[RHat]

Cool, every single one of you guys has definitely put things in perspective, thank you!

One other thing I should ask, is it normal to have your Edge attribute maxed out at character creation, especially when it comes to humans?

Well, I'll put it this way - no mundane human starts with less than 5 Edge; Human C makes it very easy to start with 7 Edge.

Edge is also very, very important, extremely useful, an it's value follows an exponential curve - each additional point gives you 1 more die and one more usage.  High Edge is pretty normal for this edition, and in any game with something that's more or less a luck stat will have many players that max it more or less all the time.

[Michael Chandra]

Any magical source of hiding might be busted by a decent ward, and will definitely be busted by a Watcher Spirit paying attention to the Astral.

I can't say I'm impressed by the 19 armor. My own character has 18 (AJ+Helmet+OS4) and 8 soak dice, and I still took damage in Humanitarian Aid. AoE spells would hurt like hell as well, except that with R&G I can now run away from them. (Solution: First Suppressive Fire, then AoE spell.) An Ares Alpha does 11P/-2, so if you grab APDS, and make it fire 6 rounds each IP, I'd be rolling 8 defense dice and a single net-hit already would be 12P/-6 vs 8+18, so 12P vs 8+12 = 5P damage on average. Even Total Defense would put me at only 13 defense dice.

So yeah, Full Body Armor opponents with Ares Alphas with APDS and Gas-Vents 3. Combine Suppressive Fire (hello dice penalties!), AoE spells and 6-round bursts (recoil resets as soon as 1 simple action is not firing, so just cover+fire, aim+fire, aim+fire, etc), and Watcher Spirits, and you're already making headway giving them a very serious combat threat, and that's without deliberately avoiding their strong points.

[Medicineman]

and 6-round bursts (recoil resets as soon as 1 simple action is not firing, so just cover+fire, aim+fire, aim+fire, etc),

Sorry to interrupt, but IIRC a 6-round-Burst is a complex action
you could do that with a 3-Round-Burst though

One other thing I should ask, is it normal to have your Edge attribute maxed out at character creation, especially when it comes to humans?

Mr Lucky (Human with Edge 7 or is a veritable Char concept.
My chars usually have minimum Edge because I need the points someplace else. But I try to raise Edge quite fast
to have a Minimum of 3 or 4

with a Minimum Dance
Medicineman

[Michael Chandra]

and 6-round bursts (recoil resets as soon as 1 simple action is not firing, so just cover+fire, aim+fire, aim+fire, etc),

Sorry to interrupt, but IIRC a 6-round-Burst is a complex action

FA-bursts are 6-round bursts.

[Medicineman]

and 6-round bursts (recoil resets as soon as 1 simple action is not firing, so just cover+fire, aim+fire, aim+fire, etc),

Sorry to interrupt, but IIRC a 6-round-Burst is a complex action

FA-bursts are 6-round bursts.

which means ?

with  a ? Dance
Medicineman

[Carmody]

and 6-round bursts (recoil resets as soon as 1 simple action is not firing, so just cover+fire, aim+fire, aim+fire, etc),

Sorry to interrupt, but IIRC a 6-round-Burst is a complex action

FA-bursts are 6-round bursts.

which means ?

with  a ? Dance
Medicineman

which means it is a simple action

[Medicineman]

OK, Im surprised now   
I've got the SR5 German BBB Page 164 Under complex Action I find firing  Long Salvo or Semi-Auto Salvo
and also firing Weapon in FullAuto Modus

wih a surprised Dance
Medicineman

[Michael Chandra]

It's probably also going to under Simple Actions, since the CA is 10 rounds, and the SA is 6. It's basically 1/-, 1/3, 3/6 and 6/10.

[Neongelion]

hmmmm,
19 Pts armor is High but not the Tip of the Iceberg. I've got Chars with an Armor of 22 or 24 (with Helmet) thanks to Cyberarms.
But you can do more than just try to shoot at him. ever considered an Ambush with Fire,Electricity or a Pit/Trap ?
ever tried to use Gas or Drugs ?
And an Invisible Mage can still be noticed by Ultrasonic,Radar or the Nose of a Guarddog.
You should use all possibilities of a Hightech World and one that is used to Magic for the last 50+ Years

 

This ork player says he likes being like Wolverine and just gutting people with the knives in his cyberarms, so I'm going to give him plenty of opportunities to slice up baddies with ease.

thats cool , I like it. (The Player is limiting himself to close combat) Its a good Idea to give him something to Chop of
but how will he fare against a Roto-Drone with an S&S SMG ?  
Your shaman may be Invisible, but what will He do against Guarddogs, Goose or  a Ward ? 
Yeah SR can be tricky but its also Your Job as a GM to do some of the "tricks"

HeyaHeyaHeyaJa
Medicineman

Does ultrasound/radar automatically detect mages under improved invisibility, or do they roll for it? Also, I assume Concealment wouldn't help against sensors since it only specifies metahumans.

[Medicineman]

Improved Invisibility protects You from Sight .
Ultrasound is no sight so you don't need to roll for It you perceive the invisible Mage immediately
Concealment protects from ANY kind of Perception (weather Meat or Machine matters not) Sight,Hearing,Smell, everything
I prefer Concealment over Invisibility !

with a concealed Dance
Medicineman

[Michael Chandra]

Would ultrasound and radar even work against Improved Invisibility, given how it mimics the surroundings from all angles and works against sensors? Perhaps Object Resistance of Sensors, so 9 dice to resist?

Concealment would work against sensors as well, I think. After all, otherwise it wouldn't work against critters. Besides, it doesn't even mention it's only against metahumans.

[SlowDeck]

Logically, both would; the players are not intangible, so sound and radio waves would still bounce off them.

Rules-wise, it's magic.

[Neongelion]

Improved Invisibility protects You from Sight .
Ultrasound is no sight so you don't need to roll for It you perceive the invisible Mage immediately
Concealment protects from ANY kind of Perception (weather Meat or Machine matters not) Sight,Hearing,Smell, everything
I prefer Concealment over Invisibility !

with a concealed Dance
Medicineman

Wait, so if they had both concealment and invisibility up, the ultrasound sensor would still detect them automatically?

And you're right Michael, it doesn't say only metahumans, it merely just mentions them.

But so basically, Improved Invisibility+Concealment doesn't really add together since Concealment subtracts from Perception checks, and you resist Invisibility and its Improved version with Logic+Willpower and Intuition+Logic, respectively.

[Michael Chandra]

Correct. They semi-stack, since even if you pierce through the illusion, your perception check is penalized as well. Of course you'd have to have a Spirit cast an illusion on the astral as well to make astral sight not immediately look through it, and even then a single hit on an Assensing test will pierce through the illusion.

[ZeConster]

Logically, both would; the players are not intangible, so sound and radio waves would still bounce off them.

Rules-wise, it's magic.

Actually, rules-wise Invisibility and Improved Invisibility are Single-Sense spells (so they only hide you from sight), and state you can still be detected through hearing and smell. As long as ultrasound is (ruled to be) hearing-based, it'll bypass Improved Invisibility.