Augmentation Addict
Bonus: 10 BP
Some people can’t help themselves and become addicted to
the power rush and extraordinary abilities granted by cyberware
and bioware implants or other augmentations. This is typically
rooted in a sense of dissatisfaction with their natural bodies and/
or abilities. Such individuals develop a dangerous urge to seek out
better and more interesting body modifications.
Augmentation Addiction is psychologically similar to a
Moderate drug addiction (see p. 248, SR4). Over time, the character
will grow increasingly unhappy with enhancements he already has,
especially if they fail him in any significant way. He may suffer mood
swings or sudden outbursts about his inadequacies. The gamemaster
can periodically call for a Willpower + Logic (1) Test, though the
character will suffer a –4 dice pool modifier. If the character fails the
test, he must immediately work to obtain a new modification that is
either better or more exotic than any previous existing mods. If the
character cannot afford a new augmentation, he will beg, borrow,
or steal to get it—even from friends. The gamemaster might also
call for the test whenever the character comes into contact with a
wiz new piece of gear, such as seeing it in a bodyshop catalog or
witnessing an implant’s performance in someone else.

Has anyone ever seen this taken? Care to share stories?

Yes... We have a character in our campaign that does have this Negative Quality...
I think that the character is somewhere below 1 essence at this point.

We had a player in our group with a Street Sam Ork with 0.01 essence and he was very proud of this.

I've always felt it's kindof like Borrowed Time, but the player's more involved in it.

at the end there's always rehab and paying 20karma

Would you (as a GM) consider it reasonable if a player replaces an implant with an identical one (therefore just losing money, not gaining extra performance but not losing Essence)? Sort of a "yeah, but that was last year's $implantname" thing.

I keep thinking about a hacker who looks at upgrading his body the same way gamers think about upgrading their gaming computer. Always chattering to the other PCs about the nifty new stuff that'll be hitting the market anytime now.

I think he's referring to the same grade, just a "new" one...

Would you (as a GM) consider it reasonable if a player replaces an implant with an identical one (therefore just losing money, not gaining extra performance but not losing Essence)? Sort of a "yeah, but that was last year's $implantname" thing.

I keep thinking about a hacker who looks at upgrading his body the same way gamers think about upgrading their gaming computer. Always chattering to the other PCs about the nifty new stuff that'll be hitting the market anytime now.

Would you (as a GM) consider it reasonable if a player replaces an implant with an identical one (therefore just losing money, not gaining extra performance but not losing Essence)? Sort of a "yeah, but that was last year's $implantname" thing.

I actually quite like the idea. There are many more differences between products than the mechanics could ever be expected to represent, but that doesn't mean we have to pretend there are no differences at all. An addict should get a kick out of 'upgrading' to version 1.1 with the streamlined interface and lighter feel.

Also, it means you aren't limited in indulging your addiction. Sooner or later you won't be able to satisfy your cravings AT ALL, whereas with just about every other addiction you could theoretically enjoy it forever.

@Ascalaphus

If he roleplays it, yes. (And not just replace a datajack every now and then...)
"But dude, this cyberleg features now 6GBit/s data transfare rate for all maintenance updates instead of the old 5Gbit. That's an 20% increase!"
"Äh, those file are just about 1 GB, so I can't see..:"
...

It's this point I was thinking about, yeah. 6 Essence won't last very long otherwise...

The roleplaying should be a big part of it, yeah.

Six Essence last a Surprisingly long time, actually.

Well, "better or more exotic" new augmentations tend to be pricey.. higher-rating ("better") is usually more Essence-expensive. And "exotic" augmentations often cost a lot of Essence. It's also another thing soaking up Essence.

Grade upgrades would be the only safe path, but that gets pretty expensive..

As it should be. No one forces a character to take the Addiction after all...

All this made me think of was the character saying to another character, "Fuck my player. Gave me this damn addiction. I don't even like cyberware."

We had a player in our group with a Street Sam Ork with 0.01 essence and he was very proud of this.