Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

[DataPacRat]

I've been fiddling around with the sheet for my current superhero, Bunny. A significant part of her character is that she lost her limbs do to an accident with a wormhole, but now has a collection of interchangeable cybernetic limbs with various sorts of enhancements. They're currently written along these lines:

 

[7] "Removeable, interchangeable cybernetic arms" Multipower, 10 Active Points (15), Personal OIF (-1/2), Powers Can Be Changed Only In Given Circumstance (carrying spare arms around is rather awkward and bulky) (-1/2).

[0] default; no limbs (armlessness).

[0] standard limbs (look realistic, no special abilities).

[1u] Fins and Gills: Environmental Movement: Aquatic (3 AP), Life Support: Expanded Breathing: Underwater (5 AP), Swimming +7" (7 AP).

[1u] Oversized cybernetic limbs: STR +15 (15 AP).

[1u] Clawed forepaws: Hand-to-Hand Attack: +3d6 (15 AP).

[1u] Telescopic arms: Stretching 3" (6" noncombat) (15 AP).

 

[7] "Removeable, interchangeable cybernetic legs" Multipower, 10 Active Points (15), Personal OIF (-1/2), Powers Can Be Changed Only In Given Circumstance (carrying spare legs around is rather awkward and bulky) (-1/2).

[0] default; no limbs (leglessness).

[0] standard limbs (look realistic, no special abilities).

[1u] Mermaid/dolphin-like tail: Swimming +15" (15 AP).

[1u] Oversized cybernetic limbs: STR +15 (15 AP).

[1u] Bunny Legs: Leaping +15" (17" forward, 8" upward, x2 NCM) (15 AP)

[1u] Cling-grip legs: Icewalking (Environmental Movement: Slippery surfaces) (1 AP), Clinging at STR+12 (14 AP).

 

 

Now, the fact that sitting around without wearing any legs or arms seemed to cost the same as having a 0-point pair that let you walk around or dial a phone... but my HERO-fu seems to be blanking out on how to arrange things.

 

My best guess for her legs would be to buy her basic Running and Leaping down to 0 inches, and Swimming down to 1 (total: 15 points), and then, change the Multipower pool to 30 points and add a new slot with 'normal leg walking' (upping the pool cost to 15, and another 1u for the slot, a total cost of 9, for a net gain of 6 points to play with).

 

Now, her /arms/, is another matter - other than buying down that other inch of swimming when they're missing, I'm not exactly sure what to buy down. STR or DEX down to 5, or 1? Buy Agility ot Combat skills as 'Linked' to the Arms Multipower? Something else?

 

What do you think?

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

The best way Ive found to model this is by taking a Physical Limitation to represent the lost body parts, and then taking a Partial Limited Buy-off of the Lim as a Power with appropriate "its a cybernetic bit" Limitations.

 

I have a few characters from a cyberpunk style campaign like this, but they are not posted anywhere convenient for linking.

 

However, John Wrath has an example of this in the form of his Cybereye:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/MillennialMen/CharacterFiles/John%20Wrath,%20Solo%20Avenger.HTML

 

Hey has this Lim:

 

10 Physical Limitation: One Eye: 1/2 OCV w/ Range (Infrequently, Greatly Impairing)

 

And his Cybereye has several abilities, one of which is a partially limited buy off on his Physical Lim:

7 2) Depth Perception: Custom Power (10 Active Points); OIF (Cyber-Eye; -1/2)

Notes: Limited Buy-off of One Eye PhysLim

 

 

So when he has his eye, the One Eye Phys Lim doesnt apply, but if he loses the focus or it gets damaged then the Phys Lim kicks back in.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Heres a couple more; I converted them into HD2 from HD1, so there might be some oddness.

 

http://www.killershrike.com/misccharacters/MetaCyber/Hochiro%20Miromoto.HTML

http://www.killershrike.com/misccharacters/MetaCyber/Thomass%20The%20Swede%20Swensen.HTML

[Sean Waters]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Basically what KS said, but....

 

Had a character called bionic once who had bionic limbs, not bought as focii or anything - not detatchable as far as ahe knew. She had amnesia and couldn't remember how she'd got them. She found out:

 

Fighting a villain called Clockwork she was, well, surprised, when he took out a remote control, pushed a button and both her arms and legs fell off. Ho ho ho. Get out of that one...

