Hecatondies as a PC in Anima: Beyond Fantasy

I was reading up on JRPG cliches again, and one thing that struck a chord was the presence of an outright non-human character in many games. While several magical races are available in Anima, sometimes you want to really go balls to the wall. So why not a sentient magitech golem? 

Now, the main problem with this thing is that a Hecatondies is level 9 which puts it quite beyond what's appropriate for most starting parties. However, you can always think of a reason why a particular specimen would be weaker than regular. My chosen explanation for the adventure I'm making it for is that this Hecatondies shut down a long time ago and lost a lot of their memories before being found by Black Sun and imprisoned for experiments. While these beings do not regenerate physical damage, it's entirely plausible that adventuring could help it regain the skills that were lost from prolonged memory loss, and allow the neural circuits to gradually ease back into full effectiveness. 

Of course, a first level character does not quite have the amount of DP to afford the full impressive array of supernatural abilities these miraculous beings display, nor would most of them be appropriate at that point. The solution is to give it weakened versions of those powers to start with, and then allow the player to gradually buy them back in little bits until they get to the full majestic glory of a level 9 Hecatondies. Although they should probably have Gnosis 25 from the get go, it is not recommended that a player character Hecatondies develops other powers or essential abilities without a very good reason and a suitably talented mechanical assistant.

It is suggested that only one improvement step per ability is allowed each level.

 

Attributes

It's suggested that a Hecatondies has its highest attributes assigned to Strength and Constitution, and the lowest to Intelligence and Willpower. 

 

Advantages

A Hecatondies player character should spend a Creation Point on Unusual Size if they cannot manage a Size of 23 at creation time. They should also buy Ambidextrous and See the Supernatural as advantages, to facilitate faster gain of abilities early on. If using Unrestricted Creation Points optional rule from GM Toolkit is used, these can be bought at creation time or when levelling up.

 

Essential abilities and powers

 

• Inhumanity A Hecatondies will have Inhumanity at first level. [10 DP]
• Physical Exemption These magical golems have no physical needs of a human being [50 DP]
• [+20 DP] Psychological Immunity While confused and mentally vulnerable right after awakening, Hecatondies will soon learn to ignore such petty distractions from their goals. 
• [+10 DP] Elemental Immunity [Cold]: Half Damage
• [+10 DP] Elemental Immunity [Fire]: Half Damage
• Elemental Vulnerability [Electricity]: 150% Damage As part of the nature of being a magical robot, there are quite a few circuits to fry [-10 DP]
• Extreme Need Without receiving some sort of magical items to feed itself on, a Hecatondies will die in time [-20 DP]
• Natural Weapons Hecatondies is equipped with large, scary looking claws and is not shy of using them in combat [20 DP]
• [+10 DP] Damage Energy At full power, Dragon Claws can damage immaterial creatures and effects
• Prehensile Tail is initially an additional attack at -60 that can only perform Trapping manoeuvres at fixed Strength 6 [20 DP]
• [+10 to 20 DP per level] The player may purchase either a reduction of penalty (to the maximum of -20) or increased Strength (to the maximum of 14). It is suggested that improvements alternate between the two abilities every level.
• Destructive Dome is initially a Special Attack with Base Damage of 40 and 10 foot radius that attacks on the Energy table and requires 3 turns of preparation without using active actions. It can be used once per day and interacts with magic suppressing fields as a magic spell, cast at Zeonic value equal to its Base Damage. [20 DP]
• [free] Every level from 2 to 9 Hecatondies gains an extra use of Destructive dome for free up to maximum of 9 per day. 
• [+5 DP per level] Extra Damage Improve the damage by +10 up to the maximum of 80. It's suggested that these improvements are bought every two levels. 
• Mystical Flight 4 [20 DP]
• [+20 DP per level] Increase Mystical Flight value by +2 to the maximum of 12. It is suggested that these improvements are bought every two levels. 
• Physical Armor 1 and Mystical Armor 1 [20 DP]
• [+10 DP per level] Increase either Physical Armor or Mystical Armor value by 1, to the maximum of 6 and 3, respectively. It is suggested that Mystical Armor is increased once every 4 levels.  
• Damage Barrier 20 [0 DP]
• [+5 DP per level] Increase Damage Barrier strength by +20 up to the maximum of 100. It is suggested that this improvement is bought every two levels.  
• Regeneration Zero [-30 DP] Hecatondies do not regenerate lost life points naturally, but must be repaired. 

 This comes out to a total of 100 DP at character creation, which, while steep, is definitely doable. However, the improvements come at a total cost of 330, so if you prefer, you may want to fold a few of those into level 1 and/or assign the character a level modifier of +1 instead.

Fixed Improvements

If you prefer, you may also try to give the class fixed benefits every level, in exchange of charging it a set amount of DP each time (e.g. 40 per level). In that case, you can use the following progression:

1. As above
2. Psychological Immunity, Prehensile Tail at -55 and Strength 7, Destructive Dome 2/day with Base Damage of 45, Mystical Flight 5, Damage Barrier 30
3. Prehensile Tail at -50 and Strength 8, Destructive Dome 3/day with Base Damage of 50, Mystical Flight 6, Damage Barrier 40, Physical Armor 2
4. Damage Energy, Prehensile Tail at -45 and Strength 9, Destructive Dome 4/day with Base Damage of 55, Mystical Flight 7, Damage Barrier 50, Physical Armor 3
5. Prehensile Tail at -40 and Strength 10, Destructive Dome 5/day with Base Damage of 60, Mystical Flight 8, Damage Barrier 60, Mystical Armor 2
6. Elemental Immunity (Cold), Prehensile Tail at -35 and Strength 11, Destructive Dome 6/day with Base Damage of 65, Mystical Flight 9, Damage Barrier 70, Physical Armor 4
7. Prehensile Tail at -30 and Strength 12, Destructive Dome 7/day with Base Damage of 70, Mystical Flight 10, Damage Barrier 80, Physical Armor 5
8. Elemental Immunity (Fire), Prehensile Tail at -25 and Strength 13, Destructive Dome 8/day with Base Damage of 75, Mystical Flight 11, Damage Barrier 90, Mystical Armor 3
9. Prehensile Tail at -20 and Strength 14, Destructive Dome 9/day with Base Damage of 80, Mystical Flight 12, Damage Barrier 100, Physical Armor 6

Next time, a full character sheet, hopefully.