DwD Studios
Armor Cost for Robots, p. 132, and improvement p.95
Wed, 06/20/2018 - 2:12pm | 
aergraith
For Robots:
(sorry this is all over the place)
Cost for armor is in terms of "Base BP".
Is "Base BP" the natural BP you have *at the time you purchase the armor*? Or is it just your STR score?
Do robots improve their BP per p.95 when they gain a rank?
If so, does the BP multiplier from armor improve? Or is it better to buy it when you have more BP to multiply?
e.g. I buy civilian enhancements at STRx5 (C) at Rank 0. Then I gain a rank. Is my civilian enhancement giving me 1.5 x STR BP, or is it giving me 1.5 x my current BP (STR + 1D)?
Also, if I then upgraded to security armor, would the Base BP cost be in terms of my new enhanced score?
And if I buy an armor upgrade, do I multiply the BP FIRST to determine the Base BP for the cost, or is it determined before?
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I'll state my opinion, based on what we discussed during the playtest and on my personal view.
"Base BP" is the BP you have at the time you purchase the armor, so not necessarily your STR score.
Yes, robots do improve their BP just like other species. I remember we discussed this during the playtest, and Bill clearly stated that BP increase is not necessarily just a character's body getting tougher with training, but also the ability a seasoned character gains of withstanding the pain, avoiding to get hit in vital points, and so on. Robot characters are supposed to have a fully developed AI and be capabale of learning (they improve their skills after all), so it figures that they also get their BP raise. They may also improve their body when they gain a rank.
So, once you get an armor upgrade for your robot, its multiplier should be applied also to the BP you gain later on. This is in my opinion the most consistent choice. If you want to upgrade to a different armor grade, you should first "remove" the original grade, so that you get back to your "Base BP". Then, you buy the new grade, and its cost will be based on your current "Base BP".
So for example:
1) I create Robby the Robot with STR 70 - its base BP is 70.
2) Later on, I buy the "Civilian grade" armor upgrade. The cost is 70 x 5 = 350(C). The new BP is 70 x 1.5 = 115.
3) Later on, Robby improves its STR ability speding 12 DP and gets it to 75. Its BP gets automatically updated to 75 x 1.5 = 113 (as we always round up).
4) Robby also gains a rank, so it gets +1D BP. I roll a 4, so the new total BP is 79 x 1.5 = 119 (again, we round up).
5) Finally, I decide to buy a "Security grade" armor upgrade. My "Base BP" is 79 (as we don't take the civilian grade multiplier into account), so the cost is 79 x 10 = 790(C). My new total BP is 79 x 2 = 158.
Hope this helps.
Let's see what the others think. :)