Just a few questions, since we have taken this from rpol to GO, trying to get a little more information on the sheet, to make it easier to know what things do, I have a few questions:
Starsong Subdermal Armor: Need a bit of info on the density of it, what it's made of, what material it can be associated with, and coverage area. Does this affect the Density value of the player?
Unbreakable Rib Wiring and Rif Wrap Around Skullplate, is this assumed to be 6.0 density material for the areas covered. Do either of these affect the Density value of the player?
Breaking Blades, I am assuming due to their description they do one shot of Annihilating Damage, then the next shot takes to Lethal, and a third makes it Annoying before it recrystallizes and after annoying with a huge damage minus modifier? That is my extrapolation from it's use in games, and trying to put it into game terms.
Starsong Nanoweave Armor: What does it cover, and what material value would it be from a 1-6, (sorry MJ working from memory), 1 bring soft material, 6 being the most dense and sturdy material known? ((example futuristic starship hulls likely being a 6)
Windows 2100 Super PDA: I assume due to our doubleing computering storage and power every 4 years, that it's 23 times as fast, 23 times the functionality and stores 23 times as much info as a computer now can? Can it be used as a phone with all known frequencies? Does it have sensors, or be allowed to be used like a Star Trek Tricorder?
Starsong Laptop: I was told this was a large unit by their standards, and is virtually indestructible (6.0 on the hardness scale). Compared to a computer made today by the best company, what is the speed and storage? If we extrapolate from when I versed, the formula above, it would be 251x as fast, 251x as functional and can store 251x the data. Does it have a battery that's constantly renewing it's energy? Can one assume, that it hold knowledges of multiple civilizations without needing to connect to anything? I am assuming, with the time I spent in starsong, and my general curiosity on many subjects, I probably kept it on 24/7 drawing in as much info as possible. It was mentioned it was intelligent, with AI and learned my tendencies and even at one point, anticipated my searches. Is it smart enough to teach subjects contained within it's storage?
The orange jeweled sensitives ring: I have been memorized by it, and I believe I have used it to do it to others. Does it allow someone distracted to be given suggestions? Does it make psionic skills used against that person easier?
I have more mundane questions on other things but those were my top 7, thanks.
Jhiaxus
1. Its not made of the liquid metal used for skullcaps. Its made of a plastic-ceramic alloy called Placera 2.3. Placera has a superior protection to Kevlar in two respects. A. Kevlar will provide little protection vs. knives, especially knives covered in teflon oil. Placera defends against heat, radiation, edged, piercing, blunt, and wide area blunt such as caused by explosions. Thus lasers, X-ray cannon, knives, rapiers, clubs, and grenades are protected against.
It provides superior protection against Breaking Blades as Placera is made of thousands of tiny layered cells with each cell pierced degrading the BB further. It provides very modest protection against cold.
I would rank Placera as one grade of protection above Kevlar. Two grades above that for BB, and Annoying level protection against cold due to its insulative mass.
Subdermal armor offers no protection against Annoying attacks. Your skin may be severely damaged also by a flamethrower, but leave most of your body intact as the armor is under your skin and thus offers no protection to your skin.
SDA covers 70% of your body, primarily avoiding your joints. Another 5% is covered by your skullcap armor.
SDA offers you @2+ to your density, and raises the difficulty of your swimming by +5, and your leaping by +3.
2. The Skullplate is of far superior quality. In Starsong, preserving the body is not such a big deal for as long as the brain is fine, a Medbox robot can patch you back together in a half-hour at most (unless you offend the House of Peace or the Nanotech Guild).
I'm going to rank the liquid metal used as 5. Its also got an impact resistance so that impact is radiated out into subspace. Unlike other armors, the rest of your body does not feel the impact spread out. The LM is self-healing.
I don't think just the head should affect the density. Plus, its very light metal.
3. Annihilating seems high. Let me put this example out...
A 2@1 swordsman with a monomolecular edge Breaking Blade uses Decapitation Strike and does a decent to good, but not excellent job. His opponent fails to block. The swordsman cuts off his opponents head in one strike.
Damage level?
4. Nanoweave...ugh, let me skip this one for now.
5. It would be 22 times as fast, but the size of computer programs is jumping up hugely as well. I'm sure you're familiar with this. Lets say 10X as fast? Sound reasonable? Now, if you were to load a DOS program on to it, then yes, that program would be blistering.
Phone, camera, GPS by holding it up to the night sky and letting it triangulate your position from the stars (If its familiar with the local stars), video...
Sensors...hmm. It has a radiation warning, but no its no tricorder. It does have a Nurse program which is effectively a 1@8 Nurse for diagnoses which can help you figure out the most likely reason you have spots on your arm. This takes the form of a long list of questions you answer, and then it spits out a diagnoses with a confidence estimate.
