Attributes

Attributes are the points V spends to decide what kind of mercenary to be. There are the five raised with attribute points, Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence and Cool, and the Relic tree, which is bought with Relic points instead. Each of them raises a basic number, improves a set of weapons, opens dialogue and world checks, and holds a perk tree of its own.

What a Point Buys

Every point spent raises one number permanently. Body deepens the health bar, Reflexes raises critical hit chance, Technical Ability adds armour, Intelligence adds to maximum RAM and Cool raises critical damage.

Those are the quiet part. The louder part is the gates. Perks in a tree sit behind four of them, named Rookie, Pro, Phenom and Legend, and each gate needs a set number of points in that attribute before anything behind it can be bought at all. A build with points spread thinly across every attribute will never open a Legend gate.

Weapons

Each attribute improves a group of weapons, and the groups do not overlap. Body covers shotguns, machine guns and blunt weapons. Reflexes covers assault rifles, submachine guns and blades. Technical Ability covers grenades, Tech weapons and the Projectile Launch System. Intelligence covers smart weapons. Cool covers pistols, revolvers, precision rifles, sniper rifles and throwable weapons.

That division is what makes the choice of attribute a choice of weapon. A build that wants a katana and an assault rifle has already decided to raise Reflexes, and one that wants a sniper rifle has already decided on Cool.

Checks

Attributes also open things that are not fights. Body forces doors and tears heavy machine guns off their mountings. Technical Ability bypasses locks and overrides devices. Intelligence reaches local subnets. Reflexes and Cool mostly open dialogue, one in quick observations and the other in subtler replies.

Those checks are scattered through the jobs and gigs, and a build with more than one attribute raised finds routes that a single minded build has to shoot its way through.

Skills

Each of the five has a skill that rises on its own from the way V fights. Solo belongs to Body, Shinobi to Reflexes, Engineer to Technical Ability, Netrunner to Intelligence and Headhunter to Cool. Nothing is spent on them, and the attribute's own level caps how far they can climb.

Relic

Relic is the sixth tree and it does not take attribute points. It holds the perks bought with Relic points, which unlock abilities on arm cyberware and give V a way of seeing weak points in enemy armour. It is paced by Phantom Liberty rather than by character level.

Notes

Attribute points cannot be moved once spent without a respec, and the cost of respeccing climbs, so the order they go in matters. The usual advice is to reach one gate in the attribute a build is named for before spreading anything, since an unopened gate makes every perk behind it worthless.

All Attributes

Every attribute V spends points in is listed below, with the skill it levels and what one point buys.

Name	Skill	Per Point	Perks
Body	Solo	+2 max Health	Body Perks
Reflexes	Shinobi	+0.5% Crit Chance	Reflexes Perks
Technical Ability	Engineer	+2 Armor	Technical Ability Perks
Intelligence	Netrunner	+1 max RAM per 4 points	Intelligence Perks
Cool	Headhunter	+1.25% Crit Damage	Cool Perks
Relic	-	-	Relic Perks