I've come up with some extra Edges and Flaws for my gaming group. Before I add these to our House Rules binder, I wanted to run them past the DS crowd and see what you all thought. I haven't come up with costs yet, as some of these may not even be good to implement.

If you all wouldn't mind taking a look at these and giving me your feedback, I would appreciate it. If you have any comments on changes that should be made to the target number modifiers for the powers, extent of powers, or costs of the edges/flaws, I would appreciate that as well.

Here's the list:

Edges

Animal Companion – This edge grants the character a special bond with a mundane animal (cat, dog, parrot, gerbil, etc.). The pet will never run away, even if left unattended. The animal sees their owner as their friend, and vice versa. By making a special Charisma(4)Test, the creature’s master may convey limited communication with the creature. For every success, one word may be understood by the animal. The pet will do its best to fulfill its master’s commands. The bond with the pet is broken if the master intentionally harms the pet or fails to take care of it. If the pet dies, the character must spend the points over again to bond to another animal.

Chameleon – As the name suggests, the chameleon edge is a physical one. The character may make a Willpower(4)Test to alter his skin color to reflect a color and/or pattern of something that he touches (troll skin or a brick wall, for example). Only one success is needed for the transformation to work. The change happens within 3 seconds. This grants the character a +4 target number modifier as it would apply to stealth and/or perception tests used to either sense the target by sight or to notice that he isn’t what he appears to be.

Cool as Drek – The shadowrunner who takes this edge is the paragon of “Cool”. Kids, wannabes, posers, and most anyone with a Charisma rating lower than the character’s finds the character to be one cool mofo. Perhaps it’s the combination of the way the characters hair falls over his/her face. Maybe it’s because the runner holds his gun like T.J. Hooker 2063. Who knows? The only thing that’s for certain is that the runner has an aura of “Cool” about them. When this runner talks, people listen.

Crocodile Hunter – The character who takes this edge specializes in knowing a little to a lot about any paranormal critter. The character receives a –2 target number modifier to any knowledge skill test related to paranormal critters (their powers, habitat, weaknesses, etc.)

Eagle Eye – Characters who take Eagle Eye have 5x optical magnification in their eyes. This edge doesn’t give them any special modifiers, as far as perception tests are concerned, but it will allow them to see things much closer without the need for any special cyberware or binoculars.

Negotiator – A character with this edge specializes in the art of the deal. A negotiator garners an additional 5% of the agreed upon price, per level of the edge. This means that gear is 5% less (per level of the edge) or payments for services rendered are 5% more (per level of the edge). This edge stacks with a regular negotiation skill test.

Noise Editor – A character with this edge can hear past white noise. Each level of this edge allows the character to reduce the target number for hearing tests by 1 (to a minimum of target number 2). The character must be able to see the subject who is doing the speaking, to properly concentrate. This edge does not work on electronic devices, but can overcome white noise generators if they are masking the conversations of those he’s attempting to listen to.

Speed Racer – The character who takes Speed Racer is a wizard in any ground vehicle with wheels. Characters who take this edge receive an extra point in any wheel-based vehicle piloting skill. This edge may only be taken once.

Top Gun – The character who takes Top Gun is a wizard in anything aeronautical. Characters who take this edge receive an extra point in any aircraft pilot skill. This edge may only be taken once.

Umbilical Cord – This edge is for anyone who can astrally project. Whenever the character is away on an astral trip, they can always find their way back to their body… regardless if it has been moved or not. The way ‘home’ appears as a thin silver umbilical cord, tethered to their body.

Flaws

Bad Shot – The character who takes Bad Shot is as the name implies, bad with hitting targets by means of ranged weapons. Each level of this flaw adds a +1 target number modifier to any skill that requires a ranged weapon to hit a target.

Chauvinist – The Chauvinist is a person who believes his gender is superior to the opposite gender. Chauvinists receive a +1 target number modifier to all social tests made with the opposite sex.

Color Blindness – A character with this flaw cannot distinguish from red and green hues. No perception test can overcome this flaw. They simply cannot tell the difference between the two.

Conspiracy Theorist – 1984, big time. This character believes that there is always someone out to get him. There probably is, but they see conspiracies everywhere. Not just in their own life. A conspiracy theorist is constantly afraid of being discovered by ‘the man’. They have troubles making friends with others as they believe everyone is out to get them. This flaw is much more severe than the typical paranoia that every sensible shadowrunner should possess.

