What is a good way to get more IP out of a mundane character who doesn't use drugs or cyberware/bioware?

Thats it. You have to accept outside influence. Magic or tech.


BlueMax

Yeah, best you can do otherwise is Adrenaline Surge and Lightning Reflexes.

Straight mundane?
Spend an edge. I'm pretty sure that is all.
Light magic to heavy magic
Have a mage cast and sustain the Improved reflexes spell on you.
Have a mage cast and quicken an improved reflexes spell on you.
Get possesed by a (free or wild?) spirit who doesn't mind following your suggestions.
Use a spirits true name to compel it into an spirit pact and *handwavium* get initiative passes.
Forge and unholy alliance with a toxic or threat spirit for powers *handwavium* initiative passes.

Edge would be the easiest to obtain, but it doesn't last long. Just one Turn, I think.

-paws

It would be nice if you could get one extra IP for 20 positive quality BP. I know that it doesn't balance well, but if you want this for a mage you are getting NOTHING else.

I wouldn't even go that far. (But then I tend to be conservative when designing house rules.)

How about a 20BP quality that let you spend an Edge to gain an extra IP for the duration of a combat? And give it the same limitation that Lightning Reflexes has: you have to be unaugmented. No cyber, bio, magic, etc.

-paws

I'd say if you made is 20BP and had to be unaugmented, then having a 2nd IP would be balanced. But the moment you get magic, bio or cyber, you lose that 2nd IP. It would be a good houserule, IMO.

I'm curious, why do you have a mundane without any cyberware? I can't think of a mundane character type that wouldn't be better off with at least some cyberware/bioware in them. Technology is the great equalizer, your character should use it.

Pretty sure your right. 1 edge, 1extra IP for one turn.

Still:
Edge 5-8
Skill monkeyed up mundane uncybered dude
Various levels of automatic fire SnS or what have you.
Take 2 IP when you need it and when you don't just yell "Die you fraggers!" declare you are going first and huck a grenade.

Sure your no hard line Sammi but what the heck eh?

You're certainly no Sam. But what are you ?

Dead, after an actual sam spent some IPs on full defense and then uses the remaining ones to whack you.
While all that life-saving edge you had got blown to emulate 2BP worth of wired reflexes...
Just throwing that out there

I assume no drone jumping ? even hot sim VR doesn't require cyberware.

From a tactical point of view, cyberware would be better. From a personal point of view, I can see how some people might not want to be "violated"
by recent technologies. Maybe he is a spiritual minded native american, maybe he is paranoid about the corps, hackers or the technomancer menace gaining access to his augmentations,
or maybe he just had close relatives that burned out on bad 'ware.

Also depends on the style of play. If the GM regularly throws low essence maxed up troll samurai at you, maybe you should concider cybering up. Or the GM should change style.

Jumping into a drone would work, no doubt, but you´d likely end up augmented anyway.

Given that being augmented(+awakened) is a substantial increase in power, I would suggest to stay out of combat completely. You could also compensate for the disadvantage by having better gear than anyone else - such strategies tend to lead to an arms race however.

I was toying with this for an old, retired army veteran NPC (think Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino). Basically like the old school SR1 Merc archtype - lots of skills, decent attributes, minimal/no cyber.

- J.

Getting Cyberware in 2070 is like getting a piercing in 2009. One or two and no one really notices (especially internal cyberware), but when you got a few hundred it creeps people out (especially obvious cypberware like horns).

I like the comparison. Many people I know have no piercings. I had an earing once, but stopped wearing it (I wonder if I got the essence back). So yeah.

Include some locality and I am right there with you.

Downtown Seattle in the 60's datajacks galore, some eyes and maybe an ear.
Bellevue, probably just some jacks. The stay at home trophy spouses probably have 0 visible cyberware (though they probably have been sculpted)

This is based on the 2009 piercing argument. Twenty miles away, you can have facial tattoos and nobody cares. Here, one extraneous piercing and they label you, and it ain't a friendly label either Chumski.

BlueMax
/won't even go into tattoos