I've been thinking of just playing with a houserule that ignores cyber-torso and cyber-skull attributes and changes the number of limbs from 6 to 4 in terms of dividing for total attributes. Even body as they're described as shells.

Gives the enhancements a bit more utility and more room for armor and other cool installables. Just doesn't make sense to have to pump up your skull's agility to improve your overall agility. Seems more like a punishment to cybered characters more then anything else to me.


*Edit: Looks like Funk beat me to this one.

I generally just go with being very liberal in deciding what limbs apply to a certain skill usage. It would be rare for the skull being a factor, but the torso can easily be a factor in some agility skills like gymnastics depending on what you are doing. If you are generic gymnastic dodging I might only use the agility in the legs, but if you are doing flips the torso might add in, flip flops the whole body except the head etc. Most tasks the player will know in advance because people repeat similar moves so they don't even have to ask me, but when pulling off a new stunt then I'll look at what they are going for and what limbs should apply. I'm perfectly willing to let someone use the left hook of doom and just use the left arms stats if they specialize in cyberweapons or something, or just use the arms in general for a boxer etc.

Arms only for a boxer is no good. With melee fighting (especially by a skilled practioner) the whole body is involved in just about everything. Gymnastics, again because of total body involvement) I'd cap it at the lowest agility attribute of any of the limbs. I'm with you on the skull, though...it's just the ball that holds your brain, no joints, no significant muscles.

Yet, the very excemple given in the BBB use cyberams and melee combat as an excemple:



Don't get me wrong, after years of martial arts, I know exactly where you're coming from. The rules just work differently.

Yeah I understand where he is coming from as well, which is why I said I was very liberal in my interpretation. I don't try to model reality but what would make the game more fun.

My solution was always to keep the ratings of the limbs roughly close to each other for a single attribute, that way no matter how I had to divide it would more or less be the same number. My GM/s never made me factor in my head's attributes for combat or running (didn't have a cyberskull anyway), but depending on the situation (lifting a car vs. shooting a gun vs. melee combat) he would tell me the limbs that he thought applied and it'd be up to me to do the math. Keeping the attributes roughly the same made it easier on both of us.

Articulated full arms are one thing and bloody obvious, but with a cybertorso, you can get a retractable tracking weapon mount.
Well, if they are still in SR4 at least.

There is only one articulated weapon-arm in SR4. Needing to be readied implies that it is somewhat hidden unless in use but Augmentation does not say if and how well it is concealed.

you can get perditor style shoulder mounts and forearm mounts as well. I'm planing on unleashing such as cyber-zombie on my players some time. Though with some of that stuff on the Millspec armor it will have as well (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) . Hydroclijacks and foot ancours are a must though XD.

Well, the shoulder-mount i can understand.
Biggest problem is, that you can't mount anything too big in there and you can not get any kind of additional recoil compensation in there either.
Why the Arm-Mounts?
For a real predator like NPC, there would be a spur on one side and a comlink on the other side.
Also, Foot-Anchors? For recoil-compensation i guess? Because for the Predator, these should be Grip-Feet with climbing claws i guess ^^

Shouldn't a Predator's weapons either be metagenic qualities/bioware or part of his equipment?

No, the Weapons were all equipment.
All Technology.
Only his Jumping/Strength and Speed would be quality/bioware.
But there is no way to get the Jumping done by anything else but cyber, so i'm going to let that one fly.

Great Leap adept power

An Ares Redline laser pistol would work on the shoulder mount. And jumping can be augmented with a Synthacardium and Muscle Toner bioware, giving a +7 dice pool bonus at max levels. If an adept, there's also Great Leap and Freefall on top of Improved Ability: Gymnastics and Attribute Boost: Agility. Cyber's not the only option, though it may be better sometimes. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

We'll IIRC they are counted as drones... so no recoil also well duel redline lasers on the shoulders (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) and a MP laser on an articulate arm. And yes spurs and "cortex" bomb in his arm (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Also hes only modeled after perditor not one.

Ah, right, i forgot about great leaping.
But it's supposed to be a cyber zombie or close enough with a torso.

well, if one get in nice and tight, a good headbutt may well provide some damage. Not something involved in any formal fighting style i can think of, but its a option, especially when you got a head that can stop bullets.

err, i stand corrected:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headbutt#Contact_sports

Eritrea actually have a martial art that revolves around it!

If you want the predator, why give him cyber at all? He seems more like an adept with a crazy powersuit. You can put hydraulic jacks and an articulated weapon arm into military grade armor, and then you can get all the jumping adept powers without having to worry about essence loss. You'd definitely need to surge him and he might need a few low essence cost items but you could do it without making him a zombie.

That was my first thought. These things were not invented for criminals, they are replacements fro the flesh and blood stuff that has been mangled. a car crash, a construction accident, soldiers on the battle field could all need massive structural replacement just to live.

Cos I'm wanting a cyber zombie that some corp has made to be like predator. Not predator its self. Really its mean to carry across the theam of predator not be a clone. So stealth and athletics will be used as will vocal implants(really don't under estimate what sounding like a kid in pain can do or the many other lures you can have) and a wide range of sensors spurs for close work big array of mounted gun for the fun of it ect.

Totally.

I'll admit that the thought initially came from a power-gaming itch ("What if I ignored most of my Physical Stats and just bought cyberlimbs?"), but in trying to find a rationale for WHY such a character would exist, I actually came up with a pretty solid and interesting background and character hook.

Those being what?
I often miss such backgrounds and character hooks for my own munchy designs, so finding and maybe being able to steal some is of big importance to me ^^

Simple explanations of having all cyberlimbs are hyperthermia with frost bite, fire, explosions, car wrecks or any of the above combined. I also combine this with cybereyes and cyberears because those would have gone in many instances. This is especially true for soldiers coming back from war. Cyberlimbs are cheaper than the meat replacements and you can use the excuse of muscle atrophy to explain the low base stats. Plus it gives you a good excuse to have those military connections.

If you want to be real munchinkinny then take it as a cybersuite to represent the fact many soldiers have this happen to them. Full body replacement with alphaware.

If cyberware existed in the real world that performed anything like how it's described in the game, I'd have no problem getting cyberlimbs if I could afford them. I'd even seek them out. Never having to exercise again? Being able to tweak my physical performance on a whim? Being able to remove and repair most parts of my body whenever I suffer an injury, instead of waiting weeks if not months or even years to recover from an accident? Then you have the ability to control how much feedback you get, either increasing your sensitivity to touch (mmm) or all but shutting it off completely as your demands required . And if I was vain enough to care, there'd even be synthetic options available.

There's very little cyberware that I would be interested in (especially headware and cybereyes). But cyberlimbs? I'd get them in a heartbeat.

Yeah, put your body on autopilot till you are at work in the morning, then have your eyes and ears switch on when there to wake you up.
one or more hours of sleep won every day!

I once used the excuse of the character having been in a bomb disposal squad who was to disarm a swimming mine that went boom on him to explain Arms and torso.
Character went into shock and was still awake enough to see a big paranormal fish eat his arms and swim away with them . . Yes, he got phobia and a pathological hate against fishes.
Another time i think i had a conventional ground mine go boom below a characters feet to explain legs and torso.
I have not yet found a satisfying way to explain a cyber-skull though . . especially the obvious one that pretty much made you fail at most things social no matter what in SR3 . .