Cyberlegs -
* Very slight bonus to dodge per leg
* Jump up 1 unit with two legs (set bonus)
Cyberarms -
* Very slight bonus to climbing success per arm
* Slight bonus to grapple contests when victim resists
…etc.
How's this sound to you guys? Not enough to warrant giving up an arm and a leg, so to speak, but enough to make it worthwhile to purchase one when you happen to lose one, no?
I like style over substance as much as everyone else, but I don't like the idea of 'oh i have a rusty cyberarm because I'm a mixer and it fits'. I see what you mean, and I ran into the exact same problem before (wanted certain augmentations for a character purely for aesthetics, even if I had an IC reason) and it couldn't be done easily despite being a simple thing. But I think the ideal solution is both style and substance. You should be able to customize your cyberlimbs (and other hardware) but they should very much serve a purpose. You can already make minor/cosmetic cyberware alterations in your nudes (though it'd be nice if cyberneticists did these, similar to tattoos, one day we'll have clean, formatted nudes… And everyone will rejoice).
As for the OP suggestions themselves, I like them but I think those still come nowhere near close to making up for huge cost of having two cyberlimbs. Ideally for me, I want to cater less to the 'oh i had my arm chopped off and need a replacement' and more to the 'I want to enhance my capabilities for my chosen archetype, and see how far I can take it before PDS stops me'. We already have people IRL with cybernetic limb replacements today. Cyberpunk is people WILLINGLY altering their bodies for form or function.
I think a lot of people would agree that limb replacement is very cyberpunk. Voluntary, I'd personally argue would be an extreme subset. Like people with hundreds of piercings vs the typical 2-12. It should be a viable, cost effective alternative in this day and age. Lab grown limbs should be the expensive counterparts for corporates looking to avoid looking 'garish' when they lose limbs.
So… small benefits to cyberlimbs... lower the cost and probably reassess the PDS load to make things functional for characters without altogether negating the fact that they're less human, and potentially create lab grown flesh and bone limbs or less obvious/more advanced cyberlimbs for corporates to avoid the 'unseemly' aspect associated with them.
Thoughts?
It could be something as simple as 'improved parkour' for legs or 'more inventory space' for arms, or whatever, etc. Some functionality would be nice, also split up arms into hands and legs into feet for cheaper alternatives.
Over the years this has been brought up, but there seemed to be little interest in developing it further from the staff's side.
To be honest, though, I don't think that PDS is graded on some in game metric. Integrated weapons have pretty high PDS costs and are among the most simple cyberware in operation. PDS isn't a real thing -- it's a storytelling tool designed to create RP in terms of outbreaks and to balance people from having too much chrome.
As far as the PDS added by cyber limbs, I feel that makes sense (based on my possibly flawed understanding of PDS) in so far as your body being more not-your-body than your-body.
I am not sure what the balance implications of that are, but it seems worth serious consideration at least.
Of course, it would still be pointless if cyberlimbs remain huge PDS sinks as they are now.
(Edited by Slither at 12:26 pm on 1/7/2021)
That idea's so good that … Well, find out IC.
It would be a cool little perk of a cyberlimb if an attacks against the limb's hit location were less severe than the attack would be against a normal, flesh limb.
