[DF] Imma Chargin' Mah (Fantasy) Lazors!!!

[Jovus]

This picture should make its way into your campaign.

[Stripe]

^That will be the opening scene! XD

But really, this isn't going to be an '80's Saturday morning cartoon show despite all the references, some of which are pretty far from the concept. While I'm certainly not shooting for hard sci-fi, it'll be about as serious as Dungeon Fantasy hack-and-slash sessions get. There just happen to be some robots as monsters and ray guns as rare weapons. Otherwise, standard DF here. Yeah, a dungeon is going to be the inside of a crashed spaceship, but that's just window dressing, no different than a sorcerer's underground lair or whatever.


Been working on the robot soldiers. After looking through Ultra-Tech, I decided that while electrolasers are still used by the humans, the robots will actually carry flamers -- loud, flashy RoF 1 guns that don't do a whole lot of damage. They are based on the TL9 nuclear-powered Combat Android, Ultra-Tech, p. 167. They don't suffer from trait bloat; with three meta-traits (AI, Automation, Machine), there were just so many unlisted that I had to record them in order to keep track of them.

The ray-gun wielding, DR 30, Homogenous Constructs are no push overs. There aren't many of them still functioning, but there are enough that they are going to be tough nuts to crack when encountered in multiples.

Basically, there are going to be a few scattered throughout the small dungeon -- sometimes solo, sometimes in pairs or up to three at once -- then there will be 3-5 protecting the Mindwarper boss.

About the robot soldier's blades, they are Superfine (Ultra-Tech, p. 169). After giving it a great deal of thought and deliberation, I have ruled to stick with the strict interpretation of RAW.

RAW dictates Superfine is not listed as an option of quality and it does not explicitly state that it gives a bonus to breakage.

In light of both those two facts, RAW, it is not mutually exclusive with Very Fine. The trouble with that is, the blade gets a +1/+2 to damage from Fine/VF and a +2 to damage from SF, which I don't think authors intended. But, it's Ultra-Tech, so who knows what was intended. It's entirely possible Superfine just means the blade's edge is super keen. In fact, RAW, that's exactly what it does mean.

Here are some pics of the robots:

http://www.propbay.com/attachments/o...snap-38161.jpg (Daring to sword fight with a man whose actual, real name is He-Man)
http://www.he-man.org/assets/images/...ooper_full.jpg
http://thecarouselpodcast.files.word...u-troops28.jpg
http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/q...u-troops24.jpg


Here is a rough draft with no play-testing:

Robot Soldier

  What looks like a tall man dressed in sleek, glossy black armor is actually 
a bloodless, unliving war machine. Red pinpoints glow from behind the thin 
slit of its greathem's visor. They stand six feet, eight inches and weigh 
about 300 lbs.

ST: 20          HP: 20          Speed: 6.25 
DX: 13          Will: 10        Move: 6
IQ: 10          Per: 10         SM: 0
HT: 12          FP: 10          DR: 30
Dodge: 10+3     Parry: 12+3     Block: 12+3

Punch (16): 2d+5 cr; Reach C.
Punch (14): 2d+6 cr; Reach C, 1.
Hand Flamer (16): 4d burn. Ranged attack (Acc 3, Range 30/90, RoF 1, Rcl 1).
Assault Flamer (16): 5d burn. Ranged attack (Acc 6, Range 50/150, RoF 1, 
  Rcl 1).
Large Knife (17): 3d+2 (2) cut, Reach C, 1; or 2d+1 (2) imp Reach C.
Broadsword (17): 3d+6 (2) cut or 2d+3 (2) imp; Reach 1. 
Spear (17): 2d+2 (2) imp, Reach 1* or 2d+3 (2) imp; Reach 1-2*.

Traits: Absolute Direction; Absolute Timing; AI; Automaton; Combat Reflexes; 
  Claws (blunt); DR 30; Digital Mind; Discriminatory Hearing; Doesn't 
  Breathe; Doesn't Eat or Drink; Doesn't Sleep; Electrical; Fragile 
  (Unnatural); Hidebound; High Pain Threshold; Hyperspectral Vision; 
  Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable; Injury Tolerance 
  (Homogenous, No Blood, Unliving); Intuitive Mathematician; Incurious (6); 
  Low Empathy; Machine; Maintenance (one person, weekly); No Sense 
  of Humor; Pressure Support 3; Photographic Memory; Reprogrammable; 
  Sealed; Shield Wall Training; Silence 1; Slave Mentality; Temperature 
  Tolerance 20 (-85° to 210°); Ultrahearing; Unfazeable; Unhealing (Total); 
  Vacuum Support.
Skills: Beam Weapons (Projector)-16; Broadsword-16; Karate-16; Knife-16; 
  Shield-16; Spear-16.
Class: Construct.
Notes: The robots possess:

• Balanced, Fine, Superfine Large Knife, priceless, 1 lbs.
• Balanced, Very Fine, Superfine Thrusting Broadsword, priceless, 3 lbs.
• Hand Flamer, priceless, 3.3/2C lbs.
  Plus:
• Assault Flamer, priceless, 5.6/2C lbs.
  Or: 
• Balanced, Fine, Superfine Spear, priceless, 4 lbs.
• High-Tech Large Shield (DB 3; DR 30, HP 60), priceless, 4 lbs.

[simply Nathan]

Don't forget, DR from metal armor counts as 1 against Lightning Bolt and lightning spells have the Surge modifier. An air wizard might figure the robot looks a fair bit like an armored warrior and try to see how well a lightning bolt hurts him.

Oh wait, that thing has awesome dodging and blocking. Might be a bit hard to hit then.

(Heman, with no hyphen, is an honest-to-goodness real name, just not in the modern world.)