DataPacRat

Re: Building a sensory-deprivation tank for a mentalist

I would call it an Obvious focus unless the average person would be completely clueless as to what it is.

This is a 'Secret Powers' setting, so anybody might recognize it as a SD tank, but the only people who know that an SD tank increases telepathic abilities are an extremely-rare few psis who've tried it themselves.

To simulate the stopping of normal senses you could buy it Darkness 1" radius and then extend to effects to the various senses you want it to affect. As long as the mentalist has no personal immunity he'll be affected as well.

So... replace the Concentration, Unaware, and May Not Take Other Actions simply with Side Effects, automatic: 15 AP of Darkness (-1/2), like so?

1d6 Aid: Succor [5 base points], all psionic powers simultaneously (+2), 0 END (+1/2), Persistent (+1/2), (total advs: +3) [20 active points], Self Only (-1/2), Side Effects: automatic: 15 AP of Darkness (-1/2), Extra Time to activate: 20 minutes (-2 1/2), IIF Bulky (-3/4), (total lims: -3 1/4) [5 real points]

I'm putting some finishing touches on a mentalist/telepath character. He has the usual Mind Scan, a multipower with Mind Control and Telepathy (and a few others), and a selection of other telepathic tricks (eg, 10 points for a speech-only Universal Translator, and a Clairsentience to experience others' senses). I still have enough points leeway that I can throw in a few more customizations... so I'm thinking of having him own a sensory-deprivation tank. In the real world, after about 40 minutes, theta waves increase, occasional hallucinations (including OOBEs), and some people use them to increase creativity - all of which is certainly enough to justify some Aid to psi powers in a setting where they exist.

And so, my first writeup for the tank looks something like this:

1d6 Aid [10 base points], all psionic powers simultaneously (+2), [30 active points], Self Only (-1/2), Concentration 0 DCV (-1/2), Unaware of nearby events (-1/4), Extra Time to activate: 20 minutes (-2 1/2), Extra Time: may not take other actions (-1/4), IIF Bulky (-3/4) [5 real points]

There are, however, a few niggling details. I'm fairly confident about 'unaware of nearby events' - that's what sensory deprivation /does/, after all - but a case could possibly be made that it might not apply to a telepath that can still sense other minds. As a focus, Bulky is obvious (it could fit in a truck); I have no idea whether it should count as Obvious or Inobvious, or Accessible or Inaccessible, though.

The other bit I'm having trouble with is the fact that, at default, Aid fades at 5 active points per turn. Should I simply buy the rate down the time chart? Or would Continuous (for as long as he stays in the tank) be better?

I'm also thinking about throwing in the possibility of a 'bad trip': Side Effects (psych lims), or maybe some uncontrolled/subconscious use of his powers on others, triggered by a failed Skill Roll (possibly PS: Meditation, Power: Psionics, SC: Psionics, or an EGO or PRE roll).

AreaKs and CityKs are easy to come up with - you can just throw darts at a map.

However, CultureKs are a bit harder to define. Does 'Western Civilization' fit as a CuK? 'Chinese'? 'India'? 'Muslim'? 'High-Society'? 'Business'? 'Online Culture'? 'Underworld'? 'Street Gang'?

Is there a list handy of CuKs for the current-day real Earth?

Assuming a basic mentalism power set (Multipower with EGO attack, mental illusions, mind control, and telepathy; mental defense; and mind scan; let's say a cap of 80 active points), how many ways can you think of for somebody to acquire wealth while keeping the abilities completely secret?

The most obvious method is, of course, poker - Telepathy to learn what the other players' hands are, a nudge with Mind Control to keep them from folding, and maybe even Mental Illusions of what the mentalist's (or their own) hand is. However, it's not exactly the best way to reach the ten-point level of Wealthy, especially without the Anonymity perk to avoid IRS investigations.

A method with a bit of style, though still not quite good enough for the IRS, is to locate criminal dens (possibly drug houses), walk in, take piles of cash, and walk out, and leave the hapless crooks to try to explain to their murderously-enraged superiors where all the missing money went.

