Mundanes: Self-Imposed Mechanical Punishment? Options

[All4BigGuns]

If I was a corporate cloning facility, I'd also incorporate some RFID tags in the fresh limbs/organs.

This is just ridiculous and antagonistic, IMO. And it doesn't fit because it's bad for business, as whenever those tags are discovered, word will spread that it was done and the facility won't get as many patrons.

[NiL_FisK_Urd]

A type O arm is also just a generic Frankenstein arm you get tossed onto your stump. If you actually want your new cloned arm to match the rest of your body, you need to get a cultured one, which costs 25k (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) , and more importantly, it also requires that you surrender a tissue sample that they can grow a new arm from. It doesn't seem unlikely that the clinic would keep some of that lying around, in case their corporate HQ might need it (for example if they want to throw ritual magic at an uppity runner).

If I was a corporate cloning facility, I'd also incorporate some RFID tags in the fresh limbs/organs.

You know, every street doc with a medical facility or a cloning shop can do this. The rules are in Augmentation, p.126

[Lionhearted]

A type O arm is also just a generic Frankenstein arm you get tossed onto your stump. If you actually want your new cloned arm to match the rest of your body, you need to get a cultured one, which costs 25k

Yeah the skin tone/build may be a bit different but otherwise it makes no difference what so ever, neither cloned or type O replacement organs/limbs give essence loss (Augmentation p.126)

[_Pax._]

Also, if you're going through an actual, legal vendor for that cloned arm ... the odds are, you'll be choosing a limb by narrowign ranges down by ethnicity, metatype, overall build / biometrics, and yes, at least a "close" match to overall skin tone.

Maybe it won't have your healthy golden tan (or pasty white "I live in mom's basement" lack-of-tan) right away, but that's just a matter of time. Maybe it will freckle more/less than the rest of you, too. But overall, it's not goign to be "look look I'm a patchwork franken-samurai".

...

Unless you've having to go to back-alley "clinics" where you get whatever limbs are freshest, and maybe have to outbid the local "ghoul deli" to vet an arm at all. Then, yeah. Frankenstein. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Umidori]

I dunno, Franken-Samurai sounds like an awesome character concept. Ultra poor, always in debt, cobbled together from anything they can get their hands on...

~Umi

[Kirschkern]

Short version being: "Is chrome, or magic, required to play a character who can run the shadows?

Nope not required. As far as I'm concerned running in the shadows is about being smart. More dice will help but it comes down to planing and luck.

Can a mundane keep up with the pack, or are you just hurting yourself by choosing to forego the next step in human evolution?"

Strongly depends on the type of character. Street Sam characters are probably the worst at keeping up (I would go so far and say its not worth it because you will be punishing yourself heavily).

[FoolErrant]

I'd say Faces suffer the least obvious mechanical penalty; an unaugmented (or very lightly augmented) face who uses drugs for IPs can still do reasonably well in their area of expertise, and many of the things that would make them better are either highly illegal (Tailored Pheromones) or are sufficiently obvious (Commanding Voice) that they may not always be desirable to use on a regular basis. Plus, a completely mundane face with no restricted or forbidden 'ware will by definition pass nearly all MAD scanners and most wards with minimal hassle (assuming an actual non-criminal SIN or decent fake SIN). That's a big deal; most characters are going to have issues with that type of security, and it's a very common one in the 6th world. Plus, the lack of gear lets you sink more resources into contacts which are faces' bread and butter, or a second specialty.

Yeah, the mundane has problems. He's gonna have issues if he tries to sam it up, and obviously the adept and mage routes are right out. Hacker... depends. The IP problem is always a big one. Other than IPs, agent-focused hackers can work if you're willing to speedball Jazz and Cram occasionally, or even use synaptic boosters if that fits in concept. Sure you won't have the 4-5 IPs of a dedicated and chromed/adept specialist, but you won't always need them either. B&E infiltrators can work too, but they're gonna be at a disadvantage if things go sour.

That's kinda the thing. Sometimes you have to pick and choose your battles. Know your limitations, and pick where and when to fight against them.. or the opponent.

I've also got a face/infiltrator set up this way.. I've been hoping to play it. No restricted ware, little in the way of forbidden gear that isn't throwaway (maybe some of the infiltrator gear, because some of that' pretty expensive, but... better to throw it out and stay out of lockup then get busted and not be able to get strings pulled to get out anyone who did sort of deal) and an actual SIN just to further get past the problem of ubiquitous MAD scanners and security checks, just in case etiquette, con, and negotiation pools of 15 or so, with disguise pools of 10-12 don't work...

[Lantzer]

I wouldn't consider a non-augged character "not good enough" for anything, however, depending on the player that they are running with...the character may not go out of his way to keep them safe unless they had Immense value to the crew (note: some of my characters are total asses who would put a bullet in the head of their entire team for the right price)

And by the same token, the augmented character is a possible source of used cyber/organs/unSINned mage genetic material to sell to black market contacts when money gets tight. On some teams its safer to be mundane.

[Lionhearted]

Who in their right mind would try to beat up a street sammie covered in 2 ton of chrome?
Looting, sure... But beating up for his ware? That takes a special kind of crazy

[NiL_FisK_Urd]

2 doses of tetrodotoxin (DV 12P immediate toxin) and the sammie is gone - or rigger with a blimp mounted sniper rifle, then the sam does not even know it was his teammate that tried to off him.

[Lionhearted]

People with that capacity surely have better pass-times, Tamanous recruits ghouls for a reason.

