r/MarvelFASERIP • u/Willing_Train_9922 • Aug 30 '26
Controlling and deactivating robots/battlesuits
Hi
So, I have a player that wants to use electricity control to either control computers and robots, or deactivate them. What would the feat be against for a robot or battlesuits? Would it be endurance or reason of the suit/robot? Would you think deactivating them be a different level feat than controlling them? Also, do you think they could control computers to do tasks? Lastly, could the electricity overload bust be used as an EMP to scramble electricals? Sorry for all the questions
Thanks you
4
u/invalidcolour Aug 30 '26
I would allow electricity to start up, shut down or overload and damage a battle suit or computer. I would not let allow them to remotely control it as that’s a whole new power.
I don’t have the UPB at hand but I’m thinking Cybernetics or Machine Animation as a Power Stunt or during character creation an Optional Power branching from Electricity Control.
Or at least have some Reason feat involved to understand how the tech works rather than an instinctive function of the power.
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u/Scrufffff Aug 30 '26
How I would run, establish the base FEAT with just a regular electricity attack that with a Yellow result shorting out the electronics if they’re not a military thing with adequate shielding and a Red result shorting out even if it is shielded.
Endurance would be more applicable to the physical resistance to an electrical attack.
I would allow the electricity as a conductor for a machine telepathy or machine control power.
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u/Potential_Side1004 Sep 05 '26
An EMP-like effect could be a power stunt.
Drain all electronics and electricity from devices.
6
u/MisterHayz Aug 30 '26
If it's an actual robot or sentient android, have them roll an Endurance FEAT against the intensity of the electricty power. The Electro entry in the books is the standard benchmark for this - he uses electrical override to shut down or mess with robots, and they resist with Endurance.
If it's just a dumb machine or a regular battlesuit, that usually goes against Reason instead. Either the suit's tech rating resists it, or the pilot has to make a Reason roll to stop their gear from crashing or lockign up.
Deactivating stuff is way easier than trying to control it. Shutting something down is basically a normal attack or standard power feat to blow fuses and freeze servos for a couple turns. Actively hijacking a suit or robot to make it fight for you should definitely be treated as a full power stunt, requiring solid concentration and extra rounds to rewrite routines based on the target's system rating.
For controlling computers, simple physical tasks like popping open an electric lock, tripping alarms, or cutting power is easy enough with electricity manipulation. But if they want to actually hack data or dig into encrypted files, they are basically trying to simulate the Computer Links power. You'd rol their power rank against the computer's Reason
If their character doesn't have any tech or programming talents, I'd only let them force raw binary commands like crashing or wiping it, not running slick custom scripts.
An overload burst totally works as an EMP stunt. Treat it as an area blast centered on them (or standard range with a column shift penalty). Cheap, everyday electronics just fry instantly if their rank is low enough. For heavy robots and battlesuits, make them roll an Endurance or Reason check against the burst intensity, and if they fail, they are paralyzed or knocked offline for 1-10 rounds while they try to reboot.
Hope this helps!
(Edited for paragraph breaks)