Force Fields

These superscience devices generate a protective energy field. Some force fields are effective against many types of attack, while others are more specialized.

A force screen is a general-purpose defensive field that can stop both solid objects and energy beams. Force screens may be related to gravitic or space-warp technology. They allow individuals, vehicles, or habitats to look unprotected while resisting enemy fire or hostile environments. A discreet shield belt is more elegant than a bulky armored suit, but may offer the same protection. Similarly, a Tudor mansion, complete with gardens, could sit on the Moon or the hellish surface of Venus.

A force screen provides DR that protects the user (or vehicle’s) entire body, including the eyes. Its effects are applied before armor DR. Effects that rely on touch only affect someone protected by a force screen if carried by an attack that penetrates the screen’s DR.

A force screen’s Damage Resistance is semi-ablative: every 10 points of basic damage rolled removes one point of DR, regardless of whether the attack penetrates DR. A partially-ablated screen regenerates 1 DR per second for every 10 DR the field started with (minimum 1 DR). Thus, a DR 50-59 screen regenerates DR 5 per second.

A force screen does not normally impede the user’s ability to attack, communicate, reach, or see out of the screen. This could represent either a one-way screen, or the user’s ability to selectively open portals through it.

A force screen is normally sealed, and provides total pressure and vacuum support. It also provides a radiation PF equal to its DR. Since gases cannot pass through the screen, life support will be needed to avoid suffocation.

(These advantages and limitations are ignored if the screen has the velocity or energy options.) It takes a Ready maneuver to turn a force screen on or off. A force screen only provides DR when it is on. However, it may regenerate DR while it is off.

A barrier screen is a hemispherical or spherical shell that surrounds a screen generator rather than conforming to the user’s shape. It’s used by spacecraft, flying grav vehicles, or ground bases. Unless it is an energy or velocity screen, it won’t form if something solid is in the way.

A barrier screen is effectively a solid object with a Size Modifier based on the screen’s diameter (+2 since it’s a sphere or hemisphere; see p. B19). The screen will function as cover and block movement into or out of it.

When targeting something protected by a barrier screen, use the normal SM of the target. If an attack misses by a margin of failure that is equal to or less than the difference between the target’s SM and that of the screen, the shot hits the screen. Any penetrating damage that gets through will not strike the target unless the attack affects an area. On the other hand, this damage will reduce the screen’s semi-ablative DR, and if there are multiple occupants spread about inside the screened area (e.g., a force screen around a campsite) someone else could still be hit. Use the Occupant Hit Table on p. B555.

Heavy Force Screen (TL11^): A powerful barrier screen, used to protect fortified strong points, tanks, or warships. The standard field diameter is 15 yards (SM +7), but larger fields are possible at increased weight, cost, and power consumption; see below.

Medium Force Screen (TL11^): This screen is used by light armored vehicles, to defend secure buildings, and by combat or exploration vessels. The minimum field diameter is 10 yards (SM +6), but other sizes are possible.

Light Force Screen (TL11^): This screen is small enough to be (barely) man-portable, and is often used to protect light vehicles, such as grav cars, or to generate a hemispherical field suitable for campsite perimeter defense. The minimum field diameter is five yards (SM +4), but other sizes are possible.

Screen statistics are shown on the Force Screen Table. They may be adjusted for screen options.

The light, medium, and heavy force screens are barrier screens based on a sphere that is five, 10, or 15 yards in diameter, respectively; all use external power. For larger areas, multiply the weight and cost by the ratio of change. For example, increasing a medium force screen’s coverage from 10 to 30 yards triples the weight and cost.

If the screen size is increased, recalculate its Size Modifier using the diameter of the screen and the guidelines on p. B19, i.e., use the Size Modifier Table but at +2 to SM due to the spherical or hemispherical shape. Thus, a 30-yard screen is SM +9.

A conformal screen is somewhat form-fitting: it follows the user’s contours, but can be adjusted to flow over and protect worn or carried equipment, up to a maximum of extra-heavy encumbrance. (Once the screen is on, if the user picks up anything else, it will take a Ready maneuver to adjust the screen to cover it.) Conformal screens have the same SM as their intended wearer, or the object they are built to protect.

Personal Force Screen (TL12^): A belt-mounted screen, also built into some suits, robots, and small vehicles. Its power cell lasts for 15 minutes of continuous use.

Tactical Force Screen (TL12^): A powerful manportable screen, often carried in a backpack or built into a robot. Its power cell lasts for an hour of continuous use.

Numerous types of force screen are possible; some examples are given below, and others can be created by the GM. It’s possible that one of these variants might be the only type of screen available to a particular technology path. Options can be combined, except where noted. Modifiers are cumulative.

