Just something I've been thinking on for a bit. This is way too much for the current game, but with a sequel in the works now is a good time to put the idea out there. Overall it's a way to include cyberpsychosis as a condition that can affect the player, as well as the impact it, and humanity, has on one's ability to install cyberware. I'll split this up into sections to make it easier to read through.
1. The Humanity Meter
This presents on the game's interface as a third stat bar below health and stamina. It is effectively a second stamina bar for players with the last third of the meter, the "red zone," being split into three smaller sections. What is important to keep in mind is that Humanity does NOT passively regenerate when lost, and by default can only be restored with specific medical consumables. The bulk of the bar doesn't seem to matter much, rising and falling as you play the game. However when your current humanity level falls into the red zone things begin to happen.
***Stage One: The player now experiences random visual and auditory hallucinations as "junk data" begins to seep into their optic feed. This is your only warning.
***Stage Two: In addition to the above, the character now begins randomly shouting nonsense that can cause nearby NPCs to become hostile, as well as raise their wanted level if it happens near police. Additionally their optics erroneously tag all NPCs as hostile/viable targets. Effectiveness of consumables reduced to 50%. Small chance of cyberware automatically activating.
***Stage Three: All NPCs are distorted with junk data, making it impossible to tell friend from foe. All distortions appear to be attacking the player with harmless illusionary attacks, making it impossible to tell hallucinations from actual threats. All NPC voices are replaced with static. The player is locked into constant "combat mode" and cannot save the game. Effectiveness of consumables reduced to 25%. High chance of cyberware automatically activating.
***Humanity Zero: In addition to the above, the character will randomly attack any NPC that comes within a set range. Effectiveness of consumables reduced to 1%.
2: The Cost of Chrome.
Now that we've established the humanity meter, we should discuss what reduces it. Simply put any cyberware that has an activated effect, regardless if it is player activated or automatic, reduces the humanity meter as if it were a second stamina gauge. Furthermore any equipped cyberware, regardless of it if has an activated ability or not, contributes to a calmative penalty rating that is applied to the activation cost of all cyberware. Each piece of cyberware's penalty is based on it's type, level, and rarity.
3: Cyberware Slots.
By default new characters in the game would have notably less cyberware equip slots than V did. Specifically players will begin with only a single slot for each cyberware type, as opposed to V having two or three slots in most areas. These additional slots, and more, do exist, but must be unlocked via perks after character creation.
4: The Data Port and Perk Shards.
Like in 2077 nearly everyone has some sport of port in their head for reading data shards, and a basic one will be starting cyberware for all characters. In addition you may acquire higher rarity versions to equip later (these data ports DO contribute to the humanity penalty). Primarily each port offers between one and five "shard slots" based on it's rarity. This means, with perks, it is possible to later equip a second or maybe even third Data Port, granting a total of ten to fifteen shard slots. These shards replace the general perk shards found in 2077, and function in a different way. Rather than granting a bonus perk point, these shards are encoded with a specific perk from the character's list. Equipping a shard in one of your slots raises that specific perk by a single rank, only while the shard is equipped. Stacking multiple shards of the same type can raise the perk by multiple ranks at the expense of slots. This system is effectively quite similar to the perk shards of 2077 except with more hoops to jump through, and requires investment in a specific attribute and perks to make proper use of. The trade off; perk shards ignore your attributes when raising perks, allowing you to unlock bonuses you otherwise don't qualify for.
5: The Humanity Attribute.
Much like any other attribute this starts at a given minimum level, and can be raised as you level up. It has multiple perk trees to invest in, and a passive effect. I'll go ahead and throw out there that David and Adam Smasher both probably have very high Humanity stats, while V clearly invested at least a little into a few perks.
***Humanity Passive: Every point invested in the Humanity Attribute increases the size of the character's humanity meter. This is important for anyone who wants to use a lot of cyberware activated effects.
***Perk Tree "I'm Special": Representing David's ability to shake off cyberpsychosis (temporarily) even at it's most extreme, this perk tree focuses on maintaining the humanity meter. A primary perk would grant passive regeneration, while others can add humanity restoration as a bonus effect to other consumables or even gameplay. Imagine getting in your car, cranking the radio to full blast, and then just exploring Night City while munching on some Buck A Slice to restore your humanity meter. Could also have a perk that gives you an actual reason to visit joytoys. In short; mechanically rewarding role playing within your role playing game.
***Perk Tree "Built Different": Representing David and Adam's seemingly superhuman tolerance for cyberware, this perk tree focuses on your ability to chip far more chrome than is healthy. Perks here reduce the activation penalty of different types of cyberware, unlock additional cyberware slots, reduce the cooldown of cyberware activation abilities, boost cyberware passive bonuses, and reduces the attribute requirement of equipping cyberware.
By this point some of those reading this might be saying "this attribute is OP." This is a misnomer; cyberware is OP. In a world where you can augment your body to do superhuman feats like it's nothing, and literally plug glorified SD cards into your brain to instantly learn any skill it very quickly becomes apparent that the only natural talent or ability that matters is your tolerance for cyberware, and ability to run along the edge of cyberpsychosis without loosing your mind. To those who say this is unbalanced, overpowered, or unfair I have only one thing to say; welcome to Night City.
