[Infinite Worlds] So, what exactly does C-31... do?

[awesomenessofme1]

He's a giant combat robot who can in no way disguise himself who's part of an organization that needs to infiltrate places and isn't allowed to reveal that they're from another world. There's only a handful of worldlines where he'd have any chance of being allowed, and most of them are pretty much quarantined anyway. At least Iotha can wear a hat. So exactly what purpose does C-31 serve?

[Aletheus]

Likely, get sent to missions where secrecy is unimportant, and one must immediately charge in with guns blazing.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Aletheus

Likely, get sent to missions where secrecy is unimportant, and one must immediately charge in with guns blazing.

I sort of thought that was the entire point of ISWAT. You want to do undercover investigations, join the I-cops. And Infinity presumably has other entire divisions that collect data on worldlines that have no criminal involvement. But you don't call in the SWAT team until you're pretty close to the charge in with guns blazing part of an operation.

Admittedly that leaves you wondering why some of the [other] iconic characters are part of the same team, so yeah, but then a lot of fictional "teams" don't seem well optimized for what they are supposed to be doing - partly because fictional teams get assigned to much more varied jobs than real ones would.

[Anaraxes]

Remember the intros to the original Mission: Impossible TV show? There's always this scene where the team lead (Dan Briggs / Jim Phelps) is flipping through a folder full of pictures of possible team members, seeing what skills he has available and getting inspiration for the clever plan (as silently evidenced by his deep reflection). He pulls a few out as he goes through for the final team.

Of course, that team always just happens to include the series regulars. And sometimes there's a guest star or two with some novel skills.

It's a way GMs might consider framing their special ops team games. The PCs may well know each other from previous operations (whether in Budapest or not), but they were all brought together for this one mission. They're not a fixed, organized unit. They might well wind up working together multiple times. And they might go on other missions in between, but the game isn't telling those stories.

Also a good way to work in a bit of troupe-style play if players want some variety in their characters. (Tell some of those in-between missions, too.)

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by malloyd

I sort of thought that was the entire point of ISWAT. You want to do undercover investigations, join the I-cops. And Infinity presumably has other entire divisions that collect data on worldlines that have no criminal involvement. But you don't call in the SWAT team until you're pretty close to the charge in with guns blazing part of an operation.

I think ISWAT has a much more generalised view of "Special Weapons and Tactics" than a American police SWAT team. They're for cases where ordinary cops or soldiers can't do the job, but that doesn't mean the job requires ultra-violence. Of course, having ultra-violence as a fall-back tactic is always handy. Looking at what the example team does:

• C31R07 provides ultra-violence, plus quite a lot of technological detection capability, and very good Strategy, Tactics and computer/robot repair skills.
• Dai Blackthorn gets into places nobody else can, and provides good thief skills (although adding some Disguise would help).
• Louis d’Antares provides someone who has the looks, skills and attitude to move in high society anywhere Western-derived, and carries a horrendously powerful weapon that most worlds won't recognise.
• William Headley is the researcher, medic and non-combat magician.
• Iotha understands fantasy parallel worlds, spots unusual ways of travelling between worlds, and is the specialist sniper.
• Sora is a dangerous combatant in places you can't take any weapons, is Dai's backup on infiltrations, and understands organised crime.
• Janos Telkozep is a finance and high society expert, political manipulator, and provider of nightmarish deaths to people who don't believe in the supernatural.
• Xing La solves your transport and navigation problems thoroughly, and can help a lot with investigations.

A group like this can't go around as an overt "party of adventurers" like a Dungeon Fantasy party. They need a base, or bases, and sub-groups go out and do different parts of a mission. You need players to behave like adults and find each other entertaining to play this way, but when you have them, this kind of game is excellent.

[johndallman]

He's the combat reserve, for when an operation goes utterly wrong and overwhelming force is required to extract agents. You find somewhere to conceal him, and if the mission goes well, he doesn't have to do anything.

Many players don't enjoy that role in a team, but some do. I've seen it occupied by characters varying from snipers to fire magicians.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Many players don't enjoy that role in a team, but some do. I've seen it occupied by characters varying from snipers to fire magicians.

