Terminator as an RPG...HELP needed

[S'mon]

If you want something that emulates the flavour of the original movie, well that flavour is FEAR. For that, I'd strongly recommend BRP/Call of Cthulu.

 

[Jekolmy]

You could try BESM d20, as I found out last night at character creation for my group, you can pretty much build anything given the right idea. Though the SRD might be a little hard to find.

 

[Aries_Omega]

Bulletproof doesn't mean immune to bullets. It just means that bullets do Bashing damage, not Lethal. It's sort of like being a Vampire, though most armored vests can be shot around (heads, legs, arms, etc.), making called shots useful when shooting past body armor. This is explained in the core book at the section on armor (page 166). I think it's the perfect mechanic to represent what you want.

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.

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.

Average schmoe with a sniper rifle (or shotgun) has a die pool of 5. 4 for the rifle (very high power gun), 2 for dexterity, -1 for no dots in firearms. Against my build, he'd have 1 die that did bashing damage. Against yours he would have a chance die that did lethal. Either one is scarily tough, though mine will recover much faster. A talented expert (special forces sniper) will probably have a 4 dex and 4 in firearms. He'll also have a scary rifle (barrett light 50) that does 5 dice (8 again). That's 13 dice normally, 9 bashing against mine, 7 lethal against yours. Yours will probably take a nasty wound that will take days to recover, and might be able to take a couple more hits before dying. Mine will take more damage on average, but it will be all bashing, allowing him to recover in a couple of hours and still have no dice penalties.

Agreed for that matter I was thinking that the meat portions of the body heal faster then 1 would every 15 minutes. Also I have seen that rifle used. OMG...talk about awesome.

A couple of things:
1) Dude, it's Storyteller! It works like you want it to, period, the end. Any and every rule is changeable by you whenever you want, however you want. Especially when it comes to not-the-characters. Villains use whatever systems you want them to. Things like the zombie "aspects" are just simple tools to help you tweak your villains to do what you want them to do.
2) Generally, characters don't get defense against Firearms attacks. This is why guns are dangerous. Unless you're in melee range, the only protections against guns are concealment, cover, and body armor. This is why Terminators don't dodge bullets, they can't do it any better than a normal person.
3) Defense is the worst of Dex or Wits. If you want schmuck terminators to have a bad defense then give them a 1 in either of those stats and you're done. This will reinforce their schmuck nature, as they'll either be unobservant or poor shots (generally).
4) Roll out a few test sessions with the bulletproof chassis. You'll be surprised just how long those fellas will last, even the ones that are cinematic mooks (4 health levels). Non-laser guns will be almost useless (but not quite), and in melee the terminator will be essentially invincible thanks to Defense plus Armor.

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. Now there are some models that have that programed in to one degree or another but by and far...most don't. At least as far as I can tell from what I have seen. 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.

Utter Determination - When this terminator is killed while carrying out its mission, roll its Willpower one minute later (include wound penalties). The result is damage levels healed, as the terminator reroutes emergency systems to get one last chance at completing its mission. This ability can only be used once without major repairs (-4 Craft roll, extended, 12 successes) being performed, and most terminators don't survive the situation that forced this use.

I like that. Very nice. Tell me what you think of above. All of this has been immensely helpful.

 

[ValhallaGH]

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.

Utter Determination

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.

 

[Starman]

Starman, it's good to see your pixels again.

Hey, thanks, CS. My life has remained a chaotic mess and there are probably things I should be doing rather than posting here, but I was going crazy without my RPG fix, so here I am.

 

[Aries_Omega]

Open Mind for Cool Ideas

I am now really psyched about doing this. Had a player make up their character and have people a buzz about this. Still need a Terminator though. I love the idea...if you live in the VA/DC area I'd love to have you game with us.

So okay...you have me convinced. I have ran many other game systems...including OWoD but not the NWoD. You sound much more knowledgeable then I. I want them to be hard to kill like HIT Mark IV were for the Garou we were playing but not unkillable. Mind you we were rank 1 and 2 garou with a single rank 3. It was also just 1 HIT Mark and we did go a bit overboard on using Gifts and Fetishes as if we were D&D characters.

