Hi all,

My current character has a Brawn of 2. With her strength enhancement mod on her armor her Brawn is increased to 3. She has 2 cybernetic implants, and according to the core rulebook she can only have as many cybernetic implants as she does points of Brawn. I can't find anywhere in the rulebook that says that she couldn't get a third cybernetic implant, but for obvious reasons this might be a sketchy for most GM's.

Has anyone else come across this issue?

It doesn't specify "base" Brawn, unfortunately you have to make a call.

I just stick to base brawn, if they wanted a brawny character, they shouldn't have made them puny to begin with.

If my player rolled a 2 Brawn character, they're going to play the 2 Brawn character. They may have 2 cybernetics.

It's been my experience that explaining why I'm making an arbitrary call on something is usually, at the very least, appreciated in its honesty with the players; even if they disagree.

"Look guys, so the rulebook doesn't specify if extra Brawn from gear/cybernetics counts toward your cybernetics limit. But I think the writers intended for the genetically Brawnier characters out the gate to have a greater capacity for cybernetic augmentation. I think the Brawn a character was 'born' with serves as an abstraction of how much augmentation they can eventually take. I don't think that power servos from a suit of armor make a creature's natural body more resilient, and thus able to accept more hardware. That suit of armor isn't naturally making your character's muscle tissue thicker or their organs work any more efficiently to regulate what's going on biologically. Inside that suit, your PCs body is still their body, and it can only make do with what it was born with when you start hooking up invasive, foreign hardware to it."

I believe the rules in this game are not as elaborate as with others, because you're supposed to use Common Sense.

And, when I asked her she asked back: What is going to happen to said character when she, well, is doing anything that involves removal of clothes? Will she die, will she fall comatose, will she become an NPC?

I think this one is pretty obviously meant as "base Brawn unmodified by anything else".

From a game design perspective, I would opt for 'base' brawn.

Characteristics are pretty set in stone (barring that one Critical Injury) whereas enhancements are not.

I believe the rules in this game are not as elaborate as with others, because you're supposed to use Common Sense.

And, when I asked her she asked back: What is going to happen to said character when she, well, is doing anything that involves removal of clothes? Will she die, will she fall comatose, will she become an NPC?

Heck, maybe they are attached to the armor and rip out when she takes off the armor... shudder.

Not only would I stick with base Brawn, I probably wouldn't let the Brawn bonus from the armor and cybernetics stack.

Not only would I stick with base Brawn, I probably wouldn't let the Brawn bonus from the armor and cybernetics stack.

Wait, you're saying getting a brawn increasing cybernetic doesn't let you get more cybernetics?

I could see using the boost from the armor for more cybernetics, but only if you were making a Vader-like character where the armor is part of the cybernetics. But I really think it would only make sense in that kind of case.

I could see using the boost from the armor for more cybernetics, but only if you were making a Vader-like character where the armor is part of the cybernetics. But I really think it would only make sense in that kind of case.

Wait, you're saying getting a brawn increasing cybernetic doesn't let you get more cybernetics?

That's kind of the debate. The rules only state you can have as many cybernetics as you have points in Brawn. I'm of the opinion that if you get a cybernetic which increases a point of your Brawn, it doesn't give you a free "slot" for one more cybernetic.