Author Topic: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery  (Read 3351 times)

Offline Solborn

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Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« on: September 17, 2010, 02:56:47 AM »
Character concept: Being a better wizard through mutation

The basic premise I was taking a base of a focused spellcasterwho started with:
            Channeling(earth) -2
            Ritual (biomancy) -2
when he was younger but trying to become a full wizard, he used a biomancy ritual to increase his natural ability. however being largely uninformed about what formed a wizards constiution(spelling?) he instead ended up with:
            Evocation -3
            Thaumaturgy -3
            Sight and Soulgaze -1
            Inhuman toughness -2
            inhuman recovery -2
            feeding dependacy +1(I was thinking of using a particular type of food such as coffee/tea or banannas)
            catch +3 known in the warden files(+1 difficult to obtain knowledge) and moderately radioactive metals (+2 easy access)
basicly if he doesnt maintain his hunger track he reverts to his base stats because he didn't maintain the ritual or in other words it failed to not having enough resources to maintain its power.
as a convinent bonus it provides a great story for buying more powers
Thoughts?

Offline Dan_of_hats

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2010, 03:26:07 AM »
I'm a bit suspect of using magic to obtain inhuman/supernatural/mythical traits in anything but a temporary capacity myself; if it were possible, or easy, we'd have the Dresden version of the X-men romping around.

The difficulty is that when it comes to magic, changing something has an impact. Change someone into a dog, and even if they retain their higher faculties, they are ill-equipped to utilise the various abilities their new form presents. Change someone's physiology to an unnatural degree, and you're just as likely to set off an unstable chain of mutation, give them cancer, or otherwise mess with them in a bad way. The books state that healing magic isn't all that much better than modern medicine because you have to understand exactly what it is you're changing in a person, and even a trained biologist or doctor would be hard-pressed to work out the repercussions of introducing the inhuman attributes.

Theoretically though, it might be possible in a limited capacity using something like an item of power to maintain the spell, prevent it from causing unchecked repercussions etc. Kinda like an iron lung doesn't replaces your lungs, but helps regulate your breathing. Considering the advanced biological manipulation in place, the spell would probably require constant fine-tuning to prevent it from going wrong or messing something up.

I'm sure there are other ways to temporarily gain such inhuman traits via magic, but as a long-term deal? Much more difficult, and fraught with obstacles.

Offline Solborn

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2010, 03:35:33 AM »
Could you elaborate a bit more please? Pardon me if I was mistaken (I'm new to the fate system in general) but I thought it maintained balance because I still had to pay the refresh cost.

Still I was mainly trying for a variation of the clich'e I Need More Power! not the X-men
I.E instead of selling my humanity for power, I transform myself thereby sacrificing my humanity.

Offline babel2uk

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2010, 07:51:01 AM »
To be fair, if you're paying the recovery for it and want to use magical adjustment as the excuse for doing so, I can't really see a problem. It's only if you're expecting to be able to make such changes during play at the drop of a hat without paying the refresh cost that it would wreck game balance. In essence, as long as you and your GM are happy with the concept, go for it.

As a GM I'd be a little wary of just a single biomantic ritual being responsible. Maybe make it a slower series of experimental rituals, with any future upgrades being likewise a matter of ongoing experimentation rather than single big rituals that spring fully formed. Maybe have a few sessions between upgrades (which are likely to only occur at major milestones anyway) with some minorly cosmetic 'accidents' just to represent those less successful experiments (ultra white teeth and an orange tan, or bright blue hair, or different coloured eyes, the sort of thing that could be explained away by mundane means). And hey, the biomantic rituals in question would be specific to you, so you can't just pass them on to someone else, and maybe there's something in your own background that makes it possible for you but not for most wizards - which get's around the "why doesn't everyone do it?" question.

Offline luminos

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2010, 09:34:23 AM »
the concept is cool, I wouldn't complain about it if I was in your game.  There are few things to note.  First is that recovery shouldn't let you recover from consequences that are self-inflicted for ritual complexity, or you end up being able to do things with a lot more power without having to pay for it directly.  Second is that with your combined rebate for feeding dependency and the catch can't be equal to the powers they apply to, so you'll lose a +1 somewhere in there.
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Offline Papa Gruff

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2010, 09:58:58 AM »
To make the concept even cooler you could add a Mr. Hyde component to it. Add Human Form (Involuntary change) and tie the toughness and recovery powers to it. Make it that you can only use them when you get really angry and perhaps even tie it to an aspect. Demonic copilot isn't a must here but might be exiting too. To me this would really boost the fun you could get out of the concept and the possibilities for fate point generation are vast. Might be exiting to play ...
in omnia peratus! ... wait a minute! ... to give anybody a rucksack? ... DAMN CORRESPONDENCE COURSE!