The user can opt to reinforce half the screen, increasing its DR by 50%, at the expense of the other half (reducing its DR by 50%). For example, if the front half of the screen is reinforced, this multiplies its current DR by 1.5 against front attacks, but halves the screen’s DR against attacks from the right, left, and back; see p. B388 for a facing diagram. It takes a Ready maneuver to adjust the screen. +100% to cost.

Has the same effect as a TL12 invisibility surface (p. 100), except that the user is also invisible to active sensors such as ultra-scan, sonar, radar, and ladar. +100% to cost, and halves the operating duration due to excessive power drain.

This only affects energy attacks (beams, force swords, electrical attacks, energy explosions, fire, etc.). The screen is not sealed and provides no pressure or vacuum support. If energy screens are the only type available, guns will have an advantage over beam weapons. -50% to cost.

This screen only affects solid, liquid, or gaseous matter (bullets, fragments, punches, acid, falls, etc.), not energy attacks (see above). It does not protect against radiation, and may not be combined with an energy screen. If kinetic screens are the only type available, beam weapons will have an advantage over projectile weapons; -50% to cost.

The screen is not transparent from the outside, although the occupants can see through it. Senses and sensors cannot detect anything in the screen unless they are only blocked by reality stabilizers and/or stasis fields. Its sensorabsorbing properties make it invisible to active sensors such as radar and ladar. The screen itself is a non-reflective black, which counts as camouflage in space or at night; it occludes other bodies, and is therefore not invisible. The screen does not block the other emissions of its user, so passive sensors are unaffected. In the case of an opaque barrier screen, there is no penalty to target the center of the screen, but other occupants cannot be deliberately attacked. They may be struck at random, as described in the barrier screen rules above. No extra cost.

The screen is configured to allow air to pass through. This lets the user breathe, but removes the sealed advantage. It can be turned on or off with a Ready maneuver. +50% to cost; there’s no need for this option if the screen has the velocity or energy options.

This type of force screen includes the effect of a reality stabilizer (pp. 194-195), allowing it to block matter transmission and reality disruption attacks that would enter the screen. (It’s still possible to use these effects from within the screen, or against targets outside it.) Reality-stabilized screens may be a standard capability for force screens in settings where matter transmitters and reality-disintegrating weapons are common. +100% to cost.

A force screen may be fitted with a safety switch; it will detect any incoming attack slower than the speed of light and turn on the belt to protect the wearer. This conserves power, and helps protect against sneak attacks. It cannot react to beam attacks (other than sonic or plasma weapons) in time to stop them, but it switches on automatically after a beam attack is fired at the user, whether he is hit or not. +10% to cost.

This screen only blocks fast-moving attacks, such as bullets, explosions, fragments, or energy beams. It won’t resist anything moving slower than 100 mph. In particular, it won’t protect against melee attacks, thrown weapons, or falls and collisions under Move 50. It will stop arrows, sling stones, crossbow bolts, bullets, and almost all explosions. (An explosion detonated in contact with the body will penetrate the screen – if a hand grenade goes off a few feet away, the user will be protected, but a limpet mine would still be effective.) The screen is not sealed and provides no pressure or vacuum support, but there’s no need to worry about suffocation. Velocity screens are a useful “swashbuckler option” for GMs who wish to combine swordplay and ultra-tech weapons. -10% to cost.

By generating a field over a city, it may be possible to dispense with solid domes or underground dwellings – and you won’t have to worry about bad weather, either. A homesteader could buy a smaller field generator and power plant and set up on the asteroid of his choice. With a sufficiently powerful force screen and contragrav generator (p. 223), a research station could be built deep within a gas giant’s crushing atmosphere, or even within a star. The engineering problems would be immense, but think of the view!

These rigid energy barriers feel like a solid wall, but exist only as long as the power is maintained. A force shield is normally transparent, but its outlines may be visible if struck by an attack. Gas or liquid will not pass through a force shield – if it encloses the subject, it’s effectively sealed. This may lead to suffocation if there is no air supply.

Force shields are effective against all physical attacks: energy beams will be absorbed, melee attacks will hit an apparently solid wall, and any projectile failing to penetrate loses its kinetic energy and falls to the ground. An object or beam that strikes a force shield and inflicts enough damage to penetrate its DR will pass through it, but the field will reform as long as power remains.

This is a solid bracelet worn on the wrist (leaving the hand free). The bracelet generates a flat, circular force shield. The size of a large shield, this grants DB 3 and has DR 100 with Hardened 1 (p. B47).

