Is cultured Bio allowed for new characters?

yes.

I think you're confusing Cultured Bioware with Alpha Grade Bioware etc.

Cultured Bioware means they had to have a sample of your DNA to create it because it interacts with the more sensitive neural aspect of your physiology.

before 4th Edition Cultured meant a reduction in Essence cost. Now it just means "Bioware that takes longer to make"

And just in case it was your original question, you can have up to Alpha Grade Cyberware/Bioware during character generation but not Beta Grade or Delta Grade.

- Umbra

Also note that cultured bioware cannot be 'graded.' The production process is the same as for regular delta-grade bioware (though it is, as mentioned, still available at charactergen).

Do you have a quote on this? I don't remember reading it...
I thought bioware existed in normal to delta grade, cultured or not...

Correct. Cultured Bioware must be specifically tailored to an individual's neural structure or nervous system. It is not, however, necessarily tailored to the recipients genetic code - that is the realm of higher grade ware. This is also the reason, that despite the 'official' stance being otherwise, Type O System should work the same with Cultured or Basic 'ware, and does in the games I play.


Incorrect. Cultured Bioware is available in Standard, Alpha, Beta, & Delta grades, for the standard Nuyen & Essence multipliers. See page 127, Augmentation.

And to answer the original question, as stated above, Cultured Bioware is available at character generation, subject to the normal rules on availability & grades.

My apologies. Not sure how I mixed that one up. I vaguely remember reading that you couldn't grade it because it was already tailored specifically to you, but I guess I'm thinking of something else.

Sounds like SR3 memories ...

thank you all... I'm still stuck in SR3 mode for many rules.

It seems to me cultured bioware would NEVER be availible used/recycled because of DNA markers... Is that true?

Correct. Cultured bioware is for one user only.

Will there ever be any grade behond delta? Like Pi or Omega.

"I wanna upgrade my delta reproductive simulator to Pi please Doc."

By the way, what happened to Gamma? It comes after Beta and before Delta? Sound too radioactive?

Why Gamma? Why not Charlie?

New from Evo, Charlieware! For the significantly affluent individual.

I've always wondered that myself.

Possibilities might include:

Betaware and Deltaware had better marketing campaigns, Gammaware has fallen from the public eye and is no longer provided by any significant augmentation providers. The occasional weird street doc offers clients Gammaware, but nobody takes them up on it.

Gammaware was the pseudo-prototype predecessor of Deltaware. Like Deltaware it required expensive and advanced technology to produce but provided less Essence cost reduction and was dropped in favour of Deltaware when it was developed. Deltaware shares the same machinery, but adjusts the material inputs and achieves significantly better Essence cost reductions for the same price.

It was discovered that Gammaware gave you cancer, and sterilised you. Both happened slowly over a period of 10 years. There's a massive Class Action lawsuit against the Corporate Court for okaying it. A representative for the Corporate Court is reported as having said "What, the public? Can they even afford lawyers? I know we bought out most of theirs long ago!"