Okay, am I interpreting this right? Let's say a human character with Charisma 6 takes this, and then has Charisma 7? Right?

Right. But it can only be used in that fashion on a single Attribute (that's what makes it an Edge instead of just another Attribute point). If you take Bonus Attribute Point again for another attribute, it's limited by the Racial Modified Limit.

Kay...

...Excellent.

"In this manner" refers to the part about going above the Racial Modified Limit. You can still take the edge once for each of the other five attributes, but it can't raise it about the RML like it did the first time.

The reasons why a player might take it sub-RML are twofold. First, if they're using priorities or sum-to-10 and want to get another point in something without rearranging priorities. Second, if they would otherwise go over the unbalanced flaw limit.

~J

I'm very worried that this character might be considered munchy, or at least his stats would be. Take a look:

Attributes
B Q S C I W E M R Init
3 8 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6+1d6

He's an elf mage.

And the power of his atts are kind of balanced by having limited skills.

I'm very worried that this character might be considered munchy, or at least his stats would be. Take a look:

Attributes
B Q S C I W E M R Init
3 8 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6+1d6

He's an elf mage.

And the power of his atts are kind of balanced by having limited skills. And some rather crippling flaws (consider that he has trouble dealing with rich people...and most Johnsons are quite wealthy...).

Not as munchy as 1 1 1 9 9 8.

~J

That long row of sixes just looks really weird to me. Oh, reaction is 7...hmm.

Ehhh... every character has to have Priority A for something. Either you'll have "munchy" Attributes, "munchy" awakened abilities, "munchy" skills, or "munchy" resources. So I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Besides, I would hardly call an elf mage with a 5 Charisma munchy, when elves can have a Charisma of 8 (9 if you used the Bonus Attribute Edge on it, instead) - which, for a full mage, is (usually) far more important than a high Quickness.

What about combining bonus attribute pont, and exceptional attribute (lets yuo normally raise above RL via normal attrib points)?

Might not be able to have both affect the same stat, but couldn't one have 7 int and 7 willpower?

Technically, you can't do it. SR3 has a firm limit that you can only place 6 points into an Attribute. Bonuses and penalties can modify that, but you can't add a 7th point just because your RML has been increased via Exceptional Attribute. It just makes improving it in the future easier.

Though whether or not that rule holds with the Companion is questionable given that it's extremely unlikely that Otaku were intended to have a starting cap of 6 in their Attributes.

If you do drop the 6-point cap, you can use it to either put two attributes over usual RML or a single attribute two points above.

~J

I might swap out body and strength given the relative values.

-Siege

Nope, Exceptional Attribute does one thing and one thing only. It raises your Racial Modified Limit by +1. That's it.

And yes, the rules state that you can only put 6 points into a single attribute during character creation. Lemme grab my book and I'll give you a quote and page reference. It's stupid, but dem's the rules.

SR3 p. 55, Choosing Attributes: "No character may start the game with any Attribute higher than 6 (before applicable racial modifiers)."

Exceptional Attribute only raises your RML, it doesn't give you a racial modifier, let alone a bonus point for it. What that means is that you can only start, say, with Willpower 6 and then apply racial modifiers to that. Exceptional Attribute only influences how much it's going to cost to increase it by one point the next time you want to go and do it. It doesn't let you put a 7th point there.

CL is right. thats how it works, NSRCG treats it differently. And a LOT of Peeps House otherwise for Otaku but neither are Canon

Though Exceptional Attribute still has a use. Give a Human Quickness 6, then up it by 1 with Extra Attribute Point, then up the Racial Max to 11 with Exceptional Attribute, then buy four levels of Muscle Toners for a Quickness of 11.

~J

A literal interpretation of the two edges (SC.17) is that Exceptional Attribute can raise a character's Racial Modified Limit (RML) to 7 (for human), and that Bonus Attribute allows the starting attribute to be one higher than the RML (now 7 for this character), and thus can be 8. As special cases override standard rules, this must mean that the player can put 7 starting points into that attribute.

On the one hand, that's how I treat it.

On the other hand, I'm not seeing the justification for it by the book. Explicate?

~J

Mmm...something good arises from my ignorance. Yum.