Trinity RPG - Playing Qin Characters

[Ayre el KaBeer]

Quote:

Semi-official Qin stats.

A long time ago, John Snead posted this ... for those not familiar

with him, he was one of the developers on the Aeon books.

From: sneadj@m...

Date: Sat Dec 1, 2001 5:16 am

Subject: Rules for Qin PCs

Hi Folks-

With the recent delays, I'm not certain when the

Aliens books will be written, so I thought I'd

let folks here see the rough draft of the

character generation material I'm doing on the

Qin + a few notes on Qin society.

Enjoy-

-John Sneead sneadj@m...

-------------------------------------------------

The Qin:

Character Generation.

Step One: Select Attributes

Prioritize the three areas: physical, mental and

social

Choose Primary Attributes (7 points)

Choose Secondary Attributes (5 points)

Choose Tertiary Attributes (3 points)

Put no dots in in Appearance, and more than 1 in

Strength. The innate Appearance of a Qin is 0

to humans. The Appearance of a modern Diplomat

biosuit is 4, the Appearance of a modern Warrior

suit is 2.

Qin Diplomat Suits add +1 to Strength, while Qin

Warrior suits add +3 to Strength.

The above bonuses only apply when the Qin is in

its biosuit.

Step Two: Select Abilities

Choose desired Abilities (23 points)

Do not place more than 3 dots in any Ability.

Add one dot each in Athletics, Endurance,

Awareness, Linguistics, Meditation, Rapport, and

two dots in Subterfuge for free. Their free dot

in linguistics allows Qin to know both their

native tongue and one human language.

Calculate skill totals.

Step Three: Advantages

Choose desired Backgrounds (3 points)

Add Device 4 (biosuit), Resources 2 (all Qin

living among humans are guaranteed a living

allowance), Influence 1 (fame simply for being a

Qin among humanity), & Cypher 2 (racial paranoia)

Qin may not choose the Citizenship Background.

Qin may not become Citizens on any human world.

Choose Telepathy Modes (3 points, one dot must

go into Empathy)

Step Four: Finishing Touches

Record initial Willpower (5), Initiative

(Dexterity + Wits), movement (walk Dex + 2 m,

run Dex + 12 m, sprint [Dex x 3] + 20 m) Qin out

of their biosuit can move no faster than a walk

on land, but can move at their normal running

speed in the water.

Record initial Psi ([sta+Wits+Cha]/4) (round

up). It is otherwise treated the same as human

Psi, except that Qin are limited to a maximum of

7 dots in Psi.

Spend bonus points (15 points)

Bonus Points

Trait Cost per dot

Attribute 5

Abilities 2

Specialties 1

Background 1

Telepathy Modes 4

Auxiliary Modes (max. one dot) 6

Willpower 2

Psi 3

Initiative 1

Qin Psi:

Base Psi for Qin is calculated as Sta+Wits+Cha/4

(round up). It is otherwise treated the same as

human Psi, except that Qin are limited to a

maximum of 7 dots in Psi. However, Psi only

costs Qin 3 Bonus Points. When using Qin biotech

each point of Psi gives the Qin two points of

Tolerance. When using alien and less advanced

human biotech, Qin Tolerance is based on their

Psi.

All Qin must have one dot in Empathy, and can

learn other telepathy modes normally, but only

up to level 3. Qin cannot learn any level 4 or

5 psychic abilities. All Qin possess both the

Biosense and the Mindscan Basic Techniques.

Because of their unique physiology Qin also

possess the equivalent of 2 dots in Adaptation,

and a limited ability to shift their native

forms similar to the Transmogrify mode Molding

(limited to tentacle stretching and oozing

through small (with the same 5 cm limit as

molding has) spaces. In addition, Qin biotech

combined with centuries of bioengineering on the

Qin themselves gives all Qin the equivalent of

the 3 dot Psychomorphing power Assimilation.

Small (0.5 kg or smaller) items can actually be

incorporated into their own bodies. Items up to

1.5 kg must be placed in their biosuits, but are

treated the same way. Biotech larger than 1.5

kg cannot be assimilated except by the large

warrior suits which have a limit of 3.5 kg.

Qin also possess an exceptionally keen sense of

smell and the ability to see in very low light

levels, but somewhat poor distance vision. Qin

can also learn to perform all Vitakinesis modes.

However, using the abilities requires special

bioware and these abilities only work when the

healer is touching the subject.

Qin medicine is divided into two skills:

Medicine and Therapy, both are bought as skills,

but they are both based off of the Psi

attribute, and are equivalent to Iatrosis and

Mentasis. Qin also have an equivalent of

Algesis (Torture), but only a few Qin know it.

Each dot in any of these three skills is exactly

equivalent to a dot in one of the three

Vitakinetic Modes, except that specialized

biotech devices are needed to use these powers.

