Qualities/Run Faster

Adrenaline Surge

27004 Run Faster, p.145

Cost

12 Karma

Hit first, hit last, that’s your style. Adrenaline Surge allows a character to act first in the first Initiative Pass of a new combat even if they don’t have the highest Initiative Score. If other characters involved in the combat have the Adrenaline Surge quality or use their Edge to Seize the Initiative so that they may act first in the same Initiative Pass, characters act in order of their Initiative Scores. This quality does not allow a Surprised character to act first in an ambush, but it can allow a character who is not surprised to strike first.

Animal Empathy

27004 Run Faster, p.145

Cost

3 Karma

Characters with this quality have a natural knack for working with animals. The character gets a +2 dice pool modifier for all tests involving the influence or control of an animal (including riding), including Awakened species.

Black Market Pipeline

27004 Run Faster, p.145

Cost

10 Karma

During character creation, the player chooses one existing individual contact and a single category of merchandise (e.g., vehicles, weapons, electronics, armor, etc.). The selected contact can always buy or sell goods in that category through the black market with better-than-normal rates for the character. Purchases through this contact get a ten percent price reduction and a +2 dice pool modifier for the Availability Test. When looking to sell goods through the contact, the character gets (7 percent x Loyalty) of the item’s original value instead of the standard 5 percent. The contact has to be appropriate to the category chosen, though creativity can be king here.

Born Rich

27004 Run Faster, p.145

Cost

5 Karma

Richie Rich has fallen into the shadows. The character came from an affluent background (e.g., high-level corporate kid, old-money family, Mafia princess, lottery winner), but is not necessarily still wealthy or doesn’t have access to this additional wealth. During character creation, characters can normally gain extra resources at a rate of 2,000 nuyen per Karma point, up to 10 Karma maximum (p.94, SR5). With this quality, available only during character creation, characters may exceed the usual 10 Karma limit and instead trade up to 40 Karma total at the same exchange rate of 2,000 nuyen per Karma point, for up to 80,000 nuyen of additional funds.

City Slicker

27004 Run Faster, p.145

Cost

7 Karma

A character with this quality has the asphalt and concrete of the sprawl in his blood. They would choose the noise and chaos of the city over the suburbs or rural areas any day of the week. They have an instinct for navigating urban environments. This quality provides a +1 dice pool modifier for all skills in the Outdoors skill group when in an urban environment. The downside is the character suffers a −1 dice pool modifier to Perception and Survival Tests when in any non-urban environment.

College Education

27004 Run Faster, p.145

Cost

4 Karma

The halls of academe are well known to your character. Thanks to time spent actually studying while at college instead of partying, the character can buy Academic Knowledge skills at half price (rounded up) during character creation. After character creation, Academic Knowledge skill ranks of 3 or higher receive a 1 Karma cost reduction for each rank.

Common Sense

27004 Run Faster, p.145

Cost

3 Karma

“Common sense is not so common” as they say. It’s nothing supernatural, just a keen sense of knowing when something is just a bad idea. Any time a character with this quality is about to do something the gamemaster deems foolish, the gamemaster must act as their proverbial inner voice of reason and issue a little warning. The gamemaster can only give a number of warnings per session equal to or less than the character’s Edge rating. After that, they’re on their own.

Daredevil

27004 Run Faster, p.146

Cost

6 Karma

Better to be lucky than good, when you’re living on the edge. A character with this quality is particularly lucky when it comes to doing the outrageous. Whenever the character performs an exceptionally daring action (gamemaster’s discretion), she gets two points of Edge back instead of one.

Digital Doppelganger

27004 Run Faster, p.146

Cost

7 Karma

The Matrix is a big place, and with a world so connected and so tied to identity, there are bound to be some crossed signals somewhere. The character’s digital identity, including their spending habits, licenses, travel records, and data trail have all been cross-linked with someone else’s identity. Anyone doing research on him has a hard time locating any information and faces a +2 threshold for Matrix Searches for tracking the character on this ID. This quality must be connected to a specific SIN, either a real SIN (with the character having the negative quality SINner) or a fake SIN (with at least a Rating of 4).

Disgraced

27004 Run Faster, p.146

Cost

2 Karma

The character used to be a figure of authority, feared in the streets and publicly lauded as a hero until his reputation got tarnished (justly or unjustly), and he was cast out of his community. Such was the character’s fearsome reputation that criminals (gangers, organized crime members, and so on, as determined by the gamemaster) still treat him warily. The character receives a +2 dice pool modifier when attempting to intimidate such individuals. However, any upright citizen will treat the character with the disdain reserved for disgraced heroes, being treated as Prejudiced in any Etiquette Test.

Erased

27004 Run Faster, p.146

Cost

8 Karma

There are characters who lack a SIN because they never had one, and then there are those who had a SIN but had it actively and thoroughly erased, to the point where legwork can only be done via word-of-mouth contacts, and Matrix searches turn up nothing. Also, the quality prevents Public Awareness for the character from ever going above 1. This is a double-edged sword. The character can never maintain a Lifestyle higher than Middle, and can never used a fake SIN or any attached licenses for more than three months. Living under the radar is expensive. If a character chooses to have a High Lifestyle for a month, she’ll need to bail on it and lay low for a bit with a Low or lower Lifestyle for at least a month. If they fail to do so, the systems in place start to slip, making the character locatable via the Matrix and possibly building a Public Awareness—which means that whatever they were hiding from might have a chance to find them.

Fame

27004 Run Faster, p.146

Cost

see below

Now if you can just get fortune and money you’ll have the trifecta. The problem is you’ve got the element that is not particularly cherished in the shadows. Whether you’re a former trid star, a local politician, a retired or injured sports star, or the latest up-and-coming rocker, your face is well known. It may be just the local community, a single nation or corp, or possibly the world that knows your ugly mug. No matter who they are or how many folks know your profile, being so recognizable has its pros and cons.

First, on the pro side, Fame offers benefits within certain social circles and additional income if the character also chooses the Day Job quality.

That may sound nice, but being well known is not a great way to get work in the shadows, and therefore causes problems on the darker side of life. Characters with this quality are more likely to be recognized by passers-by or others who see them during a run, which can be a problem. And remember that Fame often involves strings; one of the biggest is having a SIN. Characters who choose this quality must have the SINner quality or a Rating 3 fake SIN.

Local Fame

27004 Run Faster, p.146

Cost

4 Karma

City politics, hometown sports teams, and local news stations are some of the most common sources of local fame. Select a single sprawl at character creation to be the base of the character’s fame. In the public eye of that sprawl, the character gains a 1-point increase to their Social Limit and a +1 dice pool modifier on all Social Skill tests to positively influence someone who knows of their fame.

The downside is that anyone from the chosen sprawl can identify famous characters with an Intuition + Logic (2) Test, so characters need to be careful about who sees them when they are on the job. The character’s Public Awareness is increased by 2.

If the character has the Day Job quality, they multiply their income by 2.

National Fame

27004 Run Faster, p.146

Cost

8 Karma

National politics, championship sports teams, and the entertainment industry supply the bulk of nationally famous folks. At character creation, select a nation to be famous within and a sprawl of origin within that nation (it needs to be a place related to the character’s story and the languages they speak—characters need at least four ranks in the native language of the country in which they are famous). In the selected sprawl, characters gain a 1-point increase to their Social Limit and a +2 dice pool modifier on all Social Skill tests to positively influence someone who knows of their fame. In the chosen nation, the character has a 2-point Social Limit increase and a +1 dice pool modifier as above.

