I've been looking at the morph lists recently and started wondering if a pleasure pod is a viable alternative to a Sylph for someone who doesn't have an aversion to pods. The large price discount (1/4 the cost) is already an attractive prospect, but the pod also comes with a cyberbrain which can turn a skilled agent into an intelligence gathering powerhouse. A morph that can sit in the middle of a Venusian/Consortium diplomatic function and create recordings of everything that is done and said for later review is a powerful tool.
The downsides are lower aptitudes and a loss of Striking Looks I, which can be compensated for by a veteran's higher skill levels, but also the big obstacle to abusing pods for fun and profit - Social Stigma (Pod). Fortunately it's easily remedied with roleplaying and making sure nobody finds out you're a working-class cyborg pretending to be a real person. However, there's very little I've been able to find about how pods appear compared to full-flesh morphs, and how difficult it would be to pass as a full biomorph. A biomorph disguise is available for synths in the Personal Augmentation section of the corebook but there's no corresponding gear for pods, implying that they could pass as biomorphs until someone scans them or otherwise detects their plethora of cyberware. Have I missed any relevant details?
tl;dr: do pods pass as biomorphs?
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Pods: Passing As A Biomorph?
Sat, 2015-03-21 06:02
#1
NimbleJack3
Pods: Passing As A Biomorph?
Sat, 2015-03-21 06:34
#2
ShadowDragon8685
Synth Mask can be applied to
Synth Mask can be applied to Pods as much as to Synths.
Anyway, you wanna know what a Pleasure Pod looks like?
Page 9, Sunward. Boom. There's your pleasure pod. There's another on Page 76 of the Morph Recognition Guide/Page 167 of the Eclipse Phase Core Rulebook.
Pods are made to be noticeable; they're made with the pod-lines. This, however, I would say is as easily covered up as Biosculpting, or a Skinflex system.
But you're talking about infiltrating a socialite event. The examinations are going to be deeper than merely skin-deep. I would say that everyone going in would be subjected to a detailed T-Ray/X-Ray/Radar scan - you know, because the rich fuckers have tons of enemies, but such a scan stands a definitely good chance of sweeping up your pod. At the very least, I would expect an AI with Perception 40, and a suite of associated Academics: Field libraries which would grant it a +20 complementary skill bonus, and for having a [i]suite[/i] of sensors, I'd give the AI a bonus of +20. With a synthetic mask, that roll is at a -30 penalty however.
Basically, you'd have a 50/50 shot of getting through the door. Inside, of course, is another matter... [b]However[/b]...
Page 102 of the Morph Recognition Guide has this wonderful little tidbit re: socialite functions.
If you [i]really[/i] want to blend into a socialite function as one of the socialites, well... You're going to need the rep to back it up, either borrowing that of someone who was supposed to attend but whom you have rendered indisposed (in which case, you can just use his morph,) or a legend whom you invented. You're either going to need a custom biomorph, or a synth/pod which can pass as one.
Really, if you just want to record the goings-on at a diplomatic event, your best bet is to be one of the servants. They're probably all sleeved in Ayahs or Pleasure Pods, which you can get hold of easily enough, then tamper with to your heart's content. Remember to use Masked Implant on the implant you don't want them to see, and to install override cut-outs for the implants that the "help" is supposed to have to prevent this sort of thing - memory locks, etc. You'll also want to tamper with the monitor module so that no matter what they try to flash-and-load it with, your own muse can hijack it in a way that it can't prevent, can't report on, etc - then your muse can pretend to be the monitor.
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Sat, 2015-03-21 08:25
#3
NimbleJack3
RAW, pods cannot use Synth
RAW, pods cannot use Synth Mask. The corebook states that Pods are considered biomorphs for almost every single application, and Synth Mask is part of the Synthmorphs-only section of Personal Augmentation.
As for infiltrating an event, I'm using Transhuman's advice and envisioning an event where the PCs are attempting to manipulate inner system movers and shakers into unwittingly furthering Firewall's goals. You can't do that as the hired help, you need to be another socialite at the function that they'll talk to and initially trust to not be a barsoomian agitator.
That said, thankyou very much for your input. You've given me a lot to think about, and Biosculpting is probably one of the best avenues to passing a pod off as a biomorph in general.
Sat, 2015-03-21 09:13
#4
ShadowDragon8685
NimbleJack3 wrote:RAW, pods
Hrm. I could have [b]sworn[/b] that there was a pod with synthetic mask already in print, but upon looking, I can't seem to find it.
That said, it would be really, [b]really[/b] stupid if a completely artificial morph was better at passing as wholly flesh-and-blood under sensor scans than one which is a good 80-90% flesh-and-blood, so hang the RAW in this instance.
