Corco's Villa

[Kalzazz]

Are you familiar with Keith Valentine from Shadow Hearts?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

EDIT: I'm sorry, Monster Hunters: Justice did run for more than a few posts!

It was still short though... I actually reran that scenario for a real-time game, because I wanted to see that one play out, and I'd already done all of the prep work. It went well. I think it took 6 months to play out.

Originally Posted by TGLS

I got something provisional together:

Ok, she's an artifical lifeform seemingly based on the mimic octopus and optimized for multi-tasking. That looks pretty good. I like it.

Halcyone is an Tendriloid 300X model OAI, a form of artificial life legal to be owned on her home world.

She isn't from YOU-topia, is she?

The sheet looks like a good start, though I'm not seeing research as a flavor skill.

Memetics as a wildcard skill... that's bold. Are you looking to use the full transhuman space ruleset?

Power Set Description

Tendriloid Template – Tendriloids have many legs that can function as arms. Only some of the leg/arms need to be free in order to stand and walk. Disguising this is a matter of tucking them into a pair of pants or under a long skirt. They have a hydrostatic skeletal system that makes them particularly flexible. They are sufficiently well coordinated to handle four physical tasks at once. They are also able to adjust their skin pigmentation, useful for camouflage or to blend into a crowd. Tendriloids have a great deal of physical prowess, and as a former bodyguard Halcyone is in the upper percentile of this.
Hypersensory Awareness – Halcyone is one of the million or so OAI produced by NeuroTech with an enhanced sensory response, before this was discontinued for fears this impacted obedience. In game terms this works out to Danger Sense, Empathy and Intuition justified through Hypersensory awareness (but not the limitation).
High Technology – While Halcyone doesn’t have access to most technology from her home world (always-on server connections, being a broke insurgent, etc.), she does have access to a complement of TL10 equipment, mostly what she managed to “liberate” from her former employer.

Proposed Power Set Implementation
Tendriloid Template
....
Remarks
I pretty sure my proposed power set won’t fit. I can do some trimming all the same. There’s a long biography but this is long enough as is. I might change some things on the provisional character sheet, I need to put something up before I fiddle away another week.

The bones of the powerset look good.

• The technology, I think I'm getting a grasp on it. If you had to pick a technology path from UT to describe her world, which one would you pick? She's actually not leveraging her tech level much.
• The racial template is probably a touch overbuilt, but not much. ST 30 is high for a 100 kg hydrostatic skeleton ... but the enhanced strength has been noted, and it will be pretty high (probably 20). The arms I'll tweak, but I suspect in play it will look very similar. Four attacks at once feels excessive, it may end up being three. Or Altered Time Rate. She might warrent elastic skin as well as chameleon.
• "Hypersensory Awareness" is probably better termed "Sensory Hyperawareness", and I take it you want it for a Sherlock holmes-like effect? I'm mulling it over. It makes a fair amount of sense for a prespective body guard. I'd probably tweak it a little, make it a little more specialized, but it mostly looks good.

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Are you familiar with Keith Valentine from Shadow Hearts?

No I'm not. A quick trip to the shadow hearts wiki seems to indicate he is a vampire with shapechanging, animal summoning/control powers (not sure), and some fairly raw elemental damage attacks. What did I miss?

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Ok, she's an artifical lifeform seemingly based on the mimic octopus and optimized for multi-tasking. That looks pretty good. I like it.
She isn't from YOU-topia, is she?

No, NTC-TDL3X-YT-0198 was just decanted in YOU-Topia. :P

Yeah, you got me. If you rather not for whatever reason, I can rub out the references.

Originally Posted by ericthered

The sheet looks like a good start, though I'm not seeing research as a flavor skill.

Memetics as a wildcard skill... that's bold. Are you looking to use the full transhuman space ruleset?

I can revise research. With regard to the full THS memetics ruleset:

• Looking at it purely as shorthand, it covers most of the skills I wanted for the character concept, covering "Marketing PA doing uncredited rewrites" and "Insurgent spreading agitprop" as well as fitting in Diplomacy and Fast-Talk.
• Leaving aside the "-7 for no memetic engineering software" penalty, I don't know if the full THS ruleset would make sense in a world without big data.
• I'd rather not slow the game down with a lengthy minigame.

Basically, my conception was that Memetics would primarily be for things like "I've talked with a bunch of people and can conclude The Dark Circle is just a bunch of weirdos and not a demon cult." and "I've watched a lot of TV and can conclude Rationalism Knows Best was clearly created by a culture alien to this world." Any memes getting created would aim to be simple enough for the Quick and Dirty rules (TM128-130).

Originally Posted by ericthered

• The technology, I think I'm getting a grasp on it. If you had to pick a technology path from UT to describe her world, which one would you pick? She's actually not leveraging her tech level much.

