You can add "Weapon Focus" as a modification for free to the weapon. Just choose the rating at the time of... "installation".

after choosing the spell Increase Attribute and the particular attribute, e.g. BOD, the print sheet says Increase [Attibute] instead of Increase [Body]

Did that. Complex Forms still have ranks and can be increased, and in addition the dice pool is still 'skill + complex form rank' not 'attribute + skill'.

the rank thing is definately wrong, but you still have Skill + Attribute on the skills section.

From what I'm seeing, it's doing 'skill + program rank' still, rather than Skill + Logic.

You are looking at the skills tab or the Complex Form tab?
I would be really surprised if the skills tab is doing anything other than Skill + Attribute.

I've updated the Improvements data file to allow for Essence Improvements, so that should fit the need.

They should already be appearing there. Is there a specific melee weapon that isn't showing up there for you?

I'll look into this. Right now it just asks for a text value. Giving it a list of Weapons the character has is certainly doable.

Whoops. Apparently Spells are printing out their Category in place of their "extra" information which holds the Attribute selected. I'll have this fixed in the next update. (So it will say Increase [Attribute] (BOD))

The Rating field for Complex Forms should be hidden when that option is enabled, though you need to close the character and re-open them if you enable the option while the character is open. They seem to be hidden properly when I have this optional rule turned on.

I'll add the alternate Matrix Attribute as an optional rule in the next update. I'm trying to figure out when it wouldn't be LOG + Skill though, as all of the Matrix-related Skills are LOG-based.

There are only a few Complex Forms that wouldn't be done that way, like armor or shield. some have no rolling at all like SimRig and Smartlink.

Okay, yes, you can't up the rating, but the complex forms themselves say things like 'Armour (Rating 1)'. Thanks for clarifying though. Looking forward to the alternate Matrix Attribute ruling.

How do you determine that then? Is there a list somewhere that I've missed or forgotten about?

Ah, I see what you're saying about the Rating thing. I'll have that removed if the optional rule is enabled.

It's all a question of how the Program/complex form is used. Unfortunately there is no list within the books.

Guess I'll just add a list that you can select the Attribute from then in case there are any weird scenarios that might come up and let the player choose which one to use.

Figured out how I'm going to do this. There's currently a Weapon Focus item in the Weapon Mod list. I'm just going to add support for affecting the size of the dice pool for the Weapon it's attached to since you may be buying the Focus before the Weapon, may not know which Weapon you want it on, may detach it from the Weapon, etc. Short version: adding a modifier to what's already there.

Oh, in every case where an attribute is used it's going to be logic.
It's just that certain programs won't have logic used because of the way the program is used.
I would suggest just have them all display logic + skill instead of skill + program.

Looking at the list in programs.xml:

Encrypt, Armor, ECCM, Stealth, Smartlink, Simrig, Shield, and all other non-standard matrix program.

All of those won't use skill+attribute, and would just use their rating.

Well, that was my original plan but figured I'd put in a dropdown for Attributes for flexibility since it says "usually LOG" rather than "always LOG". I'll at least have it default to having LOG selected. If I don't do it as a list, I'm sure someone would ask for it soon enough.

A bit nitpicky, but when going from create mode to career mode, the tab title becomes "Unnamed Character" until the alias field is editted again. Also, "Quizzel Fairy Wings" from Attitude are mipsellde.

Have one of the options be no attribute. then you can have the above ones be set to that as the default and save any changes in the character file.

I noticed that with Knowledge skills if you change the category of a knowledge skill that's in the skills file it changes back to the default when you reload the character.
In particular I have a character I made that has Military, but as Professional instead of Interest. It keeps putting it back to Interest each time I open the character.

