Afflictions as surgery.
 

In my starting soon GURPS Space 1889 campaign one player wants a mad scientist. We decided on a Dr. Moreau style PC. So Gadgeteer(biological only -50%) and he can alter things with surgical procedures. He has a Ally of a K-10 style dog with higher IQ and Disturbing Voice. I plan on adding other Limitations of the Gadgeteer since he won't have time to do much new gadgeteering at least for a while and giving him Afflictions for things he already knows like the IQ boost and adding speech to animals.

Does this seem reasonable? The Preparation time and Skill are that he has to do major surgery. The Delay and Requires Health is the recovery time after the surgery by the patient.

Affliction (IQ+1 +200%, Permanent +150%, Delay (week or more) -40%, Preparation required 8 hours -60%, Requires Skill Roll -10%, Requires HT Roll(target) -10%) +230% [23 pts]

Any other limitations you can think of, I'd like them a little cheaper so he can have several?

Re: Afflictions as surgery.
 

You really should get a copy of GURPS Powers: The Weird, which has lots of mad science for this kind of thing. Available from your local mad-science supplier.

Re: Afflictions as surgery.
 

I'd go a different route and just have him accrue and spend the XP to buy new allies as the campaign progresses. Otherwise, I wouldn't count on critters that have their brains toyed with to be helpful or thankful.

Perhaps a variation of Infection/Dominance that requires a lab?

I'd disallow Requires HT roll (target) since it already requires that even as a beneficial affliction.

Location, requires specialized, expensive lab seems like a good addition. You could also add mental side effects. If you are doing this on animals, you might want a few afflictions that can buy off mental traits along with adding IQ.

Otherwise, if you insist on being able to give out IQ+1, this is still a pretty good bargain.

Re: Afflictions as surgery.
 

Given the genre, it's entirely appropriate for them to attempt to kill the mad scientist.

Re: Afflictions as surgery.
 

True, but not much of a benefit then.

Re: Afflictions as surgery.
 

This assumes the good doctor wants allies and not just to perform “Science!”.

Re: Afflictions as surgery.
 

Allies seems like the more accurate advantage in general. If you want mad scientists in general to be able to increase intelligence, then just make it a feature of Gadgeteer for your world.

I would be inclined to allow a modular abilities pool limited to allies only and requiring an excessive amount of time to reshuffle points.

Also, don't neglect the Gizmo advantage for the character. Its interaction with Gadgeteer is a very cool feature.

Re: Afflictions as surgery.
 

Already have that. Yes it has been useful.