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Old 02-24-2017, 01:48 PM   #1
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Default Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to be?

What it says.

What types of Parahumans do you think need to be represented in this game's cannon, and, if you were forced/required to update your genetics, what type of Parahuman would you want to be?
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Old 02-25-2017, 01:14 AM   #2
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Default Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to

I suppose being a Pandora would be kinda-sorta the way my life is right now, only more so by orders of magnitude. That's if we're talking specifically parahumans, not bioroids or the like. If the latter is allowed, I'd consider the opposite and take a look at some of the social interfaces. Never been good at social interfacing IRL, so would be interested in trying it out.

Not sure how to even approach the 'canon needs' question.
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Old 02-25-2017, 07:15 AM   #3
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Default Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to

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Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
Not sure how to even approach the 'canon needs' question.
mostly what canon needs is types that are rational and productive choices. We've discussed "eccentric billionaires" lately and peculiar cults aren't really much better.

So a Gilgamensh is a good but moderate choice. Recipients won't really be "trans" human. They'd be more like "above average-ish" but it's better than getting a $50K+ gene-job to replace $100 of survival gear and restrict your natural environment to a half-terraformed and barren planet.

So really you look for unique _and_ highly useful capabilities. A Pandora ends up being a somewhat botched implementation of the Enhanced Time Sense nanosymbiont and isn't really even cheaper. Though in 4e when the nano ins't available til TL11 it is closer to unique but by the rules it's too simple to de-bug genetypes for really buggy ones to be running around but Bio-tech for 4e gives you the de-bugged Prometheus.

Especially without the SOD-straining pheromones the Guardian type gives you a good package but personally I'd go for the Herakles. It's problems can generally be fixed with aftermarket stuff and it does maximize IQ and HT.
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Old 02-26-2017, 07:25 AM   #4
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Default Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to

My idea of what the canon needs is a parahuman with reduced life support needs. In deep space colonies, the practical future of settlement in THS, Parahumans with reduced life support needs would make both the settlements and the settlers more secure.

Other similar non-glamorous parahumans, that fill useful niches,would also fit.


As to what I would like to be. I'd prefer to maximize IQ, HT, and lifespan. But as I am in my actual life, weak, clumsy, and unattractive, improvements in those areas would be nice too.
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Old 02-26-2017, 09:01 AM   #5
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Default Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to

Any setting with higher-than-ours biotech and a Japanese culture needs catgirls, because anime.

Besides, their stereotypically-high DX comes in handy in zero-G.
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Old 02-26-2017, 01:39 PM   #6
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Default Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to

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Any setting with higher-than-ours biotech and a Japanese culture needs catgirls, because anime.

Besides, their stereotypically-high DX comes in handy in zero-G.
Doesn't this setting have several types of Catgirls?
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Old 02-27-2017, 05:56 AM   #7
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Default Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
mostly what canon needs is types that are rational and productive choices.
So you want BoringButPractical. I'm . . . not sure RPG settings have a dire need of those things.

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
So really you look for unique _and_ highly useful capabilities. A Pandora ends up being a somewhat botched implementation of the Enhanced Time Sense nanosymbiont and isn't really even cheaper. Though in 4e when the nano ins't available til TL11 it is closer to unique but by the rules it's too simple to de-bug genetypes for really buggy ones to be running around but Bio-tech for 4e gives you the de-bugged Prometheus.
Yeah, given that just taking +IQ from a template is not all that different from taking +IQ from personal point expenditures in actual play, getting unique abilities is a good thing for templates. And yeah, nano providing many of those kinda ruins that, since just taking your weekly dose bought for money seems more efficient than buying the equivalent ability with points. When it's available, that is. Incidentally, ETS is explicitly available through nano, which just means that THS has this TL11 goodie in 4e.

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Especially without the SOD-straining pheromones the Guardian type gives you a good package but personally I'd go for the Herakles. It's problems can generally be fixed with aftermarket stuff and it does maximize IQ and HT.
There's probably no hope for it in the current official incarnation of the gameline, but I really wish people stopped snapping at or retconning the pheromones until they straighten Mars. If Mars stays, canonical pheromones should get a pass too.
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Old 02-27-2017, 07:04 AM   #8
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Default Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to

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Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
So you want BoringButPractical. I'm . . . not sure RPG settings have a dire need of those things.


Yeah, given that just taking +IQ from a template is not all that different from taking +IQ from personal point expenditures in actual play, getting unique abilities is a good thing for templates. And yeah, nano providing many of those kinda ruins that, since just taking your weekly dose bought for money seems more efficient than buying the equivalent ability with points. When it's available, that is. Incidentally, ETS is explicitly available through nano, which just means that THS has this TL11 goodie in 4e.


There's probably no hope for it in the current official incarnation of the gameline, but I really wish people stopped snapping at or retconning the pheromones until they straighten Mars. If Mars stays, canonical pheromones should get a pass too.
Let's see (in order):

The Herakles is probably neither boring nor practical. It's an explicitly limit-pushing design (and if I'd won an argument during the Fifth Wave playtest it'd be even stronger) and it even gives you an excuse to eat twice as much as normal. That'd be a bummer if we were dungeoncrawlers with backpacks of iron rations but in a super-affluent society with good food everywhere it's a pure plus. It's a red Italian sports car of a genotype.

In the form of the Brain Boosters nanosymbiont ETS is in the TS corebook. It's even 66% cheaper than in bio-tech for 4e. You get the permanent version too rather than relying on weekly doses.

Mars does strain SOD but at least it adds something to the setting. Pheromones only increase the potential for sexual harassment and would probably be lawyered out of existence even if they were possible.
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Old 02-27-2017, 07:17 AM   #9
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Default Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Let's see (in order):

The Herakles is probably neither boring nor practical. It's an explicitly limit-pushing design (and if I'd won an argument during the Fifth Wave playtest it'd be even stronger) and it even gives you an excuse to eat twice as much as normal. That'd be a bummer if we were dungeoncrawlers with backpacks of iron rations but in a super-affluent society with good food everywhere it's a pure plus. It's a red Italian sports car of a genotype.

In the form of the Brain Boosters nanosymbiont ETS is in the TS corebook. It's even 66% cheaper than in bio-tech for 4e. You get the permanent version too rather than relying on weekly doses.
I didn't mean the Herakles. I thought you wanted canon to add some more 'rational and productive' templates.

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Mars does strain SOD but at least it adds something to the setting. Pheromones only increase the potential for sexual harassment and would probably be lawyered out of existence even if they were possible.
  1. Pheromones add the same thing to the setting as memetics: they highlight how many ways there are to affect minds.
  2. Not all pheromones are sex pheromones.
  3. Memetics haven't been lawyered out of existence; Diplomacy hasn't been lawyered out of existence; Appearance hasn't been lawyered out of existences. In fact that Bioroid Bazaar (or was it the other new bio-PDF) singles out having a sexy/convincing/scary smell for lawyering-out is exactly what I'm talking about in the previous post. It removes a cool interesting feature from a world.
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Old 02-28-2017, 11:55 AM   #10
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Default Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to

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Pheromones only increase the potential for sexual harassment and would probably be lawyered out of existence even if they were possible.
Why would that matter to Mara Omikage and the Bioweapons Directorate?
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