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"cyborgs" in d&d

hellhoundhellhound Member Posts: 33
in Archive (General Discussion)
Why dont evil power-hungry warriors have armor grafted into their bodies or have their skeletons transmuted into some indestructable metal (or is that too wolverinesque)? Since with magic it should be more logical to be able to pull off than with real-world science... goddamn, a terminator blackguard!

This is something I've always wanted to have in RPGs - metal-flesh-fusions shouldnt be sci-fi exclusive !

Comments

  • DJKajuruDJKajuru Member Posts: 3,300
    edited November 2012
    Well, in medieval fantasy they've got "Half-Golems" , which are humanoids who have had golem parts implanted on them.



  • ShinShin Member Posts: 2,344
    This is not unheard of, it exists in e.g. Warhammer (chaos heroes can get mutations bestowing an effect of their armour becoming part of them) and Warcraft (Deathwing being augmented with elementium). Seems quite feasible within the D&D realms as well, just a matter of mod making.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    Dorn from the Year of Rogue Dragons trilogy was half-golem if I'm not mistaken.
  • DJKajuruDJKajuru Member Posts: 3,300
    Also, fiction writters such as H.P. Lovecraft have shown such experiments as "horrific" and "aberrations", which is the way I prefer to see it, as something scary and crazy.
  • KefkaKefka Member Posts: 46
    Grafts do exist in 3.5
  • kilroy_was_herekilroy_was_here Member Posts: 455
    so if CHARNAME is half-Bhaal and half metal does that mean that Bhaal......!!!

    No, that train of thought has no happy endings... none.
  • KirkorKirkor Member Posts: 700
    There was nice quote in BG itself, which may answer your question. It goes something like that:

    - So metal weapons destroys easily. Why not make castle walls and weapons out of pure magic
    - Well, you are right, but if someone casts strong dispell magic, you are left with no defence...

    So, such half-golem would have strong weakness - magic.
  • GruloGrulo Member Posts: 109
    Kirkor said:

    There was nice quote in BG itself, which may answer your question. It goes something like that:

    - So metal weapons destroys easily. Why not make castle walls and weapons out of pure magic
    - Well, you are right, but if someone casts strong dispell magic, you are left with no defence...

    So, such half-golem would have strong weakness - magic.

    Actually, most golems are immune to magic.
  • DinoDino Member Posts: 291
    "Aaghhh, who be thee, servants of the Masterrr?"
  • kilroy_was_herekilroy_was_here Member Posts: 455
    Dino said:

    "Aaghhh, who be thee, servants of the Masterrr?"

    That wasn't a golem though, just one of the people in the glass jars. Maybe a 'person in a jar' class? Would be pretty awkward for romances though.
  • hellhoundhellhound Member Posts: 33
    Shin said:

    This is not unheard of, it exists in e.g. Warhammer (chaos heroes can get mutations bestowing an effect of their armour becoming part of them) and Warcraft (Deathwing being augmented with elementium). Seems quite feasible within the D&D realms as well, just a matter of mod making.

    yeah, thats why I'm a big fan of warriors of chaos/chaos spacemarines and deathwing was cool in warcraft 2 !


    DJKajuru said:

    Also, fiction writters such as H.P. Lovecraft have shown such experiments as "horrific" and "aberrations", which is the way I prefer to see it, as something scary and crazy.


    I love HP Lovecraft, his stories in my opinion are the apex of unspeakable alien horror, but I intended to bring into question something more straightforward, awe-inspiring hulks of metal that are basically more machinations than men. the Warhammer reference is spot on but I do not wish to mix minions of the chaos gods in d&d.

    Now I would be happy with more armor similiar to the iron golem exoskeleton (the pantaloons quest) in BG series, that you wouldn't be able to remove but instead could upgrade with all kinds of parts at the local smithy.

  • ShinShin Member Posts: 2,344
    Grulo said:

    Kirkor said:

    There was nice quote in BG itself, which may answer your question. It goes something like that:

    - So metal weapons destroys easily. Why not make castle walls and weapons out of pure magic
    - Well, you are right, but if someone casts strong dispell magic, you are left with no defence...

    So, such half-golem would have strong weakness - magic.