The force shield serves the same purpose as a medieval shield – to physically block attacks. Duelists might use one of these in conjunction with a force sword. Its advantage is that the shield vanishes when the generator is turned off, and the wrist-generator itself is light, giving it the agility of a buckler with the protective qualities of a large shield. Use Shield (Force) Skill. $1,500, 0.5 lbs., B/30 min. LC3.

As above, but a successful block roll against a ranged beam attack lets the defender attempt a separate DX roll to return the blocked damage to the attacker! $3,000, 0.5 lbs. B/30 min. LC2.

These stationary devices project a two-dimensional force shield barrier that has DR 100 with Hardened 1. A typical ward generator casts a field two yards high and a yard wide, sufficient to block a doorway or narrow corridor. Larger or smaller wards are also possible. Multiple ward generators can be linked together to create a wider barrier. If the ward is used as a fence, half this field will be underground. The generator and control unit is mounted on one side of the ward, and cannot be reached without passing through the field. Permanent wards built into doorways or airlocks are often linked to security scanners. $10,000, 25 lbs., D/24 hr. LC3.

A nuclear damper manipulates nuclear force over a distance in order to control radioactive decay and suppress nuclear fission explosions. Dampers neutralize nuclear warheads within their radius of effect. They can prevent the nuclear detonation of fission warheads, as well as fusion warheads that use fission triggers, such as the hydrogen bombs typical of TL7-9.

A damper field doesn’t affect “clean fusion” weapons that use lasers or antimatter to trigger fusion. Fission and fission-fusion bombs generally have chemical explosive triggers, and these will still explode normally. Thus, a nuclear warhead that is set off within a damper field will usually be destroyed, but fail to produce a nuclear explosion.

This device projects a spherical nuclear damper field with a radius of 100 yards. The field can be generated at a range of up to five miles, but must be focused on a particular target area. Use Gunner (Beams) skill to quickly focus it (e.g., to intercept a nuclear missile in flight). It has Acc 24 and RoF 1 when used in this fashion. The large area of effect means even a “miss” may still catch the target (see Attacking An Area, p. B414). If the damper engages a flying target, the attack roll would have to miss by 10 or more for the field to fail to envelop the target. $10 million, 2,000 lbs., external power. LC1.

This is a small, short-range damper. It has an area of effect of only two yards and a range of only 200 yards. It is used for nuclear bomb disposal, and is typically mounted on a tripod. As a ranged weapon, it has Acc 18, RoF 1. $200,000, 50 lbs., 2D/24 hours. LC2.

A portable nuclear damper field prevents any nuclear fission or fission-triggered fusion explosion from occurring within a 10-mile radius around the damper field generator. It does not interfere with controlled release of nuclear energy (e.g., in a power plant). It will not prevent the detonation of ultra-tech fusion warheads that are triggered by means other than a fission explosion.

A nuclear weapon exploding outside the area of effect of the damper may still damage anything within the damper field; the field prevents detonation, but does not provide a shield against blast or radiation. This is a portable damper field, capable of being installed in a small installation or mounted in a large vehicle or trailer. Larger or smaller fields may also exist! $20 million, 4,000 lbs., external power. LC1.

These are nuclear dampers that also affect nuclear fission reactors and radiothermal generators. A fission reactor will cease to function if targeted by a nuclear damper projector or if within a nuclear damper field. It will resume functioning afterward, but the interruption may disturb its normal operation – roll vs. the reactor or generator’s HT, with failure indicating a malfunction (in a fission reactor, this could lead to a nuclear accident). A successful Mechanic (Power Plant) roll will diagnose any problems and reveal whether it is safe to restart, or whether further repairs are needed.

Nuclear jammers are otherwise identical to nuclear dampers; they have the same cost, weight and power requirements. In some settings, all nuclear dampers may also be nuclear jammers. Tunable nuclear jammers that can be set to affect or not affect fission reactors are double normal cost. LC1.

Stasis is an induced state in which almost no time passes. Several types of stasis-web generator are available, but their operation is similar. The duration of the web can be set for any length of time between five minutes (the minimum) and a billion years; an atomic clock registers how much relative time has passed within the web, and deactivates the field when the time is up.

Something protected by a stasis web is effectively outside the normal space-time continuum, and cannot be affected by anything within it. It could fall through the heart of a star or survive for a billion years. One second of time in the field equates with the passage of roughly 30 trillion years. Since only (relative) microseconds or nanoseconds will pass for the occupants of a stasis web, they cannot take any action while within the web.