Duelist – the Duelist sees runs as an opportunity to face off with others of comparable skills. When he figures out who is in charge of the cronies he’s facing, he’ll call them out to duel him. Regardless of whether this happens on the actual run or by an appointment, eventually he’ll square off with his antagonist in a battle to the death.

Identity Malfunction (GM discretion) – A character who takes this flaw has multiple personalities. For each level of the flaw, a character has another personality inside of them. The GM will make up the extra characters and keep them until one of them appears. The host personality (ie. the player’s main character – on their character sheet) will be the alpha personality for most of the time, but at any point in the game the GM may decide that another personality appears and takes over. This is a major roleplaying flaw, since the other personalities won’t necessarily know what’s going on when they appear.

Potty Mouth – the character with this flaw will swear all of the time. Normally, he won’t even know that he’s doing it. It’s just part of his upbringing. This flaw will add a +2 target number modifier to any social interactions with individuals or groups of people that are not used to speaking in such an uncouth manner. This modifier affects everyone in the group, while the character is cursing and telling his dirty jokes.

Two Left Feet – A character with this flaw has troubles doing anything athletic. For every level of this flaw, the character receives a +2 modifier to any Athletic Test they need to make.

Wanderlust – A character who takes Wanderlust never feels at home. They must constantly be on the move, similar to a nomad or gypsy. They may find a place to hole up for a while, but eventually they get the itch to pack up and move on to a new abode. At level 1, the character is constantly moving around in a “home” city. At level 2, they roam around their nation. At level 3, they’re considered a globetrotter.

Weakling – A weakling is unable to over-exert himself. If he fails any Strength test, he has strained the muscles used in the test. If he rolls all 1’s on the Strength test, he has torn a muscle in the process, causing him a much more intensely excruciating wound.

I thought there was already a color blind flaw.

Personally I would change the name of Potty Mouth to F**K Smurf, but that's only because I've always liked that term.

You might want to assign some costs so we can better evaluate the ideas.

A couple of things:

Chameleon: Surge'd, have we?

Cool as Drek: No mechanic. What does it do that "Distinctive Style" doesn't?

Speed Racer/Top Gun: What makes this edge better than just buying an extra die of skill? Or Vehicle Zen for that matter?

Bad Shot: Incompetent Handgun/Rifle/Shotgun/Assault Rifle/Gunnery/Heavy weapons/SMG, all rolled into one

Two left Feet: Incompetent Athletics?

Wanderlust: Mechanic? Willpower to stay in one place more than 24 hours?

Noise Editor: Um...doesn't work for me.

Although the names do add a better flair to the flaws, making them more than generic points and number crunching.

-Siege

Sorry, I didn't even attempt to come up with costs.

Edges:
Animal companion - still making up my mind. Can be covered with a fun GM and good roleplaying.

Cool as Drek - I like it. 2 variations: The Fonz: -1 TN on social tests. The Rebel: -2 TN vs folks under 30, +1 vs folks over 40.

Crocidile hunter, Negotiator, Speed racer, top gun - Unnecesary - can be taken care of with higher skills and aptitude if you really want it.

Cameleon, Eagle eye, noise editor - its all cyber/magic/surge

Umbilical cord - sounds like a metamagical technique.

Flaws:
Chauvinist - Ok. I can see it.

Color blind- Ok.

Conspiracy Theorist - Can be fun - I'd have to look to see if it's already covered by other mental flaws. (compulsions, phobias, bad rep, etc).

Duelist - already done by Compulsive flaw.

Multiple personalities - rare enough it can be done by GM on a case-by-case basis.

Potty mouth - low skills, incompetance, Bad rep Flaw already take care of this.

Wanderer - not a flaw worth points. He'll either be around, or he won't.

Weakling - already covered by Rule of 1s.

Bad shot, two left feet - Incompetence flaw, low skills already take care of these effects.

Edit: Wow, we all replied at once...

Interesting. Some of them might just be specific versions of edges and flaws that already exist. IE: Potty-mouth could just be the uncouth flaw, or a lower-rated flaw with more specific penalties. Compulsions could cover many of those flaws too.

Umbilical cord is interesting, it could make a character with it very obvious on the astral if other people could see it...

D'oh, I forgot about the incompetent/competent edges & flaws. My bad. That's what I get for goofing off at work without my books. Moral of story: bring one's books to work to goof off.

Guess I shouldn't try to re-invent the wheel.

