Discuss them before we publish them in the Rules thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:47, Tue 21 Jan 2014.

I do not like this rule, it spits in the face of my Anarchist tendencies. -@

2064 Adept rules

New ordeals:
Masterpiece: Requires “virtuoso” technique (pre-existing or taken upon this adept level)

Way ordeal: Must make some great achievement pursuing the adept’s personal path – significant sacrifice of resources, time or attribute points and must have measurable results

New metamagic:
Attunement (Animal, Item): Separate technique for animal and item.  Max items or animals attuned = grade. Attuned item/animal can act as ritual link. Animals: Gain sense link, ability to issue simple telepathic requests.  Range = (Magic + Charisma + Willpower) * 10 m.  Mage can suffer stun if creature is damage.  Cost = essence of animal.
Items: TN drops by 1 when using attuned item.  Karma cost = item’s resistance.  (7 for gun or katana, 9 for car, dikoted catana))

Cognition: Builds on Centering.  Can Center for success or to reduce modifiers on intelligence, perception & learning tests or to reduce modifiers when defaulting to intelligence.  Can also add 1 die to knowledge & language tests.  Requires free action to use.  Reduces karma cost to increase skills by 1 to minimum of 1.

Empower Animal Companion:If you’ve attuned an animal, perform ritual and spend karma = 4 * cost of power adept possesses.  Can then use simple action to temporarily transfer power to animal via sense link.  Can’t transfer more points of power than initiate grade.

Infusion: Builds on Centering.  Exclusive Complex Action making Centering Skill 4 test.  Each success (max of grade level) gives .25 power points to boost existing power or acquire new power.  Max power level = 1 if not pre-existing power.  Boost lasts for Magic * Grade minutes.  After boost, resist (successes) S stun and lose equivalent rating of random power points for same duration.  Available “new” powers limited to adept’s grade.

Astral Projection: Can project like a mage, but lose 1 point of essence per minute rather than per hour

Somatic Control: Builds on Centering.  Exclusive Complex Action to make Centering 4 test.  May then shunt (successes) attribute points (max of grade level) between attributes, minimum of 1.  Change effective for Attribute * grade minutes.  After this time, attributes revert and can’t be shifted again for 10x as long.  All skills based on decreased attributes are reduced by 1 for each point of change if skill greater than new attribute.  At conclusion, resist damage with power =successes, Serious if above racial max, Moderate if above Racial modified, Light otherwise.  Changes can impact combat pool.

Virtuoso: Can create a virtuoso piece – skill test of 9, may add dice for adept level.  Successes = rating of piece, can boost by spending good karma.  Piece can mesmerize, also counts as exotic material for enchanting.  Very valuable for collectors

Powers:
Aid Spell: .5/level.  Adept concentrates for exclusive complex action.  Spell-caster in physical contact with adept may add (level) dice to spell casting attempt in same initiative phase.  Adept makes drain test using willpower (mana) or body (physical) against (force / 2)M Stun.

Animal Empathy: .25/level.  Add 1 die/level for skill tests with animals

Commanding Voice: .5.  Coplex action to issue forceful but simple order (3 words or less).  Adept pits Charisma against opponent Willpower in opposed test.  Penalty of +1 per extra person effected.  If adept wins, target takes next free or simple action to either obey or pause in indecision (GM call).  +2 penalty for subsequent attempts on same individual in 24 hrs.

Cool Resolve: .5/level.  1 die/level to resist Charisma-linked skills used against them.

Deep Rooting: .5.  Advanced version of Rooting.  Same effects as 1 level of rooting.  Reduces recoil penalties by half  (round down) with firing arc of 90 degrees, with max turn of 90 degrees/action.  Disengaging is complex action

Eidetic Sense Memory: .5.  Photographic sight and other sense memory.  Can photo-read, increasing reading speed

Elemental Strike .5.  Builds on Killing Hands.  Can create secondary elemental effect (chosen at power purchase time).  Creates visible effect around character’s hands/feet.  Simple action to create, remains for magic attribute combat turns or until extinguished.  Not allowed for distance strike or delay damage.

Empathic Healing 1: Adept can transfer some or all of target’s wounds to himself.  Adept makes magic test against 10 – target essence.  Successes = max boxes to transfer.  Must be in physical contact, only works for physical damage

Empathic Reading .25/level.  Receive -1 TN/level to determine if target is lying.  Intelligence test against lying character’s negation open test.

Enhanced Balance .5/level (max 2).  Reduces TN for physical test involving balance or knockdown by 1/level (climbing, tight-rope walking, gymnastics, etc.)

Enthralling Performance .5  Adept makes open test using performance skill.  Audience members make willpower check against resulting TN.  Any who fail suffer +4 distraction to perception tests, though can be knocked out of trance by direct threat, startling noise, etc.  Can last for Charisma * 10 minutes max.

Facial Skulpt 1.  Can change face for # hours = magic attribute.  Takes 10 – Willpower minutes of concentration.  Adept makes open magic test to determine TN for perception tests to recognize.  TN for disguise tests reduced by 2.

Gliding 1: Adept can run up to Magic meters across water, thin ice, fragile tree limbs, etc.  Longer distance requires break points.

Improved Ability (Expanded).25/die for Artistic/Performance knowledge skills.  .5/die for B/R, Social skills, Vehicle skills

Inertia Strike .5.  Damage level reduced by 1; Opponent makes knockdown test as if damage were 1 level higher.  Serious wound or worse is automatically knocked down.

Iron Gut .25/level.  Each level reduces power of ingested toxins by 2

Iron lungs .25/level.  Each level increases breath holding time by 45 seconds and reduces Fatigue tests by -2

Kinesics 1/level (max 3)  Reduces TN for Etiquette & negotiation tests by 1 to minimum 2.  Also add 1 die/level to Charisma success tests.  Apply +2/level for tests to determine if adept is lying.  Two adepts with Kinesics can use Complex Action to non-verbally communicate simple notions.

Linguistics .25:  10 – Magic attribute hours of exposure to language are required to learn it.  Intelligence test against TN from 4 to 8 based on language commonality.  Success means karma-free language skill at level 1.  Increasing costs normal karma, but learning time cut in half.

Living Focus 1: Adept can sustain one spell cast on her, but suffers usual +2 modifier for sustaining a spell.  Max force = Magic attribute

Melanin Control .25 Can shift hair or skin color for Magic hours.  1 complex action for each shift: albino,tan,brown,black; white/gray,blonde, read/brown, black

Motion Sense .5 Perception test against target (large metahuman 2; regular metahuman 4; small metahuman 6; smaller than cat 8)  Add background count.  One success detects.  Success reduces blind-fighting modifier by -2

Multi-Tasking .5 Get 2 free actions/phase

Nimble Fingers +1 for stealth/Quickness tests involving slight of hand.  Insert Clip; Pick Up/Put Down object; Remove Clip; Use Simple object are free actions

Pain Relief 1.  Magic test against target of 10-Essence, round down.  Success reduces target’s stun by 1 level.  Base time = 30 minutes, must maintain physical contact, can’t use on self.

