The short answer
A Solo reads danger for the crew and buys everyone else time to do their work. Combat Awareness rewards deciding what the moment requires: survive an opening volley, win initiative, spot a threat, land one crucial attack, or stay calm when a roll goes wrong.
The Role works best when it has an objective beyond "win the fight." Protect the Netrunner at an access point. Get a client through a bad block. Hold the only exit. Make an enemy choose between chasing the Solo and stopping the rest of the crew. Those goals turn combat skill into a team resource.
Hot take
The least interesting Solo build is the one designed only to make every encounter longer.
Build a Solo who changes the crew's options. A reliable protector lets the Netrunner stay connected long enough to open a route. A watchful bodyguard makes a negotiation possible in hostile territory. A precise threat can make a client take the deal instead of calling security. Damage matters, but the best reason to bring a Solo is that everyone else gets to attempt the plan.
Combat Awareness is a loadout, not a permanent stance
The Core Rulebook lets a Solo divide Combat Awareness points among several benefits when combat begins, outside combat, or by using an Action during combat. If the Solo does not change that assignment, the current one persists. That flexibility is the point: a good allocation answers the situation in front of the crew instead of trying to solve every possible fight at once.
| Combat Awareness option | What it helps the Solo do | When it becomes especially useful |
|---|---|---|
| Damage Deflection | Reduce the first incoming damage in a round. | Holding an exposed position or covering an escape. |
| Fumble Recovery | Prevent an attack critical failure from becoming a disaster. | When one attack matters more than a full exchange of fire. |
| Initiative Reaction | Act earlier in a firefight. | When the crew needs cover, movement, or a fast decision immediately. |
| Precision Attack | Improve attack accuracy. | When a clean hit matters more than extra durability. |
| Spot Weakness | Improve the damage of the first successful attack in a round. | When the target's protection is the real obstacle. |
| Threat Detection | Improve Perception checks. | Before a fight, during a search, or when an ambush is likely. |
Point costs
A Solo has as many points as their Combat Awareness Rank, so a starting Solo at Rank 4 has 4 to spend.
| Ability | Cost and effect |
|---|---|
| Damage Deflection | 2 points per -1 to the first damage taken each Round, up to -5 for 10 points. |
| Fumble Recovery | 4 points: ignore critical failures (natural 1s) on attacks; the die still counts as 1. |
| Initiative Reaction | +1 to Initiative per point. |
| Precision Attack | 3 points per +1 to Attacks, up to +3 for 9 points. |
| Spot Weakness | +1 damage (before armor) per point on the first successful Attack each Round. |
| Threat Detection | +1 to Perception Checks per point. |
The book's example Solo, at Rank 6, opens a session with 2 points each in Damage Deflection, Spot Weakness, and Threat Detection, reshuffles when scavvers jump her, then spends an Action to put all 6 into Spot Weakness when the scavver leader's armor keeps stopping her shots. That is the pattern to copy: set a default, then change it when the fight tells you what matters. At the table, state the reason for the allocation out loud: "I am watching the roofline," "I am getting the courier to cover," or "I need one reliable shot before the door seals." That makes the Solo's tactical choice something the whole table can respond to.
Build for a repeating job
Before choosing weapons, armor, or chrome, answer these three questions:
- What is the Solo expected to protect: a person, an escape, a location, a deal, or the crew's time?
- How does the character usually learn that danger is coming: training, local knowledge, surveillance, a network of contacts, or hard-earned caution?
- What does the Solo do once the immediate threat is handled: negotiate, drive, investigate, organize, repair, or get the crew out?
Those answers give the character a combat identity and an after-combat identity. A bodyguard can make social skills and Perception matter. An extraction specialist can value movement and transport. A corporate defector can bring knowledge, obligations, and enemies. A street protector can know which fights will hurt the neighborhood even if the crew wins.
Use the Cyberpunk RED Weapons Guide to turn those answers into a carried loadout that supports a route, protection plan, and exit rather than a raw damage comparison.
