Robots and Healing Magic

[omen613]

Howdy all

In my current project I have a Robot like character that acts as the group's Tank (the character that takes the most damage from enemy attacks.) And the group's primary healer uses Blood Magic to heal the team.

Seeing how robots don't have blood...

I just wanted to see the community's feelings towards magic healing on a robot.

• Does it ruin the "immersion?"
• Robots don't have blood OMEN613!!!
• It's magic it can do whatever it wants
• Robo in Chrono Trigger can be healed with magic and no one seemed to care he was a robot. 
• ROBOTS DON'T HAVE BLOOD!!!!!!!!!  >      

I realize it's my choice ultimately, just wanted to see other people's opinions.

 

[Mr. Trivel]

If you heal a person, you're not necessary just restoring it's blood. You restore skin, bones and other stuff that was damaged/cut off, which aren't made from blood. Why not restore some gears, metal plates and wires while at it?

 

[Phoenixmaster]

I guess it doesn't really matter if the robot gets healed . Its also possible to change the magic so that it works differently though ( like some kind of time magic that restores things to their original state. I'm sure you could make it work, is the character all or part robot?

 

[Athryl]

I think it depends a lot on how a game presents itself.  If a game takes care to explain the magic system and why it works and that explanation doesn't flow with healing robots then that'd break immersion for me.  If however (like most games in my experience) magic is just loosely explained without a lot of detail I doubt it'd get to me.  Also, some blood magic seems to be more about using a blood sacrifice to power the magic, in which case I would assume the blood is coming from enemies or the caster himself and has little to do with whether the robot has blood.  

 

[omen613]

 is the character all or part robot?

The character is full on robot...beeps and flashing lights galore (good way to get an enemy's attention, especially if they have never seen a robot before lol)

Sirens and flashing lights followed by a count down from 20...WHAT HAPPENS AFTER 0? OMG! PANIC

 

[Eschaton]

It all depends on how your magic is supposed to work.

I think it would be just fine if there was some explanation about how healing magic doesn't "mend flesh," but "restore order in living things" for the 12 people who would be bothered without the explanation.

 

[Arin]

You could do something along the lines of:

--Your healing magic restores only a little fraction of HP, but you have a, say, "Repair" skill that majorly restores a robotic character's HP but doesn't work on anything else. KOTOR, if anyone remembers that game, had a nice system that separated "Healing Items" from "Repair Items" since you could have multiple robotic members in your party. I thought it was kind of cool at the time.

--Say that your healing magic is universal and affects everything that has a tangible essence. Like a spirit. Robots may not be "alive", but they are part of our world, just as much as any other person, and that, that "healing magic" regenerates the "tangible essence" everything has.

EDIT: Forgot this was Blood Magic and Blood Magic shouldn't be able to fix robots. Realism before fantasy, logic before excuse, etc. etc.

 

[Eschaton]

Magic is not realistic.  What it needs to be is consistent.  Consistency comes from how you present it and write it.

 

[Diretooth]

While it can be an acceptable break from reality, you can justify it in-universe by explaining that healing magic simply repairs damage done to humanoid structures.

Also, regarding how the character mentioned before uses blood magic, usually in forms of blood magic, energy is derived from the life-essence found within blood, thus suppying the user with greater power. Just because an object doesn't have blood doesn't mean blood magic can't affect them. (Plus, blood magic is usually cast from hit points.)

 

[Ghaleon]

it's fine either way, depending on how much you care about similar conflicts. I mean not just robo, but Kos-mos in Xenosaga also acted like an ordinary human. Why was an android just as susceptable to poison and paralysis from biological critters like humans? Why is the town that is counting on you as its last hope for survival charging you full price for supplies still? Why doesn't your robot short-circuit when immersed in water? Is it waterproof? If it's waterproof why does it take any damage at all from cold magic? Is it steel/iron/magnicium? Can it rust? Is it magnetic?

There are just so many darn complications that you can think of if you consider healing working on robots. If you actually make robots have their own healing mechanics, you better be prepared to ask yourself all kinds of questions like the above, because I'd rather a game consistently go "eh, who cares it's a game", than to arbitrarily try to be realistic about some things, and not so for others.

 

[Probotector 200X]

I typically have several different "healing" elementals...each for different uses. Since I've never done this in a completed game (because I've never completed any, profound sadface) I never thought of good names for them all, just placeholders.

