Aberrant RPG - Metal

[NFVD]

Ok, yesterday my second player made his character for my Aberrant chronicle and I have a doubt on how to handle the specifics of his Aberration.

He decided to make the character a carbon copy, as much as Aberrant would allow it, of Edward Elric the main character from the Anime series Full Metal Alchemist. ::rolleyes

Now, Mr Edward lost an arm and a leg in the series and had them replaced by metal cybernetic counterparts, becoming for all intent and purpose a cyborg.

We choose to simulate this by giving him a physical aberration that turned his leg and arm to steel. He uses his Elemental Anima: Metal to shape them into something as visually normal-looking pleasing as possible.

My doubt is this, what are the effects of having two metal limbs in terms of combat? How do they affect soak specifically?

From the Bodymorph power I assume that if he punches or kick someone he does 2 extra dice of damage, but I cannot determine how much extra soak vs. lethal and bashing the limbs have.

How would blocking a lethal damage attack with his arm work?

And finally, how much damage could each metal limb handle before it is destroyed?

[Blue Thunder]

If it just adds a benefit, it isn't an aberration. Make them Body-Mods of some kind.

Hardened Limb (1 np/3 xp) (can take 2 levels)

One of your limbs is much more solid than normal, perhaps because it is made of wood, stone, metal, or something else harder than flesh. You add +1 to all unarmed melee damage dice pools with that limb, and may use it to parry with, even if you lack a melee weapon. If you take a second level of Hardened Limb, the damage bonus increases to +2.

Or something like that. Maybe someone else can invent something better. hell, they could use this for The New Flesh if they felt like it.

With the above example, he would buy two levels of it, twice. That makes a metal arm, and a metal leg.

[Alex Green]

What level of aberration(s) are we talking about here?

[NFVD]

What level of aberration(s) are we talking about here?

He has Taint 5. Therefore 2 minor aberrations. Anima Banner (that manifests as blue light and electrovoltaic arcs when he uses his Elemental Anima quantum power, and an arm and leg turned to steel.

I know this is not Kosher "by the book" but bear with me.

The player and myself had a brainstorm last night trying to nail the PC as close as possible to the Anime character. I even watched a clip to help determine his aberrations.

As things went, the player made the character just as he wanted by spending 30 Nova Points. Buy since the two aberrations where an essential part of the character concept we gave him Taint 5 and he spent the extra Nova points in upgrading Attributes and Abilities related to his powers.

The whole leg and arm thing are more drastic than a simple aberration, I guess it would be medium. So for compensation and because he his a squishy no-Mega-Attributes PC I'm trying to determine the positive effects of the aberration.

He has 2 limbs made of metal, so logicaly they are more resilient than his fleshy ones to, say, behing hit with a lead pipe and pack more of a punch.

The rules say that if you block a lethal attack with your body you still suffer damage barring any lethal soak ability, but what if the blocks a swordblow with his arm?

OTOH his metal limbs are not weapons designed for parrying damage, so even if they are more resilient I would also like to determine how much damage the can take before breaking.

He has a brother that suffered a similar aberration on a much larger scale. His whole outer body turned to metal, so he his permanently encased in the equivalent of heavy full plate. The effects were easier to determine. I just gave the NPC the equivalent of permanent Bodymorph: Metal and enough Armor points to simulate the "plate suit".

[Alex Green]

(Warning, I haven't seen the anima character this is based on).

Aberration (Minor): Metal Arm / Leg.

Because he has this he can buy various things that you've mentioned. The ability to parry swords with his hand, more damage, that sort of thing. I think the bodymod looked pretty good.

I assume he can still use his hand to grab things, probably still has a sense touch, that sort of thing?Then mechanically I see no reason to depart very much from generic, odd-looking skin. Magnets work on him, maybe (maybe!) it's a bit cool to the touch, but mostly it looks funny.

[phoenix]

I would try modifying Armor to apply only to his arm (maybe treat it as Superheavy just for that area); that way you can take damage with it. You can also use Armor for a Power Block (read: parry), and maybe arrange for a damage bonus with it as well.

[Blue Thunder]

Just remember, aberrations are not wholly beneficial. Most don't carry any benefits at all. if you're looking for something that's going to be good for the character to have, then don't make it an aberration. Any benefits need to be countered by more powerful drawbacks, or it isn't an aberration. At least, not a medium or high level one.

Perhaps his metal limbs sometimes exhibit behavior of their own. Or maybe he has -1 to rolls with them as they respond slower than normal (while still dealing a little extra damage). Maybe they lack a sense of touch, giving a penalty on rolls that require fine manipulation or coordination. They'll probably add a lot of weight to the character, perhaps giving a penalty to swimming and running rolls, or reducing swimming and running speed. Maybe his limbs lack access to Mega-Strength and Mega-Dexterity...or perhaps only his metal limbs can use Mega-Strength and Mega-Dexterity damage adds and certain enhancements, while the rest of his bodyparts lack the capabilities to.

You'll also need to determine what kind of metal it is; if its magnetic, then the character's limbs can be affected by Magnetic Manipulation (or any other powers that affect magnetism). He'll also set off metal detextors. Not to mention he'll have a hell of a time trying to conceal his nova-ness.

[Ammonites]

If you wanted his arm/leg to have extra soak, couldn't you take a dot or 2 of Armor with the weakness of only benefiting arm/leg. I'm sure that'd be worth 3-5pts of weakness.