Does the 1/1 natural armor of trolls allow and stack with Dermal Plating, Dermal Sheathing, or Orthoskin?

If not, should it be removed with Biosculpting to allow those enhancements? There is a reference to sanding it down as a mid-range biosculpt, but I'm not sure if this implies that the protective qualities will go away too. Also, would this 'sanding' have to be repeated periodically (much like shaving) or is it permanent?

I ask because I have a female player wanting to make a 'sexy' troll. Genetic optimization on many of the deficent attributes and a biosculpting job (she'll be keeping the horns). She also wants to have smooth skin backed up with orthoskin, so I'm just checking on the details for how it'll work with her natural armor.

She could also play a Fomori, a troll metavarient that doesn't have the dermal deposits or the reduced charisma.

We don't use the metavariants and changelings are largely unknown in our game. We find plenty of variety in the basic metatypes, we just want to tweak them with the stuff from Augmentation.

We're wondering if the troll's natural armor is entirely external (and thus would be lost with the sanding) or if it could be a representation of internal bone mass (much like with the bone lacing effects) and thus be retained after the sanding.

Also, is biosculpting available in different grades? As bioware I'm assuming that the answer is yes, but I'm not certain. Of course assuming that it follows all of the bioware rules means that you could get second-hand biosculpting, and that's just dumb, so perhaps different grades are not applicable...

Alright, your call as GM.

Well, I don't have any trolls in my game just yet (with the exception of Petard, the grenadier NPC), but, personally, I rule that it's both: trolls have beefier, heavier skeletons than even someone their size would need, and their skin is laced with calcium and keratin deposits, sorta like a partial, almost vestigial, exoskeleton.

And as for the "grades" of biosculpting, consider the difference you would get between a back-alley bresticle implantation at the hands of a failed med-student (i.e. secondhand), and getting a full workover at Evolution in Hong Kong's Eastern District at the hands of high class doctors (i.e. beta level).

Troll natural armor has stacked in all previous editions, and in none of the descriptions of any of the enhancements does it say that they lose it. So, I would allow it to stack.

I don't think trolls' natural armor HAS stacked in previous editions. I'm 99% certain that dermal plating wiped it out, but not orthoskin. Basically, in previous editions, the troll armor added an extra body die to damage resistance, which is what dermal plating did, but orthoskin added an armor rating, which was different, so it stacked. With 4th, I'm playing a shaman, so I don't have dermal or ortho, so I don't know exactly how they work, but from what I gather, they're a lot more similar now, so I don't know. All I'm saying is that in the past one has stacked, but not the other.

My opinion:

Tell your player that biosculpting will make the troll's skin smooth but lowers the armor benefit to 1/0. (Reflecting that ballistic is covered more by internal structures.) Then let her have the bio or cyber of her choice and it stacks with the natural.

YMMV

I would let the character keep the armor -she has already paid for it with BP in chargen- However she would have to go for orthoskin or dermal sheath with a biosculpted pattern for a smooth feel.

And who said dermal armor wasn't sexy?

Cheers,

Max