Corpo Weaknesses

Some exceptionally committed (and exceptionally ruthless) individuals have the ability to amass cash on a damn-near unspendable scale. They view money as a good in and of itself, and as they continue to acquire it, they start needing to spend it. As they rack up more and more cash in a world where cash is a cheat code to power, they spend it to do things that normal people can't.

In short, corpos should be able to cheat.

These cheating mega-corpo bosses shouldn't just have a linear frame and chipped martial arts skills. Oh no, my friend. That level of chrome is for peasants. No, they should get buffs to hp and STATs that rely on Scandinavian black clinics doing gene mods, enhanced skills literally wired into their brains, and sneaky bits of unpleasantness implanted in improbable locations all over their bodies.

In short, go nuts! This is the stuff that's easy and fun to figure out. But what I'm here to discuss is something different.

There's this thing in economics called Pareto efficiency. It implies a lot of things, but one of them is that there's no way to make someone better off without making someone else worse off. It's the default state for a zero-sum game, essentially. However, we can apply that to people as well. Sure, you've got all this power crammed inside you. But what are the costs of that power? There's always a butcher's bill to be paid.

Now, peasants pay that cost as Humanity loss. But mega-corpos? Naw, son. They can't lose Humanity - it might damage their Human Perception score, after all! No, corpos might cheat, but the world needs to balance its books.

So players can go ahead and try to brute force their way through a cheaty mega-corpo-boss, or they can be smart, figure out what that power cost the corpo, and then exploit it.

Here are ten corpo weaknesses, along with the effects of exploiting them. In addition, I've included several hooks that can point the players toward discovering these weaknesses, if they're clever enough to find them.

Corpo Strengths & Weaknesses:

  1. Any live albino member of the mustelid family, brandished as a weapon. This triggers an intense involuntary panic reaction in the corpo's augmented endocrine system, disrupting the delicate balance that allows them to perform at superhuman levels. The corpo's DEX and REF go from 10 to 5 for ten rounds.
  2. Cutting off the ring finger of the corpo's right hand. This is where the corpo's regeneration system was loaded. The corpo no longer regenerates 5 hp per round.
  3. The corpo must consume at least 20 golden açaí berries per day (worth 2k eb per berry) to maintain their extraordinary resiliency. This requires an ecologically unsustainable number of berries (in the time of the RED), but the corpo doesn't really care. The berries are shipped to them via a dedicated courier from a BioTechnica lab every week. If the corpo doesn't have their daily berries, their BODY score goes from 18 to 9.
  4. The corpo needs to believe themselves the most important person in the room at all times; a psychological disturbance resulting from wiring their mind with an encyclopedia of skills. If the corpo is ever upstaged in front of their subordinates, they fly into an immediate killing rage. The corpo cannot have a skill base less than 12 in any skill; when they are in a killing rage, the corpo loses this benefit.
  5. Hearing the word "DISCOMBOBULATE!" shouted at full volume. The corpo stole their drone control suite from a long-dead Tech. However, by finding that Tech's workshop, the PCs can find that there was an audible password that disables the drone control suite. The corpo loses the ability to control any and all nearby drones with a single Action.
  6. The corpo cannot stand to be immersed in any variety of filth, and must begin cleaning themselves obsessively. This is a psychological compulsion deriving from how they've augmented their reflexes and perceptions to superhuman levels so they can notice anything coming at them. While dirty, the corpo's REF score (normally 12) takes a -8 penalty and they cannot attempt to dodge bullets regardless of cyberware. Thanks to a stockpile of hand sanitizer and Shower-In-A-Can, it only takes the corpo 4 rounds to get cleaned off.
  7. The corpo has a secondary brain they have built into their briefcase. Destroying or stealing the briefcase (SP 18, 15 hp, -4 to hit) causes a massive backlash, incapacitating the corpo briefly. The corpo loses the ability to take two Actions per turn, and loses their next turn. The briefcase is normally always kept handcuffed to the corpo's hand. Yes, including during sex. The only time they take it off is to bathe, and even then it's still right next to the tub.
  8. Airborne ragweed pollen causes an intense allergic reaction. The corpo has replaced their normal blood with Black Blood (TM) and it reacts very poorly to ragweed. The corpo normally has double the hit points of a regular character with their WILL and BODY, but each round they are exposed to ragweed pollen, they take 5 points of damage per turn that does not get affected by armor.
  9. Destroying the biogenerator in the corpo's chest cavity. This generator powers the corpo's electro-shock touch. The corpo loses the ability to electrocute people with a touch.
  10. The corpo actually has 1d6 clones of themselves resting in vats as backups in case the corpo dies. If the corpo dies and one of the clones is alive, the clone activates and takes over. The clones are scattered across the world; growing new ones requires 2d6 years per clone and clones cannot be grown concurrently.

Corpo Weakness Hooks

  1. A senior exec (and the cheaty corpo's direct report) needs extraction so he can work for a different awful corporation. He's offering 5 keb per character and knowledge about the cheaty corpo's weakness in exchange for safely getting him out. The catch? HR is already on to him, and he has less than 24 hours before the house collects.
  2. A regular edgerun turns up data suggesting the corpo needs weekly shipments of 140 açaí berries "for health reasons;" a doctor's note is attached (see option 3, above). By finding the doctor, the PCs can figure out what the corpo's weakness is exactly.
  3. An enemy of the cheaty corpo wants the PCs to pull video footage from a conference room at a specific time of day before it's erased later tonight. The footage is of a man being electrocuted to death while the cheaty corpo laughs (see option 9, above). By using the camera's scan feature, the PCs can see the biogenerator in the corpo's chest providing massive surges of electricity.
  4. The PCs are asked to break into the therapist's office of the cheaty corpo for an unrelated edgerun. While there, they can stumble across evidence of "disturbing psychological tics" from the doctor's notes (see options 4 and 6, above).
  5. While researching the cheaty corpo's business for a friendly media, the PCs note random real estate purchases - always small and with significant power requirements - in the financial records (see option 10, above). Tracking these down reveals that they are the clone hiding places, but as soon as one is destroyed, the cheaty corpo starts moving the others.
  6. The PCs have to bodyguard a bratty teen for a protection assignment, but one of the bratty teen's friends tells some interesting stories about how their mom is absolutely terrified of paintings of ferrets - they creep her out.