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.