Machine Master

[Snaps]

This is an NPC I am working on for a game I'm going to run this weekend. The idea is that he can rearrange any machine he touches, turning cars into battle suits, etc.

Machine Master

ST: 12
DX: 13
IQ: 15
HT: 14
Will: +3

Advantages:

Affliction 1 (Advantage: Morph (Improvised forms, +100%; No Memorization Required, +50%; Mass Conservation, -20%; Flawed, -10%; Needs Sample, -10%; Unliving Forms Only, +0%; Only On Machines, -10%; PM: Super, -10%), Improved Forms, +200, +3900%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, -30%) [413 Points]

Affliction 1 (Advantage: Extreme Regeneration (Cosmic, Works on Machines Already “Dead,” +50%) +2250%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, -30%; Alternate Ability, 1/5) [47 Points]

So Machine Masters favorite thing to do is go and grab a vehicle, then use his power to transform it into a robot/battlesuit around himself. He does this by using the extra points in Morph he has to buy off the cars disadvantages and limitations. He buys the Vehicle Payload, removes its No Manipulators, and either lowers its strength or buys off the No Manipulators Limitation (Which probably isn’t too much since they’d have a SM limitation too).

So for example, a Pickup Truck has 55 ST/HP, HT 11, and 5 DR. Machine Master can grab the truck, form it around himself into a battlesuit with those stats. He could also strengthen it, giving himself more DR, etc.

After transforming the machine, his power make it almost impossible to destroy. It regens its full HP every second! Watch out if he gets ahold of a Tank!

I’m thinking he can’t turn one thing into another, but I’m unsure how to price that. This means he can’t turn glass into metal, or metal into gunpowder. So to make guns he’d need to at least have a gun to start with. (This isn’t a huge limitation though, there’s lots of ways for him to throw shrapnel at people…)

LOL, okay guys, tell me what’s wrong with him…
(I'll do skills and other things later on, I just wanted to work out his abilities for now).

[Snaps]

Is there any way with the rules that a character like this could merge two objects into one?

I was trying to look for a way to do that buy couldn't find any.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by Snaps

Is there any way with the rules that a character like this could merge two objects into one?

Control with collective would allow you to manipulate/join inanimate objects all you want. Permeation w/Meld will allow one thing to collapse into another.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by Snaps

So for example, a Pickup Truck has 55 ST/HP, HT 11, and 5 DR. Machine Master can grab the truck, form it around himself into a battlesuit with those stats. He could also strengthen it, giving himself more DR, etc.

This is quite a stretch to do with Morph or an Affliction and not really very practical.

First off, it's a pain to figure out the templates and costs involved for a Morph that's going to be constantly working off non-existent templates (vehicles, battlesuits, etc). For an NPC you can fudge the details but it's a lot of work for a PC.

Second, this Affliction is designed to create devices where the power of the machine is the determining factor rather than the point value of the ability. That's a bit unbalanced. If he's going to regularly create a battlesuit that gives him DR20ish ST50ish, he should just go ahead and pay for that ability. If he can outfit a party with such suits he should pay for that too.

Last, are you keeping in mind that Morph takes 10 seconds to work unless you add Reduced Time and the Affliction won't really last long enough for him to wander around with modified equipment all the time? Unless he knows he's going into action he probably won't have anything set up to help him in time.

After transforming the machine, his power make it almost impossible to destroy. It regens its full HP every second! Watch out if he gets ahold of a Tank!

I wouldn't allow AA to be used in this way. If it's something that he's going to be doing in conjunction with the primary use (rather than an alternate of) he should be paying full points for it. As described this should be part of the morph Affliction if the machine regenerates while transformed.

[vierasmarius]

I think a better option would be to give the Machine Master himself Modular Abilities, limited by availability of appropriate machinery (a variant of Environmental?) Turning a truck into a battlesuit would just be flavor on a configuration granting him extra ST and DR. I think doing it this way is simpler and more fair.

[Snaps]

Originally Posted by naloth

First off, it's a pain to figure out the templates and costs involved for a Morph that's going to be constantly working off non-existent templates (vehicles, battlesuits, etc). For an NPC you can fudge the details but it's a lot of work for a PC.