Anyone from the character’s home sprawl can identify the character with an Intuition + Logic (1) Test; people from the nation need to make an Intuition + Logic (2) Test. The character’s Public Awareness is increased by 3.

If the character has the Day Job quality, they multiply their income by 4 and also increase their required workload by 10 percent.

Megacorporate Fame

27004 Run Faster, p.146

Cost

12 Karma

Megacorporate sports teams, the international entertainment industry, and megacorporate politics bring corporate citizens into the spotlight. At character creation, choose a home megacorporation, home sprawl, and home nation where the character’s fame originated and grew. In the character’s megacorporation, they gain a 2-point Social Limit bonus and a +2 dice pool modifier on all Social Skills tests to positively influence someone who knows of their fame. In the nation and sprawl they came from, the Social Limit increase is 1 and the dice pool modifier is +1.

Citizens of their megacorporation and their home sprawl need only succeed at an Intuition + Logic (1) test to identify the character. Citizens of other megacorporations and their home nation can identify them with an Intuition + Logic (2) Test. The character’s Public Awareness is increased by 5.

If the character has the Day Job quality, they multiply their income by 6 and also require a 10 percent increase in workload.

Global Fame

27004 Run Faster, p.146

Cost

16 Karma

This kind of fame is not easy to avoid. International blockbuster simstars, multi-platinum-selling music artists, megacorporate executives, and international political figures fit this kind of bill. Characters with this level of fame gain a 3-point increase to their Social Limit and a +3 dice pool modifier to all Social Skills tests to positively influence anyone who knows their identity. Identifying the character requires an Intuition + Logic (2) Test or any rank in an appropriate Knowledge Skill.

If the character has the Day Job quality, they multiply their income by 10 and also require a 25 percent increase in workload. The character’s Public Awareness is increased by 8.

Characters can create their own runner persona to try and hide their true identity, but it will involve a disguise or mask of some sort. Identifying the star becomes an Opposed Test with the initial Disguise + Intuition [Mental] Test, setting the threshold to identify the character with a Perception + Intuition [Mental] Test.

Friends in High Places

27004 Run Faster, p.147

Cost

8 Karma

“So sorry, Damian, I can’t head out on the new Ares prototype ship with you this weekend, I have a run,” is something a character with this quality might actually say. This quality gives the character an additional pool of Free Karma for purchasing contacts, with a few stipulations. First, the character gets an additional Charisma × 4 in Karma to purchase contacts. Second, none of these contacts can have a Connection Rating less than 8. Third, any leftover Karma that the character cannot spend is lost. These contacts can’t be called at every turn; see the Who You Know chapter for information on what happens if the favors of contacts are abused.^(RF-172)

Hawk Eye

27004 Run Faster, p.147

Cost

3 Karma

Characters with the Hawk Eye quality have exceptionally keen natural vision. They can identify a face a block away without binoculars or spot a spent casing in a shadowy crack at five meters. Characters gain a +1 dice pool modifier to their Perception Tests and shift all Range Environmental modifiers up one category (e.g., Medium becomes Short). The quality is part of characters’ natural eyes and is not compatible with electronic vision enhancements and/or cyber- or bioware augmentations or replacements.

Inspired

27004 Run Faster, p.147

Cost

4 Karma

Slapping paint on a canvas or words on a page is easy and requires only a medium and a mouth to tout one’s own amazing talents and insights. But to make something worthwhile, something that deserves to be called art, pieces that speak for themselves and stand the test of time, requires true talent. An Inspired character is touched by a muse (figuratively we hope, though gamemasters can see Street Grimoire for the literal) and is considered an artistic genius by his peers for his remarkable raw talent. The quality grants the character an additional Street Cred of 2 (p.372, SR5) among fellow artists familiar with his reputation. Inspired characters also gain a +1 dice pool modifier for all Artisan skills or Performance skills they possess; the player must choose which category the quality applies to when it is chosen, and the quality can only be selected once.

Jack of All Trades, Master of None

27004 Run Faster, p.147

Cost

2 Karma

The character has an incredible aptitude for learning new skills. Unfortunately, the character quickly gets bored and gets turned off when things start getting a little hard. Karma costs are reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 1) for learning skills up to Rating 5. Beyond Rating 5, however, it costs 2 additional points of Karma for each point of skill. This quality does not apply during character creation.

Lightning Reflexes

27004 Run Faster, p.148

Cost

20 Karma

Some people are just born fast. This quality provides an unaugmented character the ability to react with astonishing speed. The character gains +1 to their Initiative rating and a bonus initiative die. This quality is not cumulative with any other Initiative enhancement, be it technological, chemical, or magical. They also receive a +1 dice pool modifier for all Defense Tests.

Linguist

27004 Run Faster, p.148

Cost

4 Karma

Nothing impresses an out-of-town Johnson more than negotiating in their native tongue. And knowing when they’re telling their goon squad to kill you is pretty useful too. This quality represents a natural gift for learning and understanding languages. Characters with this quality halve the learning time for a language, and the quality also provides a +1 dice pool modifier to all Language skill tests the character makes. If this quality is purchased at character creation, the player purchases Language skill points at a 2-for-1 rate. After character creation, language skill ranks of 3 or higher receive a 1 Karma cost reduction for each rank.

Made Man

27004 Run Faster, p.148

Cost

5 Karma

As a minor member of an organized crime syndicate, the character can occasionally call on its resources. At the time of purchase, select a crime syndicate as a free Group Contact (see Group or Organization Contact Options).^(RF-176) As the character is an actual member of the syndicate, Loyalty is increased to 3 instead of starting at 1. This status also allows him to use the syndicate as a reliable fence for stolen goods (they get thirty percent of the items’ value) or as a source for stolen and restricted goods (ten percent price reduction and a +1 dice pool modifier for the Availability Test). Everything comes with a price, though. The character is expected to participate in syndicate work, taking at least twenty hours of his time every week in a standard campaign, and costing the character one out of every four weeks in Missions play.

Night Vision

27004 Run Faster, p.148

Cost

2 Karma

The name says it all. This quality provides characters with the advantages of low-light vision (see Environmental Compensation Table).^(SR5-175) There is a downside. Thanks to the extremely light-sensitive nature of the eye, the character suffers severely from the glare of the sun (Blinding Glare on a clear day, Moderate Glare on an overcast day, etc.) but can mitigate this with sunglasses per the Environmental Compensation Table. The quality is not compatible with cyber- or bioware augmentation or replacement (meaning if you get any such replacement, this quality goes away, and the character receives no Karma in return).

Outdoorsman

27004 Run Faster, p.148

Cost

3 Karma

A character with this quality is often described as woodsy. They are far more comfortable in wilderness and rural environments than in the urban blight of the modern city. They are naturals at tracking and hunting, with a sense of direction even a compass could rely on. This quality provides a +2 dice pool modifier for all skills in the Outdoors skill group when in a rural or wild environment. The downside is the character suffers a −1 dice pool modifier to Perception and Survival Tests when in an urban environment.

Overclocker

27004 Run Faster, p.148

Cost

5 Karma

The character is able to coax more juice out of his gear. The character may add 1 point of Rating to one of his cyberdeck’s ASDF attributes. This point can be reallocated as desired any time the cyberdeck is reconfigured.

Perceptive

27004 Run Faster, p.148

Cost

5 to 10 Karma

The devil is in the details, and you see those horns regularly. This quality is available at two levels.

5 Karma level

Characters receive a +1 dice pool modifier on all Perception Tests, including Astral and Matrix Perception.

10 Karma level

Characters receive a +2 dice pool modifier on all Perception Tests, including Astral and Matrix Perception.

