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Message no. 1
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 13:47:48 +0200
Something I'm not entirely sure about: in SR3, would the extra skill die
from enhanced articulation bioware also be available to skills used via
skillwires? IOW, if I have EA and use an Athletics (6) chip via rating 6
skillwires, so I get to roll 7 dice?

My idea is yes, the EA would help -- but that could be influenced by me
designing a character with EA and skillwires right now ;)

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Wij komen van Ertvelde.
-> Former NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Site: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UB+ P(+) L++ E W++(--) N o? K w-- O
M+ PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 2
From: cmdjackryan@**********.com (Phillip Gawlowski)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 13:56:44 +0200
Gurth wrote:
> Something I'm not entirely sure about: in SR3, would the extra skill die
> from enhanced articulation bioware also be available to skills used via
> skillwires? IOW, if I have EA and use an Athletics (6) chip via rating 6
> skillwires, so I get to roll 7 dice?

IIRC, skillwires limit your usable dice to the skillsoft you use, so my
take is: No, it's only the 6d you can throw.

Common sense, though, tells me that you could use EA with physical
skills in skillwires.

From the physical POV, skillwires "take over" the parts of your body
relevant to the skill and the the usage of this skill. And EA changes
your body structure to make you more agile, so that skillwires would
benefit from those.

> My idea is yes, the EA would help -- but that could be influenced by me
> designing a character with EA and skillwires right now ;)

Yep, that could be a reason. ;)

If in doubt, consult your GM. :)

--
Phillip "CynicalRyan" Gawlowski
http://cynicalryan.110mb.com/
http://clothred.rubyforge.org

Rule of Open-Source Programming #13:

Your first release can always be improved upon.
Message no. 3
From: mightyflapjack@*****.com (Mightyflapjack)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:14:17 -0400
My 3rd edition rule for that:

1) using a combat skillsoft can use Enhanced Articulation +1 bonus.
(However, you may need the skillsoft slightly modified to incorporate that
extended range of movement... Most metahumans can not 'bend' that way, and
the program might not be set to take advantage of this). I would really
only mandate this if the person was already at or near maximum quickness.

2) In any turn you are using any combat skillsoft, you may not use combat
pool for offense, and any combat pool used for defense costs 2 for 1.
Message no. 4
From: mightyflapjack@*****.com (Mightyflapjack)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:14:41 -0400
I meant to say my "house rule"

On 4/13/07, Mightyflapjack <mightyflapjack@*****.com> wrote:
>
> My 3rd edition rule for that:
>
> 1) using a combat skillsoft can use Enhanced Articulation +1 bonus.
> (However, you may need the skillsoft slightly modified to incorporate that
> extended range of movement... Most metahumans can not 'bend' that way, and
> the program might not be set to take advantage of this). I would really
> only mandate this if the person was already at or near maximum quickness.
>
> 2) In any turn you are using any combat skillsoft, you may not use combat
> pool for offense, and any combat pool used for defense costs 2 for 1.
>
>
Message no. 5
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:30:12 +0200
According to Phillip Gawlowski, on 13-4-07 13:56 the word on the street
was...

> IIRC, skillwires limit your usable dice to the skillsoft you use, so my
> take is: No, it's only the 6d you can throw.

Skillwires _replace_ the skill you already know, they don't limit the
number of dice.

> Common sense, though, tells me that you could use EA with physical
> skills in skillwires.

That's what I feel as well. But even if they don't stack, I figure I
still have (ATM) 4 extra skill points for 40,000¥, which isn't a bad
deal for a 100-point character (which is the reason for the skillwires,
really: the GM doesn't want us to spend more than 100 BPs, but by taking
30 points worth of money I now have 72 BP worth of skills ;)

> If in doubt, consult your GM. :)

I'd rather not ... I'll be the unofficial Shadowrun guru in the group,
thankyouverymuch ;)

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Wij komen van Ertvelde.
-> Former NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Site: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UB+ P(+) L++ E W++(--) N o? K w-- O
M+ PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 6
From: korishinzo@*****.com (Ice Heart)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 06:31:20 -0700 (PDT)
--- Gurth <gurth@******.nl> wrote:

> Something I'm not entirely sure about: in SR3, would the extra
> skill die
> from enhanced articulation bioware also be available to skills used
> via
> skillwires? IOW, if I have EA and use an Athletics (6) chip via
> rating 6
> skillwires, so I get to roll 7 dice?
>
> My idea is yes, the EA would help -- but that could be influenced
> by me
> designing a character with EA and skillwires right now ;)

I would rule no.

