I'd like to discuss Enhanced Pheromone Receptors.

I've been thinking of picking these up for a character and I'm weighing the positives against the negatives. Firstly, they provide a pretty good bonus to social skills for a very cheap (both essence and monetary) price. They also boost perception, and allow identification by scent. These are all great advantages. There's also something immensely cool about being able to 'smell fear'.

The negatives are a lot more subjective. There's a dice pool penalty in crowds. Exactly how big a 'crowd' is is I suppose up to the GM. It always pays to carry a respirator to avoid the penalty, but I would rule that unless it's a big, tightly packed crowd then it wouldn't be that confusing.
The second negative is another big one. Tailored Pheremones act at double strength against the character. Now, for a face (who's likely to want this) then this would be a big disadvantage. Except that Tailored Pheremones are illegal and an EPR isn't. Also, I think this negative would come down also to whether you knew it was being used. If you can detect things by scent, then surely you can also identify TPs. Thinking purely of offset, even against L3 Tailored Pheromones you're only down 1 dice with a level 3 EPR (as you get a +2 to their extra +3)

I'm thinking of getting them. Largely for the coolness.

Anyone got any thoughts on them?

You allready nailed it: The question is, how your GM rolls.

If beeing illegal is not a problem for tailored Pheremones than you probably will run into problems. If TP mark you as a potential date rapist... Well, then not so much...

Pair it with a cybersnout from the core book, so you can have an off-button for your nose. Or, better yet, pair it with a Negator or an Edit software(which is capable of realtime live alterations) to eliminate the downsides.

That wouldn't matter. Our response to pheromones is hard-wired into our brains at thelevel of pure instinct - the same level that Hunger is on.

The best you could do, if you recognised TPs being used, is refuse to negotiate at all - say "No deal", and walk away. Maybe insist on teleconferencing via the matrix for all future negotiations, if it's someone you HAVE to deal with.

Or bring a respirator, and insist on using it.

Well actually that was what I meant though reading back I perhaps didn't explain it properly. I was thinking it wouldn't be so bad if you could identify Tailored Pheromones because that would give you options.

Thing is: I don't think you WOULD recognize it. It's on the instinct level, as you said.

(Know what it is that makes our siblings sexual unattractive to us? Pheromones. Yes, despite our shitty sense of smell relative to the rest of the animal kingdom, we can smell our siblings)

I know what you mean, but isn't the idea of the Enhanced Pheromone Receptors that they can smell things like pheromones as actual smells (rather than subconcious smells)?

Possibly, but the guy with the pheromones smells GOOOD.

The first thing I thought when I saw that was "Hmmm... you don't want tailored pheromones around a dragon..."

A metahuman with tailored pheromones, should have no effect on a Dragon. Wrong pheromones.

(Though maybe a Drake with 'em, would have an effect ....)

Or a Metahuman with Tailored Critter Pheromones (Dragon) ^^

I was actually referencing "Smells good" and spinning it into the context of "Mmm, that smells delicious!", which is why it'd be bad to have when dealing with a dragon.

Of course, everyone knows that you should never cut a deal with a dragon, so it's a moot point.

As always, it depends on how you decide to run with it in the game. If EPRs and TPs are going to be used, then the GM and player shoudl probably work out how pheromones are going to work in their game.

In reality, the research seems to indicate that pheromones have very little influence on humans. I've briefly looked into a few of the claims made here in this forum, and while I can't immediately debunk them, I am skeptical. I think the consensus, currently, is that they might have a small effect on us, but that things like body language and more overt verbal-type signals overwhelm them. If you had no ability to detect pheromones, then you probably wouldn't notice. This was based on what I've heard from sicence blogs, podcasts, and about 15 minutes of research, so I'm not ready to get into a hardcore internet nerd-fight over it

As far as the game goes, I think it's more fun, and close enough to believable that it's worth saying that they have a very real effect on characters. What this means for the negative effects:

First, it's really hard to define exactly what a "crowd" is, but I think most people have a fairly solid idea. I would say that anywhere outside wouldn't be a crowd unless people are able to touch eachother without taking more than a single step. And there should be people mostly surrounding you. Pretty much any day at the Minnesota State Fair would count Inside, I'd relax the rules a bit, since there's less air circulation.

As for the second: this is where you need to decide. Pheromone detection is unconscious, sure, but I wouldn't assume they're so overwhelming. I would allow a perception check to determine whether a person's pheromones are "natural" or not. If you have enough experience with your EPRs, then you could possibly pick this out. I don't have the book in front of me, but I'd prefer to run with the RAW. Beyond that, I'd let someone mostly ignore it. Just because we see a delicious cake or sexy person doesn't mean we lose our minds and have to eat/have sex with it/them. TPs are a tool, not a mind-control device, and once a person is on to you, it's like any other kind of deception- it's not likely to work.