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[Happy Demon]

Well, Pippy would be kinda sane, just really eager to blow s*** up.
Then again, who aren't? Explosions have a certain... power to it, and blowing stuff up feels good.

Especially if it's a giant enemy worm, and you do so from within. Then sell off the meat to whatever restaurant wants to buy planetworm steaks.
A jetpack would help though, and make it twice as awesome (or maybe, three times as awesome).

[WillowLuman]

Tbh, H probably works better in an antagonist role, causing trouble several times then getting in a climactic, bloody fistfight that ends in a Rasputinian death.

Roll to Space Pirate. We're villain protagonists, or anti-heroes at best.

I was talking more from a narrative, rather than a moral sense.

I just read your character sheet and I have to ask something regarding your backstory. It says that you've killed several combat augs....is that referring to human augs or KX9 augs?

Yes. Though some of them would require a different tactic than that described.

[~Neri]

This'll probably need some more work, probably forgot some things. More skills, maybe?

Spoiler: Stat Sheet (click to show/hide)

Name: H
Race:
Gender: N/A?

Skills:
Gadget making/repair (mundane) (small devices: trap components and other espionage stuff for the most part)
Stealth (+/-4)
Unarmed combat (+/-4)
Improvised weapons / environmental combat (+/-2)
Sabotage (+/-2) (A bit of a catch-all for breaking-and-entering, setting traps, rigging mechanisms to misbehave, etc. Might be broken up if needed)
Hacking (+/-2)
There are rumors of horrific results when H is asked to prepare food. Whether true, who knows?

Weapons/Equipment: (Suit stuff)
Utterly inscrutable interior, scan-resistant exterior (+3 to stealth against scans)
Tiny thruster ports to aid mobility in spacewalking (+/-1 to spacewalking)
Might be carrying some small explosives or gadgets in various pouches/pockets, depending on starting situation

Augments/bioaugments:
Ceaseless (Utterly immune to mental effects, such as pain, emotional distress, or mind control)
Inhumanly strong and flexible (+3,-3)
Damage resistant (+2?)
Utterly silent (+2 perception, +1 intimidation, communication problems)
Damage taken always seems to happen in such a way that doesn't reveal the contents of the suit.

Misc items: (Might have more depending on starting situation.)
Small toolkits for gadgeting/sabotage.

Status: ...

Spoiler: Loresheet (click to show/hide)

Name: H

Physical Age: Unknown. First unambiguously recorded appearance around 35 years ago, though many unverified sightings exist far previously.

Race: Unknown. H appears to wear a white pressure suit at all times, though it could be the outer softskin of a robot. The suit looks human-shaped, judging by
the profile and hands, though H has been observed moving in ways that would be difficult or impossible for a human.

Description: No one really knows who or what H is, much less what H thinks or wants. H is a fairly obscure figure, but the ones who know know only 2 things of H: H never speaks, and H seems willing to do anything, at least for the right price. People find H, standing around wherever travelers may gather, doing nothing in particular, and ask for a job, making an offer. If the offer is sufficient, H performs the task with uncompromising efficiency. If not, H simply ignores it. No one knows what H does with the money, though some suggest it might all be hoarded in some hidden place or secret account.

Due to the often clandestine contracts, little is known of H's methods, but there are rumors of latching onto the outside of ships, undetected through several security scans, ships arriving at their destination full of asphyxiated corpses, and ruthless, brutal efficiency in melee combat, combat augs being ambushed and beaten to a bloody pulp with their own helmets.

Looks good, feel free to confirm or change it.

I get the feeling that if a character is sufficiently different in playstyle then its overall powerlevel won't matter too much.

That said, +4 to stealth is pretty insane. Kevak, what will be the limits on stealth? Can my character stop emitting artificial light and hide in plain sight as a dust cloud? Or are we limited to hiding spots and whatever?

I am getting an amusing picture in my mind of H into a squad of enemy troops and snapping necks one by one "stealthily."

There are two movement modes. Stealthy and Normal. When you're in Stealth, everyone who you do not want to see you needs to make an observation check via whatever is their highest bonus to notice you. If one notices you, and isn't dead within the turn, you are no longer in Stealth. Getting into Stealth requires nobody you don't want to see you being able to see or hear or sense you. It's easier to get into Stealth if you know the biology of the ones you are sneaking near. Sufficiently advanced augs or senses make stealth effectively N/A due to the sheer amount of detection they provide.

You would hide in plain sight as a dust cloud, however people could easily get suspicious if you're just floating in an area with lotsa circulation. "..Why is this dust cloud not moving?" Most characters will need hiding spots and or some way of disrupting light.

Minor modification to Rook: the parrying penalty in the PowerBands makes no sense. It's literally just throwing a 'gloved' hand in front of the weapon/projectile and maybe giving it a push; a -3 is simply too much for such a simple action. How about no penalty for unarmed attacks and heavy melee weapons, -1 for light melee and large and/or slow projectiles (say, cannonball or larger), and -2 for fast xor small projectiles? (Fast and small projectiles at a worse penalty decided situationally.) Additionally, would the parrying gain the bonus from Pacifistic combat style, as it is techniclly a technique of unarmed combat?

I'll edit this in when I stop being lazy.

Tbh, H probably works better in an antagonist role, causing trouble several times then getting in a climactic, bloody fistfight that ends in a Rasputinian death.

Roll to Space Pirate. We're villain protagonists, or anti-heroes at best.

I was talking more from a narrative, rather than a moral sense.

