[gurps] Mitigators (was Cyberpunk & 4e)

[Michael Sarno]

Michael R. Stork wrote:

> The problem with what you're saying is that it doesn't take into 
> account the non-cyber gadgets that characters can buy with cash rather 
> then CPs. Any character with the cash can buy an offensive weapon, say 
> a small laser pistol. At some tech levels this might be as small as 
> some of the tiny cell phones today. If the same character bought a 
> weapon that does the exact same damage but had it built into a 
> cyber-arm, he'd have to pay cash AND CPs? Any advantage that can be 
> built into a cyber-eye can be added to a helmet, goggles, glasses, or 
> possibly even a contact. Why should I pay CPs and cash an eye that has 
> a few advantages when I can just as easily get the same in a contact? 
> Using that logic, any character with cyber-ware is going to be 
> unbalanced compared to his non-cyber buddies. This only applies to 
> settings where cyber-ware and high-tech is common, THS for example. If 
> this were a TL7 game and the gadgets were super secret sypyware, then 
> I'd say the CP cost would be totally reasonable.

    You're right, cyber gadgets shouldn't cost CPs if their non-cyber 
counterparts don't cost CPs.  I'm not arguing that point.  What I'm 
saying is that it shouldn't matter whether I create the character with 
the cyberware or acquire the cyberware later during game play.  The 
cost, in CPs and/or cash, should be the same.
    Your small laser pistol is an excellent example.  If small laser 
pistols are common enough, then there should be no CP cost associated 
with acquiring it, either as cyberware or as equipment.  Now, if the 
cyberware is not detectable in a normal scan, and it allows the 
character to take his cyberware small laser pistol where it would not be 
allowed to go if it were equipment, then it should have some associated 
cost.  If the cyberware small laser pistol cannot be dropped or wrestled 
away, then it should cost more.
    However, if small laser pistols are rare in the campaign world, then 
owning one will have an associated cost, even if it is equipment.  If 
it's rare then the character will need to have some advantage that would 
enable him to possess the small laser pistol.  He will need high wealth, 
a contact, a patron, or an unusual background; to explain how he has a 
piece of equipment that is rare.
    In any event, the cost to have an identical smaller laser pistol 
should be the same, regardless of when it was acquired.  This does not 
preclude having some exchange rate between points and cash.  It also 
doesn't address whether the player "pays" for the point cost out of a 
pool of CPs or if it is granted by the GM at the end of a session.  It 
doesn't address the need for an in-game reason or justification for the 
acquisition.  What it does is state simply that a character point has 
the same buying power during character generation as it does in an 
on-going campaign.

-Mike


-- 
Michael Sarno

“The light of the soul is bright,
 but dense clouds of human ignorance obscure it.”
	-Deng Ming-Dao