From multiple other threads it is apparent that there are many changes to Fourth Edition supplemental books that have not been disclosed officially in English.

The intent of this thread, is for it to be maintained (like the Who's Who thread linked in my Sig) as a collection of the relevant changes, based upon input from everyone here at Dumpshock.

To keep the thread on topic—and to prevent it from being derailed—please to not post opinion on the merits of the changes, nor the merits of the publishers. (There are other threads for that). Rather just lets us know of any changes to the rules or canon fluff that you are aware of (I'm not worried about spelling, grammar, or character's interpretations of fluff).

Street Magic

Adept Initiation (p.31)
Groups may consider allowing adepts to gain 1 Power Point instead of a Metamagic at Initiation.

This first appeared in the official Errata, and was included in the second printing of the book. It was removed from the third printing of the book—as was all the errata included in the second printing.

Aspected Mana Static (Environmental, Area)
Type: M • Range: LOS (A) • Duration: P • DV: (F ÷ 2) + 4

This spell was removed during playtesting for being too powerful, but was still listed in the Spell Table. The spell was apparently still included in the first German printing of Street Magic, and functioned the same as its parent spell Mana Static, except that since the created background count was aspected to the caster’s tradition, it provided any caster of the same tradition a bonus instead of a penalty.

Augmentation

Multiple Essence Modifiers (p.32)
Example: secondhand Rating 2 alphaware muscle replacement:
The base Essence cost of the implant would be 1.92 (the original 2 Essence cost for Rating 2 muscle replacement × 0.8 for alphaware grade × 1.2 for the second-hand state of the implant), while the Availability would be 9R (10R for the original implant, –1 for being second-hand) and the cost 10,000¥ (10,000¥ × 2 × 0.5).

While it has been confirmed on Dumpshock,^{(Peter Taylor)} that multiple modifiers should be added to each other before being applied, the German printing (BodyTech) has no such change, and uses the same multiplicative math in the example above.
With respect to Cybersuites, Page 50 of BodyTech does say to add the modifiers.

Simsense Booster and Control Rig Booster (p.37,108)

The German printing states that you can combine them.

Trauma Damper (p.70)

The German printing states that Stun damage may only be reduced to a minimum of 1 box.

Nano-Biomonitor (p.112)

Errata posted on Dumpshock,^{(Peter Taylor)} and the German printing state that it improves medical nanoware systems by 1.

"Essence hole" (p.112)
... if you remove one cyberware item that had an Essence Cost of 1, you may install up to Essence Cost 1 of new cyberware without lowering your Essence total. Any cost over 1 would be deducted as normal. Note that a bioware implant would not be able to fill that same hole, however—cyberware only.

The German printing states that "Essence holes" from implants are universal, I.E. bioware can fill a hole left by cyberware and vice-versa.

Arsenal

The German printing (Arsenal 2070) includes extra equipment, which is included in DamienKnight's Character Generator

Runners Companion

Karma Character Generation Costs (1st & 2nd print, p.41)
Metatype (shapeshifter type, etc.): 0

The German printings, and 3rd English printing state that the Karma Cost equals the Build Point Cost.

Improving an attribute by 1: New rating × 3

Since SR4A, this has been new rating × 5.

War!

The Fleshfinder (p.120)

The item was not included in the German printing (Fronteinsatz).

Slow (Physical) (p.178)
Type: P • Range: LOS (A) • Duration S • DV: (F ÷ 2) + 3
This spell saps the kinetic energy of moving objects (relative to the manasphere, which in most cases is the Earth) in its area of effect. Movement in the area is limited to one meter per second, enough to mitigate damage from bullets, explosions, or falls. The spell ends when the caster stops sustaining it or the amount of mass moving in the area of effect exceeds 200 kg per hit on the Spellcasting Test. This spell does not change forces (such as gravity), just speed.
This spell is often used by special forces for HALO insertions without a parachute.

This spell was replaced in the German printing by a Mass Levitation spell, due to the perceived potential for abuse discussed on the Dumpshock bulletin boards.

Other Changes (will better format later)

• You can launch a cruise missile from an airplane. (It takes 2 reinforced external mounts to mount a cruise missile.)
• Recharge only works on handheld devices.
• Ballast Tanks removed from ships not otherwise equipped for submersible operation.
• No jobs for poisoning wells and killing roma and sinti.

Related threads (will integrate confirmed errata later this week)

• GM Screen
• Augmentation
• Runner's Companion
• Arsenal
• SR4: Anniversary Ed.
  • Scatter Distance
• Street Magic
• Running Wild
• Attitude: Armor Clothing (Jason Hardy)
• Unwired: Emulation (Jennifer Harding)

^{Last Edited – 2011-JUN-07 19:55}

Approval.

I'm curious if there's any changes in the German Runner's Companion.

By curious, I assume you mean 'praying hard'. I have this perverse hope that the German versions of *all* the books are less broken, ha.

