The Suncat

[gyftofthewyrm]

Hello all,

New member here.

I have a character creation question and am deferring to the vets as Im still new to the rules.

Ive had an idea bouncing around my head forever, well before Lucas did the Prequels and my GM has graciously allowed me to try it out.

Id like to create a droid transport ship as a player character.

His/Its (The Suncat) primary chassis would be the ship itself. At the insistence of the GM he will also be equipped with several small drones called Rovers which are part of the Droid Assisted Work Gang (chuckle lil cat and dog humor there....) with which he could rove around with the organics.

As it stands to the best of my understanding I pitched the idea to the GM and the group in this manner.


1. Create a medium bulk transport. Stock stats from core or the starship guide. The actual shape and mold of the ship can be as different as I want, if i understand things correctly.
A. This transport is the primary chasis for the droid brain. Ship stats (maneuverability and movement for example.) would replace physical stats.

2. Create the droid processor. Because thats pretty much what every droid is, a processor and programs shoved into a chasis.
A. The processor houses the mental stats and skills of the droid.
B. Use standard droid creation rules to create the processor.

3. GM is insisting I have a secondary form which can travel along with the organics of the party (and so he can shoot my shiney metal @$$).
A. I propose a small cadre of drones (say 5) which have a limited range (say 5 - 10KM). These rovers are small units about a meter tall, each of which can be fitted with a wide assortment of utility modules thereby serving whatever roll the organics need at the time. In a similar manner the rovers equipment stats as drones would act as physical stats for the droid brain controlling them.
B. The rovers are cheap and easy units to replace/repair and therefore wont cost the party much when damaged and so can be used as decoy/distractions if need be, unlike a full droid "body".
C. The rovers have no intellect of their own and are considered inactive unless under direct control of the droid brain which falls to the multi-action rules (-1 D penalty to all actions for every active rover.)


So what do you think? Suggestions?

[masque]

Sounds cool.
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[Gry Sarth]

Sounds like you have everything covered. I don't see anything wrong with your concept or how you're going about it in terms of mechanics.
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[Lostboy]

I made a similar character once, the processor was a BRT supercomputer. You have obviously putt a lot of thought into it and you seem to have covered everything good luck. It sounds like it should be fun.

[TrueGrit]

Very creative. I would never never ever play something like that, but very creative nonetheless.

[Rerun941]

Very cool idea.

Someone else mentioned the BRT-series of supercomputers. I think one of them is in Cracken's Rebel Field Operatives. There was another similar droid called "Kierra" who inhabited the systems of a Light Freighter. Kierra appeared in several of the Adventure Journals. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kierra

If I recall, the way Kierra was presented, she only had the mental attributes (Know, Per, Mech, Tech) and she could "inhabit" only one system aboard the ship at a time. (Flight Controls, Sensors/Comm, Other) so she couldn't be everywhere at once even aboard the ship. She had no mobile droid body whatsoever.

Having a mobile form is definitely a good idea. (Tho, I'm not sure you'd need more than one drone.) An astromech or other tech droid would be perfect since you need a physical form to repair your ship systems.

If I were GM, I'd rule you'd control your drone via secure comlink (there are detailed rules on comlink operation in the Rules of Engagement sourcebook). I might even impose a default -1D penalty on any action taken by the drone outside the ship due to the time-delay of the communications link. (or instead impose +5 to all difficulties for every 5km? from the ship). and oh yeah, comm signals are also subject to interference (natural or man-made) and interception (active or passive).
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[gyftofthewyrm]

Awesome. Thanks guys.

Ill copy all the replies and send it to the rest of the gang.

Thanks for your help.

[Raven Redstar]

I really like the idea. I might actually see about incorporating it into my own game, probably as a GMC. Definitely a cool idea. I wish my players were as creative with their character concepts as you are.
I agree with with rerun for the mobile secure link for controlling drones, however, rather than say like 5 of the really small droids, I might make, say 3 bipedal droids, or perhaps 1 single droid body somewhat similar to the robot from Lost in space. Just some ideas, problem being, if the drones are too cheap and easy to replace, then as long as the ship stays intact, there's really no drawback to getting shot to hell. From a GM's perspective, if there is no fear or consequence of death for the player, it winds up being less fun for the player and GM. Now, say for instance if you increase the cost of the drones a bit, and possibly have it so each drone is built using the droid book, or uses base physical attributes from one of the chassis of a pre-existing droid, only needing cost for the secure-link for mental attributes. Might make the party think twice before allowing you to throw your drones away heedlessly.

The other thing I was thinking, is the possibility for your super-computer to control more than one droid at a time, perhaps working on his command skill and using that as a base for allowing the drones to function more than one at once, with multiple action penalty for multiple command rolls for drones. Just a thought.

[Esoomian]

I've played a character similar to this and I'd run it a little differently.

I'd make one droid expensive/difficult to replace. This droid would be the only droid that was able to be directly possesed by the character's intellect.

The other four droids I would make standard droids that can be commanded to perform tasks with their own megre dicepools. That way mundane tasks are done by the easily replacible droids under the supervision of the character but important tasks require the 'avatar' droid which is unique and allows the character to experience risk.
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[gyftofthewyrm]

I actually believe thats what my GM has in store for me. We are supposed to discuss it thursday I think. I believe the astromech will end up being the expensive bot.


Glad everyone liked the idea. If anyones interested Im gonna try and get the GM to open an Obsidian Portal account to keep up with the game.


The game however wont be starting for awhile. GM is refreshing his knowledge of the game.

[Yak Face]

I think that's a great notion you have there - especially if your group likes to do a lot of space encounters. I imagine that combat encounters would hold special signficance for your group, given that one of the party members can't really bail out...
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