Does that mean scoring no success on the test or does it mean not reducing the Power to zero? It would make the difference between absolute inevitability of the transformation and the possibility of shaking it off.

Oh, and I suppose Zeta-Interferon doesn't help, does it?

It's a pretty nasty, so I'm gonna go with "Does not reduce Power to 0."

And no, Zeta-Interferon doesn't work. But Pathogenic Defense, the Rat Mentor Spirit, and Cure Disease spells can help.

Ouch... So there's pretty much no way to prevent essence loss, if you come to contact with ghouls... and very little chance of escaping the transformation?

You first roll against a power of 8, which means you need an absolute minimum of 24 dice on your body-test to be successful. After that you need more, as the remaining power is added to the power of the next test. The minimum amount of tests is 10, and every time you fail you lose 0.1 points of essence. This means that you'd lose the full 1 essence point needed for turning into a ghoul while the power of the virus is still accumulating.

Let's see... With a body of 10, you'd still need 14 hits from a Cure Disease -spell for making it possible. Edge helps, but only so much for 10 consecutive rolls. A big step up from SR3 Companion, where just 2 hits allowed you to escape the infection.

Is there something I'm missing?

...suddenly that chemically sealed full-body-armor is looking like a nice investment

yes. a given 6-sided die has a 1/3 chance of coming up as 5 or more, it is true. however, it does not follow that you *need* 24 dice to obtain a result of 8 of said dice showing values of 5 or more. it is entirely possible (if reasonably improbable) to generate 8 hits with only 8 dice (approximately 1 in 6,561 if my math is correct) but it is still possible. throw edge in there for exploding hits and your chances improve. (however, i for one don't care to even try to figure out what your exact odds would be).

in any event, it certainly isn't impossible. in fact, with a pool of only 16 dice, while 5 hits may be a fairly standard result, 8 hits is probably not horribly uncommon. oh, sure, you've got less than a 50% chance most likely... but your chance is quite likely to be 30% or even more, i would suspect.

now mind you, 16 dice is also not a terribly common dicepool for resisting diseases.

all this being said though, there has been a vaccination in earlier editions that defends against turning into a ghoul. given how long it used to take to become one, it was extremely improbable that you wouldn't be able to get access to it in time, thus protecting yourself from turning into a ghoul even if you did get infected.

ah yes... how stupid of me. This fever is really getting to me

Thanks.

Thanks for your thoughts and numbers.



I would really love a reference for this thing.

Why I'm asking: I have a plot in mind in which the runners infect several important people with HMHVV III for Tamanous (no, they won't know the nature of their Johnson). But they transmit something helpful along with it (maybe an anchored Cure Disease spell). In result, all these people should become carriers, but not transform. Now Tamanous has a stock of influential new contacts it can blackmail or threat with a second infection.

Oh thats freaking evil. DO WANT (im stealing this one))

Is there any reason why this anti-viral agent should not work against HMHVV?

How about O-Cells? Those are neither inoculation nor "anti-viral agent".

And exactly what are affected by Penetration, in particular are O-Cells affected by Penetration?

Further how is Penetration applied? If the patient benefits from multiple protective systems, are all of such systems reduced by Penetration? Or is Penetration applied to the sum of these systems?

If Penetration is applied in a fashion "similar to Armor Penetration for weapons", then it would apply once to the sum of all protective dice adders and not at all to O Cells. On another note, Pathogenic Defense does absolutely jack against the disease - it is a dice adder of max rating 6 which Penetration -6 will reduce to 0.

This is my interpretation, yes.

I like the SR1 cure for HMHVV (a bullet to the side of the head). That being said I also recall somewhere a vaccine against certain strains of HMHVV (I think the most common ones only). As a GM though you can always have a MegaCorp create a top secret vaccine for any strain of HMHVV. The corp may not have finished field testing and it is your SRs job to do that testing.

This makes me very happy.

It was my understanding of the situation too but I wasn't very sure. The penetration of a disease of toxin reduces the number of extra dice granted by protective measures.

In which case O-cells rock and you are an idiot not to get them at the first opportunity.

Get a Nano-hive and O-Cells at rating 9 and you're protected from almost all diseases for damn near forever.

Get the hive in a cyberlimb and it doesn't even cost Essence.

I used to not see a point to them...then this whole discussion came up, where it turns out that O-cells are the
only thing that can reduce the power of HMHVV....

Nano-hives and O-cells for EVERYONE!
I will, in fact, be saying that they are a very important piece of gear, and I will begin the punishing by Ghoul
of anyone who does not go for them ASAP...(Remember: as a GM, it is my job to punish stupidity)

Does anyone know how long the O-Cells and other Nanites last outside of a body? A mage might shy away from installing a Nanite Hive.

Nanites lose one rank of power every week. So it would take 9 weeks for Rating 9 O-cells to be flushed from the body.

As for a nanite hive... get it in a cyberlimb and it only takes 2 capacity. A standard grade cyberhand/foot only costs .25 Essence and has 4 capacity.

I know, I wanted to know how long they last stored in a jar, syringe or whatever. Just carrying them around and administering them when needed should work as well.

Can I instal a hive in a cyber eye?

No. A cybereye (or ear) is not a cyberlimb, & nanohives can be installed in cyberlimbs, using Capacity in place of Essence.

I just checked Augmentation and I saw nothing that says they degrade if they're kept in a vial and carried with on the person. So yes, you can carry it and use it when you need to.

Have a friend, Street Sam, Hacker, whatever, that already has a Hive get Nano-infectors(O-Cells 9) 6.

Have said friend 're-infect' you once a week.

Job done.

Make sure you share the same blood type.
Transfusions after fighting would be usefull.
Also, i like the syringe idea with nano-stuff.
Reminds me of Bioshock or something O.o
Also:
Nano-Ammo. Fill Injection Darts/Bullets up!
Stupid expansive, true. But also cool =^.^=
Or become a raging psychotic, load up with:
*drumroll* you guessed it, HMHVV III Krieger.

the degradation is more about loss from bodily processes, then by some kind of over time degradation.

i would think that disabled nanites stored correctly can hold for a nice long time, especially if they are hard nanites

O-Cells are soft unfortunately but ought to keep outside the body if stored correctly.

Even without a Hive a single dose of Rating 9 O-Cells is sufficient to survive HMHVV-III completely unscathed.

at 22500 a pop, but yes...

22500 wisely spent under ALL circumstances . .
2 Posts left

Beats essence loss and edge burning.

(IC) What? You chummers don't have medical insurance? Mine totally covers the O-Cell treatments! All I gots ta do is pay my 50 copay.

OOC: I wonder if a legal middle class citizen with decent health insurance would actually be able to get this covered? I'd think so, given all the other threats out there.

if the corp thinks he is worth it, and cant do his job after going ghoul, sure. If not, just have him go ghoul (what was he doing in that part of town anyways?!) and then find a replacement or make the proper arrangements for isolation...

Plus once your a ghoul then you can pay the SR in metahuman flesh instead of cash. It is a good way to get rid of evidence and it lowers your overhead costs.

"you have failed me for the last time! toss him to the workers!"