[Mirikon]

Actually, they are production lines, according to what's written in the original post.

[Vale]

Remember, I'm still learning the system so the idea of mods being 'built in' to the gun is news to me. Its the reason i wanted to put the cannot be further modified tag on them, to try and clear that up. Sorry to mislead.

[Mäx]

As for the Pacifier, the main issue I have with caliber upgrade is that SR uses a caliber system where all weapons of the same class (Heavy Pistol in this case) use the same ammunition (meaning they must be the same caliber by extension).

It's just a simplification for easier game play and one that i would personally never use.
Infact i would laught for  minutes if someone succested during a game that their going to take the bullet from their predator and load them in to their Warhawk or from their PSG enforser and load them into the Barret.

[Mirikon]

As for the Pacifier, the main issue I have with caliber upgrade is that SR uses a caliber system where all weapons of the same class (Heavy Pistol in this case) use the same ammunition (meaning they must be the same caliber by extension).

It's just a simplification for easier game play and one that i would personally never use.
Infact i would laught for  minutes if someone succested during a game that their going to take the bullet from their predator and load them in to their Warhawk or from their PSG enforser and load them into the Barret.

However, it is one of those things that is inherent in the game as it stands, just as spells causing drain is. Personally, I think the sourcebooks have done a decent job of avoiding the 'power creep' you see in some other games, where everything constantly gets bigger and badder and better. With a few exceptions, everything that is under availability 20 has stayed at a fairly stable power level even from the original SR4 book being out. The new books have offered increased versatility (You have your Steel Lynx, or there's that Crimson Samurai, or that Hachiman), and cosmetic changes (I, for one, love the color-changing enhancement to clothes in Attitude). The newer options (under availability 20, again. I haven't had opportunity to play with any of the uber-gear.) all are about the same power level as the older ones.

Adding in something that inherently increases the power of a handgun to do the same damage as a sniper rifle just runs counter to the way the entire rest of the game is set up.

[Mäx]

Adding in something that inherently increases the power of a handgun to do the same damage as a sniper rifle just runs counter to the way the entire rest of the game is set up.

You mean like high power chambering does?
Or just using AP fletchette.
All that the High Caliber mod is is a more sensible version of the high powered chambering mod.

[Reaver]

I GM a few people that love to try to mod out their weapons or gear to 'insane' levels... And I have found that the best argument is the ol' " if you want it, chances are someone else already has it, now do YOU want to be on the receiving end of it?" 

If they say "yes", well you can probably guess what usually ends up happening pretty damn fast and after they make a new character, I politely ask them if they still want it in the game.

Mind you, I have my own ways of dealing with "min/max"ers of all stripes that usually (after a few rerolls) lands me with fairly balanced characters that everyone can enjoy.

[Zilfer]

I think part of the gut wrench reaction to it is that it does hunting rifle damage with more AP in a smaller package with no drawback.

That's why I say it is one of the Things That Should Not Be^(tm). If a player came to me wanting to do this, even if they could do it in a completely rules-legal way, without using homebrew things, I would still shoot it down. It is like running an undead campaign in D&D, and letting the rogue buy a +1 Undead Bane Rapier of continuous (spell that allows the caster to sneak attack undead) and a +1 Holy Dagger of continuous True Strike. Some things are simply too powerful.

>.> then the undead get bigger and better? Though a +1 undead bane of contious spell has to be waaaaay up there in price. I think the banes a +2 enchantment bonus? Taking it at least up to +3 territory where it's 18,000 gold just to pop it on there, then it's upgraded for a continous spell that's got to send the price skyrocketing. With the true strike dagger if they have to take a turn to activate true strike or only allow it a certain amount per day it should be fine. I mean you won't be facing strictly undead either... what created the undead? Probably Necromancers... and they ain't always dead. *grins*

Anyways, the guns themselves seem powered up but almost anything in this game can kill you. Not sure why you need bigger guns, a Super Rugar WarHawk hunts cars anyways.... <.< hmmm i wonder where i got that saying....