Most of those were either pointless, redundant or just plain outlandish. I would not incorporate any of them as is.

*edit* not trying to be an ass, just being truthful. Glad to see new things being thought about.

Some Thoughts I'll touch on each one.

Animal Companion: not bad can't say I see anything wrong with it.

Chameleon: sounds like a surge effect, not like something that would just happen. I'd probably put that in the details.

Cool As Drek: sounds pretty nifty, a good edge to have, with some real value, I think I'd like to take that for my characters

Crocadile hunter: this isn't a bad one, I might change the name, but I don't see why this would be necessary with paranormal animals knowledge skill and maybe a specialization of it being the animal you primarily study. but I don't see that much wrong with it. just maybe change the name of this edge.

Eagle Eye: I could see a lot of complaints with this if there are no special modifiers given by it, seeing as it is doing basically image magnification, which should grant bonuses to ranged combat(IE staging the distance modifiers down)

Negotiator: I like it, it works well I would probably actually grant a -# on TN's for using negotiate since they are so gCoood at it, as opposed to the % or in addition to it.

Noise Editor: interesting edge, I think it would do better as a piece of 'ware, probably would work better as one.

SpeedRacer: I would probably amend this a little, if it grants modifiers to wheel based vehicles, then it should grant -#'s to TN or +1 die when using wheeled vehicles.

Top Gun: see Speedracer comments only make them aeronautical.

Umbilical Cord: works, nice magical edge.

Flaws:
Bad Shot: not bad, it works well.

chauvinist: works as well


Color Blindness: already done, Color Blind is already a flaw

Conspiracy Theorist: works well, needs mechanics though, like must make a willpower test when working with others or something.

Duelist: not bad, I'd also apply a willpower test on this one.

Identity Malfunction: not bad, I'd just label it multiple identities.

Potty Mouth: Kinda goes along the lines of Uncouth Flaw. might just want to stick with that one instead of making the definition so narrow.

Two Left Feet: not bad, namewise I'd probably change it to reflect that it affects all athletics, not just dancing

Wanderlust: I'd apply a willpower test to determine when the player needs to move.

Weakling: needs mechanics, like attribute damage or something, -2 on all strength tests until that muscle is healed, etc. in addition I'd also impose maybe a +2 TN to strength tests so that a weakling with 5 in strength actually has some difficulty since he is a weakling.

my 2

"Distinctive Style" doesn't require calling cards, but rather trademarks of the character.

Humphrey Bogart: Fedora, trenchcoat
The Shadow: Overcoat, laugh, twin 1911s

Granted, it doesn't offer much of a mechanical benefit -- however, I can't say as I'd want legions of fans following me around either. That's as bad as the Distinctive Style flaw.

Heh, how's that for a flaw? "Fan Club" -- the character has fans who show up at the worst possible time, emulating the character and asking for autographs.

-Siege

One flaw that i came up with for one of my characters was this:

Overspecialised: The character knows one weapon or piece equipment, top to bottom, to the exclusion of similar weapons/items. Essentialy, if this is combined with a firearm, the character could strip it down, clean it and rebuild it whilst blindfolded and hanging upside down. Reduce general skill by two points.

So if, for example a character with assault rifles skill overspecialises in M22A2 assault rifles it would go from this:

Assault Rifles / M22A2: 5 / 7

TO

Assault Rifles / M22A2: 3 / 7

This is a two point flaw. A one point version of this flaw only reduces the general skill by one point, but lose the "Hanging upside down" part from the last example. Figuratively speaking...

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the critique. The input was helpful. I didn't think about the Competency/Incopetency stuff when I was writing it (I'm no good without my morning coffee, hee). I've deleted the ones most people thought were either lame or redundant, added points to all of the rest, and modified a few where people thought there needed to be some more game mechanics.

So here's the new list:

Edges

Animal Companion (2) – This edge grants the character a special bond with a mundane animal (cat, dog, parrot, gerbil, etc.). The pet will never run away, even if left unattended. The animal sees their owner as their friend, and vice versa. By making a special Charisma(4)Test, the creature’s master may convey limited communication with the creature. For every success, one word may be understood by the animal. The pet will do its best to fulfill its master’s commands. The bond with the pet is broken if the master intentionally harms the pet or fails to take care of it. If the pet dies, the character must spend the points over again to bond to another animal.

