Alert Beacon

[Scaramouche]

I'm starting up a new game and one of the Vaylen FoNs is the Lord Steward (in charge of the Imperial Stewardship that runs the planet). I liked the idea of him having a little floaty security/alarmbot thing that orbited around him and would signal his trusty bodyguard if he ended up in danger. It'd be shaped like the Imperial Seal of Gonzagin and be an aesthetic departure, at least, from the usual 'travel everywhere with my trusty henchdude' angle.

I just wanted to ask here if I did this the right way. Here goes:

The Imperial SEAL (SEcurity ALert)
Automated Security (exponent 4): 12 points
Tools (Signals): 4
Skill (Signals 2): 4
TOTAL: 20TT

The idea here is that the SEAL can detect things like concealed weapons (if it beats the Ob2 roll) or, more importantly, obvious and armed weapons, and so on, and then beep an alarm over to the security detail. Also, the SEAL would continually broadcast the Steward's location/condition, etc. I threw in the Signals so that it could try to get past weak jamming efforts.

Is there a better way to set this up? I'm very new to this Tech Burner business. Thanks!

[Paul B]

I'd bring the price down, and make the tech infinitely more interesting, by introducing limitations. Maybe it's susceptible to jamming or gunfire. Maybe the fact that it always has to float within 10' of the character. Maybe it needs to be put on its charger every night.

You've got the basic math right. Giving your gizmo limitations will make it both cheaper and more interesting -- particularly for the bad guys who want to make sure your eye-in-the-sky can't save you!

p.

[Scaramouche]

You know, I somehow totally forgot about limitations. Shame on me.

So, I'm thinking 'must charge for 4 hours every 24 hours' would be... a 1 point limitation? And would saying that it can use its signals skill to get past jamming but not to jam any signals itself be a 1 point categorical limitation? And giving it, say, a 15' range for security detection. Also, 'cannot bar entry' would be a 1 pointer for a security system, right?

Thanks for the help!

[Paul B]

Those all sound right but I don't have my book in front of me right this second.

Cool gizmo -- post it to the wiki!

p.