Beacause of its physical similarities to humansnote 5, a replicant can only be detected by its lack of empathy to questions asked in the Voight-Kampff test. Police officers must be careful to avoid mistaken identiy. 

The newly created replicants integrate a genetic process of cellular deterioration that causes their death after a predefined period of time. They are therefore born with the body size of an adult human being and only serve a few years. Thus, the Nexus-6(the most efficient generation) has a life span of four years, to prevent it from becoming humanized.

The intellectual and physical capacities of replicants are variable. They are defined at the time of their creation, according to the needs of the activity for which they are intended. The levels of competence range from A to C, A being the highest level and B being the level comparable to the average human level.

A physical level "A" allows them to withstand, for a short period of time, temperatures ranging from -200°C to +600°C, despite a biology similar to that of humans. However, they should not be considered as "supermen" but as "the best of men".

Replicants develop "strange obsessions" when they "use" their programmed emotional responses. Inexperience and emotional immaturity are major problems for them as they must learn to react like a human being despite their few years of life expectancy. To counteract this problem, they can be equipped with memories

Replicants have been programmed to respond emotionally to certain situations in order to interact and appear as if they were human. These are not "real emotions" because the replicants do not feel them, but rather a simulation of what a human being would feel. However, some "Nexus-6" have developed "real emotions",

Metaplicant

Metaplicant