I know that someone has probably asked this before, but what what's the max modifier that can be applied to skills (from qualities/specializations/etc) and where can I find it in the book.

1.5 of the actual skill is the hard cap on skill itself, but there's no limit to bonuses that can be applied.
hence pornomancers and the ultimate mundane climber
someone with skill 4 can never have a higher rating in the skill itself than rating 6
and when he upgrades the skill itself to level 6 he can never have a higher rating than 9.
and THEN you factor in things like aptitude and specialization is limited to 1.5 of the actual skill as well if i remember correctly.
if not, someone will jump in and point out any mistakes i made in detail fine enough to be handled by nanobots.
and stuff like smartlink-bonus? no cap at all.

From what I can tell, he maximum YOU can have for doing a particular skill is 12, ABSOLUTE MAX.

Maximum Skill is 7 (IF you have the Aptitude quality), and then you can augment that by up to 3 (or ten) On top of that, you can have a specialization of +2 leading you to 12.

So, a physical adept with Aptitude (pistols) and Increased ability (3) In pistols, and the skill Pistols (Heavy Pistols) 7+2 would roll a total of 12 dice+agility when firing his Ares Predator.


Now, from what I can tell there is no maximum to modifiers that add to your dice pool but aren't part of your skill. Another example:

If you have the skill First Aid:6, and Reflex Recorder: First Aid, and a rating 6 medkit, you roll 13 dice+logic for a first aid treatment (assuming your medkit is out and you are using it.) This is because the rating 6 medkit adds to your dice pool, but is not part of your personal first Aid skill.

Lastly, from what I can tell, there are no maximums to situational modifiers. Last example.

You are sneaking around (using infiltration skill.) Infiltration is 6, you are wearing an Urban Camo suit in an urban enviroment, it is very dark, and around you are in a heavily carpeted area (noise reduction). (At the discretion of your GM), you roll 6 dice (skill) +2 (cammo) + 3 (very dark) + 2 (Noise reduction) for a total of 13 dice.

Thanks for the help. I was going to look it up when my kids woke up from their naps.

In SR4 you round up values. Therefore you can achieve 11 skill Rating (the Specialisation bonus is a DP modifier).

Not in this case. The BBB specifically states that, in this case, the max modified skill rating you can have is 10. I have the second printing version too, with all the errata.

Oooh, I was just thinking of starting a thread about this as the whole thing completely confuses me. Reading the rules I figured the 1.5x was the max but then saw people with character builds that seem to be blasting this to hell and back.

Even after reading this it still confuses me a little. Am I to presume that things like phys ad boosts and 'ware that adds to skills (like Enhanced Articulation and Reflex Recorders) are included in the 1.5x max but external gear that provides a bonus (like Laser Sight and Emotitoys) aren't?

Is that the simple way of figuring it out? If not can anyone explain it simply to a confused 1st-3rd Ed player or point me to a list of what is included and what isn't?

Thanks.

So then, if you take a quality like "Linguist" that gives a +2 to all of that kind of skill, there's no reason to take a specialization?

Specialization doesn't count towards the augmented maximum so no, you ofcource need to have the skill at 4+ to get the +2 othervise it's only +1.

There is no direct quote in the BBB, but from the way it is worded, I surmise that things that add to YOUR skill, I.E. things that make you PERSONALLY better, are included, things that modify the SITUATION are not.

A smartlink modifies the gun. You don't always have that smartlink (in theory.) It is a situational modifier because you can pick up an unsmartlinked gun from a go ganger, and you will not get smartlink dice. Same with a laser sight (why would ANYONE use those anymore?)

Reflex Recorders, on the other hand, are counted, because they are with you, always. They will ALWAYS increase your pistols skill. If you have a reflex recorder (longarms) and pick up a Street Sweeper that is complete crap, you still get your bonus die. Same goes for Adept increases and such.

also, don'T forget the other side of dice pools.
attributes make up a whole slew of the dice pool, so if you can jack up your attribute and bonuses to the attribute, they contribute to the dice pool too.
and that is how the pornomancer gets 50 dice in sexing it up with the dons mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, wife, and him in an orgy with the whole yakuza family too . .
or the ultimate mundane climber gets 45 dice to scale every building in town.

actual skill is only 8 to 12 dice really, everything else comes from attribute AND THEN BONUSES.
everything directly increasing skill or atribute is limited/capped. everything else IS NOT