Cyberlimbs Options

[MissSticks]

Firstly- hi all! I'm new. I've known about these boards for a while, but only now venture on to them. Mostly because I'm finding 4th ed difficult to wrestle with.

In this case, I'm having trouble with cyberlimbs for melee characters. Has anyone else noticed how incompatible they are or have any suggestions as to how to successfully meld the two?

See, I noticed that it is impossible to have an ork/troll/dwarf character with a natural max in strength and have a cyberlimb with an equal strength. Since all cyberlimbs start with a strength 3, you really have to buy it up a lot...not only does this take a lot of capacity which cuts down on other fun things you can put in, especially if you want a supporting Agility score, but the availability just goes through the roof. Suddenly, it's not even really possible.

I suppose one could just take a shocking hand and rely on the flat stun damage...but man, I wanted my giant clamp hand of bludgeoning goodness. :{

[Heath Robinson]

Augmentation, page 44, Customised Cyberlimbs. These allow you to modify the stats of a Cyberlimb to anywhere in your natural range above 3.

[hobgoblin]

and then go from there to stack on more using capacity, and one can even buy up capacity of one is willing to go for a obvious limb.

but even with synthetics one can hit some nice scores (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Dashifen]

Have fun trying to get some interesting modular hands through your GM, too. My favorite was a modular hand with a fork and knife rather than index fingers (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Tachi]

And, don't forget the "bulk" modification that allows you to add capacity to obvious cyberlimbs. In fact, if your character is an especially large individual I'd even allow it (to a limited degree) in synthetic limbs.

Which brings up a question of mine. Wouldn't a troll's cyberlimbs have more capacity than a human's?

[Stahlseele]

no
A Trolls limb would be bigger and heavier, thus requiring more servos in the first place to achieve the same movement and even more servos to actually augment his limbs above meaty standards . .
also, game balance and complexity would be shot all to hell with dwarves and trolls and their limbs

[Tachi]

Good point. Balance is all important IMHO.

[hobgoblin]

iirc, there have been joke posts about elfs with designed-for-troll cyberlimbs...

all in all, it would be a GM horror story...

[Dr Funfrock]

And, don't forget the "bulk" modification that allows you to add capacity to obvious cyberlimbs. In fact, if your character is an especially large individual I'd even allow it (to a limited degree) in synthetic limbs.

Which brings up a question of mine. Wouldn't a troll's cyberlimbs have more capacity than a human's?

no
A Trolls limb would be bigger and heavier, thus requiring more servos in the first place to achieve the same movement and even more servos to actually augment his limbs above meaty standards . .
also, game balance and complexity would be shot all to hell with dwarves and trolls and their limbs

Basically I agree with Stahlseele's argument here, but I still feel that the rules fail to account for some aspects of this. If a Troll has cyberlimbs size for a troll then surely they should at match up to the average strength of a Troll? If the reasoning for capacity being universal is that bigger limbs get bigger servos put in them, it also follows that bigger limbs should start with a higher base strength.

Anyways, my solution was to modify the base attributes of a cyberlimb according to the metatype of the character. Just use the metatype attribute modifiers in the Contacts section. Given how expensive cyberlimbs are, it doesn't seem particularly game-breaking.

[Stahlseele]

that's the way it was in SR3 too.
imagine a Dwarf with Troll-Arms for example . .
he'd use his arms as legs basically and use his stumpy legs with grip feet to hold guns and other things

[hobgoblin]

If the reasoning for capacity being universal is that bigger limbs get bigger servos put in them, it also follows that bigger limbs should start with a higher base strength.

not if the bigger servos are simply there to offset the extra mass that comes from making the limb match the real life size of the user.

that is if these things use servos in the first place.

could just as well be that they use some kind of synthetic muscle fiber...

iirc, the best real life walking robots have stopped using servos and instead use a system similar to biology.

[Zaranthan]

Basically I agree with Stahlseele's argument here, but I still feel that the rules fail to account for some aspects of this. If a Troll has cyberlimbs size for a troll then surely they should at match up to the average strength of a Troll? If the reasoning for capacity being universal is that bigger limbs get bigger servos put in them, it also follows that bigger limbs should start with a higher base strength.

Bigger is not better. Those servos are just big enough to move the larger arm with Str 3. If you want to take advantage of the extra mass, you need more expensive parts, like a customized cyberlimb.