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BODYTECH
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PRINTER FRIENDLY TUBER PACKAGE
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Tubers are the best Origin to play because they get strong natural advantages with
no downside, can be just as skilled as an Adept, and if they want can get just as
boosted up as an Amper. Its all about options baby.
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Tubers, short for "Tube Baby", are genetically modified human beings.
Their parents went to a fertility clinic where sperm and ovum were collected, genetically
modified, and inserted into the mother's womb invitro.
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However, eugenics is still more of an art than an absolute science and there are
no guarantees.
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While the geneticists can "predispose" a person to certain traits they
don't have total control over who gets what.
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Each Tuber has a unique Tuber Package that can grant them greatly improved statistics
and abilities.
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Of primary note, Characteristic bonuses gained via a Tuber Package increase Normal
Characteristic Maxima for that Tuber, allowing them to be measurably superior to
mainstream humanity in various ways.
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The Tuber Package is discussed in detail below.
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STARTING BONUS
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The focus of Tubers is on being innately advantaged via manipulated genetics. Raw
Characteristics and Talents, plus the occasional semi-superhuman ability are their
primary intended focus. Tubers can also be excetionally skilled in one or two areas,
as represented by Super Skills.
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TUBER PACKAGE
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TUBER PACKAGE GENERATOR
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The primary starting bonus for being a Tuber is that they are genetically enhanced
humans and have a special Tuber Package applied to them at character creation. Tuber
Packages vary greatly, but each has the potential for unusual, exceptional, and
even amazing abilities that are not otherwise attainable. Furthermore, any Characteristic
increases granted by a Tuber Package are not affected by Normal Characteristics
Maxima allowing individual Tubers the potential for vast physical and mental capabilities.
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Some "distilled" Tubers are extremely advantaged in narrow areas while others are
more broadly capable, and others are not as noticeably advantaged. Lucky Tubers
are among the most exceptional specimens of humanity on the planet and they can
be a glorious site to behold in action.
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However to keep Tubers from being a no-brainer choice for each character, a Player
must commit a specific number of points toward playing a Tuber character up front,
with a minimum and maximum buy in, and then all the abilities in their personalized
Tuber Package are randomly generated. Thus while a Tuber has some
natural advantages, they are indiscriminately determined and the character will
have fewer points left over to spend on their professional abilities. These restrictions
are explained in detail below.
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* RESTRICTION: RANDOM
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The abilities each Tuber gains are completely random. The provided default Tuber Package Randomizer deals with this for you. Simply
click the
link and follow the directions to generate a random Package of your own.
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A player may not alter a Tuber Package in any way. A GM may opt to modify a Tuber
Package if they see fit, or reject a particular Tuber Package out of hand if they
feel that it is too advantaged or too weak or otherwise inappropriate to their campaign,
of course.
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* RESTRICTION: MIN AND MAX ENHANCEMENT ROLLS
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Tuber abilities consist of a series of Genetic Enhancements costing ten (10) points
each. A Tuber must have at least three (3) Genetic Enhancements. Thus the default
Tuber Package costs 30 Character Points and grants three (3) rolls on the Genetic
Enhancement charts.
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Players have the option to pay ten (10) extra character points each for extra rolls
on the randomized charts, for up to ten (10) total rolls for a total cost of 100
Character Points.
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The benefits of all Tuber Package slots stack where applicable.
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There are ways to extend / alter this randomized process if a GM prefers.
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PHENOTYPES
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The provided Tuber randomizer includes the concept of "Phenotypes" within the Tuber
population, defined as:
Extra Smart,
Extra Strong,
Extra Rugged,
Extra Quick,
Extra Capable,
Extra Perceptive,
Extra Personable,
Extra Evolved,
Extra Lucky,
Extra Adaptable,
Extra Enhanced,
and
Esper.
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Using the default randomizer such Tubers represent a small percentage of Tubers.
However a GM might take a different approach and redefine the Phenotypes as being
the sum total of the Tuber population and either randomizing them (ignoring the
default randomizer altogether), or even just allow players to choose the Phenotype
they want and click the provided links to generate their semi-random Package.
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PERCENTILE
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The provided Tuber randomizer uses a branching logic / treeing approach and has
built in complex probability controls. The odds of getting any particular slot,
or combination of slots is thus irregular and not entirely statistically predictable.
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A GM could opt to make their own alternate list and follow some other mechanism
of randomization, such as the typical table / percentage approach used in many RPG's.
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Thus if a Package grants several bonuses to the same Characteristic they add together.
The more slots a player opts to buy, the more likely they will benefit from stacked
slots and other synergies.
