[frankhlane]

Cities in Shadowrun are polluted.

A respirator is for surviving day to day pollution in the setting.  It's one of those crazy "roleplaying" things.  Just like how gas mask, though it might have better stats, would attract the attention of people if you were roleplaying walking around wearing it at the mall.

[Top Dog]

It also possible to say that Mask must be bought with the respirator, as Gas mask filters would probably have same rating as respirator, so it effectively nulls the price advantage of respirators with 250Y for the additional protection to contact etc toxins

Gas Masks specifically state they can't be used with respirators.


As for the reasons to use respirators, the 1 hour air supply is actually quite limited - if you're expecting a chemical attack, you usually don't know exactly when it'll be incoming, so to be protected you'd have to have the mask running non-stop. And if you're in a toxic enviroment an hour is always over quicker then you'd want it to be. Meanwhile, it only takes gas masks 3 refills to become more expensive then the R6 respirator.

Of course, the immunity may be worth all that - the extra cost isn't that high - which is good, it means it's an interesting choice.

[baronspam]

Cities in Shadowrun are polluted.

A respirator is for surviving day to day pollution in the setting.  It's one of those crazy "roleplaying" things.  Just like how gas mask, though it might have better stats, would attract the attention of people if you were roleplaying walking around wearing it at the mall.

Roleplaying aside, they have practical value.  Put on a respirator, some glasses/goggles, and a hat (runners should own tons of hats) and you have basically concealed yourself from facial recognition, be it metahuman or electronic, and you have done it in a way that is still socially acceptable in many circumstances  Change your hat and outer coat and you practically look like a new person. 

[Sichr]

It also possible to say that Mask must be bought with the respirator, as Gas mask filters would probably have same rating as respirator, so it effectively nulls the price advantage of respirators with 250Y for the additional protection to contact etc toxins

Gas Masks specifically state they can't be used with respirators.


As for the reasons to use respirators, the 1 hour air supply is actually quite limited - if you're expecting a chemical attack, you usually don't know exactly when it'll be incoming, so to be protected you'd have to have the mask running non-stop. And if you're in a toxic enviroment an hour is always over quicker then you'd want it to be. Meanwhile, it only takes gas masks 3 refills to become more expensive then the R6 respirator.

Of course, the immunity may be worth all that - the extra cost isn't that high - which is good, it means it's an interesting choice.

True about respirators well I had m9re those filters on my m8nd. But if you are talking about the mask being connected to air supply tank, those are useless. I just forgot that gas maska come with integrated rebreather

[KarmaInferno]

http://harebrained-schemes.com/shadowrun/

Gas Mask. 


-k

[ZeConster]

Roleplaying aside, they have practical value.  Put on a respirator, some glasses/goggles, and a hat (runners should own tons of hats) and you have basically concealed yourself from facial recognition, be it metahuman or electronic, and you have done it in a way that is still socially acceptable in many circumstances  Change your hat and outer coat and you practically look like a new person.

My 4th edition character has that: she has Public Awareness 10 on her public SIN (private investigator who specializes in handling/recovering 'exotic' pets, a tiny bit like Ace Ventura meets Harry Dresden), but since she normally wears a respirator (Mild Pollutants Allergy), she was one of two characters the group's ever-curious hacker couldn't identify using facial recognition (the other being the disguised face).