Or just a cyberdeck case. Muuuch cheaper

Guess what?

The mage was invisible before you even knew they were there.

The Sam cannot have his smartlink stack with his vision mods. So it is actually TN 4 + (-2) for SL + 6 (uncompensated recoil) + range mods + 8 (blind fire) = 10 min for 2 more dice to hit.

Other readers, just remember those are his rules. Canon rules for layering only count two layers (SR3 p. 285), and the Form Fitting Body Armor (CC p. 51) doesn't count toward Quickness related penalties. If you have an earlier printing of the CC, see the errata for the FFBA regarding the Quickness penalty (See p. 51 on Link).

Where is the rules for suppressive fire?

I don't have my books with me, need to get a reference. I don't remember the suppressive fire rules, only the searching fire ones. I thought given the way you phrased the question searching would be more appropriate. Anyway got a page reference for that suppressive fire?

M&M says it is effective, though. Your mind is being fooled into not-seeing. It's not being fooled into not-hearing.


Teulisch, note that viewing an invisible person through ultrasound alone still imposes a +4 penalty. Also note that an Ultrasound Emitter/Detector can be much cooler than a white noise generator.

Dodge Tests has vision mods? Huh? He takes only wound mods to Dodge.

I don't think Thermovision is going to help/hurt for dodging.

And taking your 6m example, you can pump 10 rounds (max) into that 6m. So he's got to get 1-2 sucesses with combat pool. BTW, a mage who was coverless at the start of the engagement deserves to die (How the hell did he get to go before your Sam anyway?)

And since your damage isn't modified by auto fire, modified by only your sucesses, which can be resisted.

Theres a flaw in that plan somewhere....Okay, got it: The device that projects and reads the ultrasound wave isn't affected so you would still see the image on the screen/display. The same way you could see the (non-physical) invisible mage if you had a camera. Thats why you need a spell that frags w/ sound waves.

There's another one too, I just can't put my finger on it....

Seems to be a whole thread-full of ideas.

Well, in his defense, most of us don't get to start our SR career w/ mil-spec hardened armor. So, I guess I could (grudgingly) see how the advice on this page would seem...lackluster, for lack of a better word.

Sol: pay more attention to the advice on planning and working as a team. If you don't want to be put in a spot where you have to roll those body dice, the best solution is to make your opponent roll his. But only once.

Aye, those are awesome and often overlooked.

I don't know why, but that "annoying the hellhounds" line made me crack up.

Eh? Where, exactly, does it say that? SR3, p. 195: "Invisibility affects the minds of viewers. Improved invisibility affects technological sensors as well." AFAIK, "as well" has the same meaning as "in addition to", so Improved invisibility still works to fool the mind into not seeing you, but it also fools technological sensors into not seeing you. If Improved invisibility did indeed bend light waves, then the perceiver wouldn't get to Resist.

With Assault Rifles at close range new characters are generally supposed to die. Body 3 is very appropriate for a non-combat oriented character, and even Body 6 may not help all that much more. The fact that you lived is awesome in itself. Congratulations.

First, a couple points on the rules.
1) Dodge Pool doesn't exist in 3rd edition. Athletics skill is not used for Dodge. Instead you get to choose how much of your Combat Pool will be used for Dodge (P. 113) or how much to use with your Damage Resistance (Body) roll. If the attacker has many successes, you'll typically decide whether to use dice for Dodge or Resistance based on which has the smaller Target Number. If the attacker has few successes, you may Dodge to try to avoid getting shot completely.

2) If the GM had decided that a Surprise situation (p. 109) existed, you might have been surprised and not been able to use Combat Pool at all. Consider yourself lucky.

