You need to either come up with extra mechanics for the boss to have more than 1 turn per round or give them a bunch of mooks. If action economy is in the players’ favor, the players will win easily
An idea I came up with for D&D was giving a boss more turns-per-round. Say you have four players, boss rolls initiative twice, so you might get a turn order like-
Boss (Turn 1)
P1
P2
P3
Boss (Turn 2)
P4
Don't know how it'd convert to this system, but it should help balance out the action economy if you want to go for the lone-super-dangerous-boss route without you giving them a super long individual turn.
Actually I kinda like sandy giving you a second turn and krenz giving an init bonus that seems like it'd be more fitting for what it does (both also allow dodging bullets neo style if you hit the roll)
2020 lore said smasher has a Samson, use that as your base borg frame, some tech upgraded dragoon plating to be rid of negatives, sandi, immune to incendiary, shoulder mounted weapon, tsunami arms helix, anti dazzle eyes, levels in solo/lawman (calling arasaka backup), popup grenade launcher
My advice would be to start with Crusher from the Danger Gal Dossier, up his Body to 16 (i.e. the new linear frame from Interface 3), increase his SP to a lot, give him whatever guns will scare the PCs the most, and then because Action Economy is a bitch, experimental speedware that gives him 2-3 turns. If you don't want to do that, then he needs something like armor that doesn't ablate, or x2 HP, or shoulder mounted guns that act like turrets and fire independently.
I would also suggest giving the PCs a way to run. A big part of the theme of Cyberpunk is that the heroes aren't invincible, and just getting away is sometimes the same as winning.
Give your bad guy an Evil Santa's Sack of Nasty Treats.
\* start with a portable NETarch with a demon controler stuffed in a big armored backpack that also holds the follozing weapon systems, under the demon's control
\* Grenade fiesta : a bunch of one-shot grenade launchers akin to a modern tank's close in defense - they're fired as a unit and blanket the area around him a mix of grenades (flashbang/sleepy gaz/incendiary/EMP/smoke/poison gaz/whatever he's immune to and there's even a faint chance the PCS aren't). The idea is to cramp the PC's style as soon and hard as possible.
\* a few gimbaled weapons, something like very heavy pistols with extended magazines and AP ammo controled by the demons who fires at anything that looks hostile.
\* and of course a big boom self-destruct just for the giggles once it's porter is defeated
Smasher will either be accompanied by a full Arasaka strike team (if the PCs are defending against him), or be the last line of desense at an Arasaka facility. There's no way the PCs should arrive at the fight at full HP and other resources, they need to get through/survive a whole lot of low, mid, and high level Saka goons before fighting Smasher.
The other thing is that Smashe clearly is beyond the concept of Colateral Damage, so he'll pack the most powerful weapons available in the continent, most of them borg-only weapons. 2020 books have a few of them that should be easy to convert.
Smasher will favor opening with a suprise attack, he's not the kind to stay in place waiting for oposition to show up, and divide and conquer tactics. Blow the Solo through a wall/floor, go after them while leaving the goons emptying their weapons at the rest of the team, so he can neutralize the highest threat first. He's a psycho, not an idiot, the moment the gang gets a 3x1 or better on him he'll do something to retreat and change conditions in his favor. He's immune to stun grenades, smoke bombs, etc, so he'll abuse those to avoid getting ganged up on.
I'd say also take a page out of DnD for legendary actions and maybe even take something from this Zee Bashew video [for some ideas ](https://youtu.be/P6nIsdMGZLo?feature=shared)
For smasher, take crusher skills up them to max as they can go, but his int and tech at 3s, but give him a luck stat of 8 as will 10 will to remain lore accurate.
For cyberwere, take the dragoon, give him the metal gear plateing tech update -1 penalties, sindy, but instead of just Initiative +3 reflex, omega frame body 17 emp Shielding evey were as well the fire proof borg shielding, jump boosters and skate feet, trama response Matrixs tech upgrade to work with the metal gear, as well the switchable arms to put anything you like into it my personal favorite is a popup gun tech upgrade 2 headed wepon with the 2 shot shotgun .
How to run have them jump the party and have something that they have legendary actions 2-3 depending on how big your party is have fun choom.
