[Kiirnodel]

Fetish, Street Grimoire, 212. I did a research but only found houserules and 4th rules. Maybe I missed something new.

Lets take a look at the text, I'm snipping here for space and so we're not just ripping off the full text. Emphasis with font modifiers is added:

[...]Such spells have to be learned specifically with the fetish, meaning that a character would have to learn a spell twice if he wants to cast it both with and without a fetish. An alchemist needs 1 dram of radical reagents to make the fetish functional for magical use. A magician casting a fetish spell [...]

So, the text in the book never mentions the magician needing to perform anything to attune themselves to a fetish. The bold text indicates that the radical reagent is part of the materials to create the fetish, not part of being able to make use of it. I took a look, and this is probably in need of some errata, because a dram of radical reagents is worth 4,500 nuyen (according to Shadow Spells). So that just doesn't fit with any of the pricing, period. For now, I would say ignore the bit about radical reagents...

As I was saying, the text never mentions anything about the magician bonding to the fetish, but as the first italicized section mentions, you must learn a spell specifically with the fetish. And it is later (in the other italicized part) referred to as the "fetish spell" meaning that it is about learning a spell as a fetish spell, and potentially means that if you lose the fetish you could have to relearn the spell entirely. None of these things mention a limit of how many spells can be learned with a specific fetish. So purely by RAW, you don't need more than one fetish. As you mentioned there are a lot of houserules out there, and references back to 4th edition. I won't go into those details, but purely from what is written there isn't a stated requirement.

And yes, if you want to be able to cast the spell with or without the fetish, you have to learn it twice (5 karma each time), as stated in the underlined statement. Since you weren't quoting the book, and that wasn't stated like a question, I wasn't sure if that part was confusing you or not...

[Lemmington]

I have a question about infected. In general, though more specifically for Harvesters for an example, how does it work if they have something like, say,  –1 Logic, –1 Charisma in their statblock? In the case of the Harvester, it's racial maximums for Cha and Logic were both reduced to 1/4 baseline, so 1/4( as far as I'm aware.

Is the stat penalty considered to be a part of their natural stats? Does it further reduce their stats? Is it just a penalty on tests related to those stats? Is it something else?

Also, their Initiative Die bonus. Given that this is an innate bonus, this does stack with inititive die boosters, right? You're naturally faster, and something like Increased Reflexes boosts your speed further?

Can an Infected purchase Optional Powers at chargen? Are they limited to only purchasing the ones listed under their infected type, for when they can purchase them?

Do Infected characters get the Essence penalty and associated Magic penalty for their strain? If so, why isn't it listed under their statblock?

[Blue Rose]

Do stun batons get the +2 dice bonus to hit since you only have to touch someone with it, rather than striking with it?

[Zelte]

2 Questions:

1. What are the rules regarding the damage done for a "bite" by meta-type with no modifications?
[Think TWD where Rick performs an impromptu tracheotomy.]

2. Is there ANY disadvantage to a character who has NO Resonance and NO Magic to have almost Zero Essence?

[Reaver]

2 Questions:

1. What are the rules regarding the damage done for a "bite" by meta-type with no modifications?
[Think TWD where Rick performs an impromptu tracheotomy.]

2. Is there ANY disadvantage to a character who has NO Resonance and NO Magic to have almost Zero Essence?

1: Without a "weapon modification" to your chompers? Not really covered, so basically it would be a simple melee attack... but with a -1 range modifier (as are most bite attacks).

2: There are several.
A: The "drain essence" power of some critters can KILL you very quickly! (as you don't have much essense left) - thankfully these are few and far between and are generally not a simple attack roll. Meaning its a more involved process.
B: You take a modifier to your social limit due to your disconnect to the Human Norms... But this is minor.

[Sphinx]

1. What are the rules regarding the damage done for a "bite" by meta-type with no modifications?
2. Is there ANY disadvantage to a character who has NO Resonance and NO Magic to have almost Zero Essence?

1. Unarmed attacks by humans or metahumans without natural weapons do (STR)S damage (SR5 p.187). I don't think there's a rule for biting. At the table, I'd rule it as a called shot (-4 dice pool) with the Unarmed Combat skill for (STR/2)P damage.

2. Having a low Essence attribute hurts your inherent Social limit (SR5 p.101) and makes you harder to heal. First Aid Tests have a -1 penalty for every 2 points of lost Essence (Healing Modifiers, SR5 p.208); and magical healing has a penalty equal to your actual Essence minus your maximum Essence, rounded up (SR5 p.287-288).

[kyoto kid]

...OK my question is about Mystic Adepts and learning Metamagics.   I the Magician's Way a hard fast prerequisite for learning non adept arts/metamagics? It seems an awfully expensive requirement considering the cap on positive qualities along with the character having to purchase power points with starting Karma at chargen.  Basically you get the Way and say your Mentor Spirit and that is it for positive qualities.