My reason is that the person who records a given skillsoft might not
have EA. In general, I rule that skillwires are an awkward feel,
like someone else is using your body. As such, subtle augmentations
like EA don't benefit you as much when chipping a skill. You are as
likely to be hampered as helped by the differences between your body
and that of the person who "modeled" the original skill-prog. The
help and hindrance, in my ruling, cancel each other out, and you end
up with the dice from the chipped skill only.

However, a perfectly valid argument could be made that the skillwires
are in your body, and tuned to it. The program on the skillsoft
would be, one could argue, set up to take this "tuning" into account.
As such, you would certainly get the benefit of the EA even with
chipped skills. If one of my players brought that argument to me, I
might alter my above ruling, but I would then impose a TN penalty
(+1) to using chipped skills, to allow for programatic errors in the
"tuning" of the wires and the encoding of the skillsoft.

Important: It should be noted that if you allow use of EA with
skillwires, there is no good argument left for why you can't use your
Combat Pool with chipped skills out of the box (no additional cyber).

Either way seems perfectly balanced to me at first glance, but the
combat pool issue might break the game balance. My preference is to
stick my original ruling, as it is simpler.

(4th Ed could easily invalidate my entire premise, btw. I have not
delved into it in enough detail to know.)

======Korishinzo
--attempt lurk = fail

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Message no. 7
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:34:21 +0200
According to Mightyflapjack, on 13-4-07 15:14 the word on the street was...

> My 3rd edition rule for that:

As you said in your other post, this is clearly a house rule :) I'm more
looking for rules explanations than house rules, though, because I want
to have a good case to explain to the GM if/when he mentions this point.
My own take is that they do stack because EA says it gives an extra die
to roll for the skill, and doesn't set any limits about where you got
that skill from.

> 2) In any turn you are using any combat skillsoft, you may not use combat
> pool for offense, and any combat pool used for defense costs 2 for 1.

What, for _any_ skill, even non-chipped ones? That's a bit too harsh,
IMHO -- after all, you already can't use dice pools for chipped skills,
except Task Pool from a chipjack expert driver (which, unfortunately for
me, isn't available in the campaign I'll be playing in).

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Wij komen van Ertvelde.
-> Former NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Site: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UB+ P(+) L++ E W++(--) N o? K w-- O
M+ PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 8
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:40:57 +0200
According to Ice Heart, on 13-4-07 15:31 the word on the street was...

> I would rule no.
>
> My reason is that the person who records a given skillsoft might not
> have EA.

That's a good point, which I might have much use for if/when I'm the GM
;) Like I said in my other post, though, in this case I'm looking for
rules interpretations rather than fluff extrapolations or house rules,
though.

> Important: It should be noted that if you allow use of EA with
> skillwires, there is no good argument left for why you can't use your
> Combat Pool with chipped skills out of the box (no additional cyber).

At least there is no rules confusion over that: they explicitly state
you can't use pool dice for a chipped skill.

> (4th Ed could easily invalidate my entire premise, btw. I have not
> delved into it in enough detail to know.)

4th edition doesn't concern me here, as we'll be using third-edition
rules for the campaign :)

> --attempt lurk = fail

Maybe you should uncomment that line, it might work then ;)

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Wij komen van Ertvelde.
-> Former NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Site: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UB+ P(+) L++ E W++(--) N o? K w-- O
M+ PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 9
From: korishinzo@*****.com (Ice Heart)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 07:03:38 -0700 (PDT)
> That's a good point, which I might have much use for if/when I'm
> the GM
> ;) Like I said in my other post, though, in this case I'm looking
> for
> rules interpretations rather than fluff extrapolations or house
> rules,
> though.

Ahh, in that case, there is no rule, in the main book or in M&M, that
I have seen forbidding the combination of the two. If such a rule
exists and I have missed it after all this time, chances are good so
has your GM. *grin*

> > Important: It should be noted that if you allow use of EA with
> > skillwires, there is no good argument left for why you can't use
> your
> > Combat Pool with chipped skills out of the box (no additional
> cyber).
>
> At least there is no rules confusion over that: they explicitly
> state
> you can't use pool dice for a chipped skill.