The standard web has a damage divisor of 10,000,000; that is, divide any damage passing through the field by that value. In effect, it’s invulnerable. (This equates with a high level of cosmic Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction), see GURPS Powers). If there are other fields with different strengths, the time ratio is equal to the cube of the damage divisor.

The stasis generator is always within the web itself. Viewed from the outside, an object encased in a stasis web is inside a perfectly reflecting mirror, and no sensors of any type can penetrate into it. The only way to deactivate a stasis web from outside it is a reality stabilizer (below).

Anything only partially in a stasis web (e.g., an arm or leg) will be sheared off when the web is activated. Velocities are retained while in stasis, so a falling object will continue to fall, a spacecraft will continue on course, etc.

A stasis cube is a box which generates a stasis web around itself. It takes two seconds to set the duration, and one more to activate the cube, which is then surrounded by the web. It holds as much as a backpack (about 40 pounds of equipment). $40,000, 5 lbs., C/10 uses. LC3.

This is a stasis cube the size of a large coffin, used as a suspended animation chamber, a vault, or a prison. It is essential to make sure it has the right time setting. Once activated, there is no way, short of a reality stabilizer, to turn it off until the duration expires. It can hold one person in a suit with equipment, or two with no equipment, or 10 cubic feet of cargo. The generator is designed to be activated from outside the chamber, but a timer is included so that the user can set the web duration, then climb into it. $200,000, 20 lbs., 2D/10 uses. LC3.

This is a stasis web generator built into a storage unit, building, or vehicle. The grid must completely enclose the object, covering all its sides. The stasis web is often designed to be triggered from within a vehicle or building as a last-ditch defensive measure. It may also be built to be activated externally, which is common for safes and medical stasis units. Like other stasis webs, a timer must be set and only a reality stabilizer can deactivate the stasis web until that time has passed. A stasis grid costs $2,000, weighs 0.2 lbs. and runs off vehicle or building power. Thus, a stasis web generator covering a coffin-sized 6’ ¥ 3’ ¥ 2’ box (72 square feet) is $144,000, 14 lbs. LC2.

This device generates a stasis web around the user and anything he is carrying. The duration of the web depends on how long it was set for. It takes two seconds to change the duration setting on an inactive stasis web, and one second to turn it on. $20,000, 3.5 lbs., C/10 uses. LC2.

These are exotic force fields designed for special purposes.

This low-powered force screen gives DR 5 vs. energy attacks, divides radiation dosage by 10, and adds 60 degrees to the “hot” end of the user’s comfort zone. It can hold in air and heat, and will block gas or liquids from penetrating or escaping, provided the pressure differential is less than two atmospheres. A life support field will keep out anything with less than ST 1 (such as insects), and also deflect rain, snow, and normal hail.

A life support field can also be adjusted to make it breathe; it takes one second to change the setting. This lets gas molecules pass through it (so the user won’t suffocate), but will continue to keep out liquid droplets, insects, rain, hail, and so on.

A life support field is easily breached by any application of strength. Walking or reaching through it meets only slight resistance, like pushing through mud.

This device projects a conformal life support field around the wearer, extending out a few inches. Unless the wearer has an air supply or the field is set to breathe, the air begins to go bad within 15 minutes – start rolling for suffocation. Heat is lost more slowly, at two degrees per minute.

Activating the belt requires one turn, or it may be activated instantly by voice. An optional safety module ($100) will also activate it the instant pressure drops. It takes one turn for the field to form. $1,000, 0.25 lbs., B/12 hr. LC4.

A large life support field generator that is useful for camping (no need to stake a tent), holding outdoor events, or picnicking. Large versions can cover stadiums or even cities! It protects a 10-yard radius. $100,000, 25 lbs., D/24 hr. LC4.

This generates a parasol-shaped life support field that keeps off rain and pests. It may be handheld, or built into a hat, disguised as a hair ornament, etc. The field has a oneyard radius, like a horizontal force shield bracelet. $100, 0.1 lb., B/24 hr. LC4.

A reality stabilizer creates an interference zone of spatial-temporal inertia that will block the functioning of certain superscience technologies.

No temporal and parachronic superscience devices will function within a reality stabilizer other than the stabilizer itself. Stasis fields will collapse, tau fields won’t work, time portals cannot open, etc. This also applies to parachronic tech such as conveyers and projectors (p. B529). Faster-than-light and teleportation superscience technologies that are based on interdimensional travel, hyperspace, or wormhole effects are ineffective, although teleportation based on matter-energy conversion will still work. Pocket universes will continue to exist, but access to them through wormholes will be blocked. The interference applies to devices operating within the reality stabilizer field, and to external devices trying to penetrate, transport, or scan into its area of effect.