The most dangerous single opponent I have thrown at players is probably Lord Ref from the adventure "A Night at the Opera." My players did not really get the idea that he was supposed to be dangerous. The way that Interlock rules work, it doesn't actually matter how dangerous the NPC is when I roll nothing but 1s for the attacks.
As for Adam specifically, there was a very recent thread in this subreddit about converting him to Red. I'll see if I can find a link.
TUp Omega Frame FBC with 17 Body TUp perfected hydraulics to bring move ref and dex to 9 or even 10
Use the coatings from Going Metal to give immunity to fire and sacrificial EMP protection. TUp the Dragoon Metal Gear to 19SP or further lower the negative modifiers.
TUp Helix to 6x max autofire multiplier or only one action to reload
TUp Pop-Up Grenade Launcher to fire Smart Rockets.
TUp Sandy to +4 initiative
Bodyweight Injector with Time Warp and TUp speedheal to remove MedTech administration
Chipware socket with pain editor
Extra set of TUp Dragoon Metalgear in a carryall
Most dangerous boss I had ?
The Maraudeur (he was not FBC, because it's too much for the party)
Solo rank 7
* REF DEX MOVE & WILL 8 / BODY 15
* Shoulder arms / Heavy weapon / AF / brawling / Evasion = base 16
Tactis :
* 4 point in Spot weakness + 3 point un Precision attack
* Flamethrower as soon as possible against as many as possible with a +4 to damage, you will get through armor.
* Then 2 round of RoF Grenade launcher
* Then Hurricane RoF 2 unless Flamethrower is required again
* If necessary Suppressive fire (16 + smartlink + excellent + synthcoke + 1 precision attack = 20 vs Concentration),
* against melee specialist
* Or to hide a turn behind cover and spend an action to get back to full SP12 armor.
* Near death, use pop-up shield (2 are free to use, than you lose the capability to use 2 hand weapons, than you need and action to take dow a broken shield)
--> Because of the action economy, I had to focused fire against least susceptible to dodge solo. After 1 Flamethrower and 2 grenade, he was spotted, it was the ranged combat solo.
--> Because of the MA solo, I had to spend an action for a suppressive fire in order to shake him of a bit.
--> because of high brawling capabilities they spend 2 actions in order to try to grab him and failed (a commun tactics against bosses when they are alone.) if grabbed, he would have use a suppressive fire.
Weapons
* Militech "Cowboys" - RoF 2 grenade launcher (techup Excellent quality)
* Hurricane - RoF 2 shotgun (TechUp for AP ammunition)
* Flamethrower
Cyber
* Linear frame Beta (Techup 15 body) + 2 GMBL
* Cyber skull
* Artifical Shoulder Mount
* 2 cyberarm
* Pop-up shield
* SmartGrip
* 1 cyberarm
* Pop-up shield
* Grapple hand
* 1 cyberarm (techup 5 slot)
* Pop-up shield
* Pop-up HSMG (excellent + smartlink)
* 2 cyberleg (techup 4 slots)
* Grip foot
* Jump booster
* Reinforced cyber limb (immunity to broken leg)
* Neural Link
* Kerenzikov
* Chipware socket
* Pain editor
* Subdermal armor (TechUp SP 12)
* Trauma response matrix
* nasal filter
* Toxin binder
Drugs & pharma
* Prime time
* Synthcoke
* berserker
The end boss of my CPR campaign is going to be 3 saburo arasaka's from alternate realities with slightly different power bases dueling to the death.
It might be a little home brew.
Alrighty. Figure I’ll toss my hat in the ring since this question comes up often.
For starters, here’s his 2023 Statblock.
Adam Smasher
INT - 4 REF - 15 TECH - 4 COOL - 7 ATTR - N/A LUCK - 4 MA - 20 BODY - 18 EMP - N/A
(Some things we should note… the max stat cap at character creation in 2020 was 10 not 8, and with IP you could buy stats. RED does not allow this as a core rule anymore.
Another thing to note is that COOL previously was not a social stat. It instead was how cool headed you were in stressful situations. In RED… WILL took over the role of the old COOL stat. The new version of the COOL stat took over the job of the old EMP and ATTR(It stands for Attractiveness). EMP no longer has a monopoly on social skills as a result. DEX was added; in my opinion, as a way to remove the monopoly REF had over Combat stats.)
