Regenerating when exposed to radiation

[Hide]

The series Fallout feature zombies which regenerate when exposed to radiation. I think I can write it like this:

Leech (Radiation only -60%, reflexive +40%, accelerated healing +25%) [27].
Regeneration (Extreme +10 HP/sec. +150, radiation only -60%) [60].

Shtick (Always Clean): Innocuous (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear "CBRN" decontamination) [1].

Total cost: 81 CP.

You heal 1 HP per point of damage dealt by (α), (β) or (γ) radiation; you also shed the radiation at a 100 rads per second rate. Finally, your body neutralizes the harmful effects of the fallout and the like, eliminating CBRN threats in your body (this is on the exterior, for the interior take resistance to common metabolic hazards).

This is a passive ability, akin to photosynthesis but works with (α), (β) and (γ) radiation. In order to prevent the creature from becoming a bag of rads, I included the ability to absorb radiation (regeneration).

The perk represents the ability of neutralizing the fallout's effects (intended for player characters in the fallout universe). It only affects the naked body, small objects (e.g. rings, ear-rings) and objects attached to the subject as part of their body (e.g. prosthetic teeth or hands, exposed carbon-steel endoskeleton, cyborg eyes, etc.).

What do you think?

[ericthered]

Leech only lets you get health from others, and its an attack, so I'd hesitate to put reflexive on it. It doesn't turn other's attacks or environmental damage into health. for that, get:

DR (absorption, healing only +80%, radiation only -60%) [6/level]

[awesomenessofme1]

With how fast and loose a series like Fallout plays with radiation, I'd be strongly tempted to just call it Immunity to Radiation and slap whatever cost on it you think is appropriate. I'd peg it around [15] or [20].

[AlexanderHowl]

I would have Regeneration (Fast; Only when exposed to intense radiation, -40%) [30] and Regeneration (Fast; Heals Radiation Only, -60%) [20]. Since radiation is a type of damage modifier, meaning that a resistance rolls does not protect against it, it is forbidden by RAW to give Immunity to Radiation. This is why Radiation Tolerance exists.

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I would have Regeneration (Fast; Only when exposed to intense radiation, -40%) [30] and Regeneration (Fast; Heals Radiation Only, -60%) [20]. Since radiation is a type of damage modifier, meaning that a resistance rolls does not protect against it, it is forbidden by RAW to give Immunity to Radiation. This is why Radiation Tolerance exists.

I didn't say it was RAW? But radiation is based on HT rolls, so it's not that far out of the ordinary. My point was that there is no RAW way to emulate actual radiation immunity, and Fallout is the kind of setting where it would make sense to just handwave it.

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I would have Regeneration (Fast; Only when exposed to intense radiation, -40%) [30] and Regeneration (Fast; Heals Radiation Only, -60%) [20]

Also, if you wanted to build it this way, it would make sense to use the Alternative Limitation rules from whichever Power-Ups book talked about limitations. 0.6*0.4=0.24, which I would probably round to .25. That would make Alternative Limitation (Only when exposed to radiation, Radiation Only) worth -25% and the total cost be [38].

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by ericthered

DR (absorption, healing only +80%, radiation only -60%) [6/level]

This is probably the best way to go if you want the Healing rate to be both fast and dependant on the radiation being strong enough to cause to cell death immediately (IE do damage). 10 levels gives you a healing rate of 5 HP or 3 FP per turn if the radiation level is doing 10 damage per turn.

If you want them to heal slowly in lower radiation levels, then go with a Regen build.

Also I'd look into implementing PKitty's Radiation Rules from After the End 1 Wastelander. If you use that, you could retool DR (Absorption) into absorbing RP points, which would have the knock-on benefit of working even in the lowest of radiation levels.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Leech only lets you get health from others, and its an attack, so I'd hesitate to put reflexive on it. It doesn't turn other's attacks or environmental damage into health. for that, get:

DR (absorption, healing only +80%, radiation only -60%) [6/level]

On the one hand, DR normally doesn't protect against radiation. On the other hand, this seems like a highly-appropriate build.