Yes, the rules explicitly state it. But, there is no clear reasoning
given for this (arbitrary game balance decision?). If Combat Pool
can't be used, perhaps EA should also not be allowed... if EA is
allowed, why can't CP? Syllogistic logic can get us into trouble
really quickly when analyzing SR rules.

> 4th edition doesn't concern me here, as we'll be using
> third-edition rules for the campaign :)

Coyote bless you for that. *grin*

======Korishinzo
--Should probably be forever grateful to 4th Edition for all the
money it is saving me that used to get spent on SR products.

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Message no. 10
From: gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:11:24 +0200
According to Ice Heart, on 13-4-07 16:03 the word on the street was...

> Ahh, in that case, there is no rule, in the main book or in M&M, that
> I have seen forbidding the combination of the two. If such a rule
> exists and I have missed it after all this time, chances are good so
> has your GM. *grin*

That's pretty much what I thought to myself as well, and the reason why
I decided to ask the list :)

In any case, the chance is pretty good that the GM has missed just about
any rule you care to name. That, or misinterprets it ... which is why I
suspect that his current players (did I mention I'll be joining an
existing campaign?) will quickly either like me, or want to strangle me,
due to my long-standing habit of correcting his rules mistakes ;)

> Yes, the rules explicitly state it. But, there is no clear reasoning
> given for this (arbitrary game balance decision?).

Probably. Lots of strangeness in FASA rules can be easily and accurately
explained by keeping the words "game balance" in the back of your mind :)

> If Combat Pool
> can't be used, perhaps EA should also not be allowed... if EA is
> allowed, why can't CP?

And why isn't any of this mentioned in the section of Man & Machine that
talks about cyberware-bioware interaction?

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Wij komen van Ertvelde.
-> Former NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Site: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-

GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UB+ P(+) L++ E W++(--) N o? K w-- O
M+ PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D G+ e h! !r y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 11
From: l-hansen@*****.tele.dk (Lars Wagner Hansen)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 18:23:35 +0200
From: "Ice Heart" <korishinzo@*****.com>
> --Should probably be forever grateful to 4th Edition for all the
> money it is saving me that used to get spent on SR products.

With the current publishing rate you haven't saved a lot.

Lars
Message no. 12
From: derek@***************.com (Derek Hyde)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:41:59 -0500
>> --Should probably be forever grateful to 4th Edition for all the
>> money it is saving me that used to get spent on SR products.
>
> With the current publishing rate you haven't saved a lot.
>
Though.....seeing as street magic cost the same as the core book (for about
150 less pages) I'd say that the difference in how often the books come out
isn't saving that much, since they cost a fair bit more than their SR3
counterparts did....
Message no. 13
From: mightyflapjack@*****.com (Mightyflapjack)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 13:38:25 -0400
Well I usually 'house rule' all of the games I run, but at least I do print
out the house rules and make sure players understand them. My current Star
Wars D20 game has over 30 typed pages of house rules (hehe).

I even wrote out a 5-6 page new "UCAS constitution and amendments"
Message no. 14
From: u.alberton@*****.com (Bira)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:16:39 -0300
On 4/13/07, Derek Hyde <derek@***************.com> wrote:

> Though.....seeing as street magic cost the same as the core book (for about
> 150 less pages) I'd say that the difference in how often the books come out
> isn't saving that much, since they cost a fair bit more than their SR3
> counterparts did....

Does Street Magic add anything really necessary to the game? Seeing as
they included initiation rules in the corebook, I can't see any
compelling reason for getting that particular supplement. Sure, it
probably has some neat stuff, but does it have anything a group just
can't do without?

--
Bira
http://compexplicita.blogspot.com
http://sinfoniaferida.blogspot.com
Message no. 15
From: derek@***************.com (Derek Hyde)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:19:21 -0500
> Does Street Magic add anything really necessary to the game? Seeing as
> they included initiation rules in the corebook, I can't see any
> compelling reason for getting that particular supplement. Sure, it
> probably has some neat stuff, but does it have anything a group just
> can't do without?
>
Mmm it did expand the spells/initiate abilities and such...but, to be
honest, I haven't even opened mine, I've gotten so busy otherwise that I
haven't sat down to read any of my manuals that I've gotten lately....

