From:	Joshua Ring strago@***.com
Subject:	Essence and magical groups
Date:	Fri, 26 Mar 1999 15:27:23 -0500

> -Snip stuff about magical groups-
>
> If you use the house rule (that just about every man and his dog has) where
> bioware only reduces Magic and not Essence, then bioware will certainly be
> viewed more favorably than cyberware. By the vanilla rules (until MaM comes
> out) bioware reduces essence for magicians and so is no better than cyberware.
> However, though many shamans would have a problem with putting unnatural
> modified flesh in there bodies, they may prefer it (if they have to make a
> choice) to dead cyberware.
>
> As to whether any individual magician would choose to have bioware in their
> body - it's all part of roleplaying and the character's storyline. These body
> modifications have both penalties and benefits. Just like any choice in real
> life. It's up to the individual to weight the pros and cons - whether
> rationally by a mage or intuitively by a shaman (or vice versa). In the end,
> some will make the choice to proceed with the implantation. As Shadowrun is not
> a class based RPG, there are no character-class choice strictures like "No
> shaman will ever accept cyber/bioware in her body" or "All physads must be
> Lawful". :-) Nevertheless,statistically speaking, in our game and I believe in
> the Shadowrun world in general: only a minority of magicians choose
> cyber/bioware mods; for magicians, bioware mods are more common than cyberware;
> mods are more common with mages than with shamans.

Plus, you could, if you really wanted to, pay for cloned bioware (4*cost). In
Shadowtech, it takes one-quarter the body cost off of. In my game, we say that
cloned bioware doesn't take any magic OR essence off of the magician, since you are
just implanting "your" own cells (ie. they contain your DNA and stuff, and thus
your magical energy).
As for how shamans would view it, they could view it the same way: you are just
putting "your" cells into yourself. It's a lot better than putting a MACHINE
*shudder* in yourself.