 

I think the thing to consider with cybernetics is this: are they any more detatchable than normal limbs? The fact that they CAN be removed doesn't mean you should necessarily have a points break, if it is basically only you who can remove them - they are just sfx for powers*. If anyone can remove them with a phase or two's effort out of combat then by all means buy them as focii. Whether you need a disadvantage 'quadraplegic' is them up to you - you should only get disadvantage points if you wind up limbless on a reasonably regular basis.

 

I'm guessing the place to get the points would probably be savings on buying powers rather than (necessarily) disadvantages.

 

 

 

 

*and if you've seen Sin City, or read the comics, you'll know even normal limbs can be removed with some effort out of combat....

[Sean Waters]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

....or consider that the level of disadvantage is lower: sure being quadraplegic is inredibly disadvantagous all the lime - probably worth seperate disads for arms and legs - BUT if you are only limbless part of the time, just buy the disad at a lower level - frequently - infrequently.

 

Just re-read this and realise how callous it sounds: that's what comes of looking at everything as a points balance, I suppose....

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Not only can cyber limbs be removed, they can also be targeted and destroyed, depending on how they are built. Like most things, there are many ways to do it in the HERO System that are equally "right"; it all depends on what kind of feel you want.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Not only can cyber limbs be removed' date=' they can also be targeted and destroyed, depending on how they are built. Like most things, there are many ways to do it in the HERO System that are equally "right"; it all depends on what kind of feel you want.[/quote']

 

My point is that, given a nasty enough GM, everything you say is true of 'real' limbs too

[Sean Waters]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Looking at the 'limited powers' limitation, even a -1/4 means that the power should lose about a 1/4 of its effectiveness: given that the limbs work fine when in place this means you should be down one limb each session. Sounds bad.

 

...and how often, if you are honest, is a villain who KOs our hero going to go and fetch a warm spoon to have his cybernetic eye out. Not often. He might blindfold him, but he's not going to disconnect his cyberware.

 

Doing it as a disadvantage is fine, but then you are going to actually have to employ the disadvantage: I mean to say: if you have a villain called The Scrap Merchant who really will take the trouble to disconnect your legs, or if you have to spend 6 hours a day away from your cybernetics to avoid radiation poisoning, fine, but I doubt many campaigns will be run that way. How often did Steve Austin lose his bionics due to removal? Not often.

 

As for being able to target and destroy cyberware, well yes, but if it was not there that would be a bit of you targetted and destroyed. So not much of a disadvantage really.

[Jaxom]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Doing it as a disadvantage is fine, but then you are going to actually have to employ the disadvantage: I mean to say: if you have a villain called The Scrap Merchant who really will take the trouble to disconnect your legs, or if you have to spend 6 hours a day away from your cybernetics to avoid radiation poisoning, fine, but I doubt many campaigns will be run that way. How often did Steve Austin lose his bionics due to removal? Not often.

 

As for being able to target and destroy cyberware, well yes, but if it was not there that would be a bit of you targetted and destroyed. So not much of a disadvantage really.

 

Yup, a disadvantage that doesn't really cause problems is worth no points.

 

Case in point... I have a character who is a mystic. He's physically blind but was "compensated" by the Loa with telepathic sight. Truth is that he is never blind. In fact, he's darn hard to surprise....

 

Disad: Unusual Appearance - Milky white eyes, no iris or pupil. Major reaction, easily concealed.

 

The alternative is to spend time figuring out how to build clairvoyance, always on, fixed PoV. This is only meaningful if it is something that can be drained during play. Otherwise it is just an exercise in mental masturbation.

 

Look at it a different way. You take a character with STR of 40. This is higher than normal human maxima so it is clearly something unusual. The systm doesn't care whether it is a suit of power armor or a genetic mutation or a divine blessing. The only things that matter are whether or not it can be drained, knocked out by an EMP blast or dispelled by the appropriate exorcism and *those* get you points.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

My point is that' date=' given a nasty enough GM, everything you say is true of 'real' limbs too [/quote']

Given a nasty enough GM nothing you do matters so might as well not play.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Looking at the 'limited powers' limitation, even a -1/4 means that the power should lose about a 1/4 of its effectiveness: given that the limbs work fine when in place this means you should be down one limb each session. Sounds bad.

