Customizing the characters

I've been brainstorming on a way to do Advantages/Disadvantages or feats or somewhat of that style.

My reasoning is simple ... I want characters to be more unique. For all the things that d20 does wrong, I like the "Feats" concept, in which you can make two identical warriors completely different with their feat list.

Other games does the same with perks or advantages you can chose on the character creation, giving him a special flavor. Which I don't always like because ... that kind of advantages usually can only be acquired during character creation, eliminating some kind of in-game progress.

Luckily - between implants and equipment - Cyberpunk gives plenty of options for customizing your character and make it stand from others. But when you play regularly with "strangers" in public games (or forum play) ... well, characters begin to resemble more and more (mechanically), as they go for the obvious/cliche choices.

However Advantages/Disadvantages have their own problems ... too often they are a simple collection of numbers that only serve to min/max character sheets without really adding any flavor to it.

The tough character is going to make himself tougher, the faster one will accumulate as many initiative modifiers as he can, etc, etc.

Also, a lot of players tend to chose disadvantages carefully, exploiting and planing on making the minor impact possible for the game.

So ... disadvantages? I think I would discard them. Your netrunner lost the leg in a gruesome accident? You're free to do it. Just don't expect something in return.

That leaves me with some sort of advantage/trait system to work with. Maybe something limited like "two traits perks per character".

But I wouldn't like those traits becoming simple numerical bonuses to skills ...  they should be a little more complex and colorful. Numerical advantages tend to be forgotten during play unless a player min/max them unbalancing games.

So ... if you want a greater initiative, put more points into reflexes and buy some boostware, if you want to be a though guy, boost your BOD.

Which make those perks/advantages/traits harder to make :P

So far I failed to make a good list. They always end on the short side ... or uninspired. And, to be fair, if those perks aren't really "game changing" it's a bit of a dumb decision to add complexity to the game for the sake of doing it.

They have to be good enough to justify adding them ...

So, for now, I will continue to circle the idea like a vulture watching it's prey.