Zoe Heriot's Advantages

[Astromancer]

For those who don't know Zoe Hariet was a companion of the 2d Doctor. She was introduced at the end of the 5th season in Wheel in Space and left at the end of the 6th season in the final episode of The War Games. She was said to have a computer mind. That's the advantage I want defined. Zoe's fine (if oddly limited) education (Zoe knew all about the sciences but didn't know what a candle was) isn't hard to Stat. Nor is Zoe's flawless memory. But there are traits I don't know how to handle in GURPS.

Zoe can absorb information as fast as a computer. She can glance at the pages of a book and remember everything on those pages. Zoe can collate and sort information as quickly as a computer. Zoe can deliver information at stunning speeds and shift through mounds of data at incredible speeds. Because Zoe is fully human she can use intuition and common sense (the real world kinds) to enhance her abilities.

How would Zoe Hariet's advantages be described in GURPS.

[ravenfish]

Perfect recall is obviously the Photographic Memory advantage (Characters p.51, under Eidetic Memory), and Enhanced Time Sense (Characters p.52) grants preternaturally fast perception and thought (you'll be able to read and comprehend a page of text in a single glance, and then analyze that information- with all the human flexibility of your character's skills- in an instant).

For even greater analytic abilities, Powers suggests re-flavoring Oracle as Digital Oracle (Powers p.65), which lets you learn the world's secrets by analyzing "prodigious quantities of unprocessed data" rather than by observing omens.

Also worth noting is Psychometry (Characters p. 78) with the Hypersensory limitation (Powers p. 69), to do the Sherlock Holmes trick of observing a scene and determining roughly what has happened there based on tiny clues that would be meaningless to anyone else.

Is this the sort of thing you're looking for?

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Perfect recall is obviously the Photographic Memory advantage (Characters p.51, under Eidetic Memory), and Enhanced Time Sense (Characters p.52) grants preternaturally fast perception and thought (you'll be able to read and comprehend a page of text in a single glance, and then analyze that information- with all the human flexibility of your character's skills- in an instant).

For even greater analytic abilities, Powers suggests re-flavoring Oracle as Digital Oracle (Powers p.65), which lets you learn the world's secrets by analyzing "prodigious quantities of unprocessed data" rather than by observing omens.

Also worth noting is Psychometry (Characters p. 78) with the Hypersensory limitation (Powers p. 69), to do the Sherlock Holmes trick of observing a scene and determining roughly what has happened there based on tiny clues that would be meaningless to anyone else.

Is this the sort of thing you're looking for?

It covers a lot of it. Zoe Hariet is supposed to be able to do anything a computer can do while being fully human. I think your answer helps a lot, thank you. Still, there is something more I can't quite put my finger on.

[Stormcrow]

Her name is spelled Heriot.

Zoe's abilities are a bit overstated in the show. She is impressive, but not inhumanly so.

Still, there is something more I can't quite put my finger on.

I think it is that she is Oblivious. She's not nerdy in the sense of being uncomfortably awkward; she just can't connect people's non-logical actions with motivations. As it's said in the Second Doctor Sourcebook for Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, "Zoe is extremely logical and often seems detached from whatever is happening around her. She is not emotionless, but has trouble relying on her instincts"

She also has a very high Intelligence, Photographic Memory, Lightning Calculator, a very high Mathematics (Pure) score, and very high Computer Operation and Computer Programming scores. Her Tech Level is probably 10, likely with some split-leveling happening there for various fields like computer technology. Her Appearance is probably Beautiful, and she probably has Social Stigma (Minor), though the latter won't affect her in a lot of places she goes with the Doctor. She also appears to have some skill in Judo. I'd say she's also Charitable.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

I think it is that she is Oblivious. She's not nerdy in the sense of being uncomfortably awkward; she just can't connect people's non-logical actions with motivations. As it's said in the Second Doctor Sourcebook for Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, "Zoe is extremely logical and often seems detached from whatever is happening around her. She is not emotionless, but has trouble relying on her instincts"

All of that sounds like the Savant power modifier that I introduced in GURPS Supers and made use of in GURPS Powers: Enhanced Senses.

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by whswhs

All of that sounds like the Savant power modifier that I introduced in GURPS Supers and made use of in GURPS Powers: Enhanced Senses.

I don't think this is right. The Savant power modifier alters your personality while you are using the abilities whereas, if I am understanding correctly, the character in question has an "overly-logical" personality all the time irrespective of whether she's making use of her abilities or not.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

I don't think this is right. The Savant power modifier alters your personality while you are using the abilities whereas, if I am understanding correctly, the character in question has an "overly-logical" personality all the time irrespective of whether she's making use of her abilities or not.

Yeah, that makes sense.

[ravenfish]

If anyone's still interested, I've found something nice and official. On p.263 of Characters, the AI mentality Meta-Trait ("a computer mind") is made up of Absolute Timing, Digital Mind, Doesn’t Sleep, Intuitive Mathematician, Photographic Memory, and Reprogrammable. You may want to modify this (you'll probably want to drop Doesn't Sleep and Reprogrammable unless she's a literal robot; Digital Mind would make her immune to telepathy but potentially vulnerable to hacking, and I don't know enough about the character to say whether this is appropriate), but if you want a simple answer to what it means to have "the mind of a computer" in GURPS, there it is.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

On p.263 of Characters, the AI mentality Meta-Trait ("a computer mind") is made up of Absolute Timing, Digital Mind, Doesn’t Sleep, Intuitive Mathematician, Photographic Memory, and Reprogrammable.

Zoe is completely human; the exotic traits Digital Mind, Doesn't Sleep, and Reprogrammable are inappropriate.

You may want to modify this (you'll probably want to drop Doesn't Sleep and Reprogrammable unless she's a literal robot; Digital Mind would make her immune to telepathy but potentially vulnerable to hacking, and I don't know enough about the character to say whether this is appropriate),

It's not. She's as susceptible to mental influence as anyone else, and is occasionally so influenced in the show.

but if you want a simple answer to what it means to have "the mind of a computer" in GURPS, there it is.

As I said, the show overstates Zoe's abilities. She can compute very quickly (Lightning Calculator seems more in tune with what she demonstrates than Intuitive Mathematician, though I could be convinced otherwise). She has trouble comprehending non-logical thinking. But otherwise, she's a perfectly normal human. "Mind of a computer" is hyperbole.

I should have added some level of Mathematical Ability to what I posted earlier.

[Varyon]

She sounds a lot like a Mentat from Dune, so you may want to take a look at some of the attempts to emulate those people have come up with.