Thats a flawed assessment. Look at Activation 15- or OIHID or Extra Time Delayed Phase or IIF or Incantations or 1/2 DCV Con for examples of -1/4 Lims that dont lterally limit you 25% of the time. They limit you in various ways; some are constant annoyances, others only come up occasionally but when they do occur its significant.

 

The limitations steps are very amorphous; essentially a Cybernetic lim worth a -1/4 should be about as limiting as OIHID; it's not going to limit you 25% of the time, but when it DOES limit you, it limits you a lot.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Yup, a disadvantage that doesn't really cause problems is worth no points.

 

Case in point... I have a character who is a mystic. He's physically blind but was "compensated" by the Loa with telepathic sight. Truth is that he is never blind. In fact, he's darn hard to surprise....

 

Disad: Unusual Appearance - Milky white eyes, no iris or pupil. Major reaction, easily concealed.

 

The alternative is to spend time figuring out how to build clairvoyance, always on, fixed PoV. This is only meaningful if it is something that can be drained during play. Otherwise it is just an exercise in mental masturbation.

 

Look at it a different way. You take a character with STR of 40. This is higher than normal human maxima so it is clearly something unusual. The systm doesn't care whether it is a suit of power armor or a genetic mutation or a divine blessing. The only things that matter are whether or not it can be drained, knocked out by an EMP blast or dispelled by the appropriate exorcism and *those* get you points.

 

 

If you have a blind character that has some sort of Power like Spatial Awareness that compensates for their sight, then you would still take PhysLim BLIND and reduce the frequency of the limiting effects. If the Power that compensates is ever drained or otherwise negatively adjusted, or something is not visible to that power then the fact that the character is blind kicks in.

 

 

If the character isnt REALLY blind, mechanically (meaning they still have all the benefits of normal sight, are affected by Powers targeting the Sight Group and so on, with just a different SFX), but is BLIND conceptually, then yeah your DF: works perfectly for that.

[Jaxom]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

If the character isnt REALLY blind' date=' mechanically (meaning they still have all the benefits of normal sight, are affected by Powers targeting the Sight Group and so on, with just a different SFX), but is BLIND conceptually, then yeah your DF: works perfectly for that.[/quote']

 

A-yup-yup. Sorry if I was not perfectly clear about that. I didn't want sight being something that vanished on me and given the character background I felt I could get away with calling the sight something that could not be dispelled/drained/exorcised.

 

Which brings us back to the real key to something like this. If you have a cyberarm which is an OIF and could therefore be happily targetted and disabled then you worry about taking the disad for not having an arm. But if the cyberarm is just sfx for why you have that incredible crushing grip and can't be destroyed/removed/disabled then it's not a disad.

 

 

This leads me into a corner of the system that I am not as familiar with... I know how hit locations work but does the system include anything (and if so where) about actually disabling limbs? I know that I can make a called shot at the arm or get a random hit in the arm but is there any information about what it takes to make that arm useless to the character (which would lead to the situation Sean brings up... that even a normal arm may not be a permanent and useful appendage).

[nexus]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

You could make an argument that villains might be much more willing to saw off your cyberarm than your real one. Its "just" a machine as opposed to your real arm. Psychologically, cutting it off might be easier to deal with. Depending on the campaign world cybernetic powers may be easier to disbable than inborn powers.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

A-yup-yup. Sorry if I was not perfectly clear about that. I didn't want sight being something that vanished on me and given the character background I felt I could get away with calling the sight something that could not be dispelled/drained/exorcised.

 

Which brings us back to the real key to something like this. If you have a cyberarm which is an OIF and could therefore be happily targetted and disabled then you worry about taking the disad for not having an arm. But if the cyberarm is just sfx for why you have that incredible crushing grip and can't be destroyed/removed/disabled then it's not a disad.