Level 1 Vitakinetic devices are hand held and

may be incorporated into Qin biosuits

Level 2-3 Vitakinetic devices have a mass of 4-6

kg and can fit in a briefcase.

Level 4-5 Vitakinetic devices are installations

at least the size of a steamer trunk, which are

at best portable only if loaded onto a vehicle.

They have a minimum mass of 40 kg.

Qin are also capable of learning up to one dot

in any Clairvoyance Mode or Biokinesis Mode, and

may use these abilities normally

Qin Stats:

Out of Suit:

Mass: 18-30 kg

Strength =1, Appearance = 0

Dexterity (manipulation) = normal Dex+1 (many

nimble tentacles)

Dexterity (agility & movement) = normal Dex/2

[round down, min 1] (thick slug-like body).

Other Attributes are unchanged

Because of their small size Qin only have six

health levels:

Level Penalty Healing Time (B)Healing Time (L)

Bruised 0 One hour One day

Hurt 0 One hour One day

Wounded -1 One hour Three days

Maimed -2 One hour One week

Crippled -3 Three hours One month

Incapacitated Six hours Two months

Sophisticated biotech implants and

bioengineering of their own forms has given all

Qin the Merits: Ambidextrous, Eidetic Memory,

Lightning Calculator, and High Pain Tolerance.

The newly released Qin Math Polyp is the Qin's

first attempt at also granting these abilities

to humanity.

Qin Biosuits:

Qin Biosuits act as the equivalent of a

formatted BioVAS spacesuit. In addition, they

can contain a large number of small devices,

especially small biotech devices. Any biotech

device with a mass of 1.5 kg or less can be

built into the suit (3.5 kg for the large

"warrior" suits). Since Qin biotechnology is

superior to human biotechnology, the Tolerance

for each of these devices is reduced by one. All

devices in a Qin biosuit are automatically

formatted. However, except for the spiky-

looking warrior biosuits none of the biosuits

carry more than a maximum of one lethal weapon.

The warrior suits usually have carbine-level

weapons built in but are *far* from subtle. Qin

can format up to 2*Psi devices implanted in

their own body or in their biosuits.

All recently made Qin Diplomat Biosuits have one

unknown (to humans) function, they can assume

the form of a single human. This transformation

requires 5 turns and costs one Psi point. This

transformation will not pass a medical exam, but

it will pass all normal scanners, including

voice, retina, and fingerprint scanners.

Biosuits with this capability are only issued to

diplomats and spies, all of whom must have a

Status of at least 1.

Advanced Qin Diplomat biosuits were developed

recently. They allow the Qin to assume the form

of any human, in a manner similar to the three

dot Transmogrify mode Transformation. To

actually use the suit to impersonate someone the

user must have the suit physically touch the

target. Each suit can them hold a number of

specific patterns in memory equal to the user's

Psi score. However, new patterns can be

acquired by simply touching another human,

making a successful Psi roll, and deleting an

old pattern. These special biosuits are 5 dot

devices. Only high ranking officials with a

Status of 3 or more can have these devices.

A Qin's Diplomat biosuit protects the Qin from

injury [2/3,0] armor. Since the Qin only

resides in the torso the biosuit also takes

damage which does not directly affect the Qin

inside. A Warrior biosuit is identical, except

that it has an innate armor of [2/4,0].

Unless the attacker increases the difficulty of

their attack by +1 and aims for the body then

each time damage for an attack is rolled, the

attacker must roll another die for hit location.

On a success (7-10) the blow hit the torso and

did normal damage to the Qin (minus the affects

of armor). On a failure (1-6) the blow lands on

an extremity and only damages the suit.

Unfortunately, due to the Qin's close neural

connections to the suit every die of Lethal

damage done to the suit does a level of Bashing

damage to the Qin from pain and shock. Bashing

damage done only to the suit does not affect the

Qin.

Like a human, the suit also has 7 health levels.

It is protected by its own armor. The suit does

not suffer penalties for damage (those are based

on the Qin's health) but if it takes 7 levels of

damage it is destroyed. Also, each -1 penalty

represents one piece of bioware in the suit that

temporarily ceases to function. The Storyteller

can choose the piece of bioware based on the

type and location of the attack. The life

support and medical self-repair functions of the

suit have a very high degree of redundancy and

so cannot malfunction like this. However, any

of the other systems can be so affected.

Formatted Biosuit Devices

Qin can have up to (Tolerance) separate bioapps

or devices formatted and implanted in their

bodies or biosuits. With the exception of

Boosted Attributes, Camouflage Coating, Life

Support, and the Internal Medkit all devices

which are implanted in the biosuit can be

removed and exchanged for other devices. The

Tolerance cost listed before a / is the

Tolerance of the item when implanted in a Qin or

Qin biosuit. All Biosuits are equipped with a

BioVAS space suit (see below), an Implant Radio

(Trinity Technology Manual, page 89) and a

Biocomp (see below). A single suit can also

only contain a number of additional Formatted

devices with 0 Tolerance equal to the Devices

cost (in dots) of the suit (4 or 5) for free.