Now, some points on your gaming group:
a) If the GM is out to kill characters, he'll do this type of thing often. He probably won't. If he's out to make one or two people look good and everyone else look bad, he'll do this type of thing often. He probably won't.

b) If the characters forgot to research what type of guard patrols there were, or forgot to send something in Astral space to find guard patrols, or forgot to deck into the building cameras to find guard patrols, or forgot to set up a distraction out on the street to distract guard patrols, or caused an alarm to be raised but went in anyway, then you got what you deserved. You getting hurt just helps reinforce your learning process. Good GM.

c) It's the job of your front-line combat characters to draw the fire away from the tech weenies and magicians. They are supposed to look like the biggest threat, so the roving guard patrol shoots at them first. If they instead try to get the tech weenies shot, they are doing something wrong. Some combat characters do this on purpose. If they do, and they don't stop, you're in the wrong group. On the other hand, your tech weenie should be so valuable to the group that the combat monsters want to look out for her.

d) It's perfectly fine for a tech weenie to take 3 boxes of damage and have the magician heal it all up after the battle, particularly if it helped your combat monster or magician survive long enough to destroy the opposition.

e) I often make a beginning character with low body. If she survives her first 3 adventures I'll raise Body to where it's more effective. If she doesn't survive, I haven't lost much when I make a new character.

Welcome to Shadowrun. I hope you have great adventures.

P.S. Tech weenies should stay at the back of the group. Don't look threatening. Don't carry a big gun. If you have no gun, they'll shoot you last. Use Fall Prone or move behind cover.

SR is all about balance.. Balancing your skills to the point where you rock at your chosen archetype, but are still passable in other regards.. It's not easy, for sure.

When in doubt, do what I do.. This helps just about any character..

Two combat skills. (Pistols, Unarmed, Armed, Sorcerer.. Some means of doing damage)
One niche skill (Computer, Car, Conjuring, whatever)
One backup skill (Electronics, Biotech, etc..)
Two social skills (Etiquette, Negotiation, Intimidation, etc..)
Athletics
Stealth

You need some combination of those skills to be useful to a group in general, and also in a specific field.. Yes, SR is a game based mostly on the concept of 'you stay here and do what you do best.. We'll go here and do this...'

I find that a good group is usually 5-6 people..

One mage, for astral scouting, spell defense, and other special abilities..
One decker, for overwatch, and nothing else.
One vehicle rigger, on point guard, ready for extraction. If he has drones, this makes him all the more useful.
At least one 'tank', possibly 2. Adept is fine. Samurai is better. Troll samurai is best.
And some general B&E specialist.

The decker needs to find a safe place to jack in and provide overwatch.. The mage needs to do astral scouting as soon as possible, and provide support and spell defense for the rest of the group afterwards.
The rigger needs to keep a watch outside, possibly with drones, and be ready to leave at a moments notice. You do NOT want your rigger to go down in the middle of a run, because then you're really screwed.
The tank goes with the B&E specialist, to provide offense/defense.. If you've got 2, let the 'weaker' of the two keep watch on the deckers meat.. You can even leave the mage behind with the decker in this case, but I don't recommend it. If you've got 3 tanks, then the 3rd tank should definitely stay behind and guard the meat bodies..
The B&E specialist sneaks around, (hopefully the troll samurai doesn't give away their position), slicing pass maglocks, taking out lone security members.. Well, you get the idea.

SR requires a good GM, or it can suck. Nothing is more fun than a well ran SR game. Nothing is worse than a shitty SR game.

The beauty of SR is that, no matter how prepared your group is, you're probably never prepared enough.. You'll always meet that one challenge that can mean life or death.. That's what makes the game fun. Fear. Fear for your PCs life. And you SHOULD be afraid.. You're a criminal, breaking into massive enemy compounds, sneaking around, doing all kinds of illegal goodness.. You damn well better be afraid for your life.

Oh, and a Face, while not vital to the run itself, is REALLY great to have at the meet.. But some other player can double up at this role if possible.. Hey, the only thing better than getting 200,000 nuyen for a run is getting 250,000...

Actually, a lot of people aim at hostiles without guns based on the assumption they might be mages.

-Siege

Thats priceless! All you need is a Keanu voice and the words "..."F-B-I Agent...!"

edit: emphasis mine