Hello EP and transhumanity, went from lurking to posting and have my first question.
Recently started up a campaign as a new player, with a GM that has done a couple campaigns before, but he is relatively new himself so he doesn't have a full grasp of every single rule. So I come to you, and here is the question:
An Async has the ability to influence and interact with organic minds, they suffer penalties on pods (+30 in pod favor), and just can't do anything as far as vehicles, synthmorphs, and bots ("Synthmorphs, bots, and vehicles may not be targeted by psi sleights, as they lack biological brains." p-221 4th printing) are concerned. So here in lies the true question.
Can an Async use Psi-Gamma skills on an organic morph with a Cyber Brain? Considering how Pods have a +30 to defend against it as they are partially cybernetic and and Synthmorphs are immune I want to say no, for the most part.
On the other hand there is one skill (as far as I noticed) such as 'Psychic stab' which targets the "brain and nervous system" p-228. So in my opinion this may partially effect a biomorph with a cyber brain as the biomorph still relies on an organic nervous system. So maybe a +30 modifier like a pod would have would apply in this case?
What are your thoughts?
tl;dr: Can Psi-Gamma work on a biomorph with a cyber brain in any case?
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Psi-gamma and cyber brains?
Sat, 2015-06-20 09:38
#1
The Organic Mechanic
Psi-gamma and cyber brains?
Sat, 2015-06-20 10:24
#2
ORCACommander
indeed anything affecting a
indeed anything affecting a cyberbrain would be null and void. psychic stab there i would rule both a reduced damage output and harder to succeed at to begin with but not a -30, -10 i think would be reasonable
Sat, 2015-06-20 10:30
#3
jKaiser
Pods have cyberbrains, but it
Pods have cyberbrains, but it's a little poorly worded in the books since their ability to be targeted by sleights is because the cyberbrain in their case is partially organic. Or more accurately, it's a partially-formed human brain that's got a modified cyberbrain hooked up to compensate. So if it's the same setup with your biomorph-with-cyberbrain, that would work just like a pod brain. If not, if it's just a cyberbrain from a synthmorph installed in the braincase...well, I'd say sleights don't really work (though the "...and nervous system" tag does raise questions, so at that point you might be dealing with less a psychic stab and closer to an agonizer), but at that point it depends on the way the morph is made, and comes down to how the GM wants to detail their version of EP/fiat.
Sat, 2015-06-20 14:57
#4
Lazarus
Pods have a cyberbrain, but
Pods have a cyberbrain, but they also have an organic brain. The organic brain is only a partial brain which is why the cyberbrain is required (I believe it is implied that the cyberbrain is not as full functioning as the cyberbrains in synthmorphs). As such they operate with their own set of rules different from those of synths and biomorphs. Unlike synths they can be affected by Psi but are less susceptible than biomorphs. They also take longer for their brain to be read for resleeving, backing up, or ego casting than a synthmorph but are faster than a biomorph.
Biomorphs with cyberbrains are functionally identical to synthmorphs. I would assume it is possible for someone to grow a biomorph with a partial brain and a limited cyberbrain like a pod but considering that the reason a biomorph might get a cyberbrain is to speed up the processes of backing up, resleeving, forking, and ego casting that doesn't seem like it makes a terribly large amount of sense to do so.
Given this I would say that a biomorph with a cyberbrain shares a synthmorphs immunity to Psi. If it won't affect a synthmorph it won't affect the biomorph. In the case of something like Psychic Stab I would probably just handwave the 'nervous system' comment as flavor text and if a player really wanted to push the issue I would say that yes, the shock extends to the nervous system but it comes in through the brain. Without the organic brain the 'signal' can't be picked up and delivered to the rest of the nervous system.
Of course, that's my interpretation. You are completely free to make up your own.
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My artificially intelligent spaceship is psychic. Your argument it invalid.