All Devices with a non-zero Tolerance count as

separate Devices with a Background cost equal to

their Tolerance rating.

Tolerance Device

1 to 2 Attribute Booster: The Biosuit can

be made to boost the Qin's Strength,

Stamina, or Appearance. Each of

these Attribute can be boosted by up

to 2 points. However, the final

total cannot exceed 5 and each

boosted attribute counts as a

separate bioapp. In addition, each

point added to the attribute costs

on point of Tolerance. Since this

bioapp can only be used in a

formatted biosuit, there is no

reduction in formatting costs. Most

"Warrior" suits contain these

bioapps.

0/(1) BioVAS space suit with [2/3,0]

armor. Life support limits: -150 C

[Lunar night, Jupiter cloud tops] to

150 C [Lunar noon], 0-10 atm [up to

100 m underwater].

0/(1) Biocomp equivalent to an Alchemy BiC-

20 (Failsafe 5)

0/(1) Vision Recorder: Records all

sensory information with a 1,000

hour memory. Use Meditation to

access. Images may be downloaded to

a formatted Biocomp. This bioapp is

otherwise identical to the Vision

Recorder described on page 122 of

Luna Rising.

2/(3) Telepathy Enhancer: +2 dots to all

modes & + 1 Psi for determining the

effects of powers (one dot for each

mode affected).

0/(1) Internal Medkit. Use the Iatrosis

Mode Mending (on works on the

occupant) + boost Lethal Damage

healing up by three time categories

on the healing chart (the biosuit

heals one Health Level of damage to

itself per Day).

0/(1) Camouflage Coating. Stealth The

color patterns can also be set by

user into a wide variety of

patterns. + 3 dice to Stealth when

standing still, + 2 dice to Stealth

when moving.

Weapon Acc Dmg Range ROF Clip Recharge

1/(2) Laser Gauntlet +3 6d10 L 270 2 35

1 shot/5 min

0/(1) Sprayer/Poison Glove +2/0 7d10* 10/0 1

20** 4 shots/hour

** The weapon carries: Histamine Trigger,

Neurotransmitter Blocker, Paralysis Drug, &

Porphyrin Blocker (usually 5 doses of each) See

Trinity Technology Manual, pp. 43-44 & America

Offline, page 117 for details.

Weapon Acc Dmg Range ROF

1/(2) Shutdown/Shock Ring +2/0 6d10 B 10/0 1

20 4 shots/hour

See Trinity Technology Manual, page 89 for

details.

Unformatted Gear in Biosuit (the suit can

contain any of these as desired):

Resources Cost Item

2 Vidspecs (+2 dice to all appropriate

perception rolls)

4 Advanced Implant Radio/Vocoder

2 Grippers on wrists and feet + a Rappel

Kit attached to the Gripper on the left

right wrist (50 m of line)

4 Membrane bioapp splicer kit in right

hand (grip optic cables between fingers

to activate, (from Trinity Tech Manual,

page 83).

4 Shroud biotech peripheral (+3 dice to

avoid detection but +1 turn to all

hacking), can be turned off if desired.

(from Trinity Tech Manual page 83)

Non-biosuit Gear:

Tolerance Device

1 Remote Drone: 10 cm long, much like

a large dragonfly, can carry 20

grams. This creature has two

prehensile tails. (formatting cost

assessed only when in use). Except

for the fact that this bioapp

requires special food instead of

recharging and only needs to eat

twice a day, it is otherwise

identical to the Remote Drone in the

Trinity Technology Manual (page 91).

Cost 4

1 Guardian Beast: 10 kg, Str 1, Dex 3,

Sta 2, Per 4, Int 1, Wits 3

Firearms 2, Stealth 2, Awareness 2.

Initiative 7, Willpower 3, Movement

7m,(walk only). Armor [1/1,0], 5

Health Levels (0, -1, -3, -4, Inc.)(8

die attack) Laser 6D10 L & (7 die

attack) Screamer 6D10 B. (formatting

cost assessed only when in use). Cost 3

1 Thorn bioapp in room. In addition to

protection it also provides fruit and

can tidy up the room with its tendrils.

(5 die attack) 4D10 B or L (on

command). (formatting cost assessed

only when in this bioapp's vicinity).

This bioapp is otherwise identical to

the Thorn bioapp on page 104 of the

Trinity Technology Manual. Cost 2

Qin Hybrid Wilderness Shuttle

This vehicle is shaped like a tailless stingray.

