Body Tech

Pharmitech Mechanics Costs Brands Medicine
 
 
 
PHARMITECH COSTS
The costs of PharmiTech are multi-faceted. Unlike the other forms of BodyTech, PharmiTech never costs character points. However PharmiTech doses do have in game credit costs, which can be quite steep. More dramatically however PharmiTech may cause long and short term side effects. Finally there is a social and professional cost to PharmiTech, due to the stigma associated with hard core drug abusers.
Short term side effects are generally defined as part of individual PharmiTech constructs in the form of the Side Effect Limitation and are self contained and generally temporary. More complex types of PharmiTech might also impose one or more Disadvantages on a user for the duration of the PharmiTech's effect and perhaps a little longer but are also temporary.
Long Term Side Effects on the other hand are permanent and can severely degrade a PharmiTech user's mental and physical well being over time. All PharmiTech runs the risk of causing Long Term Side Effects, and the more doses a user has taken the more likely they are to suffer a Long Term Side Effect.
CREDIT COSTS
Unlike other types of BodyTech, PharmiTech costs credits, not character points.
As explained in the Mechanics document, all forms of PharmiTech are designed using the Aid Power; the cost of  a dose is determined by a combination of the Active Points and the Fade Rate of the Aid.
PHARMITECH CREDIT COST
Active Points of dose:
Type of PharmiTech:
FADE 5 Points per:
Advantage:
Cost Multiple:
Credit Cost:*
*NOTE: These are ballpark figures; a large variety of circumstances will dictate the exact costs involved, but on average the prices will hover in a range of around +/-10% of the amount indicated by the above calculator.
The adjoining table gives "rule of thumb" guidelines as to how much PharmiTech should cost in credits.
Simply enter the Active Point cost of the Aid write up and select the Fade Rate from the drop down list and the credit cost of the dose will automatically be calculated for you.
OPTIONAL CHRONIC TALENT
A character can opt to pay character points for a custom Talent called "Chronic" that will drastically reduce the likelyhood of suffering Long Term Side Effects from PharmiTech. This Talent is expensive, but definitely worth it for (ab)users of PharmiTech.
 
CHRONIC TALENT
This custom Talent drastically reduces the likelyhood of suffering Long Term Side Effects from PharmiTech. When determining Long Term Side Effects for a character that has this Talent, mark the "Chronic" checkbox in the calculator below. Note that this is a Talent, not a Super Skill, and is thus available to characters of all Origins.
Real Cost: 20 points
 
LONG TERM SIDE EFFECTS
All PharmiTech has the potential to cause long term problems for a character whether the individual Powers have the Side Effect Limitation or not.
Each time a character takes a dose of any form of PharmiTech the GM should use the following calculator to determine if the character suffers some randomly determined unpleasant effect in the form of Characteristic penalties or Disadvantages.
Any Disadvantage or Characteristic loss is applied directly to the character, with no return of points. Points from Disadvantages can take a character over their Disadvantage maximum, and points lost from Characteristics can take a Characteristic below zero. All losses are cumulative; in the case of multiple instances of the same Disadvantage, increase the severity of the Disadvantage by one step. If that is not possible (the Disadvantage is at its maximum severity) then there is no further effect from that particular Long Term Side Effect.
The chance of long term side effects increases when multiple doses of PharmiTech are taken. A character must keep track of how many doses of PharmiTech they have ever used, and for each additional PharmiTech dose the chance of suffering a Long Term Side Effect is greater. This is factored into the calculator below; enter the number of doses of PharmiTech the character has taken (including the current dose) and click "Check for Long Term Side Effects".
 
PHARMITECH LONG TERM SIDE EFFECTS CALCULATOR

How Many Doses of PharmiTech, Ever?:  
Do you have the Chronic Talent?  
Reset Calculator       Check for Long Term Side Effects

 
JUICED EXISTENCE
The downsides of using PharmiTech are two-fold. The most obvious con is the chance of permanent unpleasant side effect, however a more insidious downside is that though professional sports are now completely juiced (its expected, even), those who use PharmiTech are often not trusted with responsibility or authority. Everyone has heard a story about a Juicer that couldn't hold it together doing something messed up.
Thus, those known to be using PharmiTech take the following Social Limitation. If taken during character creation it counts towards the character's Disadvantage total and the points for it are gained; if it is added after play starts the character does not get the points for it.
 
JUICER:
Social Limitation: Juicer (Occasionally, Major, Not Limiting In Some Cultures); -5 points