane).

3. Bug: Carapace (full body), *Critter Spook, *Additional Arms (4 extra), *Natural Venom (Injection Vector; effect up to player), *Fangs, *Improved Scent.

4. Cat: Retractable Claws, Unusual Hair (fur), Fangs, Cat Eyes, High Frequency Hearing, *Decreased Taste (Sugars), Supple Body, *Unusual Ears (Top of sides of head, Swiveling Pointed Auricles), *Long Tail (furred).

5. Devil: Leathery Wings, *Prehensile Tail (bare skin), Altered Skin Color (player’s choice), Devil Horns, *Satyr Legs, *Fangs, *Talons.

6. Fish: Scales (full body, fish), Gills, Webbed Hands (extensive), Webbed Feet (extensive), *Electric Organ, Improved Scent, Low Frequency Hearing.


Positive Effects:

Additional Arms: The character has between two to four additional arms sprouting from his torso; these arms are completely natural and can be controlled by the character just like the standard set; he or she can type, punch, shoot, lift weights and so forth.

The character mush have custom armor made at 200% the cost (you try to fully integrate extra sleeves into a chameleon suit and then tell me that they’re charging too much) and a +10 modifier on availability. Cyber- and bioware for the character that deal with the skeletal structure, muscular structure or neural system, such as bone density, orthoskin, enhanced articulation, wired reflexes or similar, also incur a modifier of 150-200% costs (depending on the number of arms), but not the availability modifier.


Altered Hand Structure: The character has an unusual hand structure, ranging from extra digits (including additional opposable thumbs, i.e. two on each hand) to lengthening of the fingers, by lengthening the individual segments, the addition of new segments or both. Fingers can be up to twice their normal length. If the character has this second quality, he must have firearms and other handheld objects modified for him at 105% base cost, but gains a +2 on Palming tests and a +3 modifier for reaching hard-to-reach places and objects (down the length of a small pipe or duct for instance).


Astral Sight: Astral Sight grants mundane characters the ability to perceive into the astral plane. This quality is not available to characters that possess the Adept, Latent Awakening, Magician, Mystic Adept, or Technomancer qualities. (See pg 26 SM for more information).


Claws or Talons: The character’s finger- and toenails harden and lengthen into claws or talons like those of a natural predator. The character may attack using these claws using Unarmed Combat (specialization allowed) with damage of (STR/2+1)P. This effect cannot be applied to characters that have already purchased handrazor cyberware.


Dermal Deposits: The character has tough and sinewy dermal deposits under his skin, much like a troll. These deposits add +1 die to the character’s body for Damage Resistance Tests.

If a troll or a character with dermal plating or orthoskin acquires this effect, the deposits are even more widespread and pronounced; the bonuses are cumulative.


Electric Organ: Portions of the character’s muscles are modified into electrocytes, enabling them to generate electricity in much the same way as electric eels. Characters with this effect can produce a shock hands effect from any skin on their body; the damage from this attack is typically BodyS(e), but, with some focus, the character can “overcharge” it to as much as (Body x3)S(e); however, doing this creates an effect similar to Drain; the character must resist Stun damage equal to the “overcharge” value with his Body + Willpower. The character can “store” 2 charges for each point of his Body; spent charges regenerate at a rate of 1 every 10-15 seconds, assuming that the character is not engaged in any physical exertion, in which case they can slow down to as much as 1 charge per 2 minutes in cases of extreme hand-to-hand combat.

The character has Immunity to Electrical Attacks, using Body instead of Magic.

The character can detect any electrical impulses of sufficient strength—ex. a commlink battery—within (Body x3) meters; weaker impulses need to be closer, while stronger impulses—say, a major power line—can be detected from a good distance away.

The negative portion of this effect comes from the fact that, while the character has voluntary control over his shocks (Willpower + Body (2) Test to avoid accidental discharge), he can—and will—short out or fry most cyberware or other electrical equipment if he discharges when in contact. Accidental discharges frequently occur when the character is startled or surprised, his voluntary control not having enough time to assert itself before the electricity is discharged. He also has a -1 modifier to resisting accidental discharge when in contact with a conductive substance such as metal or water.

The effect cannot be applied to any characters that have already purchased any cyberware. It is also recommended that he purchase the nonconductive armor modification to avoid frying his own equipment, such as his commlink.


