Character: Robocop

[Vanguard]

Ok, here's my first attempt at a character. Comments, critizisms and anything else are more then welcome. Sorry it's so huge but couldn't figure out how to do smaller text.

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Alex MurphyPlayer:

Val	Char	Cost
35	STR	25
15	DEX	15
0	CON	-20
20	BODY	20
15	INT	5
10	EGO	20
20	PRE	10
0	COM	-5
6	PD	-6
0	ED	0
4	SPD	15
7	REC	0
0	END	0

3" RUN-60" SWIM-20" LEAP-7Characteristics Cost: 64

Cost	Power	END
16	Cybernetic Construction: Elemental Control, 40-point powers, all slots Restrainable (Only by means other than Grabs and Entangles; -1/4)
54	1) Titanium Armor w/Kevlar laminate: Armor (18 PD/0 ED), Hardened (+1/4); Visible (-1/4)	0
20	2) Full Conversion Cyborg Body: Automaton (Takes No STUN (loses abilities when takes BODY))	0
22	3) Cyborg Body: Hand-To-Hand Attack +4d6, Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Damage Shield (Offensive; +3/4), Continuous (+1); Must be Forcefully struck (-1), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2)	0
9	Cybernetic Construction: LS (Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum)	0
3	Voice Stress Analyzer: Detect Lie 12- (Hearing Group)	0
9	Computer Ehanced Vision: +3 PER with all Sense Groups	0
6	Optical Vision Magnification: +4 versus Range Modifier for Sight Group	0
10	Thermographic Imaging: IR Perception (Sight Group), Discriminatory	0
62	Heavily modified 9mm Autopistol: RKA 3d6+1 (vs. PD ), 2 clips of 12 Charges (+0), Autofire (3 shots; +1/4)	[12]
20	Cybernetic Fists: HA +4d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); HA (-1/2)	0
22	Computer Access Spike: HKA 1d6 (2d6 w/STR) (vs. PD ), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2)	0

Powers Cost: 253

Cost	Skill
3	Bureaucratics 13-
3	+3 with 9mm Autopistol
6	Penalty Skill Levels: +4 vs. Range Modifier with 9mm Autopistol
3	Deduction 12-
2	PS: Police Officer 11-
2	KS: Law Enforcement 11-
2	KS: Police Procedures 11-
2	KS: Law 11-
3	Systems Operation 12-
3	Tactics 12-
3	Teamwork 12-
1	TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles
2	WF: Small Arms

Skills Cost: 35

Cost	Perk
3	Computer Link
3	Access
3	Access
6	Reputation: Unstoppable Robotic Cop (A large group) 11-, +3/+3d6

Perks Cost: 15

Cost	Talent
3	Absolute Range Sense
3	Absolute Time Sense
5	Eidetic Memory

Talents Cost: 11

Val	Disadvantages
20	DF: RoboCop/Full Conversion Cyborg (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)
15	Phys. Lim.: Cannot Run (Infrequently, Fully Impairing)
15	Phys. Lim.: Must Obey Programming (Infrequently, Fully Impairing)
20	Phys. Lim.: Does Not Heal/Must be Repaired (All the Time, Greatly Impairing)
5	Phys. Lim.: Permanently Altered By Intrusive Cybernetics (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
15	Psych. Lim.: Policeman's Code (Common, Strong)
5	Phys. Lim.: Heavy (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
5	Phys. Lim.: Onboard Tracking Device (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
15	Psych. Lim.: Sense of Duty (Common, Strong)
5	Psych. Lim.: Flashbacks (Uncommon, Moderate)
5	Watched: Detriot PD 14- (Less Pow, Watching)
5	Watched: OCP 11- (As Pow, Watching)

Disadvantage Points: 130

Base Points: 200Experience Required: 48Total Experience Available: 48Experience Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 378

Height: 6' 1"	Hair: None
Weight: 1200 lbs	Eyes: Blue

Appearance: Personality: Murphy's overwhelming sense of duty is what is suspected to have allowed him to survive the conversion process and not go insane as all other attempts have resulted in. He is a highly motivated police officer and continues to function in that capacity after his conversion.Quote:"Dead or Alive you are coming with me."Background: Alex Murphy was a cop on the Detroit Police Force. During the attempted apprehension of bank robbery suspects, he was killed in the line of duty. OCP, using the waiver that was signed by him and the fact that he was legally dead, turned him into a full conversion cyborg as part of their "Urban Renewal/Pacification" program. Even though his memory was wiped after reconstruction, he still get's flashbacks of his previous life. During the end of the movie, he has regained much of the identity that was lost.Powers/Tactics: He relies on his body armor and his pistol to stop most crimes he responds to.Campaign Use: 

[Nolgroth]

Just some observations and opinions.

