The subject of cosmetic modifications came up in last night's game when our resident street sam needed to get a new face to help shake off an emerging Wanted quality. He knew a top-notch street doc, so it was all good in concept. Then we flipped through the books...

I had read Biosculpting (Moderate Modification) and seen that it could be used to recreate the face or even alter apparent ethnicity. This seemed perfect even though it had an Essence Cost of 0.1. However, the player had noted that the main book had a cyberware version called Cosmetic Modification that cost no Essence and seemed to be capable of doing the same thing.

Here's the relevant text of the Cosmetic Modification bodyware: Cosmetic Modification: Outpatient treatments that take about 2 hours can be obtained to alter the user’s appearance—shape, coloration, and pigmentation of the face and body along with addition or removal of hair (fiberoptic hair with changing color patterns is still very popular). Exotic modifications like scaly skin, colorful fur, cat ears, ork tusks, or tails are more difficult to come by.

Seems pretty clear - until we look at Augmentation. Augmentation pulls out several of the included mods and places seperate costs on them. Suddenly the fiberoptic hair and fangs (ork tusks) both have an Essence Cost of 0.1. In fact all cosmetic cybernetic implants have an Essence Cost. Only cosmetic cyberware modifications - defined as such, "Cosmetic cyberware modifications include anything that alters the appearance, shape, or color of another piece of cyberware and does not affect the Essence Cost or Capacity of the modified implant." - have no Essence Cost.

The shift in Augmentation leads me to believe that the BBB version of Cosmetic Modification is outdated and should have been removed since it appears at odds with Augmentation, but the text I showed above came straight from SR4A. I'll say straight-away that I don't like Cosmetic Modification - I don't think that cyberware should be better for this than a bioware procedure and less costly on Essence.

I'm thining of asking the player to retcon slightly and take both Biosculpting (Moderate Modification) for the look of a new ethnicity along with Cyberlimb Casemods to alter the look of his cyberhands and a new set of stylized Protective Covers over his cybereyes - as the latter bits seem to follow the Augmentation-implied use of cosmetic cyberware.

Anyone else have any insight into how you'd handle these issues?

Personally I refuse to charge Essence for cosmetics, even truely outlandish things like feathers or scales.

hi hi

I have a two point check on whether or not a cyberware/bioware mod requires essence.

1. Does it use DNI or an activation trigger?

2. Does it confer a stat bonus?

If the answer is no, then I think a ¥ cost is enough.

I think nearly all modifications should use up essence. Essence was once described not only as "holistic unity" of your body but also as beeing natural the one you are supposed to be, and even part "feeling as yourself".

Your DNA and magical blueprint never intented for you to have glowing hair, huge tusks (as a human) or green skin. That should take essence. And we are not in a computer game, where you only are after optimization of skills and powers, people should and will take these things if they like it, even if they costs 0.1 or 0.2 essence.

I would go so far and let exessive "normal" modifacations drain essence (Like full-body tattoos, silicon implants, or a face full of piercings), but not much of course.

Quick note to keep the idea of the Biosculpting (Moderate Modification) having an Essence Cost in perspective: Once you've had it done once, you can use the Essence 'hole' removing it offers to get new 'sculps whenever you can pay for them. This week you look like a white man, next month you're a black man, and for that run in Neo-Tokyo you can get a Japanese-look without ever again paying Essence. In this case, that 0.1 Essence you've paid isn't really too bad of a deal.

Here's the question I'd ask; is there present-day technology that can cost people Essence? Because celebrity-watchers certainly seem to think facelifts, nips, tucks and the like impugn on "holistic unity" of peoples' bodies. Shit, the late Michael Jackson's skin-bleaching and nose-raping nonsense was definitely a violation of "holistic unity" at some point. Did it cost him essence? I think a nose job doesn't cost Essence, but something as intense as MJ's makeover would be.

Here's my advice for integrating the above guideline with the BBB's "Cosmetic Modification" and Augmentations "Biosculpting." Anything that would be reasonable to-day (hair plugs, facelifts, nose jobs, mainstream cosmetic surgery) counts as "Cosmetic Modification," but anything that would be difficult-impossible to-day (implanting tusks, cat ears, face transplants etc.) are "difficult to come by," and thus have an Essence cost.

I registered specifically to agree with this comment.

Essence costs for cosmetic changes seem over the top.

You picked an interesting name.

It's the hottest month in the Exalted year. I was kind of at a loss for a name on the WW forum, and picked this one randomly.

It sure works better than "IAgreeWithIceKatzeAboutCosmeticChanges89."