And, if pure mind-reading or temporary control isn't enough for an effect, perhaps psychic surgery can help accomplish something?

[105] Psionic Surgery: 2d6 Major Transform (30), Cumulative (+1/2), Maximum x8 to 96 (+3/4), BOECV (+1), Works Against Ego, Not Body (+1/4), (105 active points), Requires Skill Roll (SC: Psionic Surgery), no active-point penalty (-0)

Given a PC who is something close to a black box computer running an AI, a box which can be plugged into a selection of robot bodies (eg, human-like android, battle-hardened Terminator, black vehicle with bouncing red headlight, stealthy animal-like android)... how would I build that selection?

Multiform is the obvious choice, but I'm not quite sure how to put into rules form the fact that the other bodies don't disappear when not in use (and can, like a Focus, be stolen, etc), that the PC can only switch forms when two of his bodies are next to each other (unless he trusts somebody to carry his brain around), and so on.

Maybe a solution would be to build the character as the brain-box, and the bodies as vehicles? That seems a bit off.

Any other suggestions?

Re: WWYCD: Grandfather paradox

I've been trying to convince the Unaging Bunny's GM to throw some time-travel into her life... although I'm expecting something more along the lines of a running gag developing where she jumps to somewhere in the past, and then has to take the long way back (one second per second) each time... Just imagine it: the Temporal Titan, terrorizing the city, points his chrono-gun at Bunny, sending her centuries into the past where she can no longer bother him; and then she walks in from around a nearby corner. Miffed, TT repeats the process - and Bunny simply walks back into view again and again... depending on what methods/places she used to avoid over-influencing her past life, we might even get Jungle Bunny (played Bigfoot in the wilderness), Egyptian Princess Mummy Bunny (got stuck in a sarcophagus until released by archaeologists), Nun Bunny and her gun-toting Sisters (hid in a convent for a few centuries), Swashbuckling Bunny (wandered to the fairie otherworld), bubble-helmeted Space Bunny (the planet getting too crowded with her selves, she waited around on Phobos), and finally Ticked-Off And Rich-As-**** Illuminati Bunny (giving up on hiding from everybody, she just used the centuries to increase her personal power, and by now has simply arranged to drop a 16-ton weight onto TT'scoordinates from orbit).

(Hey, at the very least it's a way to make a set of collectible action figures...)

Anyway - back to the WWYCD.

"Okay, so you say that I had my reproductive system modified to give birth to a sentient being instead of creating precious gems - now that I don't have to worry about cluttering up my own past with my descendants, I suppose it's possible I'm going to feel some matronly biological urges in the future. So - why are /you/ coming back to now to alter the timeline instead of /me/? I've had a few centuries more than you to consider how best to tinker with history. Couldn't you even bring back my head-in-a-jar so I could tell me you're telling the truth, or at least one of the little historical items I've picked up over the years as souveniers? At the very least a Sports Almanac from the Future?"

"If you really are my grandchild, then I'm sure you know of my personal philosophy, the Two Commandments: 'Do no harm', and 'Protect the weak from the strong'. Right now, you seem to be trying to harm me and my teammates, and our children, who are about as weak as it's possible to be. You're going to have to cough up a little more evidence before any of us will be willing to help you out."

"Now - there are a vigitillion sentient beings in future millenia whose existence depends on history turning out a particular way. Are you really /sure/ that you want to match your judgement and abilities about how the timeline should turn out against theirs?"

"Hm... Maybe it's time that I invested in that personal temporal shield I've been thinking of, to insulate myself from anybody else's tamperings with the timeline..."

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

Bunny, the modular superheroine, happens to have a Secret that affects how she thinks of relationships (and I think I saw another player post here, so I'm not going to reveal it), but even her entirely-public persona is a bit... odd. (Possible TMI below.)

