Price this Catch

[Ophidimancer]

I usually try to resurrect an old thread instead of starting a new one, but maybe this will work better.

Help me price this Catch.  I have a player whose character has the High Concept: Spawn of the Black Lagoon.

I was thinking going with Cold as the Catch, seeing as a fish man would be somewhat cold blooded.  How would you price this?  I was thinking that it's somewhat easily researched, as something anyone with a high school education might come up with, but how easily accessible would you consider it?  I mean, it's one thing if it's winter, but otherwise?

[MijRai]

I'd put it at +2. Easily researchable, and liquid nitrogen and dry ice are pretty easy to find nowadays. Cold magic (or Winter Fae) would be a problem too.

[JosephKell]

I would think dehydration would be a more sensible catch, and in that case I would rate it pretty high as the idea of drying out an aquatic creature isn't exactly the jump from algebra to calculus.

Is the Black Lagoon fresh or salt water?  Whichever is not the natural habitat would be effective.  Also that chlorine alternative chemical that is water soluble would work.  It permanently binds to the receptor sites in gills (like carbon monoxide does to our lungs) and is why in my area we can't use tap water for fish tanks.  (We have to use special filters to get the stuff out first.)

[Belial666]

Why cold? Why not electricity?

[WillH]

You're making the story you want, not trying to simulate the real world. If you're having trouble deciding how common a catch is, just take it at what level you want it to be at. That will decide how often the GM brings it up in play.

[Ophidimancer]

I'd put it at +2. Easily researchable, and liquid nitrogen and dry ice are pretty easy to find nowadays. Cold magic (or Winter Fae) would be a problem too.

+2 in total?

I would think dehydration would be a more sensible catch, and in that case I would rate it pretty high as the idea of drying out an aquatic creature isn't exactly the jump from algebra to calculus.

Is the Black Lagoon fresh or salt water?  Whichever is not the natural habitat would be effective.  Also that chlorine alternative chemical that is water soluble would work.  It permanently binds to the receptor sites in gills (like carbon monoxide does to our lungs) and is why in my area we can't use tap water for fish tanks.  (We have to use special filters to get the stuff out first.)

I'm going to give him Human Form, so he won't literally dry out all the time, but he will still be kinda cold blooded.

Why cold? Why not electricity?

Umm ... isn't that more of a Final Fantasy convention than anything else?

You're making the story you want, not trying to simulate the real world. If you're having trouble deciding how common a catch is, just take it at what level you want it to be at. That will decide how often the GM brings it up in play.

Always good advice!  I just wanted a second opinion, I guess.

[wyvern]

From what you've described, I'd rate that as a +3 total - researchable, if you've got the right sorts of sources, but not something you could find with a simple paranet search, and something just about anybody could get a hold of if they really had to.  (Heck, you can find instructions for how to home-make stuff like dry ice on the internet; it's not something most people will have just sitting around, but it's not hard to get if you need it.  Though this may vary by location, now that I think about it - for example, if your game takes place in the jungles of Africa, cold as a catch might deserve only a +1 for accessibility.)

However, it's also pretty narrow for a +2 accessibility catch; were it my character, I'd tend to add at least a little something more, like some of the possible chemical type attacks people have mentioned.  Doing that isn't required by the rules, though; it's just my own personal preference.