Unkillable unless control unit is destroyed

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

So what if we took a robot with a quantum gizmo that houses their consciousness, and no matter how much you damage the unit, if that (heavily armored) gizmo isn't destroyed, it can be recovered and the body rebuild?

I'd guess it's a form of Unkillable, but how to precisely stat that?

Thanks!

[The Colonel]

If you can track down GURPS Conspiracy X the Atlanteans had a similar setting with a nanotech data store so that may help.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

So what if we took a robot with a quantum gizmo that houses their consciousness, and no matter how much you damage the unit, if that (heavily armored) gizmo isn't destroyed, it can be recovered and the body rebuild?

I'd guess it's a form of Unkillable, but how to precisely stat that?

Well, there are actually a couple of approaches here. It really all comes down to how guaranteed the "will be rebuilt eventually" aspect is. If it's a matter of "will definitely eventually be rebuilt, but it might take a while", then yeah, that's Unkillable. I'd peg it at Unkillable 2 ("indestructible black box" stands in here for "indestructable skeleton"), and then apply Gadget limitations to Unkillable to suggest exactly how destructable the box actually is. For example, if the box had DR 24 and it's SM -6, that would be a -15% limitation on Unkillable 2 (the SM only applies if the box is targetable before the character is "killed", note). Other gadget limitations might apply, if the box is possible to remove before your death, or is somehow irreplaceable.


The other option, however, if resurrection through rebuilding isn't particularly guaranteed, is to simply note this as a possibility of the Digital Mind trait, which it already is noted as doing. For this route, I think the possibility of the storage medium being lost or damaged or stolen by enemies is already built into the trait, and doesn't need further modifiers.

[Pursuivant]

I'd call it Unkillable 3 if the character is basically invulnerable, no matter what.

Otherwise, as Kelly said, it's Unkillable 2, with an invulnerable core or spirit which can't be killed except by exposing it to an ongoing damage substituting for the skeleton.

For a being which is basically invulnerable unless you destroy some core portion of its body via difficult-but-not-impossible means, it might be Unkillable 1 if you substitute "vital element is destroyed in an appropriate fashion" rather than "body hacked to pieces."

For a sapient computer program, a global virus/anti-virus program targeted to destroy all instances of the program, hardening computers to prevent the program from accessing them, etc. seems pretty close in terms of difficulty to Unkillable 2, especially if you've got multiple back-ups stored in secure and secret data centers across the campaign universe. Otherwise, it might be Unkillable 3.

If you've got a character whose ability to operate and survive depends on regular access to the "black box" add the appropriate Gadget modifiers, or maybe even Dependency.

Basically:

Unkillable 1 - You can be killed if your body (or some specific portion of it?) is completely destroyed.

Unkillable 2 - You can survive being completely destroyed unless your body (or some body part?) is constantly exposed to some sort of damage. Your body can be imprisoned.

Unkillable 3 - You can survive being completely destroyed and can escape imprisonment or continuous sources of damage. You're basically impossible to kill and will "respawn" forever (assuming you also have Unaging).

[Warlockco]

Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit

So what if we took a robot with a quantum gizmo that houses their consciousness, and no matter how much you damage the unit, if that (heavily armored) gizmo isn't destroyed, it can be recovered and the body rebuild?

I'd guess it's a form of Unkillable, but how to precisely stat that?

Thanks!

Sounds like Extra Life (-20% Backup Copy, -20% or -40% Requires Body) or some variation on it.

[Celti]

Canonically, that's Extra Life (Copy, -20%; Requires Body, -20%) [15]. If instead of a "software" or otherwise-ephemeral backup, it's a piece of hardware, replace Copy with the appropriate Gadget limitations, e.g.: Extra Life (Breakable, DR 35, Cannot Repair, -15%; Requires Body, -20%; Unique, -25%) [10].

The rules as written, however, are a bit unclear on the juxtaposition of this form of Extra Life with repeated "resurrections." Extra Life says outright on p. B55 that you lose the advantage once it's used, which interacts oddly with the idea of a software backup that simply costs money in the typical setting where it's available, an issue that is somewhat amplified when it's an implant instead of software. Some GMs might charge some amount for Cosmic, Reusable on it.

[Flyndaran]

Reusable Extra Life is Unkillable though.

To me it seems like Achilles Heel. Damage from one type, specifically to that unit, can kill.