Cyberpunk RED Cyberware Guide: Humanity, Slots, And Cyberweapons

The short answer

Treat cyberware as a character decision with real mechanical pressure, not a shopping list. Before an edgerunner installs anything, ask five questions: what job does it do, what foundational cyberware does it need, is there a free Option Slot, what Humanity does it cost, and what consequence will make that choice matter in play?

The Core Rulebook gives cyberware a practical structure. Foundational pieces unlock options, different categories use different capacity rules, and Humanity Loss is a cost that lowers EMP over time. Cyberweapons follow the same rules, with extra limits on what the limb can do. Black Chrome adds more choices, which makes a deliberate process more useful.

Hot take

More chrome can make a character less interesting when every install exists only to erase a combat weakness. Start with an ability that changes scenes: a way to reach information, do a job, protect a friend, or show who the character wants to be. Then let the prerequisite, capacity, Humanity, money, and downtime make that choice visible at the table.

The same goes for cyberweapons. The best one is often the implant that keeps a job from turning into a firefight: a hidden fallback after a bad pat-down, or a last resort during an extraction. The build people remember is the one whose chrome gives the crew a new plan and gives the GM something to bring back in a later job.

Humanity Loss is not a morality score

Humanity is the Core Rulebook's measure of a character's empathy for others and sense of self-regard. It is a derived STAT: a character gets 10 Humanity for every point of EMP, so EMP 5 means 50 Humanity. Each time Humanity Loss lowers the tens digit of that number, effective EMP drops to match. The book's own example is a character at 44 Humanity who keeps EMP 4 until they fall to 39, then drops to EMP 3.

Every cyberware entry lists its Humanity Loss as a fixed number followed by dice, such as 7 (2d6) for a Cyberarm or Neural Link. At character creation you use the fixed number. After that, you roll the dice for each install. Paired options such as Low Light/Infrared/UV Cybereyes charge Humanity Loss for each half of the pair.

Elective augmentation is the main source of Humanity Loss, but not the only one. The GM can attach loss to traumatic events. The book lists 1d6 for a traumatic physical or mental incident, such as torture or witnessing a horrific death, and 2d6 for long-term stress such as imprisonment or living in a war zone. Replacing a lost or damaged body part with a cloned limb or Medical-Grade Cyberware costs no Humanity, and neither does Bodysculpting used for gender affirmation or other therapeutic changes. The game is modeling a character's relationship to their own body. It is not judging disabled people or people receiving care.

Use the rule to make choices meaningful, never to ambush someone with material they did not agree to explore. Before the campaign, set lines and veils around body horror, surgery, trauma, and mental-health themes. A short check-in protects the table and makes the fiction easier to play honestly.

Cyberpsychosis is not an excuse to flatten a character

The Core Rulebook frames cyberpsychosis as dissociation on top of already low Empathy, pushed along by replacing working body parts for no therapeutic reason. It says outright that cyberpsychosis is "not necessarily always violent." Treating the term as shorthand for a disposable monster misses both the book's warning and the roleplaying opportunity for the player.

The mechanical steps are short. At EMP 3 or higher there is no disorder. EMP 2 is borderline, EMP 1 adds strong psychopathic traits, and at EMP 0 the character has cyberpsychosis, with the player still roleplaying it. Only at EMP 0 with negative Humanity is the character handed to the GM, and it returns to the player once Humanity is positive again. Say that out loud before it can happen in play, so the group can agree on tone, player agency, and what recovery looks like. The Cyberpsychosis Guide covers running those thresholds in detail.

If the campaign uses this material, describe effects at the level your group chose, keep checking consent, and give recovery and support the same weight in the story as the install that caused the pressure.

Read a cyberware entry in the right order

The fastest way to buy a bad upgrade is to start with its cool final effect. Read each entry from the foundation outward. The book defines every item by Name, Install, Data, Cost, and HL (Humanity Loss), and Install tells you where the surgery can happen: a Mall, a Clinic, or a Hospital.

The installation cost is included in the item's price, even at character creation. Keep the book open at the table for exact effects instead of copying a rules catalog into campaign notes.

Build the foundation before the options

The Core Rulebook sorts cyberware into Fashionware, Neuralware, Cyberoptics, Cyberaudio, Internal Body, External Body, Cyberlimbs, and Borgware. Most of the familiar upgrades sit inside a foundational piece, and the foundation sets the room you have:

Fashionware, Internal Body, and External Body cyberware work differently. They have no foundation, but each category is capped at 7 Option Slots. Those are separate pools, so a spare internal slot does not create room for an external upgrade. Unless an entry says otherwise, an option takes one slot, and benefits from multiple copies of the same cyberware do not stack. The Cyberware Slots Guide walks through pairing, meat-limb exceptions, and stacking in more depth.

