Hi folks!

I'm currently starting up a new Shadowrun Campaign set in Halifax/NovaScotia and have already gotten the first run behind me. I've been out of the system for quite a long time, roughly one and a half year, but kept informed and up-to-date with books. We use the "new" SR4A ruleset (which is the reason we began again, the book just made me want to play again very badly, they need to do more books in fullcolor!).

Sooo... I'm reading through the whole thing again, but I think you all know that you easily skip one or two rules. One example is that I simply forgot the +2 to all Matrix Actions modifier for being VR (read it after the game on these boards). I'm putting together an exhaustive rule-guide for my players - one for Normal stuff (shooting, tests, melee, car-chase-combat, ...), one for Matrix and one for Magic each.

So the question basically is: What are rules you often overlook, that are forgotten for this reason or another, or simply hidden away in text somewhere? Would you help me to make my rule-guide for my players?

Thanks beforehand!

Gernade scatter. I 'forget' them every time in favor of something more dramatic and less likely to involve impossible physics.

SR3 knockdown and knockback. I'll use it if someone explicitly points it out, but otherwise everyone ignores it. Maybe for the best, though.

All of the Man and Machine cybersurgery rules, only they're not so much "overlooked" as "heartily rejected."

Rules for cyberware and bioware stress and failure. I just never remember to roll or to tell other people to roll.

The question, I believe, was quite specifically about SR4A.

* Knockdown
* Standing up after a knockdown requires a Body+Willpower (2) test
* Influence is a permanent spell and, as such, requires the caster to maintain it for several rounds before it becomes permanent.
* Optional rule : armor is reduced each time the character is hit. (I try to use it but forget all the time)

The rule most overlooked.

Have FUN!

All else follows.

Correct!



Got knowdown in, need to insert the roll after knockdown to stand up, influence and heal as permanents is something I still need to add, and I won't use the armor-reducing after each shot. Thanks so far!

I do use a variant of armor and weapon downgrades, mostly just along the lines of "Do they care about their equipment? Do they clean their weapons every few days? Okay, not weapon degrade!".



This is the Top Number One rule we make heavy use of. As long as my players give me good reasoning and interesting things, I'm willing to bend the rules for awesome and interesting stuff to happen.

Thanks so far, folks, I'm looking forward for more

If you ever missed a more important rule, remind me of the rule, too!

Your movement total per round is broken up per IP pass - i.e., if you can move 10m a round and you have two IP passes, that is 5 meters per pass.

Which means that a person with only 1 IP can cover more distance in their first pass than a person with 4, but... eh. It only matters if you play a very tactical game.

Real quick question about Knockdown.


So I was doing an example fight for my girlfriends character to show her how the rules work, so she uses her first attack to shoot a police officer (I made the scenario an off duty Lone Star officer was trying to rape her, because at first she didn't want to hurt him, but that made her not care hahaha) so her first shot she gets an amazing roll, I think 8 hits or something, and he only got 2 for his reaction test, so she's dealing 11P damage, so he rolls 6 dice for damage resistance and gets 2 hits, but is still getting knocked down taking 9P damage.

So my question is, since this was her first Simple Action (to fire SA the first time), when she goes to fire the second time, is he still in the falling motion, or is he on the ground by her second simple action to fire again? Does he even get a reaction roll? Even if he didn't get knocked down he'd be taking another -1 for a second attack, but I'm sort of confused as to how long it takes for him to fall.

If he's on the ground instantly, lets say he's prone by the time she's firing her second round, what is he even rolling for reaction? Is there a modifier for if your on the ground?

As far as I understand, according to the rules, EVERYONES movement is divided up by the person with the most IP's.

So if you only have 1 initiative pass, you are still only going 5 meters per pass (if you can move 10 a round) if the person you are fighting has 2 initiative pases.

The Spellcasting test is modified by Visibility Modifiers. Considering a Magician cannot use non-cybernetic vision enhancements to cast spells, this becomes very significant.

Also, the defensive bonus from Cover (in SR4 it was an attacker penalty, in SR4A is a defender bonus) applies to the target's defending pool.

