I am now envisioning Street Samurai Geordi La Forge jogging in place while looking for an important clue.

You mean 'decreased' capacity. Eyeband sucks.

On the plus side, you can instantly 'turn your head' any direction… if you're not wearing anything blocking it (hair, etc.). I feel like this sucker would look very weird in 2070, even more than Mr. La Forge, Cyclops, or Robocop. Something's funky about it going all the way around.

Something with capacity, anyway

Rolling in secret in a possible TPK situation requires a lot of trust from your players. I would rather roll or have the GM roll openly. And then the dice fall where they fall.

Yeah, I can agree with that, although I suspect it's really the backhalf that bothers me more than anything. For example, Geordi's half-band just looks like goofy eyewear to me even though wraps back to around to just in front of his ears without changing much. Meanwhile, I always thought that Lobot from the Empire Strikes Back was more offputting, with the natural eyes kinda emphasizing that there wasn't any particularly natural reason for that crap sticking out the back of his noggin. And even if it's an eyeband is much sleeker than Lobot's implants it still sounds like the band would be fairly obvious given that you need a hair style that doesn't obscure anything to get the full effect from an eye band.

Certainly, you can also pull the usual counter-metagaming trick of occasionally asking for random perception checks, or something similar. Either way, the effect is the same - if the PC's start getting tough, try catching them off-guard.

Smell is "omnidirectional". It gets blocked.

Just because a sense is unlimited in it direction does not mean there are no barriers or limits to what is seen in the environment.

Even with the limited forward arc of vision, there are things in that forward arc you do not see because of blocking items.

Everything in front of me is in LOS, but do I see everything? That's where cover and other modifiers come in.

Exactly... It is not a fix.

And HEAD MOTION is still motion. Try NOT MOVING at all sometime, it is a real nuissance. You will always suffer the penalty in 360 Degree Mode because you can't not move your head when observing, unless you are staring at a fixed point. At which point, I would STILL call you distracted.

I could be wrong, but "take the wording to asinine extremes" doesn't seem like it's the author's intent.

It is not an asanine extreme. It says you suffer a penalty for movement. Sorry, but Movement is Movement. Just because you do not agree does not make it a valid statement.

Are you claiming that's what the author meant? No? Didn't think so...

:yawn:

Actually, Yeah, I am... *Yawn*
Don't presume to put words in, or pull words out of, my mouth.
Besides, it is a dumb peice of tech anyways, precisely because there is no mechanical benefit from the 360 Degree Vision.

What if they are tough because they are never off guard?

If a PC is designed around being perceptive, you can be sure that the player will be asking for perception checks nearly constantly, even if the GM does not ask for such checks. In any case, if the PCs can be vulnerable when caught off guard and be caught off guard, then they are not too strong.

I never said it was a good thing to have in the game, just that your ideas of what to expect from normal human beings (the authors) was, at least in this case, asinine. I guess we'll have to agree to have our own opinions and let others have theirs, with you thinking they meant any motion whatsoever caused a penalty, and me thinking they meant something slightly more useful.

Have fun!

I don't know, the street samurai in my games LOVES his eyeband. Mechanical benefit or no, he just thinks it looks cool as hell.
That's enough of a benefit for me.

Well, it says "when in motion", but that's not a huge difference. On the other hand, name one place in the rules that the authors tried to introduce "head movement" as a game mechanic. It's pretty obvious that the intention is to apply the penalty when your character is in a situation where their movement speed could be conceivably be applied (shuffling, walking, running, sprinting, etc.).

It really doesn't matter, unless someone (TJ, tsk) was arguing that you're literally never not moving. The point is that the eyeband 360 penalty almost always applies; basically, except when you specifically stop and look. That's very much like taking an Observe in Detail (not 'same as'), in that it's an intentional special circumstance.

I can certainly see the player saying to the GM, 'hey, I'm not moving, don't you dare take away my Perception check to see that guy behind me'. It's just not a very solid 'bonus', and I don't see the motion sensors really helping. After all, you can already adjust your field of vision mentally; they just save you some free actions. For the price, definitely do it, but it's not a 'fix'.

Except we were talking about astral perception (and that was *already* 3 jumps off-topic)! Astral perception is definitely all directions, being psychic hearing/smell/sonar/whatever. It's similar to Matrix Perception, in that you see objects, then make a test for detailed info. It's also similar to sight, yes, because of LOS/object opacity issues. If the 360-ness ever comes up (almost never), the GM should allow a normal Assensing test with appropriate penalties.

Well, then you just need to start getting creative. It's rather easy to hide when you're 500+ meters away in a well-camo'd sniper's nest. Hell, it's a damned good bit of drama if you do it right:

The PC's are talking with a trusted fixer in an alley behind a bar when suddenly they hear a 'thunk' of something hitting the pavement a few meters away from where they're standing. That's just the dial-in shot where the sniper's getting the range right. Give the PC's a second to realize what's happening and dive for cover, and then spring the next part of the trap. If the players enjoy tactical combat, they might dig the added challenge of fighting while under fire from a sniper. Just make sure to not headshot anyone right away.

Well, then Mr Perceptive would have immediately matched bearings, spot your sniper and returned the shot. Perhaps he would not have been able to hit the sniper but in this case, the real litmus test of Mr Perceptive is to be able spot the sniper on such short notice. I am not denying that a well built sniper can easily hide and stay hidden, but I am saying that if Mr Perceptive really is too strong, I would expect him to be able to spot the sniper even before he takes the shot.