Like, say:

Healing (General): A generic healing effect that heals pretty much anything. This...would probably be for magic. Maybe.

Healing (Organic): Healing for living creatures. Mostly food and potions.

Healing (Undead): Not sure what would represent this, maybe some kind of "death" element. Think Death Coil from Warcraft 3.

Healing (Mechanical): Mostly repairing and some kind of energy charges.

But some times I want healing magic that hurts undead and does nothing to robots. So maybe healing magic would be <organic>. The <general> one would then be for...something beyond magic. Some primal cosmic force that existed eons before magic...I dunno.

Also sometimes I have Plant characters who heal themselves with sunlight or whatever and don't need items or magic to heal, maybe those don't work for whatever reason. Also, special healing for magic beings. Think the G-versions of items from FF8, or even Ambrosia from BOF4. But magic should heal them too. Eh, I usually stick with the 4 healing variations I mentioned earlier.

I just like having varying features and whatever going on with robots and stuff. Also, bonus points if the robot healing items work on normal-sized robot party members AND the giant mecha your characters can pilot.

 

[omen613]

Thanks for all the replies

Some good points are being made and I'll need to tweak the lore on how magic works in the game world if I go that way.

I mean if healing magic can restore a robot...you would think that priests would travel the lands "fixing" all kinds of things like bridges, and castle walls, and things like that too.

 

[Vance Raehart]

EDIT: nanorobotics is a good concept for magic. like nano repair, nano restoration. using nanotechnology idea could be very useful in mech/sci fi games. instead of mana its called Nanite

example idea, nanites can reconstruct parts of a machine,wires  components, stuff like that. though depedning on  how high your Nanomedic(example skill) level is will effect your efficency

for offenseive purposes. Nanites can Ignite itself, freeze it self, electrify or whatever by using the latest nanotechnology

so you basiclly got your self a nano mage.

i still plan on using thhis idea but i dont mind sharing

heres a reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanorobotics#Biochip

 

[Curia Chasea]

Cure in FFXIII-2 could heal Mechanical Companions so I guess its purely a choice of the developer.

It depends what choice you go with. There is of course the idea of consistency that all healing spells should restore HP to everyone - no questions asked. You can go with it I guess.

On the other hand - there are also perks to using "Repair" for robots. In some games, mechanical targets cannot be cured but are rewarded for it with resistance to physical attacks, bleeding, poison immunity and so on. 

Ultimately - the choice is yours. However if you go for a "Robot-Specific" type of healing, I suggest slightly buffing the robot character to compensate for it. 

 

[MyLordRobinson]

There was an old topic and I think it's the custom values and formula one that allows you to use the damage formula part of the Skill tab that would allow you to have it restore so and so HP on a certain actor and do 0 for the rest. It's really interesting and would be a good mechanic to see when you begin to work on calculation for your actors.

 

[Solo]

Topic creator, as you originally said, Robo in Chrono Trigger is the answer to this question.

 

[Chaos Avian]

There's also Wren and Demi from Phantasy Star IV. They couldn't be healed by usual magic (techniques) or items, but had they're own healing moves. Like Recovery and a Repair Kit (essentially full revival with full HP).

Demi's quick bio: "Demi was created to act as a systems controller for the climate stations built on Motavia. She is the only one who is able to interface with Nurvus, but has been captured by Zio. She just joins you for a short time. Since she is an android, the ways for her to get cured and revived are differently than with humans: she has some self-repair skills for herself, she requires the item "Repair-Kit" in order to be revived during battle, she automatically revives when you win a battle and self-restores 1 HP for each step you take when walking."

 

[Ralpf]

I'm not completely against it, but I would probably try to explain how it works in a logical way, as long as it makes sense in your world, (almost) no one will question it.

 

[gvduck10]

I refer you to XENOGEARS - in that game, character abilities that healed HP while fighting person to person instead fixed Armor Loss (DEF Down) when they battled in their giant mecha "Gears". The only way to heal HP damage in the Gears was to use an accessory called Fix Frame, which restored damage at the cost of a lot of fuel - like attack points or stamina in other games.

Strangely, there was one character "Chu Chu" that was basically a stuffed animal like creature that swelled to enomorous size to battle other gears. That character was the only exception, its healing spell worked on Gears... the reasons are... unknown...

 

[Ghaleon]

Xenogears doesn't really count IMO because gear battles were completely separate from regular battles. The stats were reworked, attacking mechanics were different, combos were reworked...it was a completely different battle system altogether.