Cyberzombie for a Freaks Campaign, Or, Yeah, my GM's lost it Options

[Sephiroth]

Cyberzombies may not age, but they require constant medications
to keep from developing cancer or worse side effects from the
procedure. Essentially, a cyberzombie’s lifestyle costs are increased
by 2,000¥ a month for medications. Further, these medications
aren’t exactly available over the counter. Producing them requires
a chemical facility. Receiving them from other sources requires the
good graces of the entity that originally performed the surgery (or
overcoming an availability of 24).

Something like that, yeah. Might be a nice alternative safehouse for your Infected teammates to stay at as well. But all this is going to cost a lot of money, mind you, and I think that having a Logic score equal to or higher than that of the smarter of the two nosferatu would be appropriate for something like making your own medications ('cuz forcing an already dead body not to kill itself the rest of the way is serious business, you know).

[WhiskeyJohnny]

Finding Magic with Magic is harder if it's hidden under the ground, because the earth itself counts as a living organism and thus pretty much shields you from magic at least partially.
And of course from all kinds of sensors, including GPS and the such . .
And finding Cyberzombies with magic is harder on default. It's basically like looking for the silent spot in a sea of sound when looking for an enemy submarine.
The background count itself could be found, but that is hard too.
If you are somewhere with a BGC of 3, your own BGC of 4 does not stand out as much anymore i think . .

As long as you can feed the fab with the receipe and the needed ingredients, i don't see why it would not work.

Fantastic on both counts.

Something like that, yeah. Might be a nice alternative safehouse for your Infected teammates to stay at as well. But all this is going to cost a lot of money, mind you, and I think that having a Logic score equal to or higher than that of the smarter of the two nosferatu would be appropriate for something like making your own medications ('cuz forcing an already dead body not to kill itself the rest of the way is serious business, you know).

Absolutely. Unnatural Vigor applies to mental stats too, right? I could be primarily a Brains Cyberzombie, who busts out the Brawn when necessary.

That's actually what I was thinking about for my backstory, when I was walking the dog earlier - this guy was chosen to become a 'top researcher' for some megacorp, so they cybermancied him up. Then he decides he wants to live (after the prerequisite discovery of philosophy and all of that cliche) and because he was cybered up to be smart and charming he uses his smarts and charm to con his way out of bondage. Now he's on the run, trying to figure out what it means to be an independent CZ, and figuring out what to do with his (un)life.

[Stahlseele]

Yes, unnatural vigor appears to apply to all attributes.

[WhiskeyJohnny]

Ok, so I'm trying to build this guy, and I'm not sure if I should go with Elf or Ork or Human. Since we're using Karmagen (without the errata) I don't see much value in going Human, as it only gets me one point of edge, whereas Elf or Ork gives me other stat bonuses and a bonus to how much karma I can spend on stats. Given that, Elf seems superior (as it gives me a bonus to Charisma and more points to spend on stats) but I know that Ork is generally the optimal race. And how much of my Karma should go to money? I know this guy is gonna be expensive, just buying his wares, but how much to CZ's wares usually run?

[Sephiroth]

Indeed. Hence why cyberzombies are not only terrifying one-man WMD's but also potentially the 'brainiest brains that ever brained,' as I remember someone putting it several months ago.

By the way, is there any assistance you could get from either of the two nos's when it comes to the meds? They ARE generally megalomaniacal and highly intelligent plotters, and if one of them fits the mad scientist archetype of that, they could help quite a bit with making your own medications if they have some skill in Chemistry.

[Yerameyahu]

"What happens when Essence drops below 0?"

AFAIK, you get the inverse Background Count, right? (Just in this specific instance). Same difference. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Is it even possible for a cyberzombie to be any kind of Awakened? Are we talking just "the rules don't say you can't", or is there an actual example and/or rationale? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[WhiskeyJohnny]

Indeed. Hence why cyberzombies are not only terrifying one-man WMD's but also potentially the 'brainiest brains that ever brained,' as I remember someone putting it several months ago.

By the way, is there any assistance you could get from either of the two nos's when it comes to the meds? They ARE generally megalomaniacal and highly intelligent plotters, and if one of them fits the mad scientist archetype of that, they could help quite a bit with making your own medications if they have some skill in Chemistry.

One of them might, but the other wouldn't. I'll have to check and see if he's got the skills necessary to make the stuff though.

Is it even possible for a cyberzombie to be any kind of Awakened? Are we talking just "the rules don't say you can't", or is there an actual example and/or rationale? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I think more the former than the latter. Though it would be nice to be able to cleanse the area around myself, if only not to step on the toes of the mage.

[Yerameyahu]

Just to comment randomly: you'd assume their 'deadness' wouldn't boost mental attributes, especially on something that's meant (?) to be blaster, not master. Yet another rules oversight, forgivable because they're never supposed to be PCs. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[WhiskeyJohnny]

Just to comment randomly: you'd assume their 'deadness' wouldn't boost mental attributes, especially on something that's meant (?) to be blaster, not master. Yet another rules oversight, forgivable because they're never supposed to be PCs. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

You'd also assume their 'deadness' wouldn't boost their physical attributes either, on account of their being held together with the pharmaceutical (and magical, I suppose) equivalent of gaffer's tape.

