-- Well, cost-effective gear packages for military/paramilitary NPCs was mulled over a long time ago. The problem being that this doesn't necessarily make the NPC as good as he should be "on paper" since it adds an additional layer of complexity for the GM with regards to tracking down rules references and effects (and Shadowrun has material spread over a lot of books even in 4e). Maybe this could be solved with a better short-form summary or going purely 'effect based' like the D&D 4e monsters? Also, you have to remember that some of the 3e material was written as a reaction to the "so badass we don't even give them stats, you just DIE" stuff from 1st and 2nd edition when it came to anything with the barest whiff of "military" on it and that toned-down assumption appears to have carried over. Maybe next edition will see every UCAS trooper running around with exoskeletons and drone packs?

One of my biggest complaints with the Corebook is that the provided NPC statblocks are worth bunk. They aren't useful, they require looking up rules, and, let's be honest, don't stand up well against optimized players (which I'm thankfully not "blessed" with).

I realize that it's quick mental math to figure out dicepools, but they should already be in there. I shouldn't have to look up armor and damage for weapons. There should be more than one adept, one mage, and one decker (at Professional Rating 2, I think it was?) archetype. All of this adds up to me either having to bog down a game by checking page after page, or write down the statblocks the way I need them to be when I play (which I've done).

Personally? There should be more NPC stats in there in general, and that includes contacts. Contacts and NPCs are the lifeblood of Shadowrun, as much as figuring out how much to pay players and how to set up runs is. Shadowrun is an amazing game, but it needs to be more useful to GMs in general.

ETA:



I realize most of the folks around here would burn me for heresy for saying this, but this would actually be really useful. But I realize that the Shadowrun community is built more towards the 3.5 crowd than the storygaming crowd, and such effect based (instead of mechanic based) statblocks would probably really bother folks.

Hey, that would work for me, but it would likely drive up the prices of the physical books a bit (more word count results in more page count). Should not have too much of an impact on PDF's, though. *shrug*

Ghoul

BOD 7 AGI 3 REA 5 STR 6 CHA 1 INT 4 LOG 2 WILL 5 MAG 1
Initiative 9, IP 1, Armor 6/4
Stun Baton 6 (6s(e)/-1/2 AP), Ares Predator 5 (5P/-1), Claws 6 (4P)
Assensing 3, Infiltration 7, Perception 7, Dodge 7

I've got nothing against listing the dice pools also, but it really is a nuisance not to have base skills listed. Like, to figure out that example guy's total pool when using Full Defense in melee, it's a pain in the neck: you have to back-calculate Dodge skill by subtracting his reaction from his dodge pool (and make sure nothing else is in that pool), then add that back to the dodge pool.

It Catalyst was smart they would publish a 300 or so page PDF that is filled with nothing but NPC character sheets of various levels complete with names, suggested contacts, family/friends, character history, etc.

It should be relatively cheap as they don't have to make pretty much any new rules content (only some fluff, and even that can be relatively lite) and it would be of great help.

Maybe I'm weird in that it takes me forever to actually stat anything up, but beyond the important NPCs in a campaign (who often get shifted in and out, due to my player's interest / storyline relevance) I just want stats for quick mooks. And the quick mooks in the back of the corebook aren't useful.

There also needs to be more emphasis on contacts. We get maybe five in the core, but there should be more, and more examples of them, and they need to be front and center for players, not just tucked into the back section that's arguably for the GM. Contacts and legwork is the lifeblood of Shadowrun, so they need to be more front and center.

Considering how they screwed up the stats in Street Legends...

SR4 has a LOT of contacts, though they are spread out among at least 3 sources.

• SR4A Anniversary Edition
• Runner's Companion
• SR4 Contacts.

Just thought that I woud point that out.

They screwed them up? How?
I ask, because I do not actually own the book. I am curious.

It's an error-ridden mess. Hackers with commlinks that can't actually run their ridiculously expensive milspec programs, people with qualities that don't actually exist, people with adept powers that don't exist, etc etc. If you want the full review, it's here.

It's an error-ridden mess. Hackers with commlinks that can't actually run their ridiculously expensive milspec programs, people with qualities that don't actually exist, people with adept powers that don't exist, etc etc. If you want the full review, it's here.

It Catalyst was smart they would publish a 300 or so page PDF that is filled with nothing but NPC character sheets of various levels complete with names, suggested contacts, family/friends, character history, etc.

It should be relatively cheap as they don't have to make pretty much any new rules content (only some fluff, and even that can be relatively lite) and it would be of great help.