"After spending about a year floating in a transparent womb-tank being repaired by nanites, on display as a teaching aid on carbon-based biology to incomprehensible Artificial Intelligences, including having my newly-constructed reproductive system tested out by bearing and giving birth to a quartet of nonsentient cubs, the term 'modesty' doesn't really have that much meaning to me."

She's a rabbit-woman on a generally human-populated Earth, which sets her apart from most people. She's Unaging, and hopes (if not expects) to be around for the next few thousand (if not few trillion) years, so even a 'long-term' relationship with anybody shorter-lived will really be 'short-term'. Bunny also happens to have Immunity to diseases, and her Money perk has been defined as her reproductive system having been altered to occasionally produce diamond-filled "easter eggs", so she has no physical reasons to avoid as many casual flings as she cares for; and since her body's general dimensions were designed as the average of a collection of Playboy magazine centrefolds, she can fling herself around all she wants.

However, if she comes across somebody else on Earth with a similar lifespan, such as an angel/demon, the possibility of an actual long-term relationship will likely give her a boot to realign her priorities... mind you, the millenia-old angel-type fellow might be a bit uncomfortable if Bunny develops a crush on him for the next few decades...

The game Bunny is in is a PBEM, and nobody's shying away from the topic. Another player volunteered their PC, a shapeshifter, to become her sidekick; the shifter has turned into a spandex uniform that Bunny's worn...

Re: "And I'll form... the head!"

I'm paying close attention to the thread, even if my HERO-fu isn't good enough to make any practical suggestions yet.

I like the Voltron example above, and think it has potential. However, imagine this scenario - there's an extra pair of lion robots, who can replace the usual arm robots, who are left aside for that particular transformation. (Maybe instead of a Blazing Sword, they can Form... Blazing... Shield!) Would that make any difference to the way the power is built?

Background: Bunny, as described in the 'Quadriplegia and Cybernetics' thread, happens to be a quadriplegic with various sets of removeable, modular cybernetic limbs.

Now, in the vein of Voltron, Bruticus, and various sentai shows, I'd like you to consider an alternate version and, hopefully, advise me on how to build it:

Instead of mechanical cybernetic limbs, the quadriplegic Bunny^2 has certain... pets. Pretty much Followers, in game terms. However - these are specially bioengineered "pets", and can attach to her body in much the same way that the original Bunny's limbs do; a pair of spider-like things can unfold into leg-like shapes and attach themselves to her hips, giving her Clinging; or a dolphin-like critter can glom onto her, for Swimming. And so on, and so forth. (See the other thread for the first Bunny's sets of limbs, and let your imagination run freely as to how those limbs could run freely...)

So - in HERO terms, how would such a tradeoff between Powers and Followers be built?

One fine day, at your hero's civilian ID's residence, a knock is heard upon the door, and a man with a clipboard and some flyers is there.

"Hi, there, I'm Ned, from number 43. I'm the neighbourhood leader for the new 'Community Emergency Response Team' we're starting up. We're gong to be having yard parties the first Saturday of every month to get together and train on things like CPR, fire safety, first aid, search and rescue, and so on; the next one is a barbeque. What with all the alien invasions, monster attacks, and other supervilliany going on, the police and fire officers are getting overwhelmed - but with less than 40 hours of training, us civilians can take care of 95% of the simpler stuff, so they can take care of the hard stuff. Can I count on you to help out?"

In the next few weeks, when disaster strikes, local CERT members start appearing to help out - they take the grab-and-go bag hung by their bed, a flashlight, their shoes, and start rescuing themselves, their family, and their neighbourhood; help locate casualties, set up neighbourhood command posts (the most important step), coordinate with regional authorities (via anything from ham radio to bicycle couriers), set up shelters, and otherwise do good works.

Does your hero join the training sessions in his civilian ID, his hero ID, or avoid them entirely? Once disaster actually arrives, does he help out as a civlian CERT member or a superhero? As a superhero, how does he deal with all these civilians running around once any given disaster strikes?

