[Grave Knight]

I have a couple of rules questions, one simple and one not so simple.

Firstly, am I correct to assume that Hose doesn't do any damage other than knockback and potentially inflict the Prone condition? Or does it also deal magic/2 damage on top of this?

Secondly, is exactly how do you use Language skill? Are you suppose to roll it every time someone talks to you? (Right now we're just house ruling knowing a language means you know a language with no funky rolls attached.)

EDIT: Third question, does the Armor Spell stack with worn Armor Gear? Say, for example, if I have a Body 2 and armor that gives me DR 3, and then I cast Armor with 3 Hits would that give me a DR of 8?

[Xenon]

Firstly, am I correct to assume that Hose doesn't do any damage other than knockback and potentially inflict the Prone condition?

Correct.

Secondly, is exactly how do you use Language skill?

Language skills come in 4 ranks.

• "Basic" knowledge in the language
• "Specialist" in the language
• "Expert" at that language
• "Native" language" (you typically only have one at this level)

Language (understanding spoken or written things that you would not understand without knowledge in the language) is resolved with a perception test.

Are you suppose to roll it every time someone talks to you?

Basically, yes.

At the second level you gain a positive dice pool modifier of 2 dice to your perception test.

At the third level you gain a positive dice pool modifier of 3 dice to your perception test.

You don't take tests for your native language.

The thresholds of tests to understand languages is based on the Threshold Guidelines table, p. 36.

Elements such as the volume and speed people use when speaking or the amount of slang/lingo employed can affect the threshold.

does the Armor Spell stack with worn Armor Gear?

Yes.

Say, for example, if I have a Body 2 and armor that gives me DR 3, and then I cast Armor with 3 Hits would that give me a DR of 8?

Yes.

[Michael Chandra]

Keep in mind that Language tests have a specific purpose:

"Knowing how to speak these languages can be the
key to picking up information people are trying
to hide from you, or to building connections with
important contacts."

If it's just normal talking person-to-person, there'd be little point in making you roll. But if the subject gets more advanced/technical, the person is talking really rushed, or you're eavesdropping, it'd definitely involve a Perception test.

[Grave Knight]

Came up with a fourth question. This concerning the Health category of spells. I'm trying to figure out the equation of "Sorcery + Magic (1 - Essence)" is suppose to mean. Like it looks like if I roll 3 hits on Sorcery + Magic on someone with no augmentations the results becomes a -3 and I'm pretty sure that's not right. My other guess is there should be a minus between magic and the parenthesis equation which means get one extra dice against someone with no augmentations, no dice with someone with very light augmentations, and then less and less dice against someone with more and more augments.

[Michael Chandra]

(1-Essence)? You mean (5-Essence)? That's the threshold, not a dicepool modifier.

If I cast Heal on someone with 4 Essence, my threshold is 5-4=1. This means my first hit is wasted. If I cast Heal on someone with 6 Essence, the threshold is negative so I get a bonus hit. And someone with 0.01 Essence (rounded to 0) would mean my first five hits are wasted on the threshold and the rest actually gets to heal.

[Grave Knight]

(1-Essence)? You mean (5-Essence)?

Yes, sorry. I was quoting it by memory and obviously doing a poor job of it.

Okay, so basically it's how many Hits I need to do before I can start getting Net Hits, right? Also, sorry about the question, now that I've read Threshold section it makes a lot more sense, just the equation looks funky without reading about Threshold. Though as a follow up, does that mean casting on someone with no augmentations I already have 1 Net Hit before I even do anything healing, or is Threshold minimum 0?

EDIT: Also, because I think Genesis builder is being funky, the Aptitude quality is giving me an extra dice in the skill it's linked in the builder. Am I correct in believing this is a mistake because as far as I can tell Aptitude doesn't increase the dice pool, just increases the maximum.

[Sir Ludwig]

Grave Knight,

That is correct on Aptitude, it just increase the maximum.  I noticed on the last Genesis update that it started adding the dice.

Also, welcome to the boards.

Regards,
SL

[MercilessMing]

I've already bugged that problem to the Genesis team, the Aptitude bug is only visual thankfully.  You'll notice when you finish out your character that the character sheet will show the correctly computed dice pool.

[Xenon]

Okay, so basically it's how many Hits I need to do before I can start getting Net Hits, right?

Each hit above the threshold will let you heal one box.
Same mechanic is also used by First Aid and Medicine (but the intention is expanded upon a bit more clearly here).

SR6 p. 119 First Aid
Make a Biotech + Logic test against a threshold equal to 5 – target’s Essence. If the target is one-hundred-percent natural, the healer actually gets an automatic hit added to what they roll. This represents the difficulty of repairing someone who has metal parts as well as those with organs not normally found in average people. Hits above the necessary threshold can be used to heal one box of Stun

SR6 p. 136 Heal
When casting this spell, roll Sorcery + Magic with a threshold of (5 – Essence). Heal 1 box of Stun, Physical, or Overflow damage per net hit.


If you get for example 4 hits on a target that is not augmented at all then you will have 5 hits above the threshold (which is 5-6=-1) and you heal 5 boxes ("the healer actually gets an automatic hit added to what they roll").
If you get 4 hits on a target that have 5 essence then you have 4 hits above the threshold (which is 5-5=0) and you heal 4 boxes
If you get 4 hits on a target that have 4 essence then you have 3 hits above the threshold (which is 1) and you heal 3 boxes
If you get 4 hits on a target that have 3 essence then you have 2 hits above the threshold (which is 2) and you heal 2 boxes
If you get 4 hits on a target that have 2 essence then you have 1 hits above the threshold (which is 3) and you heal 1 boxes
If you get 4 hits on a target that have 1 essence then you have 0 hits above the threshold (which is 4) and you heal 0 boxes