The adept power improved ability gives dice for skills, is it canon to only grab those listed or are any active skills fair game?

Only those listed, so you can't get Improved Ability driving (at least not without GM approval). As a GM, I almost always approve, however, as it's lots of fun.

Improved B/R, Combat, Social and Vehicle Skills all cost .5 PP.
Improved Physical and Artistic (performance Knowledge) Skills cost .25 PP.

No Technical Skills allowed.

Edit: Improved Vehicle Skills are in SotA64, IIRC.

Thanks guys, pretty much what I expected.

best part about improved ability in SR3 was the fact that skill 6, improved 6 and combat pool of 6 usable pretty much meant doing whatever the heck you were that frigging good at *g*
somehow, that ability still never once appeared in one single character i have seen in my gaming circle O.o

yes, 18 dice to throw around is nice, but your forgetting to add centering into the equation.
centering for success's can add a couple more dice, or just lower your target #'s.

Reflex recorder can help too

And in my opinion, if the character wants to take +6 in something they can go for it, especially since it's better than having it for a combat skill...

I played a thowing adept who started with 6 + 6 + missile mastery for throwing knives, and i never felt the need to use combat pool... 12 is plenty. Well... I raised his skill to an 8 actually, but that's unrelated

It's all about Golgo 13ing it.

but if one can actualoly get to those 18 successes over time . . hell, even a STR1 human without anything else to help him could be pretty much instagibbing O.o
and this is compatible with killing hands which only costs 1 PPT at serious i think annd the distance strike power . .
gives hand of god a whole new meaning *g*
hand of budda ^^

In fact, Nightshade actually threw playing cards most of the time just becuase he could still one hit most people with them. 2L + successes Of course, this didn't work with anyone wearing hardened armour.

And also my group has a house rule that we always use regarding damage that is similar the the Overdamage Optional Rule in Fields of Fire. Basically, every 2 successes over D counts as an extra "level" of damage and has to be reduced before reducing from D. So, rolling 14 dice, i'd usually get 8-10 successes (a little over average) so they would take 2D + a level or two. and if you have a body of 3 you still take D. It was pretty nice. That's why I didn't use combat pool.

wasn't the official ruling that every two successes above D upped your power-level by one?
that's what i meant with the STR1 Insta Gib with 18 Successes . . STR1, base Damage= 1l so 1 success = 1l, 2 successes means 1M, 4 Successes means 1S, 6 successes mean 1D . . that's still 12 Successes left, and 12/2=6 so 7D damage if someone with STR of 1 and nothing else to help him gets the 18 Successes . . now then there's things like bone-lace that up the power by some degree and then there is killing hands . . and of course, simply more strength . . if that human had a strength of 6 he'd be doing 12D Damage . . and yeah, it gets progressively silly with light pistols . . ok, so they don't get more power, but heck, you get shot with 18 successes even by a light pistol it means you're dead meat, if you ain't wearing hardened armor . . not to mention things like heavy pistols and rifles, or assault rifles or SMG's . .

That said, increasing dice generally is not as useful as decreasing the TN, especially at higher numbers. So an adept with 12 dice towards driving can't compare to a rigger with a VCR-3.

(Thanks Fortune, I had forgotten SotA64 had expanded the available skills.)