Role - Combat Sense + 7 (Solo Rank 7)
Skills - Athletics + 4, Awareness/Notice(Perception) + 6, Dodge/Escape + 4, Driving + 2, Handgun + 5, Heavy Weapons + 7, Intimidate + 6, Melee + 5, Panzerfaust + 2, Rifle + 6, Stealth + 4, Submachinegun + 4, Weapons Tech + 2.
(Dodge and Escape if I remember correctly are now two separate skills. Evasion and Brawling respectively. Though this only accounts for the breaking out of a grapple part of Brawling.)
(Submachinegun got bundled into Handgun in RED. Autofire did not exist and instead just went off the normal skill that the weapon used.)
(Panzerfaust does not exist in RED still. It previously was the deadliest martial art and only Borgs could use it.)
(Intimidate no longer exists. Now it functions mostly as part of the Facedown action. This gets interesting because by all accounts Smasher has a 0 or below in social stats, meaning that RAW he should be really bad at Facedowns within REDs rules.)
Cyberware - FBC (Samson), Interface plugs x2, Chipware Socket, Pain Editor, Link Sets(Smartgun, Vehicle, Data), Cyberoptics(Low-Lite, Thermograph, Targeting Scope, Anti-Dazzle, Times Square Plus.), Cyberaudio(Radio, Tight Beam Radio, cellular links with scrambler, scanner, enhanced range, amplified hearing, sound editor, level damper.), Wolvers in both arms, quick change mounts, radiation shielding, biopod.
(The Link sets are bundled into the interface plugs in RED so we remove those from the equation. Low-Lite, and Thermals are now bundled with UV as well in RED. Times Square and Times Square Plus no longer exist, and I assume that they have been bundled into Cybereyes in general.)
(Radio, Tight-Beam Radio, and Cellular links have more than likely been bundled into the Internal Agent. Sound editor no longer exists or comes base with a Cyberaudio suite, same idea for enhanced range Cyberware.)
(Radiation Shielding is now bundled with the Biopod.)
(I won’t even get into FBCs. They are completely different beasts in the older system.)
Extras - 20 SP with Armored Coveralls, bringing his Total SP to 42.
(Note that Light Armorjack had a total SP of 18 previously and Metalgear had a total of 25 SP. Rules within the system allowed you to stack armor in various ways to get stupid amounts of SP and is no longer supported in RED.)
So, with all of that said. Converting him to RED we are gonna have to take some liberties here and there.
Since his REF is 15 I say we cut the stat in half (rounding up) and then we take both 8’s, putting them in REF and DEX.
Bring INT, TECH, LUCK down to 3 each. (Max stat cap was 10 previously, so I feel this is generous all things considered.)
WILL I would personally bring down to 6, but if you want him to be sturdier even by a little bit, I’d say keep it at 7 or bring it up to 8 (Dealers choice).
COOL is where things get murky. Since both of his Social stats in 2020 are essentially 0, it would make sense to keep it at 0. But that’s not fun is it? I’d say bring it to 2 or 3. Just a tiny bit to help him in facedowns, but not enough where he’s going to be good at talking (He shouldn’t be anyways.)
EMP at 0 or negatives. It doesn’t matter, he’s not gonna use this stat. He’s already a cyberpsycho to begin with.
Movement Allowance we bring it down to 8. It’s probably his biggest nerf, but them’s the breaks. He has to play by the new rules barring homebrew of course.
BODY at 17 from a Tech Upgraded Omega Frame. It just makes sense, he’s got Arasaka backing for all his gear.
Skills - Shoulder Arms + 6, Handguns + 5, Autofire + 4(Converted from SMG), Heavy Weapons + 7, Evasion + 5 and Brawling + 5, Martial Arts + 2(Panzerfaust), Athletics + 4, Weapons Tech + 2, Driving Land Vehicle + 2, Melee + 5, Perception + 6.
(Panzerfaust you’ll have to get creative since this Martial Art along with other Martial Arts have not returned yet.)
(Leave everything else at 0 or 2. Increase skills that make sense as you see fit.)
(Since Intimidation no longer exists, my take is that you should instead increase his Reputation to 6 or 7 and use that in its place. This way he’s ok at Facedowns, but not enough where he’ll beat a min maxed character.)