Does it make any difference to your hero if the 'Pink Bunny Foundation', about which little is otherwise known, donates money and equipment (eg, fireman's tools, protective clothing, radios, training books, food, water, tents, field commodes, greaseboards, prizes for trainee lotteries, etc) to all the local CERT groups?

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_emergency_response_team has more details on the concept...)

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

Here's a question for you though: if you buy 'no legs' and get the disadvantage points, what IS the disadvantage? Well, it makes you a bit shorter, and stops you running and leaping and slows down your swimming, and should seriously effect your melee CV and some DEX based tasks. If you have all those things bought back to zero anyway, what is the actual physical limitation for 'no legs'?

Welp, for one, I'm only specifically buying back Movement, not DEX or CV. Second, yes, 'shorter'. Third, it counts as a 'Distinctive Features' - I bet that if she tried, Bunny could get handicapped plates for her car.

Or, let's look at it another way. My copy of Fifth Edition lists, under Physical Limits, 'Bad Leg' as an example. It also notes that a character with 'Bad Leg' might want to buy back some Movement; the "related effects on a character which give him further Character Points" are seperate from the Physical Limitation itself. What's important is "how often, and to what extend the problem hinders or impairs the character". With Bunny's cybernetics, being legless occurs Infrequently instead of All the Time; however, when it does occur, it's Fully Impairing (as listed in the sidebar, as 'Unable to Walk').

... Then again, I could be wrong.

Re: Quadriplegia and cybernetics?

Goodness; I go away for a weekend, and when I come back, find that there's actually been some decent discussion going on in the thread I started.

It may interest some readers of this thread to note that, since I wrote up the first version of the character sheet for "Bunny, the Modular Superheroine", one line under Disadvantages has always read:

[15] Physical Limitation: Quadriplegic (would be worth 45 if she lacked her cybernetics), Infrequently, Fully

My GM has expressed a few reservations about buying a 'disadvantage-nullifier' as an actual Power, so simply having the Disad as Infrequently has always been the solution here.

Yes, Bunny's limbs are more detachable than ordinary limbs. It's recently been mentioned that she prefers to sleep limbless, and that she often takes them off in the bath. And, if she's stuck in the Evil Gooper's lime jello Entangle trap, he can tug off a pair of limbs each Turn. (Hasn't happened yet, but the game hasn't been running all that long.) One of her other powers is Invisibility with Camouflage, defined as colour-changing fur; given that it works even when she's not wearing arms, I've described her shoulders as being completely covered with fur, as are the limbs themselves (eg, no obvious seams); I haven't explicitly specified it yet, but I'm guessing that the limbs are held in place with a combination of gecko-like-settae and some careful control of EM fields (ie, magnets). (Very close to a 'push button to detach' mechanism, as suggested above.)

(Another player is running a shapeshifter, and once we get some experience to spend, I'm going to suggest that the shifter work on getting the 'power trick' of connecting to Bunny's cybernetic interfaces...)

I've been fully playing out the 'difficult to change slots' Limitation. Bunny keeps a selection of her limbs at home, and at her 'base' (really just a U-Stor-It...), but once she's out on patrol, then unless she's specifically packed her mermaid tail in the car trunk, or stuck her telescoping arms in a backpack, she doesn't get to change which slots she's picked until she goes back to home/base/wherever.

At the moment, Bunny has no special defenses on any limbs, nor is it likely I'm going to be able to convince the GM to let me rewrite the sheet to include some. (A pair of arm-wings she's kept in storage because she's afraid they won't keep her from falling, sure. Throwing rPD/rED in the Multipower pool to avoid the negatives of Focus hits, nopenope.)

Bunny, the pink-furred superhero from another planet, has medical nanites that give her a certain collection of powers: Regeneration (1 BODY per Turn), Extended Breathing (4 points; 1 END per 20 minutes instead of per phase), Diminished Eating (once/week), and Longevity (unaging). She also has REC 4, and the Simulate Death talent.

