[Kincaid]

I figured I'd try to crowdsource this one.

I'm going back and forth on various armors and armor mods to buy for my Shadowrun Missions character.  He's a face, but he's 100+ karma in, so he's getting reasonably competent and things like shooting and sneaking as well.  The sneaking is especially important since he often takes the sniper roll.  Budget is a little flexible--I'd like to keep it around 20k, but I could go as high as 30k if absolutely needed.

A few considerations: he's not great in melee (Str 3, Unarmed 3), so I'd like to work in some Shock Weave somewhere to help him out there.  He can manage the 1 hit needed to trigger it.  The problem I'm having is I'd love to put it in my forearm guards, so I can wear it with different kits, but that pretty much rules out putting anything with Nonconductivity on over it.

Guaranteed Lock to Make the Cut:
Form-Fitting Body Armor (YNT Softweave, Thermal Dampening 5).  I don't care about the armor value, all I care about is getting the Thermal Dampening with everything else I wear.

Current Everyday Wear: Armor Jacket (Thermal Dampening 5, Fire Resistance 4, Nonconductivity 3), Helmet (Motion Scanner, MAD Scanner, Cyberware Scanner, Ultrasound).
Switching the Thermal Dampening to the FFBA will save some space.  The helmet is handy, but I can't wear it everywhere, so I don't want something essential in it.  Obviously, I'd love to get something with +1 die to my social tests since that's a big part of what I do.

Current Sneak Suit: Chameleon Suit (Thermal Dampening 6).  Pretty straightforward.  Oddly enough, it seems like the best sneak suit is actually a suit--namely the Sleeping Tiger.

Current Heavy Duty Kit: Full Body Armor + Helmet (Chemical Seal).  I haven't modded this yet.  I honestly don't think there's really anything worth paying retail for as a replacement in R&G that's in the tier below hardened mil-spec and I'm wary about what mil-spec would do to an open play table.  I've heard conflicting things about gel packs (armor accessory or customization?), so getting a workable ruling/consensus on that would be helpful.

[Namikaze]

My players and I played around with budget and numbers for a while, and we all kind of agreed that the following is ideal for most situations:

Sleeping Tiger suit
Ballistic mask
SecureTech PPP if possible

As far as the mods go, trying to get Ruthenium Polymer coating and thermal damping are the key ones.  My players tend to value stealth where possible, so that fits.  If you have room left over, I'd suggest adding in whatever elemental modification you feel is appropriate.  In my games, electricity tends to get thrown around a lot - from Stick 'n' Shock rounds to lightning bolts.  Since getting hit with electricity also destroys a person's ability to act, getting electrical protection does double duty.

[Jordan]

An idea I like is forearm guards with Flashweave (Pulseweave?). It basically turns your forearm guards into flashbangs. Very useful in close combat.

[Kincaid]

An idea I like is forearm guards with Flashweave (Pulseweave?). It basically turns your forearm guards into flashbangs. Very useful in close combat.

I like that too.  Hopefully, my GM would have "roll up sleeves" as a fluffy Free Action and not a Ready Weapon Standard Action.

Namikaze, my concern with the PPP is that they're worn on the outside of things, which would end up making the Sleeping Tiger less effective.  What sort of mods did you put in your suit?  I'm assuming YNT is cost-prohibitive.

[Namikaze]

You're right about the PPP stuff.  The trick is to get the PPP made with Ruthenium Polymer coating as well, so that it can blend into the suit.  That's not something you can do at character creation, but it's something you should be able to do at your current character's level of development.  The forearm guards with Pulseweave are fantastic as well, and depending on your character's strength score, that might be the best option.

Since the mask counts as encumbrance, as do all the PPP pieces, you'd need a lot of strength to get them all worn at once.  If you can effectively only wear the mask + one piece of PPP, I'd suggest doing the forearm guards instead of the PPP.

[kuromi]

Alas, PPP pieces only have a capacity of 1, and Ruthenium Polymer coating takes up 4 capacity, so even if you did softweave PPP, that only takes the capacity up to 2, not nearly enough to cover the Ruthenium's capacity.

[Elektrycerze3]

The forearm guards with Pulseweave are fantastic as well, and depending on your character's strength score, that might be the best option.

The problem with Pulseweave is that Run&Gun states it has (Rating) charges, but the stat-block doesn't provide Rating, only a fixed price =(