Perfect Time

27004 Run Faster, p.148

Cost

5 Karma

Who needs a watch when you’re around? The character with this quality always knows the time, down to the minute, and has a perfect sense of rhythm and timing. This perfect sense can only be obstructed through prolonged isolation, unconsciousness, or distortion of temporal perception through drugs, chips, or an extended period in the Matrix. This quality provides two game benefits: a +1 dice pool modifier for Performance Tests involving timing and rhythm, along with an additional Free Action during every Action Phase.

Poor Link

27004 Run Faster, p.148

Cost

8 Karma

There’s a haze to the character’s aura that makes connecting over a distance difficult. All ritual sorcery, including friendly efforts, directed at the character receives a −2 dice pool modifier for the Ritual Spellcasting Test during Step 7: Seal the Ritual. The character also has a +2 dice pool modifier for any Resistance Tests she might have to make against the ritual, including against friendly rituals.

Privileged Family Name

27004 Run Faster, p.149

Cost

7 Karma

With this quality the character’s family is exceptionally well-connected, and his real name carries significant clout in his home sprawl (selected at character creation). Though probably known as a rich, spoiled brat, the name (and accompanying SIN and ID) is like a get-out-of-jailfree card for small misdemeanors (such as being caught carrying a weapon, casting an unauthorized mental manipulation spell, or driving a car without a license). Even when trying to act tough, local minor NPCs suffer a −2 dice pool modifier on Social tests against the character. In order to have this quality the character must also possess the SINner (National or Corporate) quality. Remember that this quality also makes the character very easy to identify if those not concerned with their family name start asking questions.

Rank

27004 Run Faster, p. 86

Cost

5 to 30 Karma

Rank is the way most organizations or institutions determine leadership and responsibility among their staff or members. Although it’s usually associated with the military, in fact rank exists in all facets of life, including the business world and even policlubs and hobby groups. Rank provides a +1 to your social limits per level for those within your organization. In the case of military or law enforcement characters, the social limit modifier applies to members of the public over whom they have authority.

Military and Law Enforcement

Karma	NCO	Officer	Beat	Detective
20	Corporal	Lieutenant	Officer	Detective
25	Sergeant	Captain	Corporal	Detective Sgt.
30	Sgt. Major	Major	Sergeant	Captain

Civilian examples

Karma	Workers	Management	Trade Guild
5	5 Year	Manager	Journeyman
10	10 Year	Area Man.	Master
15	20 Year	Regional Man.	Grandmaster

Restricted Gear

27004 Run Faster, p.149

Cost

10 Karma per Item

Right place, right time, right friend, or the stars aligned. No matter the reason, the character has managed to acquire or get a line on one piece of really hard-tofind gear she absolutely had to have. The character can take this quality up to three times; only one of those times can occur at character creation. Selecting it at character creation allows the character to buy a piece of gear with an Availability of up to 24 (circumventing the normal Availability limit at character creation). After character creation, taking this quality lets the character purchase one piece of gear with an Availability up to 18 during play with just a single commcall. They do, however, have to pay an extra thirty percent for the item.

School of Hard Knocks

27004 Run Faster, p.149

Cost

4 Karma

The streets were this character’s classroom. Thanks to all the time spent trying to stay one step ahead of the next guy, and knowing that knowledge is power on the streets, the character can buy Street Knowledge skills at a rate of 2 for 1 during character creation. After character creation, Street Knowledge skill ranks of 3 or higher receive a 1 Karma cost reduction for each rank.

Sense of Direction

27004 Run Faster, p.149

Cost

3 Karma

Sometimes the compass asks you which way is north. This quality allows even the most citified character to always know true north. With even a single rank in the Survival skill, she can always retrace her path. She can also estimate distances traveled accurately within a few meters as long as she is alert and able to perceive her surroundings when traveling. The quality offers a +1 dice pool modifier on Navigation skill tests.

Sensei

27004 Run Faster, p.149

Cost

5 Karma

You don’t know what you don’t know. This quality gives you someone who knows what you don’t know and has chosen you to be the recipient of their knowledge. The character selects a skill or skill group for their Sensei to have mastered when the quality is purchased. They must have a contact of Connection Rating 3 or higher with expertise in the area they will teach the character. If they choose a single skill, the Sensei has the skill at a Rating of 13, as well as an Instruction Test dice pool of 10 and a limit of 7. If a skill group is chosen, the Sensei has it at 12 and has an Instruction Test dice pool of 12 with a limit of 8. The Sensei charges nothing for her services to the character, and she generally should be available to the character, though the specifics of the relationship are under the gamemaster’s discretion.

Solid/Legendary Rep

27004 Run Faster, p.149

Cost

2 or 4 Karma

The quality can only be taken once.

Solid Rep

27004 Run Faster, p.149

Cost

2 Karma

The character has a solid reputation within a certain group. They did something amazing for the group once; old members talk about it with fond memories and new recruits want to find out all about it. The character gets a +1 Reputation bump with a certain specific group. Even if the character goes on to do negative things to that group, their reputation is such that people want to believe it’s a just a misunderstanding. The selected group should generally have around one to five thousand members.

Legendary Rep

27004 Run Faster, p.149

Cost

4 Karma

The character has a legendary reputation within a certain group. They did something amazing for the group once; old members talk about it with fond memories and new recruits want to find out all about it. The character gets a +2 Reputation bump with a certain specific group. Even if the character goes on to do negative things to that group, their reputation is such that people want to believe it’s a just a misunderstanding. The selected group should generally have around one to five thousand members.

Speed Reading

27004 Run Faster, p.149

Cost

2 Karma

When you found out the professor was offering an open-book final that could count as one hundred percent of your grade, you covered a year’s tuition by betting you could ace it without ever attending a single class. With this quality, a character can read through a full page of written text (about 800 words) in about five seconds or an 800-page textbook in about an hour. The information read is not memorized (unless the character also possesses the Photographic Memory quality, p.76, SR5, which allows a test for anything in the book after it is read), but the reader can gain a basic understanding of the contents. If attempting to locate a specific piece of information, phrase, or subject while in the process of reading, the character can attempt a Logic + Intuition Extended Test with a threshold and interval determined by the gamemaster based on the length of the text, its complexity, and the obscurity of the information being sought.

Spike Resistance

27004 Run Faster, p.150

Cost

10 Karma per Rating (Max 3)

Characters with this quality have an inherent resistance to harmful forms of biofeedback such as black IC, dump shock, black hammer, etc. For every level (up to three), the character gains a +1 dice pool modifier to resist damage from harmful biofeedback.

Spirit Whisperer

27004 Run Faster, p.150

Cost

8 Karma

There is something about you that makes some spirits want to avoid you—while others seem oddly drawn to you. Spirits add 1 die when resisting Summoning Tests from characters with this quality. However, if the character succeeds in the test, the spirit summoned is always at 1 point of Force stronger than chosen. For all purposes, the character is considered to have summoned the spirit at the declared Force—it simply shows up at 1 point of Force higher than expected. Summoned spirits behave rather curiously toward the character, asking questions about the character’s past, though no amount of mastery can compel them to reveal why they are so curious and why they show up stronger than summoned (the gamemaster should play up this mystery; it could even be the basis of an eventual campaign).

Steely Eyed Wheelman

27004 Run Faster, p.150

Cost

2 Karma

No turn too tight. When making Vehicle tests, Terrain Modifiers are reduced by 1 to a minimum of 0.

