GURPS Starcraft

[recalcitrantBohemian]

Of course Kerrigan is an extreme example, I don't deny that. When I refer to her in this case though I am not referring to her psionic abilities, which were absolutely a holdover from her latent psionic talents, but am instead referring to her sapience and stronger sense of free-will. There is another example of a sapient infested Terran that is introduced in Heart of the Swarm that I specifically didn't mention because of wanting to avoid spoilers, but none the less the approach remains the same. As for the generic Zerg template I was more looking at factors such as the hive mind and other such constants, although having a baseline for DR and such might not hurt either. Although actually, as I glance over the Zerg part of that wikidot site I see that they did actually have a meta-trait for Zerg. Bugger. My apologies for having missed that before...>.<



Moving back to the discussion of Ghosts and Spectres related stuff, one big difference I could see between the renegade and "loyal" Ghosts (Which is why I put loyal in quotes, actually xD) would be the various controls that were put on/in Ghosts. According to the wiki, these included...

-Aggression inhibitors, implants which prevent ghosts from attacking their superiors
-Ghost conditioning, which weakens a ghost's psionic abilities
-Psi-screens, a device which can be worn to protect one's mind from mind-reading, also a ghost training device
-Psychic dampeners (known through various similar names), which reshape a ghost's memories, control them in a manner similar to neural resocialization and weaken their powers
-Memory wipe (successor to the psychic dampener)

The easy one to handle would be the memory wipes; the Amnesia disadvantage seems entirely viable to deal with that. The Psychic Dampeners seem like amongst other effects they would give an Involuntary Duty disadvantage, but I feel like there would be other effects that all of those controls would have on a Ghost. One other thing which occurs to me is that mental disadvantages with control rolls may well have lower self-control ratings to reflect just how controlling these implants and/or techniques are. From what I can tell Ghosts going rogue was all but unheard of before Sarah Kerrigan broke free from the program, to the point that it was her breaking free of it which led to them preferring memory wipes in lieu of the psychic dampeners. That implies that all of those controls were pretty damn potent in their effects. Even a powerful Ghost like Nova, who is treated as being an exceptional example of her type, hasn't been able to break free of the program thus far in the canon. Renegade Ghosts would definitely have either a major Secret or a major Enemy in most Starcraft campaigns, if not both. They might also eventually attain higher levels of psionic power than their "loyal" contemporaries thanks to the removal of the inhibitors and such that the "loyal" Ghosts have.

As for Spectres, what you suggest looks pretty good although depending on the setting there very well might be an overlap with the renegade Ghosts. For example, in the setting of Starcraft II the Spectre program was shut down by the government and thus Tosh and his compatriots would likely have similar enemy/secret disadvantages as the renegades.

As for Terrazine itself, I find myself thinking that perhaps handling it in a manner similar to how 3e depicted the Brainstorm psi-drug might be fitting. In 3e, it raised the level of power of psionic abilities by 50%, which would be somewhat in line with what the Wiki described of its effects, specifically that the effects would probably not be noticeable on an individual with an average Psi-Index rating.

Its effects are unpredictable, though it possesses mind-altering qualities and can enhance the psionic power of ghosts and other psychics, increasing their power by 1 or more points on the Psi Index scale, though the effects would probably not be noticeable on an individual possessing an average PI. Gabriel Tosh believed this could increase a ghost's powers to near those of the protoss. Terrazine also rejuvenates a terran's brain cells, allowing them to overcome memory wipes and other such treatments. At least some spectres can also more easily resist mind-reading and can avoid picking up unwanted thoughts.

Terrazine's side effects include hallucinations and violent outbursts. The exact effects vary somewhat from one individual to another. Many spectres became eccentric, collecting devices such as dolls in an effort to enhance their powers.

Nova Terra claimed that terrazine drove the users insane, and the instability resulted in the shutdown of Project Shadowblade. Tosh and an independent researcher, Dr. Ariel Hanson, said that Terra had exaggerated its effects.

Terrazine has a half-life of several hours, but it builds up in the system over time and with repeated use. It is addictive, causing withdrawal symptoms after several hours. Stabilized by a little jorium, terrazine is inhaled by spectres like a drug. If the spectre keeps to a strict schedule, the side effects are minimized.

The scaling increases in power definitely feel, to me at least, like a percent-based increase rather than just a static increase. I'd also be curious as to how people would think it best to handle the difference between taking Terrazine with the Jorium lacing versus taking it without the Jorium. Possibly have some of the side effects negated if it is taken along with the Jorium suppliment, or maybe the disadvantages are still there but with higher control ratings?