Given some discussion with my GM, it's quite possible that at some point, she's going to be buried alive for a few centuries. I /think/ I've worked it out, but I'd like to double-check what the actual effects of that will be.

Suffocation: No air means no RECovery, and she'll lose 1 END every 20 minutes; when her END reaches 0, she loses 1 STUN per 20 minutes until they hit 0, then she loses 1 BODY per 20 minutes (which is regenerated one Turn later). (Or, does she lose 1 STUN per 20 minutes until they hit -31?). Net effect: 0 END, 0 STUN, full BODY.

Dehydration: Assuming Diminished Eating includes water, then after a week, she suffers 1d6 Normal Damage every 6*7=42 hours. The BODY is healed a Turn or two later; with no RECoveries, the STUN just keeps on plummeting.

Starvation: After two or three weeks, 1d6 Normal Damage per week; again, the BODY is healed quickly, the STUN just drops. Also, STR, DEX, and CON are lost at the same rate as BODY, averaging 1 point per week.

So, each year, the buried Bunny loses around (3.5*52) + (365*24/42) = 390 STUN, 52 STR, 52 DEX, and 52 CON.

Eventually, she's dug up again... once she starts breathing again, she starts getting RECoveries. (However, since she's far under -31 STUN, it's "GM's Option" how /often/ she recovers STUN...). With "excellent conditions", she recovers 8 STR, DEX, and CON per month, or 96 per year. It's going to take quite a while before she reaches -30 DEX and can perform any physical actions...

(Sidethought: She could choose to try and enter a Simulate Death trance before going unconscious. If she rolls 18 on the EGO roll and then fails the CON roll, she will "truly die if she does not receive medical attention"; otherwise, she "functions at 1/10th her normal metabolic rate', and so would lose the above-mentioned stats per decade instead of per year, yes? After a century, she'd be around -520 DEX, which would take about 5 years to RECover, right?)

Thank you for your time,

--

DataPacRat

I've been fiddling around with the sheet for my current superhero, Bunny. A significant part of her character is that she lost her limbs do to an accident with a wormhole, but now has a collection of interchangeable cybernetic limbs with various sorts of enhancements. They're currently written along these lines:

[7] "Removeable, interchangeable cybernetic arms" Multipower, 10 Active Points (15), Personal OIF (-1/2), Powers Can Be Changed Only In Given Circumstance (carrying spare arms around is rather awkward and bulky) (-1/2).

[0] default; no limbs (armlessness).

[0] standard limbs (look realistic, no special abilities).

[1u] Fins and Gills: Environmental Movement: Aquatic (3 AP), Life Support: Expanded Breathing: Underwater (5 AP), Swimming +7" (7 AP).

[1u] Oversized cybernetic limbs: STR +15 (15 AP).

[1u] Clawed forepaws: Hand-to-Hand Attack: +3d6 (15 AP).

[1u] Telescopic arms: Stretching 3" (6" noncombat) (15 AP).

[7] "Removeable, interchangeable cybernetic legs" Multipower, 10 Active Points (15), Personal OIF (-1/2), Powers Can Be Changed Only In Given Circumstance (carrying spare legs around is rather awkward and bulky) (-1/2).

[0] default; no limbs (leglessness).

[0] standard limbs (look realistic, no special abilities).

[1u] Mermaid/dolphin-like tail: Swimming +15" (15 AP).

[1u] Oversized cybernetic limbs: STR +15 (15 AP).

[1u] Bunny Legs: Leaping +15" (17" forward, 8" upward, x2 NCM) (15 AP)

[1u] Cling-grip legs: Icewalking (Environmental Movement: Slippery surfaces) (1 AP), Clinging at STR+12 (14 AP).

Now, the fact that sitting around without wearing any legs or arms seemed to cost the same as having a 0-point pair that let you walk around or dial a phone... but my HERO-fu seems to be blanking out on how to arrange things.

