This list was compiled by myself, Hida Tsuzua, and squee_nabob.
High Priority Questions:
These are questions that are difficult to simply avoid and are of game-changing importance, organized by topic.
Magic:
Perception
Q1: Please clarify to what extent a mundane character can use their skills at Infiltration to avoid being noticed by an Astral or Dual-Natured being using Astral Perception. What does each side roll? Are any special rules or modifiers applicable?
Q2: Precisely what sort of “physical cyber- and bio-enhancements paid for with essence” allow a mage to target spells? Specifically:
1) Cyberears?
2) Implanted Ultrasound sensor?
3) Implanted Ultrawideband Radar?
Please clarify what exactly is necessary for a sense to count for this purpose.
Mystic Adepts:
Q3: Please give a complete list of all purposes for which a mystic adept uses their total magic, their Adept-powers magic, and their Magician-skills magic. This list should specifically address maximum ranks in adept powers, maximum force of spells, maximum force of spirits, overcasting, maximum bound foci, dice rolled when using adept powers that require Magic rolls, and the value used when using adept powers that do not require rolls but reference Magic (example: Heightened Concentration). The current FAQ and SR4A contradict each other on this topic.
Possession:
Q4: Please clarify exactly what happens when an Adept or Mystic Adept (please address both cases) is possessed by a spirit with Magic higher, lower, and equal to the Adept or Mystic Adept's Magic. Include both the case when the Mystic Adept does have Channeling and when the Mystic Adept does not have Channeling. In each case, does the character retain use of Adept powers? What happens if the character’s Magic changes as a result of possession?
Q5: Please clarify with extensive examples what is and is not an example of “implants, cyberware, or nanoware that would require active control” for the purposes of possession. Include at minimum answers for: cyberlimbs, Synaptic Boosters, Reaction Enhancers, Wired Reflexes, cybereyes/ears (and precisely what modifiers for them do and do not work), and implanted cyberweapons. If only some functionality is available to a spirit (example: “spirits benefit from Wired Reflexes if they are on when the spirit possesses the vessel, but it cannot turn them on or off”) say so.
Matrix:
Matrix Perception:
Q6: Clarify with extensive examples what information can and cannot be learned by using Matrix Perception on a node. In each case, include whether this information can be learned from outside the node or whether it can only be learned when logged in. Include answers to the following: what is the node’s ARC, what icons are in the node, what programs are running in the node, does it have any special login requirements (example: Passkey system).
Q7: Please clarify what information can be gained from the identifying tag on an icon versus from making a Matrix Perception Test on that icon. What sort of action is it to learn the information on the identifying tag?
Q8: The security in action example on page 79 of Unwired appears to contradict a number of the rules for how the Matrix works. Please clarify all of the following points:
1) How can Jin, who is not logged on to the node, (but monitoring it somehow) make a MPT to notice the IC being shut down as a reaction?
2) How does Jin immediately see the intruder without making a Matrix Perception Test? How does the Juhseung Saja IC program see the intruder without making a Matrix Perception Test?
3) What does it mean to be watching a node you are not logged on to? What can you and can you not perceive? When can you make reactive Matrix Perception Tests, and what do they oppose? Can you tell if someone else is watching a node?
Q9: What actions, if any, prevent Stealth from being used on the matrix? For example, if an icon is running Stealth, is it automatically noticed if it:
1) Has an alert called against it?
2) Uses a Cybercombat action?
3) Edits a file?
4) Issues a command to the node (using permissions)?
5) Other actions, if any, that cause it be automatically noticed?
Is it possible to notice that something has occured (example: take damage in Cybercombat, notice IC has been unloaded, etc), but not know who did it?
Locations on the Matrix:
Q10: In general, when a matrix rule refers to where “you are,” does it mean your Persona or an Icon? For example, does a Paladin sprite need to be in the same node as your Persona to use the Castling power (Unwired 156) on you? Does it need to be in the same node as one of your icons? Does it need to be on the same node as the icon attacking you? Can it protect all of your icons by Castling one of them? What about Assist Operation - does a sprite need to be in the same node that your Persona is running from (ie, in your bionode)? Does it need to be in the same node as one of your icons?
Hacking:
Q11:SR4A 235 states that hacking a node requires either an open subscription, or mutual signal range, and that if you have neither, you cannot initiate a hacking action. This raises several questions about how hacking works:
1) Unwired 52 states that User Access Rights are required to enter a node in VR or AR. When Public access is granted, what does this mean? Do you enter the node anyways? How does this interact with Unwired 52? If you do not enter the node, what are you doing? What can and can you not do with a Public account, exactly? Can you take actions such as creating a hidden account (Unwired 97)? To what extent does a Public account qualify as "access?"