 

 

This leads me into a corner of the system that I am not as familiar with... I know how hit locations work but does the system include anything (and if so where) about actually disabling limbs? I know that I can make a called shot at the arm or get a random hit in the arm but is there any information about what it takes to make that arm useless to the character (which would lead to the situation Sean brings up... that even a normal arm may not be a permanent and useful appendage).

 

 

Yes, there are rules for impairing and wounding, in the book under Optional Forms of Damage or something like that. Just look for impairing in the index.

 

Thats if you use hit locations though. I don't always use hit locations for cyber style campaigns, depending on the feel im going for. Even if generalized damage is being used though you can still target foci at a slight OCV penalty though.

[Tiree]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

I would call it a disadvantage also. Because all it really is a special effect of having cybernetic limbs.

 

As for the limbs being able to come off, I would put in the limitation that you can only change slots with the proper tools. So yes you can do it in the field, but you need the tools. It also allows bad guys to remove them - if they have the tools.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Having played a character with a similar spread of cybernetic limbs, I modeled it in a fashion very similar to what KS mentioned above. (not precisely the same, because the rules were quite a bit different in the mid to late 80's )

After a lot of thought, I went with the physical limitation and then bough back the limbs on a focus, for the express reason that it DOES model the damage differently. While the argument that an attack tha'll blow off a cyberlimb might also blow off a normal limb is quite true, I wanted it to be clear that damage to the cybernetics didn't affect the character. I tried bulding it as a whole suite of various defences and limited extra body, and ended up using many of the constructs in the final write up of the character to represent the more "integrated" cybersystems (places like the chest cavity, that were part meat and part machine, all mixed together), but I went with Focus limbs so that he could have an arm or leg blown clean off with no appreciable effect to his Body and Stun. It was the feel we wanted for the character, and it worked rather well. It also meant we could use a partial damage system to reflect losing abilities in the cyberlimbs from Body damage that penetrated the limbs defences.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Having played a character with a similar spread of cybernetic limbs, I modeled it in a fashion very similar to what KS mentioned above. (not precisely the same, because the rules were quite a bit different in the mid to late 80's )

After a lot of thought, I went with the physical limitation and then bough back the limbs on a focus, for the express reason that it DOES model the damage differently. While the argument that an attack tha'll blow off a cyberlimb might also blow off a normal limb is quite true, I wanted it to be clear that damage to the cybernetics didn't affect the character. I tried bulding it as a whole suite of various defences and limited extra body, and ended up using many of the constructs in the final write up of the character to represent the more "integrated" cybersystems (places like the chest cavity, that were part meat and part machine, all mixed together), but I went with Focus limbs so that he could have an arm or leg blown clean off with no appreciable effect to his Body and Stun. It was the feel we wanted for the character, and it worked rather well. It also meant we could use a partial damage system to reflect losing abilities in the cyberlimbs from Body damage that penetrated the limbs defences.

 

 

Right. It makes for a very granular, modular feel. Its not the ONLY way to do it, but it is a good way for a certain type of effect.

[Blue Jogger]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

One of my gaming buddies came up with the following.

 

One level of Shrinking, Always On (this was pre-5th) The special effect was defined that he was a brain inside the chest cavity that was well-armored and had his internal life support.

 

The head was the sensor array, and all his limbs were all OIF. Any shot that missed due to Shrinking hit either one of the limbs or the head. He did have a proximity sensor that he could still use while he was headless and he still had normal hearing.

 

As a GM, it was very satisifing since he kept giving ample reasons for the villians to tear of a limb or smoosh his head and the character was perfectly fine (save for some badly needed repair work).

 

His body also didn't sleep, but would repair itself during the night while his brain slept. So he would wake up mostly repaired and with a pile of weapons made from scrap metal.

 

Very strange character.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Given a nasty enough GM nothing you do matters so might as well not play.

 

Depends why you are playing Some people like nasty.....

 

Thing is your assessment of the weaknesses of cybernetic limbs holds no water - yes they can be targetted, yes they can be removed, BUT unless they are easier to break than normal limbs or there is a simple 'push button to detatch' mechanism, then it is not really something likely to disadvantage the PC, is it?

