Shadowrun 4e newbie questions

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:56 pm

Well, technically, you would have to play a child to be able to use it.
Seeing how YOUR CHARACTERS PARENTS would have to have had the bio/gene-ware to be able to pass it down to you . .

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:19 pm

Stahlseele wrote:Well, technically, you would have to play a child to be able to use it.
Seeing how YOUR CHARACTERS PARENTS would have to have had the bio/gene-ware to be able to pass it down to you . .

That is not actually how transgenics works.

-Username17

Korwin · Post by **Korwin** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:23 pm

Stahlseele wrote:Well, technically, you would have to play a child to be able to use it.
Seeing how YOUR CHARACTERS PARENTS would have to have had the bio/gene-ware to be able to pass it down to you . .

Huh? Not shure if I get what you are saying.
Firstly even if the text of the qualitiy says you get it from your parents. The Gen-Mod chapter later on talks about Designer-Babys.

But even if we said, your parents need the modification, Gen-Mods are in use for 30 years (according to my german version...).

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:04 pm

FrankTrollman wrote:
Stahlseele wrote:Well, technically, you would have to play a child to be able to use it.
Seeing how YOUR CHARACTERS PARENTS would have to have had the bio/gene-ware to be able to pass it down to you . .
That is not actually how transgenics works.

-Username17

*nods*
i was getting it mixed up with genetic heritage i'm afraid . . my bad <.<;,

Huh? Not shure if I get what you are saying.
Firstly even if the text of the qualitiy says you get it from your parents. The Gen-Mod chapter later on talks about Designer-Babys.

But even if we said, your parents need the modification, Gen-Mods are in use for 30 years (according to my german version...).

30 Years? I had thoght it to be less O.o

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 12:09 am

The first genetically tampered stuff was coming online during Shadowtech, but were too young for player characters to have (save for transplants in the form of bioware). That was the early 50s, so transgenics had to have been being done in the 2040s or earlier.

-Username17

Korwin · Post by **Korwin** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:40 pm

My Char. has an internal Commlink (in his Cyber Hand), in the Commlink is an SIM-Module.

Can I send the Information directly to my brain? Or do I need Cyber-Eyes/Googles/Contact Lenses?

Wesley Street · Post by **Wesley Street** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:56 pm

My understanding is that your character would still need cybereyes/goggles/contact lenses/ear buds to utilize his commlink. Technically it isn't implanted if it's taking a slot in a cyberhand as it doesn't reduce essence.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 4:13 pm

Un the other hand*snickers*, the hand is directly wired into your brain allready . . But that will probably limit your reception to tactile stuff.
Under SR3, you had the option of getting a seperate DNI for 0,1 Essence for exactly this reason . .

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:24 pm

Korwin wrote:My Char. has an internal Commlink (in his Cyber Hand), in the Commlink is an SIM-Module.

Can I send the Information directly to my brain? Or do I need Cyber-Eyes/Googles/Contact Lenses?

With "Ends of The Matrix" rules: Yes you can send info straight into your brain, but it'll be unencrypted. Also, because your commlink is providing the wireless DNI you'll be vulnerable to a Seize Network action from just about anywhere. You probably want a trode net or nanopaste so that you can send encrypted info to that up on your head, and then they'll provide the DNI with a very low signal rating. It'll be messed up by jamming (and then your commlink will have to route around them), but as long as you're not being jammed then your network will be pretty safe against listening and against seizing. Additionally, information being sent straight into your brain is disorienting even though it's possible. You probably want your matrix info routed through your Displaylink enabled eyeware (visual) or through your earbuds (auditory).

Without EotM: Yeah, you can still send info straight into your brain wirelessly. How does it work and what are the downsides? I don't know. I also don't care. But I know that it's possible, because that's how a standard SimModule works even when the commlink isn't internal.

Either Way: You'll still want to have goggles and earbuds for the bonuses to perception, smartgun system, vision magnification, alternate vision types, sound filtration, and so on.

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 3:45 pm

Question: Can you gain Metamagic without being an initiate?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 6:08 pm

Lokathor wrote:Question: Can you gain Metamagic without being an initiate?

Yes. Most of the ways of doing that are stupid though.

-Username17

Quantumboost · Post by **Quantumboost** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 6:46 pm

Also note that several Metamagics are based on your "initiate grade", which means that non-initiates gain no benefit from those even if they had them.