If you forget these, Spells are much too powerful.

The scatter argument is getting out of hand.

Other rules that aren't normally recognized:

• Hackers don't actually use Logic for much, and riggers don't actually use Reaction for much.
• Spirits have Stun tracks.
• Vehicles are rating 3 devices, while security vehicles/drones are rating 4.
• Edge can be used to to add +Edge to a test before the roll (reroll all 6s), +Edge to a test after the roll (reroll only the 6s that come up with the Edge dice), or to reroll all non-hits (no rerolls on 6s). Most people know 1 or 2 of those options, but not all 3.
• Logic determines the number of foci a mage can have active at one time,
• Cover is now a bonus to defender dice pool, not a penalty to attacker dice pool.
• Use Weapon skill + Inuition instead of +Agility when firing at someone you can't see (blind fire).
• Taking some negative qualities increases your Notoriety level.
• Extended tests can only be failed with a critical glitch. However, the book also suggests putting a -1 cumulative penalty on each roll after the first, or simply a limited timeframe, if the GM wants to increase the difficulty.
• You take a -2 cumulative penalty if you try to do the same thing you just failed at doing, like conjuring a spirit, unless you take a break of sufficient length first.

Dermal plating nulifies the effects of flechette ammo.

the "attacker" in melee is the only one with the possibility to do damage, its no longer a two way street

Ok, to change the topic, how about the Notoriety and public awareness rules? Does anyone even read these? I don't think anyone actually uses them.

The "using a forged ID" rule. Most people don't see to realize that a rating 6 fake sin will typically get burned in a matter of days of normal use due to whoever wrote the "using a forged ID" rules not having a firm understanding of statistics and probability. It's far worse for less expensive IDs. Hence I don't think people really understand/use the rules.

Yeah, both of those are pretty egregious offenders. I don't know anyone who's used the notoriety/PA awareness rules as written and remained sane.

Grenade scatter discussion moved to this thread.

the Ramming rules make me want to smash my head against the wall. hit a deer in a city master? your dead. hit that same deer with a bicycle? minor road rash.

I agree. The ramming rule is totally broken. Either search the boards for a good house rule or make it up on the fly. If your curious how broken they are read this post:
Broken Ramming Rules

Also, people posted plenty of their house rules there.

Here's the important parts:
The Nissan Doberman (Body 3 / Armor 6) can collide at full speed (75meters per round) taking no damage.
I believe that Ares Roadmasters can slam into each other at 40mph and take no damage but I believe everyone inside them explodes.

As I see it, it's just that the ramming rules don't account for the difference in the damage that a vehicle would take from hitting another vehicle and from hitting an animal or character. I'd just wave the magic stick of unretardedness at it and make something up. How often do vehicles hit deer in your games?

That's not to say the ramming rules aren't broken, btw. Just that I wouldn't apply them in a "deer hit".

I guess when i say "deer", I mean people, and we would hit people all the time if it wasn't so deadly. also, i read in arsenal that in a "crash", passengers take no damage as long as the saftey features have not been disabled.. so ...?

Returning to the actual topic (because I find this sort of thing incredibly helpful, and would have found it indispensible when I first started running SR):

Attacking from cover applies a -2 penalty to your roll (this one is so easy to forget)

Extra damage from burst fire does not count when comparing damage to modified armour (for the purpose of working out if you did stun or physical / beat their hardened armour. So Panthers are better than Full Burst LMGs against vehicles).

That doesn't make any sense. What page is that rule on?

Do you have a reference for that? I don't see any mention of that rule under the rules for armor, flechette ammo, or dermal plating.

Dermal Plating counts as Armor... as such, any worn impact armor grants the +5 Dice to resist Flechette Ammunition...

My misunderstanding, sorry.

I thought "nullify" meant total immunity. Didn't think the comment meant that the impact armor of Dermal Plating gave the normal resistance to flechette ammo.

Hey, no problems...

-1, actually.

I think sr4a bumped it up to 2, but i'm not actually looking it up right now..i'll check it later

SR4A.... -2