So on page 107 of lords of nal hutta there's a wonderful cybernetic hand/forearm called a repulsor fist. The description starts with

"Also called a repulse-hand or an enforcer grip, this durasteel weapon cybernetics is ***TYPICALLY*** neither covered in synthskin nor intended to appear natural. It contains miniature repulsor generators that can be switched on to deliver crushing blows and deflect incoming attacks."

I'm normally the GM but was revising a character I had put together just in case I ever got to play, and in the previous version of this character he had 2 repli-limb prosthetic forearms

here's the summary character backstory

"Jacen Baurne" was part of an elite mercenary team that had been hired by ____ the Hutt as protection. The job went sideways and his team was taken out by an explosion; Jacen was severely wounded by shrapnel; he barely survived. He would have died, but the Hutt was apparently grateful to Jacen for saving his life, so Jacen woke up floating in a Bacta tank. That's the first thing Jacen remembers; he has amnesia because a piece of shrapnel pierced his brain. His face and hands were also ruined by the blast. The Hutt was quick to catch on to and take advantage of Jacen's amnesia and lack of ability to identify who he is/was and take advantage of it. The Hutt's surgeons repaired his face but Jacen doesn't recognize it, he believes that it's not the face he was born with; the prosthetic replacements for his hands similarly don't have finger prints. Jacen also hasn't been able to find his DNA in any database he's searched; if he was ever in one, then the Hutt's slicers must have removed it. The Hutt uses the promise of one day (after Jacen "repays the cost of his medical care") telling Jacen the secret of his past as leverage (blackmail) to keep Jacen in his employ. Given the cut rate wages that the Hutt pays Jacen, and expenses he deducts from that pay, Jacen will be an old man before he learns his true identity. Jacen is fairly certain that the original contract for the Hutt's protection would have more than covered the medical care, but he has no way of proving it, so he keeps working for the Hutt. He also takes side jobs, hoping for "the one big score" that will let him settle his remaining "debt" and learn who he is/was.

so instead of having 2 repli-limb forearms I was thinking 1 repli-limb and 1 repulsor fist, but... the whole thing about this character is that he can blend into a crowd

(Demolitionist, has cool and skulduggery as career skills, according to the book skulduggery is what you'd use to blend into a crowd, demolitionist also has access to the last one standing signature ability, and I'm liking toughened, enduring, 3 grit, rapid reaction, time to go plus demolitionist pairs well with mercenary soldier (grenades and strong arm) which would also let him pick up unmatched protection)

so... here comes the question... TYPICALLY neither covered in synthskin nor intended to appear natural means that it COULD BE right? normally I'd be kind of inclined to say no even with the "typically" but the core book has a separate listing for

SYNTHSKING, SYNTHFLESH

These artificial flesh coating are used both to treat injuries and to coat cybernetic limbs. Synthskin is more commonly used to bod with real tissue, usually to aid in recovery, while synthflesh is more often used to cover mechanical devices to make them appear organic; these can include entire droids when a realistic appearance is desired. ,,,

the price of synthskin is listed on page 182 of the EotE core and is a mere 10 credits (there is no separate price for synthflesh but I figure it's the same)

obviously the cost of the synthflesh would be paid separately from/in addition to the repuslor fist and maybe even having to pay a medic to make look MOSTLY natural

the exception to the mostly natural is that there is a circular repulsor emitter in the palm of the hand, kind of like a handshake joy buzzer but more like the portable wrist repulsor that tony stark had in ironman 3 when he was NOT wearing his suit of armor. I didn't have any luck googling for a movie still but here's a toy to get an idea of what it looked like and how it'd be used. Anyone shaking his hand would feel the "joy buzzer" built into the hand but you'd have to see the PALM of the hand to visually notice it... and I'm figuring on a kind of kung fu open palm strike for use

so would you allow it to be covered with synthflesh (given that this is the purpose of the synthflesh listed in the core book) and if so... how much extra should it cost to make it look natural (the majority of the cost would be the surgeon's/cyber doc's labor)

I would definitely let it happen, but I would probably ask for a Medicine/Mechanics roll to achieve it, it would be more than a single roll too, probably some research required, stealing some prototype plans etc.

For the PC's to pay for it is probably a session of searching out the expert who can do it, then pay a very large sum (5-10k) for it to be done.

