SR 5th ed. Version 2.1 of the Shadowrun 5 files for Hero Lab are now available! Hard Targets!

[Mathias]

A new update of the Shadowrun 5 files for Hero Lab is now available from the automatic updates mechanism in Hero Lab.

This update makes the Hard Targets sourcebook available for purchase. This new package is available for $9.99.

The Shapeshifter races from Run Faster have been added as a free update for all those users with the Run Faster package.

This update also includes several bug fixes, many of them relating to the Life Modules character creation system. Here's the complete change list:
New Releases!

• Content from Hard Targets is now available as a new package! You can purchase this by choosing "Purchase Data Package" from the License menu.

Enhancements & Changes

• The Shapeshifter races from Run Faster has been added as a free update for everyone with the Run Faster package.
• The languages from Hard Targets have been added as options for all characters.
• Added adjustments that will clear any Cyberware, Bioware, or Geneware essence holes from a character, to allow users to fix mistakes that may have been made while purchasing augmentations. These are available in the Character Statistics section on either the Permanent Adjustments table on the Personal tab or the In-Play Adjustments table on the Adjust tab. They should be deleted as soon as they're added, because their effects are applied immediately upon adding them, and if they're left active on a character, they will clear all new essence holes as they're created.
• The sample PCs from the Core Rulebook, Run Faster and Hard Targets have been added to the encounter builder, as NPCs, and defaulting to Enemy of the Party, for when an adventure uses one of these characters as an NPC. As a reminder, these are available as PCs in the default folder for saved characters.

Bug Fixes

• The Brand Loyalty (Product - Weapon) quality could not select flechette-only weapons.
• The Watcher and Homunculus options in the spirits list were not checking for whether a character had learned the correct ritual in order to know how to create that sort of ritual creation.
• The Physical Damage listing for vehicles was incorrectly showing damage overflow and natural recovery, which are not things that exist for vehicles.
• For an infected quality that grants +1 to all movement multipliers (like a Harvester), the Celerity metagenetic quality was overwriting those bonuses, instead of the infected quality adding +1 to the Celerity-adjusted movement multipliers.
• HMHVV Strain II and Strain III characters (bandersnatches, fomóraig, ghouls, gnawers, grendels, harvesters, and loup-garou) should have an essence of 5.
• On a life module that offers two language tables, the second language could not be selected.
• All of the racial modifications (including SURGE and all Infected Qualities, even those that are not supposed to change a character's initiative dice) were adding +1 or more initiative dice.
• Partial cyberskulls were counting as a full cyberlimb when determining the number of condition monitor boxes to add due to cyberlimbs.
• Ultra-Glide Industrial Lubricant was not available as an option for Paint grenades.
• The So Jacked Up quality was applying its modifiers to Reaction and Intuition, but should modify Reaction and Logic.
• Although they didn't show errors when selecting one, once selected, the Mercenary tour of duty life modules were not correctly recognizing the presence of other Tour of Duty modules.
• The Device Attribute adjustments and the IC effect adjustments could not select a Living Persona as the device to modify.
• On a character with The Burnout's Way, the essence costs for both bioware and cyberware were discounted by Biocompatibility (Cyberware), but ignored the presence of Biocompatibility (Bioware).
• Vehicles and Spirits/Sprites added to a character using the Life Modules system would show Life Modules themselves.
• The error message for the requirement that a character with the Test Subject life module select 16,000¥ of augmentations was incorrectly reporting that the character had 32,000¥ to spend, although it was enforcing the correct limit of 16,000¥.
• The Trust Fund quality was not properly recognizing when the appropriate lifestyle had been added to the character.
• The karma cost of positive qualities that were added by a life module were being applied to a character's total karma.
• If a specialty was added to one of the skills in a life module, the specialty's Karma cost was being added to the life module's cost.
• If a specialty was added to a skill whose only rating values had come from life modules, an error would be reported that you can't add a specialty to a skill with no rating.
• If a specialty was added to a skill that was originally added during advancement, an error would be reported that you can't add a specialty to a skill with no rating.
• If your life modules added more points of positive or negative qualities than are allowed, you would not be able to proceed to advancement mode.
• Several life modules that offer the same skill as both an individual skill and as a group generated errors about the duplicated skill. Examples of this are the Military Academy (Medicine), State University/College (Medicine), and the various Tour of Duty (Medical Corps) modules.
• When selecting the skill to apply a Reflex Recorder to on a character created using Life Modules, many different copies of the same skill could be offered for selection, if multiple life modules contributed to the same skill.
• Buying off the last step of a negative quality that has multiple levels available would not cost any karma once added to the character, although it would list the correct cost when choosing which quality to buy off.