That makes a build order more reliable:

1. Name the character's actual job at the table.
2. Identify the foundation that enables it.
3. Check how many compatible slots that foundation has left.
4. Choose only the options that support the job.
5. Recheck Humanity Loss, money, and recovery before installation.

Choose chrome by the job it creates

Nobody has to be forced into a specialty. The point is for each purchase to give the player a new decision. A visible arm can open a conversation, a sensory option can change an investigation, and an interface choice can give the crew a different way into a job.

Cyberweapons: make chrome serve the job

A cyberweapon earns its place when it changes how the crew gets into or out of a job. Adding one more way to start a fight is a weaker reason. Integrated weapons let a character carry a fallback through a search, keep a hand free until the moment it matters, or make an extraction plan possible. They also carry the full build cost: the correct foundation or body location, free slots, Humanity Loss, and limits on the limb while the weapon is out.

If the campaign is deliberately loud, a cyberweapon can support that tone. Even then, name the objective it protects (getting someone out, holding a route, stopping a pursuer, or buying the Netrunner time) so the install creates a choice instead of an automatic escalation.

What counts as a cyberweapon

The Core Rulebook calls implanted weapons cyberweapons and describes them as usually a variant of a Ranged or Melee Weapon. That definition does not make every installed weapon interchangeable. The core entries show how much they differ:

The claw and knuckle weapons list no extra slot cost, so by the default rule each takes one Cyberarm slot when installed in a Cyberarm. The Dartgun is an eye option that needs a Cybereye and takes all 3 of its slots. The Hidden Holster is External Body cyberware: it stores a weapon that could already be concealed, hides it without a roll, and lets you draw it without an Action if it is placed somewhere easy to reach.

Read each specific entry from the installation outward:

Decide whether the weapon is part of the plan

An integrated weapon offers something different from a carried one. It can be present when gear must stay hidden, but it commits part of the character's body and often limits what that body part can do at a crucial moment.

Choose a cyberweapon alongside the crew's route, cover story, and exit plan. A weapon installed only for style can still be fun, but a weapon that gives the group a new answer under pressure is the one that justifies a permanent cost.

The hand is still doing a job

The core popup weapons can be concealed without a Check and drawn or stowed without an Action. That is a strong access advantage. The tradeoff matters just as much: while a popup weapon is out, the user cannot hold anything in that arm's hand. Big Knucks, Rippers, Scratchers, Slice 'N Dice, and Wolvers carry the same limit while wielded, and an extended Popup Shield leaves the arm able to do nothing but block.

Before the impressive draw, ask the physical question: what was that hand doing a second ago? Holding a client, opening a door, working a console, climbing a ladder, using a tool, or driving can all matter more than a surprise attack.

At the table, settle it before the roll:

1. State what the limb is holding or operating.
2. Read the entry's deployment and concealment wording.
3. Decide what gets dropped, stowed, handed off, or abandoned.
4. Make the weapon part of the crew's timing, not an invisible free upgrade.

That small habit keeps cyberweapons tied to the scene. It also gives a Solo, Tech, or bodyguard character reasons to coordinate with the rest of the team.

Build around the installation, not the weapon name

The core claw and knuckle weapons can be the only cyberware in a meat arm, and the Talon Foot can be the only piece in a meat leg. The popup weapons need a Cyberarm. Black Chrome adds more specialized options, including a Popup Shotgun, a Popup Net Launcher, and Cyberfinger tools and weapons that need a Modular Finger Cyberhand to hold them.

Work in this order instead of finding a weapon and forcing it to fit:

1. Identify the character's existing foundation and free slots.
2. Check whether the entry names a body location or a meat-limb exception.
3. Read the item for its operating limits, not just its damage.
4. Recheck Humanity Loss, money, and downtime with the player and GM.
5. Give the install a source in the fiction: a clinic, a market lead, a favor, or a debt.

A Popup Ranged Weapon and a Popup Shield together fill 5 slots, more than a Cyberarm's 4, so both cannot share one arm. A cyberweapon that uses up the limb's future options is still a valid choice, as long as the player makes it on purpose.

Use the Night Market index as a locator

The official Night Market Index groups published cyberware and points to source entries across the Core Rulebook, Black Chrome, and other products. It is good for finding out whether a category has a published option. It does not replace the item text, and it does not promise that a local clinic or Night Market has the item in stock.

Use it in this order:

1. Search Cyberware for the kind of tool or weapon the character needs.
2. Note the product and page reference.
3. Read the original entry for prerequisites, slots, operation, and exceptions.
4. Ask the GM what market, clinic, contact, or job can make it available.