Penetrating Strike .75/level (max 3). Each level ignores 1 level of armor.  Can’t be used for distance strike

Resilience .25/level.  Extra 1 die/level for stabilization tests and when checking for permanent damage from deadly wounds.  Reduce TN by 1 when checking for wound effects

Side Step .5/level – extra combat pool die/level for Dodge and Full Dodge tests

Sprint .25/level  +1 Quickness/level for determining running distance

Sustenance .25.  Only needs 3 hours sleep + 1 meal equivalent to 8 hours/3 meals.  Only need 1 restroom trip/day

3D Memory .5 Can memorize area view first hand with a Complex Action.  Later can make Perception to mentally walk area as if were walking through.  Can’t disturb or interact and can only see what was available for viewing.  Areas can’t be greater than magic square meters.  Can memorize magic areas.  Target to remember is modified as time passes >24 hrs = +1, > week = +2, > month +3, > year +4

Voice Control .5 Can throw voice up to Magic meters away, defeat voice recognition systems (opposed test using Intelligence against Intelligence or rating of target system).

Wall Running 1.  Can move up to Magic meters on sheer wall or vertical surface

Foci
Adept Focus: Increases effective magic attribute by force, but grants no power points.  Affects amount simultaneously active, tests, ranges, etc.  Also grants dice for drain resistance, though not affecting whether stun or physical.  Cost is same as spirit focus

Infusion focus: Grants a particular power.  Rating must be point cost * 2.  Cost same as spell category focus, but availability is 8/72

So is Improved Ability for Athletics and Stealth still .25/point?

Yes

Huzzah!
Still surprised/preturbed that vehicle skills and repair was upped that much. This used to be the only way that another build could compete with riggers.

They weren't upped. They weren't available before at all.

Generally, such skills would be classified as Combat related (.5) or non-combat (.25). I never expected them to have an all-inclusive list, and I reiterate that .5 for improved b/r (especially since you have to choose an expertise) or for piloting skills (which still don't come into play as much as combat skills, and Rigger/Physads are hard to make) is unnecessarily steep.

But the non-combat skills were limited to physical movement skills. Decking and rigging were specifically excluded.

And B/R is hard to argue as a "physical movement" skill.

Anyhow: Any objection to these?  Any tweaks?

Attunement would likely need to pull some rules from Ally Spirits, and would definitely need to spell out some definitional bits to define a "willing" animal.

I can see Infusion being useful, and then there's that drain issue. No problems with it, just file under "fascinating".

Is Somatic Control limited to physical attributes or all? I do see a little issue of someone combining SC with Attribute boost. Drop, say, Strength, then pump it back up from a starting stat of 1. It's an easy 2-step process to boost mental attributes without penalty.

I want a better defined list of effects for Elemental Strike, beyond "set on fire, blind, knockdown, knockdown too I guess". Damage bonuses against Elementals are a given, but secondary effects appropriate to the element are also worth considering. Metal hands give a better object resistance and improve rolls for disarming or sundering weapons, that kind of thing.

Empathic healing sounds like a great, if painful, way to get around not having a health mage.

Would posit that Gliding should build off of Traceless Walk, and a reduced cost would be considered "the next level".

How many tests to learn a language is an adept allowed? I always liked the idea of an Adept just sitting at his local library picking up stacks of languages on his off time.

Motion Sense should be limited by magic attribute, and needs to say whether it is affected by flying characters and those using Traceless Walk.

You didn't list a cost for Nimble Fingers. I think it's .25, but that's a memory that's aged 8 years.

Pain Relief should list sympathetic skills to assist on the test, like massage, meditation or leadership.
"Cause we are just too damn pretty to die. Look at that chiseled jaw, huh?!"

Penetrating Strike seems a little underpowered, especially for the cost.

3d Memory - modify it so that any object manipulated during a memorization of an area can be manipulated similarly in the memory. Allow players to place emphasis on parts of the terrain to reduce the TN later (make an Int check vs the size of the room, successes indicate the number of "hot spots" a player gets; hot spots can reduce the gradual TN creep). Make sympathetic to Eidetic Sense Memory (reduce TNs for the Hot Spots check, and memory degradation over time). If you have both you should be able to take papers, lay them out on the floor and "read" them later, when you have more time (but only if the print is visible).

Voice Control - sympathetic to relevant knowledge skills, like acting, voice acting or ventriloquism for tests.

Again, I consider Wall Running to be the ultimate expression of Traceless walk-gliding-wall running and would push for a cost reduction in the presence of the former two. Also, if there is a wall flush with a lake, can you alternate between the two, treating one power use as a break-point for the other?

Anyone notice how Sprint is at least twice as effective (by the numbers) as Free Fall or Great Leap?

And am I the only one who thinks Traceless Walk should give a bonus on Stealth tests?

Want more clear rules on the Infusion Focus.

A few "I just realized"es
Note: Traceless Walk already allows you to run on anything solid, because you exert no pressure. So Gliding is SSDD, but worse.

Also Inertia Strike is stupid on account of the number of Knockdown effects Elemental Strike gives you.

Penetrating strike, if it is "reduce target armor by 1", it is simply "punch for less damage and more Power". With the exception of Hardened armor, the point is moot and not a good tradeoff anyway.

Proposed adaptations from SR4E:
(note, I haven't crunched numbers so they will be bad until I fix it)
Edges n Flaws
Linguist = +1 == +1 or +2 to all language skills, 1/2 learning time for new languages (does not stack with Adept Linguistic power learning time)
Made Man = +2 == 30hr/wk required assistance, free group contact with a criminal unit. Best used for a reduced fencing cost and resource access, but this should also be a viable source of cavalry.
Jury Rigger = +2 == temporarily fix an item using B/R to get asses from fire.
Restricted Gear = +1/L == Every level in this trait gives you access to a single item that is +2 Availability (per level) during character creation.
Dependent = -1,-2,-3 == Someone BB can abuse and coerce you into doing something. -1 is a demanding relationship that requires time and money, -2 is a spouse, child, family member or family that requires a minimum Middle lifestyle to support, -3 is a spouse, child, or family member in the hospital or with similar medical requirements. Player must maintain a Middle or high lifestyle plus medical expenses subject to GM's decision. Players who allow their family member to die due to inaction gain the equivalent value in Bad Reputation (disloyal).
In Debt = -1/L == Gain cash that must be spent during character creation, and must be paid back plus interest. And we're probably not talking about banks.
Mysterious Cyberware == Gives some fun ideas for how to make them cooler. I can PM BB if he wishes.

