[Whiskeyjack]

Thanks for the correction! Couldn't remember if it was 2 or 3 and was AFB so went with the more conservative option.

[jim1701]

I'm a sucker for the older editions' penalties for low Essence characters, so I generally roleplay my sub 3 Essence characters accordingly.  But in 5e there aren't really any mechanical penalties that are insurmountable (minor hit to Social Limit, health spells, etc.).

+1

Personally I don't go below 1.0 Essence on any of my characters.  In the early editions losing essence meant losing your (meta)humanity.  Now it doesn't mean much of anything beyond some spells and your social limit.  I prefer the former to the latter so I'll continue to retain a little bit of my (meta)humanity.

[Haywire]

I'm a sucker for the older editions' penalties for low Essence characters, so I generally roleplay my sub 3 Essence characters accordingly.  But in 5e there aren't really any mechanical penalties that are insurmountable (minor hit to Social Limit, health spells, etc.).

+1

Personally I don't go below 1.0 Essence on any of my characters.  In the early editions losing essence meant losing your (meta)humanity.  Now it doesn't mean much of anything beyond some spells and your social limit.  I prefer the former to the latter so I'll continue to retain a little bit of my (meta)humanity.

"What-had-metahumanity-done-for-you? They-filled-you-with-hate. They-made-you-suffer. They-killed-your-loved-ones.
The-Machine-helped-you. The Machine-eased-the-suffer. The-Machine-removed-your-hate.
Man-and-Machine-more-than-either-alone."

I like to have my chromed characters cromed to the limit of metahumanity. In a cyberpunk game, if you are not styled enough, you're doing it wrong!

[ZombieAcePilot]

Do bear in mind that although your essence gets harder to drain the less you have, if a creature does it to you successfully, you die if you have less than 1 whole point to give.

[PJ]

Can you go to 0.005 Essence in Fifth?  I've made a few concepts that hit that mark, but only recall an example NPC in 4th that had Essence marked to the thousandths spot.

[Haywire]

Can you go to 0.005 Essence in Fifth?  I've made a few concepts that hit that mark, but only recall an example NPC in 4th that had Essence marked to the thousandths spot.

IIRC maximum is hundreds, so 0.01 Essence.

[Glyph]

Do bear in mind that although your essence gets harder to drain the less you have, if a creature does it to you successfully, you die if you have less than 1 whole point to give.

To suffer essence drain, you need to be basically helpless - a vampire that has a potentially dangerous enemy at its mercy isn't likely to just maim him and then let him go.  It will feed as fully as it can, then dispatch the character if the essence drain didn't do the job.  And honestly, I would rather have my character just die, rather than be permanently damaged, or, even worse, changed into one of the damn things, and be expected to pay Karma to buy the "quality".