Terminator 2 – Liquid Metal

This webpage uses the font “WingDings”. It is supplied with all versions of Windows from 3.0 to Windows98.
If you do not have this font installed, the damage table will not contain the boxes for recording damage.

Introduction

“CL-15-6, report – repeat – CL-15-6, report.”

“CL-15-6 reporting: Termination of Sarah Conner incomplete. Rogue T-101 Endo is aiding target in escape. Request location update from SkyNet-4.”

“Target now eastbound on Sunset Boulevard. Intercept and terminate with extreme prejudice.”

“Understood.”

The black woman dropped the mike of the radio-set back onto the chest of the CIA agent that she had just terminated, and walked away from the CIA safe-house – back to the high-speed motorcycle that waited for it. As she sat on the seat she slid a Desert Eagle heavy pistol into a shoulder holster and looked in the mirror.

A shimmer spread across her body and three bullet holes in her stomach melted and quickly disappeared.

She started the motorbike and continued after her targets: John and Sarah Conner…

Basics

For those who have been waiting, this is the supplement to my Terminator supplement for the White Wolf storyteller system.

Unlike the original supplement, however, this T2 section is primarily for use by Storytellers only! A T-1000 is a truly awsome machine, and is all-but-unstoppable. A single T-1000 could easily tear through an entire Werewolf Sept or a large (10-20) group of Kindred without any trouble at all. You were warned.

For the storytellers that are of the more masocistic in nature, T-1000 players will make good bodyguards for Elder Vampires… However, as the reprogramming of a T-1000 is virtually impossible compared to the T-800/101 series endos, the only way a player can have a T-1000 character is as an infiltrator, or some similar explaination.

Characters

Player characters who are T-101 Terminators gain the following attributes. These are preset, and cannot be altered either during character generation or through experience. The technology of the T-101 is so advanced as to be beyond anything other than the most simple repairs.

Terminator T-1000

Strength 8 Charisma 2 Perception 8
Dexterity 8 Manipulation 3 Intelligence 4
Stamina 10 Appearance ? Wits 4

The player then has a whole range of abilities as shown below:

Talents: Alertness 6, Athletics 7, Brawl 6, Dodge 2, Impersonate 9, Intimidation 5, Leadership 2, Streetwise 3.

Skills: Drive 6, Firearms 7, Melee 6, Repair 5, Security 4, Stealth 4, Survival 3, Weaponsmith 5.

Knowledge: Bureaucracy 2, Computer 5, History 6*, Investigation 4, Linguistics 10*, Medicine 6*, Terminator Systems 7*.

Unlike the T-800 series, the T-1000 is a fully self-aware machine, all-be-it a totally soulless machine that is single-minded in its pursuit in its targets. Terminators can have 2 Background points.

Extra Stuff

All Terminator T-800s get the following extra stuff:-

  1. Automatic 7 successes against soaking normal forms of damage excluding extreme heat (1500º+, so Lure of Flames doesn’t count…). Only 4 points of aggravated damage can be soaked. Electrical attacks completely ineffective. Severe cold, such as the temperature of liquid oxygen or nitrogen, will freeze a T-1000 solid. While in this state, they can be shattered into thousands of pieces. Intelligent players may think of separating the pieces by putting each one in a separate container, but whatever is left will coalesce into a mini-T-1000, it’s first mission to locate and retrieve it’s other parts. Every halving of the T-1000’s mass reduce the Terminator’s Strength and Stamina by 1, and reduce the maximum damage limit (see below) by half. (Theoretically, there is no reason why a T-1000 couldn’t divide itself into several smaller T-1000s, but they decide against it due to the risk of long-term loss of a missing part.
  2. As a cybernetic organism, a T-1000 is totally immune to all lower forms of mind control, until the learning system is activated. Higher mental powers (levels 6+) will have some effect on Terminators, although this is up to the storyteller. As a guide, follow the same rules as is given in the Terminator supplement.
  3. As a cybernetic organism, the Garou Ragabash gift Gremlins (Lvl 3), and the Glass Walker gifts Control Complex Machines (Lvl 3) and Summon Net-Spider (Lvl 5) can be a Terminator’s nemesis, although Gremlins requires not 5 but 8 successes to permanently deactivate a Terminator, due to the fact that the “spirit” of a T-1000 is it’s programming. The difficulty of Control Complex Machines is 9, and the Garou requires 3 successes to do anything more than bring a T-1000 to a stop. Summon Net-Spider will work according to the Garou rulebook, a T-1000 being a powerful temporary ally for a Werewolf.
  4. Terminators are fitted with a whole host of extra sensors and stuff, and gain -2 to all perception difficulties.
  5. Being devoid of a soul, Terminators do not have virtues or Willpower. They do not hesitate in their mission, and are immune to all forms of fear effects, such as the Delirium.

Unliked humans, Terminators do not have a wound status as such. They possess a variable wound pool that begins at it maximum of 100 and is reduced by all physical attacks. However, as the T-1000 heals damage at 10 points per round, actually destroying a T-1000 is effectively impossible. Energy attack forms, such as fire, electricity, etc., have absolutely no effect.

However, any damage that exceeds the T-1000’s Strength trait will slow it down or knock it backwards, depending on how much the damage exceeds the trait. Damage that delivers a single explosive blast will “peel” the T-1000, temporarily overloading the self-healing systems, and preventing from healing and/or shifting form. This lasts for no more than a number of turns equal to the amount of damage done over 20 points, or a minimum of 2 turns.

Note: A Terminator T-1000 can effectively last an eternity. Their power supply is a super-advanced closed-cell bio-reaction system.

T-1000 Powers

The T-1000 uses just one power – shapeshifting. With a mere “thought”, the Terminator can change an arm into a sword, hand into a knife or spike, change into any person it has contact with, and even shift forms into an inanimate object. The only limits are that the object or person must be of similar size and mass, and that the Terminator cannot simulate moving parts. This is why the T-1000 doesn’t shapeshift an arm into a machinegun, for example.

As far as the Storyteller system is concerned, the T-1000 can recreate the following types of weapons:-

Weapon Diff Dam Reach
Knife 4 Str+1 6 in.
Dagger 4 Str+1 1 ft.
Short Sword 5 Str+2 2 ft.
Hand Axe 5 Str+2 3 ft.
Broadsword 6 Str+3 3.5 ft.
Pickaxe 7 Str+4 4 ft.
Bastard Sword 7 Str+5 5 ft.
Greatsword 8 Str+6 6 ft.

Personality

Terminators are inhuman cybernetic organisms. They can seen cold even next to an inhuman Sabbat pack member.

To simulate this cold and inhuman facet of a Terminator, they get the attribute of Personality instead of Humanity. All Terminator characters begin with a Personality of zero.

Personality is a measure of how human the T-1000 comes across to “normal” flesh-and-blood people (or wraiths, for that matter). The Terminator may not attempt any social interaction rolls requiring charm, charisma, finess or generally being human with more dice than their current Personality level.

Experience

T-1000 Terminators always have the self-learning system switched on, they earn experience just like a normal human being, and should use the table below:-

Trait Cost
Current Talent 3x current rating
Current Skill 2x current rating
Current Knowledge 1x current rating
New Ability 5
Personality 1 10
Personality 2+ 5x current rating

Maximum ratings in all Knowledge abilities is 10. All other abilities can be increased to 8.

End Note

As promised, I created rules for using T-1000 Terminators in a White Wolf game. Go ahead, throw some Mortals up against a T-800. If you want a real battle, send for the T-1000…