Cybernetic Legs entry

By GroggyGolem, in Game Masters

I have a player that has decided they want to obtain cybernetic legs with the Agility increase model.

I was looking at the entry for cybernetic legs. It states that you must purchase the legs as a pair and you only get the bonus if you install both legs.

I've been told by people here and shown a dev answer (that was quite vague) about the entry for cybernetic "legs" actually meaning it's the cost for 1 leg.

This does not seem to compute, as game balance-wise, you gain the benefit from purchasing a single cybernetic arm at 10k credits. If what everyone says is true, that means the devs intentionally made legs more expensive than arms. Why? Both give the exact same benefit, so why make legs 2x the cost? Furthermore, if you have to purchase legs as a pair, why is there even an entry in the book for a single leg?

I'd do what makes you feel good. The most important point rule wise is that it's a single stat boost for each regardless.

Compare the size of your leg to the size of your arm.

I have come to the realisation that it's only really important for characters building their own cybernetics. 10k is a lot of credits, and if a PC has a way of earning that much then they can probably find a way of earning 20k. For the Arm, Leg, and Brain Characteristic boosts your PC is looking at 40k (20k with Cyberneticist) both of which are Plot levels of Credits, ie probably a reward for finishing an adventure.

When you compare it to the price of Star Fighters, a Crystal or a Holocron it's actually cheap or on par.

I do agree it's odd though, the description could have been a lot clearer.

Compare the size of your leg to the size of your arm.

Is that like comparing the difficulty of replicating the function of legs & feet to replicating arms & hands in real life?

I know, Star Wars and real-world physics don't really work together but if we're going that route then logically, it should be more difficult, time consuming, require more components and generally be more expensive for arms than legs, just like in the real world.

Semantics and real-world physics conversations aside, I thank everyone for their input.

They probably had any number of reasons, practically we can do a number of very nimble/strong things with one hand and arm, but with one leg, not so much. Then there is the whole upward scale of cost theme in the game, 3 Agility costs 30 xp, 4 costs 40 xp, rank 3 costs 15, 4 costs 20, etc. Regardless, what feels good never lets you down.....

I agree on the feels good thing, 2P51. I just wanted to see if anyone knew specifically why it costs 10k to get +1 agility in an arm but 20k to get +1 agility only with 2 legs and why there is an entry at all for a single leg when it's plainly stated that you can't even buy nor install a single leg.

I agree on the feels good thing, 2P51. I just wanted to see if anyone knew specifically why it costs 10k to get +1 agility in an arm but 20k to get +1 agility only with 2 legs and why there is an entry at all for a single leg when it's plainly stated that you can't even buy nor install a single leg.

Actually, you can buy and install just a single leg. But only the kind that replicates the abilities of the natural limb.

If you want something to give you an attribute boost, THAT is when you need to get them as a pair.

Where can I put my questions to the devs? I have several more past this.

It's 10k per limb. That would seem to make sense to me. It only gets confusing if you start to worry about the stat increases they give you. It seems like you're thinking heavily about the mechanical advantage and not the narrative. But then anyone deliberately cutting off their own legs and replacing them is either a character who is pretty mad for power, or being played by a player who is more interested in numbers than story.

As a GM you can do whatever you like, so make it 10k for a pair if you prefer but if you want to justify it purely on the rules advantage you get then 2P51 makes an excellent point about upward scale of cost. Consider that the only way they'll be getting 10k or 20k is if you the GM give it to them, so it really makes little difference.

Don't forget to think about how this affects the rest of your party. Whilst one player is getting their Agility increase do you want to reward each of the rest of your party them with 10k or 20k? Or maybe make it a mission they can do to get the limbs, rather than a price. Maybe the player will need the help of the rest of the party to get what they want, and will then owe them for their assistance.

The player created a crippled character for story purposes. Now, he wants his force sensitive character to have working legs (took the Ataru Striker spec tree, kind of requires the use of legs in some of the talents). The group massacred a bunch of mercenaries in the last session and earned 24,500 credits from selling off one of the starfighters they took from the dead mercs. I didn't "give" it to them, they chose to be murderhobos (completely unprovoked assault on mercs that didn't know of their presence, using the force to make a bunch of feral animals to kill the mercs rather than any number of ways to get around them that were brought up in conversation) and then loot everything they could find afterwards.

Now, the player wants legs that work and specifically, cybernetics because he wants to build Guard Shotos and not suffer the penalty for not having Agility 4.

