Homebrew "Mute" Negative Qualities needed, Need some help formulating and pricing. Options

[bibliophile20]

My new players, after finding out exactly how lethal Shadowrun combat is from On The Run, are building alternate/backup characters with my blessing (I'd rather them have character pools than have to deal with introducing and integrating a new PC mid-run).

One player is planning on running that classic archetype, the ex-government sniper. Who took a phosphorus grenade to the face (Flashbacks, Uncommon, Smell of white phosphorus), and is now blind (optic nerves need to be regrown) and mute as a result, and has to talk and see through DNI.

The Blind quality is easy to handle; there's already a quality for it. A Mute quality, on the other hand, does not, and I was hoping that someone had already come up with something like this so I don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks in advance!

[Bigity]

It seems like it would be pretty minimal, what with the easy and abundant possibility for using DNI/AR instead. At least in 'civilized areas'.

[bustedkarma]

5BP all day.
The other 2 reduced senses also saddle you with a pretty hefty -6 modifier to something as well.
With the possible exception of a social modifier, I can't think of how not talking (naturally) would impact the player negativley.
I bet they make a pretty good cancer kazoo in 2070.

[AStarshipforAnts]

Meh. I don't really consider mute to be worth any BP at all on its own, considering all the options PCs have for communication. I once GMed for a player who played a fishman changeling. He didn't have the physiological capability to produce speech, but managed to be quite the face. Hell, we have text to computer generated voice programs today.

Although, a blind and mute character circumvents a lot of those options. Does the character know braille?

[Loch]

My current character is a mute troll who speaks through chopped-up sound clips from Trid shows. He gets no BP for this, because it's just a flavoring (and an excuse to use my Ahnuld and Scarface soundboards at the table!)

[Draco18s]

My current character is a mute troll who speaks through chopped-up sound clips from Trid shows. He gets no BP for this, because it's just a flavoring (and an excuse to use my Ahnuld and Scarface soundboards at the table!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS4spspCwxk...tailpage#t=192s

[Ol' Scratch]

Being mute is already covered in the rules, though you'll have to extrapolate costs and whatnot for it. Look up the Sasquatch entry in Runner's Companion for more details. While they're an extreme case of being mute (one that I think is outright silly, but that's an argument for past threads), it does address the fact that being mute isn't really an issue in the Sixth World. A set of 'trodes, a linguasoft, and a speaker gets around it with ease.

[Yerameyahu]

The same goes for smell, hearing, and sight, though. Cheap sensor + trodes. It's okay for NQs to be avoidable, if it takes some effort, or can be conditional.

[Ol' Scratch]

"A Note On Reduced Senses," Runner's Companion, p. 108:

"The Reduced (Sense) quality is intended to represent a detrimental and significant impairment to the character taking it. The gamemaster may wish to veto the quality or reduce its BP bonus, if he believes the sense chosen will have little impact on the character (such as taking a Fully Impaired Taste in a game where it is unlikely to ever come into play).

If cyber or biotech replacement of the sensing organ is attempted without buying off the quality with Karma, complications will arise which render the implant ineffectual until the character does buy off the quality (or, with the gamemasters’ approval, the character pays for delta grade implants).

While a Reduced (Sense) impairment can be bypassed by transmitting sensory stimuli directly to the brain via a commlink’s simsense module and nanotrodes, this option requires an active PAN linked up to some form of external sensor—which may pose a problem if entering a wi-fi controlled environment or if the link is hacked.

Neither replacement nor sensory bypass are available for neurological-based Reduced (Sense) impairments (including those resulting from SURGE or HMHVV-induced transformations)."

I also specifically stated that it's "not really an issue," not "unworthy of a negative quality." Being mute in the Sixth World isn't a significant and detrimental impairment except, possibly, to a Face or similar character. In this particular case, these particular rules don't quite work since even if you're denied access to your digital voice box, you can still communicate with people just fine, be it through writing, sign language, or other forms of AR. Getting around that with the digital voice box certainly shouldn't apply a -3 or -6 penalty to your social tests. I mean, -6 is significantly beyond social modifiers such as being an enemy or having an outcome that's disastrous to the NPC. Yeah, it'd be a little disconcerting, especially if you're not lip syncing along with it, but not to those extremes. Unlike being blind where you actually do have trouble seeing your targets, and using those senses in a stressful situation is a serious concern.

[Yerameyahu]

Sure. My argument is that there are no reduced senses that qualify, in the DNI-future of 2070. The third paragraph specifically accepts this argument (while ignoring the many non-wifi options). (I'm only talking about non-neurological reduction, of course.)

[AStarshipforAnts]

Yeah, it just doesn't seem like that much of an inconvenience to warrant extra BP.

[Mayhem_2006]

Heh, one of the characters in the Underground RPG game I ran was mute, but had 1-1 telepathy. He could communicate just fine, albeit only with one person at a time.

This was fine - until he needed to warn several people at once about the rooftop sniper...

[Mardrax]

You can always slap him with Distinctive Style for the combination.

[bibliophile20]

Heh. I guess the Consensus has spoken. No bonus BP for him. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Yerameyahu]

And not for being blind either, then. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) It's literally identical: fully replacing the missing sense with DNI+sensor.

[Ol' Scratch]

Nah, because when that is lost or disabled, the character suffers a genuine penalty to his actions. If a mute character loses his ability to speak digitially, he's not going to suffer a -6 penalty to his rolls in any believable fashion.

[Yerameyahu]

Depends on the roll. But sure. I'm assuming that won't happen anyway, though. Anyone in a position to remove your DNI and unhackable sensor connection is in a position to do whatever they want. *Maybe* some kinds of jamming or EMP, depending on the rules.

[Stalag]

Nah, because when that is lost or disabled, the character suffers a genuine penalty to his actions. If a mute character loses his ability to speak digitially, he's not going to suffer a -6 penalty to his rolls in any believable fashion.

I dunno... I'd go with -6 to Con, Instruction, and Negotiation... hard to lie, teach, or deal when you can't talk.
However, since it can be worked around with text to voice I'd still say just 5BP

[Manunancy]

On teh communication angle, a former army sniper is likely to have learned some tactical communication hand signals - even in an era of DNI and wireless, those wil lstil be around for several reasons : sometimes the communications fail, they give no signal, and lastly the magical suport can read them from the astral.

[Yerameyahu]

I wonder if they can read them from the astral. Did he coat his fingers in FAB?

[Bigity]

Yea I would call that a stretch at best. Maybe very exaggerated and simple motions.

[Loch]

Reduced sense gives you BP because it severely limits your perception in a given range (tactile, auditory, visual, whatever). I'm not so certain that talking counts as a "sense" in that respect.

On the DNI front, I was pretty sure you couldn't get around a reduced sense that easily. I was under the impression that the nerve endings are burned out/simply aren't there for a Reduced Sense character, so DNI won't work. Maybe I'm just thinking of how paraplegics can't just take cyberlimbs to compensate, but I sure as he'll wouldn't let a blind guy just jack into his goggles and presto, new sight!

[Bigity]

Well that depends on what part of his eyesight 'system' is damaged. Optic nerves? - replaced by cyber. Part of the brain damaged? - may be SOL

[Yerameyahu]

Yeah. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) That's already part of the Reduced Sense spec, and I specified that I was only talking about the 'weak' version.

[Makki]

just wondered how Reduced Sense (Touch) would be worth its points: Pickpocket the guy once a session (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)