When it has been done perception checks could theoretically identify it for what it is but the checks will be hard for a good attempt at the cover, daunting if the PC did a great job themselves. Triumph on the check would probably upgrade the difficulty of identifying it.

It's a great idea and a good use of synth flesh. The Tech book may have more to say on this though since one of the Specs is Cybernetic related (a 25xp talent that allows the PC to conceal a normally obvious cybernetic? Sounds fitting to me)

In the case of the repulsorfist, I'd say that the business end (the repulsors themselves) is exposed once it's been fired, so the PC would have to keep replacing the synthflesh after each combat. And since it wouldn't be a simple matter either, for most individuals it's just not worth the hassle of using synthflesh in the first place.

It's like covering a jack hammer in skin. It doesn't look like a hand and it isn't covered once you turn it on.

You could always wear a glove. Worked for Luke and his cyberarm

It's like a glove, on a jackhammer....

The "jackhammer" extends from the repulsor emitter and would punch a hole or tear a glove. But if the glove already had hole(s) that the extending "jackhammer" fit through, then you'really only dealing with vibration instead of impact, "fabric" like leather tends to hold up to vibration well. The issue is avoiding the jackhammer that protrudes and retracts from the hand in a manner similar to a lightsaber but works on different principles.

Ok I found a movie image of the wrist repulsor, this is what I imagined it'd look like and BTW how it'd be used ... a kung fu style open palm strike, so no skin/flesh was in between the emitter and the target, a large part of the palm that the emitter was built into would probably also be something with the consistency of silicon "rubber" rather than synth flesh, not sure about the inside/front of the fingers but the sides and back of the fingers and hand would be synth flesh

Edit: had to add a Bruce Lee image

Tony Stark's mini repulsor is a very different item than the full-blown repulsorfist in Lords of Nal Hutta, in that it's an integral part of the cybernetic limb. Stark's weapon that you're so obsessed with is also a "one and done" type of deal that's meant to be concealed, where the repulsorfist is a repeat-use weapon. It's like comparing a derringer with a Desert Eagle; yes they're both firearms but they've got very different intent of usage.

Tech during the Rebellion Era isn't nearly a sleek and shiny as the tech we see in more recent movies. Consider the general appearance of the tech we see in The Force Awakens, which takes place 30 years after the original trilogy, and most of the tech we see is still fairly rough; smoother than when the Empire was in charge, but certainly not matching the visual aesthetic of the prequel films.

Typical...

I think for it to look like a regular hand there is a lot of work to be done, and the synthskin possibly needs to be reapplied, or atleast a big glove worn above it. But you get to remove the glove dramatically finger by finger before you enter a fight, so that is a plus.

But for it to look like a regular cybernetic arm, that's not that difficult and probably not so uncommon in the outer rim. Also a good reason for roleplaying and obligation, since somebody needs to have been rather proficient at creating the inconspicoous hand.

Now a rival or nemesis with enough ressources, that's a different story.

Tony Stark's mini repulsor is a very different item than the full-blown repulsorfist in Lords of Nal Hutta, in that it's an integral part of the cybernetic limb. Stark's weapon that you're so obsessed with is also a "one and done" type of deal that's meant to be concealed, where the repulsorfist is a repeat-use weapon. It's like comparing a derringer with a Desert Eagle; yes they're both firearms but they've got very different intent of usage.

Tech during the Rebellion Era isn't nearly a sleek and shiny as the tech we see in more recent movies. Consider the general appearance of the tech we see in The Force Awakens, which takes place 30 years after the original trilogy, and most of the tech we see is still fairly rough; smoother than when the Empire was in charge, but certainly not matching the visual aesthetic of the prequel films.

