System Strain

Non-natural forms of healing or intense cyberware activation takes a toll on a user’s physiology. Their System Strain total reflects the total amount of stress their body has undergone.

A healthy character normally starts at zero System Strain and has their Constitution score as their allowed maximum. A character cannot accumulate more than this maximum in System Strain.

Cyberware installation generally adds a certain amount of permanent System Strain to the target. This permanent Strain may be fractional, but a character’s body cannot ever support more than their maximum System Strain. Removing the cyber allows this permanent System Strain to be lost.

Pharmaceutical healing and cyberware activation often add to a subject’s System Strain. If this addition would put them over their maximum they cannot activate the cyber, benefit from the drugs, or otherwise gain any use from the ability. If they are forced over the maximum by some unavoidable effect, they are instead knocked unconscious for at least an hour.

Characters lose one point of accumulated System Strain after each night’s rest, assuming they are warm, fed, and comfortable and can get at least eight uninterrupted hours of sleep.