08-17-2018, 12:07 AM | #1 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
Electrical [-20] is an exotic physical disadvantage, which appeared at GURPS 4e. You rely on electric power, or have electronics within your body that are not comprehensively protected and shielded. The commonest reason for this disadvantage is being a robot, or something else with the Machine meta-trait, but there are plenty of valid explanations for it, such as electrically powered prosthetics or implants, or alien biology.
Electrical makes you susceptible to attacks that disrupt the functioning of electrical equipment, in ways that ordinary biological creatures are not. These can include advantages, spells and technological electrical attacks, powerful magnetic fields, and electromagnetic pulses from nuclear blasts. Attacks that only affect targets with this disadvantage can be bought with an Aspected, Only on Electrical, -20%, limitation. Critical hits from electrical attacks will knock you unconscious, in addition to any other effects. High-Tech tells us that machines are vulnerable to radiation if they have Electrical, while Horror has evil computers with this disadvantage, and ghosts with attacks that affect computers. Power-Ups 8 describes cybernetics that have Electrical as a Temporary Disadvantage, Powers has plenty of examples of Only on Electrical and Enhanced Senses has power modifiers that use it. Psi-Tech has implanted devices, and brains implanted in machines, and Psionic Powers has an ideal attack against this disadvantage. That would be handy in Reign of Steel: Will to Live, where all the robots are Electrical, but is unlikely to be available. Just be thankful robots don’t have access to Sorcery: Protection and Warning Spells, which offers complete protection. Transhuman Space: Changing Times has implanted equipment with useful resistance to electrical attacks, which would be worth adding to a revised Ultra-Tech. You even get electric Zombies. While I’ve played quite a bit of Reign of Steel, we never tried electrocuting robots, since guns and explosives worked OK, and we spent far more time in sewers than power stations. Has this disadvantage had shock value in your games?
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08-17-2018, 01:31 AM | #2 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
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08-17-2018, 01:40 AM | #3 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
I should note that Changing Times (and other publications after it) are inconsistent with the lore, as the corebook clearly states that THS the brain-computer interface is nano-optical (TS64), and in general 'electronics' use optical systems with molecular memories and processors (TS141) and are completely immune to electromagnetic pulses (the vulnerability to which is the main thing Electrical gets you).
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08-17-2018, 01:55 AM | #4 | |
Computer Scientist
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dallas, Texas
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
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08-17-2018, 11:35 AM | #5 | |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
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Seems reasonable to me; THS is only supposed to be about a century after its publication date, and cutting down on technological miracles that aren't vital to the setting is reasonable.
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The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
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08-17-2018, 11:58 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
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08-17-2018, 12:01 PM | #7 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
I've found the biggest factor in electrical is susceptibility to EMP.
I has come up in a game recently that EMP in the book doesn't match real EMP's. Real EMP's do damage, while the book EMP renders the character unconscious.
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08-17-2018, 12:37 PM | #8 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
There seems to be an implication that characters worthy of a character sheet have surge protectors or something like that. At least I vaguely recall lwcamp offering this as an interpretation of why electrical characters aren't lost forever from such a hit.
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08-17-2018, 02:07 PM | #9 | |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
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In fact it's cyborgs that are the most susceptible to being damaged, as they lose FP and eventually that turns into HP... |
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08-17-2018, 09:11 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Electrical
How would you price a character with "circuit breakers" which have to be reset after an electrical overload? :)
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disadvantage of the week, electrical |
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