Code of Conduct
For 1 point, a character can join a faction that represents their ideal nature. If they later choose to leave this faction, they immediately lose all associated benefits, while the penalties persist until roleplaying or GM fiat cause them to desist.
Examples:
Assassin - Wanton destruction is not your way. You favor pinpoint accuracy and a clean getaway. Lower notoriety (increase difficulty for police tails and investigation), but slower reputation gain. Lost immediately in cases where the assassination goes out of hand - killing a politico is one thing, but blowing up a baseball stadium to get to them is sloppy.
Bushido/Paladin - faster good reputation gain, but must keep pace on their combat skills with equivalent levels in intellectual pursuits.
Mercenary Credo - You are considered a professional gun for hire. While this does keep you from too much vendetta bloodshed, you do not get along with "honorable men" and have something of a bad reputation - you kill people for a living. Some people take issue with this.
Sworn Soldier - Family before all. You work with one of the larger criminal syndicates, and while this gives you access to many wonderful resources, you are more antagonistic (and antagonized in turn) towards rival factions and police officers. In the end, if you have to choose between a Family and yourself, you'd better choose the right one.
Etc. etc. etc.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:00, Mon 17 Sept 2012.

SR4E SURGE
Latent SURGE == +1
You do not begin play with SURGE, but instead gain it at a time subject to GM's discretion. Have fun growing horns in the middle of Nevada!
Class I SURGE == +1
Mostly cosmetic changes, a character must take at least 2 points in positive traits, and 1 point in negative ones.
Class II SURGE == +2
More pronounced modifications, mostly associated with a particular genus. Characters must take 4 points in positive traits, and 2 in negative ones.
Class III SURGE == +3
Class 3 is the most severe changes to a metahuman body. A Changeling of this type takes 6 points in positive traits, and 3 in negative ones.

In addition to the listed point values, a character with SURGE can buy additional traits either with karma (equivalent to Edges), or with equivalent flaws (after the Class I-III mods are taken into effect).

Other SURGE traits:
[this is where the math gets narky, and should really be discussed]
360 degree eyesight = +2 == through movement, alteration or growth of additional eyes, a character has a visual field around the entirety of their body. They lose 1d6 for perception tasks because of processing difficulties in the metahuman mind, but can see in all directions simultaneously <against the penalty, but I put it down for the sake of completion>

Animal Pelage = +1/+2 == Unlike the Unusual Hair mod, this fur gives a distinct advantage to players. Quills deal bonus damage when struck unarmed, or in unarmed combat; Insulating fur improves survival in cold wilds, and can be waterproof; Cammo fur, etc etc...

Arcane Arrester = +5 == Any spells cast on the character are treated as 1/2 Force; cannot be taken by characters with any Magical ability.

Beak = +1 == Looks cool, hurts in melee, probably simpler to stick under "fangs" in YOTC

Bicardiac = +2 == Improved resistance to stun damage, and vastly superior endurance in athletic circumstances due to two freaking hearts. Poss weakness to injected toxins because of increased blood flow.

Biosonar = +5 == Due to pronounced modification of the vocal cords and hearing centers, the character is able to see like an ultrasound vision modification. Automatically grants High Frequency Hearing.

Bone Spikes = +1 == Look cool, do more damage in unarmed melee, hurt a little too.

Dynamic Coloration = +2 == Gain the ability to camoflage yourself on the fly while nude. Incompatible with other skinmods. Also, you're naked.

Climate Adaptation = +2 == Gain bonuses to survival in either arctic or desert environs (chosen once).

Corrosive Spit = +2 == Like the toxin ability, gain the ability to shoot a gooey acid from your mouth! Careful while kissing.

Dermal Alterations = Var
+2 == Barkskin +2 Impact armor, look like treebeard.
+1 == Blubber. Resist cold. Surprise children at christmas.
+2 == Dragon Skin +2 v fire, -2 Perception re: heat.
+3 == Granite skin 3/3 hardened armor, but can't wear non-customized armor. Look like an Obsidiman. Win.
+2 == Rhino Hide, 2/5 armor, can't wear non-custom armor.

Frog Tongue = +2 == An adhesive spring-loaded tongue. Grab anything lighter than STR*100g; can be used to apply chemical secretions at range

Glammer = +3 == Be all elfy, get bonus to social skills except intimidate, gain Distinctive Style flaw w/o benefit.

Electrosense = +2 == Sense electrical fields up to Essence*m away.

Elongated Limbs = +1 == +1 Reach, awesome monkey impressions.

new tails:
Balance (+1), paddle (+1, swimming), Prehensile (+2, 1/2 STR, but can hang upside down indefinitely), the Thagomizer (+2, Reach 1 Ankylosaur tail, smash like a club).

(larger) tusks +2 (fangs, but better and no reach penalty)

Monkey Paws = +1 == bonus on climb, better coordination

Nasty Vibe = +1 == be intimidatin'

Setae = +2 == Gecko hands

Ogre Stomach = +1 == -20% lifestyle (food) cost, +2 v ingested toxins

Photometabolism = +1 == -10% lifestyle cost

Shiva Arms = +3 == +2 arms per, max 6

Proboscis = +2 == A prehensile tail on your face.

Berserker = -2 == +1 all physical stats, -1 all mental ones, attack nearest target (friend or foe), resist with Willpower test.
Bioluminescence = -1 == On the plus side, you are a flashlight. On the downside, you're a flashlight.
Insectoid Features = -2 == Look like a bug spirit. How could that go wrong?
Cyclopean Eye = -2 == penalties on ranged skill tests.
Neoteny = -2 == Look like a kid. Should be limited to preexisting conditions.
Scent Glands = -2 == Skunk time!
There are more of these, but I don't feel like typing any more. (they aren't so great)

Other Edges:
Latent Awakening = +1 == Become an Adept or Magician later! Earn extra cash! Hope you didn't roll up a Street Sam (Unless you are Thump. Then, damn).
Focus Addiction = use too many foci, get stuck

Adept Powers:
Berserk = 1 == +1 to all physical attributes, -1 all mental ones. Trigger as free action, lasts Magic*minutes. If a totem gives you the Berserk trait, automatically activates concurrently.
Power Throw = .25/L == +2 STR for range on thrown weapon and objects (and people)

K, that's the end of my word-wall.

Impressive wall :>

Going back up, comments on the 2064 stuff:

I abbreviated the rules.  There's lots more text.

Attunement: Fundamentally, animals will look upon your request as "friendly", but in the end their own interests/survival will take precedence.  If you're controlling a dog and the GM decides they see a squirrel, all bets are off :>

Somatic Control is indeed limited to physical.  Missed typing that bit.  I'd probably rule that the "base attribute" is the value prior to magical manipulation.  Which sort of nulls that end run.

Empathic healing has a potential issue if you allow first-aid to be applied after it's done.  However, I'd probably treat it as magical healing of the first character.  Whether first aid would be allowed on the adept, I'm not sure.  BB, care to make a ruling?

Interaction between Gliding and Traceless Walk is that if you have Gliding, you still get ripples, moving branches, etc.  If you have both, you don't.

For linguistics, I suppose you could learn all of them at level 1 if you really wished, though I might cap it at Intelligence or Intelligence * Level if a player got crazy and it was actually relevant to the game.