Silent Wayfarer · Post by **Silent Wayfarer** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 11:46 am

Didn't want to start a new thread, but I had a few questions.

Can I detect someone hiding with invisibility spells using astral perception (by sensing the mana signature of the spell)?

Can an adept with the Astral Perception power become dual natured and punch the astral body of a mage?

Since the auras of living and magical things show up in astral space without a roll, does this mean I autodetect the presence and general location of potential ambushers through astral perception?

What roll would you use to hide yourself or your traces on the astral?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 12:31 pm

Silent Wayfarer wrote:Didn't want to start a new thread, but I had a few questions.

Can I detect someone hiding with invisibility spells using astral perception (by sensing the mana signature of the spell)?

Yes.

Can an adept with the Astral Perception power become dual natured and punch the astral body of a mage?

Yes.

Since the auras of living and magical things show up in astral space without a roll, does this mean I autodetect the presence and general location of potential ambushers through astral perception?

No. Just because something is physically visible "without a roll" doesn't mean you actually notice it before it gets the drop on you. You still have to make Assensing versus Stealth.

What roll would you use to hide yourself or your traces on the astral?

Infiltration or Shadowing for the most part. Note that if you're projecting, your Logic is used in place of Agility.

-Username17

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Mar 16, 2013 1:12 pm

Also, stuff you can't see through in meatspace are also apaque on the astral.
So if people hide behind the corner of a wall, about 50cm back, you won't be seeing them either.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:23 pm

In SR4, outside of Great Form spirits using levitate and other summoning shenanigans, what is the largest thing you can lift with magic and with what spell?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:37 pm

If you just want to lift things, then Mass Animate or Shape Material would be able to lift everything in a sphere measured with a Magic attribute dependent meters in radius. So your theoretical maximum lift is in the thousands of tonnes.

-Username17

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:48 pm

What if I wanted to raise it into the air? Can Shape Material exert a force on other objects; like shaping a massive metal hand to pick up a rock, or even moving a wooden sphere with a metal item inside?

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:20 pm

that's more or less exactly what animate is supposed to do.
it makes stuff move in ways that stuff would move under the excertion of force.
spherical things roll, articulate things bend and stretch etc.

most GM's would probably call shenanigan if you animated a plywood hand and had it lift a car or something like that . .

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 3:04 am

So, my DM has gone nuts and wants to play 300BP game. Which archetypes it hoses the worst?

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:25 am

A lot depends on any caps they're putting on the chargen subcategories like Attribute and Resource BP allotment. For some dumb ass reason lots of GMs like to reduce the amount you're allowed to spend on attributes in such schemes, which really bones the hell out of humans if the GM is also the type that likes to punish you for having 1s in Body, Will or Strength.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:37 am

He didn't put any caps.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 9:22 am

Mundanes.
Magic users get away with it because they can be versatile through spirits and spells and don't need to spend points on money or on attributes as much.

Magic is simply the most bang for the buck in terms of up front cost.
Same with the Orks being the Master-Race in that regard under SR4.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:53 pm

Well, the thing with arbitrarily lopping BP straight off the top is that it means that most builds are just going to throw all but the most necessary skills overboard straight away. Having a specialization that requires high skill investments--for example, being a hacker at a table where the GM doesn't let high rating Agents do anything and everything*--quickly disqualifies the PC from being well-rounded in a reduced BP scheme, since attributes are just way more generically useful than skills. So, really, generalist Street Samurai come off surprisingly well, since their whole gig is grabbing a couple ones in skills you can't default followed by cramming all the attribute boosters and sense ware they can into their essence score. Magicians also do OK with the right spell load out--there's some really good skills they want, but it's possible for them to work around dump statting physical attributes by turning into an invisible gorilla.

*Honestly, it'd be all but impossible for us to predict how the Matrix based archetypes "work" without playing a few sessions with your GM, and even then things would be subject to change because that's just how life is when a subsystem doesn't make even a lick of sense.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:16 pm

How many Lonestar can you fit in an Ares Citymaster? Are they expected to fire through the armored windows, or do they poor out like it's a clown car?

When you have multiple people using suppressive fire on the same area, do the people in that area suffer a cumulative penalty as they attempt to dodge each set of bullets?

ADDENDUM: Does the scatter on a grenade keep it from being shot into a truck to annihilate the passengers?