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As an added enticement for going all in, there is a 10% chance built into the
Tuber Package Randomizer to generate a special "Phenotype" Package for Tubers
with ten (10) slots; these Phenotype Packages are particularly distilled and are
mildly superhuman in their capabilities, rivaling Metas in some ways.
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* RESTRICTION: PRECOMMITED
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The player must commit all of the points for their Tuber Package prior to rolling
for any of their abilities, and all decisions and rolls are final.
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SUPER SKILLS
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Tubers can have "Super Skills", special Talents that represent unusual,
cinematic, and otherwise exceptional abilities over and above what is possible by
the mainstream. Many Super Skills are built as Powers (typically with the Required
Skill Roll Limitation), but the Special Effect of the ability is that it is the
result of a trained ability, or in the case of Tubers perhaps an ability they are
innately good at due to their genetic advantages, rather than an actual superhuman
ability.
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Combat Luck and Deadly Blow are considered Super Skills (per the
Campaign Assumptions).
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Tubers can have up to one (1) Super Skill per 150 character points, rounded in their
favor.
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Super Skills always require GM approval.
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It is important that Super Skills be depicted in a "Cinematic Realism"
fashion and not as super powers.
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BODYTECH
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Tubers can start with BodyTech, but in addition to paying character points they
must also pay the going market rate for them out of their starting funds.
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However, common sense applies as some abilities a Tuber gains from their Package
may preclude certain types of BodyTech. For instance, a Tuber with Aural Acuity
(Targeting w/ Hearing) would lose such an ability if they took CyberEars, since
that entails taking Physical Limitation: Deaf which would nullify their hearing.
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A key consideration is that BodyTech makes normal humans better, but Tubers are
already better in many ways; sometimes substantially so. Its entirely possible that
they are naturally better in certain areas than BodyTech would allow a normal
person to be even after augmentation, and thus the Tuber themselves gain little
to no benefit from such BodyTech.
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Generally speaking PharmiTech
and Biofeedback Training
are useful for Tubers, and BioWare
usually is, but Cybernetics
require some judgement and consideration of the nature of an individual Tuber. GM's
and players should use their best judgement.
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PharmiTech can be a particularly
potent means to power for physically oriented Tubers, and a GM may want to exercise
some judgement in this area.
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FOCUS
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As a flavor guideline that has no game effect, it is common for Tubers to focus
more on Characteristics and natural abilities than on learned Skills, but ultimately
that is a decision that is completely up to the player.
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However, for the value of an individual Tuber's Package to be realized a Player
must be flexible in their character design and play into any synergies made possible
by the random abilities generated for their Package.
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For instance, to fully realize the advantage of a boosted Characteristic from their
Tuber Package, a Player should buy the Characteristic up to its Maxima level.
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DEMI-RACES
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For GM's that want more "racial" diversity, the Tuber Origin can be replaced
or expanded to serve as a gateway for alternate "Race" Packages. This
could be used for parallels to "meta races" such as Trolls and Dwarves
(if going for a Shadowrun approach), or human variants genetically engineered for
some purpose such as to survive in some extreme environment.
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GENESPLICERS
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Tubers are engineered pre-conception. If the GM allows genetic science to be more
advanced, characters could instead be modified as adults via gene therapy. This
is substantially higher tech than the default setting assumptions, but a GM could
certainly opt to go this route.
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Personally, I would treat such augmentations as another form of BodyTech, but a
case could be made to make it an Origin as well (perhaps only some people are candidates
for such procedures, and also starting bonuses could help offset costs similar to
the Amper Origin).
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This could also be used to allow "Furries", i.e. people that have been
genespliced with animal DNA to make cat-people and so forth.
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ALIENS
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If the GM wants to advance the setting a bit they can decide that humanity is in
contact with one or more Alien species, and might allow them as playable characters.
This would certainly represent an Origin, and a Race Package should certainly be
involved for each Alien race.
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SYNTHOIDS
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If the GM wants to advance the setting's technology beyond the default assumptions,
they can allow for artificially created biological entities, similar to the Replicants
of Blade Runner and other synthetic humanoids of other scifi source material.
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The Tuber model of genetic superiority serves as a very strong parrallel for this
(and in fact can be used as is with just a name change), though a GM might prefer
for such Synthoids to be less random. If the GM is including Artifical Intelligence
in their version of the setting, then Androids are also possible, but the basic
idea remains the same for both.
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Since the Characteristic bonuses from their Tuber Package are not affected by NCM,
this essentially represents a kind of point break for the character and if leveraged
can result in a very powerful character.
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