Starting up
The world
Welcome to the world of cyberpunk where you grab technology by the throat and hang on. You're not afraid to die if it means you go out in style. You've got interface plugs in your wrists, weapons in your arms, lasers in your eyes, and biochip programs in your brain. You become the car you drive, the aerodyne you fly, the guns you shoot. You dive headfirst into computer systems, using your mind to hurtle at lightspeed down the rabbit holes of NET Architectures. With cyborg-fingers you pick computer locks; with enhanced senses, you see into the Future. But before you become one, you'll need to learn how to create one and navigate the system.Lifestyles
In Neon Eden, your lifestyle defines how you live, work, and survive in Night City. From the streetwise agility of a Street Kid to the disciplined vigilance of a Lawman, the freedom of Nomads, or the polished ambition of a Corpo, each lifestyle shapes your daily choices, contacts, and opportunities. These aren’t just roles — they’re ways of life that influence your skills, resources, and the paths available to you in the city.
Nomad
Transport experts, ultimate road warriors, pirates, and smugglers who keep the world connected.Lawman
Law enforcers patrolling the mean streets, rugged detectives and vigilantes.Corpo
Corporate power brokers and business raiders fighting for or against Megacorps.Streetkid
The crafty populace of Night City, able to navigate every street and every deal.Roles
Roles are in essence your character class, each one excels at something while providing a special ability to help you navigate the streets. They also gain extra bonuses to skills equal to their rank when rolling for it, more on this later. The roles are as follow, for more information click each role for their full abilities:
Fixer
Dealmakers, organizers, and information brokers in the post-War Midnight Markets of The Street.Media
Reporters, media stars, and social influencers risking it all for the truth or glory.Medtech
Unsanctioned street doctors and cyberware medics, patching up meat and metal alike.Netrunner
Cybernetic master hackers of the post-NET world and brain-burning secret stealers.Rocker
Rock-and-roll rebels who use performance, art, and rhetoric to fight authority.Solo
Assassins, bodyguards, killers, and soldiers-for-hire in a lawless new world.Techie
Renegade mechanics and supertech inventors; the people who make the Dark Future run.Stats
Stats are your building blocks of the character, they are your foundation
Intelligence
How generally bright you are. As a rule, this is more than sheer intelligence, but also includes cleverness, awareness, perception, and your ability to learn.Reflexes
Your response time and coordination, as used in aiming, throwing, juggling, etc. Most importantly, this is the STAT that affects your ability to hit things with ranged weapons.Dexterity
Your overall physical competence, as it pertains to balancing, leaping, jumping, combat, and other athletic activities. Most importantly, this is the STAT that affects your ability to hit things with melee weapons and can help you dodge attacks.Technique
Your ability to manipulate tools or instruments. This is not the same as Reflexes, inasmuch as this covers the knack of using tools.Cool
Your ability to impress and influence people through your character and charisma; how you interact in social situations.Willpower
Your determination and ability to face danger and/or stress. This STAT also represents your courage and ability to survive long-term privation. This STAT is important for determining how much damage you can take.Luck
With a high enough Luck, you can tip the scales in your favor. In a game mechanics sense, you can apply points from this STAT to offset die rolls in your favor.Movement
Your speed of movement: running, leaping, swimming, etc.Body
Your size, toughness, and ability to stay alive and conscious due to physical mass, structure, or other qualities. This STAT is important for determining how much damage you can take.Empathy
Your ability to relate to and care for others, and take others into consideration. Particularly important as it offsets the effects of cyberpsychosis, and how much cyberware you can implant in your body.Skills
Skills are things the your character knows or can do. They represent their level of knowledge and accomplishment. A Skill is also something your Character knows how to do because of their training. They have spent time learning and mastering the intricacies of this knowledge either from a teacher, a book, or a chip.
Weapons and armor
Weapons are part of everyday life in Night City. With only a few cops on the street and lots of heavily armed and armored miscreants roaming around just itching to reduce you to salvable parts, it's no wonder that everyone you meet is probably packing. There's two categories of weapons:
Melee Weapons - Swords, axes, clubs, hammers, etc.
Ranged Weapons - Things that are fired, shot or thrown.
Many weapons can either be traditional (something you hold and can put down) or implanted into your body as cyberware. Known on the street as cyberweapons, implanted weapons are usually a variant of Ranged or Melee Weapon. Some oddities, like the infamous cybersnake are, on the whole, only loosely classified as Melee Weapons. And even in a world where cybertechnology can make every man-jack a full-metal warrior, armor is still very important in Night City. After all, it's the first thing to get hit that isn't your soft flesh meat that would land you flatlined and dead on the curb of the sidewalk.
Cyberware and humanity
Cyberware is the term used to describe cybernetic technology which is grafted in or onto a living body. Even though cybernetic prosthetics were originally developed for practical and medical purposes, they've since become a matter of lifestyle choice. Cyberware has become as commonplace as tattoos and jewelry. The reasons for installing it are many and varied, including simple tech upgrades, combat enhancements, and even fashion statements. The possession of trendy cyberware has become an integral and defining part of Night City culture. Uniqueness is just another form of currency. To make it big, you need to look the part. Style is everything.
But installing this comes at a price. Each piece of cyberware drifts you off from being a flesh human, from feeling like a person and lowers your sense of humanity, your empathy with other people. Characters with high empathy STAT can install more cyberware before they start sensing a disconnect to life itself and others.