Solo

HIRED ASSASSINS, BODYGUARDS, KILLERS, SOLDIERS

"After I got out of the Army, I had this problem. I was good at what I did, but no one was hiring. I mean, what do you do when you're a highly trained killer with a background In demolitions? Read the want ads? After a few months on the Street, I got into a dustdown with a local Booster lord. I flatlined him and went back to my drink. Within ten minutes, the recruiter from Militech came uр to me and dropped a business card... Now I'm a Company man. The money's good, the work steady, and they pay for my spare parts. So far, I'm still alive. So far, so good."

— Morgan Blackhand

You were re-born with a gun in your hand - the flesh and blood hand, not the metallic weapons factory that covers most of your other arm. Whether as a freelance guard and killer-for-hire, or as one of the Corporate cybersoldiers that enforce business deals and the Company's "black operations", you're one of the elite fighting machines of the Cyberpunk world.

Most Solos have put in military time, either in a Corporate army or in one of the Government's continual "police actions" around the world. As the battle damage piles up, you start to rely more and more upon hardware: cyberlimbs for weapons and armor, bio-program chips to increase your reflexes and awareness, combat drugs to give you that edge over your opponents. When you're the best of the best, you might even leave the ranks of Corporate samurai and go ronin, freelancing your lethal talents as killer, bodyguard, or enforcer to whoever can pay your very high fees.

Sounds good? There's a price, a heavy one. You've lost so much of your original meat body that you're almost a machine. Your killing reflexes are so jacked up that you have to restrain yourself from going berserk at any moment. Years of combat drugs taken to keep the edge have given you terrifying addictions. You can't trust anyone - your mother, your friends, your lovers - no one. One night, you sleep in a penthouse condo in the City, the next in a filthy alley on the Street. But that's the price of being the best. And you're willing to pay it. Because you're a Solo.

Role Ability: Combat Awareness

When Combat begins (before Initiative is rolled), anytime outside of Combat, or in Combat with an Action, a Solo may divide the total number of points they have in their Combat Awareness Role Ability among the following abilities. If a Solo chooses to not change their point assignments, their previous ones persist. Activating some of these abilities will cost the Solo more points than others:

Damage Deflection

You have been trained to "roll with the punches," reducing damage done to you.

• For 2 points, decrease the first damage you take this Round by 1.
• For 4 points, decrease the first damage you take this Round by 2.
• For 6 points, decrease the first damage you take this Round by 3.
• For 8 points, decrease the first damage you take this Round by 4.
• For 10 points, decrease the first damage you take this Round by 5.

Fumble Recovery

You have been trained to instantly recover from mishaps by taking your time with every shot. For 4 points, you ignore critical failures (1s) you roll while attacking. These rolls are still treated as 1, however.

Initiative Reaction

Your reflexes are trained to respond instantly, without thinking, at the start of a firefight. Each point adds a +1 to Initiative rolls made.

Precision Attack

You have been trained to precisely aim attacks, giving you greater accuracy.

• For 3 points, you add a +1 to any Attacks made.
• For 6 points, you add a +2 to any Attacks made.
• For 9 points, you add a +3 to any Attacks made.

Spot Weakness

You have been trained to look for weak spots to damage even heavily armored targets. Each point adds a +1 to the damage (before armor) of your first successful Attack in a Round.

Threat Detection

You have enhanced situational awareness. Each point adds a +1 to any Perception Checks made.

Stephanie's Solo, Kelsa, has a Combat Awareness Rank of 6. When the session begins, her Combat Awareness loadout is as follows: Damage Deflection 1 (2 points), Spot Weakness 2 (2 points), Threat Detection 2 (2 points). Later in the game, she's jumped by a group of scavvers. At the beginning of the fight, she reallocates her 6 Combat Awareness points: Damage Deflection 1 (2 points), Initiative Reaction 1 (1 points), Precision Attack 1 (3 points). During the fight, Kelsa discovers the scavver leader is heavily armored and she's having trouble punching through his SP. Stephanie spends an Action and readjusts her Combat Awareness one last time, putting all 6 points into Spot Weakness so her next attack will blast through the scavver's protection.

— Combat Awareness in Action

Role-Based Life Path

Some things are universal. Other things are pretty specific. One of these is how your day job (or night job or side job or whatever - we won't judge you) affects your life. The things that a hard-bitten Lawman on the Street has to face are way different from the glittering club life of a Rockerboy, and they both deal with shit no pampered or privileged Corpo could even imagine. To that end, find below a series of Role-based questions that supplement the regular Lifepath.