Motion Sense picks up on impact of movement of characters through the mana background.  So traceless walk and flying should have no impact on effectiveness.

Nimble Fingers is 0.5.

Description for Pain Relief is "allows an adept to channel energy into his hands and apply it to chakra points on another target".  So leadership wouldn't fly.  And sympathetic wouldn't much matter given that only 1 success counts

Penetrating Strike sucks.  It's less powerful than an equivalent boost to strength and there are lots of ways to do that cheaper.  Plus the strength boost works on Distance Strike, influences knock-down, etc.

Relationship of Wall Running to Traceless Walk is again elimination of secondary effects (e.g. sound of feet on the wall).  Don't see why you couldn't alternate between walls and lake if you've spent the points on both.  The visual would be pretty cool :>

Traceless Walk *does* provide a modifier to hearing based detection.  Whether that's relevant will depend on the situation.

What more detail do you want on the Infusion focus?  It gives you an extra .5 power point per level of focus.  The specific power(s) are fixed at the time the focus is made.  No increase to magic.  You're not allowed to invoke the "Magical Power" from MITS by Infusion, everything else is fine.  You've got access to the power so long as you've bonded it and the focus is active.

Empathic Healing could be limited by applying the same penalties to casting a spell of a Force above your magic attribute. Making it so the wound has to be healed naturally without magic or surgery still makes sense because the adept usually has more durability than the mage does.  The other option being you make it like an attack that the Physad resists, like say (12-target essence)*(wound level being cured) where armor has no effect but any damage resistance body mods could.
Should also stipulate that an Adept cannot cure critical wounds, like organs that need to be replaced.
Or were you talking about using first aid on the healed after using magic? In the latter case, treat it as healing magic, 'cause that's what it is. (forgot our rules on healing now. So long since Thaden)

Gliding- Yes, but unless you gain a bonus to jumping into trees House of Flying Daggers style, there's nothing Gliding does that Traceless Walk can't except for sprinting onto lakes. Does Gliding assume you auto-succeed on the balance checks TW calls for?

PS- Would rather fix it than leave it as "sucks". Perhaps if we changed it to bypass one source of armor instead of one point of armor it would become definitively useful. It does say that it allows an adept to transmit the force of the blow a short distance (in SR4, don't know the flavortext here). With the reduced damage it's not splat-tastic, but it definitely gives you an advantage when you're in melee against someone in hardened heavy combat armor.

TW- Pardon me while I derp.

Actually, that's exactly the detail I wanted. It doesn't augment your Magic, so you can't violate any of the limitations already imposed on you (like you can't get a +1 to Improved Ability in a skill you've already got at cap), and doesn't modify your magic attribute for purposes of secondary effects. It's like spending karma on a power point instead of initiating. Thanks for clarification. What's the karma cost we settled on for buying power points? I seem to recall we reduced it from 20, though that may just be wishful thinking on my part.

I was talking about first aid.  Agree you can't heal the wounds on whoever you sucked them from.  The question is whether you can do first aid on the adept (given that they were technically harmed rather than healed.  If first aid is allowed, it essentially allows you to suck away two light wounds for free assuming someone's available to do first aid that's semi-competent.  On the other hand, that sucks up time and there's a chance of it failing.  So I could go either way.  BB, what's your ruling?

Don't see a reason for other limiting.

Gliding gives the ability to run on water and walk on fragile branches.  Traceless walk doesn't.  It's very much a "House of Flying Daggers" thing.  Hard to see much practical use, but it's a cool effect.

For PS, 1 source of armor allows a level 1 skill to bypass heavy military armor, so that's a bit excessive.  Could just double the effect.  2 points of armor for .75, 6 points of armor for 2.25.  Boosting strength by 6 is pretty costly and tricky otherwise, so it would still be useful.  And it's expensive enough to be worth it I think.

I know there was a post somewhere that BB talked about reducing it from 20 to 10.  Though that seems somewhat low to me.  To go the initiation route it's going to cost you 18 just for your first level unless you do an ordeal and/or have a group.

Suggested common species for SURGE
**Mammals**
Felidae
Edges=== Animal Pelage (Cammo), Bicardiac, Claws, Dermal Deposits,  Climate Adaptation, Fangs,  Feline Eyes, HiFreq Hearing, Imp Scent, Tail (balance), Satyr Legs, Adrenal Surge, Double Jointed, Lightning Ref
Flaws=== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Berserker, Pointed Ears, Vestigial Tail, Allergy (catnip), Addiction (catnip)

Canids
Edges=== Bicardiac, Claws, Dermal Deposits,  Climate Adaptation, Fangs,  Feline Eyes (night vision trait), HiFreq Hearing, Imp Scent, Imp Taste, Tail (balance),  Nasty Vibe,  Ogre Stomach, Disease Resist, Satyr Legs, Adrenal Surge, Toughness
Flaws=== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Berserker, Pointed Ears, Vestigial Tail, Color Blind

Elephant
Edges=== Dermal Deposits,  Dermal Alterations (rhino), Fangs (tusks), LoFreq Hearing,  Ogre Stomach,  Shiva Arms (if India-indigenous),  Proboscis, Toughness
Flaws=== Altered Skin Color, Tusks, Vestigial Tail

Ursine
Edges=== Animal Pelage (cold), Claws, Dermal Deposits,  Climate Adaptation,  Dermal Alterations (rhino, blubber), Fangs,  Nasty Vibe,  Ogre Stomach, Adrenal Surge, HiPain Tol, Quick Healer, Toughness
Flaws=== Altered Skin Color, Berserker, Tusks

Aquatic
Edges=== Animal Pelage (cold), Biosonar,  Climate Adaptation,  Dermal Alterations (blubber), Fangs,  Feline Eyes (night vision trait), Water Sprite trait, HiFreq Hearing, Tail (paddle, prehensile), LoFreq Hearing
Flaws=== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Vestigial Tail

Bats
Edges=== Biosonar, Fangs,  Feline Eyes, HiFreq Hearing, Natural Venom (injection, blood thinner)
Flaws=== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Pointed Ears

Hominids
Edges=== Elongated Limbs, Tail (prehensile), Monkey Paws,  Shiva Arms (if India-indigenous)
Flaws=== Altered Skin Color, Berserker, Vestigial Tail, Low Pain Tol

Other common species for SURGE
Avians
Edges==== 360 degree eyesight, Beak, Bone Spikes (Rooster spurs, particularly), Claws, Climate Adaptation,  Feline Eyes, HiFreq Hearing, Ogre Stomach, Disease Resist, Satyr Legs, Lightning Ref, Photographic Mem, Sense of Direction
Flaws==== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Feathers, Pointed Ears (none visible)

Piscine
Edges==== 360 degree eyesight, Dermal Alterations (rhino), Fangs,  Feline Eyes, Gills, Imp Scent, Tail (paddle)
Flaws==== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Berserker, Bioluminescence, Scales, Tusks, Vestigial Tail

