I choose between it being an edge/handicap or a bonus/penalty based on my feel for what is happening, rather than the source of the edge. If it makes an 'attack' more damaging, but not more accurate, its an edge. If it makes an 'attack' more likely to land, or a skill more likely to succeed, its an edge.
The same reasoning applies to non-combat skills. If you are trying to climb a mountain, something that lets you grip surfaces you could not reach or find with your hands, like an ice-axe, is a bonus - but safety equipment would be an edge, because while it does not make you able to climb anything you could not climb before, it does make the consequences of failure less of a problem, and it means that you can proceed faster than you could before in general (less pressing need for caution), which seems like an edge.
Edges don't make it possible to defeat the undefeatable - if you are not hitting your opponent, it doesn't matter much what you are not hitting them with. They don't help much if you are outclassed (and they don't help that much if you greatly outclass your opponent, either). But they are very useful if you are about the same as your opponent.
I tend more towards bonuses for sit mods.
>Or do you see magical enhancements as being "proper edges"? It's seemed
>to us that most feats are more specific than that - e.g. Unbreakable
>Shield increases your shield's armor rank, it doesn't make you a better
>fighter in general.
I don't think whether it is magical or not should make any difference to whether it is an edge. There are some feats that are clearly edges or bonuses, and there are many others that vary depending on how you use them.
There is a difference between "proper edges" and weapon rank edges, though it can be a bit difficult to see at times. The optional 'edges cancel' rule, particularly, blurs this a bit (though I don't use that rule much in my games). Certainly, they should at least be considered notionally different.
Cheers David
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