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[Kagetenshi]

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SR3R Master Thread

Jon’s Glorious Karma Character Generation System (S3CKS)

Decking

Ranged Combat

Astral Space, Essence, and the Awakened

New Gear

Time, Pool, and the Flow of Combat
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Decided:
(All of these are subject to reopening for discussion should there be any strong argument for a different path)
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In progress:

1) Cyberlimbs are nearly worthless

They cost more than meat arms, are weak for all but very crippled characters, and eat Essence like there's no tomorrow. This is Shadowrun, people should be chopping off perfectly good arms to get at that sweet, cyberlimb goodness.

Proposed changes: cyberlimbs/partial limbs, the cybertorso, and the cyberskull have their Essence cost divided by 2 and their Nuyen cost divided by 5. Speed and Strength upgrades for cyberlimbs also receive this Essence and Nuyen reduction.

Also, we should consider whether we need to change the formula or guidelines for unbalanced strength. Any thoughts?
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1) Cyberlimbs are nearly worthless

They cost more than meat arms, are weak for all but very crippled characters, and eat Essence like there's no tomorrow. This is Shadowrun, people should be chopping off perfectly good arms to get at that sweet, crunchy cyberlimb goodness.

Proposed changes: cyberlimbs/partial limbs, the cybertorso, and the cyberskull have their Essence cost divided by 2 and their Nuyen cost divided by 5. Speed and Strength upgrades for cyberlimbs also receive this Essence and Nuyen reduction.

Also, we should consider whether we need to change the formula or guidelines for unbalanced strength. Any thoughts?

~J

[nezumi]

My problem with the 'cyberlimbs have a natural strength of a bazillion, but software puts a cap on it' is that any he device amount of strength increases the cost and weight of a the arm in question. If we assume attributes are on a bell curve, less than 9% of the (human) population has a natural strength of 6 or above. So 92% of your customer base would prefer a cyberlimb centered around a strength of 4 or 5, which can then be toned down with software from there. Producing your Strength 5 cyberlimb reduces the cost of the arm and increases the ergonomics of it, without greatly reducing your customer base, so that should be 'standard'. Strength increases above that cost extra, since their modifications (but probably don't require essence costs for a good, long while).

Quickness is a different issue. Given how quick electronics are, I imagine a quickness of 6 is just as cheap as a quickness of 1 arm, so why bother making it anything less than 6 and using the software cap? The only real weak link is between the arm and the natural nervous system. The stronger the pathways, the quicker the arm.

So IMO, arms should have a strength/quickness of 5 by default. Strength additions go up to 4 levels, costing relatively little money and no essence. Past that the price goes up quickly unless you have a cybertorso to connect them to (and there's still the risk of breaking your legs or whatnot if you're trying to lift a car). Quickness additions... I don't know, I imagine they'd cost nuyen and essence for all levels, but don't require a cybertorso ever.

Thoughts?