Technical School Education

27004 Run Faster, p.150

Cost

4 Karma

All your schoolbooks focus on the practical and real-life working world. Thanks to time spent being formally educated in a technical school, the character can buy Professional Knowledge skills at a rate of 2 for 1 during character creation. After character creation, Professional Knowledge skill ranks of 3 or higher receive a 1 Karma cost reduction for each rank.

Tough as Nails

27004 Run Faster, p.150

Cost

5 to 20 Karma

“Hit me!” is your favorite phrase. This quality can be taken up to 4 times, each time providing one additional box to either the character’s Physical or Stun Condition monitor, up to a maximum of 3 on any one Condition monitor.

Trust Fund

27004 Run Faster, p.151

Cost

5, 10, 15, or 20 Karma

Everyone knows you’re in the shadows for the rush or to fulfill some kind of Batman wannabe fantasy. Every month your trust fund spills out enough to live off, but just living is boring. A character with this quality possesses a lifelong trust fund or inheritance that is managed by another party (a trustee). The quality has four versions depending on just how rich and shady a runner is willing to be.

5 Karma level

Covers a Middle lifestyle with 500¥ left over each month.

10 Karma level

Covers a Low Lifestyle but offers the character 2,000 +3d6× 100¥ each month thanks to a deal with their landlord to rip off the trustee.

15 Karma level

Covers a High Lifestyle with 1,000¥ left over.

20 Karma level

Covers a Middle Lifestyle and offers 3,000 +6d6× 100¥ thanks to one of those special deals.

The character must also possess the SINner (National or Corporate) quality; additionally, the lifestyle they pay for cannot be paid for through other sources and is part of the records connected to the SIN. None of these lifestyles can be shared on a long-term basis, as the landlords are leery of anyone staying at the place and possibly ruining their deal. Note that there is a chance that if the character is caught breaking the law, the trustee may suspend benefits at the gamemaster’s discretion.

Trustworthy

27004 Run Faster, p.151

Cost

15 Karma

There’s just something about your baby face, good manners, or personality that makes others want to trust you. This quality provides a +1 dice pool modifier to all Skill Tests for skills in the Influence skill group and increases the character’s Social Limit by 2 for situations involving trusting the character.

Vehicle Empathy

27004 Run Faster, p.151

Cost

7 Karma

Sometimes you feel like your heart pump.108 octane instead of simple blood. Characters with this quality have an inexplicable understanding of and connection with anything they drive. Whenever the character is in physical control of a vehicle, either through manual controls or jacked into the vehicle via cable (but not Jumped In), they gain a +1 dice pool modifier for all appropriate Pilot Skill tests and increase the Handling Rating by 1.

Water Sprite

27004 Run Faster, p.151

Cost

6 Karma

You sure you’re not part merrow? This quality provides a +2 dice pool modifier to all Diving and Swimming tests, as well as tests related to holding your breath and treading water.

Witness My Hate

27004 Run Faster, p.151

Prerequisite

Magician

Cost

7 Karma

All of a spellcasting character’s single-target Direct Damage spells are resolved at +2 DV. However, such reckless channeling of destructive forces wreaks havoc on the character’s system. The Drain code for any affected Direct Damage spells is increased by +2.

Albinism

27004 Run Faster, p.151

Bonus

8 Karma (4 karma if you have cybereyes)

While the little white bunnies are cute, a character with this quality will likely get a moniker like Powder, Whitey, or Snowflake. Albinism is a genetic disorder that results in a partial or complete lack of pigmentation in the eyes, skin, and hair. While the lack of pigment in the hair and skin results in white colorations, lack of pigment in the eyes results in pink or crystal blue irises, with bright red pupils. Due to the lack of melanin, the compound that provides the pigmentation, characters with this quality lack ultraviolet light protection, making them very photosensitive and prone to sunburn. All ethnicities, metatypes, and metavariants can manifest albinism; in fact, all species can manifest albinism, including sapient paracritters.

Characters with this quality face a Weak Glare penalty to all actions when working in regular indoor lighting as well as during a bright but overcast day, and a Moderate Glare penalty when working on a sunny day. All other Glare modifiers are also increased by one level versus albino characters. Normal compensation methods work to mitigate the modifiers.

Due to the lack of protective pigmentation in their skin, characters with this quality suffer sunburn more quickly. Halve the duration between resistance tests when exposed to the sun for extended periods.^(R&G-148)

Characters who gain cybereyes at any point in the character creation process only gain 4 Karma at character creation. If an albino character gains cybereyes during game play, they must buy down this quality to the 4 Karma level as soon as they have the Karma, and cannot spend Karma on anything else until the quality is bought down.

Amnesia

27004 Run Faster, p.152

Bonus

4 or 8 Karma

More than just one night of drunken partying or even a few days’ blackout from a healthy dose of laés, this level of memory loss is far deeper and more profound.

The loss can be from injury, magic, drugs, or something unknown and sinister (cough … CFD … cough), and it can be either a simple surface memory loss or a complete neural deletion. The two levels of loss offer differing Karma values and differing levels of difficulty for the mind-wiped shadowrunner.

Surface Loss

27004 Run Faster, p.152

Bonus

4 Karma

This character suffers from the classic movie amnesia where they don’t remember who they are or their life before a certain moment, but they retain knowledge of their skills and general abilities. They aren’t quite sure how they learned them, or where, but they at least have those abilities at their disposal. What they lack are knowledge skills. The gamemaster determines a back-story based on the character the player creates and notes their knowledge skills. As a skill becomes relevant to the game, the gamemaster can make a secret roll for the character and provide the information in a flash of realization.

But these skills don’t just appear out of thin air for nothing. In order to access a Knowledge skill, a character needs to decide to buy it. If the skill is already on their list, 2 Karma buys an additional rank of the skill and that small bit of their history can be revealed. If the skill is not on their list they pay for it normally. A player could choose to never buy back their skills and always be at the mercy of the gamemaster, or simply build up their new identity with what they learn on the streets.

Neural Deletion

27004 Run Faster, p.152

Bonus

8 Karma

This is something that should be discussed and worked out with the gamemaster before choosing it, or can be part of a gamemaster’s plan for starting a new campaign with willing (note that word!) players. The player(s) start with a very limited level of knowledge as to what their character(s) can do. A nice gamemaster may allow for a list of skills they seem to know something about, or they can choose to reveal nothing but the basics, such as Physical Attributes and gear. Mental Attributes, skills, qualities, and even Edge should start as a mystery, and players learn about their character as they go.

One of the most important things to remember about choosing this is that your history is out of your hands and, at times, so is your character creation. If you want this level of Amnesia, talk to your gamemaster and then wait for your character sheet and hold on for dear life because you’re in for a bumpy and wildly fun ride.

The player can only fully regain control of their character by spending the Karma to buy off this quality and completing whatever in-game goals the gamemaster designs.

Asthma

27004 Run Faster, p.152

Bonus

8 Karma

When they gave you the street name Wheezy, you thought how awesome it was to get a classic but rare sitcom reference. Then you realized it was because of your asthma, and it wasn’t so cool. Whether it was in your genetic code, or forced on you by a virus or pollution, you’ve got the wheezes, more professionally known as chronic asthma. When it kicks in you endure wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing. In other words, some serious distractions from hacking, shooting, fighting, casting, summoning, and just about anything else that requires even a modicum of concentration.

Characters with asthma suffer additional, and more rapid, effects from all forms of Fatigue. Whenever considering a Fatigue damage effect, the character faces the damage twice as often and suffers additional effects as soon as they start taking damage based on the Asthma Effects table.

