Shadowrun: New or Revised Game Rules

This is a list of the Shadowrun 4th Edition house rules that I use. Most of these changes are relatively simple, so instead of creating a tiny article for each, they're all on this page. Some house rules that are complex enough to need their own page will have a link pointing to that page here, as well as on the Shadowrun Hub. Whenever it seems necessary, I'll explain why I changed a rule, so that you can see the pressures brought to bear by playing with (and being) a min-maxer.

Improving Skills (Time Requirements)
There were a couple of problems with the standard time-to-learn model. First, it seemed to take too long - weeks to get better at firearms might seem reasonable on paper, but in practice, since you can only improve one skill at a time, you were stuck practicing the same thing for many runs before you could improve. Second, a single bad learning test set you back too far, while a good one made things too easy. Therefore, I like to use the following replacement.
 * Instruction: Instruction checks now provide one bonus die to the learning test per net hit. A session with an instructor costs $10 per point of rating in the skill being trained per day. (Example: An instructor with Automatics 5 would cost $50/day.)
 * Improving An Active Skill: Improving a single skill's rating now requires an Extended Test of [skill] + Intuition (new rating * 5, 2 days).
 * Improving A Skill Group: Improving a skill group's rating now requires an Extended Test of [group] + Intuition (new rating * 5, 1 week).
 * Improving A Knowledge Skill: This takes the same time as improving an Active Skill.

Logic Boosts and You
It's never made sense to me that hackers gain so little benefit from changing their Logic. Under the rules-as-written, you could use Decrease Logic to drop a hacker to Logic 1, and he wouldn't actually be any worse at 95% of Matrix actions; conversely, you could buff him up to Logic 9, and he wouldn't be any better. This is a natural consequence of the Skill+Program arrangement that SR4 uses, but it just defies all reason.

All implants, spells, drugs, and other mechanics which increase or decrease the Logic attribute also provide an equal increase or decrease to the dice pool of Logic-linked skill tests. Thus, the drug Psyche (which grants +1 Logic) would give a +1 dice pool bonus to Logic-linked skill tests for its duration, while a Decrease Logic spell with 3 net hits would cause a -3 dice pool penalty to Logic-linked skill tests.

This bonus or penalty does not apply to any test that naturally incorporates Logic; for example, a character making a Logic + Software check while under the effects of Psyche would gain only a +1 bonus. However, multiple sources of Logic bonuses or penalties do stack, such that a character with Cerebal Booster II implants using Psyche would gain a +3 dice pool bonus to Logic-linked skill tests.

Strength-Based Recoil Compenstation for Heavy Weapons
Strong characters shouldn't have as many problems free-firing a minigun. This one's simple.

All heavy weapons receive bonus recoil compensation equal to one-half the wielder's Strength (rounded up).

Estimating Vehicle Speed In MPH
For Canadians, Europeans, and other metric-enabled peoples, I'm sure that figuring out Shadowrun velocity and acceleration is laughably simple. As an American, it can boggle the mind. I'm used to Imperial measurements and don't really want to get out a calculator or converter every time vehicles turn up. Fortunately, I accidentally discovered a useful rule-of-thumb for this. Vehicle speed and acceleration in SR are measurements of movement per combat turn - by default, 3 seconds. A vehicle with Speed 100 isn't going 100 KPH, it's going 100 meters per 3 seconds (m/3s). This happens to be very easy to convert to MPH!

0.75 x Speed in m/3s = Speed in MPH

This isn't precise - it's actually 0.745645 - but it's close enough for nearly everything in an RPG. This made things so much easier for me for visualization purposes. I have very little frame of reference for understanding what it means to go 100 m/3s, but I've got a ton of experience with cars moving at 75 MPH. This rule still works fine if you adopt my 6-second combat turns, so long as you double vehicle speed and acceleration like I recommend.

Increased Combat Duration: 6-Second Combat Turns
Simultaneity is always a major problem in RPG combat. Technically, everything is happening at once, but you take turns so that the game can actually proceed in an orderly fashion. Shadowrun makes this more difficult with its by-default 3 second combat turns. With the rules on initiative passes, a lot can happen in three seconds. It is, in fact, very possible for someone with a sniper rifle to target and kill eight people in three seconds (four passes, two single shots per pass from a 10-round clip). Under the rules, it's possible for a dwarf to walk 24 feet in three seconds. Does any of this make sense? Even for superheroes, this is incredible speed. And with all of these things happening simultaneously, it can be really hard to understand what's actually going on.
 * Turn Duration: One combat turn now lasts 6 seconds, instead of 3 seconds.
 * Metahuman Movement: Metahumans of all types do not change their movement speed. This should make movement rates more reasonable.
 * Vehicle Movement: Vehicle speed and acceleration, which were fine before, should be doubled. Anything that would provide a bonus or penalty to vehicle speed should also be doubled.

Pulling Your Punches
If you normally deal Physical damage with melee attacks of any variety, you may take a -3 dice pool penalty to deal Stun damage instead.

Mystic Adepts and Astral Perception
All mystic adepts are capable of astral perception without purchasing the Astral Perception adept power.

Shield as an Echo
Unwired introduced a new complex form: Shield, which provides its rating as a bonus on all Matrix combat dodge tests. This is obviously a significant advantage. In my opinion, too significant. Technomancers already have a edge over hackers, with powerful autonomous sprites and plenty of strong unique abilities. They're more fragile, but also overwhelmingly strong. That many extra dice in Matrix defense reduces their main disadvantage immensely.

The Shield complex form no longer exists. Instead, technomancers can choose Shield as an echo when they submerge. It provides a bonus to Matrix defense tests equal to one-half the technomancer's submersion grade, rounded up.

Advanced Programs
After having to deal with technomancers, I concluded that hackers needed some sort of extra edge. Using threading and registered sprites, technomancers can make their core forms obscenely strong; I once saw a Rating 17 Attack form. They also have some disadvantages to offset their strengths, but I still thought hackers needed something. One idea, which seems to have helped a lot, was to make strong Common programs more accessible.

Common programs are available up to Rating 9 on the market, with Availability ([Rating - 6] * 4). They cost Rating * 300 nuyen. They are usually paired with the Optimization option (Unwired, p. 115) so that they can be run on a standard system, and frequently have Copy Protection and Registration as well. Keep in mind that the Optimization option increases the Availability of a program.

Penile Implants
The Penile Implant augmentation now has Capacity 2. (This was done to permit cyberpenises to include holdout pistols. Purely for the lulz.)