I just read your character sheet and I have to ask something regarding your backstory. It says that you've killed several combat augs....is that referring to human augs or KX9 augs?

Yes. Though some of them would require a different tactic than that described.

Would take way different tactics than normal. KX9 more or less universally have highpower sensor suites, and the sheer numbers of drones in their fleets prevents easy hullclinging. You would have to more or less blitz a KX9 with hightier weapons. And still has a high chance of not doing anything to a 51. Against noncombatforms though, it would be more effective. Against combat auged normal people with low to midtech augs, the standard tactic may or may not work.

Well, Pippy would be kinda sane, just really eager to blow s*** up.
Then again, who aren't? Explosions have a certain... power to it, and blowing stuff up feels good.

Especially if it's a giant enemy worm, and you do so from within. Then sell off the meat to whatever restaurant wants to buy planetworm steaks.
A jetpack would help though, and make it twice as awesome (or maybe, three times as awesome).

Basically whatever the fuck pays out.

Wasn't saying it was OP, I just wanted to know how it works. It's pretty cool. How does Excalibur get charged, by the way? Do you soak it in electricity or put alot of nanites in it or what?

Well, I'm not sure to what extent I have control over the rules and mechanics. My intent was that excalibur is only really good for a couple of highly lethal attacks (only expending energy if they connect) before needing to be recharged. The gameplay then revolves around Nivian finding sources of energy, such as reactors or power conduits, and breaking into them to recharge. She's not good for slaughtering masses of troops, but is capable of taking out a high-priority target or two. My main goals are manipulation and support, rather than combat.

Pretty much this. And there are plenty of power conduits that won't have the required charge to power it in any reasonable time. Provided the playstyle of a character is different enough, it'll get approved. Maybe with minor tweaks.

GUYS! We need to pull our money together so we can buy a mini evangelion mech! And a weapon for it! I can't assimilate the mech, but I can assimilate the weapon the mech holds!

Oooh! Oooh! I'll take the mech itself!

Considering our relative poverty, we probably wouldn't be able to afford one that has a very good AI, and thus won't have the memory required to hold you.

Whatever your plan is, I can take the form of a mecha so it looks like we have two!

Don't you require all your nanites to look like you have a solid human body? Would you have enough for an entire mecha?

No and maybe. Depends on the size of the mech.

GUYS! We need to pull our money together so we can buy a mini evangelion mech! And a weapon for it! I can't assimilate the mech, but I can assimilate the weapon the mech holds!

Oooh! Oooh! I'll take the mech itself!

Considering our relative poverty, we probably wouldn't be able to afford one that has a very good AI, and thus won't have the memory required to hold you.

We're pirates.
Clearly the obvious solution is to stage a suicide mission to steal one.

Suicide missions are stupid. Just go.. Steal a ship. Small ships are worth similar and tend to be easier to steal when docked rather than combat grade mechs. You also don't want an eva mech. Same reason you don't want a skyscraper sized tank. It just becomes a big, slow, dumb target.

[WillowLuman]

These are just rumors, mind, derived from specific incidents (and I get the impression that KX9 don't tend to wear helmets). In actuality, H's tactics are situational, and pretty much unknown due to the often clandestine work H gets hired for. H is pretty good in a one-on-one fight against most similarly sized opponents, provided it gets the drop, but against some kind of super-cyborg H would probably do a lot of prep work and other things to even the odds, or find a way to hit it with a ton of firepower, or set up a suitable deathtrap.

As far as detection goes, H's exterior is fairly resistant to EM-based methods in particular, which might be somewhat anomalous, though it's far from foolproof. If anyone's capable of being sneaking in a KX9 controlled area, it would be H, though not without considerable difficulty. And such a task would probably be very expensive.

[~Neri]

Be even harder to sneak into a Tâlshik controlled area. They don't allow non Tâlshik in their stellar neighborhood. KX9 at least allow people on their Warrenworlds. Although Denworlds are off limits. Kirvëk are sorta inbetween, they prefer to not allow those not part of the Hive in their space, although they do allow traders.

[WillowLuman]

Though if anyone could, it would be H. But prep time and cost tend to be directly proportional to difficulty.

BTW, can we get some background on those other 2 galactic superpowers?

[FallacyofUrist]

... 18 pages with no start yet. Hope it begins soon.

[~Neri]

I might give it a day and turn this thread into OOC.

There's some lore in the fifth OP post on the background of the two races. Although it's from the perspective of humanity, so there's a helluva lotta stuff not included.

[SOLDIER First]

Correct, likely tomorrow. I'll send out PM's later to people who haven't gotten around to making characters.

[~Neri]

I realize that the thread is literally 18 pages of OOC. Makes sense to turn it into OOC.

[SOLDIER First]

I know. I was kinda referring to the 'tomorrow' part.

[~Neri]

Ah.

[BlitzDungeoneer]

I really should get around to finishing that sheet...
But I'm afraid that won't be happening right now, as I'm living up to the second half of my personal text.

[~Neri]

You can finish it a bit late. Signups will be indefinite.

[Andres]

There are two movement modes. Stealthy and Normal. When you're in Stealth, everyone who you do not want to see you needs to make an observation check via whatever is their highest bonus to notice you. If one notices you, and isn't dead within the turn, you are no longer in Stealth.

You know what's not fun in a video game with a stealth system? Instant failure upon discovery. Similar situation here. If someone spots you in stealth mode, maybe do a final initiative check to see if the stealth guy can silence the guy who spotted him before he sounds the alarm?