Silver Sentinel

So, since it's come up in the main game, and I had some ideas on the subject I'm opening up a thread specifically to discuss the rules and such behind Silver Sentinel. This is also here for ease of use for Ross as a reference on what exactly he can do with what. I'll keep that list compiled and edited into this first post (starting tomorrow).


For now I'm going to start with a retool of the character for Paul (and anyone else with some thoughts on the subject) to take a look over and comment on.

Dex 5 (28) Str 5 (24) Body 5 (24)
Int 6 (42) Will 6 (36) Mind 8 (60)
Inf 6 (42) Aur 6 (36) Spirit 6 (36)

(326)

Advantages:

- Genius (70)
- Scholar (Pre WWII History) (28)

Drawbacks:

- Uncertanty (Man out of time) (28)
- Exile: Involuntary (42)
- Secret Identity (42)


15 Magnetic Control 15/10 (415)

13 Metal Manipulation 50/7 (330)
- All Attributes may be Italicized and creations include Hardened Defenses +2, Creations are permanent +2, Manipulate metals with a Body lower then APs as an Auto action +2, Creativity Based -1, Non-Living only -1, Requires intense concentration (-1 CS to OV while using this power) -1

13 Fabricate 50/9 (358)
- All Attributes may be Italicized and creations include Hardened Defenses, Multi ‘Attack’ Bonus +2 (treat as having 2 less abilities when determining the OV/RV of a use)

(1103)

7 Vehicle Operations 5/5 (45)

7 Weaponry 5/6 (45)
- no exotic weapons -1

Total: 1,090

Notes:

Metal Manipulation – ‘Non-Living’ would apply to tools, inanimate objects, and undead cyborgs. It would not apply to living cyborgs, self aware androids, people made of living metal, sentient artifacts and so on.

Sentinel is fairly simple from a mechanical stand point, the only major complex bit that needs to be sorted is the interaction between Metal Manipulation and Fabricate. Both powers allow for the creation of an object that posesses powers, I'll lay out the differences below for each taking our bonuses and limitations into account.

Metal Manipulation:
- Allows for the creation of an item with total APs of everything equal to the APs of Metal Manipulation (13), however the Body attribute of the object is equal to that of the metal used to make it. This doesn't effect the total number of APs that can be used to give the item powers.
- All/Any attributes created using this power may be substituted for the users attribute. So a battle suit made of steel (Body 12) would automatically allow Sentinel to use it's body instead of his own. (plus still create additional powers)
- Only physical powers and attributes may be simulated using this power. A list will follow
- Gadgets created using this power have no duration and are perminant. A battle suit made with this power will last untill destroyed of discarded.
- Is based on Sentinels 'creativity' determined by taking his highest mental attribute and comparing it to a chart in the BoH rule book. His result is improved by 2 levels because of the genius advantage. Which puts him at the level of futuristic and alien technology.
- May not do anything to a 'living' being, that being something posessing both mental and mystical attributes and that is not specifically 'dead' (The Zomborgs are specifically dead already)
- Requires extra focus compared to most actions, resulting in a penalty to OV (The evasion stat). This is a reflavored version of 'difficult to control'
- Works as an Automatic action when being used on a metal with a Body lower then its rating. Normal Steel has a Body of 12, High strength steel found in bank vaults has a Body of 14 to give a sense of where and what he can easily manipulate.

Fabricate:
- Allows for the creation of an object with any amount of attributes/powers at any level. However a check must be made against the highest rated power +1 for each additional power.
- Gadgets created using this power may include any attribute  or power with no limitation.
- Gadgets created in this way have a duration based on the success of the roll, the object might last for 4 seconds, or 4 days based on the roll used to make it.
- They also have a reliability number that is also determined by that roll. A poor roll could cause the item to burn out and stop working.
- This version of Fabricate treats each item as having 2 less powers (minimum of 1) then it actually does when determining difficulty of a roll.
- It's also supposed to require a successful Metal Manipulation action before it can be used. I just forgot to add that into the sheet when I was making it. (I'll fix that in a bit)

I mentioned earlier that the interaction between them is important. Because Fabricate requires a sucessful use of Metal Manipulation to be used I propose there are two ways it would resolve. First would be to have Fabricate completely change the manipulated object, meaning that the item is completely changed from what Metal Manipulation creates. Second is that Metal Manipulation is needed to create the basic shape, and the Fabricate then adds to the complexity, essentially acting more as and Imbue power to add additional functions to the Gadget created.