Part of the reason I bring this up is in the Chummer character builder I did a test with a character (who did not have the quality) where I initiated, chose both the centering (non adept) art and metamagic, and the programme accepted it (I made sure that the houserule box was not checked)

I also addressed this on the Chuimmer5 thread to see if it is indeed legit or a possible glitch in the programme.

[Zelte]

1. What are the rules regarding the damage done for a "bite" by meta-type with no modifications?
2. Is there ANY disadvantage to a character who has NO Resonance and NO Magic to have almost Zero Essence?

1. Unarmed attacks by humans or metahumans without natural weapons do (STR)S damage (SR5 p.187). I don't think there's a rule for biting. At the table, I'd rule it as a called shot (-4 dice pool) with the Unarmed Combat skill for (STR/2)P damage.

2. Having a low Essence attribute hurts your inherent Social limit (SR5 p.101) and makes you harder to heal. First Aid Tests have a -1 penalty for every 2 points of lost Essence (Healing Modifiers, SR5 p.208); and magical healing has a penalty equal to your actual Essence minus your maximum Essence, rounded up (SR5 p.287-288).

Thank you.
GM went with (STR)P for damage, and my troll got his throat ripped out by a grappled elf. (It was just a "teach the rules" dust-up, but I was curious).

It seems like their should be SOME problem working your Adept powers through metal or even bio-flesh. But (sadly) there are no rules about it and I won't ex-post-facto house rules.

[Blue Rose]

-4 dice pool and STR/2P seems a bit excessive to me.

There is a stock called shot from the core rules that lets you make a called shot to deal lethal damage with a nonlethal weapon for -4 dice.  So called shot is just fine, but I wouldn't halve the damage.

[Zelte]

Do stun batons get the +2 dice bonus to hit since you only have to touch someone with it, rather than striking with it?

I do not know how other GM's manage this, but I will allow either:
1. Physical (from using it as a club) plus Electrical (Stun) damage
OR
2. Stun damage only with the +2 dice bonus for an attack that only needs to touch the opponent.
My reasoning is that the attacker will use entirely different moves for each attack.
However, when computing Defender resist/soak; the Physical blow and the Electrical stun Damage are applied separately.
A "glancing blow" will still deliver Stun damage.
All of this is dependent on the GM's interpretation of armor vs. Electrical Stun damage.

Anecdotally, I think that you could wire electrodes of a "stun gun" to a baseball bat and get the desired results.
This makes for a decent, low-brow, sprawl weapon; the Stun Bat.

[IntrepidVector]

I keep seeing it implied that a RCC's Device Rating is the highest Rating of Autosoft that can be run on it. That does not seem to be anywhere in the text. If this is true, where is it coming from?

For example, a DR 4 RCC, can it run 4 Rating 4 programs, or 4 Rating 6 ones?


Also: Do the sensor arrays in a drone have any Capacity for installing upgrades?

[Jack_Spade]

It's from one of the writers. You are correct in that it is not called out in the current rules as such, only implied.
So until formal errata comes out you are allowed to use higher rated Autosoft on your RCC.

You can increase the rating of your Sensor Array as per Rigger 5e and you can decide which sensors are in it, but the number ( 8 ) stays the same.

[IntrepidVector]

Thanks for the info! A bit disappointed by that RCC rule being the intended one, but I will live. I'll even save a handful of nuyen :p

I think you answered a slightly different question than I had regarding sensors? I was asking if, by default, seeing something like "Sensor: 3" on a drone's statblock implies it has 3 Capacity I can fill with things like Vision Enhancement?
 

Rephrased, it would be "do drone sensors come with Capacity and if so, is that equal to Sensor Rating or something else"?

[Jack_Spade]

Ah, I see what you mean. Well keep on to your head: The individual sensors have capacity equal to the rating of the sensor array.

Meaning: If you have a R6 Sensor Array with a Camera Sensor in it, you can give that Camera modifications like low light and thermo worth 6 points of capacity.
And your Sensor Array has 8 individual sensors so you can have more than one camera sensor in it.

[Kiirnodel]

Ah, I see what you mean. Well keep on to your head: The individual sensors have capacity equal to the rating of the sensor array.

Meaning: If you have a R6 Sensor Array with a Camera Sensor in it, you can give that Camera modifications like low light and thermo worth 6 points of capacity.
And your Sensor Array has 8 individual sensors so you can have more than one camera sensor in it.

It is worth noting that you can't just add the vision enhancements to a vehicle sensor array, you would have to buy a whole new sensor array. When you buy that new sensor array you can equip the cameras and microphones with vision/audio enhancements. But because they are modifiers to the availability of the base item, they aren't available for post-facto addition.

So, while yes, you do have some capacity in vehicle sensors to add enhancements (per the normal sensor rules), you have to do so as a step in the process of replacing/upgrading those sensors. Essentially, factory default is no special upgrades.