Insectoid/arachnid
Edges==== 360 degree eyesight, Claws, Dermal Deposits,  Climate Adaptation,  Corrosive Spit,  Dermal Alterations (Barkskin, Rhino), Fangs (mandibles), Imp Scent,  Natural Venom (injection, ingestion),  Ogre Stomach,  Shiva Arms (1 or 2 pairs), Proboscis, Disease Resist, Tox Resist, Satyr Legs, Thermo Vision (or UV), Double Jointed, Lightning Ref, Nat Immunity
Flaws==== Altered Eye Color (compound), Altered Skin Color, Bioluminescence, Tusks (mandibles), Insectoid Features

Reptiles & Amphibians
Edges==== 360 degree eyesight, Claws, Dermal Deposits,  Dynamic Coloration,  Climate Adaptation,  Corrosive Spit,  Dermal Alterations (Rhino), Fangs,  Frog Tongue, Water Sprite trait, Tail (prehensile), Monkey Paws,  Natural Venom (Injection, touch, ingestion),  Setae,  Ogre Stomach, Disease Resist, Tox Resist, Thermo Vision, Double Jointed, HiPain Tol, Lightning Ref, Nat Immunity, Astral Chameleon
Flaws==== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Berserker, Bioluminescence, Dual Natured, Scales, Tusks, Vestigial Tail

Cryptozoological specimens
Angel
Edges==== Astral Sight,  Arcane Arrester,  Glammer, Nasty Vibe,  Shiva Arms
Flaws==== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Bioluminescence, Critter Spook, Dual Natured, Feathers, Pointed Ears, Neoteny, astral impressions, spirit bane, Third Eye

Bigfoot
Edges==== Animal Pelage (Cammo),  Climate Adaptation,  Ogre Stomach, Astral Chameleon, Poor Link
Flaws==== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Dual Natured

Dracoforms
Edges==== Astral Sight,  Arcane Arrester, Claws, Dermal Deposits,  Dermal Alterations (Dragon), Fangs,  Feline Eyes, Tail (Balance, Thagomizer),  Nasty Vibe,  Ogre Stomach, Magic Resist, Poor Link, Spirit Affinity
Flaws==== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Berserker, Bioluminescence, Critter Spook, Dual Natured, Pointed Ears (none visible), Scales, Vestigial Tail, astral impressions, spirit bane

Fey
Edges==== Astral Sight,  Arcane Arrester,  Dynamic Coloration,  Climate Adaptation, Fangs, Feline Eyes,  Glammer, Tail (Prehensile),  Nasty Vibe,  Shiva Arms, Satyr Legs, Astral Chameleon, Magic Resist, Poor Link, Spirit Affinity
Flaws==== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Astral Hazing, Berserker, Bioluminescence, Bio-rejection, Chronic Osteocuspus (esp blood elves), Critter Spook, Cyclopean Eye, Dual Natured, Feathers, Pointed Ears, Third Eye (oni, Fomori), Vestigial Tail, Neoteny, Allergy (cold iron, pollution, etc), astral impressions, spirit bane

Troll (stone)
Edges==== Dermal Deposits,  Dermal Alterations (Granite, Barkskin, Rhino), Fangs (tusks), Goblinization, Elongated Limbs,  Nasty Vibe,  Ogre Stomach, HiPain Tol, Toughness
Flaws==== Altered Eye Color, Altered Skin Color, Critter Spook, Cyclopean Eye, Chronic Osteocuspus, Pointed Ears (none visible), Slow Healer, Third Eye (oni, fomori), Tusks, Allergy (sunlight)

Manticore
Edges==== Claws,  Dermal Alterations (rhino, quills), Fangs, Tail (thagomizer, Prehensile),  Natural Venom (injection),  Nasty Vibe,  Ogre Stomach
Flaws==== Altered Skin Color, Berserker, Critter Spook, Feathers, Scales, Vestigial Tail

@FF
That's what I said. If we assume it's a magical burn, then you can't heal it period.

Traceless walk lets you run on branches. You can run across a roll of toilet paper suspended between skyscrapers.

Question on the "Expert Chipjack Driver" -- if I have a Multislot Chipjack (4), which is a single jack with four slots for chips, and I wanted access to a Task Pool for all four slots, would I need four separate Expert Chipjack Drivers, or just one?

I imagine just one.

(Do note, the errata caps the rating of the CED to a maximum of 3.)

Also, according to the standard rules, there's nothing to prevent spellcasters from getting all spells that exist as Exclusive spells (force 2) and as Fetish spells (force 1) at no cost.

Personally I like this. Casting as Exclusive or while using a Fetish is fairly inconvenient, and the low Force means you must be creative in how you choose to use them. Also, it makes spellcasters more interesting--instead of always using the same 2 or 3 spells, you have a huge repertoire of options and can do some neat little tricks (a Force 1 combat spell to kill a swarm of gnats, a Force 2 invisibility to impress gullible children, a Force 2 healing spell to save a comrade in an emergency...) without being massively overpowered.

I like the idea of a spellcaster being able to do some "innate" magic, just because of having the ability to use magic. And it doesn't make sense to me that a spellcaster has a few extremely powerful Force 6 spells, and nothing else.

Of course, another view is that spellcasters are already extremely potent, adding options (even low-powered options) does give them more power, and depending on your view of magic, it might not make sense for someone with magic ability and Sorcery skill to have access to magic that hasn't been studied in-depth...

Thoughts?

If you have a handful of 'free' spells like that, I'm not going to fuss. All the character types have little advantages like that. However, if I look at your character sheet and there's a list of twenty or thirty level 3 exclusive fetish spells, I will kill your character.

I'm looking at how armor works with Silent Delayed Damage and Distance Strike.  Have done some chatting with BB, but figured I should open it up and get the discussion happening here:

When doing "Silent" delayed damage, all you have to do is touch the target.  Touch is interpreted as "physical contact" but doesn't need to be bare skin.  So a hand shake, shoulders brushing past each other, etc. would work.  We've determined that damage is applied based on the armor the target is wearing at the time the charge is placed rather than when it goes off, but not on whether armor applies if you apply a touch attack to bare skin or some other lightly armored area.  (Armor definitely applies for ranged strike.)

There are multiple scenarios, so let me reflect how I think they should work, based on discussion so far:

1. Non-silent, direct contact
- Normal unarmed attack.  Reduced modifier for "touch only" (probably -2), can call shot for +4 damage, increase damage level or (at Deadly) stage up power.  Full armor reduces attack, target can dodge

2. Silent, direct contact
- Normal unarmed attack roll for damage only.  Touch is automatic unless you have to battle guards to get to the person or something.  Possibly a stealth roll to see if the touch goes unnoted.  Target for stealth for touching non-armor may be increased at GM's discression.  Damage bypasses armor if non-armored portion is touched.  Target can't dodge.  Can't do "called shot"

3. Non-silent, ranged attack
- Normal unarmed combat attack.  Can call short for +4 damage, increase damage level or (at Deadly) stage up power.  Full armor reduces attack, target can dodge

4. Silent, ranged attack
- Normal unarmed combat attack for damage only.  Can call shot for +4 damage, increase damage level or (at Deadly) stage up power.  Full armor reduces attack, target can't dodge


Alternative is we could make the rules the same across the board, so for #2 you can call shot, get -2 for touch attack and armor takes effect.