Fangs: The character has large and pronounced canines like those of a carnivore or vampire; the character may attack using the fangs using Unarmed Combat (specialization allowed); Fangs have a DV of 2P, -1 Reach.

Feline Eyes: The character’s eyes are those of a feline’s, and function like the bioware cat’s eyes; they are slit and allow for natural low light vision. Under minimal lighting, they appear to be reflective and glow in the dark.

If the character had natural thermographic vision (i.e. a dwarf or a troll), that ability is lost. This effect cannot be applied to characters that have already purchased cybereyes or cat’s eyes.


Gills: The character has amphibian-like gills on the side of his neck, allowing him to breath underwater. The respiratory and circulatory systems are also modified so that he can reflexively alternate between using lungs (above water) and gills (below water).


High Frequency Hearing: The character has the ability to hear and detect sounds at a higher pitch than normal human hearing allows. This effect cannot be applied to characters that have already purchased cyberears or high freq hearing cyber implants.


Horns: The character has a horn or horns on his head. The effect can range from troll-like ram horns to deer-like antlers to devilish horns to even jagged crests of bone around the skull. The character can attack using the horns using Unarmed Combat (specialization allowed). The horns have a damage of 2P, -1 Reach.


Improved Scent: Functions exactly like the adept power of the same name (see pg 188, SR4). Cannot be applied to adepts that have already purchased improved scent.


Improved Taste: Functions exactly like the adept power of the same name (see pg 188, SR4). Cannot be applied to adepts that have already purchased improved taste.


Improved Vision: The character has incredibly acute vision; character has a +3 modifier to visual Perception Tests. Can only be applied to characters with natural vision; cannot be applied to adepts with vision-enhancing senses or characters with eye-implants.


Long Tail: The character has a tail sprouting from the base of his spine, at least a meter (but less than two meters) in length. The tail may be scaly (like a lizard), hairy (like a dog or cat) or hairless (like a rat). The tail is not under the character’s conscious control, and will tend to twitch, sway or even wrap around things randomly. The tail greatly assists the character’s balance with a +2 dice pool bonus for any tests involving balance, climbing, jumping, knockdown and so forth. This bonus is cumulative with the balance augmentation earware. The character will need custom armor made at 105% base cost and a +3 modifier for availability, and he will find it uncomfortable to sit in certain positions for long periods.


Low Frequency Hearing: The character has the ability to hear and detect sounds at a lower pitch than normal human hearing allows. This effect cannot be applied to characters that have already purchased cyberears or low freq hearing cyber implants.


Marsupial Pouch: The character has a natural pouch on his chest or abdomen, which functions exactly like the skin pocket bioware (pg. 339, SR4).


Natural Venom: The character produces a natural toxin with one or more of several vectors, Contact, Ingestion, Injection, Inhalation (1d6, 1 Contact, 2, Ingestion, 3 Injection, 4 Inhalation, 5 Ingestion and Injection, 6 Contact and Inhalation). Rules for these vectors are in SR4, pg. 244. The toxin has a power equal to the character’s unaugmented Body, and the character may produce a maximum of (Essence) doses per day. The precise effects (stun damage, physical damage, nausea, truth serum, etc) are up to the player, but the gamemaster has final ruling; it is advised that no toxin be allowed to combine more than two effects, three for exceptional combinations). For certain substances, the gamemaster may decide to increase the power rating as appropriate if he feels it is necessary—the toxin cannot go below the character’s body in power, however. It is also possible that the various effects of the toxin might be rated at different powers.
If the character has talons, claws, fangs, quills or horns it is advised that the venom have an Injection vector, with the above effect providing the means of injection.

(Note: A suggested toxin from one of my friends was worth noting: inhalation vector, nausea and stun damage—skunk spray! I pity the ghoul that tries eating him! But this one is a good example of a toxin that would have a power increase—the stun damage would remain at the character’s Body, but the nausea effect would be at 2x Body.)


Prehensile Tail: The prehensile tail functions exactly like the long tail effect (above), except that the character can consciously use and manipulate the tail as if it were an extra limb. The tail can be used to pick up objects, although it does lack digits and so cannot finely manipulate items. Apply a -2 dice pool modifier for any attempts to use objects with the tail. The tail has an effective strength equal to half the character’s Strength (rounded down), but it can hold the character’s entire body weight if he chooses to hang from it (it is, after all, attached to his spine). Note that prehensile tails do not provide an extra attack.


