Works nicely for me, at least so far.
Good for you.
I don't think I and the new edge system will ever see eye to eye. For me armor has to stop bullets and not help me with cracking a file some hours later because that is what I use the edge for.
And if you have to track different types of edge (saveable, must be spend now) I really don't see any advantage of such a system over dice modifier.
Thatīs one of the main points behind that first houserule, though:
Besides not throwing away justified modificators because of arbitrary limitations, making the Edge earnt from armor (or at least some of it) "unsavable" reduces the amount of Edge that can be transferred to unrelated tests. You could even make this stricter by giving
all the Edge earned from having a high enough DR the
must be spend now treatment. However, I actually like that tanky characters can use their armor ratings offensively as well. Eventually, thatīs not so different from the usual "reckless attacks" that you can find in many other systems, where you trade off defense for a better offense.
Also, you donīt really have to "track" all that
must be spend now Edge. You just tell your players that they have a certain amount of unsavable Edge for the test and ask them if and how they want to use it. You donīt have to toss them an actual Edge token or write anything down, since that Edge will be either spent or lost anyways.
Note: Iīm just advocating for this houserule here. The armor mechanics and the general Edge mechanics in their current RAW state flat out suck: They force the GM to meticulously track Edge gain for every character because of the 2-Edge-per-round limit, they decrease the realism by steamrolling modifiers and promoting "esoteric" Edge transitions and they limit the fun thatīs promised by that fancy new gameplay mechanic. In short: More work for less fun AND less realism. Just like 5th Edition, 6th Edition is severely hobbled by the dreaded L-word.
(And no, itīs not
that one.)
