Favorite Mechanic

[I'm A Banana]

I'm a dude who loves me some crunchy mechanical goodness, but I'm not very familiar with Shadowrun as a system. As a setting, it seems like pretty awesome high weird, which I'm partial to. But what's the mechanical rules element that really bring it together? Go with any edition, just tell me what your favorite is, and why.

 

[Reed Makamson]

the initiative pass system is very simple, yet allows speed to carry a huge edge. with new initiative-costs for certain free actions, its even more versatile.

 

[darjr]

I liked the 'adept' idea in character creation. I could use magic to push what would normally be mundane abilities. It's how I built a 'paladin' sniper. A sharpshooter that could heal folks on the battle field.

 

[Umbran]

I don't know if they survived into 5e, but the "drain" mechanic for magic was kind of keen, to me. Instead of having a flat number of spell points, or a flat number of spell slots, casting a spell was basically a stun attack on the caster. They got a roll to help soak the stun damage.

Tossing around really powerful spells could even cause physical damage. It was possible to knock yourself unconscious or even kill yourself if you stretched too far.

 

[I'm A Banana]

the initiative pass system is very simple, yet allows speed to carry a huge edge. with new initiative-costs for certain free actions, its even more versatile.

Sounds interesting...what's the high level on how that works?

I liked the 'adept' idea in character creation. I could use magic to push what would normally be mundane abilities. It's how I built a 'paladin' sniper. A sharpshooter that could heal folks on the battle field.

...so, kind of, buffs?

I don't know if they survived into 5e, but the "drain" mechanic for magic was kind of keen, to me. Instead of having a flat number of spell points, or a flat number of spell slots, casting a spell was basically a stun attack on the caster.

Interesting! That resonates with the "everything has a price" vibe the new version is putting out...

 

[darjr]

...so, kind of, buffs?

Sort of, but permanent and a fundamental part of your character. Low magic areas were a bit of a problem for him, but for those times he carried a big handgun.

 

[Abstruse]

Yes, drain is still a thing.

My favorite rules mechanic from SR5 specifically is how decking overall works now. It's so simple and elegant, but it feels more like the hacking from the fiction in 1st/2nd ed than even those rules did. There's a lot of rules involved, but basically when you try to hack into something, Grid Overwatch immediately knows something illegal is going on and it starts a ticking clock. You get "points" based on what you try to do (every hit that the host or whatever gets trying to defend from you gets added to your tally). On top of that, until you reboot your deck, you get 2d6 more points every 15 minutes. Once you hit 40 points, you're kicked out of the Matrix taking dumpshock damage, you lose all your marks, your deck itself takes a crapload of damage (possibly enough to fry it then and there), AND your physical location is transmitted to both the equivalent of your ISP and the owner of whatever computer you were hacking into at the time. So when you wake up from the damage after you're forced from the Matrix, your hundred thousand nuyen deck is on fire and you've got HEAVILY armed security from two different corporations plus local law enforcement (which is technically just a third corporation) arguing over who gets to arrest you or if they should just shoot you in the face and have done with it.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Sort of, but permanent and a fundamental part of your character. Low magic areas were a bit of a problem for him, but for those times he carried a big handgun.

Oh, sweet. I like the integration of the tech and the magic there, though it seems the setting overall wants a tension between those two elements (what with magic being powered by life-force)...

Grid Overwatch immediately knows something illegal is going on and it starts a ticking clock. You get "points" based on what you try to do (every hit that the host or whatever gets trying to defend from you gets added to your tally). On top of that, until you reboot your deck, you get 2d6 more points every 15 minutes. Once you hit 40 points, you're kicked out of the Matrix taking dumpshock damage, you lose all your marks, your deck itself takes a crapload of damage (possibly enough to fry it then and there), AND your physical location is transmitted to both the equivalent of your ISP and the owner of whatever computer you were hacking into at the time.

Hahaha, woah, sounds pretty high-stakes. I guess that's why a good Decker keeps a lot of pals around...to haul him half-comatose to somewhere off the grid for a while when he alerts he wrong authority!

 

[Abstruse]

Hahaha, woah, sounds pretty high-stakes. I guess that's why a good Decker keeps a lot of pals around...to haul him half-comatose to somewhere off the grid for a while when he alerts he wrong authority!

Or he learns to not press his luck and to keep track of how much heat's getting on him so he knows when to jack out, reboot, and start over again.