[HOE] Androids Preview

[Joey Fanning <Wraith530@comcast.net>]

I promised a lot on the Androids&Clones book, so I shall deliver!  Thanks to
everyone who at least pretended they had been listening.^_^
Android is now also an arcane background that works very much like a syker
or martial artist.  They can channel insane amounts of power from the
hunting grounds for a variety of amazing effects.  Their only limit is their
body--it's not perfect, and trying to channel too much will cause an
overload that can do anything from temporarily lowering stats all the way up
to overloaded parts exploding.  As a little preview, I'll show you a couple
of the 100+ powers that an android can use.

Bubbly Fizz
TN: 7
Strain: 3
Speed: 2
Duration: N/A
Range: 10 yards/Channelin'
Mmmmmm.  If you remember Jo's speeches in the weird west and The Last
Crusaders, then you know what this stuff is.  At least one can in every case
of this stuff would explode in a shower of bubbly fizz.    This power lets
you replicate the effect on any closed container of liquid.  The container
begins to shake violently, and then, regardless of carbonation, explodes,
sending the liquid flying in all directions.  As would be imagined, this is
particularly nasty when used with nitro glycerin, corrosive acids, and in
the case of doomsayers, Dr. Pepper.  This power isn't useful to make
"grenades" since the power takes 2 turns to go off and the container would
shatter before you got it off.  It can, however, make extremely useful "land
mines", and you can always explode whatever your enemies are carrying.



Purify
TN: Special
Strain: 4
Speed: 2
Duration: 2/Round
Range: 1 yard/Channelin'

Like we've said before, pure water's a luxury.  In many places, so is pure
air.  So is pure anything, for that matter.  This spell can be used in a
number of ways.  First, it can act as a gas mask or an air purifier for a
single person, for one strain per minute.  It can operate as a water filter
for underwater breathing for 2 strain per minute.  Secondly, it can remove
toxins from a source of water or air for the normal strain cost.
Volume   TN
Can of coke   3
Gallon of water  5
Tank of air   7
Swimming pool  9
Room    11
Reservoir, field  13
Lastly, it can be used to purify toxins from someone's system.  The TN in
this case depends on the severity of the toxin.
Stomach flu   3
Alcohol   5
Rat poison   7
Deadly poison  9
Supernatural poison 11


Android powers differ depending on what kind of tech spirit they use, these
were both "appliance" powers.  Prepare to see a lot more as I work on them!

And now, for the marshalls...


Spoiler space, that is..





Our old friends the damaged goods are something of a threat to our android
buddies.  Reinhardt did a great job of building some of them bodies, and
they get their own powers to match.  Here's a sample:

Bad Sector:
This little trick they learned from the toxic spirits.  If you've read the
spirit warriors book, you know about the anti-technology area enforced by
the old ways spirits.  The Damaged Goods can cause a similar effect,
temporarily knocking out all modern-day technology.  Guns jam, Armor falls
apart, mass-produced ropes come undone, anything you can think of to torment
the party.  Unlike the great barrier at the border of the old wayers' land,
however, once this power wears off the fun's over, devices don't stay
broken.  Also, junker devices and androids are immune to this.

Abort, Retry, Fail:
Sometimes even the bad guys need a little boost to their chances.  Before
this power is used, the 'Droid must put up a white chip as ante.  Success
means that they get an extra red chip which must be used on their next turn.
Failure results in a loss of the white chip.  Going bust means that you, the
marshal, can't spend any more chips on that 'droid for the rest of the
encounter.  Hey, that's what you get for toying with fate!