It is up to the GM whether the Jumper or Warp advantage and related non-technological abilities such as planar summoning or travel spells will function inside a reality stabilizer. In general, they’ll probably fail if they have a high-tech origin. Otherwise, they’ll ignore the field, or suffer a penalty equal to the field’s TL. Reality stabilizer fields are normally invisible, but failed attempts to penetrate them may result in side effects such as flickering auras around the field perimeter.

Local Reality Stabilizer (TL11^): This generates a field that covers a 200-yard radius, sufficient to stabilize spacetime around an installation or spacecraft. $2 million, 400 lbs., external power. LC3.

Portable Reality Stabilizer (TL11^): This pack-sized unit generates a field that covers a five-yard radius. This can protect several people against portable space-time weapons, or ward a room against unwanted teleporters, timescanners, and other exotic intrusions. $50,000, 20 lbs., D/12 hr. LC3.

Individual Reality Stabilizer (TL11^): This belt-sized unit generates a field that protects a single person, or two individuals huddled close together. It covers a one-yard radius. $10,000, 2 lbs., C/12 hr. LC3.

A hypertime field is a bubble of hyper-accelerated time – a sort of reverse stasis web. From the perspective of those within the area of effect, everything outside the field appears to stop, frozen in time, while they are free to act.

No energy or matter within the hypertime field can leave its boundaries. It is impossible for someone inside the field to take any action that will affect someone outside of it; from within the field, the edge resembles a stasis field (a silver mirror) and is just as impenetrable. If the generator is deactivated, runs out of energy or is destroyed, the field collapses, and time resumes its normal course.

A hypertime field allows those within it to “step out of time.” This has numerous applications – for example, someone could get work done, heal rapidly, or study, all while within the field and “outside of time.” There are also tactical applications. For example, suppose someone carrying a hypertime generator is surrounded by a few dozen foes, but only one is within range of the generator. The field is activated; time freezes outside the field, while within it the two fight. After a fierce close-range duel with force swords, one of them kills the other but is wounded. He will then have several subjective minutes to perform first aid. When the generator is deactivated, it will appear to those outside the field that the loser suddenly dropped dead from a dozen wounds, and the wounded victor has materialized in a different position.

Hypertime field power drain and duration are based on subjective time within the field. The power supply must always be inside the field along with the hypertime field generator.

Hypertime fields are miraculous tech that could be unbalancing if widely used. GMs may wish to limit their use to bizarre alien artifacts, sinister villains, and so on. Any hypertime generator can also function as a taushield generator at double normal cost.

This creates a hypertime bubble that covers up to a 10- yard radius, suitable for protecting a building or base camp. These make excellent hospitals, repair bases, science labs, nurseries, or schools. If powered by a fusion generator, the generator may operate for years of subjective time. $1,000,000, 100 lbs., external power. LC1.

This is a man-portable hypertime generator. It could be worn as a backpack, but is also often a feature of a single autodoc, diagnostic bed, or study. It covers a one- to fouryard radius around the generator; the area of effect is adjustable when the field is turned on, but can’t be changed until it is deactivated. $400,000, 50 lbs., 2D/8 hr. LC1.

This circuitry can be incorporated into any sealed fullbody armor or vacc suit, or into a force screen. It generates a tactical chronowarp with two settings: tactical and infinity. The user can change the setting at the start of his turn.

On tactical setting, the tau-shield speeds up the wearer as if he had up to nine levels of Altered Time Rate (p. B38). While the suit is on this setting, the wearer seems to shimmer, as if covered in liquid crystal. The first level lets the wearer experience time twice as fast as a normal – that is, experience two subjective seconds for each real second that passes. Each level past the first increases this ratio by one: three times as fast at the second level, four times as fast at the third level, and so on. Each level lets the wearer take one additional maneuver on his turn in combat, allowing him to run very fast by taking multiple Move maneuvers, make multiple All-Out Attacks, etc. The wearer’s turn doesn’t come any sooner, however!

On infinity setting, the tau-shield functions much like a stasis belt (see p. 194), freezing the wearer in space-time. He becomes an invulnerable mirror statue for whatever duration he preset before activating this function (anything from a second to several billion years). While in this state, the user enjoys total immunity to most attacks (see Stasis Web, pp. 193-194) but he cannot do anything until the duration runs out, since he is frozen in time. The tau-shield’s D cell can maintain the tactical setting for up to 180 minutes divided by (levels of Altered Time Rate). Each use of infinity consumes 18 minutes of power. $500,000, 2 lbs., C/180 min. (see above). LC2.