I'm currently working on a pdf with all the extra gear from the German Arsenal (figured it would be nice training for doing the alt.Russia stuff). Will post a link when it's done, hopefully by tomorrow.

@Udoshi: The attribute costs for karmagen are new value x 5, that's the only change I am aware of. I'm sure there are others, though.

You also pay for the metatype cost in Karma (orks cost 20 Karma, elves cost 30 Karma, etc.). I have heard that the German errata for Runner's Companion is in the newest English printings, too. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

The Street Magic changes (removing all errata from the most recent printing) seems more like a boneheaded mistake on someone's part than an official change.

"We can neither confirm nor deny that something has been fixed."

The Germans are always ahead of us. Very nice to have some of these grey Erratas centralized in one spot like this.

Well, the next printing of Arsenal 2070 has chances of having errata implemented.
And it uses the german cover too.

Added "Multiple Essence Modifiers" under Augmentation.

Do you mean that the next English printing will have errata and/or a new cover? Where/when was this announced ?

I don't know where you are getting this from, but in my book the numbers in that example are exactly the same as in the English pdf. The only point where Bodytech mentions adding modifiers together is the Essence modifier for cyber suites. And only the essence modifier, the cost modifier is again multiplied.

It is LIKELY that the new Printing will have Errata incorporated.
It is CERTAIN that the new Printing will use the german Cover.
Nordcon, yesterday. By the german shadowrun official who attended and held a 1.5 Hour Ask and Answer meeting with us.

Thank you. That is why I started this thread. I have updated the entry accordingly.

The latest printing of Runner's Companion that I have does indeed included these changes as the 5 x multiplier for Attribute cost.

What about "Metatype (shapeshifter type, etc.)" ? Is it 0 Karma, or equal to BP Cost, or something else ?

While I hate myself for pointing this out, you also should add the rule that the Essence modifier for cyber suites is additive (as said before, only the Essence modifier, not the costs). It's bad math and creates inconsistencies for very little gain, but it's in the rules...

I have a third printing. It says "New Rating x 5" for attributes and "As BP" for Metatype. My book has everything Ancient History once posted on this board.

In the German Augmentation are also no more "Bioware-Essence-Holes" and "Cyberware-Essence-Holes", you just have a "Essence-Hole" and you can fill it with whatever you want.

cya
Tycho

I don't think English books ever had bio/cyber specific essence holes, at least not that I remember.

They Did... Originally...

Is this stated in the rules? or was it discovered by reverse engineering the examples?


P.S. Added essence holes.

Well, it may be bad math, but it makes easier numbers usually . .

I knew keeping track of this would be useful one day.

Unofficial Errata:
Running Wild
Street Magic
Augmentation
Augmentation, again
Runner's Companion
GM Screen
Arsenal
Anniversary Ed

Some links may have more usable crunch and fixes than others.

I can verify that the nanobiomonitor fix comes from Synner, and that Drugs are -supposed- to have a listed Power and Speed, but somene forgot

Also, clarifications on how Attitude's armor mods work, from hardy.

Jennifer Harding clarifies how Emulation gets even more nerfed.

I would also suggest linking a copy of the Random Scatter Comparison Between Editions Table, by hobgoblin, for people who are sick of anniversary editions teleporting grenades.

Hope that helps. Since this seems to be a list of stuff that should be changed (shadowrun ultimate edition, perhaps?), having material to pull from is good. Viola, enjoy.

On that note:

Shapeshifters and the time it takes to transform, and what happens to worn clothing/armor. I'm not entirely in agreement with the armor stuck/damage rule (seems a tad excessive, seeing as a body 6 creature can wear 9 armor without encumbrance, then shift to its opposite form--also 6 body--and takes 9 damage and becomes entangled; or god forbid, the muscle-troll turns into his mouse form with less body: 10 body to 2! Wait, 15 damage? Why does the 3" long mouse have to resist 15 damage?), but that's what I was told when I asked.

Well for the mouse it is obvious, he is being crushed by all that armor falling on his tiny form

I seriously doubt that a mouse would care all that much. It's not like the mouse is getting a brick dropped on it (which would kill the mouse). First off, the armor is partially flexible, second it likely comes in multiple pieces, third the low velocities involved (falling clothing, even armor, won't be imparting enough force on a small object, such as a mouse, that would cause damage--total force imparted to the ground from 50 pounds of armor falling 2 meters is 313 Newtons (or about as much force as 70 pounds of material does just sitting there), however, 95%¹ of that force will be imparted to the ground directly, leaving the mouse to only deal with having about 3.5 pounds of force).

¹Reasonably believable Bull Shit number.

The fact that I was kidding aside, 3.5 pounds is still around 80 times the weight of a mouse.

Nope, it's explicitly in the rules. *flipflipflip* Page 50 of Bodytech to be exact.

Looking at that page also reminds me, there's some extra cyber suites in there.

While I am unable to locate any numbers, smaller bodies are effected by forces to a smaller degree than large ones. Sure, 3.5 pounds is 80 times the weight of the mouse, but that "80" value is irrelevant (ants can carry over 100 times their own body weight, for example--mice can carry about a pound and a half in their mouth).