It is 10 meters wide, 8 long, and 3 thick. The

craft is flexible and is fully capable of

swimming. This craft is a fully living organism

which has limited intelligence (2) and is

considered to be formatted to all equipment in

the craft (giving it a die pool of 6 for

piloting and firing weapons). This vehicle uses

standard Qin magnetic propulsion. It has a

maximum velocity of 500 km/sec (the velocity of

the solar wind) and is capable of the following

accelerations:

Acceleration Location

3 Gs From Earth's+ surface to 10,000 km

orbit

1G 10,000 km orbit to 100,000 km orbit

1 G Sun to Mercury orbit

0.5 Gs Mercury to Venus orbit

0.2 Gs Venus to Mars orbit

0.1 Gs Mars to Jupiter orbit

0.05 Gs Jupiter to Uranus orbit

+ or any terrestrial planet with a magnetic field

This vehicle has space for a pilot as well as a

passenger/cargo compartment of 30 cubic meters.

This is a variable configuration space, but is

normally a six seat passenger compartment and 10

cubic meter cargo compartment. If it is

carrying no cargo it can carry up to 12 humans

in cramped seats. The interior of the craft is

much like a slightly warm, smooth, dry pouch,

and is very organic in appearance. Only Qin can

format this craft. Formatting gives +2 to the

craft's handling and to weapon Accuracy ratings.

Unlike human-made fusion drive craft, this

vehicle produces no exhaust and uses no fuel.

It's drive pushes against the solar wind as well

as interacting with stellar and planetary

magnetic fields. This craft can run for up to

six months before needing maintenance or

restocking. It can sustain up to 13 human or

Qin (including the pilot) for short-term

occupation (50 hours maximum) or five (including

the pilot) for long-term occupancy (up to 6

months).

VT: Hybrid (magnetic)

Tech: PSI

CS: Mach 1.9

TS: Mach 2.1

VS: 5 (special)

Handling +3

Mass: 30

Tolerance: 3 (Qin only)

Cost: 6

Armor 4 [5]

Weapons: Dual heavy laser cannon (Accuracy: +3,

Damage 8d10 L)

Society:

Qin society is broken up into a variety of

Houses. Each is effectively a landless state

which is self-governing and which relates to

other houses as an autonomous political entity.

Qin society is also divided into three castes

with numerous sub-castes. All these castes are

purely elective, when a Qin becomes an adult it

voluntarily chooses a caste.

Castes are based upon interests and profession.

The three castes roughly correspond to Physical

(pilot, warrior, peace officer, bodyguard)

Mental (scientist, engineer, criminal

investigator, spy), & Social (diplomat,

entertainer, leader, teacher, mediator/judge).

Caste has little legal affect on an individual

but determines many factors about their social

interactions. In many way caste is treated much

the same way humans treat gender and ethnicity.

Caste and House are the two primary divisions of

Qin life, Qin have no separate races or

subspecies, and all Qin are sequential

hermaphrodites who can switch back and forth

between genders at will. Qin are also

exceedingly long lived, the oldest are over 400

years old.

[ProfPotts]

Cool stuff! ::thumbsup Although, at first glance through, it does appear to make the Qin rather über-powered compared to regular characters. One question though...

... Put no dots in in Appearance, and more than 1 in Strength...

Is that correct? I thought that Qin were naturally very weak - putting 'more than one dot in Strength' as a requirement at chargen makes them, on average, stronger than a human! Should it be 'no more than 1 in Strength', & does that mean a total of 1, or a maximum of the starting 1 dot, plus one allocated dot, for a total of 2?

[Ayre el KaBeer]

I assumed it was a typo, and meant put no dots higher than 1, I suppose it could mean up to 2 strength. And since they get +2(diplomat) and +3(warrior) bonuses to strength in their biosuits, it's not like they need to be really strong. I also assumed that the +3 suit was infact the Bodyguard suit's stats and not the Warrior suit. I'm basing this solely off the apearance of the Warrior suit in AE:Deception, it seems much bulkier and has what looks to be an impressive weapon loadout (but what can we humans tell? for all we know thoese "weapons" could be drink dispensors).

[Blue Thunder]

Too bad the Chromatics were never touched upon...oh well. This is still awesome, and I'm adopting this stuff as canon for my campaigns.

(thread necromancy!)

[Alistaire]

Ditto on the Chromies. They're such cute little critters. And perfect at parties!

But thanks for raising this one from the dead. I didn't even know it existed! Maybe stuff like this could go into some unofficial rules place on the main site, or at least a sticky thread? What else is lurking in the depths of these forums that we may want to know about? Other unofficial rules? Developer chats?? ::drool

[Blue Thunder]

One of these days I just may do that: go scanning for good stuff to bring up. Not all of us were around when these were posted, so some of them would be new to me as well.