All
Strike Unit 1. Activate.Cyan letters burn brightly, just above the center of your vision. It's a bizarre way to wake up. The letters don't make sense at first, and every time you try to look upwards in order to center the letters in your sight, they dance upwards again.
Fifteen targets have been marked. Central cluster is eleven floors down. You groan, blinking steadily in order to focus your mind. You try to raise your head from your bed in order to clear out the vestiges of whatever dream is terrorizing you, but doing so sends you into a half stagger.
Peculiarly, you are already standing. You feel relaxed, but your legs seem locked upright. Looking down, your body seems to be covered in armor, though not like any armor you've seen outside second rate action flicks. It doesn't restrain you, despite the fact that it is clearly what was keeping you upright, and it feels curiously light. Looking down, you also notice a little more than a dozen red pips superimposed on your vision along with distances.
Civilian casualties should be kept minimal, but losses are acceptable. Target pacification is the top priority. You take in the room around you with a growing sense of disbelief, a passenger in a dream. Behind you is a gaping window, giving a panoramic view of San Diego's sprawl. It's beautiful, in a distant way. Traffic, both from the drones and the vehicles on the street, creates a swarm of blue and silver light. It's sort of helpful to look at. It's the sort of the thing that might come up in a dream that you'll soon wake pleasantly from.
The rest of the room isn't.
There are three other individuals in the room, all clad from head to toe in strike suits of their own, though the designs of each are unique, and, like your own, decidedly non-military in appearance. The room you're in is almost bare, and what remains is worn and broken. Hastily painted drywall is cracked from neglect, and ceiling panels are missing in multiple places, letting wires dangle in from the ceiling. The door to this room is ajar, leading out into a greater darkness.
Besides you, the rubble of decay, and the other three armored individuals, the only thing in the room is a long black crate.
Standard weapons package has been provided. Engage at will. Either you're having a very odd dream, or something has gone very wrong with the world.
Akira NagamotoResistance: 10/10
HP: 10/10
Fame (minor): Small chance to encounter random fans. [9]
- Dedicated Fanbase: While they are scattered across the globe, there is a still a core group of several hundred rabid followers that maintain a webpage and forum in your honor. Getting in touch is as simple as logging in.
Stunner: Pretty is an understatement. You move with grace, speak in the tones of angels, and look drop-dead gorgeous. +(1-3) to casual persuasion checks, depending on gender, age, etc.[5]
- Dolled Up (Niche): Your time in the J-Pop business has given you a rather unique fashion sense. For a lot of people, it's a bit... much. For those that enjoy it, well, you can incite projectile nosebleeds if you go all out. You can, given adequate material, choose to 'dress up'. Depending on who you're interacting with, this can either double, or negate, the effects of your stunner perk.
Stealthy: Life has demanded that you take a... subtle approach to most situations. +2 to stealth [1]
- Flash Bang: Problematically, a life spent in the spotlight isn't the best preparation for stealth. You do not gain any bonus against individuals who've had any counter-intrusion training, but your ferocity is surprising despite your incompetence. +3 to hit on your first attack after breaking concealment.
Protean Class Strike Suit: Resonance (Lvl 1)Armor: 40/40
Energy: 60/60
Passive Boosts: +2 Speed, +2 Evasion. Can fire targeted short range shockwaves, 1d6 damage+stun. -6 to small arms damage (min 0), converts massive damage to basic damage.
Defensive Abilities: - Holo-Triple: 10 Energy. Generates 2 identical suits that move independently of you, drawing fire freely. Dissipate when they take any heavy damage.
Offensive Abilities:- Resonance Wave: 10 Energy. Creates a damaging (2d6) shockwave in a cone in front of you. Fragile materials (glass/crystal) shatter, hard materials crack (stone, concrete), and pliable materials weaken (metal).
Alternate Forms:None Unlocked Jamie WaltersResistance: 25/25
HP: 5/5
Blackware (Military): A military grade piece of E-enhancer wetware has been implanted into your brain, careful regulating your emotional and hormonal response during combat. You never, ever, lose focus. Global +2 to combat accuracy, +1 to evasion, +1 to melee damage. [8]
- Running Raw: This implant was never meant for extended use, in fact, it's very likely that this one was supposed to have decommed after the original soldier's tour. It doesn't have the same safeties that an athletic aug does, and prolonged usage is slowly killing you as your body tears itself to pieces. Resistance pool doubled, HP pool halved.
Infamy (Major): You've done some truly terrible things, and there's definitely a warrant out for your arrest. The good news is that most of the seedy underworld has probably heard of you, and are intimidating as fuck. +(1-3) for intimidation tactics and street cred. [5]
- Broken Chain: Following the crackdown on your organization, you were presumed dead. On the one hand this means that there is no active effort to apprehend you. The bad news is that most, if not all of your followers have scattered, and your territories and powers have by and large been consumed by other gangs.
Tough Motherfucker: You don't often go down, and you never stay down. +5 Resistance Points.[10]
- Indomitable: You've survived alley dogs, muggers, gang wars, cartel assassins, and, most recently, three bullets from a police sniper. Your flesh is only human, but your will to survive is made from much tougher stuff. When regenerating RP, regen rate increases by 1 per turn.