Does the Cerebreal Booster bioware (level 2), which adds +1 task pool, stack with the Encephalon (max. +2 task pool for knowsofts) or Chipjack Expert Driver (max. +3 task pool for skillsofts)? Also, do the Encephalon and Chipjack Expert Driver stack their task pool bonuses for knowsofts?

Are there any other sources for Task Pool?

unless the rules say otherwise i assume they stack.

not awware of any other task pool ware.

Against being able to call shots with ranged strike, but that's because I'm a spoilsport.

With non-silent ranged strike?  Why?

Only other source of Task Pool I can find in my search of books is to be a drone controlled by the rogue AI in the Renraku Archology :>

What is the rule for buying Karma? I saw Firefox's post about purchasing Karma with Nuyen during character generation, but how much does it cost? (I think the rules say 1K but that seems cheap--with 1M maximum starting funds converted 100% to Karma you'd start with 1000 Karma, and a Physical Adept or Shaman or Mage with 1000 Karma at the start is too horrible to contemplate).

I purchased spell points, not karma.

Spell points cost 25K Nuyen each, correct?

So, no way to purchase Karma during character generation?

Not under standard character creation, unless the GM is feeling really nice.

Ranged STRK - Mostly the issue I take with it is how I see combat turning out real quick. Since Shadowrun doesn't take Attacks of Opportunity, a physad with ranged strk will stay 6m away. Even if they are fighting against an exceptional individual (QUI6) people can call-shot punch and backpedal to stay permanently out of range. It would indeed be a head-popping good time.
Personal issues aside, it's turning your powered up melee into an ultra-short range gun for a high power-point cost. I do not like it, but I cannot give a legitimate argument as to why it should not be thus.

You can use spell points for binding, in which case they're sort of a karma substitute.  However, my understanding is that we're carrying forward karma and cash value from prior characters, so you should have some karma to spend "post-gen" prior to the game.

What Firefox said.

Called shots can either stage up damage or result in a particular special effect. There's no 'called shot to avoid armor' unless you're using a spray weapon trying to get DMSO on someone. SO with that in mind, I'm fine with called shots. You can punch the guy's gun out of his hand, or make a tougher shot hoping to score extra damage if you want.

Are we ok with called shots to cause secondary effects? Called shot - kick to the groin!
Ah, Fallout. Fond memories.

Yes. Sometimes you'll want to do special stuff like shoot the remote detonator out of the villain's hand (so you can detonate it yourself), break the radio antenna, or kick a dude in the nads. That's what called shot is for.

+1 damage level is more or less equivalent to ignoring 2 points of armor

+1 damage is equivalent to two successes, but two successes is normally equivalent to increasing the TN by 1 (whereas called shot increases by 4). Called shots are rarely worthwhile for melee combat.

I used to do called shots all the time when rolling a dice pool of 14 or 16 or something. With an HMG.

"What are you targetting?"

"His head."

"With a heavy machine gun?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Has anyone at the table seen what happens when you introduce a watermelon and Gallagher?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:11, Wed 19 Sept 2012.

There truly is no kill like overkill.

Year of the Comet

The basic rule is that everyone rolls an Essence test, target number 12 (+1/2 Magic rating, +2 if metahuman or +3 if metavariant, +4 if Albino, +other mods for other things).
(note: Magician's Way Adepts, if that's what FF was talking about re: being a mage and an adept, still only have a Magic Attr of 6, they just "split" it differently)
Then take 1d6+2 negative SURGE points, 1d6+2 positive SURGE traits karma cost 5 to reroll either, and the second roll must be used.
Then, depending on the GM's preference, the players may either choose their own traits (yes, it is there in the book), or roll for random SURGE effects.

I propose an alternative. You may either roll to take random SURGE, or buy the SURGE trait as outlined above with the numbers smudged. In either case, you are either given a random animal archetype (outlined above) or choose one. After this point, you may only purchase traits that are relevant to that archetype (or make ones with the assistance of BB). We can make more animals, those were just the only ones I could think of.

This would shorten the number of cat-people-with-gills that the original style goes for.

New alterations can be chosen later on as long as they are relevant to your archetype, and bought as Edges with twice their value in Good Karma. Additionally SURGE related flaws give only their point value in Good Karma which can be spent normally. Both of these represent the "latent" traits that take a longer to manifest. The massive systemic changes that are also associated with the massive "too-big-to-afford" costs.

SR4E only gives the option of buying the SURGE trait (again, above), and all players with this background can later buy SURGE traits like any other edges and flaws.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:29, Thu 20 Sept 2012.

Initiates get extra magic points, so my target would be 18.  I guess still theoretically possible though.  Agree that surge changes should either be related to an archetype or cost more.

I have no real desire to be surged but am willing to make the roll if we decide to go random.

MAGIC

Combat spells must be learned at a particular damage level, so for instance, Powerbolt is now Power Dart (L), Power Missile (M), Power Bolt (S). Similarly, Treat and Heal spells are learned at a particular health level (L/M/S/D).

There are no physical adepts. That character class has been replaced with Rockers.


RACES

All of the current races exist, however they have it pretty rough. All non-humans must take a mild allergy flaw to one of the following substances: silver, plastic, sunlight, iron without the corresponding character points. (Strictly speaking, being a metahuman should cost as many points as being a full mage, and the allergy should be randomly rolled to determine substance and severity, but we're not going there.)

EQUIPMENT

I've updated the equipment lists (mostly) to 2050. Some exceptions still in place. If it's not on the list, you can ask, but most likely it isn't available yet.

Not knowing the rules on Rockers, I would much rather we have Physads as an option. That said, if you post what the Rocker archetype *does*, I might modify my character concept a little.

The rocker plays a musical instrument, normally at a public locale, and inspires all of the people with the sound of his (or her) rock music. It's a good way to get famous and make a lot of money (or more likely, nurture an ongoing drug addiction until you die, alone and forgotten. But I'm sure that won't happen to you; you're a PC!)

I love the rocker archetype. I'm considering giving bonus karma to everyone who plays a rocker.

BTW, I read through the equipment list doc you sent my way a couple days ago. None of the equipment I was planning on getting was missing. So... there's that.

On the plus side, I now know exactly how much kinky sexual favors cost in SR, so there's that.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:56, Thu 16 Jan 2014.

So a question for our other oldbies... When I read through the SR1 book, I notice physical adepts aren't added until Grimoire (which I don't have). So:

1) how soon into SR1 were adepts playable character types?
2) How similar did they look to SR3 adepts?
3) Do we care enough to only introduce adepts later in play?

