Removing Cyberware

Street docs can attempt to safely remove cyber at the same difficulty rating as it took to implant it, with the surgery taking one hour. On a success, the implant is removed intact and can be re-used. On a failure, the implant is ruined, but the patient remains healthy. In both cases, the permanent System Strain inflicted by the implant is lost immediately.

If the doc has no interest in the health or survival of the subject, the system removal is automatically successful and takes only ten minutes. The subject of this ungentle disassembly almost always dies on the table unless the system removed was minimally invasive.

Removing cyber is safest for the implant when the subject is alive during the removal, as death runs the risk of ruining delicate elements of the hardware. If the subject is dead when the doc goes to salvage their implants, an Int or Dex/Heal skill check is needed against difficulty 10. On a success, the implant is recovered intact, while failure means that it’s ruined. Subjects dead for more than 24 hours are unsalvageable.

Once the cyber’s out, the doc makes an Int or Dex/Heal skill check against difficulty 10. On a success, the cyber is used, but still perfectly functional. On a failure, it now counts as “secondhand cyber”, with a randomly-determined implantation complication that can’t be avoided.