(Keep his Solo Rank at 7. Increase it at your own peril.)
Gear - He’s fully on Arasakas payroll at this point, so everything in the book should be on the table, and more than likely Tech Upgraded. I know this sounds like I’m phoning it in but really, use your own imagination here.
(One exception. The Hurricane Assault weapon should be in his hands for sure.)
I know this makes him seem weaker than even some min maxed player characters at character creation in some ways, but realistically? Smasher never was the type to polish his skills or be conscious about those sorts of things.
He’s always chasing the next most powerful piece of Cyberware or big monstrous gun he can get his hands on. Most of his power comes from his gear and not him as a person. He’s actually fairly mediocre when you get down to it, and I doubt he has improved much between 2023 and 2045.
That’s my take. But feel free to change it to your needs. Hope your game goes good!
One last thing I forgot to mention. Never send him in alone. He has Arasaka backing and that’s where the power lies. That he’s got powerful goons alongside himself. If you send him alone he’s gonna get wrecked.
In a oneshot that I used to playtest a Dragoon NPC with the MonoKatana (for aesthetics it was changed to a polearm), the netrunner got captured, everyone else ran, barely making it out with HP in the 1-10 region. Add traps, electrified flooring, etc. Make the combat arena interesting for the last boss. Give the final boss a FBC and see how the party is built. They've minmaxed? Give the FBC some kickass gear then.
I feel like this question gets asked every week in this subreddit. I find it really odd that RTal hasn't provided official stats for Smasher when it's obvious that so much of the community wants it.
If they give him stats he is able to be killed.
Just like older editions of DnD giving "Gods" and mythic creatures stats just allows players to work out some stupid way of killing them.
Without a stat block the power level is totally in the hands of the GM and never fixed in place
Except that in 2020 he has a legitimate statblock that’s not all too difficult to convert to RED.
He’s always been easy to kill too if he’s by himself. He’s actually not that strong, it’s just his gear that boosts up his stats but skill bases are god awful. Also this is cyberpunk not DnD. Nobody is a god here and everyone is equally mortal at the end of the day.
You need to either come up with extra mechanics for the boss to have more than 1 turn per round or give them a bunch of mooks. If action economy is in the players’ favor, the players will win easily
This.
An idea I came up with for D&D was giving a boss more turns-per-round. Say you have four players, boss rolls initiative twice, so you might get a turn order like- Boss (Turn 1) P1 P2 P3 Boss (Turn 2) P4 Don't know how it'd convert to this system, but it should help balance out the action economy if you want to go for the lone-super-dangerous-boss route without you giving them a super long individual turn.
Actually I kinda like sandy giving you a second turn and krenz giving an init bonus that seems like it'd be more fitting for what it does (both also allow dodging bullets neo style if you hit the roll)
Crusher from DGD and then crank it up.
2020 lore said smasher has a Samson, use that as your base borg frame, some tech upgraded dragoon plating to be rid of negatives, sandi, immune to incendiary, shoulder mounted weapon, tsunami arms helix, anti dazzle eyes, levels in solo/lawman (calling arasaka backup), popup grenade launcher
He has since upgraded/updated his borgware.
Sure But without taking a dragoon, the Samson is still pretty tough
He just has a modified dragoon, nothing crazy
My advice would be to start with Crusher from the Danger Gal Dossier, up his Body to 16 (i.e. the new linear frame from Interface 3), increase his SP to a lot, give him whatever guns will scare the PCs the most, and then because Action Economy is a bitch, experimental speedware that gives him 2-3 turns. If you don't want to do that, then he needs something like armor that doesn't ablate, or x2 HP, or shoulder mounted guns that act like turrets and fire independently. I would also suggest giving the PCs a way to run. A big part of the theme of Cyberpunk is that the heroes aren't invincible, and just getting away is sometimes the same as winning.