Damage	Description	Physical Actions	Other Actions	Social Limit
1 box	Wheezing	−1 DP	—	−1
2 boxes	Shortness of breath	−2 DP	−1 DP	−2
4 boxes	Chest tightness	(further Fatigue damage resisted with only Willpower)
8 boxes	Wracking cough	−3 DP	−2 DP	−3

Bi-polar

27004 Run Faster, p.152

Bonus

7 Karma

A character with this quality fluctuates between periods of depression, stability, and mania. During manic periods, the character gains a +1 dice pool modifier to any tests involving Agility or Reaction. At the same time, the inability to focus for extended periods of time results in a −2 dice pool modifier for tests involving Logic or Intuition. During depressive periods, the character is lethargic, unmotivated, and unable to focus. Apply a −2 dice pool modifier to any tests involving Agility, Reaction, Logic, and Intuition. During stable times, the character feels balanced and suffers no difficulties except for those they impose on themselves.

The gamemaster rolls a die to determine the character’s current mental state. This roll should occur at the beginning of the game session, whenever the character gets a shift in activity (sleep, after a run, during a long stakeout, etc.), or whenever the gamemaster feels like it, but at least once per day. On a result of 1 or 2, the character is in a depressed state, on a 3 or 4 the character is in a manic state, and on a 5 or 6 the character is stable.

Medication to stabilize Bi-polar characters is available at a cost of 500 nuyen a month, but requires a prescription and a SIN (a fake SIN is, of course, a viable option). Failing to take meds for more than twelve hours results in a die roll by the gamemaster. On the street, the meds go for 100 nuyen per daily dose.

Big Regret

27004 Run Faster, p.153

Bonus

5 Karma

Mistakes happen. Sometime in the character’s past they did something serious that they regret; maybe they spent time as a bunraku puppet, maybe they were part of a major political affair, or they were involved in the wrong corporate project, but it has to be something truly unpleasant (gamemaster’s discretion). The character decreases their Social Limit by 3 against anyone who knows about their past. This could result in a case of blackmail if the wrong person knows the truth. The character cannot buy off this quality unless it becomes public, at which point she gains 1 point of Notoriety and must buy off the quality as soon as possible.

Blind

27004 Run Faster, p.153

Bonus

15 Karma (5 Karma for characters with access to Astral Sight)

Characters with this quality are completely blind and can perceive nothing visually. This means they automatically fail all vision-based Perception Tests. They also face a −4 dice pool modifier for general Perception tests, a −3 dice pool modifier for Surprise Tests, Blind Fire when in Ranged Combat, Total Darkness in Melee Combat, and any other relevant modifiers at the gamemaster’s discretion. The character cannot use cybereyes, as the blindness is a nerve issue, leaving them incapable of processing any visual stimuli, regardless of the source.

Since astral sight is not a truly visual sense, Awakened characters who are blind can still use astral perception all the time and at least have some sense of objects in the world, but gamemasters should apply the customary −2 dice pool modifier to all actions performed on the physical plane while perceiving the astral, including indirect combat spells, and keep in mind the differences between the astral and physical worlds.

Borrowed Time

27004 Run Faster, p.153

Bonus

20 Karma

Runners face death on a regular basis, but usually they learn the best ways to avoid it. This quality makes avoiding it impossible; the inevitable is at your door, you’re just waiting for it to knock. It may be a fatal disease, a slow-acting poison, a precarious blockage, or a ticking cortex bomb, but no matter the source, death could arrive at any moment. There is no set time limit on the character’s expiration, only a deadly combination of three dice. At the beginning of each game session the gamemaster rolls three dice in secret; three of a kind means times up. At some point during that game session, at the perfect dramatic moment, the character dies.

This quality cannot be bought off. If the player changes their mind and wants their character to survive, the gamemaster can allow the character to survive, at a cost. When their number’s up (and not before), the character must burn all their current Edge to stay alive. The quality then goes away.

Computer Illiterate

27004 Run Faster, p.153

Bonus

7 Karma

There are characters who aren’t tech-savvy and characters who just don’t understand technology, and then there are characters with this quality. These characters have no experience at working with AR, computers, commlinks, and other electronic devices. They have difficulty performing even simple tasks such as making commcalls, sending e-mails, instant messaging, programming a trideo recorder, using a commlink, or doing a Matrix search. This quality provides a −4 dice pool modifier to all tests that involve a computer, electronic device, or Matrix-connected system of any kind. During stressful or tense situations, the gamemaster may require a Success Test, with the modifier, to complete tasks others would take for granted.

Creature of Comfort

27004 Run Faster, p.153

Bonus

10, 17, or 25 Karma

For the character with this quality, the rewards of a job well done are the finer things in life. Unfortunately, one can quickly get attached to the comforts one has acquired, making the fall seem ever so higher.

10 Karma level

The character is used to a Middle Lifestyle.

17 Karma level

The character is used to a High Lifestyle.

25 Karma level

It’s Luxury all the way, baby.

For every day that the character must spend “slumming” it in a lower Lifestyle category, the irritable character suffers a −1 penalty to all Social and Healing tests per Lifestyle category below his chosen level. For example, if the character takes this Quality at the High Lifestyle level and is forced to stay in a Squatter Lifestyle, he will suffer −3 to all Social and Healing tests. Life just isn’t worth living without Cognac.

Day Job

Bonus Karma	Salary /month	Hours /week
5	1,000¥	10
10	2,500¥	20
15	5,000¥	40

27004 Run Faster, p.154

Bonus

5 to 15 Karma

When running in the shadows, sometimes you need a way to fill your days, or to maintain your cover. This quality burdens a character with responsibilities and time commitments. While the regular income is nice, having a regular schedule and a boss to answer to doesn’t jibe well with the shadowrunning profession. The player and gamemaster should work together to determine the job, which is usually a pretty decent gig based on the pay rates, but the gamemaster should determine the shifts the character works. In order to establish the legitimacy of the day job, the character must possess a valid SIN (SINner quality or at least a Rating 4 fake SIN). If they have the SINner quality, the money from the Day Job quality is considered already taxed. If they are using a fake and it gets burned or connected to a crime, expect the cops to come down hard and the job is lost until the situation is cleared up.

When combined with the Fame quality, this could easily bring in enough money to support the character, so make sure they have a good reason to run the shadows.

The Day Job table provides the Karma, income, and hours breakdown for the quality.

During runs, the gamemaster should keep track of how many consecutive days are being spent on shadowrunning activity and whether the character can fulfill their day job responsibilities. If they can’t, they get a warning; if it happens again after a warning, they lose their job. Losing their job costs them 2 points of Street Cred (how can you be trusted as a runner if you can’t even hold a job as a fry cook?) and costs the character a month of salary due to purchases they made in anticipation of their pay.

Deaf

27004 Run Faster, p.154

Bonus

15 Karma

Characters with this quality are completely deaf and can perceive no sound at all. This means they automatically fail all audio-based Perception Tests. They also face a −2 dice pool modifier for general Perception tests, a −3 dice pool modifier for Surprise Tests, and any other modifiers at the gamemaster’s discretion.

Did You Just Call Me Dumb?

27004 Run Faster, p.154

Bonus

3 Karma

The character can’t resist camouflaging insults into well-spoken words. The character gets the satisfaction of feeling superior to everyone. Unfortunately, once in a while people will notice and get pretty upset. Any Glitch rolled by this character on any Social test always counts as a Critical Glitch.

Dimmer Bulb

27004 Run Faster, p.154

Bonus

5 Karma per Level (Max 3)

Maybe it was one too many hits to the head, maybe the character’s mother dropped her as a baby, or maybe she never got into that whole “thinking” thing, but whatever the cause, the character does not tend to shine in the mental arena. For every level of this quality, the character faces a −1 dice pool modifier on all tests involving Logic or Intuition.