In the second suggestion Sentinel could create a battle suit using Metal Manipulation. Assuming a steel base he could make this with Metal Manipulation.

Battle Suit

Str 10 Body 12

Force Field 3

Without needing a roll, then use Fabricate to add on to it the following

Energy Blast 13
Flight 13
Sealed Systems 13

The final result would be a check of 13 (his Fabricate power) vs. 13 (the highest power made +2 extra powers, -2 for the advantage). Provided he makes an ok roll on Fabricate, he then has a suit that is super strong, super durable, has a powerful energy blast and is fully functional in and out of atmosphere.

Done the other way he would have to make a Metal Manipulation roll (or an auto action if that bit gets approved) and then essentially discard the results to then make a Fabricate check containing 5 powers. We cut that by two for the advantage he has resulting in three powers, making the check 13 vs 15. Hardly a favorable comparison, to make it work out better he would have to either drop powers, or make everything less powerful, or a bit of both.

I'm personally in favor of having them work into eachother. Not only does that give him more oomph more consistantly, it also makes sense from an IC perspective. He has to shape the metal and then add the fine details that give it power

This post will be to contain a list of powers the can be produced by Metal Manipulation, it's extensive and powerful, though not all encompasing. This list is roughly ordered by function.

Defensive

Skin Armor (armor plating)
Force Field
Force Shield
Growth
Dispersal
Icing
Cold Immunity
Flame Immunity
Sealed Systems

Offensive (damage)

Energy Blast (pick any kind of energy)
Lightening
Flame Project
Ice Control
Claws
Projectile Weapons
Bomb
Cell Rot
Poison Touch

Offensive (other)

Flash (blinding light)
Glue
Paralysis

Misc

Mimic (copy others powers)
Split (create copy of yourself)
Darkness
Self Manipulation (shape shifting, this is Haunts main power)
Fog
Invisibility

Movement

Flight
Running
Swimming
Digging

Skills as powers

Acrobatics
Theif
Martial Artist
Weaponry
Vehicle Operations

There's more to this list, but this is just off the top of my head

Looks like you've put loads of work in there, will have a good read through when I get chance (this week, 12 hour shifts of doom, no change there then) tonight hopefully.

Arrrgh. Put half a page worth of notes and comments in, and Chrome vanished from my screen Anyway, agree with the write up. Ross, if you get chance to look through, don't be scared off by the crunchy bits - stick to the usual of describing what Sentinel wants to do and I'll interpret as best I can. The Metal Manipulation makes a lot of sense and I've been using Sentinel somewhat less than his full potential. Will write the character up in the DC Character creator, and come to think of it we could do with a section for character writeups. Another job to do for the weekend (working tomorrow all day, then three days off).

Hmm, the last post for Sentinel brought up a good point.. having an auto action be useable on its own as an attack form is a bit much. Lets say useable as an auto action against inanimate metals that rank below his APs. But used against an animate object it counts as a dice action?

Also, I figured as an auto action there would be no check. It just lets him make an object, just like force manipulation. It would take a dice action to use the created gadget. This change just lets him say.. make an object and use it in the same turn. Does that sit a little better with you Paul?

It does, but it's of limited use, in that Metal with lower APs (12 or less) won't need much of a roll to succeed with (9, or less for weaker metals). I see the advantage in that using it in this way doesn't use the Dice action for that round, so from that point of view its worthwhile. I would have suggested the power only be usable once per round but with it usable in this manner only against Inanimate Metal I guess it doesn't matter too much. Still playing catchup thanks to usual real life stuff, but with that proviso (vs inanimate metal below 13Aps Body, auto action to metal manipulate) I think we can go with that.

Personally I was thinking of the general 'keep it simple' rule. Making it an auto action vs metals of a lower body was meant to remove the need to roll dice to do so. However anything that's considered an attack would be a dice check because attacks are all dice checks. I just didn't think of making the argument that its an auto action so the check would be an auto action. I suppose I should have thought of that though. The main goal was for Sentinel to be able to whip up something quickly in a pinch, or to let him use fabricate in the same turn that he does his metal manipulation check. Either he gets something simple quickly, or he gets a more complex item a bit less quickly. Rather then getting one slowly and the other really slowly (not being able to use something until the third round of combat is a bad situation to be in).

Edit: I almost forgot, take your time getting caught up. There's no rush! I know I've given you a lot of content to go through. I promise to not send any more until you've gotten back to me!