I have a fomori samurai who I'd like to apply full body dermal sheathing to. Since fomori are normally smooth skinned and smaller than standard trolls, would this allow me to remove the "smooth skinned" part?

The idea would be to essentially make him look like a rather short troll.

You want to make your character uglier?

Maybe he's a teenager.

His intent is probably to try to reduce that "Distinctive Look" penalty. While trolls are the less common metatype, Fomori are much rarer and this makes the character easier to remember - and to locate if some peoples really want t o have a little chat with him about something that exploded or someone who got a little bit dead...

That's the idea. He'll still pretty scrawny for a troll, but with dermal sheathing, at least he'll just look like a scrawny troll, and not a normal size fomori. (In theory)

I see no reason why this wouldn't work.

I see no reason why you wouldn't just play a regular troll if you wanted to be uglier?

Duh: Fomori are better. Besides, it's not the same from a roleplaying perspective (assuming that matters, hehe).

Does he really need to go to those lengths, though? For one, dermal sheathing itself, while cumulative with troll "natural" armor, probably already smooths out a troll's "lumpy" appearance. Secondly, there are probably plenty of trolls who get cosmetic biomods specifically to tone down the appearance of their dermal deposits.

What he's planning right now is basically ameliorating the distinctive style quality, at the expense of giving himself a metaposeur quality.

I mean, 'those lengths'? AFAIK, styling dermal plating/sheathing is free (assuming he wanted it in the first place). (*Possibly* it goes beyond the free version, and 'Shaped Dermal Plating' for 1200¥ is required.)

While I get your point that he might already look like a Troll with dermal augmentations (however common and well-known that is), either way is equally easy. Let's assume that he's a Fomori from the beginning; if he wants to fit in better with common trolls, this isn't the worst tactic.

It all depends on the roleplaying concerns. Is he roleplaying a Fomori who would do this to fit in with trolls?

Why not just SURGE to get Dermal Deposits, or just take them normally?

He could do that, but it's a different thing. It's not a Fomori trying to fit in, it's a Fomori who already fits in.

That's that part of it. While working for Evo he had taken the dermal deposits to help out with his job and had them formed in such a way as to give him the "troll skin". Part of it was to fit in as a troll with other trolls, but he also did it to keep up with the perception other company men of him as a troll.

On a side note, this guy got washed out from Evo and got a severance package including amnesia with occasional flashbacks and a couple mental issues.

That's a crappy severance package. Remind me never to work for Evo.

Well, the idea was just to give him some targeted amnesia. Remove the important parts about their security protocol and all that. That he also lost a good bit of his other memory isn't really their problem.

I might also add that amnesia and flashbacks are like peanut butter and honey. Two great tastes that taste great together!