And that is if Mr Perceptive is not also Mr Lucky or Mr Precognitive (or all 3!)

Bingo, got it in one.

Its not exactly the best of both worlds, but it does save you actions to change the settings.


The best use I've found for an eyeband is with an Eye Tool Laser - its only 3P, but its still AP Half, and has a 360 degree field of fire. Being able to, say, burn handcuffs or locks, or light cigarettes is useful. You can even get decent dice doing a surprise attack with it (smartlink mod, take aim, take aim, take aim, called shot, surprise no defense, sangre y acero if you're feeling ridiculous, tacnet) - but, really, using Take Aim and a +4DV/-4dice Called Shot more or less cancels it out, and a rather concealable 7P AP Half weapon isn't THAT bad. Not sure its worth the cost, though.

I've considered using a Sammy with Drone backup using an eye comm laser to communicate with his hunting pack of drone. So, basically, Geordi laforge with a bunch of doberman running around with (small) laser beams at each other. Geordi la cylon?

The other thing to consider about Eyebands is that you can take vision mods against your essence as well as in capacity. You don't get quite as much room as a cybereye, but if, say, you have a 'natural' eye mod hen you can still get other vision mods in the band, and other things that DONT need 360 Degree vision(like smartlinks) on your essence.

Wait. Doesn't it replace your eyes? How do you get natural eye mods with no eyes? In your own special way, you're the munchkinest, Udoshi.

Que?

A martial art developed by Aztlan. It's in Arsenal.

Apparently it works on laser eyes.

Why shouldn't it? Sure, the stuff about melee weapons and blades isn't going to, but "reduce the ranged combat “attacker in melee combat” modifier by 1" should.

Though, unfortunately an eyeband can't have laser eyes by the RAW. They only get vision enhancers, and the eye laser modification specifies that it can only be installed in cybereyes.

Personally, I'd allow it. but I'm not overly concerned about a 360 degree 3P weapon in a game that doesn't usually have facing.

The Rule of Cool is a completely different realm from mechanical usefulness... Oftentimes, the Rule of Cool wins out. Style over Substance after all.

Scolding Accepted... But I maintain my position, and apparently yours as well. You have to Specifically State that you are NOT MOVING to negate the penalty if you are using 360 Degree field of vision. And Not Moving has its own penalties involved...

Wouldn't you be "not moving" most of the time when your in combat using cover?

Actually, that ones my bad. Forgot to check it. While it IS certainly a creative use of '+1 to exotic weapon attacks in an unusual location'....

Its actually Exotic Melee Weapon attacks, not exotic ranged, so it doesn't work.

Ummmmm............ No... Ever been in combat? I have, and no, you are never not moving.

It comes back to what "moving" means in the case of eyebands. If it means "any physical motion" then no, you're always in motion. If it means using your movement rate to walk, run, crawl, etc. then there will be many times in a combat* where you're not moving.

* at least an RPG combat, where outflanking maneuvers and taking ground usually don't matter. If your GM is the type to hand out Superior Position bonuses frequently, "movement rate" motion is a lot more likely to happen.

At least, at our tables, your caveat above is very important. Superior position and taking ground covers a lot of area. 360 Degree vision has got to be very disorienting, regardless how much practive you have with it. I picture it as akin to spinning around in circles and trying to focus on ANYTHIHNG at all. Seems to me that this would be much of what you are getting.

Opinions and all, but that just seems more "right" than only getting the penalty when actually Walking, running, crawling, driving, or whatever. Since your body is almost constantly in motion, (in three dimensions), and since it is extremely difficult to actually stabilize your head into immobility, I go with the concept that the Eyeband, in 360 Degree Mode, is heavily disorienting. Unfortunately, it is only a -2 Penalty. Easily overcome with mods and whatnot.

Personal Preference I guess.

Also, learning to adjust to that disorientation - wth the eyeband spec for perception - is equally valid as a way to counteract the -2.

Edit: Actually, the eyeband penalty isn't just to Perception like it thought. Nevermind the above, its actually a lot harsher than I thought it was.

Indeed, it is to everything that you do. Much Like Astral Perception is to everything not Magical. It SHOULD be that harsh in my opinion.

You can always fit Eyeware on your essence, chummer. Its just -usually- done so as a natural eye mod. But it doesn't have to be.

You don't have to use Capacity if you don't want to. (its still a good, cost-effective idea), but if you're using an eyeband, you can always take the extra mods that don't fit against essence.

I don't believe that. You literally don't have eyes anymore, how can you have natural-eye eyeware?

Can't argue with those quotes, can you? For what it is worth, I also agree with you...

Couldn't you have the cyberband on your head, in place of your normal eyes. Then get a single cybereye on a palm, your forehead, or under your left nut?

I don't know why you'd want to, but unless eyeware is limited in how many you can have, it looks like it should be possible.

You could. That option has its own penalties… and almost no benefits. But, who said you couldn't?

You could even go for the Third Eye negative Surge quality.

In which case, you could get the Essence mods. … Still not worth it, because the separate mods don't stack like that. :/

Indeed.... And it is just weird, to boot.

...I believe this is where "Yeah. It's SURGE" comes into play. There's a reason any SURGEing gets Distinctive Style. Flavour though. Have to love it.

But an Eyeband is not SURGEing. It is Tech. Of course, you may be talking about the Third Eye Thingy...
And yes, you definitely got to love that Flavour.