Raptor Eyes: Raptor Eyes functions exactly Improved Vision (above), except that the character’s long range vision is so acute that he can see detail for considerable distance. The character does not incur range modifiers for ranged attacks and gains an additional die for Visual Perception Tests.
This effect is not compatible with the Feline Eyes effect.


Resistant to Pathogens/Toxins: Exactly like the Quality (pg. 80, SR4); Roll 1d6: 1-2 resistant to pathogens, 3-4 resistant to toxins, 5-6 resistant to both.


Retractable Claws: Similar to the Claws or Talons effect above, but the claws may be retracted, like those of a cat.


Satyr Legs: The character has legs like those of a quadruped’s hind legs, and his feet change into cloven hooves. The legs also grow more hair, like those of satyr. These legs allow the character to run much faster, giving him a +2 dice pool bonus for running tests. The character also gains +2 DV for kicking attacks (and the character may choose to inflict physical damage instead of stun), gains +2 dice for Jumping tests, but has a -1 modifier for balance and climbing tests. The character will also have difficulty maintaining balance and/or traction on a smooth or slippery surface.

This effect cannot be applied to characters that have purchased cyberlegs.


Supple Body: The character has an extremely flexible body—the phrase “rubber bones” is often applied. His or her limbs are unusually supple and limber, with the joints able to twist and bend far beyond the metahuman norm. He or she can squeeze through small openings and tight passages which would otherwise prove difficult for a normal person of his size (such as transoms, ventilation ducts, and other tight fits). The character has a +3 bonus for Gymnastics Tests and Escape Artist tests; the bonus also applies to any test made to escape handcuffs, ropes, and other such bindings, as well as tests to escape Subduing attempts. The gamemaster should adjust the threshold to reflect particularly tight quarters or difficult contortions. This effect stacks with Flexibility adept power (pg. 177, SM).

This effect cannot be applied to any character that has already purchased any cyberlimbs, bone density augmentation, muscle replacement, muscle augmentation, muscle toner, enhanced articulation, or bone lacing.


Thermographic Vision: The character has thermographic vision, just like dwarfs and trolls.

This effect cannot be applied to characters that have purchased cybereyes, or to dwarfs or trolls.

Ultrasound Sense: The character has the ability to emit and detect ultrasonic pulses, much like a bat, giving them natural sonar. Functions exactly like the ultrasound vision enhancement (pg 324, SR4); the character gains an additional +1 bonus for negating vision modifiers and a +2 bonus for detecting melee attacks from behind when using ultrasound. In addition, the character effectively has the High Freq Hearing effect(above).

This effect cannot be applied to characters that have purchased any ear or throat cyberware or bioware.


Wings: The character’s bones are hollow and light and s/he has two large wings sprouting from his back in the shoulder blade area; these wings can be either membranous like a bat, leathery like a dragon, or have feathers like a bird (1d6, 1-2 membranes, 3 leathery, 4-6 feathers); the wingspan will typically be between 1.5-2.5 times the character’s height. The character can fly at a rate equal to 3 times their running rate (in any direction) for Body x 1.5 minutes, or they can glide at their running rate for Body x 3 minutes; the Running skill may be applied, with flying substituted for running in effects (The skill is not renamed, though, and the character, if grounded, can still use the skill for running, perhaps for an easier takeoff).

This effect can only be applied to elves and humans, and cannot be applied to anyone that has already purchased dermal plating, bone density augmentation, or bone sheathing. Characters with this effect will need custom armor made for them, at 125% the cost and a +4 modifier on availability. Their lifestyle costs increase by 10% to account for the increased food intake due to their accelerated metabolism.

Additionally, the character will weigh between 1/3 and ½ of what is normal for his/her metatype, gender and height. The character will also have very little body fat and water reserves; due to that and the large surface area of the wings apply a -3 modifier (-2 for feathery wings) to Survival tests, Body tests, Running tests and Cold and Heat Damage resistance when the character is flying or has his wings exposed to the elements in extreme heat or cold. Characters with this effect cannot swim (they have too much positive buoyancy and will float on the surface).




Negative Effects:

Altered Eye Color: The character’s irises, whites or possibly even the entire eyes are an unusual and distinctive color. For example, a character may have bright green irises, both eyes may turn bright silver, or one eye may turn white and the other black. Most onlookers will assume that the character has cybereyes. Altered eye color has no effect on the character’s vision.

