Hindrances

Savage Cyberpunk introduces several new Hindrances to the list in Savage Worlds Adventure Edition.

Prohibited and Altered Hindrances
The Doubting Thomas Hindrance is inappropriate for the Savage Cyberpunk setting.

The following Hindrances have been altered to make them more appropriate to the Savage Cyberpunk setting:

All Thumbs
All Thumbs functions just as in SWADE, but is a Major Hindrance in Savage Cyberpunk due to the pervasiveness of technology.

Bad Eyes
Bad Eyes is always a Minor Hindrance in Savage Cyberpunk. See below for more on how cyberware addresses physical disabilities as Hindrances.

Blind/Hard of Hearing/Slow/One Arm/One Eye
Advances in cybernetic technology have made once life-altering injuries and birth defects little more than a minor inconvenience easily fixed with outpatient surgery and a little bit of Strain. The blind can get cybereyes, the hard of hearing can get cyberears, and amputees can install a new limb that's just as good (if not better) than the one they lost.

However, allowing characters to buy off their physical Hindrances by simply throwing credits at the problem would be unbalancing. Therefore, whenever a character chooses to undergo cybernetic augmentation to correct a physical Hindrance, they must buy off the Hindrance with their next Advance.

Illiterate
Illiterate is considered a Major Hindrance in Savage Cyberpunk due to the prevalence of the written word.

Ugly
What cyberware does for the disabled, cosmetic surgery does for the aesthetically challenged. If a character chooses to undergo cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance, they must buy off the Ugly Hindrance with their next Advance.

Bad Liar (Minor)
You just plain suck at lying. You suffer a -2 to all tests to attempt to lie or bluff.

Chiphead (Minor/Major)
You’ve spent too much time jacking onto entertainment chips and BTLs and it’s left your view of reality a bit… skewed.

As a Minor Hindrance, when you’re in a stressful situation (such as combat), you must roll a Spirit check at -2 or begin having minor hallucinations. While hallucinating, you suffer -2 to all actions for 2d4 rounds.

As a Major Hindrance, the hallucinations are longer-lasting and much worse. If you fail the Spirit check, you suffer -2 to all actions for 2d6 rounds, and must make a Spirit check each round or be lost in hallucinations and take no actions.

Combat Paralysis (Major)
Whether you’re scared, nervous, or just stuck trying to decide what to do, you lock up when the bullets start flying. You start the first round of combat Shaken, which can be removed through the normal methods.

Cybernetic Rejection Syndrome (Minor/Major)
Your immune system reacts strongly to the effects of cyberware and actively tries to reject it. As a Minor Hindrance, you double the Strain cost for any cyberware. As a Major Hindrance, in addition to doubling the Strain costs for cyberware, if you have any cyberware installed you must take regular injections of anti-rejection drugs. Failure to do so will result in wracking pain and shakes as your body’s rejection of the cyberware interferes with your nervous system, and you suffer -2 to all actions until you resume your injection regimen.

Debt (Minor/Major)
You have taken out a loan from a disreputable sort. The good news: You start with more money. The bad news: They’ll be wanting to be paid back, with interest. As a Minor Hindrance, you start with 3 times the normal starting credits, but owe 6 times as much. As a Major Hindrance, you start with 5 times as much, but owe 10 times back.

Simsense Vertigo (Minor)
You and VR just don’t get along. You suffer a sense of disorientation when using Augmented or Virtual Reality along with Simsense. All tests made using any of the above are made at -1.

SINner (Minor/Major)
You have a record, and for a runner nothing could be more of a pain in the ass. This means all your bank info, biometrics, medical history, credit, travel history, personal history, etc. are all stored on several highly secure databases. As a Minor Hindrance, you are a legal citizen of the nation or extraterratorial corporation of your choice, with all the associated benefits and disadvantages. As a Major Hindrance, you have a Criminal SIN, which makes it easier to identify you, along with the general lack of rights that a Criminal SIN confers.