Two Thursdays ago, character generation began, & gameplay began last Thursday, in the first Shadowrun game I am co-GMing. In this game, I am in charge of the rules aspect of the game, & we are using extensive house rulings, based on my past experience playing the game.

Most of these rules are being tested, and subject to change with group consensus. I present the first of these documents, Shadowrun 4 House Errata, here for criticism & suggestions. Not all changes to the BBB are included in this, such as Direct Combat spells, instead being placed in a (currently incomplete) House Rules document.

To begin addressing what I believe may be the most controversial of these changes, Curative Health spell Drain has universally been altered from DV (or equivalent) to F/2, and the Drain modifier increased by +2. This generally makes them better; this change did not come about because I felt they where underpowered, but because I greatly disliked having a sub-system & wanted to unify the spell drain system. Despite becoming better overall, I do not feel they are overpowered with this change.


Again, input is welcome, as long as you are willing to explain your position. I am looking for what should not have been changed, and why; what should have been changed differently, and why; & what has not been changed but should be, and why.


Shadowrun 4 House Errata

So, does anyone have input or suggestions?

1. Just curious about the reasoning for the change in BP costs for meta humans. Most folks in the games I run tend to gravitate towards human as a majority already.
2. I like the changes for optical equipment / enhancements, but in the era of nano tech an argument can be made against the change (but it does encourage folks that want all that crap to have to dig out their eyes to have it via cyber)
3. I would not change spirit edge, and I'll tell you why. In my game, I generally don't resist too much if a mage is summoning / binding low force utility spirits. I just roll the force or force x 2 if binding it. If they are potent spirits (usually Force 4 and up), I almost always add edge to resist. Spirits can be nasty if you unleash too many of them on the world, so my mages always have to think twice before going for a big boy. Hell, I dropped 20 drain on a guy for trying to bind a force 5 spirit. That was hilarity for the whole table.

1. I am to lazy to look up previous posts explaining, so here

2. It is ridiculous to believe that high-end cybernetic replacements are limited in their capacity, but contacts are not.

3. This is along with another change that Magicians may spend their own Edge on their summoned/bound spirit's tests (included in the incomplete House Rules document, not the presented House Errata). Also note the significant reduction in the power of spirits (aka spirit Attributes). Spirits where to powerful by far (IMO), and the solution is not to kill players for attempting to summon anything larger than Force 5, but to instead reduce their power.