    Actually, most golems are immune to magic.
    Indeed, it's a somewhat puzzling aspect of golems. Created by magic, yet almost impossible to undo with it. And then there are the magic golems in ToB who take it even further, being immune to all magical weapons as well.
  • DrugarDrugar Member Posts: 1,566
    The Eberron campaign setting has Warforged, living golems. Those may be to your liking;

    http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcdoobwn0S1rdy3s5o1_1280.jpg
    http://eberroncamp.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/warforged6.jpg
    http://images.wikia.com/e6erron/images/3/37/Warforged_illo.jpg
    http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/3062562/images/1227672685508.jpg
  • DinoDino Member Posts: 291
    edited November 2012
    kilroy_was_here said:

    Dino said:

    "Aaghhh, who be thee, servants of the Masterrr?"

    That wasn't a golem though, just one of the people in the glass jars. Maybe a 'person in a jar' class? Would be pretty awkward for romances though.
    Hey, hes powered by a power crystal... Sounds cyborgy enough to me :)

    Also, whos to say Irenicus initial plan wasnt to eventually insert that abomination into a golem frame?

    But yeah, damn those Shadow Thieves and their slight delays.

  • DinoDino Member Posts: 291
    edited November 2012
    Speaking of Lovecraft, here is a Lovecraft Story I put together last year, for those interested :)
    (If you enjoy it, dont forget to check out part 2 & 3 aswell)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLD7B68SvSM




    "In the darkness there flashed before my mind fragments of my cherished treasure of daemoniac lore; sentences from Alhazred the mad Arab, paragraphs from the apocryphal nightmares of Damascius, and infamous lines from the delirious Image de Monde of Gauthier de Metz."

    I mean SHIIIIIIEET. This is pure gold.
    Post edited by Dino on
  • AscerionAscerion Member Posts: 271
    This thread reminds me of the Tzimisce from Vampire: the Masquerade. They would use blood magic (Vissisitude) to graft their bodies into weapons, extending their bones out of the body as swords or spikes. They would also move the organs in the torso area to confuse enemies as to the location of vitals, (such as the heart).

    They would often-times infuse metal and cartilage together to further bolster their ability in combat.

    V:TM is part of the World of Darkness, a very popular PnP setting for the more...macabre.
  • kilroy_was_herekilroy_was_here Member Posts: 455
    Ascerion said:

    This thread reminds me of the Tzimisce from Vampire: the Masquerade. They would use blood magic (Vissisitude) to graft their bodies into weapons, extending their bones out of the body as swords or spikes. They would also move the organs in the torso area to confuse enemies as to the location of vitals, (such as the heart).

    They would often-times infuse metal and cartilage together to further bolster their ability in combat.

    V:TM is part of the World of Darkness, a very popular PnP setting for the more...macabre.

    Didn't the new WOD setting retcon the Tzimisce out of exisitence?
  • hellhoundhellhound Member Posts: 33
    Ascerion said:

    They would also move the organs in the torso area to confuse enemies as to the location of vitals, (such as the heart).

    that is pretty damn badass

  • FateAscendsFateAscends Member Posts: 63
    When it doubt, blame magic. Magic, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from technology :P
  • kilroy_was_herekilroy_was_here Member Posts: 455
    FateAscends said:

    When it doubt, blame magic. Magic, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from technology :P

    And vice versa: the technocracy from Mage: The Awakening (another WOD game) uses technology that is indistinguisable from magic. The ironic thing is that, according to the paradox rules, that way is much more effective.

    Mage: *casts lightning bolt*
    Witnesses: What the heck was that?
    Mage: *head explodes from paradox*

    Technocrat: *uses lightning gun* (same in-game effect as the mage)
    Witnesses: What the heck was that?
    Technocrat: Oh this? It's the newest model.

  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    @hellhound Stoneskin and Ironskin are probably the closest to something like that. Elves will occasionally make magical prosthetics for members of their race, but it's not something of pride- its a disgrace, because it's unnatural. Drow elves will also make them, but for them, it's a disgrace because it marks you as a failure (along with the fact that Lolth won't allow you to regenerate what you are missing). Dwarves in 2e don't have the kind of magic necessary to create a prosthetic that is anything other than a peg leg or hook (in essence) no matter how it worked otherwise. They could probably make a leg with a foot that could walk, based on pistons and springs, but it wouldn't have any kind of magical powers, and it would be a lot heavier than a normal leg. A "Hand" might have a hammer permanently attached for forge work, but it would just be a hammer at the end of your arm. None of the other races seem to have the ability or the magic for something like that.

    @Ascerion But Vicissitude wasn't a discipline. It was a disease. Seriously. If you drank Tzimisce blood, you could develop the ability- even if you never drank any blood again. The Old Blood Tzimisce didn't have that "power/discipline". I believe they had Dominate instead.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    Feh... Old CLAN Tzimisce, that should be. :P
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