Actually, it's not.

All of the Vehicles stats are listed in the Campaigns book. You have ST, HT, DR, hit points and even SM. All the Machine Master is doing is giving those vehicles limbs and a payload to carry himself in.

If he even needs to buy off the No Fine Manipulators limitation on the strength is debatable. Big robot hands probably don't count as Fine Manipulators.

So he grabs a Semi-Truck and turns it into battle armor. It's got 100 ST and No Manipulators, so he spends 30 or 50 of his points to give it some, then another 20 to give it legs.

The +100 ST of a Semi costs about 200 points. (No Fine Manipulators, -40%; SM +4, -40%). Machine Master can either not give it Fine Manipulators, or lower its strength. (He could just give it a 30 ST, or pump 100 of his points into it for about a 50).

If he just doesn't give it Fine Manipulators though then there's no work at all. He just uses the exact stats found in the campaigns book.

Originally Posted by naloth

Second, this Affliction is designed to create devices where the power of the machine is the determining factor rather than the point value of the ability. That's a bit unbalanced. If he's going to regularly create a battlesuit that gives him DR20ish ST50ish, he should just go ahead and pay for that ability. If he can outfit a party with such suits he should pay for that too.

He paid over 400 points for that ability. How many Tanks would 400 points of Wealth buy?

Originally Posted by naloth

Last, are you keeping in mind that Morph takes 10 seconds to work unless you add Reduced Time and the Affliction won't really last long enough for him to wander around with modified equipment all the time? Unless he knows he's going into action he probably won't have anything set up to help him in time.

Are you saying that when the Affliction runs out the Semi-Bot would turn back into a normal Semi-Truck? Affliction gives the truck Morph, during that time it can turn into any template it can afford. Once the times runs out, its stuck in whatever form it ended up in.

Also, I'll probably give him a Technique for Reduced Time or Active Change. Normally he takes whatever time he needs, but in a crunch he can use a little effort to make the change faster.

Originally Posted by naloth

I wouldn't allow AA to be used in this way. If it's something that he's going to be doing in conjunction with the primary use (rather than an alternate of) he should be paying full points for it. As described this should be part of the morph Affliction if the machine regenerates while transformed.

It doesn't have to regenerate when transformed, the Machine Master can just use his power to repair a machine instead of transform it.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Snaps

Are you saying that when the Affliction runs out the Semi-Bot would turn back into a normal Semi-Truck? Affliction gives the truck Morph, during that time it can turn into any template it can afford. Once the times runs out, its stuck in whatever form it ended up in.

No; he's correct. Afflicting an Alternate Form or a Morph makes it so the creature turns into that form for the duration, after which it reverts to its normal shape. Otherwise, Affliction (Frog) would be dirt cheap and could turn anyone into a frog... forever.

You need to take Extended Duration on your Morph.

[starslayer]

This is actually a pretty cool build, but it does not do what you think it does.

1- As mentioned morph takes ten seconds, and while it is possible to enhance a power via technique it qualifies as a power stunt, will be at -1 for every 5% of bonus, takes an extra second of concentration before you start, costs fatigue, and if you screw it up you burn out your power. The power stunt is only viable if your GM allows power stunts.

2- When the affliction granting morph wears off, the object will no longer have morph, reverting it to its original form (potentially dangerously if he changed it a lot and is inside it). Default duration is 1 minute per MoS, you will have to take extended duration to make that longer (or power stunt even further as per 1)

3- Regenerate machine will also need 'negated disadvantage: unhealing' or it will have no effect on objects that already have unhealing (since regeneration and unhealing are mutually exclusive), you also need to add time spanning to actually reach through time and restore something from when it was 'not dead'. You may also have to grant unkillable 2 to the machine to restore it from death (though unkillable 1 may be enough if you don't want to ever restore anything from obliteration).

4- (minor) having 'requires sample' is a terrible idea, because then he can only morph into things that he has samples of (for instance, he could add tank armor if he had touched a tank, but he can't make anything a biped unless he's touched a biped machine); since its only -10% I suggest just dropping it.

