My search-fu is probably quite weak, but I didn't see anything on this topic. Cyber-limbs are 1 essence; cyber-torsos, 1.5; skulls, 0.75. Make the torso Alphaware, so that the total essence cost is only 5.5 total, and it costs 110,000 nuyen (for obvious versions of them all). Now, you'll look like an insane metal freak, and even looking at a high-security zone too hard will have Lone Star all over you... But it seems to be a lot of advantages for few disadvantages. Now, if you assume you don't want to improve the stats on your cyber-skull along with everything else, it costs a total of (200+250+250)*6 = 4,200 Nuyen per full one point stat increase (*6 because I'm counting the torso twice; alphaware and all that jazz). You can give a total of +3 to all your stats (body only for the skull, because of capacity) to level 6, and it would cost a grand total of 110,000 + 12,600 + 600 (the skull's body) = 123,200... And you'd still have capacity left for other toys, like armor on the limbs and a cybergun.

The one snag you hit for an actual starting character is availability on the skull (16), but ignore that small glitch; it's pretty cheap anyway.

The BP cost for 123,200 would be 25. The BP cost for the equivalent stats would be 195, not even counting the multiple-maxed-stats problem.

That seems... Excessively powerful. Am I missing something in here? If you don't mind the essence cost, couldn't you just leave most of your physical stats at 1 and abuse this pretty horribly?

Yes.

of course, this also requires that you don't waste BP on race, so be a human (none of your precious bonus is lost... you still have your edge )

not to mention the stuff you *can't* get because of this. such as all bioware by the RAW, if i'm not mistaken. and such as wired reflexes. (which, IMO, is silly, but i believe is the way the rules are set up currently).

but other than those minor pesky problems, sure, go ahead. you'll be really hard to kill, and can dump your attributes.

so i wouldn't go so far as to say *no* drawbacks. with 0.5 essence left, you're obviously not gonna be awakened, but i guess that was assumed to begin with. that puts you as a razorguy or decker, and you won't be able to get any cyber that doesn't have a capacity rating iirc. considering some of those pieces of cyber, i'd say that's at least a bit of a drawback.

Sure, you can get them... but the essence cost still affects you.

Alphaware won't suffice then.

I really don't see this as a big problem. If you replace your full body and use up almost all your Essence, by all means, you should have some benefit from that.

Bye
Thanee

So much for Cyberzombies.

And yet in SR3 you couldn't get a essence cost reduction for being a cybermonster despite being 80% metal, now you just can't. Jesus...

I am quiet sure, that it was intended, that characters with cybertorso/skull can have wirred reflexes/headware too (otherwise many cyberzombie npc´s from previous editions canon would not work anymore)! The problem is, you´ve got to pay the essence cost for these, as opposed to ware, that has a capacity rating and can thus be implanted into a cyberlimb without aditionel essenz loss. So feel free burn your fantastic remaining 0.5 Essence on wirred reflexes (well, synaptic accellerator, maybe)!

Sure, and that would be fine if Wired Reflexes was as neurally invasive as a VCR (which had the same costs despite being confined to the brain), but it isn't (or at least, couldn't be and yet was still a body-wide modification of the entire neural structure). Just asking for some consistency, which is like asking Jesus to come down to Earth and tell me how to take over Microsoft.

Of course, to be perfectly frank CZs are pretty much irrelevant in SR4 under the current rules unless they become "special" through the cybermancy process to cram more enhancements than are currently allowed under the (Attr * 1.5) rule.

Don't forget that your physical stats will suck if you do this. A cyberlimb can only old so many physial stat increases and you'll have to buy stats for every part seperatly.

Also, leaving Body at 1 won't work well because you'll remain vulnerable to pathogens and toxins.

The whole-body replacement thingie only really works after char-gen, where you can use deltaware (to have enough essense for other things, like reflex enhancements), and where you don't have the starting Availability restrictions limiting the enhancements that you can buy.

Cyber limbs are much more effective and reasonably priced now, though, compared to SR3.

Next logical step :

stop complexity, don't cut the arms, the legs, the torso and so on ...
just build a whole robotic body, and transplant the brain to it, and may be a few organs (heart, lung, nerves and some other stuff in the torso)

Just ADD essence to a mechanism by adding life in it (strange feeling).

I houseruled that players who wanted to go cyborg (all limbs, torso, skull, eyes, ears) paid standard-grade costs for their cyberwear, but got it upgraded to beta for free. However, they bought their physical attributes at normal cost (and then we upgraded, again for free, the cyborg body with the addons required to have those stats). Haven't had anyone do it yet, but who knows... we might.

If i feel like really offering it up to 'em, i might just say the upgrade is to delta, not beta. We'll see.

I was actually just thinking about the Full 'borg conversions from Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0.. For some reason I rather liked them, more so when coupled with the whole 'ghost comp' idea. Erm, not much more to say about that, though perhaps definitely something to consider ala the MitS information.

Regards.

Ka_ge

It has been attempted before using the work of Dr. Halberstam and the nuances of the essence rules.

You see, having things cut off doesn't cost essence, so having one's brain shvoed into a jar is a very essence-friendly process despite what common sense suggests. Add an implanted Datajack (and a VCR in SR3) and connect the jar to a specially made drone and away you go. Drones can be stronger and faster than cyberlimbs can be and you only need one weapon skill. With the direct connection it is impossible to hack the drone. It is an inellegant but perfectly munchy solution.

When the rules for them appear, it'd be easier just to get a free sprite to inhabit one. I mean, saves you all the cutting.