Now that I think about it, it should buff initiative too, if you're willing to pay the 25 psi upkeep.
While thematically reasonable, how would that work, do you suppose? AFAIK, right now initiative is determined at the moment you enter combat, and is set for the duration of the combat. So unless there's a mechanical change allowing initiative to change after Turn0, then you'd have to throw it up before you manually start combat - but if you do that, you go first anyway - or walk into harm's way. I don't offhand see a graceful way to do it. Maybe give it a aura effect with near-0 cost when in real-time mode, and only trigger the buff and effects when you enter turn-based? Death stalkers would still be a PITA since attacking from stealth gives +100 initiative, IIRC. So, no, that's not a good fix either. I got nothin'.
Well, except this glum news - with quad-plated metal armor, metal boots, and a metal helmet (only ~120 qual, so not nearly maxed out) Death Stalkers still put Crawler Poison and Hyperallergenic on when they attack from stealth, so unless you go really high CON for Thick Skull, you're still going to be taking a beating one way or another. Regen carrier vest helps a lot though; it's not a medicine and doesn't trigger the Hyperallergenic damage. And of course if you lead with Irongut the damage is only like 20 so you can afford to pop antidotes to block the stuns.