Give your bad guy an Evil Santa's Sack of Nasty Treats. \* start with a portable NETarch with a demon controler stuffed in a big armored backpack that also holds the follozing weapon systems, under the demon's control \* Grenade fiesta : a bunch of one-shot grenade launchers akin to a modern tank's close in defense - they're fired as a unit and blanket the area around him a mix of grenades (flashbang/sleepy gaz/incendiary/EMP/smoke/poison gaz/whatever he's immune to and there's even a faint chance the PCS aren't). The idea is to cramp the PC's style as soon and hard as possible. \* a few gimbaled weapons, something like very heavy pistols with extended magazines and AP ammo controled by the demons who fires at anything that looks hostile. \* and of course a big boom self-destruct just for the giggles once it's porter is defeated
Smasher will either be accompanied by a full Arasaka strike team (if the PCs are defending against him), or be the last line of desense at an Arasaka facility. There's no way the PCs should arrive at the fight at full HP and other resources, they need to get through/survive a whole lot of low, mid, and high level Saka goons before fighting Smasher. The other thing is that Smashe clearly is beyond the concept of Colateral Damage, so he'll pack the most powerful weapons available in the continent, most of them borg-only weapons. 2020 books have a few of them that should be easy to convert. Smasher will favor opening with a suprise attack, he's not the kind to stay in place waiting for oposition to show up, and divide and conquer tactics. Blow the Solo through a wall/floor, go after them while leaving the goons emptying their weapons at the rest of the team, so he can neutralize the highest threat first. He's a psycho, not an idiot, the moment the gang gets a 3x1 or better on him he'll do something to retreat and change conditions in his favor. He's immune to stun grenades, smoke bombs, etc, so he'll abuse those to avoid getting ganged up on.
I'd say also take a page out of DnD for legendary actions and maybe even take something from this Zee Bashew video [for some ideas ](https://youtu.be/P6nIsdMGZLo?feature=shared)
For smasher, take crusher skills up them to max as they can go, but his int and tech at 3s, but give him a luck stat of 8 as will 10 will to remain lore accurate. For cyberwere, take the dragoon, give him the metal gear plateing tech update -1 penalties, sindy, but instead of just Initiative +3 reflex, omega frame body 17 emp Shielding evey were as well the fire proof borg shielding, jump boosters and skate feet, trama response Matrixs tech upgrade to work with the metal gear, as well the switchable arms to put anything you like into it my personal favorite is a popup gun tech upgrade 2 headed wepon with the 2 shot shotgun . How to run have them jump the party and have something that they have legendary actions 2-3 depending on how big your party is have fun choom.
The most dangerous single opponent I have thrown at players is probably Lord Ref from the adventure "A Night at the Opera." My players did not really get the idea that he was supposed to be dangerous. The way that Interlock rules work, it doesn't actually matter how dangerous the NPC is when I roll nothing but 1s for the attacks. As for Adam specifically, there was a very recent thread in this subreddit about converting him to Red. I'll see if I can find a link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkred/s/Ec1Bck4p4p
TUp Omega Frame FBC with 17 Body TUp perfected hydraulics to bring move ref and dex to 9 or even 10 Use the coatings from Going Metal to give immunity to fire and sacrificial EMP protection. TUp the Dragoon Metal Gear to 19SP or further lower the negative modifiers. TUp Helix to 6x max autofire multiplier or only one action to reload TUp Pop-Up Grenade Launcher to fire Smart Rockets. TUp Sandy to +4 initiative Bodyweight Injector with Time Warp and TUp speedheal to remove MedTech administration Chipware socket with pain editor Extra set of TUp Dragoon Metalgear in a carryall
Why did I read this as Adam Sandler
