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is it too cheezy to add Pain Editor to a mage?

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joe15552

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« on: <01-20-11/1848:51> »
I wanna make a hermetic mage with the restricted gear quality and Pain Editor cultured bioware for an extra die to my drain pool and to make it so he doesn't pass out unless he's dead. Is that cheesy? Of course, I know it would be up to my GM, but I am just wondering what the general consensus is on that combo. I was also thinking of getting Cerebral Booster, but I didn't that that was cheesy because it's pretty common.

FastJack

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« Reply #1 on: <01-20-11/1916:10> »
Not cheesy at all, just remember that you're limiting your Magic attribute by doing so. That's the trade off. ;)

JohnQ

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« Reply #2 on: <01-21-11/1054:24> »
There is always the Focused Concentration Quality as well. There are two levels to it, for one or two dice extra to ward off drain. No Magic loss, but you decrease what other Positive Quality options you have.
Speed is the essence of war. Take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness; travel by unexpected routes and strike him where he has taken no precautions.

~The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Mäx

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« Reply #3 on: <01-21-11/1242:29> »
I wanna make a hermetic mage with the restricted gear quality and Pain Editor cultured bioware for an extra die to my drain pool and to make it so he doesn't pass out unless he's dead. Is that cheesy?
Thats definedly not cheesy, it's just smart use of ware by a mage(who sacrifices some of his magical power for it) and neither is getting cerebral booster 3 for a logic tradition mage.
"An it harm none, do what you will"

Glyph

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« Reply #4 on: <01-21-11/2235:27> »
Yeah.  To me, cheesy is doing things like trying to stack three sets of FFBA together, or argue that the natural immunity quality means you can take a combat drug and get the full effects of it, but no crash.  But I don't see anything inherently cheesy about using the normal rules of the game - there's nothing wrong with taking restricted gear twice to get muscle toner: 4 and move-by-wire: 2 for your street samurai, or getting a mentor spirit that boosts combat spells and a power focus for your mage, etc. 

With the caveat, of course, that characters should abide by any more stringent requirements of the GM (for games set in the Barrens, etc.), and that gear should match a character's background.  But there is nothing inherent  in optimal character creation choices that is "cheesy".

Kontact

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« Reply #5 on: <01-22-11/2311:03> »
Yeah, the tradeoffs are pretty harsh.  With the cost of getting cyber and the restricted gear quality, you can't really afford 6 magic, so getting it installed will drop your softmaxed magic of 5 to 4.

And 4 magic isn't unworkable or anything, but you're going to have to rely on multicasting, which means more restricted gear and more expense in the form of a Force 4 power focus..  Otherwise you'll just end up overcasting, which sort of voids the usefulness of the Pain Editor that set this whole chain up.

Bradd

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« Reply #6 on: <01-23-11/1918:30> »
As long as you're cutting into your Essence, you should look into other cheap augmentations. Folks have already mentioned the cerebral booster. The trauma damper reduces Stun damage by 1 box, which will also help you handle drain. And you can use sensor implants to target spells, so invest in cybereyes, -ear, radar, whatever.

For example:
radar sensor (rating 4): 0.3 Essence, 12,000¥
cybereyes (rating 2) [w/eye lights, flare comp., low-light, thermographic]: 0.3 Essence, 4,250¥
cerebral booster (rating 1): 0.2 Essence, 10,000¥
pain editor: 0.3 Essence, 40,000¥, 5 BP (Restricted Gear PQ)
trauma damper: 0.2 Essence, 40,000¥

Altogether that's 1.0 Essence (bioware + half cyberware) and 106,250¥. If you care more about Logic skills than drain, you could swap out the trauma damper for a rating 2 cerebral booster. That has the same Essence cost but will only set you back 76,250¥.
« Last Edit: <01-23-11/2113:47> by Bradd »

Chance359

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« Reply #7 on: <01-24-11/2337:55> »
I've always been a fan of the Trauma dampener + Platelet factory combo.

Bradd

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« Reply #8 on: <01-24-11/2352:14> »
It's a pretty good combination, although in practice the platelet factories often end up being redundant, especially if you're trying to load up on Stun damage to maximize your pain editors or adrenaline pump. And if you really are taking a mix of Physical and Stun damage, it's important to invest in high pain tolerance, or the wound modifiers will wreck your day.