This effect cannot be combined with cybereyes, cat’s eyes, or the feline eyes positive effect.


Altered Skin Coloration: The character has unusually colored skin, either entirely or just in certain areas of the body. For example, a black character may have Caucasian hands, feet and/or face, a Caucasian may acquire leopard spots on his back and neck, or the character’s skin may turn orange or some other odd color.

This effect cannot be applied to a character with dermal plating.


Astral Hazing: A character with this unusual effect gradually corrupts the mana field around him, creating a background count (pg 117, Street Magic) wherever he goes. If a character remains in a single location for over an hour, the locale develops a background count of 1. Over time, this count may increase up to a value equal to the character’s Essence/2 (round down to a minimum of 1). This background count affects magic on both the physical and astral planes. The increased background count will fade about an hour after the character leaves.

This effect cannot be applied to Awakened characters.


Carapace: The character has an exoskeleton made of chitin, much like that of a bug, instead of skin. The carapace typically covers the entire body, but sometimes certain sections, typically the body core; it may have unusual colors, such as bright red, turquoise blue, or lurid green. While at first glance it might seem that the character simply has dermal plating, most people, with a second glance, will discern the nature of the covering.

Characters with this effect gain a +1 to Ballistic Armor and +3 to Impact Armor in the areas covered by the carapace, as well as +2 dice for Damage Resistance Tests for those areas; these effects stack with armor and other similar items. However, they also have an additional -1 Wound Modifier if the carapace is split or cracked (by any attack dealing damage). The carapace can be healed with magic as well as mundane means (although the mundane means have a -3 modifier).
Additionally, they also have to periodically molt the carapace every few months (typically twice a year), which, for a full body carapace, takes Strength + Body (Body x4, 2 hours, min. 6 hours) Extended Test(the removal of the carapace can be assisted by a doctor, cutting the time in half). Afterwards, the new carapace takes between 24-72 hours to dry and fully harden.

However, the most potent negative effect is prejudice. While most changlings have to deal with prejudice of one form or another, most of them don’t look like hybrid form insect spirits (although the only insect feature they have is the carapace—no mouthparts, feelers, antennae, faceted eyes, and so forth) and will, for obvious reasons, quickly elicit the extreme fear and hatred of others.

Internal cyberware or bioware into the areas covered by the carapace have an additional 500-6000 nuyen cost depending on the size of the implant—not so much for the “opening up” part, but more for the difficulty presented by the “closing up” part.

Characters with this effect incur no modifiers to armor or item costs or availability—although they will have to deal with the prejudices of the people that they are buying from.

This effect cannot be applied to a character that has already purchased dermal plating or orthoskin, or the feathers, scales, quills, chronic osteocuspus, marsupial pouch or satyr legs effects.


Chronic Osteocuspus: One of the most hideous SURGE effects, a character with this effect has razor-sharp bony deposits erupting from the skeletal structure and puncturing through the skin. In other words, the character has sprouted bony spikes all over his body.

Besides being somewhat hideous to look at, characters with the effect cannot wear armor or restrictive clothing because the protruding bone spikes make it too uncomfortable. Specially designed clothing and armor must be purchased, at 150% base cost and a healthy +8 availability modifier.

Over time, characters with this affliction become accustomed to living with pain, and they gain the equivalent of the Pain Resistance Adept power (pg. 188, SR4) at level 3. However, these characters also heal slowly, with a -2 dice pool modifier for healing tests. The bony thorns also make the character slightly more dangerous in unarmed combat, giving a bonus value of +1P to the DV.

The bony spikes may be surgically removed (or painfully trimmed), but they grow back over an agonizing two week period during which the character suffers a -2 dice pool modifier to all actions.

This effect cannot be applied to a character that has already purchased dermal plating.


Critter Spook: Something about the character’s presence or smell now seems threatening to animals and paranormal critters. Any animals within the vicinity of the character will react with fear and hostility (apply either a -2 dice pool or a +1 threshold increase to attempts to control, soothe or pacify them). If drawn into combat, the critters will go out of their way to attack this character first before engaging other targets.