 

I think I would buy down his natural PD, as he takes no STUN. Either that or buy it resisted and reduce the amount of Armor. In fact it may be cheaper to buy his natural PD up, make it Resisted and Hardened, then add the Visible limitation to it.

 

I'm not sure about the Visible limitation on the armor. It seems to me that armor would be inherently visible and you would need Invisible Power Effects to make it not obvious. Just my opinion and I have no real official take on it. See Resistant natural PD above.

 

18 PD would be just about right. He never seemed to take more than a scuff mark from small arms and larger weapons had to have some oomph to do some damage to him.

 

The 9mm Autopistol seems way too high in damage. He was just fighting mooks for most of the movie. I think that I would change it's damage to 1 1/2d6 RKA and assume it's using the larger 9mm shell (9x21). I might also add a +1 Stun Mod to it. The 9mm x 21 round hits roughly like a .357 according to all the literature I've read. On the other hand, I think you underestimate its ammo capacity. Admittedly, there is no sign of an extended magazine, but he tends to fire the weapon a lot between reloads. I would at least push it to 16 rounds and probably 4 clips. It probably wouldn't be considered too unrealistic to give it a 32 round capacity.

 

The rest of the write-up looks pretty well done. Robocop seems to be geared for a Dark Champions low-level gritty game more than a four color Champions one. He fights lots of mooks and the only thing preventing him from killing one of them is surrender to authority, so he fits the mold.

 

Of course, I stress that these are my opinions and may not reflect the style of game that you built the character for.

[Vanguard]

Didn't build it for any particular game but I did sorta have Dark Champions in mind while creating him.

 

I could've sworn I lowered his natural PD to 0 but might have missed it. Wasn't sure on which way to go, either just straight PD or go with Armor. Can't even really tell you why i chose Armor other just the name. As for Visible. Yeah, I agree with you on the whole thing and for the longest time in our Hero games Armor was visible by nature but according to 5th Armor is invisble so can qualify for the Visible limitation. I'll play around a bit with the PD/Armor thing and see what happens.

 

I did set it at the 18 level mark because like you said, for the most part weapons fire just bounces off him and it takes military grade hardware to even make him take notice. I chose 18 because I believe that was the max amount of damage for small arms weapons in Hero and you start going into higher dice ranges as you climb the scale.

 

I wasn't too sure on either the damage output of the weapon nor the ammo capacity so it was all a guess. I may have fallen into the "bigger is better" pit-trap and just upped the dice when I should've stayed around the levels you're talking about. Especially since it's an Autofire weapon. Out of all 3 movies I think I only recall seeing him reload once and that was in Robocop 2 while in the Nuke factory (could be confusing that with RC 1 as well). I remember recalling something about the weapon having an internal ammo feed or something along those lines but just pretty much went with what I did as a "I'll do this and hopefully someone will come up with a better idea".

[Nolgroth]

Originally posted by Vanguard

Didn't build it for any particular game but I did sorta have Dark Champions in mind while creating him.

 

He's almost tailor-made for that kind of setting. That or a cyberpunk setting which kind of crosses over.

 

 

I wasn't too sure on either the damage output of the weapon nor the ammo capacity so it was all a guess. I may have fallen into the "bigger is better" pit-trap and just upped the dice when I should've stayed around the levels you're talking about. Especially since it's an Autofire weapon. Out of all 3 movies I think I only recall seeing him reload once and that was in Robocop 2 while in the Nuke factory (could be confusing that with RC 1 as well). I remember recalling something about the weapon having an internal ammo feed or something along those lines but just pretty much went with what I did as a "I'll do this and hopefully someone will come up with a better idea".

 

Good plan. I usually agree with the HERO damage classes for firearms. If you look at any of them combined with the proper Hit Location, they can pretty much take out the average man with one or two shots. Like I said, the 9mm x 21 is a high energy round that hits something similar to a .357 Magnum round. I would see the weapon being able to field those. Incidentally, the model is based on an automatic Beretta pistol that can hold upwards of 30 rounds I believe. Of course, the magazine on those extends quite a distance below the bottom of the handle. On the other hand, the handle may be so large that it might have tandem double-stacks in the magazine to hold the 32 round capacity. The firing mechanism may automatically cycle one stack forward as the first one ends. Don't know how the fictional pistol works in comparison to the "real" weapon. Could work, especially if they are caseless rounds and I don't recall a lot of casings falling around when he fired the weapon. Just my $0.02.

 

Overall, it is a respectable write-up. Good work.

