I have a face type character and trying to make sure all the mods are not on the obvious cyber list. Couldnt figure out based upon the description in M&M if Dermal Sheathing was obvious cyberware.

Please clarify.

Thanks.

the fuller descrip in Cybertechnology says no... but check weith your GM as I have seen GMs unfamiliar with 2nd ed to rule obvious

According to the Concealability ratings, it is not concealable at all, unlike, say, orthoskin or a synthetic cybertorso. For non-obvious mods, you would be better off with things like plastic bone lacing. Also, watch your Essense carefully if you are a face, because a low Essense can give you penalties to your social skills.

Non-obvious cyberware actually will spare you most of the social penalties, but the rules state that "the gamemaster should always apply a minimum modifier of +1 for a character with Essense loss greater than 2.5, unless the circumstances are exceptional." (pg. 93, BBB).

This is less due to the visually disturbing effects of obvious 'ware, and more due to the effects of a lower Essense. "The more cyberware a character has installed, the more 'inhuman' they become. Overly-cybered characters tend to become a bit detatched, and the empathy between them and other metahumans suffers for it." (pg. 45, BBB).

Of course, some juducious use of alphaware would let you get most or all of the implants that you have listed, without going over that 2.5 Essense loss limit. And your GM might not even use the rules for cyberware and social interactions, except for the most extreme cases.

I find that explanation funy myself..... I feel 0 connection between myself and the human race but that doesn't stall my social interactions. and most of the other borderline sociopaths I know are the same

It's just some refugee rules from CP2020, pay them no mind.

We had this debate before, yes? Something about cybered characters that didn't suffer from cyberpsychosis should still incur social penalties?

If that's what we're talking about here, I have to say that's garbage. Its a cheap way for lousey GM's to give the sam a hassel.

I don't really mind the idea of having overt cyber impacting your social tests. The flavor text seemed to make sense to me, to most normal people, you come off as some wierdo who VOLUNTARIALLY chose to lop off their arms and legs, and replace them. It depends on crowd as already noted. If you're hanging out socializing with a merc crew, they probably won't think twice about your cyber. Cruising the tacoma mall while sporting your strength 4 enhanced cyberarms and kid stealth legs and ridge of metal horns on your head, should make people wary about talking with you.

You could always get Dermal Sheathing at Alpha or (if you can manage it) Beta grade. Ups the concealability pretty significantly, I believe...

The trouble is, it has NO Concealability, so the grade won't really make much of a difference. Still, it's not that bad, despite being obvious. It's not freakish like Kid Stealth legs or a balance tail. Plus, you can make up an explanation for it more easily; for example, you could say that you got it because you got burned in a house fire.

the thing is, "-" doesn't always mean that the item in question has infinite unconcealability. sometimes, it means that the item is infinitely concealable, as in the case of the cyberhand safety modification and venom sac cyberware. given the absurdity of having dermal sheathing be utter unconcealable (even under clothing, etc.), i'm gonna have go with this second possibility.

Since it is a more "concealable" version of orthoskin and it is described as a semi-sythetic skin sheat. This implies that it is an improved (and concealable) version of dermal plating. One way to solve it could be to use the concealablity rules from Orthoskin. A level three Dermal Sheat would have a concealability 8 and if alphagraded it would become 10.

Funny thing is, I KNOW I have seen a reference in one of the books that dermal sheat is supposed to HAVE a high concealability.

Hmm. well, unless its a weird color or pattern, i would think that it should have concealability roughly equal to a synthetic cyberlimb. my logic is that it probably dosent look all that different in surface texture than a cyberlimb, since both are made from similar materials.

also, the concealability (or lack therof) of dermal armor seems to relate to the flexibility of it. dermal plates are rigid, while dermal sheath is like a lot of bands. in one novel (house of the sun) a random npc who looks like he has scultpted bodybuilder muscles on a beach is pointed out as having sculpted dermal armor.

in SR2, sheathing is listed on p. 28 of cybertechnology.
text is mostly the same as in M&M.
no mention of concealability.

According to the info guys, it's completely unconcealable.

House rule time.

the info guys?

He might mean the email addy on the official site.

I believe the original fluff text said that the only way to spot it was to look for buncing at elbows etc. (think Edgar suit)

My question is, do you have to strip naked for the ruthenium polymer upgrade to work properly?

In that case I have a serious beef with the info guys... READ YOUR OWN BLOODY FLUFF TEXT PEOPLE!!!!



on the ruthenium upgrade... depends on what you use it for... I always preferred it for the simple advantage of being able to be any natural skin color.....

haha. be great to have someone's ruthenium sheath malfunction after stress, and be unable to turn it off.

The way we work ruthenium is that we assume that whatever electric charge governs the pattern that the ruthenium displays is carried across any ruthenium polymers in contact with one another. That way, you could wear ruthenium clothing and when you activated your ruthenium skin, everything would go invis. Of course, unless you get your hair removed and keep your mouth shut, you're going Cheshire Cat-mode. On a side note my GM ruled that permanent hair removal can be packaged in with a dermal sheath treatment at no extra cost (though I imagine not having eyelashes or eyebrows would carry a penalty to social interaction, and you'd better get protective covers for your cybereyes to keep the dust out).

-Joe

lol

Isn't it Orthoskin that (used to) bunch up at the joints? I think Dermal Sheath was described as giving your skin a slight plastic sheen to it. Alas this was in the great 2nd ed books, which I own none of.

I'd maybe use the Implant detection table (p145 M&M) as a guide for how concealable to make it. I know that's for detecting implants in a clinic, using scanners and what have you, but the numbers for the clinic look about right to me. It would make basic grade Dermal Sheath really obvious to everyone, but Deltaware could easily pass as natural skin, particularly with good surgery.