I'd characterize Halcyone's Home World as Cyberpunk, perhaps with High Biotech. Maybe the TL could be leveraged more with a portable computer that can run memetic engineering software?

Originally Posted by ericthered

• The racial template is probably a touch overbuilt, but not much. ST 30 is high for a 100 kg hydrostatic skeleton ... but the enhanced strength has been noted, and it will be pretty high (probably 20). The arms I'll tweak, but I suspect in play it will look very similar. Four attacks at once feels excessive, it may end up being three. Or Altered Time Rate. She might warrent elastic skin as well as chameleon.

Well, I came up with four attacks for four pairs of arms (even though one set could only be used while sitting). 30 ST is probably high; I came up with a figure sufficient to casually haul people around and snap limbs like twigs.

Originally Posted by ericthered

• "Hypersensory Awareness" is probably better termed "Sensory Hyperawareness", and I take it you want it for a Sherlock holmes-like effect? I'm mulling it over. It makes a fair amount of sense for a prespective body guard. I'd probably tweak it a little, make it a little more specialized, but it mostly looks good.

I'll change the terminology around. I don't know about having a Sherlock Scan or something like that; it's meant to be more passive.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

No, NTC-TDL3X-YT-0198 was just decanted in YOU-Topia. :P

Yeah, you got me. If you rather not for whatever reason, I can rub out the references.

Not at all! if anything, go ahead and add in more! A strong home setting helps build the character, and I'm reasonably comfortable with that particular setting! Think about my tech question: we now have a much better idea of what gear and capabilities she does and doesn't have access to /experience with.



If you want to, go ahead and make the character lean that way more (like swapping in and out languages, if you wish).

I can revise research. With regard to the full THS memetics ruleset:

...

Basically, my conception was that Memetics would primarily be for things like "I've talked with a bunch of people and can conclude The Dark Circle is just a bunch of weirdos and not a demon cult." and "I've watched a lot of TV and can conclude Rationalism Knows Best was clearly created by a culture alien to this world." Any memes getting created would aim to be simple enough for the Quick and Dirty rules (TM128-130).

That should work just fine.

I'd characterize Halcyone's Home World as Cyberpunk, perhaps with High Biotech. Maybe the TL could be leveraged more with a portable computer that can run memetic engineering software?

So she doesn't HAVE to leverage her TL, but having access to basic computing functionality is a good idea.



I think we're pretty much on the same page as far as this power set goes. I'm going to take a better look at the 300 point build sometime, and provide feedback on that.

[ericthered]

I'm looking at the character sheet a bit deeper. The old statement about research not being a valid flavor skill stands.



Beautiful would actually get moved into the power set. Its very much part of what she is.


The rest of the sheet actually looks pretty good.



As far as limb count goes, In combat mode she has 6 limbs, right? and the two extra are kept near her pants? Is she capable of splitting up her limbs into more than that if she wants to give up strength?

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I'm looking at the character sheet a bit deeper. The old statement about research not being a valid flavor skill stands.

Beautiful would actually get moved into the power set. Its very much part of what she is.

OK, I've shuffled a few things around. I think the diff works out to:
+ Research moved to Action Skills
+ Throwing to [2]
+ Writing in Flavor Skills
+ Curious SCR to 9 or Less
+ Another level of Memetics!
+ Appearance moved to power set

Originally Posted by ericthered

As far as limb count goes, In combat mode she has 6 limbs, right? and the two extra are kept near her pants?

Basically. The idea works out to:
-> 2 human-like arms in the upper half of her body.
-> 6 tentacle arms on the lower half of her body. 2 of these arms are usually reserved for standing/walking/etc.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Is she capable of splitting up her limbs into more than that if she wants to give up strength?

Didn't think of that. I'll go with "sure!"

[ericthered]

Have you considered the skill climbing?
She seems to be missing driving, hiking, or another way of getting around

You're asking for full Ultra-tech Armor, which is pretty good stuff, and doesn't suit all sci-fi genres. Cyberpunk settings often don't have power-suit armor levels. On the other hand I'd expect it to have a ton of electrical perks, giving it biomedical sensors, passive camo, and possibly a HUD and all the toys that gives. My gut would be that armor of that weight gives 7/2 protection.

I dropped Empathy as being entirely too talent like, which is about boosting skills. If you just want the "feel of someone" memetics! will let you do something similar.

As a note, I'm going to cap the extra arms grappling bonus at +5. which should be more than enough.


If you want to add to your ST with your 300, it is appropriate. I'm going to keep ST scores on the 10, 15, 20, 30 scale, so you DO have immediate peers. If you don't want to, that's just fine.