The Cyberpunk RED Gear Guide covers the wider market-access question when an integrated weapon creates a Fixer lead, a scarcity problem, or a reason to visit a specific Night Market.

A five-minute cyberweapon check

Before surgery, or before a session where the weapon will matter, confirm these points together:

• What recurring job or fallback does this solve?
• Does the character have the exact foundation, body location, and slots?
• What can that limb not hold or do while the weapon is out?
• Which entry governs ammunition, reloads, attachments, concealment, and unusual effects?
• What Humanity, money, recovery, and future upgrade choices does the install create?
• How does the crew get, maintain, and keep the weapon available in this campaign?

If the answers add up to a clear scene plan, the cyberweapon is doing more than adding a stat line. If they stay vague, the crew may be better served by a carried weapon from the Weapons Guide, a contact, a tool, or a plan that avoids the fight.

What Black Chrome adds

Black Chrome expands the Core Rulebook's options without replacing its baseline. Its cyberware includes alternate foundations, capacity changes, protective upgrades, and specialized add-ons. Some options deepen a familiar build; others are narrow and shine only when the campaign creates the matching situation.

The Integrated Cyberdeck Upgrade is a good example. It adds one Program or Hardware slot to a Cyberdeck already built into the same Cyberarm, so it helps a Netrunner whose deck space is a recurring problem. It only makes sense after the player has decided how that Netrunner works with the crew. Read the Cyberpunk RED Netrunning Guide before buying chrome to solve a NET problem the campaign does not feature.

Use Black Chrome when an extra choice advances a specific character concept. Read the Cyberpunk RED Black Chrome guide for the book's broader catalog and Night Market limits, or the Cyberpunk RED Sourcebooks Guide to decide whether it is the table's next useful purchase.

Therapy, consequences, and campaign tone

The Core Rulebook lets a Medtech restore lost Humanity through therapy. Each therapy takes a full week in which doctor and patient do nothing else, and ends with the Medtech's Medical Tech Check. A failed Check wastes the week and the materials, and a Medtech cannot treat themselves. Standard therapy (500eb) restores 2d6 Humanity. Extreme therapy (1,000eb) restores 4d6. A separate 1,000eb therapy ends an addiction.

Therapy does not make installed chrome free. Each piece of cyberware lowers the maximum Humanity you can regain by 2, and each piece of borgware lowers it by 4. Cyberware with 0 Humanity Loss does not count. Getting all your Humanity back means removing the chrome. That makes care, money, and time part of the character's future, and the Humanity Loss Guide covers how to run it as a campaign resource.

Let therapy create scenes when the group wants them. A debt to a clinic, an honest talk with a teammate, a week away from a job, or the choice to remove a once-loved upgrade can all matter. Do not require a player to roleplay medical trauma in detail. The table's stated boundaries decide how much stays on screen.

Where to go next

• Return to the Cyberpunk RED Guide Hub for the complete live library.
• Read the Humanity Loss Guide before treating Empathy, therapy, trauma, or cyberpsychosis as a simple equipment penalty.
• Read the Cyberware Slots Guide before assuming a foundation, a pair, or an empty slot makes an option compatible.
• Read the Cyberpsychosis Guide for the Core Rulebook thresholds, player agency, recovery, and table boundaries.
• Jump back to Cyberweapons: Make Chrome Serve The Job when an integrated weapon needs to fit a crew plan.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Roles Guide to place cyberware in a Solo's, Netrunner's, Tech's, or another Role's broader job.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Solo guide when a combat specialist needs to turn an integrated weapon into a crew role.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Medtech guide for Medicine, Surgery, recovery, and the care around cyberware procedures.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Trauma Team Guide when a covered extraction or medical response needs to preserve player choice.
• Read the Weapons Guide before deciding an installed weapon beats a carried loadout.
• Read the Armor Guide before treating installed protection as a substitute for worn armor.
• Use the Cyberpunk RED Gear Guide to turn an item source into a Night Market or availability decision.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Netrunning Guide before building toward a deck or interface-focused character.
• Read the Cyberpunk RED Black Chrome guide when an expanded option needs source and availability context.
• Use the Cyberpunk RED Beginner's Guide when the group still needs its first-session path.
• Browse the Cyberpunk RED guide directory for every live guide.

Sources and scope

This guide summarizes the cyberware, cyberweapon, Humanity, therapy, trauma, and cyberpsychosis material in the Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook, the matching options in Black Chrome, and the official Night Market Index, updated January 2026. It quotes selected foundation slot counts, Humanity Loss values, weapon damage, and therapy results to support build decisions, and does not reproduce full cyberware tables, item catalogs, or rules text. Use the books for exact procedures.