A discussion? on realism

Actually, it might be technically possible to have 'liquid metal skin' without any noticeable weight gain.

A lot of that can be determined from the type of metals used in the skin's compostion. There are metals and alloys that are indeed light, and if only replacing the skin, wouldn't represent a huge weight increase. I'm not a scientist, but titanium comes to mind as being durable and featherweight.

Another thing to consider is the nature of the power. Is the character's body so-called 'organic steel'? Technically, to be considered organic, the object--in this case, the person's flesh--must contain carbon.

Carbon in steel is nothing new--some of the strongest alloys available are tempered with carbon. Indeed, if you factor in nanotechnologies that we're developing in current science and extrapolate it to the Nth (aka comic science) degree, it's definitely possible. Carbon rods are being strung together in threads which have the tensile strength of steel many times over, while being a fraction of the weight. Partner that with a particularly light and durable metal--titanium, for instance, and you've got your 'organic steel'--which is both lightweight AND resilient.

I'm not arguing against injecting realism into games, and indeed I hope that provokes further discussion into putting bleeding edge science and philospohy to work in your games.

So I looked it up in my handy dandy Pocket Ref.

Let's use me for example.

I'm over 6 feet in height, we'll round up to 2 feet in width, multiply that by two for front, back, and side.

A 1/4 inch 1 x 1 steel plate (what it would take to stop a 357 or 44 magnum slug) weighs in at 10.21 lbs.

That would be 6x2x2=24 x 10.21 would average around 240lbs of metallic skin. I normally weigh around 190 lbs . Adding 240+190=430lbs.

Now, if we go with something lighter, like Titanium, which is 60% less weight than Steel, we'd get 96lbs of skin + my base of 190 = 286 lbs of armored hero.

That's really not so bad if you consider the average human male is around 200-240. Sure, he would clunk when he walked.

Brelas

Think of the sound his metal nads would make when banging together. Stealth? I think not. :D

DG X(

Marvel > DC

This is where we all type in our collective "EEEEWWWW", huh?

Um...please tell me Piotr Rasputin and Ben Grimm wear cups. All that heavy lifting can be dangerous.

Since Grimm doesn't have external ears when he's Thing, he might not have external genitalia, either.

Dr., given his compostion, how could you tell if he did?

Exactly.

*Ben Grimm enters Dr. Archvilles office*

Ok, Mr. Grimm, I need you to drop your trousers... ok... uhmm... uhh.... :S ok just lift those back up and let me get the miner's stethascope so we can check that heartbeat, k?

As we have dropped to the 12 year old boy level with higher vocalublary.... Next we'll be giggling about She-Hulk's boobies.


All in fun:
Brelas

giggling about She-Hulk's breasts? never....that sort of thing could never happen around here. We're all MUCH too mature for that......;)

*snicker*

I like boobies! :D

DG X(

Marvel > DC

*Puts up green colored lenses that he was looking at Chyna's Playboy spread with* What? Huh? Ohh of course we are too mature for that. *Hides magazine behind back*