Prosthetics by the Number: Crafting by the Score February 11, 2016 09:05 3 Comments

What could be more fun than lopping off an arm or two and building a new pair of mechanical arms that are better than the old? That’s why prosthetics is one of my favorite crafts. There are so many builds that can be improved with prosthetics, and the options are diverse.

You’ll first decide what material to use when you fashion your prosthetics. Metal is common, but it’s not the only choice. You can have wooden prosthetics for the more nature-conscious characters, or you can have organic prosthetics for those that don’t want their old limb to go to waste. Each of these materials has its advantages as well as its drawbacks.

  • Metal: Metal prosthetics offer three augment slots, plus the two from beta prosthetics. However, any electrical attack is immediately more powerful when used against a character with limbs made out of metal. In addition, metal-dissolving acids will damage the limb.
  • Wood: Wood prosthetics have one fewer augment slot in total, so you start with two and end up with a total of four with beta. These limbs are not vulnerable to metal-melting acids or electrical attacks, but fire is certainly more of a concern than before.
  • Organic: Organic prosthetics are made out of flesh, either your own or a “donor” for those that like to trade up. They have the fewest augment slots, starting with one and ending up with three in beta. Organic prosthetics do gain a bonus to being disguised, making it harder to pick out an organic prosthetic when using the Disguised augment. In addition, the organic limb does not have any special weaknesses that differ from your own, so you don’t have to fear electricity or fire any more than normal. A beta organic prosthetic can be rather terrifying once people see you whipping a rifle out of your arm or releasing fire exhausts from your natural-looking leg.

You may find it tough to choose how many prosthetic limbs to craft for yourself. To start, you can only replace your arms, hands, and legs. Additional specialties allow you to craft for other called shot locations, and even add extra limbs, but be careful! Each prosthetic limb will reduce your maximum wounds by one point. Want an arm with a mounted rocket-launcher and the other with a mounted shield? That’s two wounds gone, but those arms sound awesome!

The final step is choosing which augments go on which of your new limbs. Some can be placed on any limb you make, while others are more specific. For example: Weapon Mount can be placed on as many prosthetics as you have, even your eye! So if you want to hide firearms throughout your body, you now know the trick. Extreme Speed, however, is only available for legs. Choose your augments according to how you want your character to work. Do you want your character to have an arm that contains a Furnace that fuels the Flame Pores in the hand? Want the other arm to have a Freezer with Freezing Pores in that hand? Maybe you prefer the subtle approach and want a hidden weapon on every single prosthetic. The choice is yours to make.

Leave us a comment below with your favorite prosthetic design, or share your ideas on what you’d like to see prosthetics do in future expansions!