Synaptic booster via Genetic Heritage? Options

[tim]

Does anyone know if the Synaptic booster in the core book can be gotten through use of the genetic heritage quality?

[Saint Sithney]

If a GM allows it.

[Faraday]

If a GM is crazy enough to allow it.

[Udoshi]

Technically, why yes, i believe the wording does allow for it.

However, any same GM will be going 'ten bp for an 80k/rating implant!.... yeaaannnooooooooo.'

[Yerameyahu]

That particular Quality really shouldn't exist at all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[The Jopp]

I would say NO.

It allows for one free GENETIC MODIFICATION and Synaptic Booster is BIOWARE - Not Geneware.

For 10 points you get a 20% discount on all Transgenics and one Genetech modification for free.

[Udoshi]

Yes, Jopp, but there's a clause about geneware being able to replicate the effects of most bioware.

[Yerameyahu]

It should just be a discount, like the other discount-style Qualities. Luckily, a loophole that is completely up to GM approval is no loophole at all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Railgun]

I'd allow it to discount the cost, but not remove it, and have the costs go towards the medication or procedures you'd need to survive having your synapses firing off like crazy while your brain is developing as a baby/child. Otherwise I could see you having problems with seizures and abnormal development along the way.

[The Jopp]

Yes, Jopp, but there's a clause about geneware being able to replicate the effects of most bioware.

Oh, page reference?

[Udoshi]

Oh, page reference?

Augmentation 93: "Most of the functional changes available through biotech (p. 61) are also possible through transgenic alteration for comparable essence and nuyen costs but longer treatment times (typically several months)."

[The Jopp]

Augmentation 93: "Most of the functional changes available through biotech (p. 61) are also possible through transgenic alteration for comparable essence and nuyen costs but longer treatment times (typically several months)."

This quote is on the other hand only available under "Animal Features" so I would rule that this only applies to (as they write) "imbue the subject with full animal-like senses or abilities"

Enhanced senses and things like a balance tail is what I would apply under that rule but not ALL bioware

[Udoshi]

Yes, exactly.

Going 'OH HEY! Free rating 3 synaptic booster for ten points' is retarded.

[Faraday]

I'd allow it to discount the cost, but not remove it, and have the costs go towards the medication or procedures you'd need to survive having your synapses firing off like crazy while your brain is developing as a baby/child. Otherwise I could see you having problems with seizures and abnormal development along the way.

TLE-x, it's not just for grownups anymore. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Oehler the Black]

...have the costs go towards the medication or procedures you'd need to survive having your synapses firing off like crazy while your brain is developing as a baby/child. Otherwise I could see you having problems with seizures and abnormal development along the way.

Could we refer to such abnormal neurological development as a byproduct of genetic technology as "Stark Syndrome?" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[last_of_the_grea...]

My 2 cents (and I'm a very liberal GM who like letting players, within the rules, get what they want so they all have fun):

I allow all the standard bioware to be available via this clause...up to the availability and rating limits. No alphaware (I believe it states that only standard can me genetically engineered)

In my games this does mean that you can get synaptic booster 2 for 10 bp (the equivelant of 50 000 nuyen). I have not experienced this to be more powerful than wired reflexes 2, though it is a tad harder to detect. I also include the caveat that to upgrade with actual bioware you have to remove the actual parts of the nervous system, have a regular spinal cord implanted then have the bioware upgrade done. Tres expensive!

[Mäx]

In my games this does mean that you can get synaptic booster 2 for 10 bp (the equivelant of 50 000 nuyen).

I would really like to read the background the player wrote to explain that one.
Ofcource if i was GM:ng and someone had this on their charsheet i would be "okey you can have that, but your character is about 5 years old, see you in 2080:S" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

[hermit]

I would really like to read the background the player wrote to explain that one.

Why, yet another of these "it escaped from the gene lab" characters, possibly, since genemods like this have only been around since the edition change, so unless the character is a 7 year old child ...

[Lansdren]

I must admit I cant get my head around the idea that you can get bioware as a genetic heritage. Ok I get the fluff of it I'm not just improving myself but my kids too.

But its a very iffy interpretation of the rules. I'm guessing there is no official word on this one?

[Cardul]

I must admit I cant get my head around the idea that you can get bioware as a genetic heritage. Ok I get the fluff of it I'm not just improving myself but my kids too.