An approach to get an appropriate price for Radiation Only DR is to compare Radiation Protection to IT:DR. Shifting IT:DR to adhere better to the SSR table, IT:DR 2 is [50], 5 (previously 4, and the only place this progression varies from RAW) is [100], 10 is [150], 20 is [200], 50 is [250], 100 is [300], 200 is [350], 500 is [400], and 1000 is [450]. That's entirely consistent with Radiation Protection, implying that on IT:DR Radiation Only is actually worth -90% (and ignores the -80% cap). IT:DR 2 costs the same as DR 10, 5 as DR 20, and so forth, at +10 DR per +2 SSR to divisor. If we apply this same relationship to radiation damage, that implies every [5] should give DR 10 vs radiation only, for [0.5/level]. I'd be tempted to go this route, and have every 10 rads be worth the same as 1 damage for purposes of absorption (note this is consistent with the way radiation regeneration works, where you heal rads at 10x the rate of HP).

This indicates Radiation Only is +0%, provided again we treat 1 rad as 0.1 damage. So, DR (Absorption, Healing Only +80%; Radiation Only +0%) [9/level]; each level absorbs up to 10 rads, and every 20 rads absorbed heals 1 HP.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Since radiation is a type of damage modifier, meaning that a resistance rolls does not protect against it, it is forbidden by RAW to give Immunity to Radiation. This is why Radiation Tolerance exists.

GURPS Zombies has Immunity to Radiation included within Immunity to Metabolic Hazards. However, it suggests that full radiation immunity is impossible - rather, when an HT roll is called for, you roll at +15, with a success meaning there's no effect and a failure meaning the character permanently loses 1 point of HT. Note this is harsher than Basic, as in that it notes machines without the Electrical Disadvantage are completely unaffected (implying ItMH confers this benefit).

[Hide]

Thanks!

I took reflexive because I considered “leech radiation” could be employed as a defensive ability, just as you may (defensively) warp reflexively to dodge an attack, you may reflexively absorb radiation when hit. But now I understand leech may be a no-go to prevent “environmental damage”, so that’s OK.

I initially thought of taking damage resistance (DR); however, my issue here is that DR is measured in damage/HP, not in radiation points (rads). And radiation points are not necessarily straight damage/HP. In other words, a subject should be exposed to an X amount of environmental rads and recover HP; if the subject’s body needs to heal 1 HP, then the subject heals 1 HP. Otherwise, nothing happens. If the subjects receive an attack from a radioactive weapon, then the subject heals the amount of damage dealt (or nothing happens, at full HP).

But looking at your comments, I think these three could do:

• DR (Absorption, Healing Only +80%, Radiation Only -60%) [6/level] and,
• Regeneration (Extreme +150, Radiation Only -60%, Trigger: (α), (β) or (γ) radiation -60%) [30]. Trigger is 40% x 1.5 given the dangers of the radiation and its rarity (in deadly amounts) within the setting.
• Regeneration (Very Fast +100, Trigger: (α), (β) or (γ) radiation -60%) [40].

How does that look? Is that redundant? Could it be merged into a single ability?

Varyon, I don’t understand your IT: DR abbreviation. Could it be “Injury Tolerance: Damage Resistance”?

Your idea may be correct; but right now, my impression is that if “radiation only” is a 0% modifier, then it is pointless noting that “DR is radiation only” because then this costs the same as the vanilla DR, which covers all kinds of damage… right?

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Hide

Varyon, I don’t understand your IT: DR abbreviation. Could it be “Injury Tolerance: Damage Resistance”?

IT:DR is Injury Tolerance: Damage Reduction, which divides final Injury by a factor depending on level. It functions just like Radiation Tolerance, but against HP Injury rather than rads.

Originally Posted by Hide

Your idea may be correct; but right now, my impression is that if “radiation only” is a 0% modifier, then it is pointless noting that “DR is radiation only” because then this costs the same as the vanilla DR, which covers all kinds of damage… right?

Vanilla DR doesn't protect against rads at all. If you have DR 10 and get hit with an 8 damage burn rad attack (like a particle beam), your DR will fully protect you from injury from the burning damage but you'll still take a full 8 rads. The only RAW protection from rads is Radiation Tolerance. I was using Radiation Tolerance to work out what a "fair" price for DR that protects against rads would be; it turned out to be [0.5] per rad blocked. Rads are equivalent to HP on a 10:1 basis, however, based on Regeneration, which is why I felt the best way to handle it is to set it to [5], and have it block 10 rads per level.