Anyway, welcome to Dumpshock. May the force be with you.

Why? Cosmetic changes can be very useful (especially if you play up prejudices and use the Reputation rules), and they can certainly have other costs (nuyen and BP/Karma). In this case, the cosmetic changes are a part of a character avoiding a 10 BP negative quality (Wanted) being applied for in-game actions. I think that this is worth a few thousand nuyen and 0.1 Essence - especially since I'm willing to allow future Biosculpting to take advantage of the 'Essence Hole' that results from overwriting the current look, making it a one-time Essence investment (nuyen still gets paid each time - sorry) for something that can be useful time and again for a runner.

buying off a negative quality isn't the only thing cosmetic changes can be used for. it really sucks for a technomancer or magician who doesn't intend to get any 'ware, if they want to get simple cosmetic changes for their character and they can't without losing a full point of magic or resonance. i can certainly understand for major cosmetic changes, but if you can attach a cloned arm onto a body without changing it's identity, then i fail to see why really minor changes should suddenly cost essence. sure, if you're going in for a major operation like a sex-change (probably complete with working sexual organs, this is 2070) then you might be in for essence cost. getting a tattoo, or grafting in different hair, on the other hand, seems rather minor. i am of the opinion that if someone wants fiberoptic hair that changes color constantly, there's no need to punish them with essence loss.

I'll charge the Essence cost, but as far as I'm concerned, getting further modifications is effectively taking out the old stuff and filling the Essence hole with the new. So you'll lose a little at the start, but have as many re-sculpts as you like.

OH. MY. GOD! You would charge Essence for a full Body Tat? I would hate to play in your games. Tattoos are not Essence draining. So you're saying that you would make a veteran Yakuza mage pay for his status in the gang with Essence... that's sorta petty.

If you're using the cosmetic changes to weasel out of having to play your metatype, or to get around a negative quality you purchased, then the cosmetic change is giving you a numerical bonus (however roundabout it may be), and then you should be charged a commensurate amount of essence. But if you're talking something like fiber optic hair, changing skin color, or breast implants on a woman, then charging essence for something like that is ridiculous. Just charging nuyen is plenty of cost to the player for allowing them to have a character that fits the idea in their head.

Biosculpting (Minor Modification) handles many of the commonly thought of 'minor cosmetic changes' - and it cost 0 Essence. This character is getting Biosculpting (Moderate Modification) to change his apparent ethnicity which also happens to involve altering the bone structure of his face (giving some protection against facial recognition techniques). That's why it'll cost 0.1 Essence.


This is my view as well.


I think your term 'weasel out of' sounds pretty negative, and I'd note that it's not a quality he purchased - it's one resulting from in-game actions. Getting a new face for this character is IMO, better roleplaying and less 'weasel-ly' than simply expecting a new hat to hide his ID.


Basic cyberlimbs are often little more than cosmetic in effect, yet they certainly cost Essence. They can certainly be made more useful, but so too can a new look if you're emphasis is in the roleplaying.

hi hi

I suppose my motivation is to promote creativity in role-playing, rather then being a hard core simulation, which I will admit is a personal preference. I would hate to have a player come to game all excited about this cool idea he had that would help flesh out his character only to say, "you can do that as long as you're willing to give up an adept power or four."

In the case of the adept, you have the option of doing this (and more) with the Facial Sculpt and Melanin Control powers. But even so, doing what he's doing would cost a few adept powers.

hi hi

Using adept powers for an adept to solve the problem is still a munchy way of looking at what is sometimes an entirely fluffy problem.

Does getting a really big sliver, or a fragment of shrapnel stuck under the skin cause essence loss?

Naa, that is not extensive enough. And the impact on his soul is maybe even beneficial (As he is with soul and skin part of the group)

I meant something like this:

http://www.spokane7.com/images/2007/jul/11/enigma.jpg

It is just this "will" to be a freak.. be something other than a human that would take essence. (Also maybe the slight poisoning of your skin, and slight allergies and such).

Also: When i played a hermetic magician, which was an... "operative" i never had 6.0 Essence. It is just too tempting to built in just a tiny-itsy-bitsy bit. *g* A cerebral booster, a bit bioware against the drain, of course a Datajack, or maybe cyber-eyes... its not unusual. My shamans were more likely to be a bit capricious about those thing... but not all. So when people want to look different and get operated on, they are not themselves. Maybe even by just a tiny bit. Maybe only on the farthest reaches on the outside of their body, but they are not like they should be.