Cyclops: The eyes of a character with this SURGE effect will have withered and “healed up” as if they never existed (cybereyes will be purged from the character’s system, and the cost refunded to the character’s available starting nuyen). There will be, instead, a single new eye above the nose, with the same natural vision abilities as the character’s original eyes. The character will suffer from a lack of depth perception with only one eye, and so will suffer a -2 dice pool modifier to all ranged attacks.


Decreased Taste: The character has a diminished sense of taste, ranging from a specific type of food, i.e. rich and fatty foods tasting bland, all the way up to having no sense of taste at all. Roll 1d6 to determine severity of the effect; on a roll of 1 the character cannot detect one single type of food (salty, sour, sweet, bitter, umami, fatty acids), through to 6 where the character has no sense of taste at all. The character automatically fails any Taste Perception tests that involve the undetectable taste(s).

This effect cannot be applied to any characters that have already purchased taste upgrades, such as Enhanced Taste, Digestive Expansion, or a taste booster.


Decreased Scent: The character has a diminished sense of smell, ranging from decreased sensitivity to no sense of smell at all. Roll 1d6 to determine the severity of the effect; a roll of 1 is only a slight decrease, while a roll of 6 indicates a complete absence of the sense. On rolls of 1-5, add the number as a negative modifier to any Scent Perception tests (on a roll of 6, the character automatically fails any Scent Perception tests); additionally, add half the number (rounded up) as a negative modifier to Taste Perception tests.

This effect cannot be applied to any characters that have already purchased scent upgrades, such as Enhanced Scent or an olfactory booster.


Decreased Vision: The character’s visual acuity is diminished, ranging from a slight effect of perhaps near or far-sightedness to complete blindness. Roll 1d6 to determine the severity of the effect; a roll of 1 is only a slight decrease, while a roll of 6 indicates a complete absence of the sense. On a roll of 6, roll 1d6 again; on a roll of 1-3, the character simply has malfunctioning or malformed eyeballs, perhaps with severe cataracts. On a roll of 4-6, however, the character simply has no eyes at all—in effect, the Cyclops effect occurred but the single eye never expressed itself. If this occurs, roll 1d6 a third time; on a roll of 1-2, the character has the Astral Sight positive effect, on a roll of 3-4, the character has Ultrasound Sense; on a roll of 5-6, however… bad luck chummer, can I interest you in a datajack and a pair of sunglass-cams with image link?(This final roll is not necessary if the character is already Awakened). For the initial roll, however, on a roll of 1-5, apply the number as a negative modifier for Visual Perception tests made with natural vision; on a roll of 4-5, apply a -2 modifier for tests made with technologically assisted sight as well.

The character can have his eyes replaced with cybereyes (if the eyes exist, that is), but replacements for characters with a roll of 3-6 must be at least alphaware.
This effect cannot be applied to characters that have already purchased cybereyes, cat’s eyes, or the feline eyes positive effect.


Dual Natured: This unfortunate person is permanently attuned to the astral plane, effectively becoming dual natured. This condition can never be turned off. Like other dual natured entities, the character can affect and be affected by astral objects (such as wards) and astral forms (spirits, projecting magicians and so forth). This means that the character is vulnerable to possession as well as astral attack, although he may protect himself using standard astral combat rules. On the plus side, the dual natured person can now learn Assensing.

If the character with this SURGE effect is Awakened, they can still astrally project and leave their mundane body behind. However, as soon as they return they become dual natured again.


Feathers: The character sprouts feathers which either replace his regular body hair and/or cover other parts of his body. These feathers may be fine and downy (and water resistant to a degree, like a duck’s) or fluffy and vibrant.

This effect is not compatible with dermal plating, and offers no protective value.


Pointed Ears: The character has pointed ears, just like an elf or other metahuman. This allows the character to pass as an elf if he chooses, effectively giving the character the Elf Poser Quality (pg. 81 SR4) and functioning just like it.


Quills: The character has quills, similar to those of a porcupine or hedgehog, all over his back, extending from his shoulder blades to the base of his spine. The quills, when mature, range between 1 (fringes of back) to 12(center of back) inches in length, with the mean being ~3.5 inches; they are very sharp, and the porcupine-type will embed themselves in an opponent’s (or companion’s) flesh, requiring surgery to be removed.

