Basic Pain Dampener

Field-grade neural implant that dampens pain signals at the spinal gateway.

Rules Reference

Field	Value
Capacity Cost	1
Category	wetware-neural
Rek Cost	6000 (standard medical issue for soldiers and hazardous-duty personnel)

Notes

Benefit: Field-grade neural implant that dampens pain signals at the spinal gateway. +1 to Fortitude saves vs pain effects and reduces all pain penalties by 25%. The dampener prevents acute pain from becoming debilitating but does not eliminate it -- the user still knows they are injured, just with the edge taken off. Grants advantage on saves vs torture and interrogation (+2 to Will saves when resisting pain-based coercion). The implant can be toggled off for situations where pain feedback is medically necessary.

Install Risk: Medicine DC 13 for spinal gateway implant. Recipient makes a Fortitude save DC 11 or suffers temporary neural confusion (-1 to DEX-based skills for 1d4 hours as the nervous system recalibrates pain thresholds).

Origin: Developed by House Vexis military medical division as a field-expedient alternative to pharmaceutical painkillers, which impair combat performance. The dampener is now manufactured under license by a dozen Core foundries and is among the most common augmentations in Confederation space, exceeded only by the Kadiss implant itself.

Signature: Legit. Standard military and industrial medical issue, Kadiss-compliant. Nearly universal among soldiers, miners, and heavy equipment operators.

Strain: Minimal. Requires annual calibration to prevent tolerance buildup. Slightly reduced sensitivity to light touch in extremities (-1 to fine manipulation checks involving tactile feedback, such as lockpicking or surgery). Users sometimes fail to notice minor injuries -- the GM may secretly roll for the character to detect a bleeding wound or burn when visually obscured.