Felix the Rat's page

Are you doing an AP?...

It's a homebrew campaign so it's flexible luckily. It's funny that you mention goblins though, they're going to have a presence early game and one could easily tag along. A shoddy hacker could be more fun than a competent one.

I like the idea of having the AI in the ship too, the players can go back to it as needed but they can't take it with them. I can treat it like a science lab that's actually useful. I may suggest one of them at least sink 1 point into it to be competent enough to type.

It was pretty funny going around the table the first time computers came up as everyone realized no one had it. It's fitting for the characters though. We're likely to add one more to the group. I'll try a few sessions this way and if it doesn't work well, I'll highly recommend they take the skill.

Wheels are turning! Thanks for the ideas.

Is it unconditional? I only used mods that fit in "Any" armor for the drone because a drone/exocortex isn't light, heavy, or powered armor. A drone/exocortex isn't armor and no restrictions like the android's are listed so I'm pretty sure I agree you by the end of the sentence.

Only using "Any" mods wasn't a big deal, but it did limit a few options seemingly needlessly. There's no reason a mod for powered armor couldn't be in a "powered" drone.

*cheesy advertisement music*...

The explanation is even more versatile than the gear!

The Skin of the Chameleon skin implant gives a +3 circumstance bonus to Stealth. It's a level 6 item for 4050 credits.

Oh boy Xenocrat, you sure have been busy. I was going to make a post about Lessen Injury and Prevent Wounds but you covered most of my points. I hadn't even compared it to Resist Elements but that's a good point too.

As you said, Lessen Injury just seems better than Prevent Wounds, even more so after playing with sample numbers. The only advantage of Prevent Wounds that I see is it has the potential to completely negate the damage. Maybe use it against a GM who loves traps? That HP restriction is just so...bad though. I hope we're missing something useful about it. I feel like it's a great skill for an NPC medic who doesn't leave the ER.

My campaign is going to end right before the holidays and I'm picking up the reigns as GM. This will make for the perfect practice combat for me to get a feel for it. Thanks for the good news!

I don't think there's anything in the rules to allow it. A sword cane can fit 20ft of retractable cable however. A GM may allow you swap one cable for another and allow the garrote.

Don't forget about the Thermal Capacitor armor mod. It gives fire and cold resistance in one mod, as well as a great AC bonus! In this case, AC is Air Conditioning.

One item I've been wanting is some way to call your power armor from your ship, perhaps in a drop pod. Bonus points if the pod can smash an enemy when it lands.

That's an amazing idea and I tip my hat to you sir. Life boats can fit a large creature in them, which means a single set of power armor could probably fit into one. It has a computer and enough thrusters to land, ideally where you tell it. Even better, 1 expansion bay gets you 2 life boats which means 2 suits of armor.

Well, you have to consider hardness and hit points...

That's an excellent point Ragi. I had been using it as a wokaround for no self-destruct module but I hadn't thought about item HP. My GM has been loose with it as it's built to be destroyed, but a lot of folks aren't playing that loose. You could predamage it down to 1 HP I suppose, but then you still have to do at least 8 damage. Wipe is a good alternative, or maybe better as an addition as the grenade makes for a great distraction too.

I will point to the top right of page 409 though:
"Vulnerability to Certain Attacks: Certain attacks are especially strong against some objects. In such cases, attacks deal double their normal damage and might ignore hardness."

There might be room for it to work as written, if the GM approves it. I'd say build the computer with the grenade inside. It would destroy the circuitry without having to bypass the case's hardness. You'd still have to predamage it down to 1 HP though to ensure that a level 1 frag grenade can destroy it on a roll of 1.

Tier 1
Mini x2 (Negligible Bulk)
Range Module (Planetary)
Alarm
Control Module (Grenade)

These are great for when you can't wirelessly hack into a system. Plug it in, walk away, and you now have a wireless access point to start hacking from. The alarm can alert you if it's been discovered and the control module, connected to a grenade, can get rid of any evidence. They only cost about 200 credits each and 100 of that is the range module which can be decreased as needed.

Also, keep a few USB sticks on hand. Tier 1 comps with mini x2 are only like 60 credits and have a million uses.

I've been enjoying the drone mechanic a lot so far and I've read my fair share of the rules. Here's my take on it, I hope it's helpful.

As mentioned previously, there's obvious intent for a drone to be hacked(Hardened AI Drone Mod, +4 DC against drone hack attempts), the only question is the DC. Based on other rules, I would assume you treat it as a computer with a level equal to your Mechanic Level/2.

With that said, the drone would be able to be hacked just like anything else. A physical connection would be needed in most cases. Personally, I have a tiny computer with a range module in my drone. This computer could be hacked remotely, which would give someone an access point to then wirelessly hack the drone.

Now as far as I can tell, your custom rig cannot be hacked. At level 7, when it becomes a computer, the computer portion of it could be hacked separately. You control your drone with an encrypted wireless signal, eventually at a planetary range. The encrypted part of this implies that this signal can't be hacked, otherwise your class bonus of increased drone control range would become a huge liability, allowing your drone to be hacked from anywhere on the planet.

I read this bit in the Pact Worlds book and I’ve been dying to have fun with it. I think it could enhance your character, if it works with your idea. The Divine Blessing feat gives a different benefit based on your deity. Worshippers of Weydan can select a new appearance for themselves whenever they arrive on a new planet.

I could see an insane genius criminal using that his advantage. Commit a crime in space and then get sent to a planetary prison. Get a new face when you land and then make-up a story of how the criminal swapped places with you and escaped! You don’t even look anything like him after all. You can escape in the confusion then. That’s good for a few jails at least before they catch on.

Here’s the way I’ve been interpreting these items so far. I think it’s a logical interpretation of computers and rigs that would hopefully work for society games.

Your rig “gains the features” of a computer half its level, and that wording is key. Bulk certainly isn’t a feature and power needs would be covered by the custom rig, a class feature that doesn’t require power. If it does require power, only the computer would need it but a self-charging module would give you enough power to ignore the need most of the time.

I’ll give this example for a comparison point. Your custom rig also acts as a mk 1 personal comm. unit. You can miniaturize a computer to reduce its bulk and install a computer into the comm. unit of the custom rig. My point is that you can already install a computer into your custom rig at level 1 if you pay for the bulk reduction. It seems silly to have to pay for bulk reduction on a class feature too, especially because you’d have to pay for it before you leveled up. If it’s in your brain and automatically gained bulk, your head would explode on level-up.

Leveling up is an issue that could use an errata in my mind. Armor can also have a comm. unit installed in it which can be upgraded to a computer so these questions extend to all classes. I only really see two ways of handling it.
1. You lose the benefit of the module until you pay the difference to level it up.
2. The module acts as the lower level tier until you pat the difference.
I don’t see any reason for a module that’s not a class feature to level up for free. I think modules that give a set benefit (Security Measures +4 DC to hack) would stop functioning while an AI (+2 Social Checks/Tier) would operate at the tier you paid for until upgraded.

The range modifier is a great addition, but it doesn’t extend the range of your rig, it only extends the range of your computer/comm. unit. You can do everything a normal computer could do at range, but your rig gives no benefits. You cannot use it as a tool kit at planetary range, nor can you control your drone or ship at that range. You can issue verbal commands to a drone or communicate with people on your ship though.