[Devon]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

My apologies for resurrecting a year-old thread, but I'm wondering why the EC items can be considered restrainable -- is it simply because you can take him apart and remove his armor and other features?

 

I am planning on creating a multiform version of RoboCop (Aerial combat mode, heavy armor mode, computing mode, among others) and some of his abilities were going to be restrainable (signals and computer uplinks can be jammed, etc.), but most of the item sin the EC are not what I would consider appropriate for the "restrainable" limitation. I would love to hear more of an explanation.

[Susano]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

My apologies for resurrecting a year-old thread, but I'm wondering why the EC items can be considered restrainable -- is it simply because you can take him apart and remove his armor and other features?

 

I am planning on creating a multiform version of RoboCop (Aerial combat mode, heavy armor mode, computing mode, among others) and some of his abilities were going to be restrainable (signals and computer uplinks can be jammed, etc.), but most of the item sin the EC are not what I would consider appropriate for the "restrainable" limitation. I would love to hear more of an explanation.

 

I agree. In fact, I don't think the EC should be used at. Especially as it goes against the 5th Edition rules for what is a vlid EC power. And I really don't aee any of the powers are Restrainable.

[Devon]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

Well, most GMs I know are lax on that aspect of ECs, allowing Life Support and Armor if they fit into the concept.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

Taking Restrainable (in a way other than grabs or entangles) is the standard 5E way of doing cybernetics, since they can be deactivated and whatnot (it's in FREd). I wouldn't put it on the Armor, though, since that can't be 'turned off' or removed. It should probably be on most of his enhanced senses and skill levels.

 

The EC is very illegal, 5E style, as mentioned, but your game your rules.

 

Second thought: Can an EGO-less automaton have Psych Lims?

[Superskrull]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

He needs ED. I mean he really really needs it. As he stands, you can kill him with a can of lighter fluid and a match. A zero for ED means even a 1d normal Ed attack would cost him a Body. I'm not advocating him having 18r ED or anything but the Spatterpunks would have roasted him like a marshmellow with the stats you gave him. I realize the third movie stunk but he did wade through a gasoline fire with no appreciable damage. Give him like 8-10r ED and he'd be fine.

[Vanguard]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

1) The Restrainable was put on there because of the cybernetics and there are ways that could possibly be used to shut him down. (And more then likely would be if he was used against the PC's). As for the armor, that was a mistake on my part and should not have been included in the EC. There are also a couple of other things in the EC that I would remove or, more then likely, just take the "restrainable" off the EC and place it on some of the powers within.

 

2)The EC is not illegal. It may not be "main stream" but it is far from illegal. If it was illegal then HD would not have allowed me to construct it.

 

3)I didn't think about the lighter fluid bit. Nor, for some reason, did I remember the whole "Let's grap hold of the High-Voltage power transformer to wipe my Directives" bit. That would've lit this version of him up like a roman candle. So yes, if I did write him up again I'd add in some rED.

 

EDIT: Looking it over again, it would probably be best to just remove the Restrainable all together.

[Devon]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

Restrainable is an interesting limitation for some of the powers, but it didn't seem to come up in the movies as I recall.

[nexus]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

 

2)The EC is not illegal. It may not be "main stream" but it is far from illegal. If it was illegal then HD would not have allowed me to construct it.

 

Technically, yes is it. The Fifth Edition rules don't allow powers that do not cost Endurance, such as armor and Automaton Powers, in an Elemental Control. HD will allow you to do illegal (at least my version will) it will just warn you about them and you can override that or even set it so you never get the warning again.

[sinanju]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

ZERO ED? I'd think that heavy armor would give him some energy defense, personally.

 

I wouldn't give him the Life Support advantages either. He has to eat and breathe (he's vulnerable to gases), and he has an exposed face, so he's vulnerable to low pressure/vacuum too.

[nexus]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

ZERO ED? I'd think that heavy armor would give him some energy defense, personally.

 

I wouldn't give him the Life Support advantages either. He has to eat and breathe (he's vulnerable to gases), and he has an exposed face, so he's vulnerable to low pressure/vacuum too.

 

I think he might reduced eating since he's just a brain and spinal cord. He does have to breathe, but I believe he has filters and rebreathers. Robocop's "face" is actually fake, not flesh, supposedly to "honor" Murphy.

[Devon]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

RoboCop technically needs, according to the first movie:

- some sleep (system downtime -- I would imagine the "8 hours a week" option would fit)

- some food (a nutrient paste like baby food -- I would imagine the "eat once a week" option would work best)

 

I further figure, being an almost complete body prosthesis, he has:

LS: heat, cold, high pressure, low pressure

 

Vacuum and self-contained breathing are the tricky ones -- it's not established that he needs oxygen to metabolize the nutrient paste he eats, but it makes sense from a biological standpoint.