But its a very iffy interpretation of the rules. I'm guessing there is no official word on this one?

Honestly? I do not allow Genetic Heritage in my games, because genetech is so new. It is one of the few things
that I really, honestly and truly will not allow a player to take.

[Traul]

This quote is on the other hand only available under "Animal Features" so I would rule that this only applies to (as they write) "imbue the subject with full animal-like senses or abilities"

Enhanced senses and things like a balance tail is what I would apply under that rule but not ALL bioware

According to this point of view, a Synaptic Booster 1 should be allowed: there are mundane critters with 2 IPs. Call it Cheetah reflexes instead of Synaptic booster 1, and you're good.

[Traul]

My 2 cents (and I'm a very liberal GM who like letting players, within the rules, get what they want so they all have fun):

I allow all the standard bioware to be available via this clause...up to the availability and rating limits. No alphaware (I believe it states that only standard can me genetically engineered)

In my games this does mean that you can get synaptic booster 2 for 10 bp (the equivelant of 50 000 nuyen). I have not experienced this to be more powerful than wired reflexes 2, though it is a tad harder to detect.

Try something along those lines:

Genetic heritage, Born rich, Biocompatibility, full maxed out cyberlimbs, and maybe Restricted gear for a pain editor.

You get maxed out attributes (even the mental ones with BP), insane armor, insane condition monitor, a few tricks in your limbs and you still have plenty of BP for skills. The typical sammy will have a hard time competing with that.

I also include the caveat that to upgrade with actual bioware you have to remove the actual parts of the nervous system, have a regular spinal cord implanted then have the bioware upgrade done. Tres expensive!

I thought there was a genetech process to get rid of genetic enhancements, but I can't find it. Was it SR3?

[The Jopp]

According to this point of view, a Synaptic Booster 1 should be allowed: there are mundane critters with 2 IPs. Call it Cheetah reflexes instead of Synaptic booster, and you're good.

The problem is that it basically gives you a 30K discount for a cost of 10BP which amounts to 50K of the (usually) needed 80K for the implant - And I do not think that was the writers intent.

Also, they write under animal features:

Note that such physical alterations
do not automatically imbue the subject with animal-like
senses or abilities, remaining primarily cosmetic. Full functionality
requires much more profound metabolic alterations. Most of
the functional changes available through biotech (p. 61) are also
possible through transgenic alteration for comparable Essence and
nuyen costs but longer treatment times (typically several months).

In the end I think it is up to the GM but I would in that case restrict it to more thematic characters than every damn streetsam and combat adept who want improved initiative on the cheap.

I would also limit it to a rating 1 implant.

[Zyerne]

From the FAQ

Can I get bioware as genetech? If so, can I get it in different grades, and what is the Essence cost?

Sort of. Most of the functional changes available through bioware are available through the Animal Features transgenic alteration genetech for comparable Essence and nuyen costs (p.93, Augmentation); i.e., a transgenic digestive expansion would cost 0.5 Essence and 20,000¥.

The exact limitations of what is and what is not available are up to the gamemaster; as a rule of thumb for gamemasters out there: if it's in the animal kingdom already (echolocation, gecko thumbs, gills, etc.) it's probably fair game. More exotic implants like chemical glands for synthetic drugs, false front, and symbionts are a little more iffy; though anyone who's had children could at least make an argument for little parasites growing inside of you being completely natural.

Unlike bioware, however, genetech is not available in grades; therefore any transgenic alterations of this type will be based on the base Essence and nuyen cost of the bioware.

Yes, this does mean that a character with the Genetic Heritage quality can get a piece of bioware as a transgenic modification for "free" (i.e., no nuyen cost) with the gamemaster's approval; the character still has to pay BP for the quality and Essence for the bioware/transgenic modification.

I have a character with transgenic "suprathyroid" obtained through Genetic Heritage. Also took Restricted Gear to cover the availability. With a cost of 45k, the same as genewipe, I don't think that's stretching things particularly.

As a GM, I might allow synaptic 1, but I'd rule the character could never upgrade it or use any other form of IP booster except drugs.

[hermit]

though anyone who's had children could at least make an argument for little parasites growing inside of you being completely natural.

Bullshit. Children are not an inherited trait, but an implant, if you really want to get that technical. So no, no inherited symbiotes unless the symbiote somehow spawns into the embryo.