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- Vulkan 7m
- Ameliorative 25m
- Napoleon 6h
- Bruhlicious 5h Deine Mutter stinkt nach Erbrochenem und Bier.
a Mench 9h Doing a bit of everything.
- notloose 4h
And 14 more hiding and/or disguised

Bio-mod expansion
Bio-modifications temporary help PDS load

I am not sure if discussing the finer details of PDS load is consider FOIC, it is detailed openly on the site, so I hope it is not.

Currently bio-mods like all ‘cyberware’ has a PDS load.

PDS (Psychophysical Disassociation Syndrome) is in my opinion a form of self-imposed body dysmorphia. Bio-modifications, in my opinion and from how they are perceived in general are a way to realise a character’s true self, crushing insecurities of their body and capturing their perfect self at the time. A counter to body dismophia.

Bio mods in a theme sense, in my opinion should counter act that feeling of disassociate for a time at least.

How I was thinking it could work is:

Bio-mod is installed – reduces PDS load by ‘some amount’ for a ‘set period of time’ the reduction reducing over time to zero PDS load or as the PDS currently is now.

New bio-mod is installed- Reduction for PDS load again, over a period of time. (Perhaps a reduction to the impact)

Continued installation of bio-mods in quick succession to ride the PDS reduction could cause addiction. Could be linked to PDS or another condition, think how people are addicted to body modification and surgery presently and in theme.

Benefits

It gives bio-mods more than just a locked naked and slightly more outlandish descriptions.

It gives those involved with bio-mods more things to do in general.

Potential for new movements and groups around coping with, dealing with and handling bio-mods.

It gives more options in dealing with PDS, and the potential for more addictions and struggles around such (MMM we like struggle)

Negatives

I can think of potential abuse but offset by an addiction mechanic it should be ok.

Potential for poor bio-mods just for the mechanical buff. That can be handled easily enough through the current process for bio-mods anyway.

Workload on staff to implement. No getting away from this, but I can attempt to help where I can.

So, what do people think of bio-mod expansion?

I think until we fix the frozen naked problem, giving a mechanical boost to biomods is giving a mechanical boost to people losing creativity.

Biomods (and that chrome which is still fixed, too) should prepend nakeds rather than overwrite. Being unable to change your hair from loose to a ponytail or being unable to describe dirt under your biomodded nails runs counter to the general creativity of the game.

I'm not sure why as a balance question we use rules rather than code to prevent an un-biomodded person from describing themselves as having cat ears but we use code rather than rules to prevent the person with biomodded cat ears to describe one of those ears as having a bandage.

Psychophysical Disassociation Syndrome

...a mental and physical condition caused by in part by the strain of the body interfacing with too much cyberware. Generally, the more complex the piece of technology, or the more power the effect on the body (e.g. a massive increase in muscle mass), the more mental and physical strain is put on the body.

I personally loathe biomods because of the loss of being able to change certain visual aspects. Static chrome makes sense in some situations. Biomods far less so.
There are chromes where this is the same, especially with the customizable chrome available.

I think some kind of bio-mod or treatment that would lessen PDS for a time or as a whole would be interesting, though there are already IC alternatives to this.

Part of the reason Biomods have PDS is probably also in relation to the fact that they are modifying quite large areas of the body (depending on the mod) and some even require chrome to function in a certain way, in which case you are doing the equivalent of adding an extra limb/body part to your person.

I equate it to being akin to when a body rejects another persons organ during a transplant or similar. It may mesh with your body but no matter what you do, adding those fish scales to your face is going to affect you on some base level.

I agree WRT it being weird that biomods override nakeds. I can see why it was coded that way, and I think the user experience is superior with it not. We can trust our players.

Your assumptions about PDS are incorrect, fopsy. PDS is not body dysmorphia, it's a physical strain on the body. As many others have noted, there are already mechanics and items in play that address this.

Cool cool good to get PDS straighter in my head,

Just thinking of ways to expand bio-modifications a bit more, with custom chrome being a thing now (which is super freaking sweet). Having bio-mods being additive, like chrome, rather than completely locking a naked would go a long way though, so if that's on the cards, colour me super happy!

Thanks everyone for their feedback and information.

Would be awesome if bio-mods could stand out in someone's description like chrome instead of locking the @naked slot. Maybe with a brighter colour? If someone's running around with horns or a tail, it would for sure be the first thing I notice about them.