Geth (D20 Modern Race)

Geth

Personality

Geth psychology is completely alien to organics. They do not value individuality, preferring to share all memories and thoughts of all programs regularly. This means geth cannot and do not wish to hide their thoughts, even those that do not follow the norm, with their reasoning for such thought being apparent. A Geth often uses the term "we" instead of "I", since it is both part of the geth society as a whole and is also a gestalt of over a thousand geth programs. More importantly, deceit, manipulation and lying are impossible among the geth. No concepts of vulnerability or privacy exist; geth are completely honest with each other about their thoughts and their reasons for those thoughts. This means there is a great deal of compassion and understanding amongst geth, with every geth being a combination of every other geth. Geth have no government or leaders; the geth use FTL communications to "build a consensus"; a completely Consensus Democratic method of every geth program making their choice on any matter. Even within שמ Infiltrator itself, consensus must be reached among its many programs before decisions can be made. However, the geth are not above using deceit to study organic behavior. One example is the geth introducing a falsified report on the extranet detailing a constellation resembling a salarian goddess seen from the batarian homeworld, which the salarians immediately believed to be proof of the goddess' existence. The experiment ended when a salarian cult bought rights to the stars, only to find that they did not exist.

There is some question of whether geth personalities remain stable over time. When an artificial intelligence is transferred to a new blue box, a completely new personality is created. Geth download into different hardware according to need, from starships to the "mobile platforms" that organics are familiar with. It is unknown whether new personalities result from these downloads, or whether it matters to the geth. As a result, what organics would describe as geth culture is either non-existent, or is in a form incomprehensible to organic life.

Physical Description

Physically, the humanoid geth resemble quarians—their hands, head shape and legs are similar—which is probably a holdover from their origins. They are described as having "flashlight heads". Geth are built of two materials, a large plastic or steel outer shell, and a kind of synthetic muscle tissue that gives Geth Hoppers their incredible agility. Geth "bleed" a white conductive fluid when shot, but they don't have any internal organs or nervous system, so the geth don't feel hunger or pain. Part of the geth's success is due to their neural network. Effectively, they "share" their processing power, distributing low-level processes like motor control and visual identification to free up bandwidth for higher reasoning and complex thought. Geth can't share sensory data—they aren't a hive mind—but in large groups they have more to think with. An individual geth has only a basic intelligence on par with animal instincts, but in groups they can reason, analyze situations, and use tactics as well as any of the organic races. An exception would appear to be Geth Infiltrators, a geth sub-type specifically designed to operate as an autonomous sentient unit outside the Perseus Veil. Infiltrators possess over 11 times as many geth programs as a standard geth platform and can function intellectually on their own.

Relations

The geth are reclusive and secretive. This is partly due to their synthetic nature. They have no need to interact with other races because they do not share the same goals, needs or instincts as organic species. The only geth who have interacted significantly with organics aside from the Infiltrator platforms are a sect that geth refer to as the "heretics". They are a small, radical group of geth who worship a hyper-advanced but long-vanished machine race called the Reapers, whom they see as the pinnacle of non-organic evolution. This group is estimated to consist of about five percent of the total geth population. The geth are content to stay separate from the remainder of Citadel space to "build their own future" and claim that all sentient creatures should have the ability to "self-determinate", strictly adhering to a policy of non-interventionism in respect to the affairs and development of other races. The geth primarily seek the peaceful advancement of their own race independent of the influence of the rest of galactic society and believe every sentient species should be able to do the same, an attitude which suggests the geth may be significantly less hostile than the galactic community initially believed.

Depending on the context, the term "geth" refers to an individual program, mobile platforms which house a number of individual programs, or the entire collection of all programs. Organics generally refer to each mobile platform as a geth. However, the geth think in terms of the entire collection.

Alignment

Geth programs generally work for the advancement of the Geth. Notable exceptions are geth Infiltrators who can make decisions on their own and ally themselves with whoever they deem necessary.

Lands

As machines, Geth do not need comfort. They prefer the functionality of space stations over planets, existing by mining asteroids for materials. They also maintain planets captured from their Quarian creators during the Morning War, preparing them for the Quarians' eventual return.

Religion

Most geth do not worship anything, but the splinter faction of "The Heretics" worship ancient machines called Reapers.

Language

Geth can learn to speak any language, but prefer to communicate more efficiently through cybernetic transmissions and networking.

Names

Geth have no names, but Infiltrators interacting with organics are sometimes given names.

Racial Traits

The following applies only to Geth Infiltrators.

• +3 Intelligence, +3 Wisdom, +2 Dexterity, -8 Charisma: the population inside an Infiltrator platform excels at cognitive tasks, but are completely baffled by interaction with other races. Their appearance is also daunting to organics.
• Construct(humanoid): Geth are artificial constructs, designed mostly in humanoid form. As constructs, they gain the following benefits:

• Darkvision (60ft)

• Immune to poison, disease, suffocation, sickness, nausea, aging, sleep effects, paralysis, exhaustion and space sickness. They are still vulnerable to critical hits.

• Mechanical: Repair actions works on Geth like Treat Injuries would work on organic life forms (Treat Injuries and normal healing effects have no effect on Geth). As an action they possess limited self repair modules that heal 1/2 their HP every 24 hours. Resets after every "long rest"

• last chance: When reduced to 0 HP geth are disabled, not unconscious, and can take only a single move action or standard action in each round (strenuous activity does not risk further injury). When the HP are lower than 0 but greater than -10 the Geth is deactivated and inert; he cannot perform any actions, but doesn't lose additional hp unless attacked (like a stabilized organic).

• No need to sleep, eat or breathe.

• Medium: Geth infiltrators have no size modifiers.

• Geth base land speed is 40ft.

• Cyber Interface (Ex): Geth directly interacting with a computer uncontrolled by AI do not need to make Computer Use checks; they immediately access the computer and all networked devices regardless of security measures. If the system is controlled by non-Geth AI the geth will be delayed by 1d4 rounds. If the system is of Geth origin (or any equally/greater advanced cybernetic race) the Infiltrator gains +2 on computer use checks.

• Program Migration (Ex): A geth can, as a free action, transfer some of his programs to any device or network he is currently connected to. The separated programs become a new Geth entity, with intelligence depending on their number. Programs can only be restored to the character at a geth hub.

• Shielding (Ex): Geth Infiltrators have built-in energy shielding. The shield absorbs all damage to the character (up to 1/2 the character's max HP) and takes double damage from electrical-based attacks.

• Native Language: Basic, Technocant.

Vital Statistics

Table: Geth Random Starting Ages

Adulthood^1	Simple^1	Moderate^1	Complex^1
n/a

Table: Geth Aging Effects

Middle Age^1	Old^1	Venerable^1	Maximum Age^1
n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Geth are machines and therefore do not age.

• Thanks to the Mass Effect Wiki for data.

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