So I've started running an game in SR5 (will post summary in another thread) and some clarifying questions have arisen:

Which is right? You must have 5 (or whatever) points for an interrupt action or you need only 1 point and your initiative can be reduced below 0?

A straight reading of the rules says you just have to have a positive Initiative score remaining to take one of these defense interrupts.

There's an odd case where you could take your final action phase in the round and then interrupt to go on full defense, getting the full defense bonus with no drawbacks.

I would assume a forthcoming errata that states that if you have no remaining action phases in the turn, you can't interrupt.

Reading over it, it looks to me like you have to have enough initiative left to pay the full cost of the interrupt action.

If you roll a nine or less initiative total then you can't do a Full Defense.
You have to choose one of the other lower cost Interrupt Actions.

That is harsh, but an average person with a 3 in both Intuition and Reaction will get at least a 10 initiative total half the time.

Add in the following and it sounds pretty fair to me.

" The bonus gained in this manner is kept until the end of the Combat Turn so a character can choose to fight defensively early in
the round by decreasing her Initiative Score to increase her defense. This bonus is also cumulative with other Interrupt Actions. "

It says that if you do a Full Defense Action, you can add your Will to your defense till the end of the Combat Turn even if you do another Interrupt Action.

So it sounds like you can do a Full Defense first thing and if you still have an action left then you can attack normally and still add your Will to your Defense for the rest of the turn.

Or if your initiative total is high enough, could do another Interrupt action like Dodge or Block and roll Reaction, Intuition, Will, and the appropriate skill for Defense.
Spend a point of Edge so you can add your edge in to the total and apply the roll of six, and a character can survive almost any attack for at least a couple of passes which is not a bad thing.

The Interrupt Actions sound like it can be abused by characters with high Initiative Scores.

It would perhaps be better and clearer to remove 10 from your ini score as soon as you took your action (instead of after everyone acted) and than simply. you can take interrupt if you are still above 0 (before the interrupt)

Agreed. On second and third actions against opponents who have only one action the latter have no options for interrupt actions. Though... "speed is life" and this does make a rude sort of sense, even if it generates suckage for those with fewer actions.

Well maybe it will quiet those that have been complaining about how much the game balance has shifted from the faster characters.

I do like that for at least a short while, a Character can actually have decent odds of not being hit.
It helps with the Boss battles.

The example favors cndblank's interpretation above. As Blackfeather can't pay the Initiative cost of the Parry, he can't use it.

In our game, we've ruled that you can perform an interrupt action if you have a positive initiative score (even a 1). We decided the idea that an average person (who gets a 10 or less half the time) would therefore not be able to perform a full defense half the time was a bit absurd. If all they want to do is go on the defensive, anyone who is able to act should always have that option.

Since going on full defense causes defense tests to include an attribute (Willpower), does not the physical limit apply?

Defense Tests ALWAYS use an Attribute... That is not a uniqueness of Full Defense.

They already include 2 other attributes, and no skills are involved, nothing has changed here, so still no limit on those defense rolls, I believe.

I agree that being fast is more useful than before. It's just that they're not as extremely fast as they were (especially for the cost), and that you can be already relatively fast without augmentation (rea 5, int 5 does the trick), which doesn't pull them as much ahead as before. But I do think the advantage is more pronounced.

Edit: And I'm quite satisfied with this change.

Limit applies to rolls including a skill, not those including an attribute.

Being fast is not only good for acting a lot, but it also makes you dodge a lot better (except for AoE). High dodge NPC are very good boss fights, BTW.

I kind of like the new initiative rules, but the urge is so strong to change back to SR3 with the one continious countdown per round. Since mages and Hackers now have much better options of being fast, it is not a matter of "Oh the fighting starts... I will get some coffee." for the non-samurai anymore.