Data File Authoring

• A sensor target modifier pick (targSensor) has been added to the Targetting Modifiers group. This works like the existing melee and ranged target modifiers, storing bonuses or penalties that apply to anyone attacking you with a sensor-aided attack. This was added for the upcoming Rigger 5.0 supplement, to support the Signature Masking mod.
• The first language table on life modules now has the option of distributing a fixed number of points among several languages (this option already existed on the knowledge and active skills tables, and can now be used for languages, too).
• Any Selection Helper in the Classical Element, Element, or Toxic Element categories will get an identity tag in the Element group. These tags are added to spells that have elemental effects, so that other things can find spells of a certain element. This is used by the Elemental Focus quality from Hard Targets.
• A new field, wpStrMod, has been added to weapons. This is used alongside the wpStrReq field. When comparing a weapon's effective strength (wpStrength) to the wpStrReq field to determine whether a penalty should be applied, wpStrMod is added to wpStrength in that calculation. This is used by the Focused Archery adept power from Hard Targets.
• The penalty for Off-Hand attacks is now stored in herofield[acOffPen].value, and has a default value of -2. Previously, the -2 penalty was hard-coded in the script that applies the penalty for wielding a weapon in your off-hand.
• Since all of the Invoking templates had the same script, to add "Great Form " before the name of the spirit they were added to, those scripts were deleted from the individual templates, and instead moved to a script on the Template component that runs for all templates with the TemplatCat.Invoking tag.

 

[adzling]

Thanks Mathias just downloaded it.

Question: I am trying to copy and edit the Ammo Skip System to make it work on revolvers (currently the Underbarrel mount restriction means it cannot be used on a revolver!).

I am getting an error noting that it cannot be edited or copied because it's part of a data package.

Any idea how to get around this?

thanks!

 

[Mathias]

Create a copy, and then create a new blank item. Go setting by setting in the copy, and make the new item identical. Then, delete the copied version when you're done. Don't forget to copy any scripts and prereqs, keeping the same Phase & Priority on the scripts.

 

[adzling]

thanks!

 

[adzling]

FYI it seems like the ammo skip system does not permit you to load different ammo at the same time, which is the point of the mod.

thanks

 

[AndrewD2]

If you think it's a bug please report it here: http://www.wolflair.com/support/report-shadowrun5-bug/

 

[adzling]

I don't know if it's a bug or just not possible to implement, which is why I posted it here.

 

[AndrewD2]

It's best if you even think it's a bug just to file the report. Then it's in the System. Mathias is great and will let you know if it is or isn't and if it isn't he usually says why it's not.

 

[Mathias]

FYI it seems like the ammo skip system does not permit you to load different ammo at the same time, which is the point of the mod.

thanks

I've thought about this, and have no good ideas for a user-friendly way to designate the exact contents of a 40-clip weapon, let alone every clip on the character, so this is not something that can be implemented until we have a good way to implement it.

 

[Alistair]

I've thought about this, and have no good ideas for a user-friendly way to designate the exact contents of a 40-clip weapon, let alone every clip on the character, so this is not something that can be implemented until we have a good way to implement it.

I guess the workaround here is just to give it different ammo types and go in and change it in the weapon when its time to use that one?

A more complicated implementation, that avoids implementing tracking every clip on the character for what I, as a user, would consider a reasonable amount of effort:

The UI would look just like the mod screen for a sub-weapon like the underbarrel ones. Instead of putting your ammo into the weapon, you would add it to the mod. Changing between them can go on the in play adjustments screen with all other selectable modes. If I were playing an ammo-skip using character, I would not consider this undue effort to set up and use.

Under the hood, the weapon mod would report its currently selected ammo sub-clip to the weapon as its actual ammo loaded, overriding the typical value used when a weapon lacks this modification.

So if in your cyl. 6 revolver, you have three gels, two hollowpoints, and a stick and shock, you would have a clip of three, a clip of two, and a clip of one, and if hollow points were selected, it reports 2 rounds in the cylinder as what is loaded.

 

[adzling]

Yeah I figured as much hence my post.

It's a tricky one I'll give you that.

I'm happy to just wing it, sometimes it's just not worth building out a complicated widget for a single tiny mod in a massive game system.

I've thought about this, and have no good ideas for a user-friendly way to designate the exact contents of a 40-clip weapon, let alone every clip on the character, so this is not something that can be implemented until we have a good way to implement it.

