| From: | Mongoose m0ng005e@*********.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Cyber-Mages |
| Date: | Thu, 11 Feb 1999 15:16:12 -0600 |
+++
Some stuff that won't apear as quoted in my "reply to". GRRR.
+++
>
> *Evil GM chuckle...* use the surgery rules to see vary the actual
Essence
> cost of the cyber. Then keep Essence as a hidden stat (let the players
have
> the rounded-down figure, especially for astrally-aware folks, as they
could
> work that out). Given that the Essence implant can vary by as much as
25%
> using the surgery rules, mages will be a _lot_ more reluctant to cyber
to
> the max, as they could wake up a total mundane.
+++
You should probably do that for mundanes as well, though it seemingly
matters a lot less.
Supposedly, the worst that happens is the Doc attempts the surgery,
you don't have enough essence (would go below 0), the procedure fails, you
take a deadly wound (but remain stable), and now have 0 essence. At least
according to SSC, P.97.
Interestingly, in SR3, that would KILL you (can't have 0 essence); Man
and Machine will need new rules for this. I'd think that the implant
simply would not heal (you can't use it until it does) if the surgery
would result in 0 or less essence. That might make things safer for the
intiate cyber-mage, though the deadly wound could still cause magic loss.
Plus you'd need surgery to REMOVE the botched implant, and wouldn't know
it was botched untill after healing failed... {Tinner- am I aproaching
EGM status?}
+++
Yes, but a mage that has initiated enough to be able to go for 5
points of essence-loss and still having a magic attribute of 6 (ie:
Initiate 5) has earned enough karma and thus has a large karma
pool to get enough rerolls until he gets the cyberware installed at -
20% instead of +25%...:-)
+++
I thought it was +15% for no succeses (unlikely), not +25%. Again,
p.97 ssc- Cybertechnology gives tha same figure, afaik.
I don't think the patient should be allowed to spend karma on the
doctor's roll. One of my characters got an Implant 6 chip, and used Team
and personal karma on a teamates Boosted 3 implant surgery (which is
mostly why he did it, as opposed to a doc, though he also had an intrest
biotech previously, and the general skill at 3)- we got the needed
succeses, but just barely, due to bad rolls, and ended up burning a team
karma pool point (which the "patient" later replaced from his own pool).
I think some sort of special karma rule is called for in this
situation, so that the patient can affect the outcome, but not grossly. I
think just axing re-rolls and "burning points for successes", but letting
both patient and doctor spend karma, might do it. With SR3's progressive
cost for extra dice, even 15-20 points won't make an imbalancing
difference.
Mongoose
+++