Driven

27004 Run Faster, p.154

Bonus

2 Karma

The character has an obsession, something that drives them forward. Everything they do is designed to bring them one step closer to solving the enigma in their life. This can be finding a disappeared loved one, discovering a hidden truth about themselves, or even getting revenge on an old enemy. Whatever the cause, when faced with a clue or opportunity to advance their quest, the character must make a Willpower + Logic (4) Test to not immediately drop everything and pursue this new information. Unless the character succeeds, they will sacrifice anything and anyone to get closer to the truth. On the other hand, such single-minded obsession makes the character a tough nut to crack. As long as the character is actively working a lead, he gains +1 to his Willpower.

Emotional Attachment

27004 Run Faster, p.154

Bonus

5 Karma

The character has an irrational emotional attachment to a piece of gear. The character will always use this item, even if presented with a “better” option. Furthermore, if lost in some manner, the character will do everything in his power, up to and including risking his life and that of his teammates, to retrieve his item. If the piece of gear is irretrievably lost or damaged, the player must either immediately spend Karma to buy off the quality or suffer a −1 penalty on all tests that would have used that piece of gear for a six-month period. After that time, they learn to love a replacement piece of gear, and the quality transfers to that item.

Ex-Con

27004 Run Faster, p.155

Bonus

15 Karma

Runners often brag that they’d go down in a blaze of glory before they let the pawns bring them down. The prison system is full of them. A character with this quality is fresh out of the joint and still on the legal leash, so they have several drawbacks.

First, the local police corporation has a full file and rundown on the character, including augmentations, magical training, known associates, biometric data, a material link, etc. This file is duplicated by the local prison corporation if they are different than the police force and is connected to their nice new Criminal SIN (sorry, no extra points there). Plus, the character cannot have any Restricted or Forbidden augmentations, as the prison system removes them to protect the other inmates and staff (and sell them to the black market).

Second, the character is on parole and has to check in with their parole officer (PO) twice a week via the Matrix and once a week in person. Plus, the PO can choose to make a house call any time they want. Whether the gamemaster wants the character to have a sleazy or a squeaky clean PO is up to them, but each creates their own bundle of problems.

Third, the character is known to be an ex-con and is limited in their choice of contacts. Street-level folks will still freely associate with the runner—hell, they might even commiserate while waiting in their mutual PO’s waiting room. Corp contacts will only associate with the character if they have a Loyalty Rating of 4 or higher, and law enforcement contacts only stick by the runner if they have a Loyalty Rating of 5 or 6.

If the character ever gets past their parole or creates a new life for themself, this quality must be bought off or replaced with other negative qualities of equal or greater value.

Flashbacks

27004 Run Faster, p.155

Bonus

7 or 15 Karma

Whether due to PTSD, mental torture, psychotropic IC, or just a scarring experience, the character suffers vivid memory-based sensory hallucinations. The flashbacks are triggered by a specific stimulus. Whenever the character encounters their trigger stimulus, they must make a Composure (5) Test or become incapacitated for (5 − hits) Combat Turns. During the flashback, the character is unable to perform any useful action and may instead perform physical actions reflecting their mental misperceptions.

During character creation, work with the gamemaster to determine the stimulus and Karma value based on how common that stimulus will be in the campaign. The stimulus can be any sensory input, including something on the astral plane or in the Matrix. A 7 Karma stimulus should come up about once every other shadowrun, while the 15 Karma stimulus should pop up at least once in every game session.

Hobo with a Shotgun

27004 Run Faster, p.155

Bonus

10 Karma

The character has survived on the streets for so long that anything else makes them distrustful and suspicious. The character will not choose to stay in accommodations above Squatter. If, for example, the team elects to spend the night in a Middle Lifestyle hotel, or even a squalid Low Lifestyle motel, the character will walk out and find a comfortable alley to sleep in rather than bear this “luxury.” If forced to stay somewhere above Squatter, the character will be at −2 to all his Mental attributes as he becomes confused, erratic, and agitated until such a time as he is able to spend a day in a Squatter or Street lifestyle to rezone himself.

Hung Out to Dry

27004 Run Faster, p.155

Bonus

8 Karma

Welcome to the world of social shunning. For some reason, unknown to the character, her contacts have suddenly clammed up and stopped answering her calls, and new connections she makes suddenly dry up when they get wind of her social pariah status. The gamemaster knows the reason no one will talk to her, and it’s up to the character to try to figure it out and maybe clear her name. These events could be the focus of an entire campaign or just a few side-jobs here and there that the character might need to convince her running mates to help her out on.

If other members of the team start to ask around as to why the character is on the outs, their contacts may get a little tight-lipped and may even clam up until the situation is resolved. Once the situation is resolved, the character will need to either buy off this quality or replace it with another of equal value as a result of the events.

Illiterate

27004 Run Faster, p.155

Bonus

5 Karma

Though literacy is not really necessary thanks to the advances of the Sixth World, most folks can at least sound out “See Spot run.” Whether because she grew up in the wild (urban, rural, or otherwise), or just never had the opportunity, the character cannot read a lick. She can ask others, use an agent program, or get software on her commlink to scan and read things aloud, but anyone aware of this intellectual deficit will look negatively on the character, reducing her Social Limit by 1. The illiterate character also suffers a −2 dice pool modifier when working with computer/commlink systems and electronics other than her own due to her unfamiliarity with their iconography. Also, during character creation the character cannot choose any Knowledge skill that may have required even the most minimal of reading, and during game play all Knowledge skills that require reading cost double the Karma for the character until she learns to read and buys off this quality.

In Debt

27004 Run Faster, p.156

Bonus

1 to 15 Karma

Whether it came betting the ponies or buying that new pony, the character owes money to an unsavory third party. The player and gamemaster must work out the details, but the happy thing is, for every point of Karma (up to 15) spent to be In Debt, the character gets 5,000 nuyen to spend during character creation. These points are spent in place of the normal Karma for extra cash and extend the possible additional funds to 75,000¥.

Now it’s time for the bad news. The character now owes some nasty people the amount they borrowed, plus another fifty percent, and the amount increases by ten percent every month until it’s paid off. If the character misses a monthly payment, which has to be at least the interest for the month, they take 1 box of Physical damage for every 20,000 nuyen they owe. This can’t be resisted and can’t be healed until they pay their minimum as their friendly neighborhood lender sent the appropriate message and then leans on them until they get their money. They can also expect to be asked to do some discount work and maybe even a few favors while they have the debt hanging over their head.

The quality can be bought off if the character has both enough Karma and cash to pay the debt. If they only have the cash but not the Karma, they can trade for another negative quality of equal Karma. If they don’t want to do that, then the lenders suddenly become scarce, and the character is unable to make the payment until interest compounds again, leaving them deeper in debt.

Incomplete Deprogramming

27004 Run Faster, p.156

Bonus

10 Karma

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. A character with this quality was once mentally programmed to be a deep-cover agent for an agency. When they left, their deprogramming wasn’t completed properly for some reason. Since then the character has had occasional, often unexpected, shifts back to their cover identity.

Whenever this character faces a stressful situation such as an interrogation, combat, or even just an injury, they must make a Composure (4) Test. Failure means the cover identity comes out and takes control for either 1D6 minutes or whatever length of time the gamemaster desires. The altered psychological state is not stable, though, and another stressful situation can call for another Composure (4) Test and another personality shift. This can occur over and over during the same firefight.