Cool as Drek (1) - The shadowrunner who takes this edge is the paragon of “Cool”. Kids, wannabes, posers, and most anyone with a Charisma rating lower than the character’s finds the character to be one cool mofo. Perhaps it’s the combination of the way the characters hair falls over his/her face. Maybe it’s because the runner holds his gun like T.J. Hooker 2063. Who knows? The only thing that’s for certain is that the runner has an aura of “Cool” about them. When this runner talks, people listen.

Addendum: The term “aura of cool” is not meant to be interpreted literally. This is something that rockers, trid personalities, Urban Brawlers, or anyone else who has a public persona might take. This is a roleplaying Edge only, no game mechanics besides what the GM decides would be appropriate for a situation.

Eagle Eye (1) – Characters who take Eagle Eye have 5x optical magnification in their eyes. This edge doesn’t give them any special modifiers, as far as perception tests are concerned, but it will allow them to see things much closer without the need for any special cyberware or binoculars.

Addendum: This is an innate version of the already-in-existence cyberware version. For the magic user who doesn’t want to put cyber in his system. This is not meant to be unique or novel, simply an alternative to the cybered version.

Negotiator (2/level, max 5) – A character with this edge specializes in the art of the deal. A negotiator garners an additional 5% of the agreed upon price, per level of the edge. This means that gear is 5% less (per level of the edge) or payments for services rendered are 5% more (per level of the edge). This edge stacks with a regular negotiation skill test.

Noise Editor (.5/level, max 5) – A character with this edge can hear past white noise. Each level of this edge allows the character to reduce the target number for hearing tests by 1 (to a minimum of target number 2). The character must be able to see the subject who is doing the speaking, to properly concentrate. This edge does not work on electronic devices, but can overcome white noise generators if they are masking the conversations of those he’s attempting to listen to.

Addendum: This is an innate version of the already-in-existence cyberware version. For the magic user who doesn’t want to put cyber in his system. This is not meant to be unique or novel, simply an alternative to the cybered version.

Umbilical Cord (3) – This edge is for anyone who can astrally project. Whenever the character is away on an astral trip, they can always find their way back to their body… regardless if it has been moved or not. The way ‘home’ appears as a thin silver umbilical cord, tethered to their body.

Flaws

Chauvinist (2) – The Chauvinist is a person who believes his gender is superior to the opposite gender. Chauvinists receive a +1 target number modifier to all social tests made with the opposite sex.

Multiple Personality (3/level, max 3 - GM discretion) – A character who takes this flaw has multiple personalities. For each level of the flaw, a character has another personality inside of them. The GM will make up the extra characters and keep them until one of them appears. The host personality (ie. the player’s main character – on their character sheet) will be the alpha personality for most of the time, but at any point in the game the GM may decide that another personality appears and takes over. This is a major roleplaying flaw, since the other personalities won’t necessarily know what’s going on when they appear.

Wanderlust (2) – A character who takes Wanderlust never feels at home. They must constantly be on the move, similar to a nomad or gypsy. They may find a place to hole up for a while, but eventually they get the itch to pack up and move on to a new abode. Every week, they must make a Willpower(6)Test or have to pack up their stuff and move. At level 1, the character is constantly moving around in a “home” city. At level 2, they roam around their nation. At level 3, they’re considered a globetrotter.

No flaws are worth anything less than 1, so five levels of noise editor (+2.5) couldn't be properly balanced. Ever.

if you're granting them image mag @ 5X mag without cyber or magic, I think you'll have players complaining that this should lower TN's for ranged combat, since Image Mag lowers TN's for ranged combat based on the level of mag.

Also, I can see if this flys as being allowable for ranged combat and in regards to reducing TN's for Ranged combat leading to Sams not taking Eye Mags and getting the edge instead, this would then allow them to use mag bonuses with smartlinks. which the system doesn't allow because incompatibilities in Cyberware, but since this isn't cyber, it doesn't have the same restrict on it.

all I can say is that it's leads to possible abuse.

Re: Noise Editor. This is true. Thanks for catching that.

I really don't like the whole "innate versions for magic users who don't want cyber in their systems."
That really just rubs me the wrong way. Part of the trade-off of being a magic-user is that you can't have all the really neat mods without risking some heavy magic loss. That's part of the game, part of what helps keep magic-users balanced with mundanes.

