Don't trouble yourself with these complicated questions, just believe.

Unless there´s something in the fluff that justifies technomancers not needing a device, that might be one thing I do change. It seems to me that it´s just cooler if they have to have a commlink, but it doesn´t really matter how good. Just that they deal with real physical technology and just not airwaves would justify their name more, I think.

Defeats the flavor. Technomancers are always billed as people so in tune with technology they seem to do magic with it. Thus, why the "mancer" part of the name.

The big issue will actually be whether there are enough mechanical differences between a technomancer and a standard decker to justify their existence.

If - as they seem to have done with a lot of things, like magic - they made the rules very generic and the only difference will be a bit of flavor text, then technomancers are pointless Neo-clones, and screw with the magic/tech dichotomy for no good reason.

Ya know, I just looked at the blank Char sheet.
By all that is holy I dispise that thing.
There is a reason why professional form builders, when they use section names, put them at the TOP of the section when creating it for a primarily top to bottom, left to right reading audience.

Yeah. Maybe Im just not understanding the full impact of the "overlayed reality". Technomancers will be such because they can look at a toaster and command it, without any aids. I guess the explenation is that all technology is now so complex and communicative that the human mind can interface with it by thought alone.

Actually, I think it's the melding they have been attempting for quite awhile. Ever since the book Never Deal With a Dragon, I've seen several minor signs that SR is moving in a direction that has magic and technology start to meld. It has to happen sometime.

In any case, this may actually be a type of mage, one whose power works in the unusual way in that it interacts directly with technology. Or, these people could be the result of Deus's Arcology experiments.

Nikoli: Use my character sheet instead

Umm, unless I'm wrong, hackers don't need jacks...

If they are mages that can only effect thing with a matrix connection, that limit would be weighed up by the fact that they will also effectively be hackers. Might actually be a rather cool new concept after all.

Mmu1, that makes as much sense as saying that humans will never gain the skills to alter life before it's born. We've already got those. In the continued advancement of tech, biotech, and magic, eventually you will get a merger. They will start to incorporate ways to detect magic and astral beings into technology. Hell, you already see the merger in how magical and technological defenses are used in SR.

And conversely "It has to happen sometime" makes about as much sense as saying "Rocks have to start talking to us sometime".

~J

Page 56 has the Rule of Six subheading. It's the TOC.

I dont think the developers agree with you when you say magic and tech are metaphysicly opposite in Shadowrun. That might have been the case at one time, but it isn´t anymore.

In recent fluff, dragons (Dunk and Celedyr) have been working to merge the two, just to mention one sign.

You can still go full DNI/VR, if needed.

If negative modifiers reduce the dice pool to 0 or less, Edge dice can be rolled and explode on a 6. A threshold of 4 is the highest listed as "extreme" difficulty.

Edge renews as GM sees fit, suggested every session.

No, they have uses similar to karma pool.

Add Edge up to all edge dice to a roll. All dice explode.

After a roll, may use edge dice to roll for added successes, only edge dice explode.

Spend a point of edge and re-roll all failures.

Just saw a footnote that the rule of 6 does not apply to the longshot test in previous post. They do not explode.

Spend a point and go first in an initiative pass. If multiple people spend edge they go according to initiative score.

Spend a point and gain 1 extra initiative pass for the combat turn.

Negate one glitch or critical glitch.

Invoke dead man's trigger rule (iirc involves acting after full condition monitor.)

you know blackie, tisoz, from what i've seen edge is taking the place of both karma pool and combat pool....rolled like combat pool and refreshed like karma pool

hmm, sounds a lot like the new rules allow for more flexible playingstyles

want to hong kong action or recreate the matrix? crank up the build points on start, maybe have people create two chars. one for in system, one for out of system (for matrix). then have edge refresh maybe at chars first action of a round or maybe just at start of round for all (depending, first one makes people think a bit and maybe keep 1 or two in reserve, the other will see them burned like butter over popcorn).

still, i must say that i like the looks of it so far

allso, i take it that treshold will not be a factor in combat? as in, you dont need x hits to hit the target, 1 is enough.

A glimmer of light in the midst of total darkness! Saints be praised!

Nope, every GM's call.

~J

According to SR3, Karma pool should refresh at the begining of every scene. What constitutes a scene is left up to the gamemaster. 24 hours is givern as a possible example. It also states that it could be every few hours or every few days.
SR3 goes on to recomend refreshing karma at the begining of ever session and only once per session. It goes on to suggest that gamemasters should adjust the time frame based on situational needs. It also offers the possibility of only partial refreshment of pool or allowing some character's refresh their pools while others cannot.

Partial refreshment at certain plot events is great way to provide players with a break while keeping huge pools in check. You could rule that no one gets their full pool back untill the end of the campaign but dole out refreshments of 1, 2, or 3 karma points whenever the characters have a chance to rest or when one player contributes something special to the overall story.
Giant pools aren't as usefull when you can never refrest more than 3 points at a time.

I have to ask, real time or game time?

Game time.

~J

I usually go based on scenes. If it feels like one scene, there's no refresh until the end of the scene, regardless of how long it takes IC or OOC. If they're using karma pool for something extended, then they don't get the karma back until they're done with it (that part counts as its own scene). This tends to keep rampant karma pool use down on enchanting and spell-learning and program-creation tests and so on, at least unless the runners are sure that they have plenty of downtime.

Reread what cyberzombies do to the astral.

~J

I have no need to. There are plenty of other magical events that have done far worse. Like, say, a certain way Dunk handled someone assassinating him?

Basically, the one thing you have to keep in mind is that there is really nothing that states magic cannot be harmful to the astral plane. In fact, looking at cyberzombies and a few other canon items, it's pretty much a guarantee that magic can harm the astral. But it still doesn't change the fact a cyberzombie exists as a combination of magic and technology.

In SR3, I refreshed the karma pool at the beginning of each session.

However, I considered the new session to start right after I awarded karma for the last session. So if after karma awards a player spent KP points learning a new spell or making availability checks, et al., those points were not available in the next adventure.

Edge sounds interesting. I like it as an attribute, so that individual players may choose to have a lot or a little of it.

No. A cyberzombie exists because magic traps a soul that should be leaving the body for parts unknown in a shell so replaced by metal that it should be dead, not because magic and technology are in any way combining.

I'll argue this with more coherence in the morning.

~J