I get that shadowrun has the comlink a.k.a. "the tech that can make you do whatever you want w/o having to explain any of it." However a realization struck me that if I was thinking if I tried to place a call w/o using voice activation, while driving and it takes me more then three seconds shouldn't I be crashing my car constantly if it was the SR setting? I mean I only have 1 IP and every three seconds I would have to make a pilot test w/o fail. Now I understand that I can split my dice pool, but lets face it I'm not the best driver in the world (2-3) and my reaction is a 3-4 probably, which means if I split my dice pool I can't auto buy that single hit I need to make a driving threshold... Is there anyway you can only partially split ones dice pool during an extended test I wonder? Anyways I just find it amusing that if I lived in the SR world and tried to place a call while driving and talking to someone (which I have done plenty of times... although stopped that a year ago) and did it as many times as I had given the driving situations I was in I would be road paste. I mean I haven't crashed a car yet so the three questions that spring to mind are...


Did I just spend way to much time thinking about this situation? Approx 2 minutes

Doesn't this strike you as odd?

In this universe dealing with the crash rules and 1IP was their just a crazy high mortality rate for people who drove and dialed someone on the phone at the same time?

I'd say either you spread out the use of the device from one simple action, to multiple free actions (as I doubt you dialed the whole thing in 3 seconds while ignoring where you were going). Or, you passed your crash test.

Yeah but passed my crash test time and time again? It was a lot of times before I came to my senses and realized how bad of an idea it was. What about reaching for my cellphone and answering it which I have done in three seconds? I would count some if not most of them as a complex action (some probably a simple action) and driving is a complex action. No trust me in the SR world I should be paste. I might not have ignored where I was going (if I did I probably wouldn't be splitting my dice pool and making a drive test,) but SR rules are a bit spotty and if it took me some time to draw my cellphone and about 6 seconds to dial wouldn't that be three simple actions? Wouldn't I still have to split my dice pool in half? It just baffles the brain if one was to apply it to the SR universe. Kind of like the whole spirit movement power.

Answering it would be a free action. Driving is a complex action yes. What I said, is that you probably did the action of a simple one (using a device) by spreading it out over multiple turns instead.
Normally, pulling a cell and dialing takes less than 3 seconds. Its using a complex device, so that'd be a simple action. You say you took 6 seconds or more to do it. This means instead of the 1.5 (or so) that one simple action represents, you spread that out to 4 times the length, probably using 2 free actions to accomplish the same thing in more time. This left you free to keep your complex actions on driving.

Ah but I had to draw out my cellphone, then dial the number which all in all took 6 seconds. I mean it takes some time dialing out a number especially if it is long distance (which all my calls are since I got a cellphone in an area where my friends and family do not reside in.) Also have you ever timed yourself taking out your phone and punching in a number? If you can do it in three seconds I must have crappy fingers, because it takes me a bit longer then that. If dialing a cellphone is a simple action then technically I should be able to dial my cellphone and shoot someone in the face in three seconds w/o having to split my dice pool. I think using a cellphone is a complex action so I think that is where we differ on if a cell is a complex or simple action.

Heres soemthing you haven't noticed... SR4, 159, "Characters don’t need to make a vehicle test every time they operate a vehicle. For normal everyday tasks, like driving to the Stuffer Shack, it’s assumed the character performs this automatically. A vehicle test is called for only when there’s a chance of bad consequences (like crashing), or if time is a crucial factor (like jumpstarting a car while under fire.)"

So, with that, unless there was a chance for you to crash into another car, or something, there was no vehicle test at all, and you could happily spend all your time on complex actions to dial your phone. When there was reason to have a vehicle test, (which probably doesn't come up that often), you must have passed the ones that did.

and then there's things like autopilot . . you don't have to drive yourself ever again, if you don't want to . . at least if you don't get into wild car chases or something like that ^^

Not to mention that all Humans have 2 Edge to start with, and you can get yourself a second IP with that. For a non-'runner, there's very little imminently deadly danger to spend it on, so a slower refresh wouldn't matter.

Using a simple device requires an simple action as stated in the combat rules.