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Mongoose 2300AD: Pentapod biolaser

McPerth

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I was reviewing MgT 2300AD ad I found a curious (and IMHO interesting) piece of equipement: the Pentapod biolaser (pages 159-160).

It says it may be implanted, and also that it needs a combination of Coumadin (the book says warfarin, I guess acenocoumarol would also work, as they are quite close), high suggar food and sunlight.

Does that mean the character that has it implanted needs to take coumadin to have it charged?

If so, counadin interacts (usually in unwanted ways) with so many drugs (and some foods) that the patient is told what drugs he can take, not the ones he cannot, making it a true nightmare, aside from being quite a powerful anticoagulant.

I see here some nasty problems should one player want to have one implanted...
 
Don't have my book in front of me but I'm guessing the biolaser needs to be "fed" those substances; not the person themselves. There is another Pentapod item that is similar and the description (I think) specifically notes that it must be fed.

Also, the biolaser doesn't need to be implanted so there would have to be a way to get it those substances without you ingesting them.

If a player were thinking of implanting it... I would have a serious talk with them. We're discussing "alien bio-tech" that most people would lose their cookies over if they knew the player had it INSIDE them. The character is just taking the Pentapods word for it that the device will do what it says and, more importantly, ONLY what it says.

The Pentapods are trying to learn... maybe the implanted biolaser is their latest ploy to gather more information from a human's perspective?

Ohhhh... the possibilities.
 
Don't have my book in front of me but I'm guessing the biolaser needs to be "fed" those substances; not the person themselves. There is another Pentapod item that is similar and the description (I think) specifically notes that it must be fed.

Also, the biolaser doesn't need to be implanted so there would have to be a way to get it those substances without you ingesting them.

If a player were thinking of implanting it... I would have a serious talk with them. We're discussing "alien bio-tech" that most people would lose their cookies over if they knew the player had it INSIDE them. The character is just taking the Pentapods word for it that the device will do what it says and, more importantly, ONLY what it says.

The Pentapods are trying to learn... maybe the implanted biolaser is their latest ploy to gather more information from a human's perspective?

Ohhhh... the possibilities.

The description specifically says it may (but not must) be implanted, and that is biochemically neutral, so there's no rejection risk.

And while not specified, I guess that if implanted there will be some blood contact, (at least that's what I understand "implanted" means, it becomes a graft of the "host", so part of himself properly) so the cumadin will reach the "host's" bloodstream, if it doesn't directly feed from it, in which case the "host" would be who has to take it (along with increased sugars in his diet).

As for the other pentapod ítem, I guess you mean the stabilizator (akin of a cold berth, but that also feeds the patient). If so, it is not implanted, but it reaches the patient's bloodstream to feed it (as I understand intravenously) while it is in coma-like state, but they keep as different entities, something that does not occur when the biolaser is implanted (at least, that's what I understand). So to say, the patient becomes a "dormant parasite" of the stabilizator.
 
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