Re: [HOE] Cyborgs and cyber prosthetics (long)

[Unseenlibrarian@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/3/02 9:06:47 AM Central Standard Time, robert@macauley.com writes:


> I think these rules make cyber prosthetics practical for someone who wants a
> massively cybered character for role-playing reasons. Besides looking cool, they
> fit many people's ideas of what a combat cyborg should be and add to the
> alienation and dehumanization that makes Harrowed of all sorts so much fun. With
> the original rules, cyber prosthetics were much more of a penalty than a bonus;
> with my changes, I think they're about even.


One thing that might help: I believe, somewhere in the accumulated rulings, is a mention by John Hopler that _any_ implant placed in a cyberlimb had no accompanying spirit loss, because the meat there had already been replaced with metal.  I do like the idea of halving the spirit loss of the limbs for having your torso replaced, though. 

As a side note, one of my old Deadlands house rules for Harrowed had an unintentional effect on the Cyborgs. I had ruled that, since the Book of the Dead mentioned the reason the Manitou gave the Harrowed powers was so it could use them itself, that the Supernatural Spirit Trait applied to both the Harrowed and the Manitou, thus keeping Harrowed preachers from locking their now much weaker manitou into a tiny little box in their head.  Cyborgs with a power focus for Supernatural spirit wound up having a lot more power to play with for their systems because their manitou got stronger as well, and thus could provide more drain, as well as make the cyborg better able to resist the effects of dehumanizing implants and better able to fight their AI. This could also help make cyborgs bigger and bulkier.

Phil