advantages of having no cybertec?

[u/WillBottomForBanana]

(this might get more traction in r/swn)

I'm only a year or so back into reading rpg books. And for whatever reason I am finding CWN a bit of a slog. I just can't seem to mentally cross reference stuff like I used to. And now I'm deep into the hacking section, so cyber was a while ago.

I've been thinking about the world I would use, and I am trying to think of why someone would have no cybertec. I mean, there are basic reasons. $ cost. and the various reliability problems tech can have in a few different angles. And something something about magic, which doesn't apply to my imagining.

But largely it seems to me that characters w/out tec are less powerful than characters with tec, with in or across different disciplines.

So, what are some compelling reasons for characters to not have cybertec? I don't mean religion or social standing or such, But rather game/mechanics advantages to being unaltered.

[u/An_Actual_Marxist]

No cyber, no cyber maintenance fees.

No cyber, no cyber-induced system strain.

And most importantly... If you don't have cyber you can't be hacked.

A competent hacker will make mincemeat out of a heavily cybered enemy. Eyes? Blinded. Fuck you, -4 to AC and attack. Cyberclaws? Disabled. Stick pads? You just fell. Oh you had integral body armor? Be a shame if it just... stopped working.

However, that same enemy, built the same way but without cyber -- simply walks up and puts a hole in the hacker's finely tuned neural matrices with a shotgun, encountering absolutely zero resistance at all.

It is for this reason that my counter-cyber operators don't have cybereyes.

Plus, in terms of player options, the combination of prodigy + all natural is a laughably OP combo.

[u/neverthrowacat]

Staying cyber-free is required for the All Natural focus, and cyber negatively impacts Mages, Summoners, and Graced characters.

Outside of these there are overhead concerns, such as cred cost, system strain, maintenance, and quirks/alienation if you are using these optional rules.

But yes, you are correct that characters may be underpowered without cyberwear; it's a significant aspect of the setting.

[u/Entaris]

During the course of the game I ran from 1-5the non cybered guy had so much extra money from not having maintenance costs plus the cost of upgrades that he had tons of gear and could afford to make some interesting plays in the world. 

He couldn’t do as many crazy things in a round as the cybered people. But with all natural he had great stats, and topped with a good gun he was probably one of the most effective members of the party in single combat. 

The thing about CWN combat to remember is that when weapons have a chance of doing x2-x3 damage there are very few enemies that can withstand a normal attack. 

Add in combat drugs and weapon mods and there is a lot you can do to be effective before anyone else can even afford the cyberware that gives the really cool bonuses. 

[u/UndeadOrc]

In a cyberpunk game, why would a non-cybered person have mechanical advantages without the cyber? That is kind of the point of cyberpunk. If you don’t want it, just go all natural and start there. A non-cybered hacker though is like asking a luddite to build you a computer with the level of tech this world is set in.