As a GM I would be on the fence about letting the alternate ability affliction regeneration on a machine when the primary ability has currently afflicted morph on a machine- though I have no problem with the combination. (So I would let the alternate ability be used to restore a dead truck to a live truck, but would not allow the ability to be used to turn a truck currently morphed into armor to be regenerated while it is still morphed into Armour

Being able to use restore regular vehicles and then in important situations expand that capability is still pretty awesome, using it as a sort of 'instant Q' for cars, bicycles, or even suitcases with mechanical guts; being in a car chase and using the power so that you can then deploy turbo, headlight machine guns, ejector seat, ancillary rocket pack, etc. The ten seconds to change and very limited duration in those situations are generally tolerable. This power suite would be an excellent addition for a PC who already has a lot of toys via wealth, gadgeteering, or cute little robot helpers.

This build basically NEEDS PILOT!- because everything so morphed will be an exotic vehicle, and the penalties for operating it will add up FAST and unless this is a game with absolutely monstrous numbers of points most of this PC is spent on the base advantage. As a support PC this character would be even more effective so long as his compatriots have skills like GUN!, PILOT!, DRIVE!, OPERATE!, SCIENCE! at high levels because extra attack: dedicated controls is not overly expensive and could turn a car into a weapons platform, sensor suite, lab, or other things relatively quickly- if the party can hold cover for the ten seconds the morph will take (say by being more brick-oriented then attack oriented) then this could quickly amp there firepower and allow them to turn the tide. But the high cost, and short duration, means that this will not be a 'I prounce around in my super-suit', any attempt to build a 'does everything' single morph will result in a 'does nothing well' machine, the real beauty will come in modifications for every situation (As a GM I would require that the player write up any intended changes as packages, and can select from them when morphing the vehicle, rather then taking who knows how long to custom build a new vehicle at every juncture- so they might have 'machine guns +55 points, radar suite +70 points, flight and increased air move 4 +120 points, etc.' and select up to there limit from there when they make changes.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by Snaps

All of the Vehicles stats are listed in the Campaigns book. You have ST, HT, DR, hit points and even SM. All the Machine Master is doing is giving those vehicles limbs and a payload to carry himself in.

Given that the DR of most vehicles is 4-5, you're probably going to need to augment it. Transmuted vehicles don't move on their own (that's TK w/animate) so you're going to need to operate them directly after mutating them. Even if a generous GM allows you to morph it onto yourself (eliminating the need to put on and power up the battlesuit/vehicle) you still have a 10 second morph time to deal with and then about a 1-3 min duration before it turns back.

If he even needs to buy off the No Fine Manipulators limitation on the strength is debatable. Big robot hands probably don't count as Fine Manipulators.

Eh? If they can pick up and manipulate stuff they are manipulators even if they are SM+4.

He paid over 400 points for that ability. How many Tanks would 400 points of Wealth buy?

Probably quite a few but they are hard to haul around between fights. Wealth is really a poor marker for powers especially since we aren't comparing his abilities to stuff he could reasonably buy.

In terms of powers it's hard to say what 400 points buys this guy. He could end up with a ST30 or a ST100 at the GM's whim. It doesn't look like he would get much DR unless he's paying for it out of his Morph pool (vehicles are typically DR4-5) and he's heavily constrained on what's around him.

Personally, I would rather stat his abilities directly.

Are you saying that when the Affliction runs out the Semi-Bot would turn back into a normal Semi-Truck? Affliction gives the truck Morph, during that time it can turn into any template it can afford. Once the times runs out, its stuck in whatever form it ended up in.

Nope, it turns back after the duration runs out.

Also, I'll probably give him a Technique for Reduced Time or Active Change. Normally he takes whatever time he needs, but in a crunch he can use a little effort to make the change faster.

I'm not sure quite what you mean. Reduced Time 5 (to get it down to 1 second) typically doubles the cost of Morph. Making that a technique that only costs a few points trivializes one of the big drawbacks of using Morph.

It doesn't have to regenerate when transformed, the Machine Master can just use his power to repair a machine instead of transform it.

Sure, as long as he's not using the two powers at the same time.

