Funny question. I was reading the BBB in the process of making a street sam, and had a question about wired reflexes and their interaction with reaction enhancers. It states that reaction enhancers are compatible with other forms of reaction enhancement, but wired is not compatible. So, the question is then, can you stack the two? Or is the note in the reaction enhancers a reference to another piece of 'ware I am not thinking of at the moment.

Difficult question.

Reaction enhancers enhance reaction(Duh!). Wired Reflexes enhance reaction and initiative passes. Other (straight only?!?) initiative enhancements are forbidden.

My intuition would have said that only things that provide additional IPs don´t stack, and that reaction enhancers are therefore compatible with everything.

Enter the FAQ, and learn that Wired Reflexes are supposedly not compatible with Reaction enhancers. Augmentation exactly reverses the state of SR3 in the MBW writeup, defining Reaction Enhancers as a type of initiative enhancers, possibly a clear continuation of the FAQ answer. It could also be an updated definition of the compatibility limit (the FAQ is pretty outdated), but that will remain unknown until either the FAQ or the main book get their next update/errata.

So to sum up, ask your GM. The old FAQ says they don't stack, but it doesn't take into account any of the new books.

I personally fall in the camp that as long as you don't exceed your augmented maximum reaction, you can use both. I think the non-stackable thing about wired reflexes is more so you don't stack it with other methods of gaining initiative passes. The way I run things, aside from passes gained from edge or drugs, extra passes never pass unless specifically stated otherwise.

Of course you can't stack the two. Wired reflexes has the explicit statement that you can't.

Reaction enhancers stack with magical, chemical, and probably a number of other cyber/bio enhancements (probably including Move-by-wire and the Synaptic thingamajigs).

The way I read it, Reaction Enhancers are compatible with every other reaction-bossting items, but extra Initiative Passes never are (except maybe an Edge pass).

reaction enhancers did stack with wired reflexes in SR3, no idea, why they felt the need to change this . . and why boosted reflexes cyberware got nixed either . .

Despite the RAW, if Reaction Enhancers stack with everything else, I see no reason why they shouldn't stack with Wired Reflexes.

This is how we play it. Hell, it's been like this so long, I don't see why they can't, and I also don't understand why this was errata'd.

We play them as stacking as well, up to modified maxima (which we play as 1.5 round up, which is also not RAW).

Move-by-wire is the only IP increasing thing that stacks with reaction enhancers. Says so in the text.

Which is sick when you think about it, because move-by-wire adds 2 to reaction per level,

Or it's completely useless because you can only have up to 1.5 times your attribute in modified reaction.

That's the problem I have with them being unable to be comboed with Wired Reflexes, and thus use the old version.

With no boosted reflexes, there are 3 version of(cyber)initative enhancement-Wired, MBW and Synaptic Boosters-and the magical versions, Increase Reflexes and Adept Power Improved Reflexes.

I don't think they stack with the Adept Power, though it says ''unable to stack with other things that increase Initative'' and not '*Reaction,'' so I might be wrong there, but I assumed it can't stack. The Magical one it can stack with, by the look of things(the spell.)

For cyber, though-stacking it with MBW is pretty redundant, unless you have a very average Reaction to start; the thing adds 2 per level and 2 levels of it cost enough essence, adds +4, that you probably wouldn't want or need a Reaction Enhancer(able to max someone with a reaction of 5, essentially. A suprathyroid gland would add the last 1 if their reaction was 4.)

Synaptic Boosters it can stack with. SB's are so expensive though-a starting sam which likely has 3 IPs might not want to drop an extra wad of nuyen on Enhancers unless their shtick was ''supar reaction/speed dude.'' They are stackable though, and someone willing to drop 100k can get 2 levels of these and Boosters 1 for 2 passes and +3 to their Reaction, which is nice.(still a wad of cash, though, for +3 Reaction and +1 IP.)

Now, we have Wired. It's the most ''viable'' to stack...and they made THIS one not stackable. If anything, I'd have ruled that REs are unstackable with the other two if I HAD to cap-Boosters because they are bioware(maybe the cyber/bio thing, while it combos just fine, doesn't *stack* so easily-like you can't stack Muscle Toner/Augmentation 1 with Muscle Replacement 1 for +2.) Or with MBW, it doesn't matter; it's rare anyone even needs them at this point.

Of course, you can say REs are good for people without more than 1 pass, but anyone that sees combat at least a middling amount(a combat hacker, for example-not a sam but he sees the front lines enough), has more than 1 pass, and they don't give you passes. (Though I suppose they could be useful for helping out in AR...they do count in AR, I believe, don't they?)