Much like hair, the quills can lie flat, but if the character gets excited or frightened, the quills with stand erect, similar to a goosebumps effect. The quills offer +2 Impact armor to the back area whether flat or erect, and, when erect, will inflict 2P (AP +3) damage to any attacker foolish enough to attack that area unarmed (assuming that the quills are not restrained from erecting by armor or clothing). Quills stuck in another person will cause continued damage that amounts to stun damage (equivalent to the physical damage from the initial embedding) that will not heal until the quills are removed. ex. a character that had quills stuck in him, causing 4P damage, will have untreatable 4S damage (in addition to the 4P damage from the quills that are stuck in his flesh) until the quills are removed.

The character can have his quills removed in a minor and relatively painless operation where the quills, which are biologically designed to detach with little effort and only mild irritation, are simply plucked out from his back, which will itch slightly for a few hours afterwards. Quills grow back at a rate slightly faster than normal hair growth, or about 20-30 millimeters a month.

If the character decides to let his quills grow, he must have custom clothing and armor made at 105% of normal cost and a +1 availability modifier. This effect is not compatible with dermal plating or orthoskin.

Scales: The character has scaly skin, similar to a lizard or snake, over his body. The scales might cover the entire body or only certain sections. The scales might grow in certain patterns, or may even appear in unusual colors, such as bright red, turquoise blue, or lurid green. The character will also periodically shed his scaly skin as a new layer grows in underneath.

This effect is not compatible with dermal plating, and offers no protective value.


Slow Healer: The character’s system responds to damage sluggishly and takes longer to heal wounds and fatigue. Apply a -2 dice pool modifier for all healing tests made by the character.


Third Eye: The character has a third eye in the middle of his forehead. The third eye incurs no vision modifiers, except that the character may still perceive depth with one eye closed. Even when the third eye is closed, an onlooker can detect its presence with a Perception (2) test.


Tusks: A character with this effect has small tusks from his lower jaw, similar to those of an ork or troll. These tusks slightly impede the character’s speech.

This effect cannot be applied to orks and trolls.


Unusual Hair: The character’s hair is of an unusual color or texture, or grows in unusual patterns or areas. For example, a character’s hair might be naturally pink, have a lion’s mane from his head down his shoulders and back, or even be entirely covered in fur.

This effect is not compatible with dermal plating or the feathers or scales effects.


Unusual Ears or Nose: The character has an unusual nose or ears that are markedly different from normal—this effect is distinct from the “Pointed Ears” effect (above). Examples include dermal (skin) ridges on the nose or ears, extremely exaggerated or reduced auricles, detached, swiveling auricles (like those of a horse or cat; +1 bonus for determining sound direction), moved auricles (to the top of the head or the sides of the neck), or a small elephant trunk, dog snout or bird beak in place of the nose, exaggerated or reduced noses, and so forth.

This effect cannot be applied to characters with cyberskulls, dermal plating, or the Elf or Ork Poser qualities.


Vestigial Tail: The character has a short stumpy tail on his lower back at the base of the spine. The tail may be scaly (like a lizard), hairy (like a dog or cat) or hairless (like a rat). Unlike the long tail effect, the vestigial tail offers no bonuses for balance. The tail may be waggled slightly with effort. The character will need custom armor made at 105% base cost and a +3 modifier for availability, and he will find it uncomfortable to sit in certain positions for long periods.


Webbed Hands or Feet: The character has a thin membrane between his fingers and/or toes; in most cases the individual digits will be longer than normal, allowing for a larger surface area. The only bonus that this effect gives is a +2 to +3 bonus (depending on the extent of the effect) to all Swimming tests. Otherwise, the character has a list of negative modifiers, including -1 to any tests involving Agility on land if the toes are extended, -1 for shooting firearms if the hands are extensively webbed, unless the gun has been customized for the character (115% base cost or Armorer + Logic (5, 1 hour) Extended Test), and a -1 modifier for fine detail work if the hands are extensively webbed.

Interesting work, Biblio. I'll read this in depth later.

I'll admit to not having read the description of each effect in detail yet, but one facet of surge was that you always had a mixed bag. Sometimes the effects were much more heavily skewed to the positive or negative, but if the random function happened properly, you had some from each side.

One thing you might try is, as they did with the point buy before, assess a BP cost which enables you to take SURGE traits. Then assess a point cost to the various positive and negative qualities. By doing it that way, it keeps the SURGE traits in the same pool as other positive and negative qualities and the inherent limitations on point expenditures.