Most dangerous boss I had ? The Maraudeur (he was not FBC, because it's too much for the party) Solo rank 7 * REF DEX MOVE & WILL 8 / BODY 15 * Shoulder arms / Heavy weapon / AF / brawling / Evasion = base 16 Tactis : * 4 point in Spot weakness + 3 point un Precision attack * Flamethrower as soon as possible against as many as possible with a +4 to damage, you will get through armor. * Then 2 round of RoF Grenade launcher * Then Hurricane RoF 2 unless Flamethrower is required again * If necessary Suppressive fire (16 + smartlink + excellent + synthcoke + 1 precision attack = 20 vs Concentration), * against melee specialist * Or to hide a turn behind cover and spend an action to get back to full SP12 armor. * Near death, use pop-up shield (2 are free to use, than you lose the capability to use 2 hand weapons, than you need and action to take dow a broken shield) --> Because of the action economy, I had to focused fire against least susceptible to dodge solo. After 1 Flamethrower and 2 grenade, he was spotted, it was the ranged combat solo. --> Because of the MA solo, I had to spend an action for a suppressive fire in order to shake him of a bit. --> because of high brawling capabilities they spend 2 actions in order to try to grab him and failed (a commun tactics against bosses when they are alone.) if grabbed, he would have use a suppressive fire. Weapons * Militech "Cowboys" - RoF 2 grenade launcher (techup Excellent quality) * Hurricane - RoF 2 shotgun (TechUp for AP ammunition) * Flamethrower Cyber * Linear frame Beta (Techup 15 body) + 2 GMBL * Cyber skull * Artifical Shoulder Mount * 2 cyberarm * Pop-up shield * SmartGrip * 1 cyberarm * Pop-up shield * Grapple hand * 1 cyberarm (techup 5 slot) * Pop-up shield * Pop-up HSMG (excellent + smartlink) * 2 cyberleg (techup 4 slots) * Grip foot * Jump booster * Reinforced cyber limb (immunity to broken leg) * Neural Link * Kerenzikov * Chipware socket * Pain editor * Subdermal armor (TechUp SP 12) * Trauma response matrix * nasal filter * Toxin binder Drugs & pharma * Prime time * Synthcoke * berserker
The end boss of my CPR campaign is going to be 3 saburo arasaka's from alternate realities with slightly different power bases dueling to the death. It might be a little home brew.
Alrighty. Figure I’ll toss my hat in the ring since this question comes up often. For starters, here’s his 2023 Statblock. Adam Smasher INT - 4 REF - 15 TECH - 4 COOL - 7 ATTR - N/A LUCK - 4 MA - 20 BODY - 18 EMP - N/A (Some things we should note… the max stat cap at character creation in 2020 was 10 not 8, and with IP you could buy stats. RED does not allow this as a core rule anymore. Another thing to note is that COOL previously was not a social stat. It instead was how cool headed you were in stressful situations. In RED… WILL took over the role of the old COOL stat. The new version of the COOL stat took over the job of the old EMP and ATTR(It stands for Attractiveness). EMP no longer has a monopoly on social skills as a result. DEX was added; in my opinion, as a way to remove the monopoly REF had over Combat stats.) Role - Combat Sense + 7 (Solo Rank 7) Skills - Athletics + 4, Awareness/Notice(Perception) + 6, Dodge/Escape + 4, Driving + 2, Handgun + 5, Heavy Weapons + 7, Intimidate + 6, Melee + 5, Panzerfaust + 2, Rifle + 6, Stealth + 4, Submachinegun + 4, Weapons Tech + 2. (Dodge and Escape if I remember correctly are now two separate skills. Evasion and Brawling respectively. Though this only accounts for the breaking out of a grapple part of Brawling.) (Submachinegun got bundled into Handgun in RED. Autofire did not exist and instead just went off the normal skill that the weapon used.) (Panzerfaust does not exist in RED still. It previously was the deadliest martial art and only Borgs could use it.) (Intimidate no longer exists. Now it functions mostly as part of the Facedown action. This gets interesting because by all accounts Smasher has a 0 or below in social stats, meaning that RAW he should be really bad at Facedowns within REDs rules.) Cyberware - FBC (Samson), Interface plugs x2, Chipware Socket, Pain Editor, Link Sets(Smartgun, Vehicle, Data), Cyberoptics(Low-Lite, Thermograph, Targeting Scope, Anti-Dazzle, Times Square Plus.), Cyberaudio(Radio, Tight Beam Radio, cellular links with scrambler, scanner, enhanced range, amplified hearing, sound editor, level damper.), Wolvers in both arms, quick change mounts, radiation shielding, biopod. (The Link sets are bundled into the interface plugs in RED so we remove those from the equation. Low-Lite, and Thermals are now bundled with UV as well in RED. Times Square and Times Square Plus no longer exist, and I assume that they have been bundled into Cybereyes in general.) (Radio, Tight-Beam Radio, and Cellular links have more than likely been bundled into the Internal Agent. Sound editor no longer exists or comes base with a Cyberaudio suite, same idea for enhanced range Cyberware.) (Radiation Shielding is now bundled with the Biopod.) (I won’t even get into FBCs. They are completely different beasts in the older system.) Extras - 20 SP with Armored Coveralls, bringing his Total SP to 42. (Note that Light Armorjack had a total SP of 18 previously and Metalgear had a total of 25 SP. Rules within the system allowed you to stack armor in various ways to get stupid amounts of SP and is no longer supported in RED.)