Please define "all" the races. By this, do you mean the std book races, or are we talking about the extended races, giants and satyrs oh my!



Also, I want to state, I am prepared to hide behind the pile of dead bar...I mean rockers.

I think you should allow adepts.  I only have access to the 2nd ed grimoire, they are part of the main book by then, but if you limit them then if someone wants to play one they have to make a new character when they become available.

All races includes all races, including everything in the 3rd edition companion. I'd be willing to roll with Shifter rules, but I'll use 2nd edition for that and make some other appropriate tweaks.

Still don't know what to do with this so I'm moving it here.


BB notes:  Firefox has been very good to compile these rules, but they are very complex.  I would prefer something simpler, and am considering how best to approach it.  For the time being, I will default to these rules if it seems appropriate and plot-important.

I've been doing some more thinking about element resistance tests (e.g. do your grenades blow up when you get engulfed by a fire elemental).  Unfortunately if we want to make things somewhat realistic, it's going to be very hard to come up with a single rating for a given material that applies to all types of element attacks.  What I'd therefore suggest doing is coming up with a generic set of categories reflecting "vulnerability" of that substance to a given element.  The GM makes a determination of how "vulnerable" a substance is to the related element.  For example, an open jar of napalm would be quite vulnerable to fire, but pretty much invulnerable to acid.

Vulnerability scale would be "severe", "serious", "moderate", "mild", and "invulnerable".  The scale would work as follows:
- damage level experienced by the substance would need to be at least L for severe, M for serious, S for moderate and D for mild to have any danger of ill effects.
- For each damage level above the minimum, there's a +1 chance of ill effects happening.  For example, deadly damage to something with a severe vulnerability would have a +3 modifier.
- Base target number would be the power of the attack divided by 5.
- Finally, there's a +1 modifier for each turn the substance is exposed, including the first turn.
- A negative modifier is applied for "effective armor", such as 1/2 impact for fire.  Only content beneath armor is protected by armor.  E.g. Grenades strapped to an armored vest get no benefit from the armor.
- Damage level and power is based on the effective damage after dodge roll but before armor is applied.

Summary:
Roll 2D6 against (Power/2) + number of turns exposed (including this one) + 1 per damage level above minimum based on vulnerability - effective armor.

The roll is made once per character per attack, with the result determining what types of items get damaged.

Suggested vulnerabilities:



Some examples:
A character is carrying a couple of regular grenades, a predator loaded with a clip of regular ammo, clip of standard EX ammo and a 5/3 armored jacket.  They're also wearing a tranceiver with the radio clipped to their hip pocket.

On round 1, the character is hit for 4 net successes by a force 6 fire elemental for a total of 6D.  That means that the targets are as follows:
5 for the EX to go off
4 for the ammo in the gun and the grenade to go off
3 for the ballistic armor to melt
2 for the gun to melt (which doesn't really matter because if the bullets in the gun go off, the gun is fragged anyhow)

On round 2, the elemental engulfs the character, doing 6M.  That means:
Gun and ballistic armor are safe
4 for EX to go off (6/2 = 1 + 1 for Moderate dmg + 2 turns of fire damage)
3 for the ammo and the grenade to go off

On round 3, provided the character stays engulfed, the chances would be:
5 for Ex
4 for ammo and grenade

Another character (same equipment) is hit by a force 6 D lightning spell with 4 successes.  (The mage is hurting, but so is the character :>)  Total damage is 10D.  The character lucks out and with their armor and body resistance manages to survive.  Targets would be as follows:
4 for the radio
3 for the fire arm and ballistic

In practice the probabilities are probably lower than they should be.  However, given that multiple characters can be impacted and we don't want everyone to be losing equipment left right and center, this is probably the best we can do.  If people think it's still two high, we could make it 3d6 instead of 2d6.

So is the number next to the equipment the target number or the number of dice rolled?

Can you quote the section you have questions about?

In reply to Papa Bear (msg # 54):

there are pretty much already rules for this that work well enough.  page 196 SR3 under the elemental manipulation spells. simply apply the same rules for elementals if appropriate.

no need for new, excessive and confusing rules

This particular set of rules were proposed after an OOC discussion that treating all elemental effects the same against all objects didn't make much sense and that object resistance rating had very little to do with likely impact.  Dynamite would have a target of 8, while soil would have a target of 3 to have nasty stuff happen from a fireball - didn't make a lot of sense.  Agree that what we came up with (more than just my own contribution) was a little overly complex.  I look at it more as a listing of things to take into account and a starting point for the GM to decide what happens if they decide it would be interesting for something to happen.

Honestly I don't really care how complicated the rules get as long as everyone enjoys themselves and the rules run smoothly.  All game systems have rules that just don't make sense.....lol

In your example, you have a 5 for EX explosive rounds, and a 4 for grenades. Is that number 5d6 and 4d6 (resp) against a TN of X, or is that Xd6 vs a TN of 5 and 4 (resp)?

Proposed rule was roll 2d6 and you want above the specified number.  So EX rounds would go off a bit easier than the grenades.

Makes a lot more sense now, thank you.

I hate the Martial Arts maneuvers because I never have a good answer for them. If there were maneuvers for other combat skills like firearms, or at LEAST other melee weapons I'd probably go for them, but no one has written those up yet. But they are also pretty cool.

Anyway, here's a post from the Rules thread we never settled on anything, but it's good information so I don't want to delete it.

Existing martial arts styles have 9 maneuvers.  Here are some ways I would build a melee martial arts style...

Melee weapon martial arts:

Optimal maneuvers for both offense and defense:
- Blind Fighting (fighting against invisible enemies or in low visibility)
- Ground Fighting (fewer penalties when prone)
- Herding (only maneuver that allows you to push back or lead an enemy somewhere)
- Whirling (significantly reduces massive penalties when facing multiple enemies)

Optimal offensive maneuvers:
- Full Offense (you get hit more, but your damage code goes up one level)
- Multi-Strike (you can attempt to hit multiple enemies with fewer penalties)
- Zoning (successful attack does no damage, but *next* attack is done at a TN bonus, which makes it easier to stage up and deal significant damage for a final blow)

Additions for an offensive martial style (choose two to complete the offensive style):
- Vicious Blow (for weapons that primarily use stun damage, such as staves and clubs, can change damage to physical but much more difficult to stage up damage)
- Kick Attack (attack with +1 reach, but you're more likely to get hit)
- Throw (knock down enemies by throwing them)
- Sweep (knock down enemies by tripping them)

Optimal defensive style maneuvers:
- Close Combat (all reach bonuses/penalties negated, but your attacks are less powerful)
- Disorient (stack up to an 8 TN penalty on an enemy's chance to do anything)
- Evasion (get a bonus for dodging when using "full defense")
- Kip Up (Roll against Quickness(6) to stand up as a free action)

(to round out the defensive style, I'd take any two of the offensive maneuvers listed)

------

Two other maneuvers I'd probably skip:

Focus Strength (+1 power to a single attack; requires a complex action to prepare the maneuver before the attack)

Focus Will (+2 to Willpower for a contest of wills versus spirits/elementals/etc.; requires a complex action to prepare the maneuver before the attack)

Giving up a complex action to prepare one of these is a pretty severe restriction (you can either attack, or do one of these and get a minimal benefit to a single attack in the future).  However, they are able to be done before combat starts, getting you an extra bonus above and beyond whichever maneuvers you're using when you fight.  Also, an appropriate martial arts style could allow these with only a Simple Action to prepare, making them more usable during combat.