Also, I think I may have found a suitable theme song for this character - "Search and Destroy" by Iggy Pop and the Stooges. "Look out honey 'cause I'm usin' technology" indeed.

[Yerameyahu]

No, the physical aspect is the whole point, the 'vigor'.

[Sephiroth]

Well, one's brain is as much of a muscle as the rest of one's muscles, if a million times more complex. Why wouldn't it affect your brain, if it's supposed to be 'just physical vigor?'

[Yerameyahu]

… Except in the sense that it's not a muscle. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Even if scientific logic were a reasonable line of argument, and we know it's not. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) It's a cyber *zombie*. Zombies are inhumanly physical.

[Sephiroth]

And traditional zombies, while generally understood as being 'undead,' are typically made so by something that is at least natural - usually a virus of some sort, at least in most of the fiction I'm aware of. SR cyberzombies are so fundamentally unnatural in their state of existence that the universe itself thinks they're supposed to be dead, and that is RAW. I very much doubt that traditional depictions of zombies in popular culture are 100% valid when it comes to CZ's.

[Yerameyahu]

Traditional zombies are magic (and totally unnatural), while 'bio' zombies aren't undead, but not that it matters. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Cyberzombies *are* magic, and so they're 100% arbitrary. I'm just making the point that its thematically appropriate for them to get physical but not mental buffs.

[KarmaInferno]

Yeah, "science" based zombies as a concept are really only a few decades old.

Pretty much all previous mythological versions were magic based.




-k

[Yerameyahu]

I mean, and let's not get too far off topic. Zombies are so hot right now, bleh. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Certainly there are flavors of zombies ranging from 'drugged servants' to 'toxin' to 'virus' to 'mutant'. I'm just saying that, personally, both a cyber*zombie* and a *cyberzombie* make more sense as brutes.

[WhiskeyJohnny]

I mean, and let's not get too far off topic. Zombies are so hot right now, bleh. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Certainly there are flavors of zombies ranging from 'drugged servants' to 'toxin' to 'virus' to 'mutant'. I'm just saying that, personally, both a cyber*zombie* and a *cyberzombie* make more sense as brutes.

While this may be true, it would be fun to play a cerebral CZ (or Cyber Lich, if you prefer) would it not?

I'm still wondering about this whole karmagen thing - I seem to have really high stats, and that's even before mods. I'm going with Elf, unless somebody tells me Orks (or some Elf variant) is superior, by the way.

[Dahrken]

As long as you can feed the fab with the receipe and the needed ingredients, i don't see why it would not work.

The processing time of a batch can be a problem, if it's too long someone in the facility will notice it is not doing what it is supposed to do and interfere. It's one thing to take control of a facility for say 1 hours, but if you need it for three days because the chemical reactions and purification process are complex and slow, things get trickier.

I don't know how is Sarajevo in the 2070's. Is it stable enough to have a reasonably accessible medical manufacturing facility around (like NOT in the center of an Aztechnology pyramid) ?

[Stahlseele]

I'm going with Elf, unless somebody tells me Orks (or some Elf variant) is superior, by the way.

that depends entirely on what you want to do.
Orks get more stuff back in comparsion to their poins cost than elves, but elves get it in agility and charisma, which are way more important than strength and body in most cases . .

[Mardrax]

If you're going to be a face AND can get cleansing done, or want to play up the tragic side some more, you could consider a Dryad instead. Glamour makes for a nice freak as well as help offset some of the 'lack of empathy through having your soul magically duct taped to your corpse' penalty.

[Stahlseele]

A Dryad Cyberzombie O.o

[rofltehcat]

About the chemicals... couldn't one of the first runs be to steal a stash of the stuff from a CZ research facility? Probably even the same the character escaped from? They'd never see it coming that your CZ bursts back in while they are looking everywhere for him. Maybe another corp wants something from there anyways and they heard that you have an 'expert' on your team?
Later you could role play that you are running out of the stuff or the stuff is getting bad slowly. As a consequence they could try to find/"recruit" a chemist to synthesize the stuff, try to cut it with other chemicals your team could brew with a lower facility etc or just try to figure out a chemical combination that will do the job nearly as good as the original. And maybe try to keep the CZ from falling apart with magic.
During all of this your character is subject to mood swings, overall psychical instability, maybe even some of the cyber ware shutting off. Of course he is not getting the right medicine and it keeps getting worse until you find a good solution. (Or crash in the front gate of the very same research facility to get another stash of the stuff, they will never see THAT coming (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) )

It is probably not RAW but I guess the dependency on the chemicals can supply more than enough plot hooks and role playing material.

[Stahlseele]

"We're going in through the front door, they'll NEVER expect an all out frontal assault!"
Sounds suspiciously like my group . . .

[Dahrken]

About the chemicals... couldn't one of the first runs be to steal a stash of the stuff from a CZ research facility? Probably even the same the character escaped from?

Since there is something like 12 of such installations on the whole planet, each of them a Delta clinic with heavy-duty magic at hand (you need a Magical lodge of rating at least 12 for the cybermantic procedure), I'm not sure breaking in for the goods is a survivable option, as they are likely to be among the most heavily protected assets of their parent entity.

[Doc Byte]

I'm still wondering about this whole karmagen thing - I seem to have really high stats, and that's even before mods.

There's still no official RC errata, isn't it? You're supposed to pay level x5 for your attributes and race BP in Karma.