If a character doesn't want to have a license or is SINless, how do they go about getting restricted gear? I'm still learning the rules, so I'm sorry if it's a dumb question.

That's ok.

You need to use contacts to buy it from the Black Market. The Season Four FAQ has some simplified rules for acquiring gear through contacts between Missions, and you can also use the Availability and Buying Gear rules from Shadowrun, Twentieth Anniversary Edition, p. 312.

Bull

I more meant at character creation. How does a person get restricted items to start the game with?

An "R" or "F" Availability is more or less irrelevant at character creation. You can just buy it, as long as it's Availability 12 or lower, and for items that come in a range of ratings, no higher than Rating 6.

Later in-game, if you get caught with R or F gear by authorities, it might cause trouble for that character. But not at character creation.

There is a "Restricted Gear" quality. However, this merely raises the character creation Availability limit to 20 for one item - it has nothing to do with Restricted or Forbidden Availability, despite the name.




-k