How to create Clockwork arms?

[Theros]

I am going to create clockwork arms for one character. Should I treat arms as different or as pairs?

 

I would like character have arms, which give +2 to dex.

 

One arm should have small gun inside (that pops up from forearm and have 8 bullets inside), small tools to repairs inside the fingers (+2 to repairing and PS:mechanics).

 

Other arm should have possibility to shoot hand to be used as grappling hook and small place to hold smoke bombs to be used in escape).

 

How to create those?

[L. Marcus]

Grappling Hook Hand could be Stretching. Smoke Bombs would be Darkness to Sight Group on Charges. The hidden gun could be a RKA on a IIF with Charges. The tools coud be Skill Levels ona IIF ... You get the gist, I guess.

[Rebar]

Can  the arms be used like normal arms? To pick things up? To attack or defend in combat? If I grabbed the character by two limbs, would his clockwork arms be able to take action?

 

If so, buy extra limbs as well.

If not, just buy the powers you want in a Multipower, or in raw skills. You could always add the 'restrainable' limitation.

[Theros]

Arms will work normally, and are used to replace lost arms.

[L. Marcus]

Then there's no need to buy them with points.

[Rebar]

Oh, you mean he doesn't have extra arms. He just has a usual number, but these ones are clockwork. Got it.

 

The arms themselves do not cost, but consider how they might be different from flesh & blood arms ion ways that might affect the game.

Do they provide a sense of touch? If no, then they may warrant some minor disads.

 

Decide whether any of the guns/grapplers/etc. could be removed, either in combat, or with a turn out of combat. Look up the focus rules.

 

Look at other little things, like plusses to block maneuvers, and armour with activation rolls.

[Theros]

And I will use ponits to buy a multipower (that arms get special features that I mentioned above)?

[Greywind]

Use points to buy whatever little tricks the character has. Same as any other character.

[Rebar]

And I will use ponits to buy a multipower (that arms get special features that I mentioned above)?

You would buy a multipower if the use of the powers is interdependent. i.e. you cannot use them all at the same time.

 

But yes, a MP would effectively model these powers.

 

How detailed do you want to get? There are ways of modeling these powers so that you can only use two at a time (two arms). eg. You could hold your gun, and you could throw a smoke bomb simultaneously, but you couldn't ALSO fire your grappling hand.

[mhd]

Another important question beyond gadgets is how the base configuration works out during gameplay. At its most simple, it's just a narrative vehicle for a multitude of powers and characteristic enhancements. But you could go into more detail (esp. w/ hit locations) and model the different behavior an mechanical arm could have (defense, stun, healing etc.).

[Rebar]

If you wanted to simulate different abilities associated with reach arm, it could be as simple as buying two multipowers, one for each arm. If your right arm has both the pistol and the smoke bombs, then they would be purchased in the same MP, so that only one could be used at a time.

[Christopher]

At the simplest level (no lack of sense of touch, character level of durability, no extra powers from the arms) they are reall just fluff. Like some charcters have red hair and others brown, most have flesh arms and he has clockwork ones. His arms have a different special effect, but by large the same game effects.

Only the point where they offer something beyond the normal, is where you ahve to write up stuff as power.

 

Re. Smoke bomb and Pistol - is the arm having a built in pistol, or is the arm just a place to hide the weapon?

 

Clockwork [anything] is really just a way of saying "hightech thing (possibly beyond current world science) in a less advanced and possibly magical setting". These arms in particular are just "Clockwork Cybernetics" (Full Metal Alchemist had something called Automail, might be a fitting name).

 

How to write up cybernetics heavily varries by the setting too. A Shadowrun style Cybernetic needs a totally different writeup then a superheroes cybernetic arms. In particular the superhero will have a lot less limitations - because many real world problems do not apply and the weakpoints are not as commonly known/severe as in a heroic setting where cybertech/automail is more common. So we need to know the setting this is for before we can give you anything concrete.