During these states the character forgets their badass runner identity and the skills that go with it, and they turn back into mild-mannered everyday Joe. This includes loss of skills while the cover identity is in charge. The gamemaster can create a secondary character for the player to use during these times, ask them to step out while they run the NPC, or make them sit and watch in humiliation as their character screams like a child and runs for cover or simply wanders up to the guard booth, seemingly lost in the middle of the secure facility.

As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, behaviors like this look an awful lot like CFD, and people are going to start wondering if you’re a head case.

Infirm

27004 Run Faster, p.156

Bonus

5 to 25 Karma

Characters with this quality often think, “I should hit the gym” but rarely get past buying the membership, or they’re on the downward slope of life and just too old for this drek. The quality represents some kind of diminished physical fitness aptitude. For every 5 Karma, the character drops all of their Physical Attribute maximums by one. The quality can be taken up to five times, but no Attribute maximum can be dropped below 1. Along with this natural cap, the character can never have a Physical Attribute modified beyond this maximum by any source—magic, machine or otherwise—as their body is too frail to handle the stress.

The effects of this quality stack with those of the Aged, so characters need to be careful of not dropping any Attribute maximum lower than one.

Liar

27004 Run Faster, p.156

Bonus

7 Karma

You’d never make it as Pinocchio. Everyone around knows the character to be a compulsive liar, and even when she manages to utter the truth, she just sounds false and insincere. Let’s look at how this plays out. First, the character receives a −1 dice pool modifier to all Social skill tests. Also, whenever the character addresses someone, the gamemaster rolls 1D6. On a result of 1, the target of the conversation calls bullshit and assumes the character is lying, no matter what they are saying. Trust is lost, conversation is over. This occurs with every conversation the character takes part in. Any NPC who lost trust in the character this way continues to maintain a certain level of mistrust, and the next time they encounter the character, things go wrong on a roll of 1 or 2. If it happens a third time, the character gains a point of Notoriety, and reduces the Loyalty value of the contact by 1 (if it was a contact). If that means they hit Loyalty 0, then say sayonara to that contact.

Night Blindness

27004 Run Faster, p.156

Restriction

Incompatible with any other quality that affects the eyes.

Bonus

6 Karma

No one understands how dark the shadows are like you. The character’s natural vision does not adjust well to poor lighting conditions. All Light/Glare Environmental modifiers are one category worse for the character, with the exception of Full Light/No Glare, which still has no modifier.

This quality must be immediately bought off if the character corrects the issue with cyber- or bioware. If the character does not have enough Karma to buy off the quality, they cannot get the corrective gear.

Oblivious

27004 Run Faster, p.157

Bonus

6 or 10 Karma

The character with this quality fails to notice the troll in the corner with the Panther cannon … even after they’ve fired it!

6 Karma level

Means a −2 dice pool modifier to all Perception Tests, including standard, Astral, and Matrix.

10 Karma level

As the 6 Karma level, and on top of that, all Perception Test thresholds are increased by 1.

Pacifist

27004 Run Faster, p.157

Bonus

10 or 15 Karma

To hurt another is to mar the soul. This quality represents two levels of moral inflexibility that prevent the character from delivering, or allowing others to deliver, harm to another being. {{statblock|

10 Karma level

The character avoids violence not performed in self-defense. The character will not participate in runs involving wetwork and may try to dissuade other team members from doing so. Non-lethal attacks (gel rounds, tasers, flash-bangs, stun spells, etc.) are still considered “violent,” and may only be used in self-defense—after an opponent has clearly attacked the character, other team members, or innocent bystanders.

15 Karma level

The character will not commit any violence regardless of provocation or threat to themselves or others. If the character commits any act of violence they are stricken with a powerful sense of guilt and suffer a −1 dice pool modifier to all tests involving Mental attributes until the character succeeds at a Charisma + Willpower (20, 1 day) Extended Test. If the character does not succeed at the test within seven days, they lose 1 point of Willpower or Charisma, whichever is higher. The loss is permanent, but the −1 dice pool modifier to tests involving Mental attributes goes away. If the character actually kills someone (or even thinks they did), the dice pool modifier becomes −2, the Extended Test interval changes to 1 week, and the character’s Mental Limit is decreased by 1.

|}

Paranoia

27004 Run Faster, p.157

Bonus

7 Karma

It’s only paranoia if they aren’t out to get you. In the shadows, being cautious is often mistaken for being paranoid, but there’s a dramatic difference between the two. A character with this quality truly thinks everyone is out to get her. Whether this is really the case, or simply a matter of an overactive imagination, the character faces a −2 dice pool modifier on all Social Tests involving contacts with a Loyalty less than 4 or any generally unfamiliar person. The character also refuses to ever give out her address or any information on where she lives and must change living spaces every few months to ease their fear of being found.

Paraplegic

27004 Run Faster, p.157

Bonus

10 Karma

Characters with this quality are paralyzed from the waist down. They can perform any physical tasks that do not require the use of their legs, and locomotion usually occurs via wheelchair or wheelchair drone. The character is fast, with a walking speed of Agility × 3 and running speed of Agility × 4, regardless of metatype (shadowrunners get the fast and agile wheelchairs of marathoners and murderball athletes, not slow and cumbersome chairs). They have trouble, though, with stairs and curbs, which can prevent them from getting where they need to go.

The paralysis can be permanent or a temporary condition while the character builds up funds to get surgery to fix the cause. Once the repair is done, the quality has to be bought off. The character has a lot of additional expenses to make the world more manageable. To reflect this, their Lifestyle cost is increased by 10 percent (cumulative with racial modifiers) and vehicles need to be modified, increasing their price by 5 percent, or have a Rigger Interface (p.461, SR5) for DNI control.

The quality does not affect the character’s abilities in astral space or the Matrix.

Phobia

27004 Run Faster, p.157

Bonus

5 to 15 Karma

Fear is the mind-killer. It can also cause reactions from distraction to utter panic. A character with this quality has a visceral fear of some kind that shakes them whenever they are exposed. The severity of the fear determines their reaction to it and any modifiers they may face in its presence. That, combined with how frequently they may be exposed to their object of apprehension, determines the Karma value of the quality based on the Phobia table.

Mild phobias cause a −1 dice pool modifier to all actions while in the presence of their source. Moderate phobias cause a −3 dice pool modifier to all actions while in the presence of their source, and the character must succeed on a Composure (2) Test or feel a strong need to get away from the source of their fear. A Severe phobia causes the character to face a −6 dice pool modifier, requires a Composure (5) Test to stay in its presence, and if the Composure Test is failed the character must move away for at least (5 − hits) Combat Turns.

Condition	Karma	Description
Uncommon	2	The triggering condition is relatively rare, such as the smell of roses or specific insects.
Common	5	The triggering condition is commonly encountered, such as sunlight, trolls, insects in general, magic, the outdoors, or crowds.

Severity	Karma	Description
Mild	3	−1 dice pool modifier to all actions.
Moderate	5	−3 dice pool modifier to all actions; Composure (2) Test or must get away from the source.
Severe	10	−6 dice pool modifier; Composure (5) Test or must flee from the source for (5 − hits) Combat Turns

Pie Iesu Domine. Dona eis Requiem.

27004 Run Faster, p.158

Bonus

2 Karma

The character is a flagellant, believing in causing himself pain to serve a greater good. Perhaps they seek clarity through pain; perhaps it is a constant act of contrition for their deeds. Whatever the reason, the character gains High Pain Tolerance 1 but always starts the day with 1 box of Physical damage. This box can be healed, but the character will seek to cause himself another box of damage as soon as possible. Note that the character’s wounds may cause questions in certain social settings, should anyone notice.