Protean Class Strike Suit: Dominos (Lvl 1)Armor: 60/60
Energy: 40/40
Passive Boosts: +3 Melee Damage, -2 damage taken (down to 1), integrated combat blade (1d6 melee, penetrates 3 DR). -6 to small arms damage (min 0), converts massive damage to basic damage.
Defensive Abilities: - Hyper-Armor: 20 Energy. -5 evasion, greatly reduced mobility. -10 damage from all sources, down to scratch. Lasts 3 rounds.
Offensive Abilities:- Arrow Mini-Rockets: 5 Energy. Fires 3 mini rockets that pierce 2 DR and deal 1d6 points of damage each. Rocket tracking is +2, but cannot do indirect fire. Can be activated up to 4 times in a round. Can be directed at multiple targets.
Alternate Forms:None Unlocked Ernest QuinnResistance: 10/10
HP: 10/10
Hard-Bitten: Life has done Ernest no favors, and he's gotten used to that. Life is hard, and he has no illusions about what that means. +2 to detecting lies and subterfuge. [3]
- Grifter: Unfortunately, the cynical and pragmatic side of Ernest shows a little in the way he moves and looks. You can tell that he's a predator, if only a small one. -1 to casual conversation checks, +1 to intimidation.
Dirty Tactics: Leverage is everything, whether in a brawl or in a boardroom. Bonuses due to specific, temporary modifiers are increased by 50%. (Example: coercion with an incriminating tape, or tripping someone who already has a sprained ankle) [5]
- Animal Ferocity: Experience has taught Ernest value of exploiting weakness, and there is a part of him that deeply fears the same weakness being exploited in him. Negative status effects will also grant a minor positive boon.
Contacts (Minor): Ernest's, shall we say 'extra curricular', activities have netted him a fair network of petty criminals and compromised civilians that owe him favors. [7]
- Hardened Network: Ernest's pragmatism, and his interest in being smarter about robbery than his father, means that he holds something over every single member of his small network. This makes them much more motivated, and far less likely to turn against him or feed bad intel.
Protean Class Strike Suit: Villain (Lvl 1)Armor: 50/50
Energy: 50/50
Passive Boosts: +2 Strength, +1 Evasion. Integrated electrified cables (3 cables, 1/4 inch, break strength 4000lbs, 1d3 stun damage. Integrated Pitons to secure cables). -6 to small arms damage (min 0), converts massive damage to basic damage.
Defensive Abilities: - Optical/Thermal Cloaking: 5 Energy at start, doubled every round. Cost resets after 5 rounds of cooldown.
Offensive Abilities:- Magnetic Harpoon: 10 Energy. Onboard gauss launcher fires one of the three cables with a barbed piton attached. Deals 1d10 damage, and has a chance to lock regardless of armor penetration. If it deals HP damage, it also stuns for the electric cable's damage. Can be fired without a cable to launch only the barbed piton for 1d10 damage.
Alternate Forms:None Unlocked Adam JonesResistance: 10/10
HP: 10/10
Brilliant: Brains, regrettably a resource the world is in short supply of, at least brains that want to do something other than be bathed in feel good chemicals. You get a +2 at most tasks that come down to intelligence. [1]
- Brilliant, not Smart: For all the brains packed into your head, you don't play the game well. You voice opinions because you believe them, not because it's a good idea or because it's political correct. Your honesty and straightforwardness is refreshing, though perhaps a little naive. +2 persuasion checks when honest, -2 to detecting or engaging in any kind of suberfuge.
Engineer (Electrical): You understand the strange black boxes and the hearts of copper and doped silica that beat inside of them. You're not a prodigy among engineers, but it's still utter magic to a layman. Can perform advanced repairs without penalty, as well as construct and tamper with advanced electronics with a moderate chance of success. +2 to working with electronics. [8]
- Protean Aptitude: Your educated background and native intelligence means that your mind naturally meshes well with the Protean suit. Your suit starts one level higher, and you have a chance to gain bonus Protean XP from encounters.
Allies (Minor): There are people who have your back. They're not strong, they're not backed up by any particular higher power, but they're damn good friends who'll answer at a moment's notice. [7]
- Tech Expertise: Your friends are engineers like yourself, and together you represent a pretty deep well of knowledge. If it needs identifying, repairing, or even fabricating, there's not much tech that's totally beyond your clique when given adequate time and resources.
Protean Class Strike Suit: Hierophant (Lvl 2)Armor: 45/45
Energy: 70/70
Passive Boosts: -2 damage against all (min 1). 50% of all base damage taken is added as energy. -6 to small arms damage (min 0), converts massive damage to basic damage.
Defensive Abilities: - Energy Shield: Damage taken is dealt to Energy instead of armor. Energy shield takes -4 damage against all (min 1), and converts massive damage to basic damage. Takes double damage from EM weapons. Shield can be altered to cover another nearby person or object instead of the Strike suit.
Offensive Abilities:- E-Shock: 5 Energy. Targets a unit and attempts to activate and overload their E-enhancer, dealing crippling (3d10) nonlethal if successful, and (1d10) nonlethal otherwise. Can be used three times per round.
- Reverse Shield: 10 Energy. Creates a one way bubble shield around target opponent, turned inwards. The shield has ten HP, and takes -2 damage from small arms. Prevents movement and outgoing fire, but does not prevent entry.
Alternate Forms:None Unlocked 
Author
Topic: Pursuit of [Un]happiness [Cyberpunk 4/4]: [Im]plausible Deniability (Read 11556 times)