My best guess for her legs would be to buy her basic Running and Leaping down to 0 inches, and Swimming down to 1 (total: 15 points), and then, change the Multipower pool to 30 points and add a new slot with 'normal leg walking' (upping the pool cost to 15, and another 1u for the slot, a total cost of 9, for a net gain of 6 points to play with).

Now, her /arms/, is another matter - other than buying down that other inch of swimming when they're missing, I'm not exactly sure what to buy down. STR or DEX down to 5, or 1? Buy Agility ot Combat skills as 'Linked' to the Arms Multipower? Something else?

What do you think?

Re: WWYCD: The Mirror, Mirror Trap

Bunny raises one eyebrow at her doppel, and simply waits for a few moments.

She has two Psych Lims - one, a Code of Honor ("Do no harm", "Protect the weak from the strong"); the other is written as "Wants to live forever (sometimes aka Cowardice)". If the doppel is her moral opposite, than it will be a nihilist that wants to die as soon as possible - and so would bravely suicide as expeditiously as it can...

Re: Wwycd: They Blew It!!

Bunny plans on wandering around this planet for the next few centuries, at least, and doesn't intend to be booted out of one of the more advanced nations...

She would smile politely up at the police officers from a wheelchair with her Cute Cute Big Eyes and Pink Fur and Long Ears, with neither her cybernetic legs nor her arms attached (or even anywhere in sight). "Super powers? Why no, officer, I don't have any super powers. Hm? No, those are just some prosthetics that I brought with me when I came to your friendly planet. Why, yes, I can change the colour of my fur, a little easier than with the dyes that are commercially available for your hair. Would you prefer I be a nice sky blue, or maybe lavendar? Is there something we need to discuss right here, or can we talk on the way to my appointment for this year's donation to the Battered Women's Shelter?"

Plus, "Hello, American Express Centurion credit card office? I'd like to make a million dollar transfer, split evenly between the ACLU and the Super Hero Legal Defense Fund."

Re: WWYCD: The Return of Power Fist

his plan is to kill off the Rats and reinstall the Upright Brotherhood. He's only interested in an alliance with your character if things are handled "my way."

Bunny rolls her eyes. "With an attitude like that, I'll take the highway. But I do dislike when civvies get killed, and your city sounds like it could use some improvement. I've been planning on expanding the Pink Bunny charities from (Campaign City), and Cesspool might just be the place. Once I fund enough methadone clinics and other drug rehabilitation centres to get rid of the demand, and contributing to politicians to Nevada-ize the prostitution and gambling laws instead of the usual prohibition, profits will disappear, the gangs will look elsewhere for their money, and things should start massively improving."

(Hey, she arrived on Earth from another planet, and her nanites give her Unaging; she can take the long view...)

Re: Wwycd: Doom!!!!

"The PC": (Yes, I have a super who knows he is a PC, and is really paranoid about it. Thinks I will write up a new one far too easy to care if he gets killed. At least he stoppped trying to tell all the other PCs ) Will pray to his maker to attack the GM. Then will go hunting for a BFG. "I knew you'd screw me someday."

I've been hoping to find a GM to let me play this concept since I first read about Foxbat in the BBB... ("Foxbat thinks he's in a comic book - he's wrong, he's in an RPG...")

Oh, and using BBD instead of DD, Bunny would be somewhat wary, and a lot more than 'somewhat' nervous. "It's nice of you to drop by for a visit, but I don't know what you really expect me to do - sneak up on them" (she has colour-changing fur for Invisibility) "and start jumping up and down on them?" (Leaping: 12", probably going to upgrade that to 17" in my next character-sheet rewrite) "Oh, I know - you want me to contact my friends and ask them to open a wormhole off this planet you can escape through... or are you just trying to see if my medical nanites will prevent this infection-transformation? Maybe I should just take a vacation on Phobos for the next few weeks..."

Re: WWYCD: "There are those who believe..."

"This is Commander William Adama of the Battlestar Galactica to un-identifed vessel. Identify yourselves at once or we will be forced to open fire."

Bunny: The reason she'd be aboard the ship is obvious - she's not from Earth, so, presumably, knows something about aliens.

