| From: | "SIX-SIX-FIVE: Neighbor of the beast" <RNGST@*******> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | The essence of bioware |
| Date: | Sun, 4 Oct 92 17:16:00 EST |
worth.
Magicians would lose some of their powers because of implanted
bioware. I read somewhere (don't recall if it was an official
source or not) that the magician's whole body is involved in
channeling magical energy. That's why something like a cyberleg
reduces a magician's magic rating. That metal and plastic
doesn't 'conduct' (for lack of a better word) astral energy the
same way the magician's flesh does. The same would hold true
with a replacement meat leg not cloned from the magician's body.
The foreign DNA 'conducts' the magic differently.
Off-the-shelf bioware would have 'type-O' DNA, like the off-
the-shelf meat parts in SR1. It would reduce the magician's
power, just like any replacement meat part.
Cultured bioware is built using samples of the magician's DNA,
so it would have about the same 'conductivity' of normal flesh.
However, as someone else mentioned, the gengineers have to do
some genetic tweaking to produce these organs. Adrenal Pumps and
Cerebral Boosters don't occur naturally. Also, the magician now
has an whole new organ where there wasn't one before. That's
going to reduce their magic rating. Less that off-the-shelf
bioware, true, but it will still reduce it.
Now comes the question, should bioware reduce the magician's
essence. I don't think so. I'll agree it should reduce their
magical powers, but on strictly physical side of things, the
magician should react to the new organ just like anyone else.
The problem of mages and bioware hasn't come up in my game yet,
but here's how I'll probably handle it. The body cost of the
bioware counts against the magician's essence when figuring the
magic attribute, but doesn't actually subtract from their
essence. For example, Mickey Mage gets Wired Reflexes 1 (2
essence) and a Cerebral Booster 2 (body cost .8) implanted.
Mick's essence is now 4 (6 - 2 essence), but his magic attribute
is 3 (6 - (2 essence + .8 body cost) rounded down).
This way, magicians can stock up on just as much bioware and
cyberware as any samurai, but at the risk of losing their magic.
As I've said, I haven't been able to play test this yet, but it
looks like it would work. Comments, anyone?
Ernest the Mage AKA RNGST@*******
"You wrap the troll up in bandages, I'll pour the ketchup on him, and we'll
all sneak into Seattle General . . ."
