I know that some powers have to be turned on,and some powers can be turned off..But some do not say oneway other hte other. So if an adept just has a power that doesn't say one way or the other, could they turn it off?

I always house rule that.

For a start, it can make a big difference conceptually, but moreover, what about the Increased Reflexes for example? Turning it off would be like a free Reflex Trigger (if you continue the Cyberware analogue from Wired 1/2/3).

I always give the option for things like perceptive abilities and killing hands (hey, you don't ALWAYS want to kill your enemy, right?) but improved ability, Reflexes and some other bits and pieces are a no-no.

Confer with the GM. Failing that, if you are the GM, decide for yourself what seems reasonable!

even if you couldn't turn them off so to speak you could supress them, at least that's what I would say.

everyone, no matter how strong, can choose to regulate her stregnth, why should an adept be any different?

There used to be clear evidence that powers could be turned off. Since the disappearance of bioware's "virtual magic loss", this is much less clear-cut.

~J

Well, consider that one with a Power linked to a Geas can "turn off" a power by not fulfilling said Geas. Extend that the books only notes the difference as an involuntary off setting and that it is not noted as a bonus anywhere. I conclude that while the books are vague, the ability to switch power levels and even powers using foci supports the ability to turn off the powers.

Otherwise, traceless adepts could never go shopping alone.*

Despite my not-so-clever attempt to play devil's advocate, I agree that an player can turn off the character's powers. Some jsut aren't that useful if you can't turn them off. Think "The Sentinal." For Increased Reflexes, I assume you don't have to turn them off. They only work when needed. Its magic.

Only assuming they're pressure and not proximity.

~J

Yeah, I'm not supporting or refuting any side here. In our game, adepts can turn off/on their abilities, but I think there is enough leeway to allow GMs to determine which way it can go without disrupting canon.

Agreed. Though, I'll further add that they introduced a metamagic that allows and adept to increase their power points for a time only to lose an amount afterwards. The fact one cannot scale back a power seems like an obvious oversight, but even that is not the same as switching it off.

I would think that the fact that an Adept cannot have more Powers (or levels of Powers) active than his Magic Rating would tend to imply that Powers can be turned on and off at will.

I Would like to think that an Adept could turn their powers off otherwise an adept with masking could only ever pass as unintiated not mundane.

Something that i've noted when you have Enhanced Perception since you never know when you need thus you have to have on all the time.

[Edit] Spelling Demons Strike Again

Fortune;

"I would think that the fact that an Adept cannot have more Powers (or levels of Powers) active than his Magic Rating would tend to imply that Powers can be turned on and off at will."

Where does that come from? The only thing I can find in SR3 is that levels are limited by Magic rating. I can't find anything about numbers of powers or anything to do with active at all (bar the very mis leading entry with regards to adept focuses in SOTA:64).

Edit: Ignoring the fact that the number of powers is limited at character generation by a number of power points to spend that equals your magic rating. And I suppose also that loss of a magic point loses 1 points worth of powers.

Can adepts turn off powers? Two words: Vision Mag. If they can't turn them off some adepts are really fragged. Have you ever tried to navigate in close quarters while looking through binoculars?

Also the limit on powers used at one tme is limited to magic rating, which implies that when an adept has 12 powers, he has to turn them off to be in compliance.

well, it's worth pointing out that adepts don't need reflex triggers. only users of cybernetic reflex enhancements run the risk of reflexively attacking anyone who surprises them--bioware and magic reflex enhancements do not incur this penalty.

Nikoli, is that limit a house rule? I can't find it in any of the books I own...

That's the bit I referenced earlier. It came from the days when bioware caused virtual magic loss.

~J

Ah. So it's inherited from an older version of the rules and isn't canon for third edition.

More accurately, it's inherited from an older version of Third Edition. It was errata, not a previous edition.

Incidentally, there's still nothing opposing it, it's just no longer mentioned in the ruleset that I know of.

~J

Oh... Errata to what?

Bioware rules in Man and Machine.

And that should have said "pre-errata", sorry.

~J

About as Boned as a Trog or a Halfer, sure.

I don't play those..I play mainly humans.

Considering that only the best vision modifiers count for various types, it's irrelevent to adpets whether they can turn off thermal since when it would be a disadvantage their normal vision modifiers take over.

'cept for glare, yeah.

M&M page 49, first sentence under Vision Modifiers. since you asked so nicely.

If adepts couldn't turn their powers off, you'd get something like this comic book cover: http://www.nationallampoon.com/supermanisa...es/dick/078.jpg

Un-turn-offable Killing Hands D!

"i have to do this, supergirl... but do you think you could go touch jimmy olsen, first?"

Yes Adepts can turn off their magical super ninja powers.

What the...

Well it's true.

~J

Exactly. Well most of them at least, but yea.

Make with the already.

~J

Adept m-u-s-t be able to turn their power off, if it's not canon, then you absolutely have to house rule this.

It just don't make sense.

(sorry for my sloppy english)

If you got improved reflex at 3 you always get arrested by Lone star? What about the novel with Ryan Mercury (Big D adept and pupil) if i remember ok he just "switch" between vision, reaction and different capacity to activate them.
An Adept with smashing blow spend the rest of his life unable to train on a punching bag? If he's angry and slap an object everything go boom? I wouldn't like to be in your game. You have long jump you can't jump normally, and so on... I mean a physical adept use power to augment magically physical capacity.

Has always, magic does the same thing as cyberware but just better(since it's not artificial but magical). When you buy hearing amplification as an adept power you get the maximum rating(is it always on, i don't think so). On top of that you got to consider that when you start got those power from inside yourself so you cannot metagame thinking(i buy killing hand, i buy this, i buy that) and live half your life getting your hears busted aways because you didn't developped(or buy) a sound dampener!

That's rather common sense even if it may not be totally canon. Magic is just stronger than cyberware that's a game balance since magic take lot of time to develop...

As a house rule, my players and me decided to state that with improve reflex you got a "kind of"reflex trigger automatically, with the same drawback, you can be taken off-guard(maybe that's much though).

Anyway what do you think?

actually, i don't believe there's any law against having adept powers, at least in the UCAS.

your right, but if you can't turn it off, or got enough masking. Who's gonna tell the lone star the difference between a wired reflex-3 system and an improve initiative adept power? What's the point of looking mundane, or less powerfull with masking anyway your power are always on.

But not always noticeable. For instance, someone with Synaptic Accelerators can't turn them off, but is neither jumpy nor noticeably accelerated in everyday life.

~J

well, a cyberware scanner will pretty much tell you the difference every time. and, as kage said, a person with IR3 isn't jumpy or twitchy; they're just fast--when they want to be.

Spider is right.

Okay, guys, if you want to go ahead and run a game where every time the physad with Killing Hands touches someone that person drops dead, where they can't turn off their Astral Perception and become dual natured and get screwed over for that, where they can't turn off Nerve Strike and are forced to repeatedly attempt to Nerve Strike an elemental or something, where Suspended State won't stop working so it makes you go into a coma forever, and where Magic Resistance is trying to stop healing spells from affecting you, go right ahead.

You just won't have any physads, and you'll be like one of those GMs who keeps screwing the players over on silly details whenever they fail to specify something. ("Well, you never said you closed the office door before you shot the exec, so everyone on the floor saw you.")