I have a question on Shapteshifter regeneration. I have searched my manuals, read back posts and the such, but I can not find the exact rules/rate for Shapeshifter PC regeneration. Any help would be much appreciateded.

Thanks

iirc a PC shapeshifter regenerates (Essence)/2 at the end of every combat turn, when in their natural form.
Also iirc, they don't regenerate at all in human form, and there's all kinds of other complicated silly stuff about regenerating drain and stun damage and physical drain and all of that nonsense...it's something of a can of worms, really.
Rules should be in SRComp.



[edit]Typos

That was in 2nd edition. No longer valid.

In 3rd edition, all creatures with regeneration (pc's included) erase all their damage at the beginning of every combat round unless the conditions are met that causes them not to regenerate at all. Boom baby!

Thanks Bit.

Note to self: must by SR3 Companion...

Shapechangers are no longer gimped by having a stupid version of a power that works inconsistently.

Note: what bothered me was the inconsistency, not the poor fuzzy-wuzzies being mistreated. Not my cup of tea, though I can see why some people might want to play one...

yep.

Which is why you geek them right after the mage.

Which is why you have the mage levitate them, then geek them while they can't do much.

Sick though, Shapeshifter with empathic healing...

Forget offering free medical services in the barrens, you can finally get recognized by Krash Kart and Doc Wagon as a sentient and receive a SIN just like real people.

So is there an allergy that limits the regen, like silver bullets on a werewolf?

nope, I think it either ups the damage code or the power, but I can't recall which.

So the only way to geek them is to do overdamage?

Well, when they receive a deadly wound, you roll a 1d6, on a 1 they didn't heal and have to recover normally, otherwise they are a-okay (aside from potential magic loss)

And that assumes they are magical, would the essence loss affect them in any way if they were not magical?

most shifters are magical, being awakened creatures, it would be veritable suicide to not have some magical skills

well, they are dual natured.
that's a flaw for a reason.

Thanks for all the info. Now I can see why one of the guys wants to play this so baddly.... that and he averages a player getting killed every 1.5 games.

Just because he can't save his character's life with some reasonable planning and sane actions doesn't mean he should get off the hook with a shapeshifter. I'd let him do it, but throw weapon foci at him at an alarming rate for trying to break the game.

With both of our GM's I don't think that will be a problem at all.

Remember, don't let him off the hook too easily. One of the most important and overlooked things about a shapeshifter is that a shaprshifter is NOT a human that can turn into an animal. It's an animal that can mimic a human. He should have to play his animal nature and dock him karma if he doesn't. Most shapwshifters really dont work all that well in scociety. There's nothing humna about a shapeshifter except their look, and only then only part of the time.

I believe shifters have a vulnerability such that if they take damage from a silver source, they only regen on a 3+ instead of a 2+.

JaronK

I currently have a player who is a shapeshifter (white siberian tiger) he so far has done a great job roleplaying the animal nature. He insists on eating meat preferably uncooked , much to the displeasure of the other characters , and he refuses to use firearms, preferring to rip the throat from his enemy in "real" combat. so far this hasn't cause any big issues but their first big run is coming up and we will see what happens. Any idea what a shapeshifter who has never left the ground will think when he on a suspension bridge 200 feet off the water?

yeah im not piling karmic awards with most of his acting, although the awe he is inspiring from the amerindian in the group is pretty amusing, she has shamantic background and beleives strongly in the nature religion stuff so to be working with a shapeshifter is like working with a demigod , its amusing to watch play out.

The biggest drawback I see to playing a shapeshifter is that they'll be slow, unless they've got a quickened enhance initiative spell. Even then the wired version makes the sammy faster because it also adds to reaction. Being that slow is a very bad thing when your regeneration takes place at the end of the combat turn.

One thing to remember when GMing a shapeshifter: When they take Deadly damage, they still check for magic loss even if they regenerate the damage. Shapeshifter mages and adepts kick a lot of hoop, but they won't step into the middle of a firefight (if they know what is good for them!)

I've made a street sam with 21+5d6 iniative. As far as I know, that is the absolute fastest character you can make.

Best you can get is Wired 3 plus 4 levels of Alphaware Reaction Enhancer. That goes for 980,000 and 5.96 Essence.

Well, you can combine Boosted Reflexes, Reaction Enhancers, with a Synaptic Accelerator and other bioware.

Shapeshifters are best used as tanks. Pump up their body so that they can soak damage, give them good Quickness and Strength, as well, depending on your taste. Give them some decent weapon skills and have them wade into battle. Used this way, they can be absurdly deadly.
Unfortunatly, they cost too much to reasonably make a shifter magician. The Bp cost of being a Shifter combined with the BP cost of 3 extra physical attributes should religate the spellcasting Shifter high power games and suicidal players.

Also, Physical drain is only regenerated at 1 box per minute.

Regenration isn't usefull if you can afford the skills or stats to back it up.

Killing a shifter isn't easy but yo should always remember that a seperate regeneration test is required for every deadly wound in a CT. Silver and fire both increase the regeneration TN to 3. Silver also increases Both Power and DL of a weapon. Concentrated fire from a decent team will take down a Shifter. Concentrated fire from a team with flamethrowers, lasers, and silver bullets is even better.


However, the worst penalities of the Shifter are social. If he doesn't have high chrisma and good contact he is easily screwed. Remember, Shapshifters are considered to be animals and those than commit crimes have no more rights than a rabbid dog.
They can't be tried in court. The Star can sell them off for research or just throw them in an incinerator.
If they can keep their cover as humans they may be alright, but most people will be creaped out by a Shifter. Clerks will refuse to serve them. Resturants will turn them away. Anyone with Astral perception can recognize a shifter instantly unless it has masking.
There are people who hunt Shifters profesionally and there are amature hunters as well. Living Shifters are worth a lot to some people, either as slaves or research subjects. Shifter corpses are probably worth a pretty penny to researchers, as well.

Even in the NAN, Shifters only have limited rights because there are concerns about their bestial nature. Most everywhere else Shifters have none.

Also, neither Critters nor Shadowrun Companion mentions anything abour regenerating Stun damage. Infer from that what ou will.

Thing is, you've got to identify the shifter for what he is first. Assuming he doesn't do anything stupid like shift in front of a Star camera, he's just some SINless ganger on the physical plane. Astral's where'd he'd have to worry, I guess.

Or, "What the... an seal?"

Actually on this note, I can't seem to find if they regen stun at that rate, it appears to me that stun damage take the normal time to recuperate from for a shifter. Is this true? Because then i know which route I would take to deal with one.

Having a player be a shifter can be as hard as the GM wants to make it. As the SRC says, 'shapeshifters are virtually immune to death by damage,' so they can tank it in combat, to a certain extent. I still wouldn't want to push those wounds to 'deadly' to often. Wards are a big pain in the butt now, and at the start, you can either have one contact, or some gear, but not both.

If your game involves lots of gun combat, then a shifter is probably going to have some balance issues. Killing them outright is tough, but the drawbacks tend to keep them in under control.