Personally, the way I'm looking at this is, supposedly ~1% of the population is Awakened, though the extent of that varies from the Astral Sight and Spell/Spirit Knack all the way up to the major mojo slingers. But the fact is, the effect is present in about 1% of the populace but the power of that effect varies.

Similarly, ~1% of the population SURGEd, but the power of the individual effects varied greatly, from something minor like altered eye color all the way up to having bony spikes sticking out of your skin.

So, my perspective was, make it about the same cost as Awakening, i.e. 5-10 BP, because they have about the same probability of occurring, but that's just for *being* a changling. As was pointed out to me, a good portion of the fun with SURGE is not knowing what you'll get--being able to pick and choose what effects will occur to you doesn't quite fit in with the spirit of the effect.

In one of the comet books they said that the theory was that the changelings were caused by damage to the DNA over the many years. This is why mundanes were more apt to change than others, with mundane humans being the most likely to show changes. Already Awakened characters were the least likely to change with Awakened Metas being the least likely of all.

That said, I have allowed players to take a trait or two if they wanted.

I remember in World of Ptavvs where that "little something extra" was a third testicle on a telepath.

I dont know about the random thing though, it doesnt suit my tastes. If I wanted random character creation, I would have stayed with D20, Paranoia or some other game.
One of the best things I like about SR is the pure 'point buy' system, where you can min/max or just make average joe all with the same starting pool as the other guy.

That being said, I wouldn't mind spending 5BP on the SURGE Positive Quality if it opened up a SURGE quality table similar to the Pos/Neg Quality system but without a cap. You then pick and match how you want to instead of letting random fate take it's toll.
For a good example of point values for qualities, PlatonicPimp already wrote out alot of them. Still, you can just take the values in the 'Year of the Comet' SR3 book and X5 the value for BP cost.

I like the randomness.

I'm not sure all of the qualities can be neatly divided into positive or negative. that's one reason I favor the randomness. Another is that the whole point behind SURGE was that it was random. On the other hand, if the changes took place before the start of your game, it may just be that this is a character whose story is worth telling.

If you go with chosen effects, you really must use specific positive and negative build points. When I originally suggested a random table, I assumed that nobody would want to come up with build points. But since someone has already done that work, feel free to use it.

As for your tables... I think they're fair. The only thing I would change is the whole package deal thing. First of all, I believe you have a 1 in 12 chance of a theme package (6 on the first roll, and 4-6 on the second). That sounds a bit much to me. Maybe if someone ends up with one, he can roll a d6 and choose that many effects from the list of that theme? I mean, if I got anything with wings, I'd want to throw the character in the trash. You've also got a 1 in 12 chance of having multiple effects every time you roll. That could really add up. And what do you do if someone has already gotten porcupine quills and and gills, and then rolls bat? How about make the initial roll 2d6, and put the package deals at 12? And say you only get that one if it's on your first roll. And put "roll again twice" on the chart at, say, 2 through 5. I don't know. Just some ideas.

I would probably fall into the non-random camp. If I played a SURGED character, I would probably have pretty specific ideas that would tie into the characters background. I wouldn't pay 5 build points to roll on a table that could result in an unplayable character.

A possibility would be to allow a player to choose an effect they want and pay the points cost for it. Then you could have them roll on a new table to determine if they picked up any additional effects. A large part of the table would be no effect followed by an equal chance of a positive or negative effect, or maybe weighted slightly toward negative. This roll would be influenced on the point cost of the original choice: the higher the value the greater the chance of another effect.

I was thinking about this topic today. There is one modification I would make to the wings trait. Rather than flying for a given time, a glide ratio might make more sense. Giving a ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 should be reasonable. That is, if a winged character jumped from a height of 100 feet, they could glide to a distance of 300 feet at 3:1 or 400 feet at 4:1. They can, of course, manuever while gliding and you might allow a special skill of gliding to allow better control to check for extra distance.

I had an idea on this, given that any game set in 2070 includes characters who had to have lived through the year of the comet...

I was thinking of making players roll to avoid the surge using those rules... only how to translate 'em to SR4?

Then my brainstorm hit. Don't bother, just have them roll that one check using the old methods. I mean, essence didn't change, just dice rules. It gets a little awkward if you want to try and figure out if the cyber came before or after the change (given starting ages an easy enough solution... after for most characters) if you care for that level of versimlitude.

Then I decided it would be mean.