[Bull]

Ok gang, we have the official release for Season 5's prep files.  The FAQ has been tweaked a little since the v0.99 release, adding in a few clarifications people have requested.  The Contacts list is about the same, just all prettied up.  The Calendar has been updated to a new style (though remains about the same as Seasons 3 and 4), and the Transfer Log to prep for Prime Missions is now available.

You can grab these on DriveThruRPG or on the Battleshop.

There's also a sneak peek of the cover art for SRM 5A-01: Chasin' the Wind over on the SR Missions Facebook page.

[tequila]

Nice.  Thanks for getting all this together!

[Elektrycerze3]

The link doesn't work for me( I get the "Your order has no items!" message. Found the thing myself though.

[FastJack]

Updated the links in Bull's post.

[Elektrycerze3]

Thanks!

BtW, Simon Andrews misses his Initiative stat.

[tequila]

Nah, he just goes whenever he wants.

[ZeConster]

I see the Max Starting Loyalty for some contacts still allows you to exceed the core rulebook's 7-Karma limit - bug or feature?

[Michael Chandra]

"Players may purchase normal, alpha, and used cyberware at character creation, but not beta or deltaware." <-- No mention of bioware present.

I see Unsteady Hands was added.

I like the way it says anything without explicit expiration date requires buying hits. Interesting solution for Binding by the way.

[All4BigGuns]

On the Incompetent quality, Biotech should not be on that list of "questionable" choices, as it is definitely one that is potentially useful to any character since First Aid is a part of it.

[The Masked Ferret]

On the Incompetent quality, Biotech should not be on that list of "questionable" choices, as it is definitely one that is potentially useful to any character since First Aid is a part of it.

I would have agreed with this until it was pointed out to me that your ranks in first aid cap the number of boxes you can heal, so there is no real benefit over a medkit until you put 3 or 4 points in. I say that was the right call.

Outdoors includes navigation, which can be useful in a city, but I see what he is saying and why they are banned as qualities.

[ZeConster]

I would have agreed with this until it was pointed out to me that your ranks in first aid cap the number of boxes you can heal, so there is no real benefit over a medkit until you put 3 or 4 points in. I say that was the right call.

Really? Where in the rules is that?

A4BG, since you can buy an R6 medkit for 1500¥ and have it roll 12 dice with a limit of 6 in wireless mode, Biotech seems questionable to me if it's just for First Aid.

[Fedifensor]

Can I buy (fill in the blank)?
If the gear is legally available (has no Availability rating), you can buy it from your local Stuffer Shack, Weapons World, or Kong-Walmart at any time, provided you have the available nuyen. Gear with an Availability rating isn’t as readily available, and as such you need to go looking for it, or have your contacts go looking for it.
If you go looking for a piece of gear, use the standard Availability Test rules (see p. 418, SR5) and mark off the appropriate amount of time on your Missions Calendar. Note that you can only search for one item at a time, as this represents you physically going out and looking for the item, spending time making phone calls, talking with people, buying them drinks, etc.
If you wish to have contacts purchase additional items during a single downtime, use the standard rules for determining what items they can find, and how long it takes (see p. 418, SR5). Since you won’t always know the skills and attributes of all your contacts, all contacts instead use their Loyalty instead of Charisma attribute and Connection in place of their Negotiation skill for the Availability test.
You cannot buy used gear.

So, does this mean character-bought contacts are effectively useless for buying gear with an Availability of 8+?  The section on Black Market Goods describes it as an opposed test of Negotiation (which is Connection) + Charisma (which is Loyalty) versus the item's availability rating.  The maximum amount of dice a starting contact can have is 7 (6 Loyalty and 1 Connection, 1 Loyalty and 6 Connection, or something in the middle).  This means they can only buy 1 hit, while an Availability 8 item gets 2 hits. 

Basically, unless you're a troll with the social grace of a rabid wolverine, it's going to be easier and cheaper to ignore your contacts and search for the item yourself...or go to another player's face character and bribe him to get the items for you.  I could see an optimized face (20 dice is possible at character creation) swimming in Nuyen from purchasing items for others and charging a small premium.

[Michael Chandra]

Contacts also receive their Connection in bonus dice on Negotiation tests according to the Core book. So basically they have Connectionx2+Loyalty. This means that with 5/2 contacts, anything up to Availability 15 is an option and if you get one to 5/4 after a few Missions you can pay 50% extra for everything below 20.

[Fedifensor]

It might be good to put that in the FAQ, then.  Also, an example would be nice...

[All4BigGuns]

I would have agreed with this until it was pointed out to me that your ranks in first aid cap the number of boxes you can heal, so there is no real benefit over a medkit until you put 3 or 4 points in. I say that was the right call.

Really? Where in the rules is that?

A4BG, since you can buy an R6 medkit for 1500¥ and have it roll 12 dice with a limit of 6 in wireless mode, Biotech seems questionable to me if it's just for First Aid.

Negative. You would be completely unable to use the skill at all, even with the med kit.