[Mara]

So, I am really curious on this:
Restricted Gear used for ammunition: do you have to take it per increment for the ammo type,
or do you just take it once, and it allows you to take plenty of that ammo?

Say, for example, I took a generic sniper rifle, had it modified for High-Power ammo. I can no longer
fire normal ammo from this gun, and High Power ammo is Availability 20F for 10 bullets. If I wanted,
say, 20 shots of this ammo, would I be taking Restricted Gear two times, or just once?

[JoeNapalm]

5BP for 10 rounds of ammo seems a bit excessive.

I would say you could get as much as you could afford of that specific type.

-Jn-
Ifriti Sophist

[Valashar]

As a GM I, too, would say getting the quality once allows unrestricted quantity for ammo.

[UmaroVI]

As a GM I would also allow that, but I'd warn you that you'll really, really regret not just waiting until your first paycheck to buy those bullets.

[Neurosis]

Ditto.

[KarmaInferno]

Yeah, restricted gear is a trap unless it's a big ticket expensive item. And then you're spending a ton of resources on it.

For most gear, just wait til gameplay to buy. use the BP elsewhere.



-k

[Mara]

Honestly, I see Restricted Gear as a good thing for something you plan to be a signature item for your character, like, say,
you want your troll sniper to have the Anti-Materiel sniper rifle at the start..Or you want to drop the nuyen for Rating 3 Synaptic booster
(though, you better also be taking Born Rich and/or In Debt to be able to buy anything else!)

[Seeker]

Honestly, I see Restricted Gear as a good thing for something you plan to be a signature item for your character, like, say,
you want your troll sniper to have the Anti-Materiel sniper rifle at the start..Or you want to drop the nuyen for Rating 3 Synaptic booster
(though, you better also be taking Born Rich and/or In Debt to be able to buy anything else!)

I like the Rating 4 Muscle Toner myself.

[Shinobi Killfist]

It also kind of depends on how your GM handles extended tests.  You need or your contacts need a competent pool to hit 20 successes depending on what optional rules are in play.  If your team has a face(or you're a face) and he doesn't mind finding you your Avail 20 item on his own time it probably will be easy.  But if you are throwing 12 dice to start a couple bad rolls and you might fail the test.  If you feel comfortable making those extended tests then I'd get them in game most of the time.  The power focus is one I'm tempted to get before hand because of the binding cost discrepancy, but it is a close call.

[UmaroVI]

The power focus is IMO generally worth it, because 29 bp vs. 32 karma and 100,000 nuyen is a really sweet deal unless your GM throws cash at you like candy. It's also a BIG starting power boost, and it lets you do other "power now for power later" trades that will help you in the long run, because it gives you a large dose of immediate power.

In a game where the GM was very very free with nuyen, I might not take the power focus and save up in-game for a force 6 one... but in, say, missions that means waiting most of a character's career.

The other time its worth it, though, is to avoid gear redundancy. Synaptic Boosters is actually a good example:

Suppose you were going to buy Synaptic Boosters 2, but you really do want SB 3. If you buy SB 2 at chargen, then replace it later, that's 160,000 nuyen down the hole - that's a TON of cash. Instead, I might prefer to spend the 5 BP now for Restricted Gear, get Synaptic Boosters 3 that I will never, ever throw away, and cut a lot of other corners, then buy other stuff with earned nuyen. Of course this assumes you really DO want that SB 3 which most people I think don't.

I'm not the biggest fan of taking it for Muscle Toner just because Muscle Toner is not very expensive, all things considered. My standpoint is that to take it, I should be NOT buying an item that costs over 25000 Nuyen, and instead buying a better version that I will never, ever replace.

[Shinobi Killfist]

I have been tempted on the synaptic boosters level 3 front, but that is a all your eggs in one basket issue since level 3 will take 240,000 of your 250,000 starting cash.  It almost forces rich edges.  But yeah, areas where you see your self wasting cash because you will get a better version down the line is a good place to use this.  About the only thing that keeps me from getting the power focus every time is a decent number of my mages don't like relying on focuses until I can conceal them.  It is why masking, extended masking are frequently the first 2 metamagics I take.