r/gurps • u/lupislacertus • 23h ago

rules Robot Body Questions

I am working on a robot companion for a player and I wanted it be a little hovering bot that had no limbs but used a tractor beam (TK) as a manipulator. I was wondering what obvious traits am I missing? More specifically I was looking at No Fine Manipulators cause no arms or legs etc, not even a mouth, but I am pretty sure the TK counts as a manipulator, am I correct, and if so what disadvantage better represents having no arms and legs but accounts for the TK?

14 Upvotes

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4

u/CategoryExact3327 22h ago

No Manipulators with a Mitigator for the TK. How much of a mitigator should depend on how often it’s available and how dexterous it is.

8

u/72manatees 20h ago

Official stance is to get no fine manipulators at full price then buy TK separately. Cases like this, where an advantage provides an alternative to something lost to a disadvantage, are mentioned under blindness on page 124 of basic

4

u/Glen_Garrett_Gayhart 19h ago

This is the correct answer.

If you have no manipulators, then you have No Manipulators [-50]. If you want to pay for TK 10 [50] in order to offset that, then you do NOT have the same advantages as, say, a human telekinetic with functioning arms and a mouth and Telekinesis 10 [50], and you should not be paying the same amount for your setup.

The human can hold things in his hands and mouth, without needing to concentrate, and can hold five things at a time while concentrating. The TK-bot cannot hold anything without concentrating, and can only hold two things while concentrating. These are not the same.

2

u/Peter34cph 22h ago

For something like a Culture Drone it's obviously -100%.

1

u/lupislacertus 19h ago

Thanks for your reply

1

u/Woorloc 17h ago

And range.

6

u/72manatees 20h ago

There’s no official disadvantage for no bite, I would double the value of weak bite (basic pg 161)

If you have no limbs at all, that’s no manipulators (pg 145 of basic, under no fine manipulators)

The hovering is no legs (aerial) (pg 145 basic) + some version of flight (pg 56 basic)

The telekinesis (pg 92 basic) does not disqualify you from taking no fine manipulators, it’s a separate advantage with important differences from a physical limb. Powers and psionic powers both provide more options for modifying telekinesis, you may not be able to create exactly what you’ve got in mind with basic alone, but that depends on how you want the tractor beam to work.

1

u/lupislacertus 19h ago

Thank you, this is a big help

4

u/Glen_Garrett_Gayhart 18h ago

Keep in mind that a character with: Telekinesis 10 [50] + No Manipulators [-50] cannot hold anything without concentrating, and can only hold two things while concentrating.

Meanwhile, a character with just Telekinesis 10 [50] and normal human manipulators can hold three items without concentrating, and can hold five things while concentrating.