[ZeldaBravo]

Technically that's not Skill 12 either. That's Skill 7(8.)+4D6... but you are getting 12d6 to add to your Attribute for the Test.

That's 7(12).

[NovaHot1]

It's pricier, and not for mundanes, but you can get a skill of 12 at character creation.  Aptitude to get it to 7, 4 points of improved ability, and a reflex recorder.  Not possible in SR4, where max levels for improved ability rounded down and skills had an augmented limit, but very doable in SR5.  You would probably hit your limit a lot, but either splitting your dice pool like Jack_Spade suggested, or spending Edge on more important rolls, could mitigate that.

Technically that's not Skill 12 either. That's Skill 7(8.)+4D6... but you are getting 12d6 to add to your Attribute for the Test.

Is it really worth nitpicking that? 12 dice not including attribute is still 12 dice, regardless of what adds make up the dice pool.

[adzling]

It becomes very important for teamwork tests as the max dice from helpers = skill level.

[Novocrane]

This power increases the Rating of a specific Combat, Physical, Social, Technical, or Vehicle skill per level of the power.

Looks straightforward to me.

(Hmm - I guess Zhuul has taken their ball and gone home)

[gilga]

Perhaps perception if it is allowed, along with other modifiers you'd never be surprised again.
Palming is also a very nice place, because if I had so many palming dice I'd actually plan on using palming a lot. (I do not recall ever using it right now.)

[SlipperyChummer]

If you could get skill rating 12 spellcasting, then your spells would be really hard to notice. A threshold of (12-Force) on a perception+intuition test is hard to beat. Use some subtle mental control with that (say, influence or control thoughts), and you can achieve quite a lot.

Of course, activesofts can't do magic-based skills, so that's kind of a wash.

[JB_1976]

It's pricier, and not for mundanes, but you can get a skill of 12 at character creation.  Aptitude to get it to 7, 4 points of improved ability, and a reflex recorder.  Not possible in SR4, where max levels for improved ability rounded down and skills had an augmented limit, but very doable in SR5.  You would probably hit your limit a lot, but either splitting your dice pool like Jack_Spade suggested, or spending Edge on more important rolls, could mitigate that.

Technically that's not Skill 12 either. That's Skill 7(8.)+4D6... but you are getting 12d6 to add to your Attribute for the Test.

Is it really ? improved ability page 309 SR5:
This power increases the Rating of a specific Combat, Physical, Social, Technical, or Vehicle skill per level of
the power. You need to know the skill in order to buy this power for it, and you can’t buy it for skill groups. The maximum
improvement possible is your current skill level x 1.5(rounded up).

My reading is that original ability of 6 with aptitude 1 and 4 levels of improved ability and a reflex recorder would make it 11(12), not 7(12), making it illegal at character generation because the maximum skill rating of 6 (7 with aptitude) applies...  Of course as the game evolves its pretty clear that its very cheap karmawise for adepts to evolve into combat skill powerhouses  because of increased ability adept power, but straight out of character generation adepts need to play by the same rules as everybody else, and increased ability at character generation is actually a trap because of this. 

Was this ever clarified?

[Glyph]

That's an illogical reading of the rules, and is not supported by the brawling adept archetype, who has unarmed combat: 6 and 3 levels of improved ability for it.

[JB_1976]

That's an illogical reading of the rules, and is not supported by the brawling adept archetype, who has unarmed combat: 6 and 3 levels of improved ability for it.

I actually found a logical reading of the rules, but the brawling adept archetype proves you right and me wrong indeed.  Thanks

[Glyph]

Yeah, "illogical" might have been a bit harsh.  I've been through several editions of the game, so I go in assuming some things will be roughly similar to before.  Going solely from the SR5 rules, which can be vague in areas, it was a valid interpretation.

[Lucean]

Restricted Gear does not circumvent the maximum device rating of 6 during chargen, only availability. So neither can you buy bows for STR 7+ nor a Failight Caliban other gear with a higher rating than 6 at chargen.