Here is the template:

Elastic Skin
Chameleon (controllable) 3
Appearance (Beautiful)

Extra Arms 4 (Extra flexible)
Extra Arms 2 (Extra flexible, foot manipulator)
Extra Arms 2 (Extra Felxible, not extra)

Extra Arms 8 (Extra Flexible, weak, 1/2 ST) (alternate)
4 Legs (alternate to 2 extra arms)

Double-Jointed
Ambidexterity
perk (delayed brain death)

+10 ST

Danger Sense
Intuition
Extra Attack 2

Tech Level: TL10 Cyberpunk with advanced Biology (YOU-Topia)

could you update your sheet or post a new version?

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Have you considered the skill climbing?

Added along with Escape.

Originally Posted by ericthered

She seems to be missing driving, hiking, or another way of getting around

��

Originally Posted by TGLS

Guns (Rifle) DX/E - DX+2 16 [4]
Hiking HT/A - HT-1 11 [1]
Holdout IQ/A - IQ-1 14 [1]

Maybe it should be higher than 11?

Originally Posted by ericthered

You're asking for full Ultra-tech Armor, which is pretty good stuff, and doesn't suit all sci-fi genres.

Works for me; I wanted to make sure that Halcyone had some armor that covered everything.

Originally Posted by ericthered

I dropped Empathy as being entirely too talent like, which is about boosting skills. If you just want the "feel of someone" memetics! will let you do something similar.

I'll keep the note about Memetics! in mind.

Originally Posted by ericthered

As a note, I'm going to cap the extra arms grappling bonus at +5. which should be more than enough.

I dunno, will Judo-22 be enough? :P

Originally Posted by ericthered

Could you update your sheet or post a new version?

Short Biography

Halcyone is an Tendriloid 300X model OAI, a form of artificial life legal to be owned on her home world. Originally owned by a marketing executive and employed as an assistant and bodyguard, she was convinced to flee and joined a resistance group. Her cell was sold out, and she eventually tracked down the person responsible, the very person who convinced her to join in the first place. No longer feeling that the movement could succeed, she was recruited by Corco who promised to help the movement if she helped him.

Appearance

Without using pigment alteration, Halcyone is a pale purple from head to, erm, club, apart from her eyes which are a greyish blue with white sclera. The “hair” on her head is a mass of very fine tendrils, which can respond to pigment alteration and move under their own power. She stands about 160 cm (~5’3”) in a “relaxed” state, though when not splaying out (i.e. by trying to blend in with humans) she rises to about 188 cm (~6’2”). In human terms she appears more slender than muscular (though she is a dense 100 kg (~220 lb.)), and her upper body conforms to feminine human norms. She has no belly button and most of her body is unnaturally smooth by human standards.

Loadout

Halcyone is rarely seen outside one of the Bioplas Style Suits (UT174, with 7/2 DR) she stole from her employer all those years ago. Each suit has a variety of biomedical sensors and a HUD that interfaces with her personal data unit, and passive stealth that complements her pigment alteration. Her PDU is equipped with memetic analysis software, though Halcyone tends to rely on guesswork and instinct without a datafeed. She usually layers it under actual clothing for decency and disguise. In situations where subtlety is called for, she arms herself with a Gauss Minineedler (UT141). When firepower is a priority, she instead arms herself with three Gauss Rifles (UT141), firing them sequentially or simultaneously.

A usual load out resembles:
-> 7/2 Bioplas as usual
-> Gauss Minineedler
-> 10 clips for minineedler, loaded with sleep poison
-> Gauss Rifle
-> 5 rifle clips, regular
-> Explosives
-> Superfine Cutlass
-> Surveillance Microbots
-> Smart device, preferably disguised
-> Spray can of building foam
-> Cash

Character Sheet
Link to Current

Destiny will return at 1390, 1467, 1471

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Are you familiar with Keith Valentine from Shadow Hearts?

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

I've been working on a "face man" type character (with the associated Wildcard skill), but I'm not 100% sure I'm keeping with the Shapeshifting dragon idea just yet... it's hovering between plan and thought experiment.

Originally Posted by petrovski

I really was actually looking for some inspiration - I like the idea of the gadgeteer actually - so i might steal one of those ideas from you. Though I was looking at how to build a 40k-esque space marine too.

Any progress folks?

Originally Posted by TGLS

Maybe it should be higher than 11?

oh, I see it!

Looking over the sheet... your tabs didn't show up in the forum post, but I can tell what you meant to do.

the 8 limbs with half ST are worth 96, not 100 ... not that it matters much.

The template clocks in at 400-ish points, far over the target 150. I ran some numbers to make sure its in the range we want. If ST is left out (as I said) and arms are calculated without extra flexible (which is a serious point crock, especially with that many), we get 210 points. Which is high, but not a serious problem, especially given that ~80 of those points are just arms.

[Kalzazz]

No progress