[NiL_FisK_Urd]

Oh, the blimp mounted sniper is not that expensive, and riggers ALWAYS need more money for new toys. Because (according to Augmentation) medical shops are built for rigging control, most of my riggers even have a medical shop and medical knowledge.

[Lionhearted]

Your rigger needs a hobby, you should try knitting

[NiL_FisK_Urd]

Already got a drone for that, the MicroWeave Spider from Attitude (p. 163 for the fluff text, p. 166 for the stats).

[Lantzer]

Who in their right mind would try to beat up a street sammie covered in 2 ton of chrome?
Looting, sure... But beating up for his ware? That takes a special kind of crazy

Beat him up? Why would anyone want to do that? That guy is psycho-dangerous. Just wait and let nature take its course. Many runners with superhuman abilities get lazy and stupid. All you need to do is be a few seconds too slow to save their butts, but just fast enough to rescue their unconscious, defenceless, and quite valuable body (think of how many donuts you can buy!). Then blame it on your lack of extra initiative enhancement.

Then bring them to your second-favorite chop shop (your favorite street doc doesn't do this kind of work - I hope), and snip, chop hack, saw, and you and your contact just made their rent this week. Any leftovers can go to keep your ghoul contact happy.

I once saw a paranoid chromed character who was afraid of this sort of thing. He paid extra to have his most expensive cyber boobytrapped. Ah, the fun of buying your own cortex area bombs, disguised as nanite hives. After all, how many street docs are trained in demolitions?

[binarywraith]

Beat him up? Why would anyone want to do that? That guy is psycho-dangerous. Just wait and let nature take its course. Many runners with superhuman abilities get lazy and stupid. All you need to do is be a few seconds too slow to save their butts, but just fast enough to rescue their unconscious, defenceless, and quite valuable body (think of how many donuts you can buy!). Then blame it on your lack of extra initiative enhancement.

Then bring them to your second-favorite chop shop (your favorite street doc doesn't do this kind of work - I hope), and snip, chop hack, saw, and you and your contact just made their rent this week. Any leftovers can go to keep your ghoul contact happy.

I once saw a paranoid chromed character who was afraid of this sort of thing. He paid extra to have his most expensive cyber boobytrapped. Ah, the fun of buying your own cortex area bombs, disguised as nanite hives. After all, how many street docs are trained in demolitions?

It isn't paranoia if the ghoul in the party keeps swapping your Gold Bond for paprika. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif)

[_Pax._]

It isn't paranoia if the ghoul in the party keeps swapping your Gold Bond for paprika. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotfl.gif)

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Glyph]

I'd say Faces suffer the least obvious mechanical penalty; an unaugmented (or very lightly augmented) face who uses drugs for IPs can still do reasonably well in their area of expertise, and many of the things that would make them better are either highly illegal (Tailored Pheromones) or are sufficiently obvious (Commanding Voice) that they may not always be desirable to use on a regular basis. Plus, a completely mundane face with no restricted or forbidden 'ware will by definition pass nearly all MAD scanners and most wards with minimal hassle (assuming an actual non-criminal SIN or decent fake SIN). That's a big deal; most characters are going to have issues with that type of security, and it's a very common one in the 6th world. Plus, the lack of gear lets you sink more resources into contacts which are faces' bread and butter, or a second specialty.

Mundane faces are the most penalized compared to augmented and awakened characters, especially compared to augmented awakened characters, who are stacking tailored pheromones and kinesics. However, they can still do well, because social skills are an area where it is easy to get your dice pools into the stratosphere, but unlike combat, a dice pool in the low teens is still pretty good, and will get the job done most of the time. Heck, the face archetype in the main book only has a commlink and a datajack as 'ware, fairly minimal augmentation and nothing that helps him as a dedicated face.

[All4BigGuns]

Considering that the baseline Mr. Johnson from the books (probably the weakest Mr. Johnson you'll run across) has 10 dice, I'd say it's a good idea to have minimum 15 dice on a Face.

[X-Kalibur]

-snip-

You are Deckard in a world full of replicants.

-snip-

I'm pretty sure at the end of the movie you're supposed to question whether or not Deckard was actually a replicant or not. But I could be crazy.

[FuelDrop]

I'm pretty sure at the end of the movie you're supposed to question whether or not Deckard was actually a replicant or not. But I could be crazy.

We're discussing transhumanism on a game forum on an invisible network of silicon chips and radio waves. We're all insane!

[FuelDrop]

Would a professional assassin (IE someone who specializes in eliminating a single target very very effectively) be a viable pure mundane build? Sniping, poisoning, that sort of thing... You can make do without the extra initiative passes, and even augmented agility is not really vital (it's nice, but not really a must-have thing).

[All4BigGuns]

Would a professional assassin (IE someone who specializes in eliminating a single target very very effectively) be a viable pure mundane build? Sniping, poisoning, that sort of thing... You can make do without the extra initiative passes, and even augmented agility is not really vital (it's nice, but not really a must-have thing).

I'd say so.

[Dolanar]

its viable? yes, will you be the best at it? probably not

you'll want to figure out the best ways you want to kill & determine what skills will best suit your desired build & buy basic equipment to maximize your overall potential, but yes, it is a Viable build, you'll just have overall lower dice pools.

[_Pax._]

Would a professional assassin (IE someone who specializes in eliminating a single target very very effectively) be a viable pure mundane build? Sniping, poisoning, that sort of thing... You can make do without the extra initiative passes, and even augmented agility is not really vital (it's nice, but not really a must-have thing).

Absolutely. Snipers are less sensitive to "lack of IPs" than most other combat builds - because ideally, they'll only take the one shot, then disengage from combat. Assumign there are any survivors to be in combat WITH. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)