 

[Polecat]

I've thought about this, and have no good ideas for a user-friendly way to designate the exact contents of a 40-clip weapon, let alone every clip on the character, so this is not something that can be implemented until we have a good way to implement it.

Honestly, I don't think it is that important. If the player wants to plan out each shot, they can do a bunch of extra leg work. Since its not something I imagine coming up that often. I'd just recommend having multiple clips.

We do need a way of registering stuff on PANs and WANs though. I know I sound like a broken record, but considering the only way you can stop someone from data-spiking your gun is to have it behind a good firewall it isn't something that should be overlooked.

 

[Mathias]

We do need a way of registering stuff on PANs and WANs though. I know I sound like a broken record, but considering the only way you can stop someone from data-spiking your gun is to have it behind a good firewall it isn't something that should be overlooked.

How often would someone actually have a set of equipment that can't be covered by their commlink/cyberdeck - where the link can't actually cover everything else that's in use, so that you can just look at the commlink's stats, and assume those are what to use when defending for the character against a matrix attack? Then, it's a simple matter of listing the matrix defense stats of the currently equipped matrix device next to the ranged/melee/sensor defenses along the top, and all their devices are assumed to be behind that firewall.

Having to check whether each device is inside the PAN, and change that every time you change out the list of active devices does not seem worth the electronic paperwork if the majority of characters will have a good enough commlink to cover a normal set of equipment.

 

[adzling]

FYI there are benefits to setting up more complicated PAN arrangements.

Such as a high stealth rated comlink running silent forming PAN that includes all your gear and then second comlink running an agent (to check for marks on both PANS) and slaving a bunch of garbage (RFID tags etc) to it.

Or a decker / rigger slaving his drones to his deck and running a comlink that has his other stuff slaved to it.

So it's not at all necessary to construct an interface for it imho (I keep all this as notes in the Personal section of my character sheet) but it would be nice as book-keeping can get complicated.

But i'm sure there's more important stuff out there.

 

[Polecat]

The main thing is that lots and lots and lots of gear is wireless now. And assuming that everything on your person is in your WAN or PAN is a problem. My character needs to carry three separate comlinks just to cover all his gear.

And when one of those devices is taken over by a decker, they gain control over all items connected to that network. Likewise, you can only benefit from the Wireless bonus from a single running device. So, what is actually connected really matters.

So far, this has come up 9/12 times we have had matrix combat.

If someone snags one comlink they can use a free action to make the guns in it spit their clips (if they're a smartgun) and that is just one of the many, many things they can do. So its important to know what is connected to what -- especially since you can only defend one network at a time means that your additional networks are just Firewall instead of Firewall + Willpower.

We had a half hour disagreement over someone hacking someone's gecko gloves and turning them off when he was half way up the side of a building, because the person just decided that they would be in their PAN without picking the items in their PAN beforehand.

So this would just make things easier and it is something all runners should consider.

 

[Mathias]

The main thing is that lots and lots and lots of gear is wireless now. And assuming that everything on your person is in your WAN or PAN is a problem. My character needs to carry three separate comlinks just to cover all his gear.

What rating of commlinks are you using? I just give every character who's not cash-strapped a rating 6 commlink, so that's covering 18 devices per commlink. Does your character carry 40-some wireless devices, every one of them turned on at all times, that you need three commlinks?

Do you really want to have to select a commlink from a drop-down for 40 different devices?

 

[Polecat]

What rating of commlinks are you using? I just give every character who's not cash-strapped a rating 6 commlink, so that's covering 18 devices per commlink. Does your character carry 40-some wireless devices, every one of them turned on at all times, that you need three commlinks?

Do you really want to have to select a commlink from a drop-down for 40 different devices?

I wish I could just copy and paste, but including the systems in cyberware and drones and stuff. Yes. And yeah, I really do. I have a few different weapon suites scattered across multiple coms so if I lose one com to a hacker I don't lose access to anything that isn't a club.

Cyborgs have it the worst in our experience.

The other thing is, if you have a single wireless device. Like, if you have anything not behind a firewall technomancers, hackers, sprites and AIs can jockey inside that thing without any real effort and follow you around without your knowing. They can also see everything you have running via icons if they're not behind a firewall. Its a pain.

So, yeah. I know I am being a broken record, but if you aren't encountering this as a problem its because your GM isn't using your deckers or Technomancers properly. Because we are running in the Boston Lockdown and it has been a total freaking nightmare.

Don't even get me started on nanites.