Aries_Omega said:
I am sorry I have not posted in a while. RL has priorty over this but I was excited to read your post on this.
No problem. I'm in very nearly the same boat.
As for bullets...Yes...that's what I am looking for. I finally read the book cover to cover more then once and like the mechanic of it. I was thinking just making all damage except aggravated ones be bashing damage. With Health levels they do not take -1's or -2's due to being wounded though...I think that needs to stay rather then extra health levels.
If all lethal damage is bashing, and aggravated damage is a rare as it is in the rest of the new WoD, then terminators are practically invincible. Having 10 structural levels, plus size, plus stamina means that the 'average' terminator will have 17 health levels and you'll need to do 34 damage to put him down. That's before he has a chance to heal.
Given his armor, range penalties, cover, lighting penalties, and the human's human-like die pool, the terminator is practically invincible. Remove armor and he's still insanely tough, able to take multiple barrett rounds before he's in danger.
Not the route I would go, but it might be the route you want to go. In which case, be warned that having a terminator coming after a character that doesn't have a vehicle means that the character is about to be dead.
I would go with bulletproof chassis, no penalties from bashing damage, and that's really it. Maybe an extra health dot or two just to give myself a little wiggle room for him to keep coming but that would be it. I'll cover recovery rates further down.
I was thinking with melee that they don't have a Defense...period...reason why is most are not programed to bobb and weave. They take the hit and smash what hit them.
And when they take the hit, they usually block it with their arm. Which is covered by defense.
That said, terminators are really tough. Maybe they're trying to be 'sporting' by not using their defense.
Or maybe they have defense penalties from their armor, and most of them only had a defense of 2. A defense of 1 isn't going to do much against a giant steel pipe, especially if the person using it has any sort of training.
As for armor this is what I was thinking. They have Health levels...that is the meat body. They also have a Structural Integrity of 10. That represents what's being held together. Anything that damages the Health levels messes up the meat body...anything that goes past it hits the Structural Integrity. That goes...the terminator is kaput. I am not sure if at that point armor is needed...just that and making damage bashing damage should be enough. The Health levels regenerate faster then normal, structural integrity doesn't...unless they can find something to repair the body. I dunno...I need to kick the idea around more.
Remember, armor makes the creature more difficult to harm. Health dots make it more resilient. Terminators, should, have both. They are both difficult to harm and very resilient to harm. Most gunshots do superficial damage without inflicting any actual harm on the terminator, much like hitting a (good) bulletproof vest. This is covered by the armor mechanic. When the terminator does take actual damage, it's a problem but not immediately debilitating. This would be health dots giving him the resilience to take a beating before taking penalties.
Finally, terminators can be killed. It happens all the time. It's difficult but a very long way from impossible. A combination approach of health dots and armor would seem the way to go for this.
As for healing rates, keep in mind that the storyteller needs to give the PCs some time to recover from their wounds. Terminators can use the same time to recover while they're tracking down the PCs. Even PC terminators don't instantly recover from damage. I distinctly remember the T2 Arnold telling Sarah that his bullet wounds would heal in a few days, restoring his infiltration ability. Which became moot when he got killed a couple days later.
ValhallaGH said:
I like that. Very nice.
Thank you.
Which reminds me of another point. Terminators should have the Strong Back merit. It seems to fit, as a limited form of super-strength.