That means -0.05.. or -0.1. It's not that bad, just lose the one point magic.. hell, use up the 0.9 more. and try to save karma for an initiation *g*. If you choose to be powerful and clean... well too bad, you don't get to be an asian dude tomorrow and a elven woman next week. That is the price to pay for beeing awesome with magic. (No Freebies)

See ya

I actually don't think a sex change should cost essence, either. I don't see the justification for that. Summerstorm said:



which is how transsexual people describe the experience - the hormonal therapy and the surgery.

So now, being naturally the one you are supposed to be, and "feeling as yourself" costs essence?



Facial Sculpt and Melanin Control have durations, don't they?

While I can understand wanting to charge essence to eliminate a drawback, I think that this is a really metagamey way to look at things. That the character is Wanted and uses biosculpting to eliminate that Wanted isn't really a good enough reason for cosmetic surgery to cost essence. You can already pay karma to remove negative qualities, provided you take steps to eliminate it.

Cyberlimbs are still cybernetics - electronic, mechanical additions to your body, while cosmetic surgery is still, largely the alteration of existing bone and tissue (or the addition of tissue which is, in all likelihood, cloned or otherwise grown from your DNA). They're not comparable.

I don't like the notion because it seems to place cosmetic surgery into a category where it doesn't belong. That it makes it out to be unnatural and inhuman in the same way that cybernetics are, when most of the alterations that cost essence are simply an alteration of a metahuman body without adding anything to it. Cosmetic surgery really is a matter of (in many cases) inflicting a controlled set of injuries on someone and then manipulating how those injuries heal. Some surgery does involve inert implants, and of course alterations can give you a disguise bonus (at the cost of not being able to take it off without surgery).

The essence cost for cosmetic modifications is entirely too steep, especially for magicians and adepts.

When people start talking about "pure" Mages and Adepts I start wanting to change sides and charge Essence for earrings, smoking, and even drinking soycaf, EVERYONE even Mages/Shamans should already have at least one point of their majo burnt.

I still think that the general guideline that if it gives you any sort of stat bonus (or offsets any negative stat), then you charge essence for it. If I just want my character to have a certain look (extensive tats, piercings, hair, or stuff like that), then pay the nuyen and have fun. And if you wanted a couple of things that conferred a minor stat bonus, I'd let a player roll it all up together and let them have it for something like 0.1 essence.

from a shadowrun viewpoint, your self-image is how you were born. if that means that someone was born internally conflicted over a feeling they should have been born a different gender, apparently that's part of their image...

otherwise someone can decide that they should have been born with an implanted cyberlimb, or that they should have been born smarter, and therefore the cyberhand (with nanohive etc) and their cerebral boosters shouldn't count into essence cost...

after all, who's going to tell the technomancer that it's absurd to think their body should have been a machine in the first place?

that said, if it was just an external change, i'd be inclined to agree that the cosmetics are probably not enough to justify essence loss.

I'm not talking about pure mages. My last (and really, only) Shadowrun character was a full mage with ~2 essence worth of cyber and bioware. I've also played an adept who had a smart link and some other implants. I don't see anything wrong with Awakened characters with cyberware, but I feel that the essence cost for cosmetic surgery is over the top.

Again, I ask "Why?" Cosmetics changes/appearance can certainly have major effects on gameplay, so why is a bit of Essence 'over the top' in your eyes?

This is a slippery slope. I don't want to get into what people are or should have been, I'm just arguing that if your body remains fully biological and is not biologically enhanced, that there shouldn't be an essence cost. I'd rather not say "well, there's a conditional essence cost" and have people say that they want, deep in their hearts, to have dark skin or a prettier face to avoid that cost. I'm also really uncomfortable with the notion of charging essence for procedures that do have a positive impact on people, based on the notion that it's deviating from what their bodies should be. I also don't like the notion of, say, certain character concepts costing essence for no actual game mechanical benefit.

I'd just leave it out entirely.



Which changes does that not cover?



I already told you, but you can also read the rest of this comment for more context.

hi hi

If you want to take a simulationist approach to the issue, you cant just look at what goes into the body, since your average run gone south will often tear up a character just as badly if not worse.

The question becomes: Why does the essence not come back once the object is removed? Piercings will eventually close on their own, skin will eventually regrow, bones will heal if properly set. However, when you remove an eye, splice nerves, pull out bones or cut into the brain, it isn't growing back on its own. At that point, you can still get it healed, but allowing it to heal without replacing the lost part is perhaps what effects ones aura. Even if it is replaced at a later date, the body has already adjusted.

Of course you could get revitalization treatment too, if you haven't house ruled that out.