2) How else can a hacker hack into a node that they do not have mutual signal range to and don't already have an account on? For example, if a node is set to refuse Public Accounts entirely and the hacker doesn't have a different account type, then has Signal 0, and sits within 1m of several decently-high signal devices (thus meaning that it is on the matrix, but nobody not physically next to it is in mutual signal range), is it functionally impregnable to hacking?
3) Are there any circumstances in which a Log On action could be taken with a Public account, or is a User account always required? If yes, what circumstances?
Q12: According to Unwired 67, a hacker with an Active Alert against them must make Hacking rolls to perform actions that normally require no roll. However, since these actions normally require no roll, how does one figure out what program should be rolled with hacking? In particular, what program is used to:
1) Load and unload IC?
2) Active and deactive alerts?
3) Terminate another user’s connection?
4) Change the privileges granted to each level of access account on a node?
Q13: If an exploit has the Mute program option and an alarm is triggered but delayed:
1) By what means can the hacker (or anyone else) discover that the alarm has been triggered and is delayed? Please explain exactly what rolls are involved, if any.
2) By what means can the hacker (or anyone else) prevent the now-delayed alarm from going off? Please explain exactly what rolls are involved, if any.
Drones and Rigging:
Q14: How do Machine sprites in particular (and other sprite types in general) pilot drones? Do they replace a pilot program? Do they use the same rules as pilot programs? If not, what do their autosofts do? Please clarify exactly how this works. If a sprite is in a vehicle’s node and wants to do something, and it conflicts with the Pilot program, who has precedence?
Q15: Please explain precisely how drones interact with Tactical Software. In particular, please clarify all of the following points: Unwired 125 says “each drone can supply a number of sensor channels equal to its sensor rating.” Explain exactly what this means.
1) Is this saying that if the drone is a member of the TacNet, that it counts as having a number of sensor channels equal to its sensor rating (if so, why do drones like the Wuxing Hussar have a rating 4 tacsoft they can’t use?
2) Is it saying that it supplies that many to itself in addition to the normal rules?
3) Is it saying it can supply that many to someone else? If it supplies the channels to someone else, can it also be a member of the tacnet itself, if it has enough channels by the normal rules? Can it divide its sensor channels among multiple people (for example, can a Sensor 2 drone provide 1 channel to one person and 1 channel to a second person? Can it provide two channels to both people?)
Equipment and Ware:
Weapons:
Q16: The rules for using fully automatic fire against both passengers and vehicles are very unclear. Do you resolve it as a full auto burst against the vehicle, and also a full auto burst against each passenger? Does it matter how many passengers there are? If they are considered burst attacks, do they need to be narrow? Do they need to be wide?
Cyberlimbs
Q17: Please explain exactly and precisely how cyberlimbs work. Include an example where you show all the steps of the calculations (example: "Critical George adds 4+4 for his two regular limbs, 5 for his left cyberleg, 4 for his cybersorso, and 7 for his right cyberleg, for a total of 24. He then divides by 5 and rounds down, giving an average of 4"), not just the conclusion. Specifically, please clarify all of the following points:
1) What is a "limb" and what is a "partial limb." Are torsos full limbs? Are skulls full limbs? When should they be used in tests? Can you give some examples of when you would use each of their attributes for a test? In particular, if they are full limbs, when should you average them in, and when would the lowest attribute including them be used? If they are partial limbs, can you give examples of when each of their three attributes would be used in a test?
2) Give an extensive list of tasks which use the average of all limbs for each attribute versus a single limb versus average of a specific set of limbs versus the lowest of a specific set of limbs, and clarify which limbs are involved in each averaging. Please include all of the following: resisting damage, determining maximum wearable armor, Infiltration, firing a two-handed weapon (such as an assault rifle), wielding a two-handed melee weapon (such as a claymore), making a Kick Attack, Palming various items.
3) Please give an extensive list of examples of when the attribute of a lower arm, lower leg, hand, and foot should and should not be used; in particular, include firing a one-handed weapon, wielding a one-handed melee weapon, Palming various items, making a Kick attack, using a Shock Glove, using a cyberweapon implanted in the body part in question (and please clarify if it matters what type of cyberweapon).
Sensors:
Q18: Precisely what sort of things can a cyberware scanner identify and what information, precisely, does it give? Can it see implanted cyberguns? Can it tell they are weapons? Can it see a cyberarm gyromount? Does it identify the cyberarm gyromount as what it is? Can it identify an Ares Executive Protector as a weapon? What methods, if any, exist to foil it (aside from the obvious methods of hacking it or using delta-grade cyberware or bioware and not carrying any weapons)?