Also, I've always thought of Edges & Flaws as things that exist not only in the Sixth World, but in any population of humans. If you talk to people, you'll meet fast healers, double-jointed people, even those who swear they've got gremlins or some sort of vehicle empathy. You don't see people walking around with super-keen magnifying vision, or the incredible ability to hear past white noise effortlessly.
It just doesn't work for me.

Oooh! Let me add my own personal superpower!

Super-parabolics, 3 points
The character has a very fine sense of balance in the ears. As such, he can determine where a given sound is coming from to a very high degree*. In Champions terms, this would let the character use their hearing as a targeting sense. In Shadowrun terms, however, this allows them to add a mere +4 TN to any test to hit a target one cannot see with a ranged weapon, rather than the usual +8, as long as they are making some kind of noise while you are targeting them, or have not moved since they made the noise.

The 5 point version proffers a mere +2 penalty to firing blind, rather than +8.

*My own personal average has an error margin of about ~2.5 degrees to determine where a sound is coming from, when it's just a one single sound in an otherwise quiet area.

Chameleon: seems more approp. as an Adept power.

Cool as Drek: Uhh, any mechanics for this? How about this: character with Cool as Drek can command the attention of anyone with a Charisma lower than his/hers for a number of minutes equal to the difference in the respective CHA attributes.

Eagle Eye: Gah! That's better than eny cyberware, bioware, or Adept power! Even I am a bit uncomforatble with the balance of this edge. I've though about making a "Sharp Sight" edge, but that only grants natural L1 Vision mag. (What the hell is L5 vision mag, anyway?)

Negotiator: I like, but if it's a flat, uncontested increase, it should have a very steep price.

Umbilical Cord: maybe a name change, to Astral Umbilical? More descriptive of what it actually does.

Yeah, Solistice tends to be a bit of an ass.

Anyways, I would say go over all of this stuff and compare most of it to what is already present in SRComp. A lot of them could really be descriptive versions of other flaws.

I'm not concerned with him. He doesn't know how to critique something.

Actually, I like the idea of the "Cool as Drek" edge. It needs a better-honed game mechanic to go with it, but I'm not sure what the complaints are as far as it being covered by distinctive style. It's NOT even close to the same thing as distinctive style because distinctive style is a FLAW, not an edge.

I like the idea of Eagle Eye, too, but rework it. Rather than being measured vision magnification, I'd actually turn it around from what was originally proposed and have it give a bonus to perception tests when trying to focus on something from afar, like trying to read what's on someone's computer screen from across the room (but NOT reducing range modifiers for combat, or it's too powerful). But this bonus should be negated by any cybernetic or magical vision magnification, and also negated by binoculars, weapon scopes, etc.

It still seems kinda weak, though. Either go with something like that, or dump it because it wouldn't make sense to duplicate cyberware with edges (how would you turn it on/off? You always just really farsighted?)

Actually, that gives me an idea. What if it's a flaw? You can read someone's computer screen from across the room, but you need to wear glasses for seeing anything clearly within a few feet?

Thanks. Those comments are more in line with what helps.

well when I think of "edge" I think of that little something extra that some people have. 5x natural magnification doesn't really qualify as "a little something". But hey I won't post anymore. Cool to see new ideas though.

Friend of Murphy's (0): This is both an Edge and a Flaw. The PC is simply jinxed, but not him personally. Anyone with a Karma pool around him (20m or LOS) except himself who rolls more 1s than successes suffer the consequences of the Rule of 1. He cannot spend his Karma pool in the normal manner, he can only burn Karma.

Murphy's Irritating Cousin (+6): You can cause a re-roll of any roll of anyone you can see (LOS, cover and vision mods apply) , against a TN without any positive modifiers by burning 1 point of Karma. You may not use Karma normally.

Murphy's Lawyer (+4): As Mr Murphy's Lawyer, you do not suffer the Roll of One or any attempt to cause you to re-roll dice from Karma pool.

Murphy's Whole Family (-8 ): You do not know what you did or how anyone can deserve this., but you seemed to have offended Mr Murphy's whole family(some even say his whole clan). Anytime you roll a one, you automatically fail that roll, no successes.

Well, after the comments posted here, I think I won't use Eagle Eye or Noise Editor. After thinking about it a bit, I can see how one of the guys in our group might be irritated that he could've bought the edge and saved on as well as Essence. Not worth the potential for irritation.

Why did you scrap "Crocodile Hunter"? The name is a bit goofy, but I think the effect is great for any wilderness-inclined character.

Maybe call it Paranimal Expertise or something.