Offline Tsunami

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2010, 11:07:31 AM »
the concept is cool, I wouldn't complain about it if I was in your game.  There are few things to note.  First is that recovery shouldn't let you recover from consequences that are self-inflicted for ritual complexity, or you end up being able to do things with a lot more power without having to pay for it directly.  Second is that with your combined rebate for feeding dependency and the catch can't be equal to the powers they apply to, so you'll lose a +1 somewhere in there.
Personally i think feeding dependency to a food that's usually easy to come by would not be worth anything anyways.
I think the food you need would have to be either hard to come by (truffles maybe, or kobe beef, or something equally exotic or rare), or in itself have the potential to cause you problems (Human Blood, Human Flesh, Fairie Toes or Ears... creativity is key here *g*).
If its something you can just go and buy at every corner (like coffee), especially in an urban setting, why give any cost benefit for it?

Offline Papa Gruff

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2010, 11:28:23 AM »
Personally i think feeding dependency to a food that's usually easy to come by would not be worth anything anyways.
I think the food you need would have to be either hard to come by (truffles maybe, or kobe beef, or something equally exotic or rare), or in itself have the potential to cause you problems (Human Blood, Human Flesh, Fairie Toes or Ears... creativity is key here *g*).
If its something you can just go and buy at every corner (like coffee), especially in an urban setting, why give any cost benefit for it?

what about if he needs a constant intake instead of something special? for example: if he goes for more then 30 minutes without a coffee ... no powers. would be more like involuntary change then feeding dependency i guess but has potential for endless funny yet a bit silly scenes of coffee guzzling...
in omnia peratus! ... wait a minute! ... to give anybody a rucksack? ... DAMN CORRESPONDENCE COURSE!

Offline Becq

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2010, 08:16:57 PM »
If you look at the examples given for feeding dependency, all of them involve, in effect, stealing life from other sentients -- whether in the form of blood, emotion, soul, or flesh.  This isn't meant to be an addiction to an odd food type, it's meant to be more than a little monstrous.

As to the general concept of using Biomancy to justify power purchase, here's a post in which Iago (the game designer) posts about it (for use with shapeshifting): http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,17367.msg784710.html#msg784710  In addition, YS92 talks about obtaining powers temporarily, which could be used for more temporary Biomantic effects.  I put together a set of possible house rules for this, which you can find here: http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,20673.msg915259.html#msg915259

Offline Solborn

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2010, 08:56:10 PM »
Quote
If you look at the examples given for feeding dependency, all of them involve, in effect, stealing life from other sentients -- whether in the form of blood, emotion, soul, or flesh.  This isn't meant to be an addiction to an odd food type, it's meant to be more than a little monstrous.
Ok I think I will remove feeding dependacy from the stat list and just Role-play the effect in.  ;D
(for example: three hours without coffee, my character will develop "twitchy" fingers and otherwise spasm. 8 hours without coffee, while he is pinning 3 ghouls to the fact to the floor using gravity hes looking desperately for a coffee machine in the beaten up house they denned up in)

and also I think I will go with an earlier poster and say further upgrades are a result of years of careful experimentation. (with corresponding increased levels of coffee consumption to the point he carries a percolator whereever he goes)

Offline blues.soldier

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2010, 11:15:32 PM »
A military-style Camelbak (google it) filled with coffee at all times would be an interesting character quirk. As would interactions with people form other parts of the world inquiring about the coffee there. A Wizard Coffee Snob, in other words. Bonus points if he's been around long enough to invest in a world-spanning Coffee Empire specifically to increase it's availability wherever he goes. .
"What ever you do, do it for love. If you keep to that, your path will never wander so far from the light that you can never return.”--Uriel

Offline Becq

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2010, 11:33:34 PM »
Sounds to me as though you might be better off making it an Aspect.  Say ... "I needs me my coffee fix!"  Then the GM could compel it under the circumstances you describe.


Might be a good source of Fate points...

Offline Solborn

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Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2010, 02:07:21 AM »
Quote
A military-style Camelbak (google it) filled with coffee at all times would be an interesting character quirk
Awesome idea!  ;D
Quote
Sounds to me as though you might be better off making it an Aspect.  Say ... "I needs me my coffee fix!
cool changing my list of aspects now :D