[Bewilderbeast]

Like the thread says. It strikes me that getting +15 BP but double Essence costs from cyberware is very, very good deal. It's very easily solved by... you know. Not taking any dang cyberware.

[emsquared]

Probably depends on your GM. I'd say it's legit for any Mundane, really.

[Csjarrat]

yeah, go for cybereyes or something low-essence and call it done. i wouldnt allow it and then you not have any cyberware. that is a bit cheesy.

[Bewilderbeast]

I was building up a bioware-upgraded adept in Chummer, was hunting for that last 15 BP, saw Sensitive System, and immediately felt dirt for taking it. Just want to get a consensus on how it's viewed...  personally, if I were a DM, I'd either ask a player to take at least one bit of 'ware or else spend every session trying very hard to resist the urge to dismember the munchkin.

I remember one of the sample characters in the core book was a mage with Sensitive System and thinking even on my first read-through that was sort of weaksauce. It's obviously a matter of taste, so I'm just looking for opinions here.

[RHat]

If you're augmenting, taking no cyber is one heck of an opportunity cost.  Similarly, for Hermetics and most technomancers, you're refusing something you could get a lot from.

[Mithlas]

Good points on both sides. I've never considered it for my own characters because it never really seemed to coincide with any of the aspects I wanted to emphasize, but I did veto it on one of my players. An intuition-based mage with admitted intention to never get any 'ware. I said 'if this is something that doesn't apply to you in character generation and you state won't come up later, then it's not a negative quality, it's a detail to put in the character bio.

I like how Mutants & Masterminds puts it: if it never causes complications and difficulties for your character, then it's not something worth getting a bonus for. That being said, opportunity costs for players realistically open or considering cyberware are real factors (you never can squeeze every possible thing into your character on generation).

[mtfeeney = Baron]

I don't see the problem.  That's like saying you can't take an addiction if your addiction resisting stats are too high(since you'd never be prone to giving in or relapsing or whatever).  Just because you don't plan to take cyber now doesn't mean you won't, and just because you don't use cyber doesn't mean you stop being a sensitive system. 

[emsquared]

I'm a whore for passive dodge and Initiative, but for any Mundane I think missing out on Reaction Enhancers alone is a huge thing. Not to mention as I go I tend to 'ware up on eyes and ears so I don't have to rely on worn viz/audio enhancers. Skillwires are something I'll take as I get more Y too, in just about any mundane. It's not a hard thing to build a Mundane PC without cyber' but it is an expensive thing down the road (i.e. synaptic boosters), and you do miss out on some pretty cheap and easy dice pools.

[Mirikon]

I would say no, it isn't cheese, even on Awakened/Emerged. Even technomancers and mages have bits of ware they could potentially find useful.

[Glyph]

There are negative qualities that give mechanical disadvantages, and negative qualities that function as lateral limiters, closing off a potential avenue of power or advancement, or at least making it more difficult.  Sensitive system is a lateral limiter; you don't have to take cyberware to be affected by it, since no cyberware at all is even more of a hindrance. 

Sure, it seems to give a lot of points to awakened characters, just for giving up, maybe, a bit of senseware.  And sure, like any lateral limiter, it is not going to be taken by characters who depend on cyberware, any more than the hacker will take simsense vertigo or the face will take uncouth.  But in the end, I wouldn't call it cheese.  Not a right off the shelf negative quality.  A good deal, maybe.  But so is getting +2 to hit from a smartlink.

It is a quality that you should ask your GM about.  Some GMs will house rule it to give less points to awakened characters, or to work for bioware, too.  Some GMs will arrange for cyberware to forcibly be implanted into characters with this quality and no implants.  So just like it might be metagaming a bit to take it, it might be metagaming to decide it isn't worth the hassle at that particular gaming table.

[Reiper]

If your character isn't ever going to take cyberware, then yeah I'd call it cheese.

If I were GMing, I'd make it count for Bioware as well, and increase the minimum essence cost of any ware to 1.1.

I understand its reasoning, but its also one of those that can be highly abused.

[All4BigGuns]

There are negative qualities that give mechanical disadvantages, and negative qualities that function as lateral limiters, closing off a potential avenue of power or advancement, or at least making it more difficult.  Sensitive system is a lateral limiter; you don't have to take cyberware to be affected by it, since no cyberware at all is even more of a hindrance. 

Sure, it seems to give a lot of points to awakened characters, just for giving up, maybe, a bit of senseware.  And sure, like any lateral limiter, it is not going to be taken by characters who depend on cyberware, any more than the hacker will take simsense vertigo or the face will take uncouth.  But in the end, I wouldn't call it cheese.  Not a right off the shelf negative quality.  A good deal, maybe.  But so is getting +2 to hit from a smartlink.

It is a quality that you should ask your GM about.  Some GMs will house rule it to give less points to awakened characters, or to work for bioware, too.  Some GMs will arrange for cyberware to forcibly be implanted into characters with this quality and no implants.  So just like it might be metagaming a bit to take it, it might be metagaming to decide it isn't worth the hassle at that particular gaming table.

This.

Except that if the GM is the sort to forcibly implant a character with it, then the players need to take a crack at using Mirikon's Phone Book.

[firebug]

This is something I was concerned about, too.  But I figured...  While it might be cheesy to take it for awakened characters, no one who actually wanted cyberware would ever take it.  There's better things to get 15 BP back with, even roleplaying-wise, that wouldn't hinder your mechanical effectiveness so much.  Plus (and I know this isn't the best excuse) the SR4 book's sample characters has two Awakened characters with no 'ware and Sensitive System.  They also have one guy who's allergic to gold, which would likley -never- come up in any but the most insignificant ways, you know?

[Mithlas]

I think that qualities - negative or positive - should be in some manner important. Tough as Nails is easily a very useful quality...unless the character is a "stays out of the front lines" hacker, when I'd recommend they take Codeslinger or something else instead so they get good bang for the karma. One of my games had my players strike a Triad watch post and one of the pieces of loot they nabbed was a gold sustaining focus. Caster's allergic to cold, so he sold it. Sure, maybe it's skirting the allergy, but I didn't have a problem with it. The character might have done it minus any metagaming reason, even without the player knowing "I have gold allergy on my character sheet".

[RHat]

I think that qualities - negative or positive - should be in some manner important. Tough as Nails is easily a very useful quality...unless the character is a "stays out of the front lines" hacker, when I'd recommend they take Codeslinger or something else instead so they get good bang for the karma. One of my games had my players strike a Triad watch post and one of the pieces of loot they nabbed was a gold sustaining focus. Caster's allergic to cold, so he sold it. Sure, maybe it's skirting the allergy, but I didn't have a problem with it. The character might have done it minus any metagaming reason, even without the player knowing "I have gold allergy on my character sheet".

...  "I have gold allergy on my character sheet" translates to "my character has, in the past, had an allergic response to gold".  It is not metagaming to have your character avoid their allergens.