[Sean Waters]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

I've been fiddling around with the sheet for my current superhero' date=' [b']Bunny[/b]. A significant part of her character is that she lost her limbs do to an accident with a wormhole, but now has a collection of interchangeable cybernetic limbs with various sorts of enhancements. They're currently written along these lines:

 

[7] "Removeable, interchangeable cybernetic arms" Multipower, 10 Active Points (15), Personal OIF (-1/2), Powers Can Be Changed Only In Given Circumstance (carrying spare arms around is rather awkward and bulky) (-1/2).

[0] default; no limbs (armlessness).

[0] standard limbs (look realistic, no special abilities).

[1u] Fins and Gills: Environmental Movement: Aquatic (3 AP), Life Support: Expanded Breathing: Underwater (5 AP), Swimming +7" (7 AP).

[1u] Oversized cybernetic limbs: STR +15 (15 AP).

[1u] Clawed forepaws: Hand-to-Hand Attack: +3d6 (15 AP).

[1u] Telescopic arms: Stretching 3" (6" noncombat) (15 AP).

 

[7] "Removeable, interchangeable cybernetic legs" Multipower, 10 Active Points (15), Personal OIF (-1/2), Powers Can Be Changed Only In Given Circumstance (carrying spare legs around is rather awkward and bulky) (-1/2).

[0] default; no limbs (leglessness).

[0] standard limbs (look realistic, no special abilities).

[1u] Mermaid/dolphin-like tail: Swimming +15" (15 AP).

[1u] Oversized cybernetic limbs: STR +15 (15 AP).

[1u] Bunny Legs: Leaping +15" (17" forward, 8" upward, x2 NCM) (15 AP)

[1u] Cling-grip legs: Icewalking (Environmental Movement: Slippery surfaces) (1 AP), Clinging at STR+12 (14 AP).

 

 

Now, the fact that sitting around without wearing any legs or arms seemed to cost the same as having a 0-point pair that let you walk around or dial a phone... but my HERO-fu seems to be blanking out on how to arrange things.

 

My best guess for her legs would be to buy her basic Running and Leaping down to 0 inches, and Swimming down to 1 (total: 15 points), and then, change the Multipower pool to 30 points and add a new slot with 'normal leg walking' (upping the pool cost to 15, and another 1u for the slot, a total cost of 9, for a net gain of 6 points to play with).

 

Now, her /arms/, is another matter - other than buying down that other inch of swimming when they're missing, I'm not exactly sure what to buy down. STR or DEX down to 5, or 1? Buy Agility ot Combat skills as 'Linked' to the Arms Multipower? Something else?

 

What do you think?

 

Thinking about this I would not let you have a limitation for 'difficult to change limbs around' on the pool cost. Here's why:

 

3" stretching OIF = 10 points

 

7 MP pool (cyberbnetic limbs) OIF (-1/2) and difficult to change slots (-1/2)

1 u 3 " stretching

1 u +15 strength

 

 

Which is more useful? Well, no matter how long it takes to change limbs, surely the MP version is a better bet than the set version, but costs less. I'd let you take the limit on slot cost (not that it makes a difference with such a small point total), but not on pool cost or you'd be saving points AND increasing utility, which can't be right. The minimum cost has to be the cost of any one slot if bought on its own. Now if it took, say, 1+ minutes to change limbs, during which time you didn't have the use of any slot in the MP, I'd maybe take a different view, but you'd have to expect that a reasonable number of times you WOULD be caught limbless.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Right: if you have cyberlimbs that are obviously cybelimbs: big clunky metal things, you can get a disadvantage: distinctive features.

 

I'm sure we can all agree on that.

 

Before I would allow a limitation or disadvantage though I'd want to be sure it was worth the points. I'd ask the player (if it was not obvious to me) what effect the limitation would have in game play.

 

Now the main limitation for a focus is that, if it is hit and damaged, it loses a power - unless it is accessable, taking it away is rarely an issue. Say the +15 STR limbs are in place, if the arms are targetted and hit for more than 3 BODY (character defences do not reduce this, and that will be 'any hit' in a superhero game) then the strength stops working. Fine: but what about the other function of the limbs: replacing limbs. Do you consider that a seperate power (i.e. do you need two hits before the cyberlimbs are useless) or not a power at all - in which case would one hit effectively take away your arms or legs, or would you then default to the 'no extra powers but basically a normal character' position. If the former, hell, yes you can have your disadvantage, if the latter, hell, no.