The player of a character like this can still contribute, if you give the party a way to stay in constant contact and the character has skills that allow them to serve as an advisor. If the other members wear bodycams or similar, C31R07 could serve as Operations/Man In The Chair - and the fact it has Computer Operations, Expert Skill (Military Science), Navigation, Strategy (Land), and Tactics lends itself well to such a roll (indeed, the latter two are at rather high levels, and none are low-level - most are 15 or 16, while Strategy is 18 and Tactics is 20).

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

So exactly what purpose does C-31 serve?

Everyone else's fantastic answers aside, it serves as an example of how to build a weird character like that. Why else would the point costs of the example Characters be so skewed?

[Rolando]

Originally Posted by mburr0003

Everyone else's fantastic answers aside, it serves as an example of how to build a weird character like that. Why else would the point costs of the example Characters be so skewed?

This, I think, is the main reason of existing.

To show that GURPS allows for such a character.

Also, for an in setting reeason, for an ISWAT team it can be great base C3I and heavy support when needed. It can be a deux ex machina, patron or ally, or the character of a player that can only play online while the rest plays in the same table or a player that can't play every day and comes and go from the campaign while the character stays in the base as security.

But mostly to show GURPS Basic can do all of those characters without a sweat.

[Pursuivant]

Everyone's focusing on on the character's straight-up combat potential.

C-31 is the closest thing the team has to a Hacker, Sensor Operator or Comms Specialist/ Wire Rat.

Doesn't Breathe + Pressure Support 2 + Sealed means that it easily operate underwater making it the team's Aquatic Specialist.

As long as the team can keep in contact via radio and keep feeding it data via video & computer links C-31 can also act as mission coordinator with its sky-high Strategy and Tactics skills. Its Pacifism helps it to limit violence by other party members (aim the Baron at those people who are manifestly NOT innocent).

Give it a link to a small drone flying high enough to be invisible to people on the ground and it's on overwatch duty, acting as a flying scout while also keeping an eye on things from the ground due to Enhanced Tracking.

Given its great Forward Observer skill and sensory advantages team it with Iotha to make a highly deadly sniper team. It spots, she shoots. If anything shoots back, it shoots & she dives for cover.

It's also one of the group's philosophers, with the highest Theology skill in the bunch. The fact that it's specialized in Buddhism makes it a healthy antidote to Professor Headley's Satanism-specialized Theology skill.

If it has to go out into the field and doesn't need to hide its other non-combat role is Mount. Its high ST allows it to carry up to Medium encumbrance (~500 lbs. of gear or 2 riders) and still chug along at Move 5. It can carry nearly a half ton of gear (~900 lbs.) and still travel at a respectable Move 4.

To some extent it can hide in hexapod robot form due to Chameleon 3. Slap an Illusion Shell magic item/enchantment on it or equivalent ultra-tech gadget and it can pretend to be just about anything the locals will accept as being Size 1 and mobile, from beast of burden to small vehicle.

It's also a competent all-around technician/mechanic. It's the best in the group for fixing heavy weapons, computers or robots and pretty good at fixing anything else due to its decent skill defaults. Its technical skills complement Xing La's, which makes it a good backup or assistant to her. Its massive ST lets it act as a hoist or jack so she can do more fiddly work.

Finally, since it's only character in the group with True Faith C-31 is an uber holy warrior. That helps it keep the Baron in line, along with the fact that it's too tough to attack, probably is immune to his mind control powers and doesn't have blood to suck.

On worlds filled with magical undead menaces it probably doesn't need to hide. The combination of True Faith, Immunity (Metabolic Hazards), high DR and being able to dish out as much firepower as an attack helicopter makes it a perfect for dealing with hordes of undead or demons. Load it up with silver bullets or industrial holy water sprayers and it can lay down the Buddhist-inspired, tactically-brilliant smackdown on entire cities full of shamblers or minor demons.

I'd imagine that C-31's role on most covert ops missions is to haul heavy gear into position in a clandestine fashion, suggest tactics & strategy and then go back into the conveyor. From there it monitors the mission remotely, does administrivia and guards the conveyor & any excess gear.

On high-tech worlds where it has to remain hidden it's support role is communications monitoring. On low-tech worlds it breaks out the drones and goes on overwatch duty.

In any situation, it keeps the escape route clear for the rest of the party. It blasts any enemy reinforcements coming up from the rear while the human/oid party members do more specialized special ops/covert ops stuff.

As a starting multi-role character, it's missing certain skills and powers needed to optimize it for anything other than the ranged combat role, but that's easily fixable given its very high IQ and DX.