I'm not sure the word obsession is accurate but you're right that I think the blaster/repulsor in the palm of the hand iron man style is pretty cool, and is the entire pointment of the thread (from my perspective).. a couple years back I was playing in a just before kotor era RCR d20 star wars game GM'd by a work friend who is now a player in my FFG star wars campaign, where my character had a heavy blaster pistol built into the palm of his clearly mechanical cybernetic hand. Here's a portrait of that character (a jedi padawan) that I gimped together from a photo of Bruce Lee, the head of some guy from the internet and the hand of iron man's suit (I had to copy rotate bend paste iron man's fingers to cover Bruce Lee's fingers)

So yeah I think the iron man style blaster/repulsor in the palm of the hand is pretty cool... but one of the shticks of this character is that he can blend into a crowd and a clearly mechanical hand would make him stand out... the "weapon arm" from the EotE core book is cool in that it's virtually indistinguishable from a real arm when not in use as a weapon and is a blaster/repulsor but the problem with it is that a compartment in the arm pops open and the blaster extends from that rather than it shooting from the palm of the hand iron man style... so yeah you got the "obsession" with the blaster/repulsor firing from the palm of the hand right... not sure that you knew why you were right though or that that was the point

By the way getting the repulsor fist stats from lords of Nal Hutta concealed in the hand is not really the point here, getting an energy weapon of some sort that fires from the palm of a cybernetic hand/forearm that apart from the palm looks natural is the point, whether it's a "brawl weapon" like the repulsor fist or a ranged weapon like a blaster really doesn't matter, I just think that the concept is cool... oh yeah and props for the repulsorfist actually being called a *repulsor* fist cause it's more like iron man

What about a cybernatic Weapon implant then?

AoR 190 or EotE174

"The standard cybernetic weapon arm appears to be a regular cybernetic arm but features a retractable light blaster pistol that can be deployed as an incidental. It is attached to the arm and cannot be removed, dropped, or disarmed."

I don't think most GM's would have a problem with tweaking the working or appearence a little, especially if it is for coolness, not for rules advantage. You'd possibly have to tweak it into something weaker than a light blaster pistol to get permission, but I see no problem with that.

What about a cybernatic Weapon implant then?

AoR 190 or EotE174

"The standard cybernetic weapon arm appears to be a regular cybernetic arm but features a retractable light blaster pistol that can be deployed as an incidental. It is attached to the arm and cannot be removed, dropped, or disarmed."

I don't think most GM's would have a problem with tweaking the working or appearence a little, especially if it is for coolness, not for rules advantage. You'd possibly have to tweak it into something weaker than a light blaster pistol to get permission, but I see no problem with that.

well now that special modifications is out, it's possible to make, or have one made to order, so that I don't have to "tweak" the book listed item

now the materials cost for a "prosthetic replacement" (page 85 of special modifications) is 1000 credits, 3 purple difficulty

it needs the unobtrusive upgrade (2 advantage or 1 triumph) to make it blend in

and the inbuilt weapon upgrade (4 advantage or 1 triumph)

plus the cost of the weapon with enc 2 or less... lets go for dragoon cavalry blaster of stay on target (1900 credits if I recall correctly)

but since we now have rules for it, lets also make it ion shielded (2 triumph) you still take strain damage from ion weapons but your arm won't stop working

no in another thread I hypothesized about the galaxy's best cyber doc, a northern mustafarian with a natural 6 int and 5 natural ranks in mechanics or cybernetics, plus the cyber mods to up those to 7 and 6 respectively, assuming he was a maxed out cyber tech and droid tech he could have 4 ranks of the eye for detail talent (convert extra successes up to ranks in talent to advantage at a 1 to 1 ratio), and the right tools for the job which means his base pool of positive dice is 6 yellow, 1 green, and 1 blue (plus he can remove several black dice), for this "galaxies best cyber tech" it would take him a median of 8 attempts to get the 2 triumphs needed for ion shielding and you have way more than enough advantage to get every positive benefit on the table, but lets just say it required 2 triumph and 6 advantage

so now lets look at table 3-20, crafting sell prices, on page 91

the base sell cost of a commissioned item is materials cost + 50% of materials cost so 1500 credits

+20% of materials cost (200 credits) to make it ion shielded

+6*5%=30% of materials cost (300 credits) to get it to be unobtrusive, and have an inbuilt weapon

which brings the total to 1500+200+300=2000 plus the cost of the dragoon cavalry blaster which is 1900 credits so

3900 credits by raw but since the galaxies best cyber tech commands a premium lets double the labor cost so 1000*(+50%+20%+30%)=1000 extra credits bringing the grand total to 4900 credits, and since this thing is going in your arm (so replacing the power cell would take longer, you probably just need to recharge it rather than swap it out) you probably want to add an "optimized energy cell" (100 credits) attachment to the dragoon, bringing the total cost for the one arm up to 5000 credits.

now for the other arm I'd want it to be ion shielded, unobtrusive, and have a built in shock glove (joybuzzer hand shakes are hilarious) so 2 triumph and 6 advantage so it's cost would be 1000+(1000)*2 = 3000 credits +300 credits for the shock glove...

meaning that 8300 of the knight level starting credits would be spent on cybernetics

Just have them buy synthskin on the side. It is in the book.