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Spend Combat Awareness on the current problem
Start a scene by naming the pressure, then pick the benefit that creates the best next decision.
| If the crew needs... | Consider emphasizing... | Then ask the team... |
|---|---|---|
| A warning before violence starts | Threat Detection | What can we learn or change before the first shot? |
| A fast opening move | Initiative Reaction | Who needs cover, an exit, or a distraction now? |
| One reliable hit | Precision Attack or Fumble Recovery | What target changes the scene if it goes down or backs off? |
| A way through a protected opponent | Spot Weakness | Is fighting still cheaper than a different route? |
| Time under fire | Damage Deflection | What is the crew accomplishing while I hold this position? |
This approach keeps the Solo from treating every encounter as a damage race. A Solo can choose to protect, threaten, observe, reposition, or disengage. The GM can make all of those choices matter by putting people, cover, exits, and objectives into the scene.
Add cyberware with a purpose
Cyberware can support a Solo, but it should not be a substitute for a plan. The Core Rulebook's Solo fiction points toward combat augmentation, and the rules still require you to check foundations, available capacity, Humanity Loss, money, and installation conditions. Use the Cyberpunk RED Cyberware Guide to make that process intentional.
Choose chrome by the recurring situation it changes:
| Character need | Cyberware direction | Better question than "What gives the biggest bonus?" |
|---|---|---|
| Notice a threat or gather proof | Sensory cyberware and compatible options. | What clue or attack route can I now catch early? |
| Operate specialist equipment | The required neural or body foundation first. | Will this come up in the jobs the campaign actually runs? |
| Protect someone through a known hazard | A defensive or body-oriented choice suited to that pressure. | Who does this keep in the scene? |
| Make the character's history visible | A distinctive but purposeful modification. | What does a client, rival, or old unit recognize at first glance? |
Keep Humanity and downtime in the conversation. An installation can produce a useful new option, a new debt, a clinic relationship, or a line the character has decided not to cross. Those are better campaign hooks than an upgrade purchased only because it was available. The Humanity Loss guide explains how to use that pressure without treating cyberware as a morality score or cyberpsychosis as a violence shortcut.
Who the Solo is buying time for
Combat Awareness is always spent on someone's behalf. Naming that person before the job is what turns a strong fighter into the reason a plan works.
| The Solo is covering | What that looks like at the table |
|---|---|
| The Netrunner | Holding the access point, because the Netrunner has to stay within 6 m/yds of it to keep working. |
| The Medtech | Keeping a patient's surroundings calm enough for treatment to finish. |
| The Fixer or Media | Protecting a meeting, interview, or handover until the other side has said what the crew came for. |
| The Tech | Covering a repair or install that cannot be rushed. |
| Everyone at once | Forcing opposition to choose between chasing the Solo and stopping the rest of the crew. |
The Netrunner pairing needs the most agreement up front. The Netrunner needs a physical access point, time, and a crew that understands what opening a system will change. The Solo can help create that time by reading a threat, securing a route, protecting the access point, or forcing opposition to respond somewhere else.
Use the Cyberpunk RED Netrunning Guide for the core NET workflow and the Netrunner guide for the Netrunner's side of the job. Agree on a simple callout before every job: what does the Netrunner need protected, and what signal tells the Solo that the objective is complete?
Where to go next
Return to the Cyberpunk RED Roles Guide for the full Role map. Read the Cyberware Guide and Humanity Loss guide before making an augmentation plan, the Weapons Guide when a carried loadout must protect a real objective, and the Netrunning Guide when your Solo is protecting an on-site run. The Cyberpunk RED Guide Hub and guide directory list every published route.
Sources and scope
This guide summarizes the Solo and Combat Awareness material in the Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook, including the Role overview and Combat Awareness rules. It lists Combat Awareness point costs in short form but does not reproduce combat tables, equipment lists, or cyberware catalogs. Use the Core Rulebook for exact rules and values.