"You have smallpox. 77% confidence. You have hemmoraghic Ebola 20% confidence. You have a minor rash from over-indulgence in the sun 3% confidence."
6. I'll deal with a few things with this.
Yes, it will have huge capacity.
No, its not liquid metal indestructible. But it is drive a main battle tank over it indestructible.
Speed...um, really, really fast.
Its not intelligent. Its a low-level Expert System. In Starsong, AI's are non-existent, and the only things that are intelligent and computer hooked up to would be Ratbrains (about as smart in different ways than humans), and the super-intelligent Mad Gods that live outside solar systems.
As an ES, it can anticipate you. You have patterns, and there are logical implications to your questions. It can use both to figure out where you're likely to want to go next.
ES's tend to be good, even very good, in their limited field. MJ has an ES in the form of his combat training robot. Your ES's field is managing the data and the interface with it user and the local net.
If you had it going 24/7 scooping up data, then its filled to the brim by now. Starsong is awash with more data than could be fitted into a dozen laptops. That said, yes, its huge, and its got a lot of data in it.
Next, the orange sensitive's ring.
It increases the ability to meditate by +20 if used as a focus. It increases the chance to mesmerize another who sees it by +3-+10. The difference is by how prominent it is in the other's notice. It gives a +10 to charisma attempts to convince a distracted person. This last is a very low power psi skill which has the advantage of not being very visible to someone scanning for psi power. It can mesmerize the curious and unguarded without the user trying to cause this.
I'll keep it to a one a week thing, thanks for clarifying that, as for the breaking blade we I would suggust the following:
Lethal, then Dangerous, then Annoying, and further attempts Annoying with a heavy sit mod against damage. That lets someone using it as part of a style, bump up the damage 3 steps if skilled enough with the blade and style, which would be obliterative damage. It should have a heavy sit mod against armor not made to stop a monomolecular blade. +30 perhaps. I know MJ will chime in.
So I could program a phone program into it, and the pda can be used at a sat phone or cellular if there is such hardware around?
Thanks for answering the questions, I had some of them for years, but I just lived with them, next week will have another group ready.
Ok I will clarify I kept the information on the laptop to mainly: Designs of technology, energy sources, scientific theories, physics, starsong science and basically be the end all, be all of those subjects. I think that's what I was working on in Starsong, and it would only be fair to limit what I would have stored to that.
Jhiaxus
Thank you. You do know that you're doing something evil. You're making me think. :)
Sounds okay, I guess. I'd like to hear MJ's opinion or Wodium's.
Yes.
Thank you for being patient with my faults. I think of myself as a very good gm, but I do have some definite weaknesses.
Good.
And see you on this next week, same bat channel, same bat time.
A 2@1 swordsman with a monomolecular edge Breaking Blade uses Decapitation Strike and does a decent to good, but not excellent job. His opponent fails to block. The swordsman cuts off his opponents head in one strike.
A killing blow on an average person must do at least 15 intensities of damage (because 1@5 is the average damage value of ordinary people with 1@5 Stamina, Resistance, and Will Power and a 1@1 Density), 16 if it's instantly fatal. People in Starsong are going to have unusually high Resistances, though, probably low 2@, which will raise the DV an intensity or two, all other things being equal. That means your fatal shot probably has to do 18 intensities of damage.
Unless you have huge damage point bonuses or riders, to do 18 intensities of damage you must have at least a Lethal weapon; but you said your guy was 2@ SAL, so he could have a dangerous weapon since he has +DC to make his attacks lethal. Problematic, though, is that he has to roll at least 86 and be successful to get that 18 intensities, and with all the defenses Starsong residents have, he'd have to be much better than a 2@ to get that kind of chance to hit. So we're probably looking at a fatal attack, which means a lethal weapon +DC. A roll of 37 would give you 18 intensities of damage.
This assumes that decapitation is color. You could handle it as a B7@7 (?) Special Damage attack that took specific penalties against success but resulted in severing the head if successful; you'd then incorporate it into a (or one of several) weapon-dependent martial arts style. I would again make the damage roll-based, but the base for the attack lethal +DC for style, noting that the professional (or the 2@ MSV) would get an additional +DC to make it annihilating (die roll equals damage). I'm thinking you're looking at a -20 SM on the chance of success (to balance the high damage level), but you don't want even every professional successfully severing heads easily.
*****
GPS by holding it up to the night sky and letting it triangulate your position from the stars (If its familiar with the local stars),...
Not to say that it couldn't work that way, but I will note that the telephone location application that identifies constellations does not actually compare the images to a database--it determines the location and position of the phone itself by GSPS and internal sensors, and so based on which way you're holding it tells you what Google Stars says is there. It will work just as well in the rain; it won't work on a planet that does not have a compatible GSP system.