Yeah, see, your OP mentioned sitting in the middle and recording, not actively socializing.
Bioculpting, skinflex, etc. Look at the Shaper, it's a pod.
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Sat, 2015-03-21 18:35
#5
DrewDavis
If you're looking for a cheap
If you're looking for a cheap sylph replacement you'd be better off looking at the Ayah. It matches the Sylph's +10 SAV and should be able to get into more places without a second glance. Still won't pass for a biomorph, but the fact that they're used as servant morphs for the rich and famous means they should draw a lot less attention than a pleasure pod.
Sat, 2015-03-21 18:36
#6
DrewDavis
If you're looking for a cheap
Bah, double post.
Sat, 2015-03-21 18:48
#7
Pyrite
Isn't pretty much every
Isn't pretty much every modern biomorph equipped with the ability to produce full XP recordings of everything they see, anyway?
Why do you need a pod for this?
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Sat, 2015-03-21 20:14
#8
ShadowDragon8685
Pyrite wrote:Isn't pretty
No, you need a mnemonic augmentation for anything with a biological brain.
You don't; however, cost was cited as a factor.
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Mon, 2015-03-23 20:20
#9
jKaiser
I've been working on a
I've been working on a personal project focusing on artificial bodies recently, and this sort of thing's been on my mind. The art's been inconsistent about this, but my take on it is that while seamlines can be covered up in theory, pods are mass-produced and have very obvious signs of that. Branding, bits that pass for biological until you move just so, etc. More so for things like basic pods, where the high-use bodyparts are more likely to be obviously mechanical, and while yes you can mask far less biological morphs just fine, that assumes that the pod's design and GRM allows you to. Given biochauvanism, it might be illegal or impractically expensive to remove the identifying marks of a pod (think the orange tips on airsoft guns, since pods/anything with a cyberbrain is going to be seen as a bit of a security risk compared to a meatbrain). There's also going to be other signals, of course. Anything beyond a visual scan will notice abnormalities in thermals, weight, x-ray, what have you, and sure, you could probably masquerade all that, but for the cost you might as well just buy a biomorph.
I can't recall it ever being stated, either, that pod biologicals are the same as anything a nanovat is designed to work with, cosmetically. Pod skin, particularly for worker, vacuum, and pleasure versions likely have immitation skin for differing reasons, stuff that's fast-growing, tougher, and "close enough." To say nothing of internal organs and the cybernetics. And even if they do work just fine, you might have a bit of a hard time finding the means to do so, due to that stigma. To use a real-world analogy, sure, a doctor probably can modify their techniques to operate on an animal, but if you bring your dog into an ER, skill overlap isn't going to overcome culture or policy.
Besides, why would you want to cover up such an interesting blend of flesh and technology? #podpride
Tue, 2015-03-24 12:45
#10
Chernoborg
" We don't serve their kind here!"
You know, using the cyberbrain mnemonic augmentations for spying makes the line from Star Wars make a bit of sense!
Just a thought, maybe the seamlines have a specific pattern by what corp assembled them. Kind of like how cars have branded elements like a front grille. I can also see more expensive pods having fewer seams. Maybe there's a higher difficulty to detect the morphs pod-ness!
jKaiser, are you going to share your project with the forum?
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Tue, 2015-03-24 13:19
#11
jKaiser
Once it's finished, I could,
Once it's finished, I could, sure. It'll be quite a while. I'm still in the drafting stages and it's changing every day. Possibly a video game, but I'm still new to coding, so I'm cautious about getting overly ambitious.
But one part that made me think on pods again: One of the stated costs for pods is keeping costs down. Obviously this would vary based on the pod in question, but for worker, basic, possibly vac pods, one likely sign of that would be that the limbs are more likely to be purely mechanical endoskeletons with just a synthskin/flesh shell to give it a human shape. In this case, those parts would have the seamlines as actual access panels to the mechanical components for high-use/high-wear parts. No actual muscles to flex or anything, since synthmorph-like servo-driven limb joints would be much cheaper and easier to replace than integrated muscle-analogues. More elaborate pods would have either synthetic muscle fibers or actual vat-grown muscles, I imagine, but for the cheap ones, the movement of the limbs would be a subtle tell in how they move.
Synthetic eyes would probably be a massive tell, too. Pods don't normally come with the Uncanny Valley, so I assume the standard model has enhanced biologicals rather than synthetics, but that would be a very easy to way to explain taking that flaw or flavoring a particularly cut-rate pod. Obvious branding would be another example, like what you said, Chernoborg, or with brand "birthmarks" that I vaguely recall being mentioned somewhere in the books.