Would you be willing to do up a stat block for a Terminator? Nothing weird just the run of the mill T-800/T-888 all metal inside and crunchy candy shell on the outside human looking one. Figure if the good guys can send back a Terminator to be people's body guard and all that Skynet would send one back to guard a human that would help create it. Thats what the Terminator is doing in my game. You supply the crunch, I'll do the fluff. If you don't want to post it on EN World email me at AriesOmega at gmail dot com instead.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Still need a Terminator though. I love the idea...if you live in the VA/DC area I'd love to have you game with us.

Sorry, that's a 6-8 hour drive and I just totaled my car.

So okay...you have me convinced. I have ran many other game systems...including OWoD but not the NWoD. You sound much more knowledgeable then I.

It's just understanding two things, first that this isn't old world of darkness. Forget everything you knew from that system and it's settings, this is a completely new game; the only useful bit of information from that system is what so many dots means (which is mostly not included in the NWoD). Second, you just have to understand the core mechanic, namely that a single success is all it ever takes to not fail; extended tasks, such as rebuilding a car or combat, require a certain number of successes, but as long as you get one success every time, you haven't failed to do the job.

As for Vince, check your e-mail. I need a bit of feedback before I can build him.

 

[Committed Hero]

Hey, thanks, CS. My life has remained a chaotic mess and there are probably things I should be doing rather than posting here, but I was going crazy without my RPG fix, so here I am.

And on rpg.net lol

 

[ValhallaGH]

I'm kind of proud of this build, so I'll reproduce it here. This is for an infiltration model, concealed on a college campus as an enrolled student.

Power: Intelligence 3, Strength 4, Presence 2
Finesse: Wits 2, Dexterity 3, Manipulation 1
Resistance: Resolve 3, Stamina 4, Composure 4

Skills (specialties in parenthesis):
Mental: Academics 1, Computers (hacking, data retrieval) 2, Crafts (demolitions) 2, Investigation (conceal crime) 1, Medicine 2, Science 1
Physical: Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Drive 2, Firearms 3, Larceny 1, Stealth 1
Social: Intimidation (stare downs) 3, Persuasion 1, Socialize 1, Subterfuge (lying) 2

Merits:
Mental: Eidetic Memory
Physical: Ambidexterity, Iron Stamina, Quick Draw (ranged), Quick Healer, Strong Back
Social: None

Special: Assorted special goodies for being a terminator. Mostly lifted from this thread.
He's Not Human - Does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe (though he can). Immune to disease and poison. Smells funny to dogs and other characters with a heightened olfactory sense.
Mag Sight - Vision mode. Cannot use with other vision modes. Reduce range penalties by 2. (-0 for medium range, -2 for long range.)
Night Vision - Vision mode. Cannot use with other vision modes. Can see in darkness, eliminating penalties for operating blind. Vision still blocked by objects and obscuring smoke effects.
Thermal Sight - Vision mode. Cannot use with other vision modes. Can see heat signatures, including human body temperature and active machinery. Sees through most concealing clouds, including smoke and fog. Allows limited sight in low- and no-light conditions. Treat all Concealment as three steps better, to a maximum of barely concealed (-1). Can be blocked by IR smoke.
Walking Polygraph - Terminators can analyze physiological responses to detect falsehood. +3 on all rolls to detect deception in humans and once-humans.
Vocal Synthesizer - Requires Eidetic Memory. Once a terminator hears a voice for more then a minute it can imitate that voice, gaining +2 to appropriate Subterfuge checks. Subterfuge is considered trained for this purpose.
Hearing - +1 to auditory Wits and Composure checks. Can hear things from a greater distance, taking fewer penalties for range and barriers.
Utter Determination - Requires Willpower. When this terminator is killed while carrying out its mission, roll its Willpower one minute later (include wound penalties [Iron Stamina reduces these penalties as normal]). The result is damage levels healed, as the terminator reroutes emergency systems to get one last chance at completing its mission. This ability can only be used once without major repairs (-4 Craft roll, extended, 12 successes) being performed, and most terminators don't survive the situation that forced this ability to be used.

Advantages: Size 5, Speed 12, Initiative +7, Defense 2, Armor 4/5 (bulletproof), Health 9, Willpower 7
Virtue: Fortitude, Vice: Wrath

Attacks: Unarmed 7, Firearms 6+(weapon), Melee Weapons 3+(weapon)