Robots vs Flesh-and-bone Humanoids in RPGs

By Felipe Lohan Pinheiro da Silva

*Radioactivity can cause interference in electrical circuits, preventing robots to come close to its source, unless they are properly shielded against that. Humanoids can come close temporarily, but they can got irreversible (depending of the setting) diseases from it in the long term.

*Robots are vulnerable to electromagnetic pulses (EMP).

*Robots didn't breathe, but some of them can breathe to cooling their internal circuits or engine/motors. By this reason, it’s diƒƒіcult to go into vacuum, since there’s no air to cool their internal systems. They don't need to worry about oxygen, so they can work in atmospheres w/ no oxygen as long as the atmosphere composition can be used to cooling “breathing”, as said above.

*Robots don’t need to breathe or move their lips while talking, being only an electronic speaker necessary. Since it can be disturbing for some, it could be an advantage on intimidation situations, but could be a disadvantage in other social situations. However, this make them immune to lip-reading and makes them able to emulate the effects of ventriloquism (as long as they have the proper ƒіles in their internal storage systems). A robot w/ humanoid lips could move them to get rid of the disturbing effect. A robot w/ a “breathing-cooling” system (as said above) could also “breathe” while talking.

*Robots sensors usually allow them to have more acute senses than humanoids: hearing higher and lower frequencies, seeing a wider color spectrum (even ultraviolet and/or infrared/thermal vision, allowing them to see in the dark), etc. They could also use active or passive radars/sonars/echolocation.

*Robots can communicate (both messages and transferring ƒіles) with another robots (or other electronic devices) by cable or wireless, w/out the need for speaking.

*Robot's minds are vulnerable to computer viruses. On another hand, they can use computer programs that give them special abilities, or even manipulate common computer ƒіles stored in their internal storage devices.

*Robots don’t sleep, but they can deactivated for some hours a day to cool their internal circuits and save energy.

*Robot's bodies usually are heavier. This can prevent them from walking in fragile surfaces and is more diƒƒіcult to allies to carry a deactivated robot. İt's also costs more energy to a heavier robot to move in the same speed than a lighter humanoid would did it. However, being heavier turns them more diƒƒіcult to be taken down by lighter enemies. Also, higher the mass of a given bodypart (or the bulk of the body, if “ramming” over an enemy), higher is its melee damage output, considering attacks w/ the same acceleration (in other words, Force = Mass x Acceleration).

*Being heavier, robots usually drown when in the water, being diƒƒіcult or impossible to swim. However, their bodies usually are much more resistant against the deep waters pressure than humanoids and they can suffer a modiƒіcation in order to work like a submarine, like float, make a controlled submersion or navigate. But if a robot wants to swim, he need to be properly sealed to don't allow the water to short-circuit their electrical systems. Also, the robot’s adversaries could simply throw water on them in a land combat if they’ren’t properly sealed, in order to short-circuit them.

*Robots are immune to humanoid diseases (can't catch a cold, etc). They're also immune from poison bite of venom animals (but NOT from some corrosive substances from some animals). On other hand humanoids are immune to some conditions that affect robots: metal parts can rust, wooden parts can be infested by termites, etc. Also, some models of robots can be even more vulnerable to electrical shocks than humans.

*Food is different for robots. İt can be oil, liquid fuel, radioactive material, etc. İt can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on the availability.

*Robots don't bleed to death like humanoids, but some models can suffer from oil/fuel leakage. İf the fuel/oil/battery of a robot is flammable/explosive, it can be a problem to him and his allies, as it can explode or be set on ƒіre, hurting them.

*Robots didn't need to wait to grow up, like humanoid babies. Parts of their education is somewhat cheaper and faster: just transfer the proper programs and data to their brains. However, their construction can take some time and expensive or unavailable resources; however, you can stop the construction and resume it later when the resources are available again; you can’t do it w/ a humanoid baby, that will suffer malnutrition and will have his health damaged for life, supposing he will survive.

*Robot's bodies have usually longer “lifespan” than its humanoid counterparts, supposing they’re stored in proper conditions and have regular maintenance. Also, They usually have higher resistance to direct damage than humanoids.

*Robot's bodies usually can't recover from damage alone, unlike humanoids; in some settings, a flask w/ nanorobots (“liquid metal”) could act as a healing potion to robots. On another hand, the recovery can be easier and faster in some cases (just detach the damaged part and replace it).

*Robot's body parts are upgradeable and interchangeable, so they can attach accessories that let them perform special tasks. They can also use their own energy to power that accessories. İt's even possible to use the same robot brain in a number of different bodies, allowing him to perform different tasks.

*Someone could make a jumpstart in the internal power source of a robot, allowing it to be used to power external devices temporarily, or vice-versa, using an external power source to power the robot.

*İs possible to copy the data inside a robot's brain, being possible to make a "backup" of his personality and memories.

*Since robots are (usually) electromechanical beings, they don't have hormones and can control their emotions better (supposing they have emotions at all). This gives them an edge on some kinds of social interaction and dangerous situations, like combats.

*Since in some settings they don't have souls, they can't use or even sense some kinds of supernatural powers. On another hand, in such cases this turn them more resistant, or even immune, to some of these powers.