I personally don't understand how the upward scale of xp costs should effect the credit cost of one type of cybernetic and not the other, when both produce the same exact benefit and you can gain the benefit from both legs and arms. Nor do I understand why there is a listing for a single cybernetic leg when the rules plainly state you cannot even buy them separately, nor can you apply them separately.

I sent my questions in. Thanks 2P51.

Edited by GroggyGolem

I could talk about how having different strength legs is far more of a problem than different strength arms (walking in circles etc), but it's all been said before elsewhere. It sounds like you disapprove of their murder-hobo ways, and didn't want them to have the money, so why not stick with the rules as written and clarified by the devs and charge him the full 20,000cr? If he's that desperate for power at a discount he could by regular repli-limbs for his legs but cut his arm off and replace that with a cybernetic instead. I'm curious how the rest of your group will feel about him taking the majority of the money for himself.

The devs have clarified this, it is known, but you're the GM in your game. If it doesn't make sense to you then rule it in a way that you prefer.

I sent my questions in. Thanks 2P51.

Sure. Patience though. Depending on what you ask it may take time for answer. I know I have some that have yet to be answered. I assume there are errata discussions which is why.

The player created a crippled character for story purposes. Now, he wants his force sensitive character to have working legs (took the Ataru Striker spec tree, kind of requires the use of legs in some of the talents). The group massacred a bunch of mercenaries in the last session and earned 24,500 credits from selling off one of the starfighters they took from the dead mercs. I didn't "give" it to them, they chose to be murderhobos (completely unprovoked assault on mercs that didn't know of their presence, using the force to make a bunch of feral animals to kill the mercs rather than any number of ways to get around them that were brought up in conversation) and then loot everything they could find afterwards.

Now, the player wants legs that work and specifically, cybernetics because he wants to build Guard Shotos and not suffer the penalty for not having Agility 4.

I personally don't understand how the upward scale of xp costs should effect the credit cost of one type of cybernetic and not the other, when both produce the same exact benefit and you can gain the benefit from both legs and arms. Nor do I understand why there is a listing for a single cybernetic leg when the rules plainly state you cannot even buy them separately, nor can you apply them separately.

We made the mistake early on too to allow reselling starships, there is one big issue with this. You can not resell stolen starships in star wars that easy. There is a galaxy wide registration of transponder code and engine signature, making a stolen ship marked as stolen galaxy-wide and hacking the system is … expensive. Very expensive and complex, fooling the system is possible, but requires formidable rolls, making it a time consuming and expensive task. This might explain why ship repairs are so cheap, guess a lot of those stolen ships end up as spare parts. ^-^

For more informations I strongly recommend "Fly Casual", which imho should be the first buy after any corebook.

Edited by SEApocalypse

The player created a crippled character for story purposes. Now, he wants his force sensitive character to have working legs (took the Ataru Striker spec tree, kind of requires the use of legs in some of the talents). The group massacred a bunch of mercenaries in the last session and earned 24,500 credits from selling off one of the starfighters they took from the dead mercs. I didn't "give" it to them, they chose to be murderhobos (completely unprovoked assault on mercs that didn't know of their presence, using the force to make a bunch of feral animals to kill the mercs rather than any number of ways to get around them that were brought up in conversation) and then loot everything they could find afterwards.

Now, the player wants legs that work and specifically, cybernetics because he wants to build Guard Shotos and not suffer the penalty for not having Agility 4.

I personally don't understand how the upward scale of xp costs should effect the credit cost of one type of cybernetic and not the other, when both produce the same exact benefit and you can gain the benefit from both legs and arms. Nor do I understand why there is a listing for a single cybernetic leg when the rules plainly state you cannot even buy them separately, nor can you apply them separately.

We made the mistake early on too to allow reselling starships, there is one big issue with this. You can not resell stolen starships in star wars that easy. There is a galaxy wide registration of transponder code and engine signature, making a stolen ship marked as stolen galaxy-wide and hacking the system is … expensive. Very expensive and complex, fooling the system is possible, but requires formidable rolls, making it a time consuming and expensive task. This might explain why ship repairs are so cheap, guess a lot of those stolen ships end up as spare parts. ^-^

For more informations I strongly recommend "Fly Casual", which imho should be the first buy after any corebook.

They rolled a despair on selling the ship so... :) I can still have things happen and I plan to.