Vrusk Visionary Ecologist

From Star Frontiers Network

(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
Terl obar (Talk | contribs)
(Created page with '{| align="right" style="width:310px;" |- |style="background: navy; color: white;" colspan="4" align="center"| '''Vrusk Visionary Ecologist''' |- |'''STR/STA ''' ||45/45 ||'''PS''…')
Newer edit →

Revision as of 22:34, 8 March 2010

Vrusk Visionary Ecologist
STR/STA 45/45 PS +3
DEX/RS 45/45 IM +5
INT/LOG 60/60 Ranged 23
PER/LDR 50/50 Melee 23
Special Abilities:

Ambidexterity, Comprehension 15%

Skills: (Biosocial PSA)

Environmental 1, Computers 1

Equipment:

Standard Equipment Pack, Envirokit, compass, everflame, gas mask, holoflare, rope, toxy-rad guage, 10 vitasalt pills, water pack, 5 Cr.

By Bill Logan and Andrew Modro

Three scans and you smile that vrusk smile. You bend down and feel the soil, smelling it carefully. You look to the sky and you are sure. This planet may not be much now, but you see it for what it can truly become. All it’s going to take is a few programmed routines to simulate the life you expect to sprout from the introduction of those synthetic gestalt-tree seeds you discovered in the jungles of Triad...

All it takes is one glance for you to see a world, not just as it is, but as it could be. You manipulate ecosystems as easily as you do computer programs, often modeling and controlling the one with the other.

Contents

Character Concepts

Terraformer

A dead world is a wasted world. You specialize in introducing life to places where it never took root naturally, changing the faces of worlds to open them to habitation. You do this out of a sense of wonder and desire to help a world reach its maximum potential.

You study the locations where this has been done already. You strive for the successes that launch you into the record books alongside the terraformers from GodCo, Araks, Athor... the list goes on.

When on inhabited worlds, you’re always testing and measuring things to look for things that would help bring life to the barren wastes of other worlds. When on dead worlds, you know what it would take (or discover it if no precedence exists) to bring atmosphere, ecosystems, and life.

Some people say that you play God with the planets of the Frontier. But to you, planets are just another type of element that you can use to build the materials of the modern day. Lifeforms are the subroutines and code snippets to build a master program that governs an entire world!

Ecoterrorist

When you were a young Vrusk, you lived near a river that you swam in, played in, and fished in. You enjoyed your simple life. Then the mega-corps came and built their factories. The waste from their industries polluted the air and spoiled the waters. Your fish became more and more difficult to catch, and garbage found its way to your riverbank.

Rampant exploitation of worlds makes you more than angry; it makes you shed your fear of the law. Utilizing both computer systems and the environment itself, you work to fight against heedless, greedy corps in a neverending battle to preserve life across the Frontier.

You may not be violently opposed to the concept or existence of mega-corporations, but you are against their carelessness. You’ll use hacking, infiltration, and personal physical force if necessary. If you’re able to get Star Law involved, you have the skills necessary to gather the evidence they won’t be able to ignore.

Planetologist

You analyze the ecosystems of worlds in order to assist your employers, be they corporations, the government or private colonial charters. You might do a little terraforming here and there, but you use your skills primarily to analyze and exploit rather than change.

Perhaps you work for Streel corporation, eagerly seeking new locations for mining expeditions. You never ignore an asteroid you pass by. When on an inhabited world, you’re more concerned with what is in the soil than who owns it.

Or maybe you are in the employ of PanGalactic Corporation. You may be part of a response team sent out to investigate new planets, equipped with the latest survival gear and assistant robots. You seek to name what you find, and enjoy the adventure that comes along with investigating the unknown. It is your hope that you will find that special something that changes everything...

You could be freelance. Maybe you investigate on your own, or as part of a group of intrepid explorers. You fund your missions by selling the information you come across. Information is just as valuable as Credits in the modern Frontier.

Development

Developing Abilities

Intuition and Logic are the most important ability scores you’ll want to spend experience points improving. They help you find and understand what you’re exploring. Reaction Speed, although less important, can be helpful for avoiding the dangers that the new worlds have to offer. Characters who freelance should consider working on their social ability scores: Personality and Leadership. A character without a specific employee will need these social skills in order to make money doing what he does.

Don’t forget the Comprehension racial ability, especially if your Vrusk is a freelance character. Being able to detect a sour deal before agreeing to it might save your career – or your life!

Developing Skills

Although you might see it as obvious to spend experience improving your Environmental and Computer skills, don’t underestimate the value of Robotics in your field. Some environments aren’t suitable for a Vrusk (or any other living being, for that matter). Having the ability to program a robot to get samples and perform basic exploration operations would be helpful – and nobody else has done it yet! Be the first to come up with a standardized Explorer Bot and get rich!

Since your character spends a lot of time on foreign worlds, it might be helpful to pick up a fighting skill of some sort. Since your primary skill area is Biosocial, it might be helpful to pick up at least basic Medical skill... then you’d be able to administer stimdose and staydose, or bandage up your friends when your thirst for knowledge gets them hurt.

Equipment

It’s important to keep a variety of survival equipment on your person at all times. Spending money on vehicles and robots also makes sense. Don’t worry drastically about weapons (although a single weapon wouldn’t hurt!) but get a skeinsuit right away: it not only absorbs damage from bullets and punches, but from scrapes, falls, and rockslides.

Company Equipment: This optional rule works for the Dralasite Spymaster as well. If your character works for an employer, you can always lean on him/her for the equipment you need. The amount of equipment he or she is willing to provide is based on the most important skill relevant to the nature of your employment (the referee will inform you of which skill is appropriate to your employment, but generally it’s obvious).

Skill Level Equipment Allotment
1 500Cr
2 1,000Cr
3 2,500Cr
4 5,000Cr
5 10,000Cr
6 25,000Cr

For example: your character works as a Planetologist for the United Federation of Planets. You have a level 3 Environmental skill. Your character could bring along on a mission up to 2,500Cr of gear he doesn’t have to pay for, and does not belong to him.

Losing/Damaging Equipment: You will be charged for that gear if it gets damaged or lost. Upon return from your mission, when pay is given, you’ll be assessed for replacement of any gear that you don’t return with. This includes used up power supplies and ammunition!

Edges and Flaws

If using this optional system found at the back of the Alpha Dawn Remastered book, you might want to consider some of these ideas.

Highly Observant

This edge allows you to catch a clue or hint that you otherwise would have missed, either by failed die roll or just because you – as the player – weren’t paying attention! If used with a die roll, you may invoke this edge to get a +25 to a single Intuition roll. The referee may invoke this to give you information that none of the other players grasped.

Boss’ Pet

The character is well-liked by his employer and is highly trusted. He is able to act in a completely inappropriate manner or do something that someone else would be fired for doing, but then invoke this edge and get away with it. Or, when trying to equip for a mission, he may invoke this edge to get an extra d10x100 Credits worth of gear – simply given to him by the equipment bureau of his organization!

Danger Junkie

The character loves the unknown, not necessarily for the truths he uncovers but for the sheer thrill of the danger itself. The referee invokes this flaw to force the character to take unnecessary risks. The risks shouldn’t spell out immediate death for the character, but might lead to a situation the player didn’t want or expect.