(guess it's a good thing that I'm not in a game right now)
Message no. 16
From: l-hansen@*****.tele.dk (Lars Wagner Hansen)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:45:04 +0200
From: "Derek Hyde" <derek@***************.com>
>
>>> --Should probably be forever grateful to 4th Edition for all the
>>> money it is saving me that used to get spent on SR products.
>>
>> With the current publishing rate you haven't saved a lot.
>>
> Though.....seeing as street magic cost the same as the core book (for
> about
> 150 less pages) I'd say that the difference in how often the books come
> out
> isn't saving that much, since they cost a fair bit more than their SR3
> counterparts did....

Not realy wantin to get on the edition X vs. edition Y, but...

When I starte buying SR I started with SR1.

I had to buy the rulebook, the GM screen, the magic book, a setting book*,
and adventure**, and a big adventure***.

*: Seattle Sourcebook
**: DNA/DOA
***: Harlequin

That cost me $77 for 784 pages.

When I change to SR2, I bought the same types of books, although some where
changed a bit:

*: Tir Tairngire
**: Dark Angel
***: Harlequins ack

That cost me $95 for 868 pages.

When I changed to SR3, I bought the same types of books, although some were
chaned again:

*: New Seattle
**: First Run
***: Renraku Archology: Shutdown

Thats cost me $112 for 854 pages.

When I changed to SR4, I bought the same types of books again, but changed:

*: Runners Havens
**: On the Run
***: Emergence (Although I'm still waiting for this one).

That cost me $110 for 912 pages.

You do the math and tell me which edition is the most expensive?

Lars
Message no. 17
From: derek@***************.com (Derek Hyde)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:22:25 -0500
> Not realy wantin to get on the edition X vs. edition Y, but...
>
> When I starte buying SR I started with SR1.
>
> I had to buy the rulebook, the GM screen, the magic book, a setting book*,
> and adventure**, and a big adventure***.
>
> *: Seattle Sourcebook
> **: DNA/DOA
> ***: Harlequin
>
> That cost me $77 for 784 pages.
>
> When I change to SR2, I bought the same types of books, although some where
> changed a bit:
>
> *: Tir Tairngire
> **: Dark Angel
> ***: Harlequins ack
>
> That cost me $95 for 868 pages.
>
> When I changed to SR3, I bought the same types of books, although some were
> chaned again:
>
> *: New Seattle
> **: First Run
> ***: Renraku Archology: Shutdown
>
> Thats cost me $112 for 854 pages.
>
> When I changed to SR4, I bought the same types of books again, but changed:
>
> *: Runners Havens
> **: On the Run
> ***: Emergence (Although I'm still waiting for this one).
>
> That cost me $110 for 912 pages.
>
> You do the math and tell me which edition is the most expensive?
>
> Lars

You're right, with those it balances in SR4's favor, but, my comparison was
the Street Magic (rules supplement book) to the SR4 core book (main
rulebook) and the fact that they're the same price and you get 150 pages
less, not to mention that it was printed as a hardback....but none of the
rest of the set is other than the core book....

I'm not against it, I just have a little trouble with the fact that an add
on book is the same price as the core.

Personally, I'll buy em all in PDF, print em on my duplexing laser printer,
take em to OfficeMax to have em coil bound for $4 and then have them more
readily usable during a game as you can flip directly to a page, flip the
book around so it's the same size open as closed, and have them a month or
two before the hardcopy is ever seen in the local store.
Message no. 18
From: wilson.reis@*****.com (Wilson Reis)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 18:23:44 -0200
should we consider inflation ? :-)