Maybe the skin rips on a despair or three threats

This reminds me of Valance the Hunter from the old Marvel Star Wars comics. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Beilert_ValanceHe was a cybernetic bounty hunter who had a blaster concealed in his left arm that fired out through the palm. Usually he kept his cybernetic parts covered in synthskin.

I don't have Lords of Nal Hutta so I am not sure if it gives a size specification for a repulsor fist. I think it likely to be somewhat larger than a standard human hand though. Covered in synthskin and kept at the character's side with long sleeves it might not attrack attention in a crowd. But I don't think it would escape notice if someone was paying attention or looking for weapons.

So, I just posted a scan of the “Repulsor Fist” from LoNH at https://www.dropbox.com/s/rwb7tseolut8azh/Repulsor%20Fist.png?dl=0

I’m going to try to include a preview of that image below:

To me, the image above looks pretty much exactly like what the OP described, albeit I think there should be three smaller circles above the one main circle shown in the hand of Tony Stark/Iron Man.

So, I just posted a scan of the “Repulsor Fist” from LoNH at https://www.dropbox.com/s/rwb7tseolut8azh/Repulsor%20Fist.png?dl=0I’m going to try to include a preview of that image below: To me, the image above looks pretty much exactly like what the OP described, albeit I think there should be three smaller circles above the one main circle shown in the hand of Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Sounds like a good question to ask Sam Stewart

OK here are the questions that I submitted to the help line

Questions about getting more mileage out of special modifications (SM) crafting rules:

If someone wanted to "craft" a, for example, repulsor fist (cybernetic from lords of nal hutta), the SM crafting rules don't quite cover it... there's the inbuilt weapon for 1 triumph or 4 advantage but there isn't a 2 encumbrance or less repulsor weapon.

But we can get around that by saying that limitation by saying that the tech bought an off the shelf repulsor fist and canabalized it for parts, including the repulsor... in this scenario you paid 4750 credits for materials instead of the SM listed 1000 for a prosthetic replacement. And then the tech presumably could make the "normal" SM crafting check to build the arm they wanted... 2 advantage to make it unobtrusive and if they got 2 triumph they could make it ion shielded... now that seems to be covered by RAW. Now here comes the questions:

1) What would the difficulty be? I'd guess that it'd be 3 purple for a prosthetic replacement but you upgrade the positive dice and/or add boost dice.

2) should the duration of the check be reduced because most of the work was already done for you?

3) In addition to the needed 2 advantage to make it unobtrusive, and 2 triumph to make it ion shielded, would you still need the (4 advantage or 1 triumph) to get the inbuilt weapon effect from table 3-17 of SM?

4) if you were to sell this thing (assuming it had been commissioned), using table 3-20 of SM, would the "+50% of materials cost" for it being commissioned and "+5% of materials cost" per advantage and "+10% of materials cost" per triumph be relative to the standard 1000 credits for a prosthetic appendage listed in table 3-16 or would it be relative to the 4750 the tech paid for the repulsor fist or would it be somewhere in between because a large part of the cost of the repulsor fist was paying for the inbuilt weapon? Or maybe if we look at the trend in the tables and say that the materials price of any book listed item is half the credits listed for the finished product and the labor cost is relative to that half or that half minus the cost of the inbuilt weapon (which would put it back at the 1000 credits and give you a way to price the materials for the repulsor and double that to buy an off the shelf "replacement" repulsor for the repulsor fist)?

5) if you instead wanted to make a "cybernetic appendage" that was unobtrusive and ion shielded, well the rules plain out cover this but what if you decided to buy a mod V or mod VI cybernetic arm from the core book to "canabalize" for parts. Well some of the same set of questions... what would the difficulty/positive dice upgrades be? What is the duration of the check? And what is the materials cost that the cost of commission and triumphs and advantages relative to... 5000 or 10000 credits?