UT Nanotech reactive uncontrolled shield

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Solscar

and thought maybe doing an invisible extra arm that has a mounted Force Shield Bracelet UT:192 would work, not sure how to do the uncontrollable though or how it would be reactive, but it would do the block and attack with a 100DR shield - special effect could be that it flares (thanks Aldric for that idea) when hit?

Well, that's going to give you a floating force shield bracelet, which doesn't sound quite like what you want. One option is to buy the bracelet as Signature Gear, then give it No Signature - this wouldn't really be on the Signature Gear, though, but rather on the 100 DR it provides. No Signature (+20%) on 100 DR ([500]) costs [100]; optionally, making the DR Semi-Ablative (-20%) cancels this out, although you may want to limit this to an 80% reduction, for [20]. So, you're looking at [1] for Signature Gear, [9] for a No Signature Shield Mount (Extra Arm (Force Extension +50%; No Signature +20%; Shield Mount -80%)), and [20] for making your force bracelet invisible but semi-ablative, for a total cost of [30]. Flaring up when struck is arguably a Feature, although making it something like No Signature at half price might not be terribly broken; that modifies the cost of Shield Mount by [-1] and of the "invisible but semi-ablative" force-bracelet DR by [-10], reducing cost to [19]; I'd probably round it up to [20].

[Varyon]

Forgot about the uncontrollable/reactive bits. Reactive means it works against surprise attacks, which is Cosmic +50% on the defense. Uncontrollable in this case is maybe -10%, as you might have it occasionally block "attacks" you want to get through. While it's technically only usable unconsciously, I'd avoid the Unconscious Only Limitation, as otherwise it will only work against surprise attacks when you're already highly stressed. Those two together work out to +40%; throwing in Energy Only -20% switches that to +20%.

To determine what the +20% is applied to, consider your character's Block; note in all cases Combat Reflexes gives +1 to the result. Untrained, the character's Block is (DX/2)+4 (this is due to default shield skill being DX-4, and the force bracelet giving DB 3). You can boost this to (DX/2)+5 for [1] (put 1 point in Shield (Force Shield) or (DX/2)+6 for [4] (put 4 points in skill; note a character with an odd DX can get away with only paying [2] for this step); beyond that it's [5] per additional +1 (buy Enhanced Block). Once you've set the Block score, subtract 3 and multiply by [5] to determine what that Block is "worth;" the +20% is applied to this.

For example, let's say your character has DX 12 and Combat Reflexes and you want him to have a Block of 14. His default Block is 11. You pay [4] to boost this to 13, then another [5] for 14. A Block of 14 is "worth" [55]. 20% of [55] is [11], so you pay a further [11]. So, [20] for your flare-up force shield, [9] for a Block of 14, and [11] for being reactive, uncontrollable, and energy-only, for a grand total of [40].