Will

On 4/13/07, Lars Wagner Hansen <l-hansen@*****.tele.dk> wrote:
> From: "Derek Hyde" <derek@***************.com>
> >
> >>> --Should probably be forever grateful to 4th Edition for all the
> >>> money it is saving me that used to get spent on SR products.
> >>
> >> With the current publishing rate you haven't saved a lot.
> >>
> > Though.....seeing as street magic cost the same as the core book (for
> > about
> > 150 less pages) I'd say that the difference in how often the books come
> > out
> > isn't saving that much, since they cost a fair bit more than their SR3
> > counterparts did....
>
> Not realy wantin to get on the edition X vs. edition Y, but...
>
> When I starte buying SR I started with SR1.
>
> I had to buy the rulebook, the GM screen, the magic book, a setting book*,
> and adventure**, and a big adventure***.
>
> *: Seattle Sourcebook
> **: DNA/DOA
> ***: Harlequin
>
> That cost me $77 for 784 pages.
>
> When I change to SR2, I bought the same types of books, although some where
> changed a bit:
>
> *: Tir Tairngire
> **: Dark Angel
> ***: Harlequins ack
>
> That cost me $95 for 868 pages.
>
> When I changed to SR3, I bought the same types of books, although some were
> chaned again:
>
> *: New Seattle
> **: First Run
> ***: Renraku Archology: Shutdown
>
> Thats cost me $112 for 854 pages.
>
> When I changed to SR4, I bought the same types of books again, but changed:
>
> *: Runners Havens
> **: On the Run
> ***: Emergence (Although I'm still waiting for this one).
>
> That cost me $110 for 912 pages.
>
> You do the math and tell me which edition is the most expensive?
>
> Lars
>
>
>
Message no. 19
From: l-hansen@*****.tele.dk (Lars Wagner Hansen)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:32:52 +0200
From: "Derek Hyde" <derek@***************.com>
>>
>> When I changed to SR4, I bought the same types of books again, but
>> changed:
>>
>> *: Runners Havens
>> **: On the Run
>> ***: Emergence (Although I'm still waiting for this one).
>>
>> That cost me $110 for 912 pages.
>>
>> You do the math and tell me which edition is the most expensive?
>>
>> Lars
>
> You're right, with those it balances in SR4's favor, but, my comparison
> was
> the Street Magic (rules supplement book) to the SR4 core book (main
> rulebook) and the fact that they're the same price and you get 150 pages
> less, not to mention that it was printed as a hardback....but none of the
> rest of the set is other than the core book....
>
> I'm not against it, I just have a little trouble with the fact that an add
> on book is the same price as the core.

I understand, and just for psychological reasons I think it shoud have been
priced lower than the core book.

> Personally, I'll buy em all in PDF, print em on my duplexing laser
> printer,
> take em to OfficeMax to have em coil bound for $4 and then have them more
> readily usable during a game as you can flip directly to a page, flip the
> book around so it's the same size open as closed, and have them a month or
> two before the hardcopy is ever seen in the local store.

Me to...

And by the way, the $110 is based on PDF books, if you want hardcopy the
price changes to $153. But when I did buy my SR3 books PDF was not an
option.

Lars
Message no. 20
From: l-hansen@*****.tele.dk (Lars Wagner Hansen)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:36:44 +0200
From: "Wilson Reis" <wilson.reis@*****.com>

> should we consider inflation ? :-)

Add that into the equation, and it looks even better for never editions.

Personally I feel like I get more for less.

Lars

> On 4/13/07, Lars Wagner Hansen <l-hansen@*****.tele.dk> wrote:
>> When I starte buying SR I started with SR1.
>> That cost me $77 for 784 pages.
>>
>> When I change to SR2...
>>
>> That cost me $95 for 868 pages.
>>
>> When I changed to SR3...
>>
>> Thats cost me $112 for 854 pages.
>>
>> When I changed to SR4...
>>
>> That cost me $110 for 912 pages.
>>
>> You do the math and tell me which edition is the most expensive?
>>
>> Lars
>>
>>
>>
Message no. 21
From: toast.in.the.machine@*****.com (Mark)
Subject: Enhanced articulation and skillwires
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 00:07:24 -0700
On 4/13/07, Bira <u.alberton@*****.com> wrote:
> On 4/13/07, Derek Hyde <derek@***************.com> wrote:
>
> > Though.....seeing as street magic cost the same as the core book (for about
> > 150 less pages) I'd say that the difference in how often the books come out
> > isn't saving that much, since they cost a fair bit more than their SR3
> > counterparts did....
>
> Does Street Magic add anything really necessary to the game? Seeing as
> they included initiation rules in the corebook, I can't see any
> compelling reason for getting that particular supplement. Sure, it
> probably has some neat stuff, but does it have anything a group just
> can't do without?

I can't really think of any supplement in any edition of the game that
is necessary in the way that you describe. If you've already taken
the mindset that the books have gotten more expensive than you'd like,
just wait until your magic players want the toys in it so badly that
they buy it for the gaming group, and then the cost isn't an issue.
If there's no pressure from your players, I doubt anyone will worry
too much about what they might be missing.

Mark

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Enhanced articulation and skillwires, you may also be interested in:

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Thwap!