Poor Self Control

27004 Run Faster, p.158

Bonus

4 to 12 Karma

Whether they’re a boaster, an adrenaline junkie, or just can’t stand disorder, characters with this quality span a variety of mental ticks that all boil down to the inability to control one’s actions. The Karma costs vary based on the threshold of the Composure test involved in restraining the character’s actions. The quality can be taken multiple times, but only once for each form of control issue.

Attention-Seeking

27005 Chrome Flesh, p.58

Bonus

5 Karma

The spotlight is the character’s natural habitat, like a fish in water—and she suffers just as much when she’s not in it. The character goes out of her way to be vivacious and gain approval from others. Unless she succeeds at a Composure (3) Test, the character seeks to be the center of attention whenever possible (this may or may not include combat situations, at the gamemaster’s discretion).

Braggart

27004 Run Faster, p.158

Bonus

5 Karma

No one has ever done it bigger or better than her. The character will always try to top anyone else’s claims of success, even to the point of lying about it. This may result in them being ignored, considered infantile, or challenged to prove their superiority, but without a Composure (3) Test they won’t back down from the brag.

Combat Monster

27004 Run Faster, p.158

Bonus

10 Karma

The red rage blinds to all but victory. A character with this quality loses much of her self-control once a fight has begun. She’ll fight until all her opponents are disabled, even if outnumbered and losing, unless she can make a Composure (3) Test to clear her head enough to break off the fight.

Compulsive

27004 Run Faster, p.158

Bonus

4 to 12 Karma

There is an order to all things that must be maintained, and the character feels the need to exert their sense of order on everything. The value of this mental malady comes from how severe the compulsion is and how much of a negative impact it can have on the character. Maybe she likes a tidy house, maybe she sees a necessary order to the items on the tables out in the world, or maybe she feels the need to practice her skills (be they hacking, casting, shooting, talking, stealing, sneaking, etc.) every chance she gets. The character must make a Composure (2) test to resist the compulsion. The base Karma value is (2 x threshold needed for Composure Test; must be from 1 to 4); then add 2 for things in the character’s personal environment (e.g., placement of furniture and minor appliances), 3 for a single aspect of the public environment (e.g., correcting bad apostrophes on signs, counting every Ford Americar they see), or 4 for a broad aspect of the public environment (e.g., touching every light post they walk by, hacking into every camera they see).

Sadistic

27005 Chrome Flesh, p.58

Bonus

8 Karma

As a child, the character bullied others and tortured small animals. As an adult, she’s moved on to inflicting pain and suffering on those around her, physical and mental, whenever she has the chance. A Composure (3) Test is required to stop from inflicting some form of pain whenever the character has the reasonable chance to do so without incurring danger, even when it might interfere with her own safety, like when the team’s face is trying to talk their way out of a firefight.

Thrill-Seeker

27004 Run Faster, p.158

Bonus

4 Karma

It’s all about the rush. The character will always take the most dangerous and risky option in any situation if they don’t succeed at a Composure (2) Test. There is a slight payoff, as the adrenaline rush provides a +1 to their Initiative Score for 5 Combat Turns (meaning that is how long the bonus lasts, not that the character gets an additional bonus each turn).

Vindictive

27004 Run Faster, p.158

Bonus

5 Karma

Though best served cold, the thought of vengeance sure makes your blood boil. No matter how small the slight, it cannot go unreturned, and the escalation factor must always be considered. An insult may be returned with a calm threat, a threat might get the same or may require a payment in pain, and any injurious assault must be brought back upon your enemies two-fold (or more). To resist the urge for instant payback, the character must make a successful Composure (2) Test, and even when resisted, the character must add the offender’s name to their hit list for the future.

Records on File

27004 Run Faster, p.158

Bonus

1 to 10

For every point of Karma spent on this quality, one of the Big 10 megacorps possesses a relatively up-to-date record of the character’s SIN, biometrics, personal, and medical data. The gamemaster and player can work together to figure out why they have this data or the player can leave that mystery up to the gamemaster. The data provides the megacorp’s agents a +2 dice pool modifier for any tests made to identify the character through their records. Due to the proliferation and saturation of facial recognition and identification systems used by the megacorporations to track consumer habits, representatives of the selected megacorps also have a +2 dice pool modifier on tests to track down or locate the character whenever they are in an area with a C or better security rating. No character can have Records on File and Erased at the same time.

Reduced (Sense)

27004 Run Faster, p.159

Bonus

2 to 29 Karma

One of the character’s five (or six for certain Awakened folks) senses is about as sharp as a butter knife. Any Test involving the chosen sense faces a −2 dice pool modifier. This quality can be taken multiple times, reducing a different sense each time, and its effects are cumulative for tests involving more than one sense, such as general Perception Tests. A character with a reduced sense of smell or taste gains 2 Karma, while a reduced sense of hearing, sight, or astral sight is worth 5 Karma, and a reduced sense of touch is worth 10 Karma because it affects most Physical skill rolls due to lack of tactile sensitivity.

If the sense is ever repaired or corrected permanently, the quality must be bought off. If the character does not have enough Karma to buy off the quality, the intended repair cannot be made. No character can have Reduced (sight) and Blind at the same time, or Reduced (hearing) and Deaf at the same time.

Sensory Overload Syndrome

27004 Run Faster, p.159

Bonus

15 Karma

Sensory Overload Syndrome (SOS) is a growing epidemic in the world of ever-present AROs and excessive wireless sensory input. The condition is an offshoot of AIPS, and victims suffer similar epileptic episodes. Whenever a character with SOS enters an area of high ARO saturation (gamemaster discretion) or attempts to make use of sensory enhancement systems, they must make a Willpower + Edge (4) Test or enter into an epileptic seizure for (5 − hits) minutes.

The condition can possibly be prevented by deactivating enhancement systems, the character’s commlink, or running the commlink in hidden mode, but these last two options create issues in areas where identification is required or suspicious when not broadcast.

Signature

27004 Run Faster, p.159

Bonus

10 Karma

The origami swan can mean only one thing. For some reason, a character with this quality feels it is necessary to leave their calling card to announce their involvement in a job. The signature is usually some specific item, symbol, or technique the character uses that identifies their participation. For those who know the character and their signature, the signature is easily identified. Anyone performing a test to identify the character’s handiwork or track the character is given a dice pool modifier equal to the character’s Street Cred and Public Awareness combined.

Vendetta

27004 Run Faster, p.159

Bonus

7 Karma

This is some Hatfield and McCoy-level drek. The character is entangled in a blood feud with an individual or group, and no matter the initial cause, the vendetta is now as much an issue of honor and reputation as revenge. The quality means the character has extreme difficulty resisting a confrontation with her foe.

Whenever the character encounters the target of her ire, she must make a Composure (3) Test or else have no choice but to incite a violent confrontation. If the character should ever neutralize their nemesis, they have two options. They can buy off the quality, or someone new will pick up the vendetta, giving the character gets a new nemesis.

Wanted

27004 Run Faster, p.159

Bonus

10 Karma

It feels so good to be wanted, or maybe not. Though most runners are probably wanted for questioning in a few cases, this is something different. When the character takes this quality, they work out why they have a bounty or contract on their head. The bounty should be worth at least 25,000 nuyen, enough to tempt even one’s own “friends.” The character should have to frequently deal with someone coming for them or finding out about the bounty and using it against them.

If for some reason the bounty ever goes away, like the character is turned in or they clear their name, the quality must be bought off with Karma.