[the_matrix_walker]

Originally Posted by Snaps

Affliction 1 (Advantage: Morph (Improvised forms, +100%; No Memorization Required, +50%; Mass Conservation, -20%; Flawed, -10%; Needs Sample, -10%; Unliving Forms Only, +0%; Only On Machines, -10%; PM: Super, -10%), Improved Forms, +200, +3900%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, -30%) [413 Points]

You Don't need No Memorization if you have Improvised Forms. It's not very well described or organized, but Improvised Forms is very much like a second level of No Memorization. With Cosmic, you can add things that don't even exist in your game world.

You don't want "needs Sample" or to make your battle-suit, you'd need to have a piece of the battle-suit would were copying with you.

Originally Posted by Snaps

Affliction 1 (Advantage: Extreme Regeneration (Cosmic, Works on Machines Already “Dead,” +50%) +2250%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, -30%; Alternate Ability, 1/5) [47 Points]

You'll need to also remove Unhealing from their template with your Morph to use this power, or add the Added Advantage "Remove Unhealing" for this to work.

Originally Posted by Snaps

So Machine Masters favorite thing to do is go and grab a vehicle, then use his power to transform it into a robot/battlesuit around himself. He does this by using the extra points in Morph he has to buy off the cars disadvantages and limitations. He buys the Vehicle Payload, removes its No Manipulators, and either lowers its strength or buys off the No Manipulators Limitation (Which probably isn’t too much since they’d have a SM limitation too).

Vehicles already have payload, what they don't have is a kinesynthetic feedback system to respond to all your movements. I don't think GURPS charges you more for one type of controls than another, so that's not really and issue... Guess I didn't need to bring that up, but I just love that reference... kinesynthetic feedback

Originally Posted by Snaps

So for example, a Pickup Truck has 55 ST/HP, HT 11, and 5 DR. Machine Master can grab the truck, form it around himself into a battlesuit with those stats. He could also strengthen it, giving himself more DR, etc.

After transforming the machine, his power make it almost impossible to destroy. It regens its full HP every second! Watch out if he gets ahold of a Tank!

Don't forget he needs afflict the machine and overcome the reverse resistance to give it the regeneration. If you want both effects on the things he morphs with one roll, they should be on the same affliction. Also, changing morphology can have quite a big impact on the point value of those stats, they won't just be the same stats.

Originally Posted by Snaps

I’m thinking he can’t turn one thing into another, but I’m unsure how to price that. This means he can’t turn glass into metal, or metal into gunpowder. So to make guns he’d need to at least have a gun to start with. (This isn’t a huge limitation though, there’s lots of ways for him to throw shrapnel at people…)

I'd call "Maintains Composition" equivalent to Retains Shape or Mass Conservation, and price it at -20%. this would make a battle-suit impossible though, a truck doesn't have sufficient high quality conductors or components

Originally Posted by Snaps

Is there any way with the rules that a character like this could merge two objects into one?

I was trying to look for a way to do that buy couldn't find any.

for that I'll reference our Assistant Line Editor.

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

For combining characters, especially those from a Voltron-type game, but also for chars like Firestorm, I've always just bought it as an Alternate Form, and charged each one of the X different people needed to make it 1/X of the template cost.

So if the five otherwise-normal Sailor Catgirls can combine into the 40' tall SuperMeow (a 1,000 point template), I charge them each an Alternate Form for a 200 point template. It's never seemed unbalanced -- the point break is fairly balanced for the fact that there's no way to change to SuperMeow unless they're all present and in physical contact.

So starting with that, you can afflict an alternate form on the objects, but you'd probably need a modular ability to do it with whatever objects you want..

Originally Posted by Snaps

Are you saying that when the Affliction runs out the Semi-Bot would turn back into a normal Semi-Truck? Affliction gives the truck Morph, during that time it can turn into any template it can afford. Once the times runs out, its stuck in whatever form it ended up in.

That would be nuts. Of course it reverts at the end of the duration. Also, you can purchase an Advantage Affliction in the default way (where the subject does not control the power, and it's behavior is determined when the affliction is activated) OR in such a way that the subject controls the power for the duration. This Affliction cannot use the latter as you seem to imply (unless on a sentient machine) as your subject has no mind to control it. So you could morph a machine into any other machine, but only for the duration, and it can't have multiple changes in form during your duration as a thinking subject might be able to. That's how I see it anyway.