I am familiar with all editions of SR from a theoretical standpoint (lots of reading) but not practical (been in ONE game session several years ago). So, I have a couple of questions that I cant find the answers to (possibly because I can not find the correct way to search for them).

1, Reading the martial arts section from "Arsenal"...Do these bonuses (the advantages) stack with the Adept powers that duplicate them? (eg:+1DV for unarmed). And if so, do the Adept powers count against the max of +3 from Martial Arts (same example).

2, I have seen several builds with the 'Restricted gear' quality. What is it, and what book is it in? (unable to locate it).

1) Yep, they stack juuuust fine. Why would adept powers count against the martial arts limit? Its not a martial art, is it? Neither is bone density. Yes, properly trained unarmed adepts can hit very, very hard.

2) Runner's Companion. Its a 5BP quality that lets you pick one piece of equipment up to availability 20, and buy it. You still have to pay for it, but you basically pay for the convenience bending the availability rules. It can be taken a max of 3 times, and may alternatively be used to pick up a piece of gear after play starts. If you've ever had a piece of gear where you thought someting llke 'oh wow, what the fuck, why are cyberskulls availability 16?' or something similiar, well, restricted gear is there to make it possible. At a price - it means you can't take 5bp worth of other, potentially better qualities.

Thank you for the response. WOOHOO!

Well for many architypes there aren't much better 5bp qualities then Resricted gear(muscle toner 4)

Or Restricted Gear (R4 Power Focus).
Or Restricted Gear (Alpha-Grade R2 Move-By-Wire).

Or even an Agent 6(Unrestricted/Mook +2A), or a Response 6 chip(avail16)

Man. Since the thread has been resolved - hijack time! Lets come up with good ways to use Restricted Gear.

A personal favorite of mine is to use the clause about saving it for use in play, and taking RG: Elite Shadow Clinics (aug 122, medtech providers). Soon as the game starts, BAM, instant access to betaware. With Black Market Pipeline to give you a contact at the same clinic, and a good negotiation skill, you can use favors to get yourself discounts, which can save you a ton of money.

Muscle toner: 4 and move-by-wire: 2 have already been covered. There is also the suprathyroid gland, pain editor, wired reflexes: 3, military armor, etc.

Adepts and mages can benefit a lot from it, but the restricted gear and born rich qualities really let mundanes shine a lot more. You can make street samurai who are competitive with bioware-adepts now.

You can use it to get some of the bigger guns too. Interestingly, you can get a laser gun (Redline, MP Laser-III), but no clip for it unless you burn another Restricted Gear. IIRC, the Thunderstruck is still out of reach.

Synaptic booster 3, but it costs you like 48BP just to pay for it, and then you have nearly no cash left over. + 5BP for restricted gear.

Buy an Ares Roadmaster, put a reinforced internal remote controlled turret (Avail. 20) in it, buy a GE Vanquisher Heavy Autocannon (Avai. 20) and a belt of AV Assault Cannon Rounds (Avail. 20, although this requires some leeway from the GM since you technically have to buy 10 rounds several times).

Have fun with your tank!

-CJ