Robot Characters

A robot character is a special form of artifical intelligence which has become self aware. It's a race to be chosen at character creation.

Robot (20 build points)
A robot generally has a humanoid structure, though this need not be the case. A robot is "upgraded" and "outfitted" with a variety of capabilities through spending money or build points on the robot's structure. Robots have several advantages and disadvantages.

No Essence: For good or ill, they're not alive. They have no essence score. As such they cannot be mages. They can, however, have all the cyberware they want, limited only by what may not realistically fit within their frame.

Non-Living: Not being alive, they need not eat, breathe, or drink. They do need to sleep, which represents going into a hybernation mode while their internal battery recharges. If destroyed they can be repaired, though this requires their body to be recovered and repairs to be made (see repairing, below). If repaired from a deadly physical wound, they must roll 1d6. On a roll of 1, their memory was damaged and they lose all AI (being effectively dead). If the head was especially damaged (or removed), a 1 or 2 on the 1d6 roll leaves them permanently dead.

Not being alive, the have no aura, no thoughts, and are immune to most non-physical spells. Their virtual intelligence allows them to make attempts to overcome physical spells (like illusions) like a normal character. They cannot have bioware.

Being non-living, they are also immune to stun damage, taking damage the same as objects or vehicles. They are also immune to poisons, gasses, disease (HMVV), etc. Likewise, they cannot benefit from stim patches, or healing spells. They do not recover from damage normally, they must be repaired.

SINless: They are not alive, and do not have any rights. Robots may be viewed as property when it comes to the law, and sometimes another shadowrunner might end up being blamed for the actions of his "property". Not having rights, they are just as likely to be shut down or destroyed if captured (or reprogrammed!).

Vulnerability to Rigging/Decking: A rigger may attempt to take control of a robot's body the same way as a mind control spell, using the robots intelligence to resist and using the rigger's ranks in pilot drone as the force. The threshold is half the robot's intelligence.

A decker may attempt to modifiy or read the memory of a robot like the modify/read memory spell in the same way, using computers ranks in place of the force of the spell. This requires being physically plugged into the robot, which usually means disabling it.

Repairing:Repairing a robot requires B/R mechanical skill. The base time is 1 hour per box to be repaired. (So if there are 10 boxes of damage, this takes 10 hours, even if only 3 end up being repaired) Roll a B/R mechanical test, TN = 1 + number of damage boxes (including overflow). Each success repairs 1 box of damage. This can be re-attempted for further time and healing.

Edges/Flaws: Certain edges and flaws cannot apply to robots at GM discresion.

Construction:
Robots build skill points and attributes the same as any other character. Their race is "robot" and they cannot be magicians. They may gain wealth resources normally which represents the amount of extra equipment that went into the robot. They cannot be mutant.

A robot can also purchase "robo-perks" with build points, described below:

Armor: A robot can spend 1 build points to gain 1 point of ballistic OR impact armor. Each is capped at the robot's body. He can spend 3 build points/point to instead have "hardened" versions of the armor.

Limbs: A robot is assumed to be bipedial, with 2 arms and 2 legs. He may also have:
Treads: Replaces feet, cannot be tripped, goes very slowly via stairs.
Propellors: Head propellors allow helicopter-like flight. Costs 10 BP.
Jet Pack: Allows very fast jet pack flight and hovering. Costs 20 BP. Very, very loud.
Additional Limbs: Each extra arm costs 5 BP, each extra leg costs 10 BP.
Wheels: Replaces feet, allows robot to move at car speeds on roads and other flat surfaces. Does not negotiate stairs. 10 BP.

Appearance: Base robots have a CHA of 1 and are obvious robots. Robots without extra limbs may appear as a human (male or female). 1 BP allows the appearance of a person and the ability to buy CHA. 5 BP allows the robot to "fully function" as a human would be expected to, and may be difficult to tell apart from humans (except via astral perception). Without appearance, robots have difficulty disguising themselves as humans (but as equipment...).

Skills: Robots purchase skills normally using build points.
Attributes: Robots buy attributes normally using build points. They have no racial maximum.

Size: Robots are assumed to be the same size as humans. They can be smaller, or larger. Each size category away from medium (use D&D terms) costs 1 point per category away, so:
Small/Large : 1 BP
Tiny/Huge: 3 BP (1 to go to small, 2 to go to tiny)
Robot PCs cannot be above huge or smaller than tiny. Large robots suffer penalties to stealth and disguise rolls as other characters do.


Improving Robots: Robots use karma to improve themselves like ordinary characters, with the following exceptions.

Attributes: Robots have no racial max or max attributes- they can always gain more intelligence or strength. They can benefit from Improved Cybernetic Attribute spells also, though the force of the spell must be at least 10 to affect them. (Also the essence of 0 makes the target number very high).

Skills: Robots can purchase skills normally with karma, but their attribute is irrelevant to skill cost- their skill always costs an amount of karma as if they had the lower initiative rating. Robots can use B/R mechanical to repair themselves, but the wound penalties apply to this roll, and it assumes they're "conscious".

Equipment: Robots can use weapons, armor, cyberware, and other equipment normally. They are not assumed to have "internal memory" for storing digital information (including recorded video) unless this is specially installed- all internal memory is used to run their systems and record "memories" for themselves in data format, which is not easily translated back into video. They perceive things normally and are not assumed to have photographic memory (though they can take that edge). They also may learn most skill tricks normally.

Karma Pool: Robots gain karma pool at 1 point every 25 points of good karma, lower than anyone else. Of course, it's hard for equipment to catch a break from the divine!

Jobs and Contacts: It's difficult for robots to maintain contacts and jobs, having no SIN and being regarded as property. Their contacts are generally assumed to be "forward thinking", though it is difficult for a robot to be taken seriously. Treat them as if they have stigma.

Electricity: Electricity attacks have +1 power against robots, and any which deals stun damage does physical damage to robots without a power reduction.

Lifestyles: A robot needs much less to survive- a power source and a place to "sleep". Lifestyle costs for robots are reduced by 20%. They cannot have better than a low lifestyle without GM approval (as robots don't buy houses and have no SIN). If lifestyle edges/flaws are used, feel free to remove living space and/or food from the cost association of lifestyles, but assume they need to live somewhere with reliable energy.

Karma Sharing: Robots earn karma as normal, but cannot share karma with spirits, mages, etc. (Perhaps it should be spelled Car-ma).

Hazards: Robots are generally water-proof, and can exist in most hot and cold temperatures without problems, however, any temperature that can cause actual damage to a human can also damage the robot's circuits and cause damage. A robot suffers wound modifiers as normal due to "malfunctioing" rather than pain. They are generally immune to mind effecting effects and fear (though they can express emotions, they don't necessarily "feel" them. Emotion for them is a logical process).