And I don't think any table would follow such a strict interpretation that you can only boost 1 stat.
It’s not a “strict interpretation”, it’s the RAW of the CRB after three major errata updates.
Sorry, but that assumption is just the updated version of "ACKCHYUALLY, Cyberlimbs have their own Rea and Body". Meaning that there´s one single slightly ambigous line ("Cyberlimbs can be used to add to either Agility, Armor, or Strength of the user.") that
could be maliciously interpreted that way, but only when you squint hard enough and ignore every example in the CRB and other publications where characters have more than one Cyberlimb Attribute higher than 2.
Plus the capacity isn’t enough anyway - just getting Str 6 / Agi 6 in the limb is 100% the capacity of a synthetic limb or 8/15 the capacity for an obvious limb. Not much room left for anything else.
The more I think about this, the less I like it.
(If you don't know 6e's RAW: cyberlimbs start at Str 2, Agi 2, Armour 0. Each +1 costs 1 point of capacity. They have 8 capacity for a synthetic limb and 15 for an obvious one. This contrasts sharply with 5e, where boosting the cyberlimb up to match your meat cost 0 capacity.)
There's an intuitiveness that's nice: all limbs start at basic human level, all boosts up from there cost the same, why would it make any difference to the limb how strong your flesh is? But mechanically it's punitive, especially for orcs and trolls. It's not unreasonable to think a troll combat build will have Agi 5 and Str 8. That's 9 of their 15 points of capacity (and 1 point of essence) just to get the cyberlimb equal the flesh arm it replaced. Why would they bother?
Seems like you have to scale limb capacity to the meatbod's base stats somehow. I think SR5 made the wiser choice here.
That´s a very valid problem. While 5th Edition Cyberlimbs were somewhat broken because you could pretty much ignore your meat stats, Attribute increases through Cyberlimbs in 6th Edition are not only limited by the +4 cap, but were also further nerfed by the decreased base stats
and , most importantly, by the fact that they all cost capacity right now, leaving very little room for the actual fun stuff like Cyberweapons and other Accessories.
In 5th, you could also increase the Attributes by customizing the Base Limb up to the n
atural maximum(!) before adding enhancements for capacity. Now
that definitely turned out waaaaay too cheesy, but was neverless confirmed by various droplets of Errata.
The general idea of seperating cyberlimb customization and Attribute Enhancements is pretty solid, though. When executed right, it could be the best aid to the current problems with Cyberlimbs. How about Something like this:
"In addition to (or rather:
prior to) Attribute Enhancements, you can also buy a customized Cyberlimb that´s tailored to your own physical frame and musculature. Each Attribute Increase (Agility and/or Strength) through Customization increases the base Cost of the Cyberlimb by 25%, but without using up capacity. Custimization can only increase Str and Agi up to your
current, unaugmented Agi and Str values (not the natural maximum!), after which you can further increase the Cyberlimb via using Attribute increases using up Capacity. As usual, you can only increase your current natural Attributes by +4; if your Cyberlimb Attributes stack up higher, you have to train your natural Str and Agi to unlock their potential".
I thank that would be a neat and lightweight solution that, admittingly, would also fit nicely into an upcoming Augmentation Rulebook. A few additional notes on that concept:
- I think a percentual cost increase works better with partial Cyberlimbs etc. and also helps to better articulate the difference between Costumization and Enhancements. However, you could also use the the same flat +5000 Nuyen cost as with the existing Attribute enhancements; that would make cost calculation easier.
- As a further balancing measure, you could add an additional "availabilty tax" for customization, though I couldn´t find a good formular for it.
- Crazy idea for the cheeselords and hardcore Cyberpunks: "If you replace all of your Limbs (including the Skull and Torso), you don´t have a "natural" Strength and Agility anymore. Instead, you may customize your Cybertorso up to your natural maximum and then treat its Attributes (before further increases that use capacity) as your natural Strength and Agility for the purpose of determining the further limitations of your Cyberlimb Attributes" Lightweight rules for Full-Body-Cyborgs ?