"Don't worry, guys, I've got this one." She turns the transmitter on, and says "Bah weep granah weep ninni bong."

Re: WWYCD: framed

Bunny would blink politely and tilt her head at the reporter. "I make nearly five million of your dollars per Earth year, I voluntarily give forty percent of it to charities, scholarships, the Women's Shelter, and so on - and you really think I'd bother trying to steal a measly few thousand dollars? All I need for /that/ is my Centurion credit card. I'll tell you what - however much these idiots tried to take," waving one forepaw at the VIPERs, "I'll donate to help equip the local Community Emergency Response Teams - in a widespread disaster, people with less than forty hours of training can perform 95% of needed assistance, thus allowing the professional emergency responders to deal with the worse cases - you /are/ rolling on this, right?"

Re: WWYCD: The Vampire Who Doesn't Want to be a Vampire Anymore

Bunny would inquire whether the vampire would be willing to be placed in confinement long enough to prevent any other innocents from being killed while she looked for a cure; and, if not, she'd do whatever was necessary to keep any further innocents from being harmed - most likely calling in some other local supers, since she doesn't really have any heavy firepower.

(My first reply to a WWYCD; if anybody's curious, Bunny arrived on Earth through an alien wormhole project, and looks something like a cross between Alice in Wonderland's White Rabbit, and a Playboy Bunny, with something of a stealth/gadgeteer role. She's a quadriplegic (due to a previous wormhole accident shearing off her limbs), but has a collection of cybernetic prosthetics to walk around with.)

How often do you play out everyday situations, the sort that tend to be featured more often in sitcoms and soaps than in comics, with your Super-Powered characters?

"I don't know if I /can/ get my ears pierced, with my medical nanites doing their best to heal me all the time..."

"Yes, my music collection is a huge stack of vinyl records instead of an iPod I can fit in my pocket. You see, most digital compression techniques remove sounds that the human ear can't hear - but with my ultrasonic hearing..."

"I only sleep eight hours a week - which gives me 48 extra hours to... uh... um... hey, pass the TV remote, wouldja?"

"Bars are a lot less interesting when you have Immunity to Poisons, including alcohol."

"Yes dear, I know you don't have any lipstick on your collar - but you seem to have forgotten that I have Discriminatory Smell..."

On p275, we have a small table, showing when a Knocked Out character can take recoveries. Down to -10, every Phase; to -20, every Turn; to -30, every minute.

For characters who are /really/ knocked out, would it be useful if the GM continued the progression down the Time Chart? That is, for STUN of -31 to -40, they'd recover every 5 minutes, to -50 every 20 minutes, to -60 every hour, and so on and so forth?

Re: Regeneration vs the Environment

Just because Regen heals the BODY of such a thing doesn't mean it will heal the effects of it (such as no energy, loss of bone mass and other such icky things).

In the case of starvation, the other 'icky things' are described by the loss of STR, DEX, and CON (p296), and the notes on 'Negative Strength' etc at the beginning of the book (p23 or so); at -30 DEX and CON, he may take no physical actions or Actions which cost END, and once STUN gets down to -10 they're fully Knocked Out and completely unconscious, and cannot do anything except take Recoveries (at increasing intervals at lower STUNs).

Re: Regeneration vs the Environment

However, I'd say, based on SFX, that Regen would not and could not heal damage brought about by some enviornmental effects until the character is no longer affected by them. So you could starve to death, even with Regen, but once you get some food in you, you start healing normally and are fine (allowing such a character to go months without food without dying, though still suffering the normal ill effects because of lack of food).

An alternate possibility: When the character gets caught in a situation where they've run out of STUN, and aren't going to be getting it back any time soon, the nanotech preserves the character's body by placing it in 'nanostasis' (term stolen from GURPS TransHuman Space), maintaining the BODY until conditions improve (or get bad enough that the damage exceeds the nanites' Regeneration score).

Yes/no, good/bad/ legal/illegal?