Reaction has always been, IMO, a strange attribute...it's considered ''physical'', yet Cyberlimbs don't have it as an Attribute...even if your entire body is replaced, you keep your natural Reaction, which almost seems like it's half mental. (IN SR3, it indeed was-the average of your quickness + intelligence. There were lots of Mensa samurai in those days. )

Actually, nothing bars Synaptic Boosters from being used in conjunction with Reaction Enhancers. The latter are specifically allowed to be used with other Initiative boosters, while the former is not compatible with other Initiative-enhancing ware (and magic), but Reaction Enhancers do not actually increase Initiative directly, merely the Reaction Attribute. There is no reason that Reaction Enhancers should be incompatible with Wired Reflexes. The FAQ needs to be fixed in this instance.

i guess it is because reaction enhancers do something to your spinal cord and wired reflexes also do something similar to your spinal cord . . but in 3rd ed i allways pictured it as starting at the top and the reactionenhancers being added below . .
but yes, it should be changed back to the way it was in 3rd ed.

Wait, why do you say nothing bars combining Synaptic Boost with Reaction Enhancers? Synaptic boost has the same "Cannot be combined with any other form of Initiative enhancement" that Wired Reflexes has...

because reaction enhancers do not give more inipasses, but more ini or reaction attribute that's determined to calculate your ini SCORE . . but even if you pack your character full of RE and nothing else, you will only have one ini pass to act in . . . while synaptic give +1,+2,+3 ini passes and no reaction/iniscore whatsoever

Ummm, Synaptic Boost gives the exact same statistical bonuses as Wired Reflexes. +1 Reaction and +1 IP per level.

So, if "Initiative enhancement" means IP's only, then Reaction Enhancers would work with both.
If "Initiative enhancement" means Initiative (which is affected by your Reaction), then neither would benefit from Reaction Enhancers.

ElFenrir and Fortune say that it can stack with one, but not the other... to which is what I am asking: how?

Boosters(what used to be called the Synaptic Accelerator) in SR3, only gave Initiative dice. Now, it gives +1 Reaction, +1 IP, just like Wired Reflexes. (On the other hand, in SR3, Wired gave +2 reaction per level instead of +1, and Move by Wire gave a bonus to the Quickness attribute and was the one thing which could boost you past 4 dice of Initiative, but you into a family pet with brain cancer.)

and I don't know how it can stack with one, and not the other. They had put it in some errata, with no explanation to my knowledge. It was just ''Wired Reflexes and Reaction Enhancers no longer stack,'' for whatever reason.

they do?
must have overread that change again and again . . in SR3, synaptics only give +1/+2 ini and no reaction at all . .
yeah, reaction enhacners stacked with about everything in SR3 . . well, aside from rigging stuff sadly . .

I just checked my copy of the Errata and could find no such change. However, the Shadowrun 4th Edition FAQ also addresses this point in regards to combining Reaction Enhancers with Wired Reflexes, but is totally silent on the Synaptic Booster/Reaction Enhancer combo



I maintain that the FAQ entry is incorrect, and that Reaction Enhancers should stack with everything.

I concur that they should stack with everything and that the limiter of no more than a 50% increase of your base attribute is plenty restriction to keep the wonkiness down.

There is no such limitation, you can boost an atribute all the way to augmented maximum(natural maximum*1.5) even if you only have a base atribute of 1.

Don't you have to have a cybertorso to boost above 150%? To take the extra strain?

only for cyberlimbs
you can start with a STR1 human and if you can get your grubby paws on some you can put in muscle augmentation 4 and a suprathoid gland to end up with 1(6) STR . .

Color me confused, I thought that was a generally accepted rule (and I have seen it pointed out here in several character optimization threads). I always read the rules this way. Anyone, anyone, Bueler?

Better yet, Reaction 1 + Move-by-Wire 3 + Suprathyroid Gland + one level of Reaction Enhancers (or just two levels of RE in place of the Gland) gives you 9. Hell, add in another level of Reaction Enhancers and the Exceptional Reaction Edge for a total of 10. You could even go to 11 by combining all those options with the Genetic Attribute booster, with the potential for a 12 if you want to actually spend the Karma to raise your actual Attribute to 2.

This is the rule, indeed. You can have a 6(9) stat, or a 1(9) stat(say Agility 1, Muscle Toner 4, a Suprathyroid and if you're an Adept, 3 levels of Improved Attribute which stacks.)

it's the frigging whole POINT of ware and Augmentations . .
if you could only raise your attribute to 1.5 of the right now number, then you could only augment after you have attribute of 2 MINIMUM and could only augment it up to 3 . .

You are thinking of Skills, which are limited to 1.5 times their current level. Attribute maximums are 1.5 times the Racial Maximum, no matter what actual Attribute rating the character possesses.

But I was under the impression there was an inherent limiter of your flesh. As you can only be so superhuman. I stand corrected, but I like our reading of the rules just fine.