 

Murphy tended to insert pauses when he spoke at the end of RoboCop, which could either have been breathing difficulty (from being shot up) or simply meditative, as he was choosing his words and remembering things.

 

That said, it would make sense from a law enforcement standpoint that he would be immune to any tear gas they may decide to throw into a conflict, and as most tear gas powers are written up as NND (defense is self-contained breathing), it would be easier to give him the self-contained breathing, and throw in the vacuum, too, as all of his biological components are well-shielded in his cybernetic body.

[Devon]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

Robocop's "face" is actually fake' date=' not flesh, supposedly to "honor" Murphy.[/quote']

 

I think RoboCop was lying to his former wife when he said that, and by "this" meant the whole body, and the face. I cannot imagine that OCP would have bothered to recreate the bullet hole in his forehead (which was visible when he removed his faceplate) if they didn't at least use the original tissue.

 

I suspect his face, and his eyes even, are still organic, but I haven't read the fiction, or watched the TV series, so they may have explained them otherwise later.

 

That said, I think that the removable faceplate idea was more for poetry than for logical engineering, to underscore RoboCop's transition from "product" to "human."

[nexus]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

I think RoboCop was lying to his former wife when he said that, and by "this" meant the whole body, and the face. I cannot imagine that OCP would have bothered to recreate the bullet hole in his forehead (which was visible when he removed his faceplate) if they didn't at least use the original tissue.

 

I'm not sure about the bullet wound, but, IIRC, she touched his face to confirm it and it felt artificial, not like like living tissue. It is arguable either way though.

[Vanguard]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

I don't know if his eyes are still organic or not. When he and Louise (sp) are watching the arcade she says "Good eyes Murph" and he responds "The best money can buy". So, you can go either way. It could be the eyes are artificial or just augmented in some way.

 

I believe his skin is living tissue as well. His wife didn't say it was artifical, she said it was "cold". I take this to mean that he had just enough "blood" flowing to it to keep it alive but that was it. You could argue that it isn't real if you have watched RoboCop 3 and saw him set on fire. It didn't burn the skin at all just scorched it a bit. Since I discount RC 3, I'm going to go with the fact that it's part of the remaining organics from his body.

 

 

And Nexus, HD will not allow you do to anything that is illegal by Hero Systems standards. If it's illegal from the system stand point, you can't do it. HD is warning you because while it's frowned on to add powers to an EC that do not cost end, you can still do it if the GM allows.

[nexus]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

And Nexus, HD will not allow you do to anything that is illegal by Hero Systems standards. If it's illegal from the system stand point, you can't do it. HD is warning you because while it's frowned on to add powers to an EC that do not cost end, you can still do it if the GM allows.

 

Its explicitly restricted, but you can do it with GM permission (As with anything) so you can override HD to do it. I use the term "illegal" to mean "not allowed in the canonical rules".

[Superskrull]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

Restrainable is an interesting limitation for some of the powers' date=' but it didn't seem to come up in the movies as I recall.[/quote']

 

What? Don't you remember that scene in Robocop II where the Nuke pushers took him apart with power tools. That's a pretty restrained guy right there. I know it sounds like they just disabled his arms and legs with directed Body damage but he was still all twitchy. OTOH, this also nicely represents the Body loss equals loss of function we saw more than once. Hits to the head -loss of targeting sights, ninja bot chops off fingers -loss of gun, jolt of electricity -loss of overriding behavioral directives, jackhammer to the shoulder -loss of arm, it all works.

[Nightfly]

Re: Character: Robocop

 

RoboCop technically needs, according to the first movie:

- some sleep (system downtime -- I would imagine the "8 hours a week" option would fit)

- some food (a nutrient paste like baby food -- I would imagine the "eat once a week" option would work best)

 

I further figure, being an almost complete body prosthesis, he has:

LS: heat, cold, high pressure, low pressure

 

Vacuum and self-contained breathing are the tricky ones -- it's not established that he needs oxygen to metabolize the nutrient paste he eats, but it makes sense from a biological standpoint.

 

Murphy tended to insert pauses when he spoke at the end of RoboCop, which could either have been breathing difficulty (from being shot up) or simply meditative, as he was choosing his words and remembering things.

 

That said, it would make sense from a law enforcement standpoint that he would be immune to any tear gas they may decide to throw into a conflict, and as most tear gas powers are written up as NND (defense is self-contained breathing), it would be easier to give him the self-contained breathing, and throw in the vacuum, too, as all of his biological components are well-shielded in his cybernetic body.

Excellent Points.  Thanks