*****
It does have a Nurse program which is effectively a 1@8 Nurse for diagnoses which can help you figure out the most likely reason you have spots on your arm.
Ouch. Don't let a doctor hear you write that. Nurses do not diagnose; they evaluate, assess, and recommend care. The nearest they get to diagnosis is that a nurse practitioner will under the supervision of a doctor record a proposed diagnosis for the doctor to confirm, and will recommend treatment in the doctor's name unless the doctor states otherwise.
More on point for game purposes, the SAL of a medical skill is only half the battle. You also need the bias level. In this, you can distinguish diagnosis (@0) from treatment (@1). There is a list of what's covered in each bias level in the special tech skills section after T15@ in the book. It makes a significant difference: someone with 1@8 SAL treatment of temporal displacement disorders and scriff-related conditions (15@ stuff) is inherently 2@2 at splints, stitches, bandages, tourniquets, and simple prosthetics (2@ stuff). On the other hand, someone who is 2@2 at that 2@ stuff doesn't necessarily have any ability at even 3@ amputations.
*****
...as for the breaking blade we I would suggest the following:
It suddenly strikes me that what you're calling a "breaking blade" is probably the same as this from my sheet:
Monomolecular blade (T12@9): katana which can cut through practically anything, but it also erodes upon contact with stuff so that two good whacks at something and its practically useless until he sticks it in his scabbard (T14@2), and lets the blade re-crystallize. Damage: Annoying with varying intrinsic damage rider. On first cut it is Lethal, after every successful hit it drops one damage category until the blade is recrystalized in scabbard (which is a T14@2 device) taking 10 minutes.
Since the character could add as much as +2DC, that would mean that the blade would be annoying+annihilating on the first (twice bonused) strike, then annoying+fatal, annoying+lethal, annoying+dangerous, annoying+damaging, annoying+annoying, and then just annoying. My impression is that the "annoying" is what you get if you hit someone with the stick and the Use Monomolecular Blade skill does not work.
It should have a heavy sit mod against armor not made to stop a monomolecular blade. +30 perhaps. I know MJ will chime in.
The technically correct answer to that is not that the weapon is sit-modded against the armor but that the armor is not effective against the weapon. That's usually an incident-by-incident ruling, but for example it would be said that a Kevlar vest has, say, -20 against bullets (low because it doesn't protect extremities--you can still be shot in the head or the femoral artery) but only -5 against knives or Teflon bullets, maybe -10 against lasers, and no defense at all against sonics. Usually the recorded value is the cover value against "kinetic" attacks, which usually includes bullets and other missiles, melee weapons, martial arts hits, and kinetic force attacks (kinetic blasters, psionically generated forces, magic force attacks, non-contact martial arts attacks), but the referee is supposed to make note when a particular form of defense does not protect against a particular form of attack. The problem with using a sit-mod is that someone with a steel shield isn't going to have more than maybe -4 (I'm looking at 8% coverage of a 4@8 density metal) while someone in a full suit of bronze plate (95% at 2@5) will have closer to -24, but you probably want the blade to be more effective in cutting through the softer bronze than the harder steel. If it were to me to decide, I would suggest that all hard metal protections are reduced to half, all hard polymers to one third, and all soft metals, plastics, wood, and other soft materials (leather, cloth) to one quarter. I'd also say that many materials harder than hard metals (gem and sci-fi/fantasy materials) retain three quarters of their value. That, though, I would still keep as a case-by-case judgment--4@8 Mithril Chain (hard metal) might retain more of its value that 4@1 ruby dust blend armor (something I've never actually considered before, so you're making me think, too).
It also means that neither the attacker nor the defender will ever be one hundred percent certain how effective an unusual weapon will be against an unusual form of protection. If you swing a Starsong monomolecular blade at a Star Frontiers kinetic dampening field, what happens? Only the referee can really make that call.
Does that work for you?
*****
I hope this all helps.
--M. J. Young
GPS. I knew that GPS was based on satellite information, but this is a system that does not require satellites or internet to work.
Nurse...well, this is a 2100 super PDA from a world in which while some bad things happened, mostly the world progressed. One might suggest that trimming the arrogance of doctors might be part of that progression....smile.
Yes, your breaking blade and his are the same.
And oh, going back to earlier, I'd think that Decapitating Strike was a move in a martial arts system.
And I'm going to need to reread your post at least once, but thats the highlights.
Well the his is actually better than mine, so looks like it works. I will work on a better sheet tomorrow and post it here, I might be adventerous and make one for Siljonic and Tessa too, help you out.
Wow let this go for a month. You did answer almost all my questions. Since it looks like possibly combat is coming up, perhaps a refresh of skill gains and covering what the Nanoweave armor looks like, what it protects, it's purpose, to start stating it up.
Adam