Gear Ratings

Every item described in this chapter includes a set of statistics. Every item has a cost along with an Availability Rating, and most non-weapon, non-armor items, except those that simply confer an ability or don’t, have an overall Rating, usually between 1 and 6. Often a gear’s Cost and Availability are functions of its Rating.
The other statistics that depend on the type of item— damage for weapons, capacity for firearms, armor value for protective clothing, and so on—are explained in the Gear Ratings Glossary.
Accuracy: Refers to a weapon’s overall accuracy. A firearm’s Accuracy acts as the limit for tests involving that weapon, capping the number of hits that can be achieved on an attack roll using it.
Ammo: Refers to the amount of ammunition a ranged weapon can hold, followed by the method of reloading in parentheses: (b) means break action, (c) means detachable external box magazine, or “clip” in modern street parlance, (d) means drum, (ml) means muzzle-loader, (m) means internal magazine, (cy) means cylinder, and (belt) means belt-fed.
Armor: Each piece of armor has an Armor value that adds to the wearer’s Damage Resistance dice pool (see Armor, p. 168).
Armor Penetration: All weapons have an Armor Penetration value, although in some cases, this value is listed with no value, meaning no AP. The AP value indicates how a weapon interacts with armor (see Armor Penetration, p. 169). A positive value adds to the target’s Armor value, while a negative value reduces the target’s Armor value.
Availability: The higher the Availability of an item, the more difficult and costly it is to get it (see Buying Gear, p. 416). Gear without an Availability rating can be bought at an appropriate local store or ordered online without any trouble. The letter that follows an item’s numerical Availability rating shows whether the item is Restricted (R) or Forbidden (F). Items without a letter in parentheses are considered legal—they aren’t necessarily easy to find, but you won’t ever get arrested for seeking them (see (Il)legality, p. 419.
Blast: This rating is possessed by grenades, missiles, rockets, and other area-of-effect weapons. Blast is the amount the blast weapon’s damage value is reduced per meter of distance from the explosion’s point of origin (see Blast Effects, p. 436).
Capacity: Some sensor packages and cyberware can be equipped with a range of subsystems. A Capacity value is listed for these, indicating the maximum amount of “slots” worth of accessories the item can hold. If the Capacity is listed in brackets, it’s the cost of that subsystem or accessory, or the number of slots that item takes up. Some cyberware items with a Capacity cost can also be installed as standalone items (taking up Essence) rather than subsystems (taking up Capacity if both costs are listed, only one applies, depending on whether you installed it in another item or in yourself.
Concealability Modifier: This indicates how easy it is to hide a given item, and is applied as a dice pool modifier to Perception + Intuition Tests to spot the item (see Concealing Gear, p. 419).
Cost: This is the base price a character must pay to buy the item. If the item is legal, this is the standard price found at stores or online. Note that rare and/or illegal items may cost less or more depending on certain black market variations (see (Il)legality, p. 419). Cost is also subject to local supply and demand, so the gamemaster should feel free to adjust it accordingly for certain settings.
Damage Value (DV): A weapon’s Damage Value represents the base amount of harm, in points of damage, it causes when it hits a target. Damage Values consist of a number (the boxes of damage inflicted) and a letter indicating the type of damage caused: P for Physical, S for Stun. A parenthetical annotation following the damage type, such as (f) or (e), indicates that the damage is flechette or electrical (see Damage, p. 169).
Device Rating: The Device Rating determines the overall quality and effectiveness of a device, from a stimulant patch to a commlink. Device ratings are described in detail on p. 234.
Essence Cost: All cyberware and bioware implants have an Essence Cost, representing the reduction of the character’s Essence rating that occurs when the augmentation is implanted.
Mode: A firearm’s firing mode indicates the rate of fire it is capable of. Some weapons have more than one mode available, so characters may switch between them (see Firearms, p. 178). The firing modes are: SS (single-shot), SA (semi-automatic), BF (burst fire), and FA (full auto).
Mounts: There are several places where a weapon accessory can be attached to a firearm: underbarrel, barrel, or top-mount. Only one accessory can be attached to a particular mount. Integral accessories (those that come with the weapon) don’t take up mount locations. Hold-outs don’t have mounts. Pistols, machine pistols, and SMGs do not have an underbarrel mount, just top and barrel mounts. All rifles and heavy weapons have all three types of mounts. Projectile weapons can only take accessories designed for them specifically.
Reach: Melee weapons may have a Reach rating, an abstract value that rates the length and size of the weapon. A weapon with longer Reach gives its wielder an advantage over enemies with a lower Reach (see Reach, p. 184).
Recoil Compensation (RC): This lists the amount of recoil compensation a firearm has to offer, reducing the modifiers from a weapon’s recoil (see Recoil, p. 175). Numbers in parentheses refer to full recoil compensation that applies only when all integral accessories are deployed (folding or detachable stocks and so forth).