At this point I can agree that the mouse would take some damage, but I do not agree that it would take enough to cause it to hemorrhage blood.

I'm pretty certain that if I drop an encyclopaedia size/weight book onto a mouse, it will go squelch.

And I think that would weigh less than falling armour.

Don't suppose you'd be willing to post those? I'm curious what the germans got that we didn't.

Everything.

You're comparing weight to mass. By your comparison you would rather have a ton of lead dropped on you as opposed to a ton of feathers? I mean, they are both a ton, after all...

Indeed, it would be more like setting an encyclopedia on a mouse, which would likely pin it, but not kill it.

Edit: Also, I'd rather have the ton of lead. It'd be alot smaller so I'd have a better chance of getting out of the way

Precisely. Dropping an encyclopedia on a mouse would impart...100 Newtons of force, which would be about....22 pounds.

See? The impact force isn't equivalent to the resting weight.

No.
Well, not until I've finished the list of extra stuff from Arsenal

@Draco18: That would be a light encyclopedia, because a 10 kg book would already exerts a force of ~100 N on the table mouse it rests on...

Trauma Damper has seen a small change in the German version of Augmentation:

That's a big difference, wow.

If you'd like to do the math yourself, go for it.

He is correct, a 10kg object at rest on earth exerts roughly 100N of force on whatever is underneath it. Closer to 88N actually, but there you have it.

Math:

I was talking 15 N.

50 pounds falling 2 meters with 1 second of deceleration (they're soft and flimsy, after all, and go whumf, not klunk) exerts about 313 Newtons of force, of which 95% is imparted directly to the floor (the other 5% to the mouse), or 15 N. This is equivalent to the force exerted by a 3.5 pound object at rest. The same 3.5 pound object hitting the ground (same deceleration as above) is 100 Newtons of force (which is itself equivalent to an 12kg object at rest).

You guys keep going "clothing falling on a mouse is like hitting it with a (stack of) bricks!" and it's not.

Except we're not talking about clothing, we're talking about armor which includes metal plates. I'll agree with you all day long that a cloth shirt falling on a mouse isn't going to crush it, but if you want to tell me that a stack of metal plates held together with some cloth isn't going to cause it problems, I'm going to say you're quite wrong.

And I know you were talking 15N, he was saying that an encyclopedia generally weighs more than that, which it does. [edit]or rather, can and generally does[/edit]

Also the 95% imparted to the floor is basically total crap. That's like saying if a sumo wrestler sits on you, you'll barely feel it because 95% of his weight is 'imparted on the floor'

First off, if the guy transforms into a mouse and ends up in the toe of his boot, he's not going to get ANY weight dropped on him.

Second, if he's barefoot, his shirt (armor vest, whatever) is likely going to miss him entirely, as it won't fall strait down, so he only has to deal with his pants, and even then probably only one leg of the pants.

Third, we're talking impact force of the armor falling on the mouse. This is momentary force and objects (especially "soft bodied" objects like living creatures) can survive much higher impact forces than they can sustained forces. It'd be like a Sumo wrestler sitting on you for about a third of a second. You'll feel it and then go "that was nothing."

Why wouldn't an armored shirt/vest fall strait down? It certainly isn't light enough for the wind to blow it away.

I should remind that I don't think you should take a bunch of damage for shape shifting to a mouse, but there is some potential danger in it if the person is wearing armor.

You're also looking more at the sumo jumping on you as opposed to sitting on you for a fraction of a second.

Hm, I don't know. Maybe you're leaning over to one side, and the mouse-you ends up on the other side. I just mean "doesn't fall towards the mouse for maximum impact potential."

Oh, and FYI: you can throw mice out the window of a 30 story building all day and none of them will take any injury for it.

The link in the above quote goes to Synner's user page and my SearchFu has failed me on finding a related post.

That's true for many small things because 1) they have so little mass that even a fall from that distance is a small force and 2) air resistance stops them falling particularly fast.

Yet I recall a mouse having been run through a laser printer's rollers and survived without injury...

Seriously. The smaller rodents have bones & internal organs more flexible than rubber.

Yip. Mice only need about a quarter of an inch to squeeze through. Through a laser printer seems....absurd, but I've heard stranger things.

Just got a bit colder in hell, because I finally managed to find enough time to put together the stuff from Arsenal 2070: http://www.scribd.com/doc/57395589/German-Extras


I tried to keep the fluff descriptions short and with emphasis on info relevant for gameplay, if you want the full fluff buy the books

Nice, hope you won't get in trouble for that!

Character generators with that kind of information have been around for some time, so I do not expect to get any trouble for it...and I've got a cover page on my todo list, that will of course have the usual legalese and credits. And all those widows are on that list, too.

PS: MJ, you still got it wrong
The 10% Essence discount from cybersuites is added to other modifiers. The 10% price discount is multiplied.
And that kind of confusion is exactly why I hate this change...