------

Assigning appropriate advantages and disadvantages...I'm not sure.  I can think about existing maneuvers because I can read what they do.  Pulling rules-based advantages and disadvantages out of thin air is more difficult, because I don't know what would be more or less powerful.

If you wanted to make Martial Arts and guns go together directly, stat up a club for pistol-whipping, and a polearm for longarm smack-people-ing. You can make an equivalency for Close Combat in reducing the penalty for firing in melee (if there is one, I forget), a Whirling-equivalent for multi-targeting, etc. It can be done, it's just tough.

Usually martial arts get 2 points, usually a +1d or -1TN bonus for specific maneuvers (combat maneuvers, called shots, or combat goals such as subdual). The option of maneuver training for a weapon, is also worth a point each. Argument could be made that combining two maneuvers is also an equivalent bonus, I disagree; could also reduce the drawbacks of some maneuvers.
The drawback to a style is usually a -1d or +1TN that is circumstantial (usually called shot, full defense, offense, or subdual). Some martial arts have +1/-1 (making it +3/-2), Ninjitsu has +5/-4. The points vary a little, but that seems to be the general rule. Every two points of drawback is weighted as one point of Flaw (as in "edges and flaws")

As far as the maneuvers themselves go, I file them by equivalency.
Blind Fighting/Close Combat/Kick Attack - to eliminate an advantage or take away a disadvantage.
Whirling/Multi-Strike/Evasion - to survive longer against a superior or more numerous enemy
Ground Fighting/Kip-up* - These are either survival or advantage concepts
Herding/Throw/Sweep - to take advantage of your terrain, and turn it against your opponent
Zoning/Disorient - to establish dominance in a longer engagement, to work in tandem with an ally against an outnumbered (but dangerous) enemy.
Full Offense/Vicious Blow - to end an engagement as quickly and brutally as possible

*because Kip-up is a free action, which means you can do it whenever you want to

Focus Will and Focus Strength really are kinda crud. I assume that they are supposed to be used with Tai Chi Chuan, whose major advantage is "makes it a Simple action each instead of a Complex one" (which can also be read as "makes these maneuvers worth a fart").

I do already spend way too long on this game. I am happy to review and use maneuvers if someone else goes through the work of designing them, but I don't have the luxury of doing it myself.

I can if you want me to. It will be back-burner stuff, since I still have three other things on my list right now.

I don't care. But if you write them, they'll be used.

So, the roughest of the rough draft:
Weapon Expertise
Weapon Expertise is treated as a Knowledge Skill with the relevant attribute equal to the weapon skill it is linked to. There are five Weapon Expertise skills in total: Pistol, SMG, Shotguns, Rifles, and Heavy Weapons.
Weapon Expertise allows you to purchase Expertise Methods, or simply "Methods" that are intended to change the way you fight and not replace existing rules. In effect, none of these rules directly change damage codes, range values, or inherently make existing equipment moot, but they give greater tactical options instead. You can only learn as many Methods as you have points in a given Weapon Expertise, and they do not carry from one weapon category to another (with the exception of CQC Expert, Laser Blind, and Quick Fingers).

Pistols: Akimbo, Both Barrels, (Improved) Quickdraw, Trigger Discipline
SMG: Akimbo, Quickdraw, Trigger Discipline
Shotguns: Both Barrels, CQC Expert, Trigger Discipline
Rifles: CQC Expert, Focus Fire, Spotter, Trigger Discipline
Heavy Weapons: CQC Expert, Focus Fire, Spotter
All Weapon Expertise categories have access to Better Bracing, Fast Aim, Laser Blind, Quick Fingers, Return Fire

Akimbo - By spending a Complex Action, fire two Single Shot weapons as a Burst-2, two Semi-Automatics as a Burst-4 (or as a Simple Action Burst-2), or two Burst-fire weapons as Full Auto-12. This only applies to weapons of the same or similar size categories (you do not get the full bonus from a Heavy Pistol and a Holdout).

Better Bracing - +1 natural Recoil Compensation, +2 with two one-handed weapons.

Both Barrels - Roll a Quickness (4) test as a free action. With a success, you may treat a Single Shot weapon as Semi Automatic for one turn as long as you do not have to reload it between shots.

CQC Expert - If a bayonet strikes your target in melee, you may pull the trigger as a free action to fire one bullet. Use the melee attack's test to modify the damage as normal.

Fast Aim - As a Simple Action, roll Weapon Expertise as an attack. Every 2 net successes is counted as a +1 Aim bonus on your next attack against that target (minimum +1)

Focus Fire - You use Tracer rounds to highlight targets for your teammates. Allies gain 1/2 the bonus you get from tracer fire on attacks against that target.

Laser Blind - Requires a laser sight in your off hand or mounted to your weapon as normal. Roll an attack against a single target ignoring range penalties. That target suffers Glare penalties to all actions until the end of your next turn.

Quickdraw - You can now quickdraw this weapon as if it were a pistol following normal rules. This can be taken twice (once with Pistols) to gain a -2 to TN for quickdrawing, cumulative with a quickdraw holster.

Quick Fingers - As a Simple Action roll a Quickness (4) test to reload in one Simple Action instead of two. Characters with Smartlinks and modified weapons can attempt this once per turn as a Free Action.

Return Fire - -2 TN for firing blind or through cover

Spotter - As a Complex Action you may roll Weapon Expertise plus Physics as an attack against one target. Every two successes applies a +1 Aim modifier to an adjacent (or battle-tac linked) ally up to the next range category.

Trigger Discipline - On an attack that misses neither because of an enemy using Combat Pool to dodge or a critical failure, roll 1d6 vs a TN equal to 8- your Weapon Expertise skill. A success means that you did not fire the round. This applies only to SS or SA attacks.


If a weapon is used in melee as an improvised bludgeon, it is treated as a Club (Pistols, SMGs; Reach 0 STR+1 M Stun) or a Polearm (Shotguns, Rifles, Heavy Weapons; Reach 0 STR+2 M Stun for the butt, Reach 1 STR+1M Stun if held by the barrel) per normal rules as modified by martial arts and the Bayonet attachment. Ranged weapons used as a bludgeon are damaged on an attack roll that is more than half 1's, and broken on a critical failure. Weapons can be hardened for use in melee combat by paying 20% of the weapon's value or 600 nuyen (whichever is higher), weapons hardened for combat are only ever damaged on a critical failure (and add +1 to the Power of melee strikes).