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View Full Version : How to build? Robotic Minions



Crimson King
May 14th, '03, 08:04 AM
A new player in my new campaign wants to build a gadgeteer. So far, he has a Variable Power Pool for his gadgets, that he can change only in a lab. Nothing difficult there.

But the player wants to have a group of robotic minions that he can create from nearby electronic/mechanical items. For instance, if he's on the battlefield fighting some foe, and there's a nearby ATM machine, he can concentrate and the ATM machine will draw upon nearby materials and reform itself into some type of lumbering robotic creature that attacks the foe. He understands that in this case it wouldn't have a chain gun or other weapons (perhaps armor, as ATM's are built pretty solidly?) etc. It's abilities would be somewhat derived from its base parts.

I was thinking originally of Summon. But that assumes that all the summoned creatures are pretty much the same. So any ideas out there on how to build this? *Another* VPP? Perhaps one that is tied to the Summon, and can only effect summoned creatures?

Monolith
May 14th, '03, 08:15 AM
If a player already has a VPP, who says he cannot have 6 different types of Summon within it? It seems pretty simple to either give the Summon power the Expanded Class Advantage (allowing the character to Summon different types of robots) or to just allow the player to have different "slots" within his VPP to have different types of robot-types in it.

Doug Limmer
May 14th, '03, 08:17 AM
Summon sounds like the right way to go.

If you don't want to add a 'Summon only' VPP, I'd use some level of the "Expanded Class" advantage (how much depends on what different types of robots he can make; I'd guess +1/2 for "robots"). To show that he can only use parts around him, something like the "Summoned Being Must Inhabit Locale" limitation (with a name change, of course) could be used, limiting what abilities the robots can have.

[edit: how does Monolith do it? There wasn't a reply when I started typing ...]

Lord Liaden
May 14th, '03, 09:57 AM
The newest incarnation of Mechanon has exactly this ability, defined as Summon, Expanded Class (+1/4 for minor variations), Slavishly Loyal, OIF (must have sufficient technology/parts available).

If you'd like to see those robots written up, they're available as as small free PDF under the Free Stuff link at the top of the page, in "Fifth Edition Write-ups and Forms."

Crimson King
May 14th, '03, 09:59 AM
Whoah! That's cool, thanks everyone.