1. The Humanity Meter
This presents on the game's interface as a third stat bar below health and stamina. It is effectively a second stamina bar for players with the last third of the meter, the "red zone," being split into three smaller sections. What is important to keep in mind is that Humanity does NOT passively regenerate when lost, and by default can only be restored with specific medical consumables. The bulk of the bar doesn't seem to matter much, rising and falling as you play the game. However when your current humanity level falls into the red zone things begin to happen.
***Stage One: The player now experiences random visual and auditory hallucinations as "junk data" begins to seep into their optic feed. This is your only warning.
***Stage Two: In addition to the above, the character now begins randomly shouting nonsense that can cause nearby NPCs to become hostile, as well as raise their wanted level if it happens near police. Additionally their optics erroneously tag all NPCs as hostile/viable targets. Effectiveness of consumables reduced to 50%. Small chance of cyberware automatically activating.
***Stage Three: All NPCs are distorted with junk data, making it impossible to tell friend from foe. All distortions appear to be attacking the player with harmless illusionary attacks, making it impossible to tell hallucinations from actual threats. All NPC voices are replaced with static. The player is locked into constant "combat mode" and cannot save the game. Effectiveness of consumables reduced to 25%. High chance of cyberware automatically activating.
***Humanity Zero: In addition to the above, the character will randomly attack any NPC that comes within a set range. Effectiveness of consumables reduced to 1%.
2: The Cost of Chrome.
Now that we've established the humanity meter, we should discuss what reduces it. Simply put any cyberware that has an activated effect, regardless if it is player activated or automatic, reduces the humanity meter as if it were a second stamina gauge. Furthermore any equipped cyberware, regardless of it if has an activated ability or not, contributes to a calmative penalty rating that is applied to the activation cost of all cyberware. Each piece of cyberware's penalty is based on it's type, level, and rarity.
3: Cyberware Slots.
By default new characters in the game would have notably less cyberware equip slots than V did. Specifically players will begin with only a single slot for each cyberware type, as opposed to V having two or three slots in most areas. These additional slots, and more, do exist, but must be unlocked via perks after character creation.
4: The Data Port and Perk Shards.
Like in 2077 nearly everyone has some sport of port in their head for reading data shards, and a basic one will be starting cyberware for all characters. In addition you may acquire higher rarity versions to equip later (these data ports DO contribute to the humanity penalty). Primarily each port offers between one and five "shard slots" based on it's rarity. This means, with perks, it is possible to later equip a second or maybe even third Data Port, granting a total of ten to fifteen shard slots. These shards replace the general perk shards found in 2077, and function in a different way. Rather than granting a bonus perk point, these shards are encoded with a specific perk from the character's list. Equipping a shard in one of your slots raises that specific perk by a single rank, only while the shard is equipped. Stacking multiple shards of the same type can raise the perk by multiple ranks at the expense of slots. This system is effectively quite similar to the perk shards of 2077 except with more hoops to jump through, and requires investment in a specific attribute and perks to make proper use of. The trade off; perk shards ignore your attributes when raising perks, allowing you to unlock bonuses you otherwise don't qualify for.
5: The Humanity Attribute.
Much like any other attribute this starts at a given minimum level, and can be raised as you level up. It has multiple perk trees to invest in, and a passive effect. I'll go ahead and throw out there that David and Adam Smasher both probably have very high Humanity stats, while V clearly invested at least a little into a few perks.
***Humanity Passive: Every point invested in the Humanity Attribute increases the size of the character's humanity meter. This is important for anyone who wants to use a lot of cyberware activated effects.
***Perk Tree "I'm Special": Representing David's ability to shake off cyberpsychosis (temporarily) even at it's most extreme, this perk tree focuses on maintaining the humanity meter. A primary perk would grant passive regeneration, while others can add humanity restoration as a bonus effect to other consumables or even gameplay. Imagine getting in your car, cranking the radio to full blast, and then just exploring Night City while munching on some Buck A Slice to restore your humanity meter. Could also have a perk that gives you an actual reason to visit joytoys. In short; mechanically rewarding role playing within your role playing game.
***Perk Tree "Built Different": Representing David and Adam's seemingly superhuman tolerance for cyberware, this perk tree focuses on your ability to chip far more chrome than is healthy. Perks here reduce the activation penalty of different types of cyberware, unlock additional cyberware slots, reduce the cooldown of cyberware activation abilities, boost cyberware passive bonuses, and reduces the attribute requirement of equipping cyberware.
By this point some of those reading this might be saying "this attribute is OP." This is a misnomer; cyberware is OP. In a world where you can augment your body to do superhuman feats like it's nothing, and literally plug glorified SD cards into your brain to instantly learn any skill it very quickly becomes apparent that the only natural talent or ability that matters is your tolerance for cyberware, and ability to run along the edge of cyberpsychosis without loosing your mind. To those who say this is unbalanced, overpowered, or unfair I have only one thing to say; welcome to Night City.
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