 

I mean, if two hits at -2 OCV could make you a quadraplegic, that has to be worth a lot of points. I strongly suspect though, that is not part of the character concept. So, ask yourself this: is it really 'focus' you want here?

 

Now AmadanNaBriona mentions 'not taking damage from limb hits'. Depending on build this might be a real advantage. If your bionics give you resistant defences, realistically you are never going to take damage to cyberlimbs except from specific 'focus killer' powers. In that instance, getting a hit on an arm or leg is a real advantage - you can basically ignore the stun. In this case, 'focus' could be considered to be an ADVANTAGE not a limitation.

 

What I'm getting round to saying is this. We are arguing our views from our own corners, and making assumptions: what we need here is to know what the intention behind the power build is - what it is meant to simulate - THEN I think we can make informed comments about the appropriateness of this or another construction.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Right: if you have cyberlimbs that are obviously cybelimbs: big clunky metal things, you can get a disadvantage: distinctive features.

 

I'm sure we can all agree on that.

 

Before I would allow a limitation or disadvantage though I'd want to be sure it was worth the points. I'd ask the player (if it was not obvious to me) what effect the limitation would have in game play.

 

Now the main limitation for a focus is that, if it is hit and damaged, it loses a power - unless it is accessable, taking it away is rarely an issue. Say the +15 STR limbs are in place, if the arms are targetted and hit for more than 3 BODY (character defences do not reduce this, and that will be 'any hit' in a superhero game) then the strength stops working. Fine: but what about the other function of the limbs: replacing limbs. Do you consider that a seperate power (i.e. do you need two hits before the cyberlimbs are useless) or not a power at all - in which case would one hit effectively take away your arms or legs, or would you then default to the 'no extra powers but basically a normal character' position. If the former, hell, yes you can have your disadvantage, if the latter, hell, no.

 

I mean, if two hits at -2 OCV could make you a quadraplegic, that has to be worth a lot of points. I strongly suspect though, that is not part of the character concept. So, ask yourself this: is it really 'focus' you want here?

 

Now AmadanNaBriona mentions 'not taking damage from limb hits'. Depending on build this might be a real advantage. If your bionics give you resistant defences, realistically you are never going to take damage to cyberlimbs except from specific 'focus killer' powers. In that instance, getting a hit on an arm or leg is a real advantage - you can basically ignore the stun. In this case, 'focus' could be considered to be an ADVANTAGE not a limitation.

 

What I'm getting round to saying is this. We are arguing our views from our own corners, and making assumptions: what we need here is to know what the intention behind the power build is - what it is meant to simulate - THEN I think we can make informed comments about the appropriateness of this or another construction.

Sean has some very valid points here.

and back when I WAS playing my version of this character, the line I highlighted in blue was the main reason I ended up using the old JI gadget construction rules to make my cybernetics. It made me pay for them, rather than getting points for what was pretty clearly an advantage.It also let me tailor the DEF and Body of the limbs so that they responded to damage the way we wanted, rather than using the focus damage rules which would have made them with a heavier DEF than we wanted, and less body. My solution became the standard for cybernetics in our old Star Hero campaign.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Depends why you are playing Some people like nasty.....

 

Thing is your assessment of the weaknesses of cybernetic limbs holds no water - yes they can be targetted, yes they can be removed, BUT unless they are easier to break than normal limbs or there is a simple 'push button to detatch' mechanism, then it is not really something likely to disadvantage the PC, is it?

The rules for damaging FOCI are not the same as the rules for damaging limbs. Also when limbs are damaged it causes real damage to the core character, when FOCI are damaged they just lose powers without causing damage to the core character. Also in games using generalized damage you normally cant target limbs, but you can target foci. Also there are some attacks that might hurt a cybernetic limb that would not affect flesh such as EMP and magnetic attacks.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

 

Not taking STUN for having a Foci hit is no more of an Advantage than buying a EB as a FOCI in a superhero campaign and not taking STUN when it is shot. Its just an ancillary effect.