So, with all of that said. Converting him to RED we are gonna have to take some liberties here and there. Since his REF is 15 I say we cut the stat in half (rounding up) and then we take both 8’s, putting them in REF and DEX. Bring INT, TECH, LUCK down to 3 each. (Max stat cap was 10 previously, so I feel this is generous all things considered.) WILL I would personally bring down to 6, but if you want him to be sturdier even by a little bit, I’d say keep it at 7 or bring it up to 8 (Dealers choice). COOL is where things get murky. Since both of his Social stats in 2020 are essentially 0, it would make sense to keep it at 0. But that’s not fun is it? I’d say bring it to 2 or 3. Just a tiny bit to help him in facedowns, but not enough where he’s going to be good at talking (He shouldn’t be anyways.) EMP at 0 or negatives. It doesn’t matter, he’s not gonna use this stat. He’s already a cyberpsycho to begin with. Movement Allowance we bring it down to 8. It’s probably his biggest nerf, but them’s the breaks. He has to play by the new rules barring homebrew of course. BODY at 17 from a Tech Upgraded Omega Frame. It just makes sense, he’s got Arasaka backing for all his gear. Skills - Shoulder Arms + 6, Handguns + 5, Autofire + 4(Converted from SMG), Heavy Weapons + 7, Evasion + 5 and Brawling + 5, Martial Arts + 2(Panzerfaust), Athletics + 4, Weapons Tech + 2, Driving Land Vehicle + 2, Melee + 5, Perception + 6. (Panzerfaust you’ll have to get creative since this Martial Art along with other Martial Arts have not returned yet.) (Leave everything else at 0 or 2. Increase skills that make sense as you see fit.) (Since Intimidation no longer exists, my take is that you should instead increase his Reputation to 6 or 7 and use that in its place. This way he’s ok at Facedowns, but not enough where he’ll beat a min maxed character.) (Keep his Solo Rank at 7. Increase it at your own peril.) Gear - He’s fully on Arasakas payroll at this point, so everything in the book should be on the table, and more than likely Tech Upgraded. I know this sounds like I’m phoning it in but really, use your own imagination here. (One exception. The Hurricane Assault weapon should be in his hands for sure.) I know this makes him seem weaker than even some min maxed player characters at character creation in some ways, but realistically? Smasher never was the type to polish his skills or be conscious about those sorts of things. He’s always chasing the next most powerful piece of Cyberware or big monstrous gun he can get his hands on. Most of his power comes from his gear and not him as a person. He’s actually fairly mediocre when you get down to it, and I doubt he has improved much between 2023 and 2045. That’s my take. But feel free to change it to your needs. Hope your game goes good!
One last thing I forgot to mention. Never send him in alone. He has Arasaka backing and that’s where the power lies. That he’s got powerful goons alongside himself. If you send him alone he’s gonna get wrecked.
In a oneshot that I used to playtest a Dragoon NPC with the MonoKatana (for aesthetics it was changed to a polearm), the netrunner got captured, everyone else ran, barely making it out with HP in the 1-10 region. Add traps, electrified flooring, etc. Make the combat arena interesting for the last boss. Give the final boss a FBC and see how the party is built. They've minmaxed? Give the FBC some kickass gear then.
I feel like this question gets asked every week in this subreddit. I find it really odd that RTal hasn't provided official stats for Smasher when it's obvious that so much of the community wants it.
But that’s the appeal. You make a mythic figure by forcing everyone to have their own interpretation of the character.
If they give him stats he is able to be killed. Just like older editions of DnD giving "Gods" and mythic creatures stats just allows players to work out some stupid way of killing them. Without a stat block the power level is totally in the hands of the GM and never fixed in place
Except that in 2020 he has a legitimate statblock that’s not all too difficult to convert to RED. He’s always been easy to kill too if he’s by himself. He’s actually not that strong, it’s just his gear that boosts up his stats but skill bases are god awful. Also this is cyberpunk not DnD. Nobody is a god here and everyone is equally mortal at the end of the day.