[Shinobi Killfist]

That was my reading as well.  But it’s easy enough to get things wrong on a first pass through the rules.

[Xenon]

Physical, Mental and Special (but not Matrix) attributes as well as Skills are all explicitly limited at +4

[mortonstromgal]

You know in 1e they got no benefit to other than lower on the priority chart, heck even the metahumans started with 2 karma pool but not humans. Its like they have a long history of not getting bonuses or something.

[GuardDuty]

Metahumans took twice as long to raise their karma pool, that's why they started with 2.
...didn't there also used to be a mandatory allergy for metahumans...?

It seems like a lot of people have lost all sense of perspective, or I just don't understand something.  Human attributes represent the base potential.  Of course they don't get bonuses to their attributes.  It's the base.  This isn't D&D where all the races are separate.  Metahumans are literally modified humans.

[Xenon]

(I would not mind if the universal 7 edge cap was increased to 8 for humans).

[mortonstromgal]

Metahumans took twice as long to raise their karma pool, that's why they started with 2.
...didn't there also used to be a mandatory allergy for metahumans...?

It seems like a lot of people have lost all sense of perspective, or I just don't understand something.  Human attributes represent the base potential.  Of course they don't get bonuses to their attributes.  It's the base.  This isn't D&D where all the races are separate.  Metahumans are literally modified humans.

  you are correct sir, at least from what I recall that was like 1990 though so...

[Xenon]

Humans was priority E while metas (all of them) were priority A(!)

This was also back in the days when priority A was a lot stronger than other options (resources A gave 1,000,000 nuyen or 600,000 more than priority B, attributes gave you 30 points or 6 attribute points more than priority B etc)

[GuardDuty]

I do heavily favor a point system, but back in the day before we used that priority system really kept the chargen power level in check.  There was always at least one tough choice.

[BeCareful]

I do like 6we's idea of letting you do well at just about anything with any metatype, without struggling. I'm glad you can be an ork face or troll technomancer, because, hey! More options! Also, I've sometimes felt that dwarves tended to get under-represented, so now there's more incentive to pick them.

But if the good reason to be human is underwhelming, it might end up leading to an idea of "Humans are boring". Plus, considering the Sixth World is a bit more welcoming, "metas stand out" shouldn't always hold true, depending on where you are and who's around.

Though talking about shadowrunners here, being a dwarf or ork probably won't make you stand out as much as carrying around a Vindicator on a bipod, or having a great big spirit following you around while you've got a half-dozen spells on you.

[Michael Chandra]

I'm just going to add 'Receive 5 bonus karma in quality phase, limit of max 20 net bonus karma still applies'. So no spending 75 karma max in Customization, but you can pick up a bit more in qualities cost-wise.

[Xenon]

That is actually a really good suggestion (as one of the biggest advantages of the other races when using them to build a copy of a human character is that they can often get identical attributes but in addition also get fixed free racial traits).

Another option might be to increase the saved edge cap from 7 to 8 during an encounter (for humans only), reflecting and supporting that they have a higher edge attribute cap compared to other races.

To be really honest I think they should get both.

[Michael Chandra]

Oh I'm ruling the temporary cap to 9 anyway.

[mcv]

Yup. Play with optimizers and it’s a issue that comes up quick.

I'm writing a doc right now that compares 2e and 5e from the perspective of "MagicRun" and some of the differences are eye opening. But not where I expected them to be; for example, I had forgotten that both sustain foci ("Spell Locks") and Quickening existed in 2e (although Spell Locks came with a crippling handicap and Quickening cost a lot more Karma.)

What was that handicap? My second ever Shadowrun character (after my first turned out to be useless) was a shaman with prio A in resources so she could start with a big power focus and a ton of spell locks, which turned out to be game-breakingly powerful. I did not notice any handicap of those spell locks.

I think 3rd edition removed them, but I'm a bit disappointed that 5th makes it even easier to do the same thing as 2nd. That's something I'm probably going to houserule out.

[Michael Chandra]

Ironically a 3e player I know actually dislikes how unsafe he considers Quickening in 4e/5e/6e.

[penllawen]

What was that handicap? My second ever Shadowrun character (after my first turned out to be useless) was a shaman with prio A in resources so she could start with a big power focus and a ton of spell locks, which turned out to be game-breakingly powerful. I did not notice any handicap of those spell locks.

All active foci formed a permanently running connection to the Astral plane. An Astrally projecting hostile mage could use to cast a spell into the physical plane. So: you trip an alarm, a projecting security wagemage is with you in seconds, they spot your running focus, and send a fireball down it. Now you and everyone around you is sad. And on fire.

This was true in 1e and 2e, isn't true in 5e. I'm not sure where, exactly, it changed.

I also think giving mages effectively unlimited ability to sustain buffing spells makes them too powerful (and 5e does that, and 6e makes it worse.) I imagine your shaman was indeed fearsome if your GM overlooked/didn't enforce this.