NPC Child O.C.C. and Character Development

[BobThePaladin]

Over the weekend, I've run a Rifts game where the player characters are investigating a Pre-Cataclysm vault. Inside the vault they found an old malfunctioning Agricultural robot with a snarky personality that's been monitoring the vault's hydroponics system. They've taken pity on the poor robot and reprogrammed under their control (funny enough that was supposed to be a combat encounter as the sucker has armed itself with a plasma ejector; don't touch the plants). They've also found the vault's major purpose: rooms upon rooms of cryosleep chambers that were supposed to house entire families. Apparently there was an old Pre-Cataclysm corporation akin to Vault-Tec that manufactured shelters in response to the rising international tensions at the time, just without the bizarre experiments.

Alas, the vault's high-tech power systems were failing, and somewhere along the 300+ years, there was a power surge that unfortunately killed all the vault's inhabitants....save one. Little 10-year Amy somehow miraculously survived to the present day. The party, consisting of a Cyber-Knight, a Mystic, a Crazy (oh God), a Power Armor pilot waiting outside the vault, and now the NPC Agri-bot, took it upon themselves to revive and adopt the poor girl. The game ended as they finished safely opening her cryopod.

I had planned for the group to meet Amy, but the one problem I've been having and fortunately have time to work on before the next game is to figure out who little Amy is; more importantly, WHAT little Amy is. With the years of the Cataclysm in Chaos Earth, and the subsequent Dark Age that followed, almost anything could have happened to her. I've looked through Chaos Earth at the Chaos Wizard, which was my starting point as it provided ready made stats for Child characters, not to mention the Chaos Wizard would be a good surprise for the characters. I also considered that she could also be a powerful budding Master Psychic such as a Mind Melter. Maybe she's something a bit more bizarre, like a mutant and has a couple powers from Heroes Unlimited.

...or not! There's also the possibility that she could also be 100% mundane human! Just a little girl out of time that the PCs will need to protect.

Alas, this poor G.M. can't decide what this kid should be. I'm here to humbly ask for some ideas on what could make little Amy special (or not!), and ideas on potential plots for this character to be involved in. Of course the Coalition States would take a tremendous interest in the girl, especially when her version of history contradicts the current party line...

[say652]

The child contains the genetic strains of several geniuses and athletes, she was grown to perfection.

Natural Genius power category.

[eliakon]

For kicks and shiggles....
If she survived because her medical nanites were mutated and interfaced with the systems.....
and now you have a very small, very young Techno-Jacker from splicers

[Glistam]

She could be an advanced android her parents commissioned to have built to replace their dead daughter before the cataclysm. They did some sort of brain-pattern transfer (Transferred Intellect, perhaps?), and they never told her that the real her died and she's just a copy/she's not real. So she's an android who thinks she's human because she's based on a human who died centuries ago, and once that fact comes up she has no-one to explain to her why she's an android.

[drewkitty ~..~]

The BTS main-books (1 & 2) has the Normal People stats which cover adults-teens&children. There is also the Urchin in the new RT books. There is the minor heroes/sidekick article in one of the rifters.

I will say that I like Eli's idea.

However, I would envision that the Pre-Cat society was much like that of the movie Gattaga where 99.9% of the children are selected to be the best that their parents can conceive together, at least in the richer countries. As such Their stats are 2d6+6. Then add on top of that, the aspect that the families had the money enough to have the ability to have the cryo-shelter they might of had the means to make some 'genetic enhancements' to their children.

[Glistam]

This has probably been resolved, but I another idea that goes along with the Psychic angle is one of the psychic classes from Rifter #50. I'm particularly fond of the Teke-Freak, but any of them could be fun.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Was just looking through the NBSG and found Peniltites for chars that were younger then 17 years old. It's on page 47.

Yes, yes….and someone is going to say something about how those rules are only for NB.

I'm just pointing something out that GMs can use if they want to.