Build 336

• added support for the alternate Matrix Attribute optional rule from UN 39
• added support for <dicepool /> to Weapon Mod bonuses which affect the dice pool for the Weapon the Mod is attached to
• added <dicepool /> to the Weapon Foci Weapon Mod to affect the Weapon's dice pool
• fixed an issue where Weapons added directly to a Vehicle (Cyberware or Gear Weapons) would not be loaded correctly from a save file
• fixed an issue where trying to print a character whose Vehicle had a Cyberware Weapon would throw an error
• increased the maximum upload size for characters to 500 KB (compressed)
• Upload Character window in Omae no longer lists types of files that cannot be uploaded using the window
• Character now correctly checks if their <skillsoftaccess /> Improvement is enabled before deciding whether or not they can use Knowsofts and Linguasofts
• added a house rule to treat the Metatype Attribute Minimum as 1 for the purpose of calculating Karma costs
• fixed an issue where buying Ammo for a Weapon using the Buy Additional Ammo button without having any Gear selected would throw an error
• fixed an issue where buying Ammo for a Weapon using the Buy Additional Ammo button while having certain Gear seleted would limit the selection to that Gear's category instead of the to the Ammunition category
• added processorlimit, ispersona, isos, and issin to the list of items a Commlink includes in its printout data
• added a Commlinks sheet that prints out information for all of the character's Commlinks including Living Persona (also Nexi but limited to English only)
• fixed an issue where Qualities and Spells would wait to translate their names after asking for Improvement information
• added support for language-specific character sheets (stored in sheets\[language code])
• Character View window now lists the character sheets in the language-specific directory if a non-English language is selected
• fixed an issue where Spells were printing their Category a second time instead of selected Improvement values such as Attributes
• Complex Forms no longer show their Rating if the alternate Complex Form cost optional rule is enabled since they do not use Ratings
• fixed an issue where Weapons were adding their Smartgun bonus to their dice pool even if the Smartgun Accessory or Weapon Mod was marked as not installed
• Language Manager now uses a recursive method to translate windows and controls to make it more efficient and more easily accommodate future growth
• fixed an issue where Knowledge Skills would incorrectly change their Category if the Skill's name existed in the pre-defined Knowledge Skill list
• tabs now correctly show the character's name when moving from Create Mode to Career Mode when more than 1 character is currently open

New Strings

• Checkbox_Option_AlternateMetatypeAttributeKarma
• Checkbox_Options_AlternateMatrixAttribute

It seems like melee weapons no longer have STR/2 added to their damage as of this latest update. Also,"Quizzel Fairy Wings" from Attitude are still called "Quizzel Fair Wings".

Confirmed on a new download as well on an update.

Crap. I'm missing a single else statement that is causing Weapons to think they're always using the STR of a Vehicle's limb instead. I'll have an updated build up this evening to fix this.
I've also updated the Armor data file to correct the Fairy Wings.

Build 337

• fixed an issue that caused Melee Weapons to always use the STR of a Vehicle's limb, even when being wielded by the character
• Upload Language button shows its text again

Would it be possible to add a Vessel xml file that would include the stats for vessels as described on page 86/87 of Street Magic.
Have a drop down appear when the Mage's Tradition is one that has spirits that need to possess instead of manifest.
The drop down would include a list of vessels defined in the xml file and modify the spirits stats and powers based on the selected vessel.

I would like to make the Insane Psionic Clockwork King.

Edit: Just remembered that the spirits list doesn't include stats, but that you have to link a critter file to the spirit.
So may be vessels can be added to critters, in some way.

Thanks for the quick fix. Would it be possible to make unarmed strike show up in the weapons list even without Bone Lacing or the like? Some awakened characters have weapon foci that effect unarmed strikes.

I was actually thinking about this the other day when I realised that an NPC I was looking at was possessed by an Insect Spirit. Then I forgot about it. Then I remember. Then I forgot. Then you came along and brought it up. I'm going to have to think about how to handle it. I think what might be required is creating a save for the Vessel (living or dead) and one for the Spirit. From the Spirit you'd select Possess (or Inhabit), select the NPC file, and it would merge the two together into a third save file. I'm thinking this is the way it needs to be done since they're not actually Improvemets to either character, Chummer doesn't know about former Attribute values (for the Vessel), negative Attributes (for Homonculi), and would let you keep both the Spirit and Vessel separate should the Spirit ever leave the Vessel. Sound reasonable?

Should be doable. The biggest snag is replacing the default one with the one that Bone Lacing creates when it's added (and reverting it if Bone Lacing is ever removed). I'll take a look.

As long as it's possible to create a combined character sheet for the spirit/vessel I'm good.
Although looking at the non-living/non-zombie ones, they appear to work differently as they appear to be almost like how a spirit would work manifest. F+/- a number to all stats.
The Zombie have a slightly different structure, similar to living vessels and possession to it's stats. Plus the Zombie has build in degradation to it's physical stats, which just adds more complication to them.

I think the non-living vessels is a complicated issue, since the spirit inhabiting it could easily change based on the whims of the mage.

My first thought for vessels was to create it like other critters and then to be able to dynamically apply a spirit character to it in some manner.

It would also be nice to have something within Gear or some other location to buy Vessels to cover the costs of building one just like other foci. This would also allow for keeping track of what vessels you have and how many.

After this last update, when trying to add a language, I can't change the rating to Native. It used to default to N, but I haven't found a way to change the rating to a letter. Anyone know how to get around this?

Argh! Knowledge skills appear to have glitched again. They are now all determined to remain Logic-based Academic skills no matter how many times I select any of the other options or save them as such hoping the attribute and total dice pool number will follow suit. The newly opened file still lists everything from Alcohol to Portuguese to Yakuza as Logic-based and Academic.

@*&#!!

Build 340

• fixed an issue that prevented Knowledge Skills from saving their selected Category (hopefully for the last time)

Hey man - now seems like a good time to say:

Thanks so much for this app. It freakin' rocks! I spend WAY too much time just playing around making characters I probably will never use, but I do it anyway because it's fun.

I'd love to contribute, but I refuse to go near paypal with a 10-ft pole. Any other options?

When you take the bioware "Enhanced protein exchange: Daredrenaline (+1 dice for willpower tests), Dynomitan (+1 dice to intuition tests), PuSHeD (+1 to logic linked tests) as a magician, it doesn't add any dices to drain resistance in chummer.

If you take a Psyionic with drain attribute Willpower+Intuition and you take daredrenaline and dynomitan you should get +2 additional dices for the drain test, but it doesn't add them.

As an afterthought - is it possible to have the 'Hits on 4+' optional rule available? I'd like to use it with the die roller for if I'm running a heroic game, or if I'm having the PCs go up against a prime runner.

Dynomitan only adds its +1 bonus to INT-linked Skills and nothing else. PuSHeD is essentially the same - it only grants a +1 bonus to LOG-linked Skills. Neither or these affect Drain Resistance. Daredrenaline, however, says that it adds to all WIL Tests, so this is the only one that should be grating a bonus to Drain Resistance (and currently isn't). I've updated the Bioware data file to correct this.

I'll add it as a checkbox to the Dice Roller window itself since you can open it without referencing a character (which is where all of the optional rule information is ).

Awesome, thanks!

This may be random but I love your online Civilopedia too. Been using it loads recently. Do you post on the Civfanatics forums also?

Thanks! Yup, I'm on CivFanatics as well.

Well here's some exciting news: Chummer is now officially endoresed by Pegasus Spiele, the publisher of Shadowrun in Germany!
Translated press relesae can be found here (it's also up on Chummer site until it's pushed off the news reel by other updates).

Nice, it's better than the official SR site who push for HeroLab ... which is pretty bad as everyone knows.

Gratulations Nebular!

Hope more people get aware of your awesome Character Editor (dat' software mhhhhhh )
Was about time you get the attention you deserve, after all that work you put into it

EDIT:
Now that you got the attention from Pegasus, wouldn't it be possible to make a paid version that has all the information of the sourcebooks integrated in Chummer?
That way I wouldn't need to look up the page in Chummer and switch to my books and then back to Chummer all the time

Hehe - nowadays if I can't remember how a power / spell / whatever works, I use Chummer to find the page number first before actually trying to find it in the book. It has the added advantage that all of the page numbers are actually correct, unlike when the books reference other books

I'm still not finding rules support for the whole "foci cannot exceed rating 6" thing. Could the limit be made into a houserule?

I've updated the Gear file to increase the maximum Rating for Foci and Formulae to 18 to line up with Lodges (which were also at a maximum of 6 until a few weeks ago).

The updated file also includes a new item for Vessel Materials.

Build 342

• added a checkbox to the Dice Roller window to Hit on 4, 5, or 6 as per the Cinematic Gameplay optional rule (SR4 75)
• added support for Possession and Inhabitation by Spirits (Possess/Inhabit Living Vessel and Possess/Inhabit Inanimate Vessel options in the Special menu if the Spirit has the Possession or Inhabitation Power)

New Strings

• Checkbox_DiceRoller_CinematicGameplay
• Menu_SpecialPossessLiving
• Menu_SpecialPossessInanimate
• MessageTitle_Possession
• Message_VesselInCareerMode
• Message_PossessionSave
• String_Possessed

EDIT: Just to note - Zombies are not found in the Inanimate Vessels list since their Attributes can be any number. They're handled in the same manner as Living Vessles - they Vessel needs its own save file in Career Mode to pull Attributes from.

When dealing with possession based traditions, how do you replace materialization with possession/inhabitation in the spirit character?